Sources and names › Term › aql (intellect)
Termaql (intellect)
Cited in 17 segments across 10 recordings · 2017 to 2021 · term/term:aql
Citing segments
Newest first. Each opens the whole segment, not a bare quote.
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
When should reason take priority over religious texts?
Reason always comes first, Mufti Abu Layth says, because every reading of scripture is already an interpretation; hadith dogmatism grew from Ibn Taymiyya's era and revived under colonialism.
machine9 min 07 s2:09:48on YouTube
15 Mar 2021video
Does using reason in Islam make someone a Mu'tazili?
The Mu'tazila were defined by doctrines about sin and God's obligations, not by reason; the Sunni distrust of reason was a later reaction to losing debates. Calling someone Mu'tazili for using reason is a tactic to avoid debate.
machine7 min 07 s6:58on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Were the Mu'tazila really defined by their use of reason?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Mu'tazila were defined by doctrines like a sinner leaving Islam and God being duty-bound, not by reason; the Sunni rejection of reason came later as a reaction.
machine7 min 02 s51:46on YouTube
9 Oct 2020video
Can a hadith be rejected because it goes against reason?
Mufti Abu Layth says reason is what immediately tells you whether a hadith is sahih, and that an early classical text on hadith says so.
machine4 min 12 s0:01on YouTube
2 Sep 2020video
What did Daniel Haqiqatjou say about Yasir Qadhi calling verses mushkil?
In a clip, Daniel Haqiqatjou argues that Yasir Qadhi's explanation of 'problematic' verses as mushkil fails, since he says mushkil classically means ambiguous, not at odds with reason or science.
machine2 min 37 s0:00on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is using reason to interpret Islam just preferring my own intellect over revelation?
The intellect alone is not a reliable guide, but an intellect guided by the Quran is tamed and becomes the right tool for understanding revelation. The word aql itself means the tether that keeps a camel from straying, and the Quran praises its use.
machine2 min 37 s25:59on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why do Muslims treat reason as the enemy of tradition?
Historically the Ahl al-Hadith defeated the Ahl al-Ra'y, which preserved the tradition but left reason demonised; today reason and tradition must work together. Mufti Abu Layth says asking whether one prefers reason to revelation is a false framing, since the real choice is between one understanding of the Quran and another.
machine5 min 16 s28:36on YouTube
3 Nov 2019Responding to Refutations
Who were the Mu'tazila and what did they believe?
The Mu'tazila were an extinct early sect who held that a sinning Muslim is neither believer nor kafir; Mufti Abu Layth says later theologians' defensive reaction left some Muslims thinking the intellect is bad, which he calls the dumbest idea.
machine2 min 34 s25:33on YouTube
3 Nov 2019Responding to Refutations
Is it inconsistent to reinterpret Gog and Magog by geography but not other beliefs by science?
Mufti Abu Layth says Qadhi calls him a heretic for revisiting interpretations on grounds of science and reason, yet revisits Gog and Magog on grounds of geography with his own teacher's precedent, which he calls hypocrisy.
machine7 min 29 s33:10on YouTube
3 Nov 2019Responding to Refutations
Can old interpretations of the Quran be revisited, and what role does reason play?
Mufti Abu Layth says long-standing interpretations that are not the Quran's clear expression may be revisited and that reason has primacy, but one must not condemn others for doing what one does oneself.
machine1 min 47 s46:59on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why did religious scholars end up explaining things like illness and the mind?
Because for most of history the ulama were the only educated class, so people brought them every unexplained question, from the divisibility of atoms to whether the intellect sits in the heart or the brain. They answered with the knowledge of their day, which is the background to the possession belief.
machine3 min 55 s3:52on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Should I believe something just because people say the Quran or hadith say so?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran itself appeals to reason, asking people to look, reflect and ponder, and condemns following forefathers blindly, so claims like possession must be tested against reason through the Quran. Someone reading the Quran without a cultural inheritance would never derive possession from it.
machine2 min 35 s19:34on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
What does reason mean in religion, and what does the Quran say about it?
Reason is the ability of a healthy mind to think and make judgements based on practical facts, broader than formal logic; Mufti Abu Layth takes the Surah al-Hajj verse that the hearts, not the eyes, are blind as the backdrop of the talk.
machine5 min 13 s0:00on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
What are the jinn and what can Shaytan actually do to people?
Jinn exist and Shaytan is a clear enemy, but his only power is to whisper, as human misleaders do, and Allah gave people the fitra and reason to resist. Any claim about the jinn must be met by asking for its proof in the Quran and Sunnah and weighing its consequences; an unexplained illness is not proof of a jinn.
machine7 min 49 s0:04on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why did Muslim scholars of the past accept the idea of jinn possession?
Scholars of the past were the only learned people and were asked to explain everything, from the divisibility of atoms to where the intellect sits, so they explained strange behaviour with the best knowledge they had. That is the backdrop to the confusion over possession, not a proof of it.
machine5 min 14 s53:21on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Does the hadith that Shaytan flows in a person's blood prove possession?
No: the Prophet said it to two men who saw him with his wife Safiyya, about human suspicion, and nobody present was possessed. The Quran itself appeals to reason and proof, so possession must be tested by reason, which someone reading the Quran without cultural baggage would never find in it.
machine6 min 32 s1:09:02on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
People I know have seen jinn possession; does that not prove it?
Anecdotal experience is no proof: Muslims dismiss other faiths' miracle claims by reason while refusing to reason about their own, and possession afflicts only those who believe in it. A brain study found the prefrontal cortex shutting down during people's own religious experiences.
machine3 min 54 s1:15:34on YouTube