MODERN MUSLIM WORLD

Module C
Modern Muslim World – Way Forward - A

Topic No. 9
Does Being a Muslim Require Blind Faith?

o Aamir Yazdani
o University of Central Punjab
o Whatsapp: +92 3 33 42 36 501
o Email: aamiryazdani@yahoo.com
o Blog : www.aamiryazdani.blogspot.com
o YouTube: www.youtube.com/aamiryazdani
 Greek philosophers are known for their intellect and intellect based philosophies.
The names of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle are known worldwide.

Socrates (470 – 399 BC) Socrates was

an ancient Greek philosopher.

He is considered a moral
philosopher of the Western ethical
tradition of thought.

He wanted an ethical system based

on human reason and not on the
theological doctrine.

He believed leaders are the ones

who possess knowledge, virtue and
a complete understanding of
themselves.
 
Socrates said an individual’s
choice is motivated by the desire
for happiness.

The right choices to achieve

happiness can only be made when
one truly knows himself.
 Plato (423 – 348 BC)

Plato was an Athenian philosopher who was a student of Socrates and the teacher
of Aristotle.

Plato’s interests varied from mathematics

to political theory,.

Plato  was an philosopher and founder of

the Academy, the first institution of higher
learning in the Western world.

He is the pivotal figure in the Greek

history and Western philosophy with his
teacher Socrates and is most famous
student Aristotle. 

Plato is one of the founders of Western

religion and spiritualilty.
 Aristotle (b 384 BC)

Aristotle was born in Northern Greece.

He was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist.
He is considered the ‘Father of Western Philosophy’ along with Plato.

At the age of 17 or 18 Aristotle

moved to Athens to carry on his
studies in Plato’s Academy.

He studied physics, biology,

zoology, logic, ethics, poetry,
theatre, economics etc.

These subjects are even reflected in

his writings and quotes by Aristotle.
Filial fear of God. It involves the element
of fear. But, it is not the fear of being
hurt; it is the fear of offending the one
we love.

The other is Servile fear of God. It is

attached to the justice of God, like
punishment. Servile fear doesn’t build
healthy relationships.

A child who obeys his parents, even

when they are not around, honors his
parents through filial fear. He knows
that even if they didn’t find out what he
had been doing, the prohibited thing is
hurtful to his parents. Out of love for
them, he doesn’t do hurtful thing.

True love involves fear and reverence.

Filial fear is clean and pure. It purifies
the soul.
MORALITY IS UNIVERSALLY SHARED MORAL PRINCIPLES

Pledge with God

(Pledge: A promise to do something in the future)

The Qur’ān says man made a pledge with God.

Since man has been sent here for trial,

the whole incident has been erased
from his memory.
The Qur’ān says that
this testimony of
man’s inner-self is so
undeniable that man
will be held
accountable before
God merely on the
basis of this
testimony.
 INNER MORALITY

• Worshipping ‘the’ One

God
• Respecting parents
• Not telling lies
• Fulfilling commitments
etc.

are
universal morality
 Quran (30:19-21)
The Qur’an says
the basis on 19. It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings
which people out the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth
should believe is after it is dead: and thus shall ye be brought out (from the
the intellectual dead).
reasoning.
20. Among His Signs in this, that He created you from dust; and
God has no time then,- behold, ye are men scattered (far and wide)!
for people who
want to ‘eat, 21. And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates
drink and be from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with
merry’. them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts):
verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.
The traditional Muslims Quran (30:22-24):
say that Islam doesn’t
encourage Muslims to use 22. And among His Signs is the creation of the
their intellect. heavens and the earth, and the variations in your
languages and your colours: verily in that are
Some say that religion and
intellectual reasoning are Signs for those who know.
the very opposite of each
other. 23. And among His Signs is the sleep that ye take by
night and by day, and the quest that ye (make for
Because the point of view livelihood) out of His Bounty: verily in that are
against the use of signs for those who hearken.
intellectual reasoning is
presented by some people 24. And among His Signs, He shows you the
on the basis of religious lightning, by way both of fear and of hope, and He
arguments, it is important sends down rain from the sky and with it gives life to
to see those arguments,
whether they are valid or the earth after it is dead: verily in that are
not. Signs for those who are wise.
 Quran (30:25-28)

25. And among His Signs is this, that heaven and earth stand
Islam invites by His Command: then when He calls you, by a single call,
humans to believe in from the earth, behold, ye (straightway) come forth.
the unseen like God,
His prophets, and 26. To Him belongs every being that is in the heavens and on
the Life Hereafter by earth: all are devoutly obedient to Him.
reading God’s signs
and equates wisdom 27. It is He Who begins (the process of) creation; then repeats
(al Hikmah) with it; and for Him it is most easy. To Him belongs the loftiest
faith (al Imaan). similitude (we can think of) in the heavens and the earth: for
He is Exalted in Might, full of wisdom
Wisdom .
intrinsically means 28. He does propound to you a similitude from your own
employing ones (experience): do ye have partners among those whom your
intellect. right hands possess, to share as equals in the wealth We have
bestowed on you? Do ye fear them as ye fear each other?
Thus do we explain the Signs in detail to a
people that understand.
 Arguments against use of intellect

One argument quite often presented to show that religion has nothing to do with
intellect is that God has required us to have blind faith in the beliefs of religion and its
teachings.

The religious argument

supporting this claim is
sometimes mentioned
by stating that the
Qur’an has desired the
God-conscious people
(muttaqin) to have faith
bilghaib (Qur’an; 2: 2-3).

The meaning often

inferred from this
statement is that
Muslims are expected
to believe without
questioning.
A second argument
mentioned to show absence of any
role for intellect in religious
matters is a passage in the Qur’an
that allegedly says that good
believers are expected not to ask
questions.

The Qur’an says

“Believers! Do not ask

questions about
matters…” (5:101)
A third argument used to
negate the role of intellect in religion
are the words in verses mentioning
God’s expectation from the believer
that he should listen to the prophet
and obey.

One such verse says:

“The response of the true believers,

when they are called to God and His
messenger that he may judge
between them is only to say: ‘We
hear and we obey.’ Such are the ones
who will attain felicity.’” (24:51)
The fourth
argument,
the prophet,
alaihissalam,
discouraged
people from
getting involved
in the discussion
of
predestination
(taqdir), warning
them that doing
so might
endanger their
faith.
Responses to arguments against
use of intellect
Belief bilghaib

Qur’an requires God-

conscious people to believe
bilghaib, by acknowledging
realities because of their
arguments that cannot
otherwise be seen.

It is not asking them to

believe without reason or
intellectual justification.

In fact, what yuminuna

bilghaib (they believe in the
unseen) means is that the
Qur’an expects God-
conscious individuals to be
such intelligent people who
accept the unseen realities
because of the strength of
their arguments.
Truths are accepted
beyond the domain of
sense perception: love,
intelligence, gravity.

Science acknowledges
gravity. It cannot be
seen, heard, or weighed.
The objects fall on the
ground instead of flying
upwards is a proof of the
fact that there has to be a
force on the ground that
pulls objects towards
itself.

The Qur’an tells us that
the case of the realities of
beliefs presented by it is
likewise undeniable,
provided arguments
supporting those beliefs
are taken seriously.
Why is accepting gravity as a reality easier than
accepting belief in the unseen?
The reason is that while accepting gravity as a reality
carries no obligations, in accepting religious beliefs one
is confronted with challenges of circumstances, desires,
and ego.
 Don’t ask questions

The verse is stating the fact that if believers will asking unnecessary questions while
the Qur’an is getting revealed, God will respond by revealing His answers which He
doesn’t want to do because those answering verses too would become a part of the
divine law (shari’ah). God didn’t want His shari’ah to become unnecessarily long to
become a burden for believers.

This verse has nothing to

do with the matter of
asking questions to
understand beliefs and
shari’ah.

Verse 5:101 is discouraging

irrelevant questions and
not the ones that enhance
human understanding of
the shari‘ah.

God has answered many

questions on shari‘ah in
surah al-Baqarah alone.
 We hear and we obey

The verse “we hear and we obey” is emphasizing that after an individual has
accepted the messenger as God’s representative, he cannot ignore his commands
simply because they don’t appeal to him or he doesn’t understand their wisdom
properly. The verse is not condemning the process of intellectualizing.

Qur’an argues that Muhammad (saw) is His

messenger. These arguments are intellectual in
nature. On being intellectually convinced how can
he not obey him?

The verses emphasizing the fact that believers hear

and obey are not negating the use of intellect. They
are criticizing the illogical behaviour of those who
are not following the prophet despite accepting him
as God’s messenger. Quran states their behaviour in
(2:93): “They said:" We hear, and we disobey:"

It is not human intellect that is being criticized in

these verses; instead, it is human ego and desires
that are being condemned in them.
 The question of pre-destination

The question of taqdir has primarily got to do with two attributes of God: knowledge
and justice. Like all other attributes of God, these two attributes are also unlimited
and simultaneously functional. God knows everything about the past, present, and
future. He therefore knows what people would do in their lives that would cause
them to end up in the paradise or the hell.
God is fair. God’s knowledge of the
future doesn’t necessitate that what
people do is what they must do. His
knowledge will therefore not negate
His justice.

Because the human intellect cannot

fully grasp, the prophet, alaihissalam,
discouraged people from discussing it.

By discouraging them, the prophet

didn’t discourage the use of intellect.
He only demarcated the boundaries of
it. Like our physical strength, our
abilities to see, hear.

The prophet, alaihissalam, guided his

companions to know the limits of their
intellect when he discouraged them
from talking about the question of
destiny.
 Positive Arguments in the Qur’an

The Qur’an answers questions many questions raised by believers at the time when
the process of revelation was on.
Obviously, if asking questions would have been undesirable, God wouldn’t have
mentioned questions of believers in the Qur’an and answered them.
 Rajab

The four Islamic

sacred months

Zulqaidah

Zul Hajjah

Muharram
 Angels asked God questions

The Qur’an mentions an incident when God presented a very important plan before
angels who instead of accepting it wholeheartedly, asked a question about the plan
which was based on some serious objections to it.

The incident clarifies that even angels use intellect and they need to be convinced
intellectually to make them inclined to accept and follow God’s plan with true
devotion.
 The Qur’an urges readers to use their intellect

There are many passages of the Qur’an that strongly urge the reader to use their
intellect. The following are two passages that are urging the reader to ponder over
the verses of the Qur’an.
The Qur’an condemns those who don’t use their intellect as worse than beasts
 Faith and intellect

There is a verse in the Qur’an

that clarifies that one can
only have faith if one uses
one’s intellect. God causes
filth to cover the hearts of
those who don’t use their
intellect.

Defilement: the action of spoiling someone someone so that that person is less pure
Response by the non believers on being asked the question by angels on why
they did not listen to the messenger.