You Must Know, This is the Most Complete Definition of Reason, the Function of Reason and Revelation According to the Mu'tazilah, Asy'ariah and Maturidiah Schools
The word reason comes from Arabic (اْلعَقْل ) which means understanding and understanding. Almost all verses in the Qur'an that relate to reason use verbs, in 1 verse they use 'aqaluh ( عَقَلُوهُ ), ta'qilun ( تَعْقِلُونَ ) 24 verses, na'qil ( نَعْقِلُ ) 1 verse, ya' qiluha ( يَعْقِلُهَا ) 1 verse and ya'qilun ( يَعْقِلُونَ ) 22 verses, which explains that the word 'aqala means understanding, comprehending and thinking.[1]
In the Arabic dictionary the word akal ( عَقْل ) not only means understanding and comprehending, but the word is also interpreted as rabthun which means bond, 'uquul which means mind and qalbun which means heart. [2]
Al-Kindi (796-873 AD) explained that in the human soul there are three powers, namely the power of lust which is in the stomach, the power of courage which is located in the chest and the power of thinking which is centered in the head. Ibn Miskawaih (941-1030 AD) also gave the same division, according to him the lowest power is the power of lust, the highest power is the power of thinking, and the power of daring to take a position between the two. Other philosophers also give a threefold division, but in line with Aristotle's philosophy, they call it not three powers, but three souls, namely the plant soul, the animal soul and the human soul.[3][3] The human soul is the center of thinking power called reason.
The understanding of reason as expressed by these philosophers is not much different from that expressed by theologians. Theologians define reason as the power to acquire knowledge. Abu Huzail said that "reason is the power to acquire knowledge, and also the power that enables a person to differentiate between himself and other objects, and also between one object and another". Furthermore, according to theologians, reason also has the power to differentiate between good and evil.[4]
Meanwhile, etymologically, Revelation means whisper, sign, writing and book. Revelation also means notification that is hidden and occurs quickly. The word revelation is more popularly known in the sense of what Allah revealed to the Prophets.[5] Conceptually, revelation refers to better known names such as Al -book, treatise, Al-Qur'an and Balagh.[6] Thus revelation means the delivery of God's words to His chosen Prophet to be conveyed to humans as a guide to life. In Islam, the revelations conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad are collected in the Al-Qur'an.
Reason, as the thinking power that exists within humans, tries hard to reach God. Meanwhile, revelation as a message from the metaphysical realm comes down to humans with information about God and humans' obligations towards Him. The problem that then arises in the discussion of kalam science is to what extent can the human mind be able to know God and human obligations? and to what extent is the function of revelation in these two things?
The issue of the ability of reason and the function of revelation is connected with two main problems, namely:
1. About knowing God, which gives rise to two problems, namely knowing God and the obligation to know God.
2. About good and evil, which also gives rise to two problems, namely knowing good and evil and the obligation to do good deeds and abandon evil deeds.
From the four problems of the branch, there is a polemic among the scholars: which of the four problems is obtained through reason and which is obtained through revelation.
1. The Mu'tazilah stream
According to Mu'tazilah, as stated by its leaders, all knowledge can be obtained through the medium of reason. Obligations can be acquired with deep thought. Thus, thanking God before revelation is obligatory. Good and evil are known by reason, so doing what is obligatory and avoiding what is bad is also obligatory.[7]
According to Al-Syahrastani, the Mu'tazilah agree that the obligation to know God and thank Him, the obligation to do good and avoid bad deeds can be known by reason. Before knowing that something is obligatory, of course one must first know the nature of that thing. Strictly speaking, before knowing the obligation to thank God and the obligation to do good and avoid bad deeds, people must first know God and know good and bad. Before knowing these things, people certainly cannot determine their attitude towards them.[8]
Regarding good and bad, Abdul Jabbar said that reason cannot know all that is good. Reason only knows obligations in outline. Reason is unable to know the details, both regarding human life in the afterlife and in the world.[9] Thus, according to the Mu'tazilah, not everything is good and bad, can be known by reason, therefore revelation apart from revelation is informative and confirmative, it also functions to perfect the knowledge of reason about matters of good and bad.
Clearly according to Mu'tazilah, not everything that is good can be known by reason. To know that requires revelation. Revelation thus perfects the intellect's knowledge of good and bad. Furthermore, the revelation for the Mu'tazilah, serves to explain the details of reward and punishment in the afterlife.[10]
Thus it can be concluded that the four main problems in the view of the Mu'tazilites can be known by reason and revelation functions only as confirmation and information. Or in other words, the function of revelation is only small.
2. Ash'ariah
According to Asy'Ariyah, as Al-Asy'ari himself said, all obligations can only be known through revelation. Reason cannot make something obligatory and cannot know that doing what is good and avoiding what is bad is obligatory for humans. According to him, it is true that reason can know God, but revelation is what requires people to know God and thank Him. It is also through revelation that it is known that those who obey God will be rewarded and those who disobey will be punished. Thus, according to the Ash'ari, reason can know God but is unable to know human obligations and that is why revelation is needed.[11]
According to al-Syarastani, the Asy'ariyah believe that obligations are known by revelation and knowledge is known by reason. And also according to Al-Baghdadi, reason can know God, but cannot know the obligation to thank God. Al-Ghazali also believes that reason cannot bring obligations to humans.[12]Regarding the matter of good and evil, Al-Ghazali explains that an action it is good, if the action is in accordance with the intention of the maker and is called bad, if it is not in accordance with the intention of the maker. Circumstances that are in accordance with or not in accordance with the goal can occur in the present and can occur in the future. For al-Ghazali, actions that are in accordance with the goal of the future, namely the afterlife, clearly, actions determined by revelation are determined by good and bad or evil actions are opposed to good actions.< /span>
It goes without saying that the goal in the afterlife can only be known by revelation and therefore what is called good or bad deeds can also be known only by revelation.
Al-Syarastani's stance can be seen in his book called Nihayah al-iqdam fi'ilm al-kalam which is quoted by Harun Nasution that he agrees with al-Asy'ari regarding God and the human obligation to be grateful. The first is known by reason and the second by revelation. Regarding the matter of good and evil by reason according to al-Syarastani. Regarding good and evil, he provides clearer explanations than the three Sharia leaders mentioned above. Reason cannot determine good and evil because what is meant by good is an action that brings praise from the Sharia to the perpetrator and what is meant by bad is an action that brings shame from the Sharia. 'at.
A clear and unequivocal explanation regarding the issue of good and evil was given by 'Adud al-Din al-Iji in al-'aqaid al 'adudiah and by Jallal al-Din al Dawwani in his commentary on the essay Asus al- That Din. Reason cannot arrive at good and bad deeds, because it is revelation in their opinion that determines those two things.[13]
From the description above, it can be seen that among Al-Ash'ari's followers there is a consensus on the ideology that what the mind can know is only knowing God, while for the other three it is Revelation.
3. Maturidiah
Al-Maturudi, contrary to the Ash'ariyah position but in agreement with the Mu'tazilah. , also thinks that reason can know the obligation to thank God. This can be known from the following explanation of al-bazzdawi: "believing in God and thanking Him before there is a revelation is obligatory for the Mu'tazila Faham..al-shayakhabu mansur al-maturudi in this regard agrees with the Mu'tazila. Likewise generally Smarkand scholars and some Iraqi scholars".[14]
This statement was reinforced by Abu 'Uzbah "In the opinion of the Mu'tazilites, intelligent people, young and old, cannot be excused in the matter of seeking the truth. Thus, intelligent children have the obligation to believe in God. If he truly does not believe in God, he must be punished. In Maturidiah, children who have not reached maturity do not have any obligations. However, Abu Mansural-Maturudi is of the opinion that children who have reason are obliged to know God. In this case there is no difference of opinion between Mu'tazilah and Maturidiah."[15]
The explanations of al-Bazdawi, Abu Uzbah and others provide clear information about al-Maturudi's opinion regarding the matter of knowing God and the obligation to thank God. Such information cannot be found in matters of good and avoiding bad, because reason can only know good and bad, in fact God knows the obligations of good and bad. But al-bazdawi did not explain whether this opinion was also Al-Maturidi's opinion.
To find out al-Maturidi's stance, his own writings must be investigated. The book kitab al-Tawhid contains an explanation of this. Reason, said Maturidi, knows the good qualities contained in the good and the bad qualities contained in the bad, so reason also knows good and bad. Reason according to al-maturidi then knows that being fair and straight is good. Reason then orders humans to carry out actions that will increase nobility and forbids actions that lead to humility. It is clear that Maturidi believes that reason can know what is good and bad. But the description above does not warn that reason knows the obligation to do good and avoid evil. What the mind can know is only the reasons for the necessity of God's commands and prohibitions. So according to al-Maturudi 3 basic things can be known by reason, while the obligation to do good and bad can be known only through revelation. Al-Maturidi's opinion above was accepted by his followers in Samrkand. As for his followers in Bukhara, they have slightly different ideologies regarding the obligation to know God. In this connection, al-Bayadi said that according to Abu Hanifah knowing God is obligatory according to reason.[16]
Thus the Bukhara group cannot know obligations, they can only know the causes that make obligations become obligations. Meanwhile, in other matters the Bukhara group agrees with the Samarkand group. But despite this, some of the Bukhara believe that reason cannot know good and bad, and thus they actually belong to the Ash'ariyah sect and not to the maturidiah sect of the Bukhara group.[17]
If a comparison is made regarding the ability of the human mind and the function of revelation in terms of knowing God (MT), knowing good and bad/evil (MBJ), the obligation to know God (KMT) and the obligation to do good deeds and avoid bad deeds ( KMBJ) can be seen from the following Table:[18]
GENRE
MT
MBJ
KMT
KMBJ
Mu’tazilah
Intellect
Intellect
Intellect
Intellect
Ash'ariyah
Intellect
Revelation
Revelation
Revelation
Maturidiah Samarkand
Intellect
Intellect
Intellect
Revelation
Maturidiah Bukhara
Intellect
Intellect
Revelation
Revelation
[1] Harun Nasution, Reason and Revelation in Islam, (Jakarta: University of Indonesia, 1982), p. 5
[2] H. Syarif Al-Qusyairi, Akbar Dictionary: Arabic-Indonesian, (Surabaya: Giri Utama, t.th), p. 319
[3] Harun Nasution., Op.,cit. h. 9
[4] Ibid., h. 12
[5]Supiana & M. Karman, Material for Islamic Religious Education, (Bandung: PT. Teen Rosdakarya, 2004), p. 192
[6]Nash Hamid Abu Zaid, Textuality of the Qur'an: Criticism of the Ulumul Qur'an, (Yogyakarta:LKIS, 2001), p.33.
[7] Harun Nasution, Historical Schools of Comparative Analysis of Islamic Theology, (Jakarta: UI-Press, 1972), p.80
[8] Ibid., h.81
[9] Ibid., h. 97
[10] Ibid., h. 98
[11] Harun Nasution, Islamic Theology Flow - Historical Flow Comparative Analysis, Op., cit. h. 81
[12] Ibid., h. 83
[13] Ibid., h. 84-85
[14] Ibid., h. 87
[15] Ibid., h. 88
[16] Ibid., h. 90
[17] Ibid., h. 91
[18] Supiana and Karman, Op.cit., p. 197
Source: http://paudstaialgazalibone.blogspot.co.id/2013/09/a-function-akal-dan-wahyu-menrut-aliran.html?m=1