Why Is the Analytical Method Absent in Islamic Scholarship?
By Naseer Ahmed, New
Age Islam
17 August
2024
Science, Logic and
Mathematics Have No Religion, And Yet Religious Leaders Tried To Refute
Scientific Theories With Christian, Islamic Or Vedic Science, Logic Or
Mathematics And Fell Flat On Their Faces. This Raises the Question Of These
Religious Leaders' Roles In This Discourse. These Disciplines Are Universal,
Transcending Religious Boundaries. Their Behaviour Pretending To Convey God’s
Truth Has Dealt A Deathly Blow To Their Credibility And, In Turn, To The
Credibility Of Religion Itself, From Which It Has Not Recovered.
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Very few
people have a love of mathematics and logic. Most people dread these subjects
and mentally switch off when the subject comes up in conversation or their
readings. They make no effort to understand when something is explained using
mathematics or logic. People love stories and narratives and can be made to
believe anything through a story told well. Poetry has the same power and
effect. People quote poetry as gospel even when it is nonsensical. This
explains the hold and power of the ahadith on the people and the scholars. The
ahadith are narratives attributed to the Prophet.
The trait
is shared across the board in every culture, race, religion and region.
However, what about the crème de la crème of the scholars? As far as religious
scholars are concerned, they are like the common folk, and this is also true
across the board in every religion, which is why every religion is stuck in the
past without fresh thinking and rejection of what is irrational.
Science,
logic and mathematics have no religion, and yet religious leaders tried to
refute scientific theories with Christian, Islamic or Vedic science, logic or
mathematics and fell flat on their faces. This raises the question of these
religious leaders' roles in this discourse. These disciplines are universal,
transcending religious boundaries. Their behaviour pretending to convey God’s
truth has dealt a deathly blow to their credibility and, in turn, to the
credibility of religion itself, from which it has not recovered.
The proof
that logic and mathematics are universally valid is that they are the tools and
language to understand and accurately describe the Universe and all its
phenomena. They hold in all possible universes, including the universe of
religious discourse. This universality makes them not just relevant but
essential to all areas of study, including religious scholarship. It's a
discourse that includes everyone, transcending boundaries and uniting us in a
common language of understanding.
For a
person with a solid academic foundation in these subjects, it is instinctive to
think logically always. A logical mind is sensitive and alert to the finding of
a counter-example that disproves a theory. An illogical mind glosses over when
a counter-example is brought to his attention. He has no use for logic and
continues believing in the theory invalidated by the counter-example. As the
psychologist Daniel Gilbert observed, disbelieving is hard work, and the
analytical brain is quickly tired. I wonder whether most people haven’t
completely lost their capacity for logical thinking. Any organ is atrophied
from disuse, and so is the case of the analytical part of most people's brains.
Why have silly concepts like the prophets were
“Masum”, meaning infallible and
incapable of doing any wrong, not only survived to this day when
counterexamples are available in the Quran? Worse still, this property is
ascribed to lesser mortals, leading to the blind following of such men to the
detriment of religion itself.
The
counter-examples from the Quran are to be found in the stories of the prophet
Moses, who was, at the very least, guilty of accidental manslaughter for which
he had to flee Egypt to escape punishment. The second counter-example is that
of Prophet Yunus, who abandoned his mission, giving up on the people without
Allah’s permission. He was made to repent and return to find that the people
had accepted Islam. His example is cited to Prophet Muhammad as a warning
asking him not to be impatient like him. There is also mild disapproval of the
acts of omission and commission of Prophets Ibrahim and Muhammad. May peace be
upon all of them.
The Quran
even provides direct and incontrovertible evidence that not all parts of the
Quran were understood by the Prophet. This is also proof that the Prophet
couldn’t be its author. Take verses 4:11,12 on the distribution of inheritance.
These are sufficient to deal with every case if you can think logically and
have some skill in middle-school-level mathematics. However, these two verses
were insufficient for the people of the 7th century, which necessitated the
revelation of 4:176, the very last verse of the Quran to be revealed, although
Surah 4 (An-Nisaa) is among the very early Medinian Surahs (92 in chronological
order). Incidentally, 4:176 contradicts
4:12, which the scholars try explaining away by saying that 4:12 covers uterine
siblings (common mother but different fathers) and 4:176 covers agnate siblings
(common father). The explanation is unsatisfactory on multiple grounds. Why did
the Quran provide only for uterine siblings for six years, ignoring the claim
of agnate and full siblings? If 4:12 is used for uterine siblings and 4:176 for
agnate and full siblings, it could result in uterine siblings getting more than
agnate siblings in some cases and the opposite in others. Moreover, since the
division in 4:12 is an equal share for males and females, the uterine female
siblings get more than the agnate female siblings. None of this makes sense.
So, either 4:12 applies or 4:176 but not both.
(Briefly,
the nature of the difficulty requiring 4:176 to be revealed was that in the
absence of the children of the deceased, there are no residuaries but only
those with a fixed share, and their fractional shares do not add up to one.
Residuaries are heirs who inherit whatever remains after those with a fixed
share get their part, ensuring that all is distributed and nothing remains. The
problem was “solved” by making siblings residuaries while in 4:12, they have a
fixed share.)
Read: Inadequacies and Errors of Classical Islamic Fiqh -
Inheritance Related Calculations
What Is the Learning from The Example?
Allah tells
us that the ahadith, even if proven authentic, is only an honest opinion of the
Prophet and his advice to the best of his knowledge and belief. They are
neither infallible nor perfect. So, if you arrive at different conclusions from
a logical analysis of the verses relevant to the subject, go by logic and not
opinion. Today, when we can do without 4:176, it should be treated as
abrogated. It was a temporary fix to a problem and should be treated as such.
When I
started writing articles based on logical text analysis, I expected the
findings to gain ready acceptance, but it was a slow grind. My greatest
disappointment was when people who could understand dug in even though they
lacked a logical argument simply because they had published books and felt
compelled to stick to whatever position they had taken. Scholars with
publications are generally reluctant to admit they made a mistake, especially
when pointed out by what they think is a maverick amateur. They ask, “What are
your credentials?” and cite theirs. They forget that the Quran repudiates this
line of argument and claims to superiority of knowledge and wisdom. If He
wills, Allah can grant understanding and insight to even an Ummi.
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A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an
Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after
having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions
for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made
seminal contributions to its interpretation.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/debating-islam/analytical-method-islamic-scholarship/d/132966
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