Is Islam a religion of the intellect or religion of the emotions?
Traditionally, reason and faith are perceived as sources of justifications for particular religious beliefs. Since both emotions and intellect serve a similar epistemic purpose, there has been a matter of more interest to theologians and philosophers on how the two are linked and how the rational agent carries claims by either source. Islam is a dominant religion in the world, where there are up surging sums of the Muslims in the west, especially in North America, where the population of the Muslims is high.
Islam is a religion of both the intellect and of the emotions. Islam began as a religion of the intellect. An inquiry into the intellectual beliefs of the Muslims can show that many Muslims in the past were influenced by the literature of many early scholars who had a more significant contribution in the realm of social and natural sciences. What makes the contributions of the scholars is special is because they are grounded on the philosophy of Islam and the idea of God’s Unity. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The Islamic era began appropriately following the death of Prophet Muhammad. The start of the Islamic religion started from the 7th century AD up to the early 19th century (Haque, 2013). Examination of the Islam religion shows that the doctrine developed under philosophy, which carries almost all the aspects of human inquiry. For example, the narratives of Prophet Muhammad exemplify the primacy that Islam accords the intellect. The religion constitutes the high station of reason in the Islamic view of the world.
The Muslims were attracted to the philosophical field for some reason. For example, the Muslim was invited by the philosophy of the Quran that makes a man think about nature, existence, the hereafter, and the qualities of God. This shows that the Islam religion is a religion of the emotions too. Another instance is that the Quran made the Muslims think about the hadith of Muhammad that emphasizes on the significance of knowledge and even as a result of the converts who had had a before connection to the philosophy. The first efforts of the religion to reason to understand why things were the way they were was referred to as Kalam (Haque, 2013).
Many Muslim academics hold the belief that in Islam, the primary development goal is to develop a surrounding that makes it easy for the individuals to enjoy moral, socio-economic, and spiritual well-being in the current world and success in the hereafter (Hanel et al. 2019). The consequences of the notion are that such a surrounding can be developed in communities that strive to eradicate sources of deprivation of human beings in many dimensions. This contradicts with the splendid view of development based just on economic growth.
In defining the views of the scholars on well-being, scholars of the intentions of Islamic law and ethics show that there are five essential dimensions of the development of humans that include spiritual, educational, human, economic, and social (Haque, 2013). This shows that the Islam religion is deeply rooted in reason, knowledge, and intellectual exertion. For example, the Quran repeatedly invites individuals to believe in Allah, who is the one and true fashioner of the world. The narratives of Prophet Muhammad complement the explicit statements of the Quran regarding the significance of seeking knowledge and reflection. This shows that religion is of the emancipated spiritual elite.
The traditionalistic, classical Islamic theologians like Ibn and Ghazali came to an agreement that logic is not enough to show that God exists, but faith can (Haque, 2013). The agreement was to show that Islam is a religion of emotions. In this respect, the theologians differ from philosophers. Examples of the philosophers are Averroes and Avicenna, who had followed Plato and Aristotle in quoting the conclusive influences concerning the presence of God.
With the much impressive knowledge that we have regarding the mind-blogging and the glorious working of the universe at different levels that are grounded on modern science, we are able to view our lives and the universe as manifestations of divine names. Islam can be considered as a religion of emotions as the Muslim respects all the many elements of human beings equally (Juergensmeyer, 2016). Examples of the components of human beings that were created by God include spiritual and emotional needs. The religion supports moderation in every undertaking, where the purpose is to develop equilibrium to ensure one has peace with Allah, the universe, and one’s self.
There is far more to faith than just logical scrutiny. Practice and emotions are exceedingly significant. Examples of emotional aspects of faith in religion include hope, faith, love, awe, reverence, and trust (Hanel et al. 2019). Living in the society and the community where there are laws that dictate justice moderated with mercy is a critical element in nurturing and preserving the Islam faith. Even in the past, there were early Islamic controversies regarding how the faith came to be, and they still exist today. The question of whether faith will decrease or increase due to wrong or right actions has resulted in various standpoints.
Hardline theologians and jurists state that individuals who no longer say their prayers daily of fast during Ramadan are no longer Muslims, and they should, therefore, be denied many legal privileges, and they should even be executed for apostasy. For example, the Al-Qaida and the Al-Shabaab are ready to kill fellow Muslims who are not as fanatical as they are since, to them, Fanaticism means having faith (Juergensmeyer, 2016). The narrow-mindedness of some extremist Muslims makes them think that the failure of establishing the Islamic state and law is a great sin that is indistinguishable in their eyes.
The religion is a religion of emotions since Prophet Muhammad teaches that a person’s faith is not complete until they carry love for other people and love for themselves, which creates an extremely positive state of mind. In Islam, love is respected and recognized as the noblest emotion. Negative emotions, for example, hate, envy, depression, and anger, are greatly discouraged (Juergensmeyer, 2016). Muslims are advised to practice total control of their emotions that tend to be destructive most of the time where they are expected to repent if they inspire such attitudes and deeds in others.