Islamic Theology: Where Faith Meets Reason And Science

By Dr Maqsood Jafri

No religion, except Islam has given a complete Code of Life. But the tragedy of Islam is the same which is of other religions. All religions have become the prey of sectarianism because of the interpretation of the holy Scriptures by the priests.

There is a basic difference between Philosophy and Theology. Philosophy is based on rationality and arguments, while Theology is based on belief. Some beliefs are rational but most of them are based on blind faith and superstitions. The dogmas are not buttressed by rational enquiry. The dogmatists have only one sentence to prove their faith and that is: “We believe without any argument”.

On the other hand, philosophers do not believe in a belief without evidence, facts, reason, arguments and logic. In the religious seminaries of all religions, rational inquiry is strictly prohibited. This is the reason, the world is facing serious religious crisis, feuds, and fanaticism. The fundamentalists do not believe in soul-searching and progressive values. The human history is soaked in the blood of millions in the name of religious fights.

The Crusades are the worst example of religious violence, bloodshed and bigotry. Today, we see the worst type of genocide of the Muslims of Gaza/Palestine by radical Israeli Zionist lobby. This crisis is also the result of the religious fanaticism of Zionists. On this plight, even the moderate and peace-loving Jews worldwide are protesting. The enlightened world abhors war and preaches peace.

A few years ago, in an international conference, regarding religious tolerance and harmony, which was held in UN headquarters in New York, as a participant, I had suggested the teaching of religious harmony courses to the students in schools, colleges and universities worldwide. My proposal was appreciated by all attendees of the conference in which the Jews, the Hindus, the Christians, and the Muslims had participated.

I had further said that we must encourage enlightening culture and rational thinking in our communities, to stop racial discrimination and religious extremism. Education must have a purpose. It should not produce servants and mentally impaired slaves. Education must produce rational and moderate minds to stop social, cultural and religious conflicts and crisis. Whether it is secular education or religious education, the aim of education must be to promote humanism and rationalism.

I would like to quote a few lines of the father of modern physics and intellectual Albert Einstein. He writes:

“The goal of education is to train the mind to think, not to obey. Education should spark curiosity, not conformity. It should empower critical thinking, not blind obedience.”

The theological mind set is irrational. These people discourage argumentative thinking. They say: “We have heard, we believe.” In all societies, we have philosophers and theologians. There is a tug of war between them. In the West, great scientists and philosophers were burned alive, flogged, incarcerated and hanged for their scientific and rational beliefs.

Some prominent examples include Giordano Bruno who was burned alive at the stake for heresy and Socrates was sentenced to death on the charge of impiety and corrupting the youth. Galileo Galilei faced trial by the inquisition for his support of the heliocentric mode. Hypatia, a Greek philosopher was murdered in Alexandria by a Christian mob, for her philosophical teachings and perceived influence. Michael Servetus was burned at the stake by Calvinists in Geneva for his heretical views on the concept of Trinity.

Similarly, in the Muslim world, many people were imprisoned, tortured and brought to gallows such as a great Persian poet, and mystic Mansoor Al-Hallaj for his claim: “I am Truth”. Some of these killings were political but were given religious colour by the joint collaboration of priests and kings. The same happened in the Muslim world. The men of letters and rational thinking were imprisoned, lashed, tortured and murdered. The monarchs and Mullahs collaborated to punish the rational thinking people.

It was Imam Hamid Al-Ghazali who wrote a book titled “The Refutation of Philosophy.” Some modern scholars translate the Arabic word “Tahafah”, not as Refutation but as “Incoherence.” But it is an undeniable fact that Imam Ghazali had promoted Sufism and he also argued to justify the Islamic tenets and teachings on rational level. Such Muslim scholars are known as “Mutakalameen”, the justifiers of religious beliefs with rational arguments. But they are not philosophers in strict technical terms. Avicenna and Ibne Rushed were great Muslim enlightened thinkers. Ibne Rushed had written the refutation of the book of Imam Ghazali titled “The Refutation of the Refutation.”

In this book he had rejected the concept of Cause and Effect of Imam Ghazali. In certain cases, Imam Ghazali did not agree with this scientific theory of Cause and Effect. Actually, Imam Ghazali was more mystical than philosophical. It is said that the book of Imam Ghazali badly damaged the rational thinking in the Muslim world.

In my opinion there are three main factors which influence the Muslim world. First; orthodox Mullahs/clergy. Second; enlightened Muslim scholars. Third; Marxists, atheists and materialists. I discard the orthodoxy and atheism and stand by rational and enlightened modern Muslim scholars such as Dr Allama Iqbal and Dr Ali Shariati. Even these two great Muslim thinkers justified the Islamic tenets and were not philosophers in the technical sense like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bergson, Burke, J. S. Mill and Bertrand Russell. In a religious and dogmatic society, philosophers cannot survive. They are attacked, arrested, harassed and killed either by illiterate masses, dogmatic clergy or by the fascists and kings.

We need rational theologians who are neither sectarian nor dogmatic. Unfortunately, some of our religious Madrasas are very flawed and retrogressive. A few days ago, I watched two videos, which saddened and shuddered me to marrows. I was stunned. In one video, a boy nearly about 12 years old lied wounded and was dead as his Islamic teacher in Madrasa had badly beaten him for not memorizing the lesson. In second video, a boy of 15 years was badly thrashed out by two Mullahs for being absent for some days from the Madrasa. One Mullah had tightened the boy in his arms and the second Mullah was slapping him and giving him electric shocks. The boy’s shrieks were unbearable. Is this the way of imparting Islamic teachings to boys in religious seminaries. It is strongly appealed that the civil society, social media and government agencies should take serious notice of such heinous acts.

In my opinion, Islamic education must be compulsory in all schools and colleges. The basics of Islam should be taught to younger generation. Some enlightened people are of the view that private religious institutions must be closed as these institutions are funded by foreign governments and private groups and are promoting dogmatic and sectarian beliefs. If these religious seminaries are not controlled, Pakistan will become a war zone for different sects. We need to check the religious courses of these Madrasas and introduce English, Mathematics and social sciences to these students. As philosophical theology is an enlightened approach to religion, we must impact scientific outlook to our children.

The Holy Quran time and again stresses on the need of rational thinking. Islamic rationalism emerged as a philosophical movement blending Greek thought with Islamic principles. This intellectual tradition sought to reconcile reason and theory and philosophy for centuries. The Quran promotes a rational approach to faith, encouraging reflection, contemplation, and use of reason to understand its message, the universe, the miraculous powers of selfhood and the world around us. The Muslim Sufis got mystic aptitude from Plato’s intuitive powers while Aristotle preached rational outlook.

In Muslim tradition, we find the followers of Sheikh Muhyi ud din Ibn Arabi, who was a great proponent of Sufism. Wasil bin Ata, in second century AH, proclaimed the supremacy of rationalism in the matters of religion. Mutazilites were the stalwarts of rationalism while the Asharia rejected rationalism in religious matters and promoted the supremacy of Faith.

“Why do you not think?” is a verse of the Holy Quran.

About the rational movement in Islamic thought, it is believed that Islam represented the era of not only Faith, but also of knowledge, reason, justice, freedom and humanism in its real attributes of: tolerance, altruism, and respect for human beings. Hence, by the middle of the Seventh century, a new socio-political order as well as a new ontology of reason was established. According to Ibn Abi Usaybi, the ontological ground of the Quranic reason and rationality were known long before the Greek philosophical texts, which were translated into Arabic in the middle of the ninth century. Dr Allama Iqbal was also of the opinion that the birth of Islam was in fact a birth of Inductive intellect. He in his book titled, “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” has thrown ample light on the concept of intuition, reason and revelation.

Islam is the only religion that believes in Rational Faith. Islam does not believe in Blind Faith and irrational or inhuman beliefs and dogmas. The blend of theology and philosophy is the dire need of time and essential requirement of modern mind. Besides, philosophy, all principles and beliefs of Islam are scientific.

“The Bible, the Quran and Science: the Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge” written by Maurice Bucaille has excellently demonstrated and proved the scientific authenticity of the Holy Quran. No verse of the Holy Quran goes against the cosmic rules. Cosmology and Quran is an important and interesting subject. The Quran itself narrates the cosmic truths and explains the verities of the circulation and movements of the stars, satellites, the earth, the moon and the sun.

Islamic theology is integrated with rationality, philosophy and science. The Star, The Moon, The Constellation, The Dawn, Daybreak and The Light are the titles of the Quranic chapters. The verses of Surah Yasin from verse 36 to verse 39 deal with the rotation of Sun and the Moon. The Quran says:

“The Sun hastens to its resting place ; that is the decree of the Mighty One, the All-Knowing. And the Moon, we have ordained mansions till it becomes again as an old dry palm branch. The Sun is not allowed to overtake the moon, nor does the night outpace the day. Each in its own orbit runs”.

No religion, except Islam has given a complete Code of Life. But the tragedy of Islam is the same which is of other religions. All religions have become the prey of sectarianism because of the interpretation of the holy Scriptures by the priests. The existing religions are not the religions of Prophets but of Priests. The holy Scriptures are not the books of Mathematics where two plus two are four and two minus two are zero. These books give basic information and understanding for nobility, humanity, freedom and justice. We must implement the basic principles and teachings of all these religions. The Spirit of religions is same and that is the establishment of a welfare state based on freedom, democracy, justice, peace and humanity. All other juristic and historical differences do not matter. There is difference between a Muslim State and Islamic State. Muslim State means the state in which the Muslims live and Islamic State means the state wherein Islamic system based on democracy and social justice is established.

Categories: Ideology, Islam, Opinion

Tags: Christianity, Faith, Islam, Judaism, Muslim Ummah, Muslims, Quran, religions, Spirituality