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of the Prophet did not cover every question that might arise on moral and ethical conduct. How were
the early Muslims to resolve this problem? How were they to fill the gaps? One set of Islamic
thinkers said that they would stick with the texts they possessed. Another set of Islamic thinkers said
that if Allah and the Prophet had left spaces, then these spaces should be filled by the application of
human logic and reason. This became the great conflict between those representing Reason—meaning
human logic—and those representing Revelation. Remember, revelation refers to what has been
revealed by Allah. This debate took place in a tense and heated political environment.
Why did this debate arise in the first place? What were some of the gaps? Well, let us take a look
at the world of power and politics. The Quran does not lay out a political system for Muslims to
follow. Does this mean that there is no need for a political system? The Prophet was a religious
leader as well as a military and political leader. How would the early Muslims work out what
happened when faced with political questions? How was the leader of the Muslim community to be
chosen? How was power to be transferred from one leader to the next? How were errors to be
corrected? How was opposition or disagreement to be expressed?
In today’s environment, the questions might be more like: How do we make sure that political
power is not misused? Does political power need to be given to one individual, or is power
something that can exist in many places?
For one reason or another, those representing only Revelation won the debate. Those representing
Reason were persecuted and hounded until their school of thought became a faint trace in the thousand
years of history since then.
It is fascinating to observe the consequences of a debate that took place a thousand years ago.
These consequences are roiling the Arab world and the broader Islamic world today. The role of
reason has been eclipsed. It is forever associated with the Greek philosophers as well as the socalled
Mutazilites—the Muslim thinkers who supported a primary role for logic and reason in
understanding the Divine Will.
Unfortunately in today’s Arab world, and in the Arabic language, the word falsafah, which means
“philosophy,” is a dirty word. It is seen as a distraction from the importance of keeping the faith pure
and unsullied by questions that will only serve to divide and separate the Muslims.
My view is that the questions asked by the early philosophers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, are
questions that emerge in all societies in one way or another. The treasures that the Arab Muslims once
translated into Arabic and possessed as intellectual capital were a means to continually refine our
understanding of those fundamental questions. By turning our backs on the philosophers, we attempted
to close our minds to the questions. We attempted to lock ourselves into our special and separate
world of Quranic Revelation.
But questions have the odd habit of reappearing. And they have certainly reappeared in the modern
technological, globalized world you and I live in.
The question of Reason and Revelation is one that we need to pose openly and bravely. We also
need to consider the answers that other faiths have developed over the last thousand years. Remember