science

& concept of intellect

in Islam

Presented by
HAJI MAOHAMAD HANIM MOHAMAD ISA
• Science is a horizontal undertaking since it expands our
knowledge outwards. It broadens our understanding but
does not necessarily deepen it. Science is unstable from
a theoretical view point - it is based on hypotheses,
experiment, and discovery, not on self-evident principles.
• Science can provide a model of the world as it is (albeit
an ever changing model), it describes aspects of the
world for us but it cannot tell us anything about the
foundations or the underpinnings of the world and of the
purposes behind it. It describes our horizontal existence
and gives us a power over this aspect of our existence
but is incapable (at least in the currently dominant form)
of telling us anything about our vertical existence.
• Science and reason have width and length but lack depth.
Missing this third dimension - so who see the world only
through the glass of science are like a one-eyed man. He
perceives the world in great detail, but it is a flat uni-
dimensional world having vast extent and breadth, but no
depth, no firm solidity.
• If humanity is shaped predominantly by science, the result
is humankind with vast horizontal knowledge, a large
body of knowledge about the workings of the physical
universe but little comprehension of what the purpose(s)
of it is - the "why" of existence. It is like understanding
exactly how a car works, "how all the parts mesh together,
how to drive it in an efficient manner, but having no place,
no destination to drive to. " Science can shape humanity
"with capacity, but no attainment". It can give man an
"instrumental power and ability", a power that is
dependent on man's will and command.
• Man has an end in view when he uses these instruments.
"Man is animal by nature and human by acquisition.“  He
must strive to realise his 'human' potential’...moves
towards his natural, animal, individual, material, self-
interested ends....“  and uses the instruments given to
him by science to achieve these ends. Through science
he can subjugate the horizontal world.
• But he only attains his humanity when he becomes
aware of the vertical aspect of existence. A complete
understanding is only attained when one's knowledge
encompasses both the horizontal and vertical
dimensions of knowledge. ("Faith, without the light of
reason and science, degenerates into mere
superstition.")
• Islam is now reduced to the status of rationalism, secularism
etc. It can no longer be seen as a total body of principles
from which emerge a comprehensive and unique system  - a
unity of the vertical and horizontal aspects of existence - a
unity born of fidelity to the core Islamic concept of Tauhid.
instead, the presently existing secular systems become the
acknowledged systems, and Islam is implicitly seen as a
subculture, a subsystem that is no longer a comprehensive
way of life (deen), no longer the path of unity, but merely a
historical artefact which is subordinate to the secular
culture.
• Over time, such a subordinate version of Islam will be forced
into an ever changing dance of adaptation. In the end the
Islam that remains will perhaps be such a faded and faint
shadow of its original self that whether one remains a
Muslim or not in such a system will be of little or no
consequence.
• Modernistic outlook becomes the sole means of attaining
knowledge, these criterion of truth of right and wrong origins
in Descartes’ .... His philosophical 'cogito ergo sum' - I think
therefore I am - places a limitation on human knowledge.
Binding it to individual reason and consciousness of
individual ego. “ Rationalistic sought to define all reality, but
instead they limited understanding of reality.”
• An ego that struggles and seeks to understand its own
existence like Descartes’ 'cogito ergo sum' - one that has no
wish to understand its own nature, which purposely turns
away from self-reflection and taking stock of it's own self.
• Reason, logic, the scientific method - all become subservient
to this ego and so lose their tinge of truthfulness. They
mutate instead, into a delusional propaganda designed to
limit opposition and interference, to maximize power and
profit, and to allow this national, political ego to fulfil its
appetites, no matter how voracious these appetites may be.
• In Islam "...logic is an aspect of truth and Truth (Al-Haqq) is
a name of God.” The use of logic is like the use of a rung in
a ladder - properly used it can help man move upward
along the vertical axis of his being. Reason is an innate
ability within man which encompasses logic and which can
propel him rapidly upwards along the vertical dimension.
• But in order to do this reason must be free of the taint of
man's animal, material propensities. Otherwise reason can
be subverted to provide spurious justification for man to
attain his desires in whatever realm his desires may fall.
Reason and correct knowledge must go hand in hand.
"....one who has no reason secures no success. He who
has no (correct) knowledge has no (correct) reasoning....A
person devoid of reason cannot be conceived of except as
a corpse."
• Aql (Intellect) in Islam exists at two levels, on two planes
of existence. The level of "reason and logic" which is
available as an instrument to all mankind, and the level of
the "universal intellect" to which only a few have reached.
It exists at a higher level than the material world and
encompasses and comprehends the lower worlds. Aql
connects man to the truth, not the evolving truths of
science but the truth that flows from Allah and provides
the key to all knowledge and all truth.
• Intellect (Aql) is the highest plane - the noblest in man - it
encompasses reason and logic and it stands above the
ego. The Qur'an equates those who go astray with those
who cannot (or will not) use their intellect - it uses the
phrase 'wa la ya'qilun' (they do not use their intellect) or
the phrase 'la yafaqahun' (they comprehend not). Those
who do not use their intellect are those who have denied
themselves access to one of the highest aspects of their
humanity.
• Reason is an aspect or reflection of the universal intellect
on the psyche of the individual. Reason on the level of
individual consciousness is not, however, free of the
passions or the ego. It can be an instrument or means to
attaining the universal intellect or it can be a veil (when
mixed with the passions) that hides one from the Divine
truths.
• Revelation provides a guiding and regulating framework
within which reason and logic can find firm footholds to
convey man up to the plane of the universal intellect. The
verses of the Qur'an become doors to this intellect, and
once this intellect is accessed the knowledge of the
"Mother of the Book" can be achieved. The storehouses of
this knowledge are opened in varying degrees. The person
who rises to this level has made the vertical journey and
attained to the level of the pure universal intellect and can
then become a guide to the people.
• This level of intellect is addressed in the following hadith:
"....Allah created Intellect out of His own Light...and it was
the first creation among the spirits. After its creation
Almighty Allah commanded it to go back (to this world)
the Intellect obeyed the order. Then Allah commanded it
to come forward (towards) Him. The Intellect did
accordingly. Upon this, Allah addressed it with the words,
I have created you in all your glory and bestowed upon
you honour and preference over all My creatures." (Al-Kafi,
The Book of Reason and Ignorance).
• NOTE: This hadith makes it clear that the Universal
intellect is not to be confused with Allah (as some
have done) as it is a creation of Allah, albeit his
noblest creation.
• In the following discussion on the place of intellect in Islam, the analogy of a computer may help
clarify some of the points made. This is an analogy used only to provoke some thought and is not
meant to be carried too far. There is, after all, no such thing as a perfect analogy. A perfect
analogy would, in fact, BE the thing described.
• The Qur'an states that Allah taught the names (all of them)
to Adam - that is the names or realities of all things. This
knowledge was placed within Adam and, by extension,
within all human beings. Those who practise 'irfan' speak
of an inward journey through which the mystic uncovers
the knowledge of some of these names.

• Mulla Sadra speaks of this inward journey as being one

through which one can break through to the true 'outside'.
(Using the analogy of a computer, it is as if a being on the
screen is able to find a key parameter within its own subroutine
that would give it access to the governing program that controls
and regulates the universe on the computer screen - with all the
attendant possibilities implicit in that access. A complete
understanding of the basis and workings of its own subroutine,
and its place and function within the overall program could then
be achieved).
• In order to have access to the true depth of existence,
to make the vertical journey (the "ascent of Islam"),
and to achieve understanding of the realities of
existence (of all things) one goes inward and thus
reaches a plane outside of and above the material
plane. (In the computer analogy, they become aware of all
the levels of processing which comprise their true existence and
which make possible their projected existence on the level of the
computer screen.)
• The human intellect is a microcosmic reflection of the
universal intellect. When man attains to proper use of
his own intellect he is able to move from the level of
his individual intellect to swim in the ocean of the
universal (macrocosmic) intellect. Through going
inward, He is conveyed upwards and outwards to
dizzying heights.