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Presentation at a seminar at Pwani University Kenya on Friday, February 28, 2020; by: Professor Omar Hasan Kasule, Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics at the Faculty of Medicine, King Fahad Medical City and Chairman of the Institutional Review Board and the Human and Medical Ethics Committee.
Overview
Islam recognizes two major sources of knowledge, revelation (ilm al wahy / ilm naqli) which is highest in quality, and human empirical experience (ilm al kawn/ ilm aqli). Two sources are complementary and are not opposed to one another. Both are sources of evidence and for most problems, they have to be used together. There is no contradiction between transmitted knowledge (ilm naqli) and empirical knowledge (ilm aqli). Revelation is the sole source of evidence or knowledge for moral precepts that humans cannot know through observation or experience. Revealed knowledge is higher in quality and empirical knowledge is more in quantity. We need to use both sources of knowledge. The task before is to integrate the paradigms and guidelines from revealed knowledge into the research methodology that generates empirical knowledge. We have over the past 30 years reached saturation points in some countries in presenting the concept of integration of knowledge. We need now to move on to put this concept into practice by introducing integrated teaching materials.
TERMINOLOGY: ‘ILM NAQLI and ‘ILM ‘AQLI
• Naqli is transmitted knowledge or revealed knowledge. The recognized sources are the Qur’an & sunnat.
• Other alleged sources of naql are not unanimously accepted: ilham, kashf, dreams etc.
• Aql is reason or rational knowledge based on the intellect. ØAql was emphasized in philosophical speculation by Muslim rationalists influenced by the Greeks.
• Al Ghazzali’s Tahafut al Falasifah vs Ibn Rushd III’s Tahafut al Tahafut.
• Aql became natural philosophy when scientific observations became predominant.
• Aql today essentially means empirical knowledge from experiments or observation.
‘ILM NAQLI and ‘ILM ‘AQLI
• Islam recognizes two major sources of knowledge, revelation (ilm al wahy / ilm naqli) which is highest in quality and human empirical experience (ilm al kawn/ ilm aqli).
• Two sources are complementary and are not opposed to one another. Imaam Ibn Taymiyah wrote a treatise rejecting contradiction between aql and naql, dar’u taarudh al aql wa al naql.
• Two sources are complementary and are not opposed to one another. Imaam Ibn Taymiyah wrote a treatise rejecting contradiction between aql and naql, dar’u taarudh al aql wa al naql.
• Both naql and aql are sources of evidence and for most problems they have to be used together.
• There is no essential contradiction between transmitted knowledge (ilm naqli) and empirical knowledge (ilm aqli). Any apparent contradictions are either due to incorrect empirical observations or human intellectual deficiency in understanding ‘ilm naqli.
CONFUSIONS ABOUT AQLI and NAQLI
• Philosophers and mutakalimuun wrote a lot about contradiction between aql and naql.
• Al Razi in his book Asas al taqdiis fi ilm al kalam listed 4 alternatives when evidences from aql and naql are apparently contradictory:
a) accept the contradiction,
b) reject both,
c) accept naql and reject aql,
d) accept aql and interpret naql (t’awill)
• Ibn Taymiyah wrote his major work ‘Rejection of the contradiction between aql and naql’ to remove the confusion.
IBN TAYMIYAH 1
IBN TAYMIYAH 2
IBN TAYMIYAH 3
IBN TAYMIYAH 4
IBN TAYMIYAH 5
IBN TAYMIYAH 6
IBN TAYMIYAH’S ARGUMENTS
• If both aql and naql evidences are definitive (qat’i) contradiction is impossible.
• If both aql and naqli are speculative (dhanni) we take the stronger one (tarjiih).
• If one is definitive and the other is speculative we take the definitive.
• Preferring aql over naql on the basis that aql is needed to understand naql is unacceptable.
• Clear aqli (sariih al ma ‘aquul) agrees with correct naql (sahih al manquul).
EXCLUSIVE ROLES OF ILM NAQLI
• Revelation is the sole source of evidence or knowledge for moral precepts that humans cannot know through observation or experience. Humans get easily confused between right/wrong.
• Some ethical values cannot be worked out empirically they are derived from revelation.
• Some future events are unknowable exactly empirically for example the last day, the exact day and place of death, the provision (rizq) for the next day.
• Several ethical values that can be derived from empirical experience or rational reasoning.
‘ILM NAQLI PROVIDES GUIDELINES FOR ILM AQLI
• Revelation provides the conceptual framework for empirical knowledge: purposiveness, evidence-base (burhan), objectivity (istiqamat), and usefulness (ilm nafie).
• Empirical knowledge will be greatly biased if it is not guided by the principles above.
• Qur'an laid down basic principles for mental health (such as tawakkul) and physical health (such as hygiene). It also mentioned treatment modalities such as honey. It however did not go into details. The task it to undertake empirical research (basic and applied) to expand these Qur'anic guidelines.
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH AS A BASIS FOR ILM AQLI
• There was a time when ilm aqli was based on logical reasoning and experimentation was actually despised. This has now changed.
• Research is a form of ijtihad and researchers get rewards (ajr) for their work.
• Research is necessary for the development of our medical services; we need to change from the mode of consuming knowledge (from other societies) to producing knowledge.
• More resources need to be allocated to research: training, research facilities, and research funding.
• What we want is meaningful well-thought-out research that is research facilities, and research funding.
• What we want is meaningful well-thought-out research that is applicable to our local problems and not research only for purposes of academic promotion or achieving higher university rankings.
INTEGRATED TEACHING MATERIALS
• A project to write course texts with Islamic epistemological input. 17
