Aql: The Place of Intellect in Islam [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

bottom="729" top="186">

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

"The first
thing created by God was the Intellect" (hadith)

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.

Imagine the
screen and all activity on the screen to represent the world of material
existence. The screen is considered as the horizontal dimension of the
computer. A program is running that simulates a small universe complete
with simulated beings (with senses that let them interact with other
objects on the screen) and simulated laws (much like some computer games)
- the attempts of the beings to understand the environment (on the screen)
represents science and all its branches (physics, chemistry etc.). This
science can give these fictional beings an understanding and control over
this HORIZONTAL (screen) dimension of their simulated universe.

Now
in order to create this onscreen world, complex processes are occuring
within the computer. The images on the screen are generated by rays
tracing pixel by pixel across the screen. There is a program (or perhaps
many interacting programs) running in the RAM. At another level there are
patterns of electricity (of information) flowing and tracing complex paths
through the chips on the motherboard. There is the static storage of the
uninitialized program stored on a disk. All these represent levels of
realities (the Universe on the screen exists on all these levels). The
projection on the screen is the visual (material) manifestation of these
other levels of existence. These other levels of existence are the
foundation, or the substratum of the universe on the screen. They
represent the VERTICAL dimension of the simulated universe.

A
creature in the simulated universe relying upon the senses given to it by
the program could achieve a good understanding of the simulated universe,
but it would not necessarily be even aware of the huge edifice which
exists as a support to its very existence (the program itself, the
patterns of electricity flowing through chips, the RAM, the actual
hardware which supports the software, etc.). It would be restricted to
understanding the horizontal world - the world on the screen. All the
other planes of its existence would be invisible to it.

Using this
analogy only as a starting point, let us briefly examine the concept of
intellect in Islam.

Science is a horizontal undertaking since it
expands our knowledge outwards. It brodens our understanding but does not
necessarily deepen it. Science is unstable from a theoretical view point -
it is based on hypotheses and experiment not on self-evident
principles.

Science can provide a model of the world as it is
(albeit an ever changing model), it describes 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
but is incapable (at least in its current form) of telling us anything
about our vertical existence.

Science and reason have width and
length but lack depth. They are missing this third dimension so that those
who see the world only through the glass of science are like a one-eyed
man. He perceives the world, but it is a flat dimensionless world having
extent and width, but no depth, no firm solidity.

If humanity is
shaped by science alone, the result is a 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 a humanity
"with capacity, but no attainment". (Mutahhari, Fundamentals of Islamic
Thought, Mizan Press). 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." (Mutahhari, Fundamentals). He must strive to realise his
'human' potential, otherwise by nature "...he moves towards his natural,
animal, individual, material, self-interested ends...." (Mutahhari,
Fundamentals) and uses the insruments 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.)

There is a tendency to attach the word Islamic to
existing secular ideologies. For example, there is talk of Islamic
democracy or Islamic sociology etc. The adoption of these secular
ideologies or methodologies is justified by making cosmetic Islamic
changes to them. this is done in order to demonstrate Islam's relevance to
modern times and to make Islam seem up-to-date and appealing to the 'west'
and westernized Muslims. What actually happens is that Islam is reduced to
the status of an adjective modifying a noun (i.e. democracy, rationalism).
It can no longer be seen as a total body of principles that provides its
own comprehensive and unique system. (Syyed Hossein Nasr, Living
Sufism).

Making reason or the scientific method the sole means of
attaining knowledge and the only criterion of truth and of right and wrong
is a tendency of the modernistic outlook. "This outlook has its origins in
Descarte's philosophical formulations.... For Descartes the ultimate
criterion of reality is the human ego.... His 'cogito ergo sum' - I think
therefore I am - places a limitation on human knowledge by binding it to
the level of individual reason and to the consciousness of the individual
ego." (Nasr, Living Sufism). The modern rationalistic trend seeks to
define all reality, but instead it limits its understanding of
reality.

In Islam "...logic is an aspect of truth and Truth
(Al-Haqq) is a name of God." (Nasr, Living Sufism). 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 suprious 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....Aperson devoid of reason cannot be conceived of except as a
corpse." (Al-Kafi, The Book of Reason and Ignorance)

Aql
(Intellect) in Islam is something which exists at two levels. There is the
level of "reason and logic" which is available as an instrument to all
mankind, and there is the level of the "universal intellect" to which only
a few have reached. Aql is that which connects man to the truth, not the
evolving truths of science but the truth that flows from God and provides
the key to all knowledge and all truth.

So the intellect (Aql) is
the highest plane of man - it is the noblest part of 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 conciousness 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: "....God created Intellect out of His own Light...and it
was the first creation among the spirits. After its creation Almighty God
commanded it to go back (to this world) the Intellect obeyed the order.
Then God commanded it to come forward (towards) Him. The Intellect did
accordingly. Upon this, God 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 God (as some have done) as it is a creation
of God, albeit his noblest creation.)

The Qur'an states that God 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, in order to make the vertical journey (the
"ascent of Islam"), in order 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 own individual
intellect to swim in the ocean of the universal (macrocosmic) intellect.
Through going inward, He is conveyed upwards and outwards to dizzying
heights.

Irshaad Hussain (March 1993)