REASON AND REVELATION
Guidance from God
Reason is a precious blessing from God. Referring to reason, God has said that there is no creation superior to reason.
ALL OF THE TASKS a human being does are dependent on reason. No development or progress can happen without the application of intelligence. Without the mind, a person would be reduced to a statue, being unable to differentiate between right and wrong. Reason is in itself not a criterion which determines good and evil, rather it is the ability to understand and discern. By definition, reason is the intellectual ability by which conclusions are drawn from premises. Thus reason is not an objective judge by itself.
Reason and revelation are not contradictory to each other. Revelation is a source of knowledge while reason is not so. When a person believes in what has been revealed, he does so by application of his God-given reason to reflect and determine with certainty the truthfulness and veracity of the knowledge he has gained through revelation. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to say that reason supplements the understanding of revelation and is not opposed or inconsistent to it.
Reason is the intellectual ability by which conclusions are drawn from premises. It is not an objective judge by itself.
Reason is an ability granted by God, it is not any person’s own invention. In this matter, deviation happened when some people came to believe in an extreme version of reason, that is, they began to regard reason as a means of acquiring knowledge. Certain religious groups reacted to this conception of reason and began to consider reason-based discussions as inimical to religion. Due to this mind-set they wrongly started claiming that the spheres of reason and revelation were separate, and that the domain of revelation begins where reason reaches its limits. The truth is that there is a difference between utilizing reason to understand realities and considering reason as the only source of knowledge.
The word aql, or reason, has been used in the Quran about fifty times. The Quran repeatedly enjoins the reader to discover the credibility of revelation by putting to use reason and rationale. For example, a verse in the Quran instructs: “We have sent down the Quran in Arabic, so that you may understand [by applying reason].” (12: 2) Similarly, in another verse a Prophet urges his people to reflect and determine the integrity of his claim to prophethood (10: 16).
A human being has been given various kinds of capabilities: the hands to hold, legs to walk, eyes to see, and ears to hear. Similarly, humans have been granted reason so that they may ponder over issues and comprehend by doing rational analysis. Along with this, humans have been given total freedom which means that they can either make proper use of their reason or put it to improper use.
Reason supplements the understanding of revelation and is not opposed or inconsistent to it.
The real purpose of reason is for man to collect data or information and then through examination and deliberation, arrive at useful knowledge. However, reason in itself is not an authority which is why one can be either right or wrong in taking support of reason in one’s pursuit of knowledge. Those who see reason as the source of knowledge belong to an extremist school of thought, a phenomenon observed everywhere including within the sphere of religion.