Intelligence versus Revelation

Most of the material in this article has been taken from Mufti Taqi Usmani’s lecture.

There is a small percentage of Muslims who say that we should Islamise all facets of the law, but majority of the world does not support this view.

Almost all the countries of the world are secular states. The main argument behind this form of government is that human beings have got intelligence, and combined with their observation and experience, humankind can make decisions to run all aspects of life: issues such as economic, political, social etc.

The question is that how strong an argument is this? Is intelligence unlimited? Of course not, we know that there is limit to our intelligence, and beyond that it will start to err. A similar analogy is that of a computer program; e.g. a software is designed for a certain purpose, and if you feed certain information into the computer it will give you the desired results. On the other hand, if you input data for which it is not programmed to answer, then it will give you an error.

History is full of examples where human intelligence has lead many astray, and now after hundred of years later, we realise that how intelligence has deceived humanity.

Over eight hundred years ago there was a sect called Batni Sect; their leader Ubaidullah bin Hasan Kiranwi, had an interesting ideology. He wrote to his followers that when someone has a beautiful, intelligent girl at home (i.e. your sister) and she understands the psychology of her brother (as she has lived with his brother for years) then why that man should marry someone from outside who may not comprehend fully his needs and wants (as compared to his sister). If your sister can cook, clean and do other chores for you, then why cannot she go a step further and fulfill your sexual desires as well.

If one looks at this argument through pure rationalism, then one has to admit that it is very logical. That is the reason why some of Ubaidullah’s followers married their sisters.

Because of this rational thinking, these days we see that many western countries are passing legislations for gay marriages. The logic behind this is that the government should not interfere with a person’s private life; what someone does with their own time is that person’s private matter. To understand what is wrong with homosexuality, please the read the article "Homosexuality and the Logic Behind its Prohibition" on this website.

Furthermore, in this day and age, people curse Fascism, and therefore, Hitler and Mussolini have extremely bad reputation among the masses. But if an average person reads their literature, he will have to agree that their philosophy sounds very logical.

There are numerous examples where intelligence has led civilisations astray, but for the sake of brevity, I will have to stop here. Please the read the article "The Disasters Darwinism Brought to the Humanity" on this website to understand how our intelligence deceived us once again. I would also recommend the articles "Interest and the Modern Banking System" and "Modern Economy: Progress or Destruction" as further reading where human intelligence has again caused horrors for the masses.

It is evident that intelligence or rationalism can take people off track, and this can be proven even for the current times through statistics. The damage which has been caused by these secular philosophies is there to see for those who have got brains and are well read.

If intelligence is not unlimited then who will decide what is right and what is wrong. If we leave everything to our intellect, then different people, nations and cultures will have different ideas about right and wrong. Islam says that there is something beyond intelligence and that is revelation. It is the creator who should decide what is the correct track to follow, and where we should draw the line. The reason being that our creator (and not our intellect) best understands what is good for the humanity as a whole.

Revelation does not tell us how to build a house or a nuclear plant. It is left upon humans, because these are things within the realms of our brain. Where the jurisdiction of intelligence fails for the human kind as a whole, there revelation guides us and tells us that if we take a certain path the whole human race will benefit, but if we do not, then majority of human beings will be at a disadvantage.

Unfortunately, most of us have left the teachings of our creator and have chosen rationality over His teachings; because of this, most of the world is suffering from the terrible consequences: extreme poverty, hunger, lack of education, lack of health care etc. Below are some statistics to further convey my point:

225 people own more wealth than the poorest 2.5 billion people (UNDP Human Development Report 1998).
24000 people die every single day because they are unable to obtain life sustaining food (UN World Food Programme, 2003).
Relieved of their annual debt repayments, the severely indebted countries could use the funds for investments that in Africa alone would save the lives of about 21 million children by 2000 and provide 90 million girls and women with access to basic education (UNDP Human Development Report 1997, p. 93).

Now that our intelligence has failed in providing for even the basic rights for the entire humanity, it is time that we turn back to the system which our Sustainer has chosen for us. As history has shown, when Muslims used to follow the teachings of Quran and the way of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the society as a whole was just, peaceful and thriving. If we do not mend our ways and keep guiding ourselves through our intelligence, then we should brace ourselves for worse things to come.