INTELLECT AS A MEANS OF KNOWLEDGE - YouTube

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,  my name is Muhamed Izzrie Bukhary bin  

Izat Bukhary and we will talk about  intellect as the means of knowledge.

First, the meaning of aql. In arabic  words, aql means reason or intellect.  

The meaning of ‘Aql according to Ahl al-Sunnah  wa al-Jama’ah have various definitions and it  

has already been summarized by Ibn Jawzi in his  book Al- Azkiya into only 4 meanings. First,  

aql is an attribute that can distinguish between  humans and other creatures such as animals.  

Through ‘aql , human beings are capable of  receiving a variety of knowledge. Second one is,  

‘aql is a knowledge that has existed for so long  in every human being so that they are capable to  

distinguish about a possibility and impossibility  against something. And the third one is aql is the  

knowledge acquired by humans through the various  experiences they go through. And the last one,  

it is the power of discernment by which  humans distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’,  

‘right’ and ‘wrong’ based  on inherent human nature.

Next, aql according to Al-Quran. In Al-Quran,  Allah used the word aql to command and exhort  

people to think, ponder and observe. In  Al-Quran, Allah always end an explanation  

by inviting humans to use their aql for example  in Surah Al- An'am verse 32, “This worldly life  

is no more than play and amusement, but far  better is the ˹eternal˺ Home of the Hereafter  

for those mindful ˹of Allah˺. Will you not then  understand?” In this surah Allah ask us to use our  

aql to think that the Hereafter are way more than  living in this world. In the above explanation,  

Allah asked us to use our aql to think, in other  words, it prove that Allah SWT has recognized  

the aql as one of the most important in  driving our lives to be more perfect.  

This because humans being are capable of using  that intellect to determine good and bad things.  

Allah also use other words such as Al-Qalb,  the Heart to refer to the aql like in Surah  

Al- Hajj verse 46. “Have they not travelled  throughout the land so their hearts may reason,  

and their ears may listen? Indeed, it is not the  eyes that are blind, but it is the hearts in the  

chests that grow blind. In this surah Allah  describe those who do not think and use their  

aql or qalb as a deaf or dumb or blind thus  the true blindness in this ayat is the one  

who failed to apply their aql. As a result  they failed to see many important truth.

Allah also stated in Surah Al- A'raf verse 179,  

“Those human beings who do not use their faculties  of thinking and reasoning are worse than animals.”  

So we as a muslim need to use our aql if not  we are worse than animals as stated by Allah.  

Allah also has warned man in Surah Al-Mulk verse  10 by stating the conversation of man who is  

in Hell regretting his deeds of not using aql  during his life and they said, “Had we listened  

or reasoned, we would not have been among the  fellows of the Blaze.” They said if they had  

use their intellect or listen to the truth sent  down by Allah, they would not have fallen into  

disbelief in Allah and would not had been deceived  by disbelievers. However it turns out that they  

did not use their understanding to realize what  their apostle was saying nor did they use their  

intellect to guide them to follow the apostle. Yet  their remorse was in vain because at that time,  

it was too late for them to use their aql and  had to endure the unbearable torment of Hell.

Next, we will talk about contemporary issues  in society. First is the practice of taqlid or  

blind faith, where one blindly follows  something without truly understanding.

As mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah verse  170, And when it is said to them,  

"Follow what Allah has revealed," they say,  "Rather, we will follow that which we found  

our fathers doing." Even though their fathers  understood nothing, nor were they guided?  

Being born a Muslim is one of the greatest  blessings, yet many took this for granted.  

They become merely blind followers who  are not standing on clear evidences.

Then, as stated in Surah Az-Zumar verse 9, Are  those who know equal to those who do not know?  

Only people of understanding, hoping for the  mercy of Allah will manage to find the strength  

to spend a portion of his night in worship. So  how do we become these people of understanding?  

We should use our aql to ponder, interpret,  understand and accept the messages sent to us  

rather than always accepting at face values  or simply following what others are doing.

That aspects is very similar with another  prevailing issues in the current society,  

which is spreading of fake news. Nowadays we  are always so quick to share anything we see  

in the social medias without any verification, and  thus, might have contributed to pushing others to  

unfortunate circumstances more often than not.  So despite having many forwarding the message,  

it is important to reason with yourself  whether it is actually valid as when you were  

propagating (spreading) it with your tongues,  and uttering with your mouths that whereof you  

had no knowledge, you considered it light, in the  sight of Allah it is very great. An-Nur, verse 15.

Lastly we have the issues of secularization of  Allah and Islam from daily life. Every creation,  

from the mountain, the seas, and the bees, be  it animate or inanimate can be attributed to  

Allah as the sole creator. These are signs for the  people of knowledge, made for us to ponder about,  

to study and to realize of the power of a greater  being who created this. However, secularism have  

totally separated Islamic aspect from studies, and  it had become popular beliefs that everything in  

creation, even this universe or humans evolving  from apes are but results of millions of tiny  

coincidences, a product of chance. This might  sound exaggerated but for example, when we first  

enrolled into IIUM, are’nt we shocked by how  Islamic the syllabus feels? How Islamic aspects  

are integrated in all subjects? However, this  was how it is supposed to be, and our daily life  

was the one too secularized, separated from most  Islamic aspects, despite the truth being that no  

matter what branches of life and studies you take,  it will still have Islamic approach integrated.

To conclude, the faculty of intellect  (Aql) is the greatest asset of man,  

and is what differentiate man from beast. Strive  to use to the full potential in areas that  

are open to rational inspection and reasoning.  There are times when intellect alone will prove  

insufficient, but don’t forget as it is  only one of the many means of knowledge.  

Even then, human reasoning alone will still  fall short so we should always also refers to  

the revealed knowledge (naql). Some matters are  simply not subject to rational understanding,  

and trying to “rationalize” can  lead to tahrif (distortion).  

Only Allah is absolute and that everything else,  including man’s powers of intellect, are limited.

Thank you!!