I was wondering, is Islam the religion of reason? If Islam is the religion of reason, why would such intelligent people not believe in it? Is there a problem with Islam or with their intelligence?
Let's start answering with reason. Do we have a clear answer as to what exactly reason is? What is reason, is it the power of intellect or the capacity of mind? Let's elaborate a little on this. Is it grasping something immediately, or absorbing and retaining the information over time?
I am actually confused!
Well, the issue itself is complicated anyway. Reasoning is often equated with intelligence nowadays, and highly intelligent people are considered to be very logical. Intelligence, however, is defined as the power of a person to find solutions to problems in one's own field. Solving the problem is only possible by deep comprehension and retaining it permanently. Here the mind comes into play, it is where what we have learned is stored.
So does the mind do all this on its own? Doesn’t it get support from anywhere?
We can answer this by thinking about the development of a child. The child is a smart creature from the moment of birth as long as s/he doesn't have any mental illness or retardation. The first learning experience of the child is through eyes and ears. That is, children start learning by imitating the things they see and hear. The things that are said do not make sense to the child, and the child does not have the ability to reason. With the development of the mental ability over time, the child can remember the things that hurt them a lot. S/he may have no idea why that things hurt. This is because the power of comparison is not yet developed in the child. The children only reach the stage of using their minds with the development of the power of comparing and differentiating. Up until this time, a great deal of input accumulates in children's minds through what they see and hear, although this is through imitation. This is how the children make the comparison and differentiation. If it is insufficient, they tend to get information from those around them. Exactly at this point external sources come in.
So, it is not possible for the mind to function alone.
Of course! Because the mind works with comparing and differentiating methods. Our ancestors called it qiyas (reasoning) and tamyiz (differentiating). In order to carry out these two operations, there must be some input accumulated in the mind. This is the very reason that brings out the human need to learn. People collect materials through learning in their minds and then they obtain new information by comparing and contrasting them. They plan the future in the light of this information.
So, it's impossible to survive without reason!
Definitely not. That is why Allah created humans with reason and He addressed those with reason. However, the reason that is isolated from all information is impossible to function. So, reason is a mechanism that works based on the information it is equipped with. If the person does not expand and diversify the knowledge gathered in one's mind, then the person will be trapped in a vicious circle with monotonous thinking.
What about religion?
A person learns the Creator and his/her duties towards Him (swt) through the religion. As it is not possible to see the Creator, the knowledge about Him is obtained through the way we receive information about the things we don't see. That is learning. We can only obtain this information through the Prophet whom Allah assigned and sent us. The assignment of the Prophet as a human is intended to appeal to both the mind and the senses. This is because the Prophet is not only a teacher but also a role model and an example.
Yes, the teacher as well. How about going back to the topic, it sounds as if we had disabled the mind?
The mind can never be disabled. Disabling the mind means a person becomes dysfunctional and enters a vegetative state. That's why no prophet ever intervened in people's minds by coercion. If they had done, the will of humans would have been disabled. Indeed, the work of the mind is comparison and discrimination. At the end of this comparison and discrimination, it makes a choice. Based on this preference, people draw a path and method for themselves. When you eliminate these processes and compel them to a certain direction and method, neither the mind nor the will becomes important. Since Almighty Allah knows the system He has established very well and the people He has created, He has established the duty of prophets in a way that will not harm the system and limit the human mind. As we said before, people need information from outside and this is exactly what the prophets did. They brought some information about the area that they did not know. They guided people about how to use this information and how to determine a path in the future. In this case, people weigh the pros and cons. If a person does this while ignoring the information the prophets brought, they would be imprisoning themselves in a narrow and barren area by reasoning only with the information in their minds. Indeed, a smart person makes decisions by improving and diversifying one's knowledge. If a person reaches a conclusion by using the knowledge the prophet brought, then the person will be on the right path.
Should we, then, see all information tools as a whole?
Exactly. When the means of knowledge are separated from each other, people are left with an incomplete knowledge. So, it is not possible to arrive at a conclusion and achieve a result with the mind alone. Islam appeals to the mind, prioritizing the understanding of the mind. In this respect, reasoning clearly has an undeniable place and importance in Islam. When we say that Islam is a religion of reason, if we mean a religion produced by the mind, that is not true, but if we say that it is a religion that the mind can grasp and approve of, then it is true. People who condemn the mind to a one-sided view and limited knowledge definitely disable the mind. The expressions in the Qur’an such as “Most of them do not reason” are also for such people.
