"Yes to the Qur'an and Hadith, No to Reason !?"
As the usual course,
series of symposia is held in various universities with the obvious agenda
of discrediting the Awaiting Tree from among the students.
During a certain symposium, a religious teacher, locally called 'ustadz',
who was the invited speaker, instructed the participants in a vernacular:
"In understanding the teachings of Islam, you just cling to the Qur'an and
Hadith, and there's no need for using your reasoning/intellect (vernacularly
termed 'pikil' and 'akal', which are obviously derived from the Arabic
words, 'fikr' and ''aql', respectively.
In reacting to the afore-cited statement of the ustadz, let's pose these two
queries:
1. Ustadz, do you mean to say that the two basic Islamic sources, the Qur'an
and the hadith, on one hand, and reason/intellect, on the other hand, are
contradictory?
2. Assuming that your "yes-to-the-Qur'an-and-hadith-no-to-reason" contention
is valid, can you show to us at least one Qur'anic passage or apostolic
narration stating to the effect: "In understanding Islamic teachings one
must cling only to the Qur'an and hadith, and there's no need to use one's
own reasoning/intellect"?
Meanwhile, instead of citing innumerable Qur'anic injunctions and prophetic
sayings implying compatibility of religion and reason from the viewpoint of
Islam, suffice to quote the following two verses from Chapter 30 (al-Rum) of
the Holy Qur'an for your close attention:
21. "And among His signs is that He created for you from among yourselves,
mates that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He put love and mercy
between you. Verily, in this are signs for those who reflect ("yatafakkarun")
[from the root word, "fikr"---reasoning]."
24. "And among His signs is that He showed you the lightning causing awe and
hope, and send down from the heavens water and gave life with it to the
earth after its death; verily in this are signs for a people who understand
("ya'qilun") [from the root word, "'aql"---intellect]."
"And among among His signs is that He showed you the lightning causing awe and hope, and send down from the heavens water..."
Qur'an 30:24
© 1998-2004 Shajaratun Muntazirah
Email: [email protected]
Address: http://www.geocities.com/smuntazirah
