Arts and Culture

Reason & Revelation

Omnia Wasfy, Egypt, Thursday 15 May 2008

Man has been blessed by the Creator in many ways of which the most important, in my opinion, is having brains: the tool to think and ponder upon different issues, and reaching different conclusions. Contemplating on creation has always been the means of finding the Creator. Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him – was known to withdraw for the whole month of Ramadan in the Cave of Hiraa, to contemplate and think about creation. It’s during this process of contemplation that he received the first revelation of the Quran.

For the ordinary man, reason would definitely be the tool used to discover the existence of God. Once achieved, the next step would be choosing ones religion: the revelation that meets ones reason.

But once settling on a certain religion, to what extent should reason be applied on the teachings of one's chosen religion?

In my opinion, I don’t think that reason should play a major role. I think it should be mainly applied to choosing the scientists and scholars to whom one reverts to concerning understanding the religion, whether through lectures or books.

Now let's take Islam, the religion I chose to embrace: when being stated clearly in the Quran that eating pork is forbidden, I should be following this restriction without thinking. Discovering at any time any negative health effects from eating pork shouldn’t be the reason behind me abstaining myself from it. I’ve already used reason in choosing this religion, and hence, I trust the Messenger of Allah and the Book of Allah. This is FAITH.

Actually, finding reason behind practising specific religion rituals and obligations or abstaining oneself from restricted ones, might be useful in the process of self-assurance, but it might also have its disadvantages. Such is the case in the matter of “hijab” for women.

In Egypt, where I live, the matter of “hijab” being a religion obligation or not has raised arguments between Islamic scholars supporting this obligation and thinkers writing against it. Lots of Islamic scientists and scholars preach that “hijab” is an obligation and provide us with proof from the Quran and the Sunnah, which is more than enough to back up embracing this Divine Order. But they furthermore keep adding that women are “fitna” and that’s why they should be covering themselves up. In my opinion such repeated statements trigger these arguments among Muslims, who feel offended by the fact that women are perceived as sex commodities and who would also wonder why men shouldn’t wear hijab too since they are fitna to women. Those Muslims, who consequently choose to start reasoning “hijab” themselves, end up with their own reasons to support or defy this matter.

Applying reason to all the teachings of our religion diverts us eventually from the path of the ones who “HEAR AND OBEY” (as per 3:285 of the Quran), from the path of FAITH.

As I was reading “Lost History” by Michael Hamilton Morgan, I paused to reflect on what Aristotle’s spirit told caliph Al-Mamun in his dream answering his question about reason and revelation: (which one is better for men’s affairs?), Aristotle said: “They are not in opposition. But to find true revelation, man must first choose reason, because reason is the doorway to revelation. Man must open his mind and use his intellect to find higher truth. In this way, God shows himself to man through ideas.”

I’m not sure if this dream or vision is a historical fact or not, but I think it's the key to the simultaneous and harmonious existence of both reason and revelation in our lives.