Minute with a Muslim #068 – Reason Over Revelation

So Islam is our paradigm, the Quran and the Sunnah is our paradigm, much, much more than a source. The next thing we're going to talk about how to interact with the Quran and Sunnah is what is the role of reason. This is a hot topic and a much misunderstood topic, a lot of people that want to talk about the role of reason, in faith, and a lot of people in America, they assume that faith and reason cannot go together or that logic and faith cannot go together. And this is their trauma from Christianity. And then there's other people within the Muslim community that want to say that, well, you know, you just have to believe and we don't ask the questions why or why did Allah legislate

this? Or Why did Allah legislate that? And we shouldn't necessarily think about these things. It's only about obedience, and they have a point. They have a point but but to act as if reason has no role in our faith, it makes to two very, very large mistakes. First of all, it thinks of reason as a threat when reason is not a threat. In fact, Reason is a means of salvation. Allah subhanaw taala says in Surah Mulk that one of the regrets of the people of Hellfire is that they did not use their reason. We'll call it hello Kunta Ness Mao, O Nathie. Two, if only we had either listened meaning obeyed or had used our reason. And how many times is Allah subhanaw? taala. Say in the Quran, Allah

Allah calm Tapi Loon, right? Or he says something about Athleta to Athena moon, don't you? Think about it, won't you use your reason? That's the first thing. The second thing is that we have to be very, very clear by what we mean when we say the word reason because there is no one thing called reason, which is why people get it wrong. When they say that, well, this School of Theology or this flavor or movement of Islam, though they prioritize reason over revelation. Whereas we we prioritize revelation over reason. This is an incorrect way of framing it, because reason is not just one thing. There are different multiple traditions of reason. One of those traditions of reason comes

through the Greeks Greek philosophy, especially Platonists and Neo Platonism. And this is the force we've talked about before that has influenced Christian theology that we see today and had an influence on Islam as well, though the Great's of Islam of theology, rebuked it and refuted it. But there is a tradition of reason that is internal and inherent to the Quran and the sooner Allah subhanaw taala. Uses reason all throughout the Koran, when he is trying to convince us that He is the only entity the only being worthy of being worshipped. He is using reason. He doesn't say to us believe it, because I said so. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does not say believe it

because I said so. They use reason to convince us and then once we've been convinced and persuaded, then obedience is expected to follow because that then becomes a moral issue. So people get afraid of reason and asking, Well, why did Allah say this? Or Why did Allah say that? Or Why did Allah use this particular word here? Or Why did Allah Spano to Allah give us this ruler that rule? The only thing you have to be worried about is whether that person is asking from a place of sincerity or not? Because there are two types of questions. There are sincere questions, and those are moral questions. And there are insincere questions. And those are immoral questions. An example of an

immoral question would be an example, such as Benny is straw eat and soda to the Bacara when they are commanded to sacrifice a cow? And they say, what type of cow? Do they really want to know what type of cow? Or are they trying to get out of it and procrastinate, they're trying to get out of it and procrastinate, they're trying to delay? They're trying to do whatever they can do. When the kofod they say, If only he would show us an idea, if only he would show us a sign? Or if only he was given a book? Or if only he was given this miracle, or why don't you send down this miracle or that miracle? Are they asking out of sincerity? No, they are not asking you out of sincerity, they are

asking out of arrogance, and therefore it is immoral. They don't really want a sign, which is why I lost Fanta. Allah repeatedly calls them out on this and says, Listen, if we showed you every sign you still wouldn't believe because these people are not genuinely asking. They're really just trying to procrastinate and get around the issue, as opposed to as opposed to people such as Ibraheem Alehissalaam and Musa alayhis salam who asked questions of Allah subhanaw taala

In the Quran and are not rebuked Allah subhanaw taala doesn't blame them for asking questions. Ibraheem Alehissalaam asked Scaife to Hinomoto How are you going to resurrect the dead? He wants to know. Allah subhanaw taala asked him, if Allah told me like, don't you? Don't you believe? He says yes, but I want to put my heart at ease. And so Allah spawn to Allah then shows him he tells him to gather the birds and cut them up and put them on different mountaintops, and then call them and they all come back together. So that is a question that is a moral question because it comes from a place of sincerity. And Allah subhanaw taala does not blame us for asking questions, as long as we are

coming from a place of sincerity, and asking moral questions, because we want to be on a firmer footing, we want our faith to be stronger. That's why we're asking the questions. So we shouldn't hesitate. If we have good reasons to do so. We have sincere reasons for doing so we want to understand Why did Allah say this? Why did Allah say that? Why did he legislate this? Why did he legislate that? Because the more that we know, if we have the right, sincere disposition, the more it will put us on firm footing, and it will strengthen our faith. And so we shouldn't be afraid of the role of reason. The thing that we have to be concerned about is that we're using the reason that

is internal to our tradition, the reason of the Koran, the reason in the Koran, the reason in the Sunnah, and not some sort of other tradition, foreign tradition of reason, and philosophy that comes from outside of it, that would necessitate us reinterpreting things and getting in a whole lot of mess. So that's the second point. Don't be afraid of reason. We use reason for everything we use reason to accept that the revelation is true in the first place. Yes, we do. We use reason to implement and apply the criteria that Allah gives us in the Revelation such as how do I determine what's a false god from a true God? Allah subhana, Allah says, false gods can't speak, they can't

guide they can't create, they can't defend themselves. They're not eternal. All these sorts of criteria. We're using reason here. He's telling us to take these criteria and go out and apply them to everything that you see what the same thing with criteria for prophet hood, who's a true prophet from a false prophet, a true prophet will not claim to be anything more than what he is a true prophet will not ask for financial compensation, a true prophet will not claim to make people rich or his followers rich. A true prophet will not claim to know everything of the unseen. He gives us these criteria, reason, so that you can go and use the criteria. This is also part of how we're

supposed to use reason or the role of reason, or a certain tradition of reason that we're expected to use. How do we extend and apply the Quran and the Sunnah to new situations, the work of the roadmap using HT hat and using Ts and these sorts of things. Now we have Bitcoin now we have aI we've got, you know, we've got the AI chats, you know, we've gotten people now, they are forging essays and doing all sorts of crazy things with deep fakes and whatever. How are we going to use Allah's guidance in the Sharia in the Quran and the Sunnah to apply to every single new situation that comes down the road? We're going to use reason. Yes, not any reason, not the reason of the

Greeks, not the philosophy of the Greeks, the reason that Allah gave us in the Quran and Sunnah. So we should not be afraid of reason, then we shouldn't get into the false dichotomy and saying, Well, we prioritize revelation over reason, as even Taymiyah argued, when he argued against the logicians and the theologians, he said that it is about using that real reason does not contradict authentic revelation whatsoever. So it's not a question of how much reason it's a question of what type of reason are we talking about?