Knowledge: the Qur'anic discourse concerning reason and revelation and its impact

Bone, Amra (2016). Knowledge: the Qur'anic discourse concerning reason and revelation and its impact. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Bone16PhD.pdf
PDF - Accepted Version
Download (1MB)

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the Qur'ānic discourse on knowledge and its impact on the Muslim world. It focuses in particular on the division of knowledge into the Revealed or Religious sciences and the Rational sciences. The thesis asks whether both Revealed knowledge and Rational knowledge are considered religiously praiseworthy and questions what the purpose is in acquiring knowledge. The thesis then examines the impact of the Qur’anic discourse on the Muslim community through the development of the revealed and the rational sciences and through the development of educational institutions. Finally it asks why it is that in the present day the two branches are isolated from each other when there was clearly a great deal of overlap and cross-fertilisation during the medieval period.

The findings were that the purpose of acquiring knowledge in Islam is to understand God and oneself. It found that within the Qur'ānic discourse the revealed sciences and the rational sciences enjoy a symbiotic relationship. This relationship did not however always manifest in society. The educational institutions did incorporate the rational sciences during times of prosperity but when under political or economic pressure they regressed back to only teaching the revealed sciences.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):