Reason and knowledge in Islam

العقل والعلم في الإسلام

Mahmud Shaltut, the opening essay of the book, argues that Islam is a religion of reason and knowledge: the Qur'an urges reflection on the heavens and the earth, places people of knowledge third after God and the angels, and condemns blind imitation of inherited belief (pp. 11-13). He reads knowledge in the Qur'anic sense as anything that helps humans build the earth (p. 20), and records the early Muslims' literacy effort (pp. 18-21).

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Scripture and its sciences

Overview

Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut opens Hadha Huwa al-Islam with Islam as the religion of reason and knowledge: the Qur'an urges reflection on the dominion of heavens and earth, places the people of knowledge third after God and the angels, and condemns blind imitation 1 2 3. Knowledge in the Qur'anic sense is not confined to the law — it is every faculty that helps man build the earth: farming, industry, health, wealth, defense of homelands 4; and the first revelation descended as a command to read.

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Related to
Taqlid (blind imitation of inherited views)

People and things also explored

Taqlid (blind imitation of inherited views)· The seven ahruf· Hadith· Shama'il Muhammadiyya· The Prophetic sira· The Prophetic Sunna· Command, prohibition and capacity· The Sunna as explanation of the Qur'an

Sources

  1. This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 11
  2. This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 12
  3. This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 13
  4. This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 20
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Reason and knowledge in Islam”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/reason-and-knowledge-in-islam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Taqlid (blind imitation of inherited views)