Reading the Signs: A Qurʾānic Perspective on Thinking

Abstract

This essay advances a perspective on the Qurʾānic conception of thinking, rationality, and critical reason. It begins with a discussion of the divine signs, the āyāt, and the prominent profile that they take in the Qurʾānic conception of thinking. This being the principal theme that runs through the whole of this paper, other topics discussed include an identification of the sources of knowledge in the Qurʾān, factors that impede rational thinking, and a historical sketch of the golden age of scientific creativity and its eventual decline. A brief section is also devoted to ijtihād and where it fits into the scheme of our analysis on thinking. This is followed by a short comparison of Islamic and Western philosophical perceptions of rationality.