Reaction Paper

Hafsa Turkyolu

Islamic Theology and Philosophy

Reaction Paper 1

Reason and Rationality in the Qur’an

It is very hard to summarize such a long and complex article into a page, but I will try my best. First and for most, even though, Ibrahim Kalin openly states the purpose of his paper, which is to portray reason and rationality as a larger and more interrelated context than assumed, I felt like this paper was more of an earnest ‘plead’ to Muslims. I should state that I assume his audience to be Muslims, rather than general academics. He begins his paper normally, by offering the Islamic definitions of rationality, truth, and reason. It's as if he is saying this is how you think these words are defined. Then he takes a pause and focuses on the normative descriptions of these words that have been defined by Westerners. He points out that the place of reason changed during the modern ages, which left Islam and its understanding of reason on the outside. Now, Islam is seen as a religion severely lacking reason. He does point out that this outcome is the result of political claims rather than accurate analysis of historical claims. This fact is ignored though, which allows Wests claim of superiority because unlike others they base everything on reason, and they believe this aids them in creating rational societies. Then he changes rear again to calm the alarmed Muslims by reminding them that contrary to what is being said Islam has many works focused on reason and rationality. However, they are ignored because Islam’s notion of reason and rationality are different from modern worlds understanding. From this point on, he goes back to defining the ontological words related to reason through Islam’s lens. He explains faith, heart, morality, language, existence, will, coherence, and etc. All of which are necessary complements that assist reason into getting a more accurate comprehension of reality and oneself. Finally, in his conclusion he paints a big picture that includes all the notions he described above, as if to show his audience the actual elegance of the degraded ‘reason and rationality’ within Islam. He then calls out to the Muslim world to urgently “recover the Qur’anic path of thinking and the traditional meaning of ‘aql.” This appeal is not just for the sake of recovering Muslims reputation; it is also a call to restore the lost principle of reason within the modern world. It is a call to “recover the meaning of the human person as a ‘being who thinks’.”