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Knowledge: the Qur'anic Discourse Concerning Reason and Revelation

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Knowledge: the Qur'anic Discourse Concerning Reason and Revelation KNOWLEDGE: THE QUR’ĀNIC DISCOURSE CONCERNING REASON AND REVELATION AND ITS IMPACT by AMRA BONE A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology & Religion School of Historical Studies The University of Birmingham January 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank every single person who crossed my path during the period of my studies. My greatest debt is to my mum and dad and my brother. Throughout my life they strove to give me the opportunity to study and better myself. Without their love and support I would never have been able to pursue an academic life. I would like to wholeheartedly thank Dr Draper, Dr Khir, Dr Buaben, Dr Surty and Sheikh Evans for their support and help. I am indebted to my dear husband for all his love, support and patience, being a soundboard for ideas and spending hours typing from my hand written pages. I would also like to thank my friend Muhammad Ali who patiently supported me in my translation of some of the classical texts. Most of all my gratitude to the almighty God for giving me the ability, strength, patience and determination to carry on despite the many hurdles I faced over the years. ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of the Qur'ānic discourse on knowledge and its impact on the Muslim world. It focuses in particular on the division of knowledge into the Revealed or Religious sciences and the Rational sciences. The thesis asks whether both Revealed knowledge and Rational knowledge are considered religiously praiseworthy and questions what the purpose is in acquiring knowledge. The thesis then examines the impact of the Qur’anic discourse on the Muslim community through the development of the revealed and the rational sciences and through the development of educational institutions. Finally, it asks why it is that in the present day the two branches are isolated from each other when there was clearly a great deal of overlap and cross‐fertilisation during the medieval period. The findings were that the purpose of acquiring knowledge in Islam is to understand God and oneself. It found that within the Qur'ānic discourse the revealed sciences and the rational sciences enjoy a symbiotic relationship. This relationship did not however always manifest in society. The educational institutions did incorporate the rational sciences during times of prosperity but when under political or economic pressure they regressed back to only teaching the revealed sciences. Contents 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Scope ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 8 1.2.1 Insider Outsider Issues ....................................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 14 1.2.3 Structure of the Thesis ....................................................................................... 14 1.3 Notes .......................................................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Translations ........................................................................................................ 15 1.3.2 Transliteration .................................................................................................... 18 1.4 Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 19 1.5 Introducing the Qur’ānic Revelation .......................................................................... 27 1.5.1 Definition and meaning of the word ‘Qur’ān’ .................................................... 29 1.5.2 How the Qur’ān was revealed and to whom? .................................................... 31 1.5.3 The Message of the Revelation .......................................................................... 33 1.5.4 The Style and Structure of the Revelation ......................................................... 34 1.5.5 Qur'ānic Exegesis ................................................................................................ 41 1.6 Overview of the Sunnah ............................................................................................ 42 1.6.1 Definition of Sunnah and Ḥadīth ........................................................................ 43 1.6.2 The Authority of the Sunnah in Relation to the Qur’ān ..................................... 44 45 ....... ﷺThe application of Sunnah – the context, the style, love of the Prophet 1.6.3 2 Reason and Revelation in the Qur'ān and Sunnah ........................................................... 47 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 47 2.2 Definitions .................................................................................................................. 4 8 2.2.1 Al‐‘Ilm (Knowledge) ............................................................................................ 48 2.2.2 Knowledge and Wisdom ..................................................................................... 53 2.2.3 Light as a Metaphor for Knowledge ................................................................... 54 2.2.4 Jahl as the Antithesis of ‘ilm ............................................................................... 59 2.2.5 Knowledge and certainty .................................................................................... 60 2.2.6 The Rank of the Knowledgeable ......................................................................... 62 2.3 God’s Knowledge ....................................................................................................... 68 1 2.3.1 The Nature of God .............................................................................................. 68 2.3.2 God: the source of all knowledge ....................................................................... 72 2.4 Man’s Knowledge ....................................................................................................... 75 2.4.1 The Nature of Man ............................................................................................. 76 2.5 Revelation ‐ Waḥy ...................................................................................................... 80 2.5.1 Categories of Revelation..................................................................................... 83 2.5.2 Messengers and Scriptures ................................................................................ 86 2.6 Reason ........................................................................................................................ 91 2.6.1 Intellect ‘aql ........................................................................................................ 91 2.6.2 The Use of the Senses ......................................................................................... 93 2.6.3 The Natural World .............................................................................................. 95 2.6.4 History ............................................................................................................... 101 2.7 The Purpose of Knowledge ...................................................................................... 103 2.7.1 Signs Āyāt ......................................................................................................... 103 2.8 Scientific Verses ....................................................................................................... 106 2.9 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 112 3 The Development of the Revealed Sciences .................................................................. 114 3.1 Jurisprudence ‐ Fiqh ................................................................................................. 114 3.1.1 Background to the Establishment of the Schools of Law ................................. 115 3.1.2 Founders of the Schools of Sunni Jurisprudence ............................................. 123 3.1.3 Ibn Hazm (994‐1064 CE) and the Ẓāhirī School ................................................ 134 3.1.4 Fiqh Al‐Wāqi’a (Understanding the Reality) ..................................................... 135 3.1.5 Maqāṣid Al‐Sharīʿah .......................................................................................... 139 3.1.6 Ibn Taymiyyah and the Modern Salafiyyah Movement ................................... 141 3.1.7 Muḥammad ibn Abdul Wahab
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