Is the human intellect alone enough of a standard
for moral & spiritual guidance?

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 Before I begin, I believe it is essential to note that the Utilization of al-Aql (human rationale/intellect) is divided between idaaree (jurisprudential order, administrative) and shar’i (divine revelation). When it comes to the use of al-Aql in the jurisprudential affairs of this world, it is more common that the reliance of al-Aql will be utilized more so than with regards to knowledge of religion, because religious truths and reality is not based on human rationale or the intellect but rather based on wahi (revelation). But with idaaree, the base supposition regarding it is that it is not constrained and can be utilized more freely UNLESS an action performed by the aql would violate a legal ruling. In the following article, the topic will be centered more so on the shar’i aspect of the use of al-Aql, since after all, the people who propagate the use of al-Aql are doing so in the realm of defining truth and falsehood, what is right and wrong, which is religious based, not jurisprudential based.

The pivot point that all of our differences is based on is one single fundamental reality. That is that for our western counterpart, their conceptual understanding regarding the role and utilization of al-Aql is based on the school of thought of the philosophers. That is, that by one’s mind, one can arrive at what is most proper. In other words, the place of al-aql is put on a pedestal of being beyond fault. In other words, the western world views the utilization of al-Aql to have no limit whatsoever regarding determining truth and falsehood and what is right and wrong, whereas in Islamic thought, the intellect is set by limits

al-Aql in use by Westerners.

It is due to their belief that their own intellects can determine for them the best course of action that they see for themselves, that they came up with a most faulty conclusion, that being that “there is no absolute truth”. In other words, for them, truth is relative. What can be truth for you may not necessarily be truth to me. The hypocrisy in this framework of mind is that this idea is taken to its most absolute extreme regarding religion, but is not acted upon concerning specialized science. An example of this is someone going to seek a medical opinion from an expert. If the expert gives their opinion, and therefore their ruling about a person’s health, the one who is diagnosed does not react with “well I don’t like your opinion, I will rather judge for myself as my intellect sees fit”. No person in their right mind would do this. Yet when it comes to the subject of truth and falsehood, they would deem themselves capable to determine its reality.

The Utilization of al-Aql in Reality

In Islam, the intellect, al-Aql, is a faculty, just like the other 5 senses are faculties.

With regards to the faculty of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling, if one of them is wrong, there are other modes by which it can be corrected. An example of a faculty being wrong is when one smells a certain odor and then hastily makes a judgment that it is such and such, but when they actually see the origin of the odor, it turns out to be something else. If someone were locked in a room with no light, their faculty of seeing is deficient. They would not be able to see “smoke” which can be potentially harmful. However they can smell smoke. Therefore they can make the judgment that “smoke is in the room” even though they can’t see smoke.

With regards to the intellect, it is more difficult to determine where the inaccuracy or error lies at because it is not something that is proven by other modes, but rather it is only experienced. The limits of al-Aql, in reality, are the following

·     Age

·     Gender

·     Time of Existence

·     Education

·     Experience

·     Climate

·     Socio/Political events of the time

·     Language

·     Religion

·     Influence of Individuals

·     childhood upbringing

·     DNA traits

One of The Main Reasons for Resorting Back to Allah and His Messenger

It is for the following reality regarding the limitations of al-Aql that brought Allah to reveal the following ayaa

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ ۖ فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۚ ذَ*ٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger (SAW), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination.

In Islam, when the intellects of people clash, then who will act as the overseer, the judge, the criterion for them and determine who would lean to what is most correct. in Islam, the Qur’an and Sunnah, as is exemplified by the ayaa above. The unfortunate thing four our western counterparts is that they have no ultimate criteria that they abode by to determine which ideas of people are more suitable. Rather the yardstick that they have is none other than “consensus” or the view of the majority....

Find the complete piece at al-Mustaqeem Publications