Reasoning and intellect are the pillar of Islam and its fundamental foundation in beliefs, ethics, and conduct. This divine law does not permit a person to believe in what the mind does not deem true, nor to adopt traits that reason finds objectionable, nor to perform actions that reason considers reprehensible.
\nFrom this perspective, Qur\u2019anic discourse, the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and the narrations of his Household (peace be upon them) are rich with terms that call for thinking and reasoning\u2014such as reflection, remembrance, contemplation, understanding, learning, deep comprehension, mindfulness, insight, and restraint. These themes form a central \u0645\u062d\u0648\u0631 (axis) and are emphasized more than anything else. In the Holy Qur\u2019an, the word knowledge and its derivatives appear 779 times, remembrance 274 times, intellect 49 times, understanding (fiqh) 20 times, thought 18 times, core\/intellect (lub) 16 times, and contemplation 4 times.
\nIslam views the intellect as the foundation of the human being, the measure of his value and levels of perfection, the criterion for evaluating deeds, the scale for recompense, and the inner proof of God.
\nThe intellect is the most precious divine gift granted to humanity. It is the first principle of Islam, one of the most important pillars of life, and the finest adornment a person can possess.
\nThe intellect is the most valuable wealth, the best friend and guide, and the strongest refuge of the people of faith.
\nIslam holds that knowledge needs intellect, because knowledge without reason is harmful; if a person\u2019s knowledge lacks sound intellect, it becomes a burden upon him.
\nIn summary, Islam sees the only path to material and spiritual perfection, the flourishing of life in this world and the Hereafter, the attainment of a better human society, and the realization of humanity\u2019s noble purpose as lying in sound and correct thinking. All the tragedies and calamities that have afflicted humanity have resulted from ignorance and the failure to employ the power of thought.
\nThus, those who held false beliefs will acknowledge on the Day of Judgment the reasons for their misfortune, saying:
\n\u201cHad we but listened or reasoned, we would not be among the inhabitants of the Blaze.\u201d So they will confess their sin; so away with the inhabitants of the Blaze.
\nIntellect in Language
\nIn linguistic usage, the root meaning of \u02bfaql (intellect) conveys restraint, prevention, prohibition, and confinement\u2014like tying a camel with a rope (\u02bfiq\u0101l) to prevent it from moving. In the human being there is a faculty called intellect, which protects him from ignorance and safeguards him from slipping in thought and action. Hence the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said:
\n\u201cThe intellect is a restraint against ignorance.\u201d
\nIntellect in Islamic Texts
\nThe great scholar Shaykh al-\u1e24urr al-\u02bf\u0100mil\u012b (may God be pleased with him), at the end of the chapter \u201cThe Obligation of Obeying the Intellect and Opposing Ignorance,\u201d said regarding the meanings of intellect:
\n\u201cAmong scholars, the term intellect is used with many meanings. Through careful examination, it becomes clear that in the narrations it is used in several senses\u2026\u201d
\nIf you\u2019d like, I can also:
\nmake it more academic,
\nsimplify it, or
\nkeep a literal translation style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reasoning and intellect are the pillar of Islam and its fundamental foundation in beliefs, ethics, and conduct. This divine law does not permit a person to believe in what the mind does not deem true, nor to adopt traits that reason finds objectionable, nor to perform actions that reason considers reprehensible. From this perspective, Qur\u2019anic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":29130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-islamic-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29131,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29129\/revisions\/29131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}