USING OF REASON (AQLIYYAH)
AS ONE OF THE MEANS OF
DEVELOPING IIMAN (FAITH)
Notes compiled by : Ustaz Zhulkeflee Hj Ismail
The Holy Qur'an calls upon people to think and to draw conclusions through thought process. It even regards thinking as part of worship, and does not recognise the belief in its doctrinal tenets if it is not the outcome of correct thinking. Islam in this connection has paid attention to a basic point, that although people are capable of thinking, still they can end up with erroneous conclusion - if they neglect to use, or inappropriately allow certain factors to influence their thought process. Thus, in Islam, we are provided basic guidelines - basic lessons on how to think correctly.
Firstly, in the Qur'an, it has pointed out the major causes which lead to wrong thinking and has explained what to do to avoid error and deviation.
CAUSES OF WRONG THINKING
I. Reliance on conjecture instead of sure knowledge
Allah reveals in the Holy Qur'an:
وَإِن تُطِعۡ أَڪۡثَرَ مَن فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِۚ
إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ هُمۡ إِلَّا يَخۡرُصُونَ
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعۡلَمُ مَن يَضِلُّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦۖ وَهُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِٱلۡمُهۡتَدِينَ
"Now if you pay heed unto the majority of those (who live) on earth, they will but lead thee astray from the path of Allah: they follow but conjectures, and they themselves do nothing but guess*. Verily, thy Lord knows best as to who strays from His path, and best knows He as to who are the rightly guided."
(Q: An 'am 6 :116-117)
* i.e. in matters regarding the true nature of human life and its ultimate destiny, the problem of revelation, the relationship between God and man, the meaning of good and evil, etc.
Apart from leading man astray from spiritual truths, such guesswork gives rise to arbitrary rules of conduct and self imposed inhibitions.
وَلَا تَقۡفُ مَا لَيۡسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلۡمٌۚ إِنَّ ٱلسَّمۡعَ وَٱلۡبَصَرَ وَٱلۡفُؤَادَ
كُلُّ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ كَانَ عَنۡهُ مَسۡـُٔولاً۬
"And do not follow (pursue) anything of which thou hast no knowledge: verily (thy) hearing and sight and heart - all of them - will be called to account for it (on Judgement Day)."
(Q: Bani Israil : 17 :36)
Muslims are to be taught that there is distinction between knowledge ('ilm) and conjecture or guesswork (dzonn); between absolute and relative; between what are reliable and unreliable reports, and how to distinguish between them; etc. It exposes the fallacy of merely following the majority without concern for substantiation of truth, which seems to be the common approach, albeit erroneously adopted by people, in matters of religion.
II. Bias and inclination towards base desires
If man wants to judge rightly, he should fully maintain his impartiality. In other words, he should seek Truth only, and accept without hesitation what evidence proves. He should behave exactly like a judge in a court of justice, who while studying a case ought to be neutral to the claims of both parties. If he is biased towards one party, the arguments in favour of that party will unconsciously attract his attention and the arguments against it will automatically be missed by him. That is what will mislead the judge.
If man is not neutral and his thinking is lop-sided, the pointer of his thinking will unconsciously be inclined towards his personal liking and personal desire. That is why the Holy Qur'an regards the base desires as much a source of error as reliance on guess and conjecture. Allah says :
إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهۡوَى ٱلۡأَنفُسُۖ
"They follow nothing but conjecture and that which they desire. "
(Q : Najm 53: 23)
The concept of justice (al-'adl) are to be applied in analysis, putting things in their appropriate place, requiring impartial appraisal of all relevant views available to be considered and not suppressed or overlooked. Often, this would be difficult when one inclines to own desires (hawa) or self-interest, therefore we are to be extra cautious of our own failing.
III. Haste
To be able to express an opinion about a question, one should have adequate evidence before him. Unless there is enough evidence, any hasty expression of an opinion is likely to lead to error. In the Holy Qur'an, Allah repeatedly refers to the insufficiency of human knowledge for pronouncing an opinion in respect of many important questions. For example:
وَيَسۡـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلرُّوحِۖ قُلِ ٱلرُّوحُ مِنۡ أَمۡرِ رَبِّى
وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلاً۬
"And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul is one of the commands of my Lord, and you have been given but little knowledge."
(Q : Bani Israil 17 :85)
In this verse, the question posed was to seek something which man's knowledge is inadequate to appreciate any form of detailed answer, thus only a general response suffice. It does not provide fully what was being asked, but responded in accordance with the preparedness of the questioner but cautioned him that, although our knowledge about the soul may be little, it may suffice. So we should not deny its existence just because we cannot fully satisfy our curiosity regarding it. It teaches us that we should not be hasty in addressing any issue, but to consider carefully what is offered based on available knowledge. The key point here is knowledge. To accept with knowledge, and to deny it also must be based on knowledge. Do not reject something by simply basing it upon our ignorance of that thing - e.g. some people categorically deny something with the irrelevant excuse "because I have not come across it." This is simply an admission of his ignorance of that thing, not a proof (knowledge) that that thing does not exist!
From the above, we are taught nay, warned against being hasty in 2 things :
(1) That we must not believe a thing unless we have sure knowledge about it. (Warning against hasty believing something without knowledge).
(2) That we must not deny a thing unless we have sure knowledge about it. (Warning against hasty denial without knowledge).
IV. Traditional thinking and looking to the past
Man has a tendency to readily accept an idea or a belief that was accepted by past generations, without giving it any further thought. Allah s.w.t. in the Holy Qur'an, reminds people that they should have independent thinking and should not accept anything without judging it carefully, simply because it was accepted by others in the past. Thus:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ٱتَّبِعُواْ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ قَالُواْ بَلۡ نَتَّبِعُ مَآ أَلۡفَيۡنَا عَلَيۡهِ
ءَابَآءَنَآۗ أَوَلَوۡ كَانَ ءَابَآؤُهُمۡ لَا يَعۡقِلُونَ شَيۡـًٔ۬ا وَلَا يَهۡتَدُونَ
"But when they are told, "Follow what Allah has revealed" some answers, "Nay, we shall follow (only) that which we found our forefathers believe in and did."
What! even though their forefathers did not understand anything and had no guidance?"
(Q : Baqarah 2 :170)
Inspite of advancement in education, yet when it concerns religious beliefs and practices, many people tend to blindly imitate or follow whatever their forefathers may have passed on for them. When new and verifiable evidence are offered, they refused to even consider them but rely on this blind fanaticism.
V. Cult of personality
Another cause of wrong thinking is the cult of personality.
Because of the great respect in which they are held, some of the celebrated historical and contemporary personalities influence the thinking and the will of others. Some famous / infamous personalities have known to control the thinking of others such that these people think and have the same opinion as they. Other people do not dare differ from the (so-called) great people and so lose their independence of thought and will. Allah s.w.t. calls upon people to think independently and not to follow their elders and other influential personalities blindly. They, the misguided and heedless people will regret them on Judgement Day:
وَقَالُواْ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّآ أَطَعۡنَا سَادَتَنَا وَكُبَرَآءَنَا فَأَضَلُّونَا ٱلسَّبِيلَا۟
"And they will say : “O our Lord! Behold!We paid heed unto our leaders and great men, and it is they who have led us astray from the right path!”
(Q: Ahzab: 33: 67)
SOME IMPORTANT CORNERSTONE OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT
Criterion of Antithesis
Intellectual perception of all things, material or spiritual, tangible or intangible, revolves around 3 postulates:
[1] inevitability (WAJIBAH);
When the evidence presents itself convincingly, such that we have to make a certain conclusion (judgement) and cannot remain neutral or uncommitted.
[2] possibility (HARUS);
This generally is a position of neutrality, neither an acceptance nor a categorical rejection, but we remain open. (just like in cases when we say to it as: "Maybe, maybe not, or perhaps").
[3] impossibility (MUSTAHIL).
In Islam, this third postulate in thinking is termed 'rational impossibility' or 'absurdity' or 'antithesis'.
The word 'impossible' may be clear to simplest of people. Here we are not taking its meaning in the general sense, but rather specific to thinking process - the ratio. i.e. rationally impossible or absurd, which our mind cannot even register. Not impossible because it seems uncommon. But some of the best educated young people fail to differentiate between these two kinds of impossibilities:
(a) Rational impossibility, whose existence or non-existence, when visualised, is unacceptable to the mind (e.g. when we say that “one” is the quarter of "two" and not half of it , or that a part of an object is larger than the object itself!!!) Or, a proposition which inherently self-contradictory. Thus, rightfully we have basis to reject.
(b) Common impossibility is that which, while not altogether unacceptable to the mind, does seem so by the force of our habit to consider it as such. Eventually, however, we learn that it is not the same as rational impossibility (e.g. like soaring to the sky, taking to people and seeing things from far corners of the earth or landing on the moon.) Actually, common impossibility still falls under the category of possible (HARUS) i.e. it is still not rationally impossible, and we remain neutral towards it.
The criterion for dismissing a piece of information does not lie in the fact that it seems improbable and strange, but that it must be something which produces a mental antithesis, an obvious absurdity - something glaringly inconsistent and therefore self-evidently false. Hence if a contention (proposition) produces such antithesis, we repudiate it, and if it does not, then we should refrain from repudiating it although we do not as yet believe it. We need to substantiate with evidence and convincing basis - for both cases, either of acceptance or categorical rejection. Without which, we hold to an open mind. Therefore, an educated young man should not forget to differentiate between these two kinds of impossibilities whenever he engages in an argument within himself about God, religion, and the Qur' an.
Surmise (conjecture) cannot be the same as Truth
وَإِنَّ ٱلظَّنَّ لَا يُغۡنِى مِنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ شَيۡـًٔ۬ا
"Yet behold, never can surmise (conjecture) take the place of Truth"
(Q: Najm 53 :28)
From the above, it stresses exactly the mind's logical process for establishing a fact or negating it. In the matter of certitude, there is a great difference between proof and denial. Thus we can be absolutely certain about an existence of an object if such existence is proven scientifically or logically. But we should not categorically deny the existence of an object or a piece of information just because there is no proof of it unless the visualisation of that object or information produces a mental antithesis. If, however, the object or information is in the realm of possible, then we should look at it the way we look at everything that is not impossible. ie. neither accept it unquestionably nor deny it categorically.
........................... (to be continued)
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