Role of Wisdom and Reason in the Shari'ah of Islam

Role of Wisdom and Reason in the Shari'ah of Islam

 Read ONLY,  IF AND WHEN you have time and mood for: 

 “An Ayah for 30 Days” -- May 2012

From the Pen and Perspective of a self-styled PPK Muslim (Proud, Practicing, Knowledgeable) with a humble submission that Islam totally rejects Blind Following BUT vigorously focusses on the Limitations of Pure Human Reasoning..............and clearly and comprehensively AlLAH knows best.

It should sound unbelievable but factually appears to be true : Many of our prevalent, widespread and important concepts and opinions about religious matters do not have a basis in the Quran and sometimes even appear to be in obvious conflict with the teachings of the Quran. It would be very educative and helpful to discuss an Ayah once a month to see if it supports or rejects our views and actions in our daily life.


Surah Al-Baqara (2), Ayah 269:


I have included translations from five well known scholars (thanks to God’s gift of IT) just for reassurance that there is no controversy about the obvious meanings of this Ayah. I might add that it is the first principle of tafseer that no interpretation is admissible if it goes against the obvious meaning of the text.

Abul Ala Maududi
  "He bestows wisdom upon anyone He wills, and he who is given wisdom is in fact given great wealth, but only those who have common sense learn lessons from these things".

Abdullah Yusuf Ali
 "He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message but men of understanding".

Muhammad Asad
  "Granting wisdom unto whom He wills: and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted wealth abundant. But none bears this in mind save those who are endowed with insight".

Muhammad Taqi Usmani
 "He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is given wisdom is certainly given a lot of good. Only the people of understanding observe the advice".

Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall
 "He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding".

The meanings of few  key words need to be emphasised:

 “al-hikmata”: All the five scholars have translated it as “wisdom” i.e. the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight

 “khayran katheeran”: lot of good and/or great wealth

“ ya’ththak’karu”: it is derived from “dikr” and has three meanings:  to  remember, to understand and to learn from (nasihat lena).

“ oloo al-albab”: literally it means "uqhloun wale" in Urdu or "folks with brains" in English. It is variously translated as men of understanding and insight; common sense; endowed with intellect; are wise; use reason.

Two messages are loud and clear: Fisrt, wisdom is a great bounty from Allah Ta’aala which HE gives to whoever HE pleases. Not everybody has it. It is as great, if not greater than the blessing of wealth and affluence. Just as you are accountable for your wealth in the Hereafter, you will be asked about this God-given reward and gift on the day of Judgement: how did yo use it, where did you use it and on whom did you use. Most of us owe our education, success and position in society to this reward from HIM. But have we paid our “zakat” on this? Have we used this God gifted faculty -- critical thinking and reasoning --  to understand the message and objective of our  Deen and then behave accordingly and propagate it effectively. We use our intelligence to the maximun in matters mundane to forge ahead -- for wealth and status. Same and exact enthusiasm is expected to use al-hiqmata to define and understand our religious obligations like fiqh and sharia. Our eagerness and effort to use our al-hikmata -- wisdom and intelligence -- for the temporal should be commensurate with our diligence to use it  for the spiritual.

Second Allah Ta’aala has clearly declared that NOBODY can  understand and learn from the Holy Book UNLESS  he  uses “al-hikmata” -- as men of understanding and intellect do --  to think and reason the matters discussed therin.

Elsewhere in the Quran Allah Ta’aala HIMSELF has defined the qualifications of  “oloo al-albab”. We can discuss this Insha Allah next month.

May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding -- fahm -- of our Deen, Aameen.