The Purpose of Intellectual Reformation According to the Qur'an and the Manifestations of Rationalism in the Islamic Sciences
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Keywords

intellectual reformation
principles of jurisprudence
rationalism
religious thought
objectives of the Qur'an

How to Cite

Khelfi, Wassila. “The Purpose of Intellectual Reformation According to the Qur’an and the Manifestations of Rationalism in the Islamic Sciences: Uṣūl Al-Fiqh As a Model”. Al-Fikr al-islāmī al-muʿāṣir (previously Islamiyat al-Ma’rifah) 25, no. 99 (April 1, 2020): صفحة 135–168. Accessed February 16, 2025. https://citj.org/index.php/citj/article/view/2919.

Abstract

The preservation of the intellect or reason (ḥifẓ al-ʿaql) is a manifest objective of the Qur’an, as reflected in its teachings concerning God, the universe, and life, as well as in the universal and particular rulings of Shariʿah. These teachings kindle sound thought in humans, evoking reflection and contemplation as a means to reaching the realities and facts which God instilled in His Creation. And on the basis of sound thought and reason, the Islamic sciences were established to serve Revelation. These sciences inexorably continued to develop and proliferate until their domains became entrenched and multifarious books and works were addressed to them across time and innumerable places. These sciences, moreover, represent the foremost manifestation of the Muslim mind which imbibed Revelation, notwithstanding the possibility of forms of criticism of these sciences, given that they are in some measure the product of human effort.

This article highlights the aspect of the existential preservation of the purpose of intellectual reformation in the Qur'an through the efforts of Muslim jurists in founding the science of uṣūl al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence). The article contends that the manifestation of the purpose of intellectual reformation is evident in jurisprudential thought in premodern and modern times through the calls for renewal of this science.

https://doi.org/10.35632/citj.v25i99.2919
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