Matalibul Furqan 5

Chapter 5

REASON AND EIMAN

I. Reason and Its Limitations

THE source of Revelation (Wahi) is transcendental Reality, which is

beyond the ken of reason, but as Revelation is meant for human
beings and serves the purpose of guiding them, it is, naturally,
couched in a language which is intelligible to them. Reason,
therefore, can apprehend the content of Revelation.
Reason has its own distinctive approach to Reality and
apprehends it, albeit to a limited extent. The greatest achievement
of reason is science. Science employs methods which are perfectly
valid and yields true knowledge within its proper sphere. Reason
certainly has its limitations but sceptics declare it to be absolutely
unreliable. This is not true. The telescope enables us to see heavenly
bodies which we cannot see with the naked eye. It would be
unreasonable to reject its aid on the ground that it does not extend
our vision to the outermost regions of the universe. Similarly, it is no
doubt true that reason cannot give us absolute knowledge,
nevertheless the knowledge it does achieve, however small, is useful
and valuable. The old adage, “A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing” is only partially true, as traditional maxims are. A little
knowledge is only dangerous when we take it to be complete
knowledge. Every fragment of knowledge is useful if we apply it
with intelligence and with full awareness that it reveals only a
fraction of reality. But if it is wrong to despise and reject human
reason as an unreliable guide, or belittle its value it is equally wrong
to exaggerate it and claim that the whole of reality is within its ken.
Only a few aspects of reality are accessible to reason and about them
it does supply true and useful knowledge. Reality, however, has an
infinity of aspects, and all of them, as well as the very core of reality,
reason will always find inaccessible. Reason can legitimately
function within its own sphere and ceases to be reliable the moment
it steps beyond it. Wisdom requires that we should form a correct
estimate of the capacity of human reason as well as of its