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Presentation at the South Asian Conference in Kuala Lumpur on October 12, 2019. 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.
} Aql
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 experiment 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.
} 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 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 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.
