17 - The reformer says:

"Our Master the Prophet very beautifully puts it, 'In case reason ('aql) and narration (naql) contradict each other, reason must be followed.' Thus it is seen that the religion might be changed in accordance with necessity."

A fact which reason shows and can grasp never changes. For this reason, Muslim scholars said that narration could be changed through a proof shown by reason. Yet it is equally obvious that through the reason of this reformer, who knows nothing about logic, it is impossible to put forth the proof that will cause the narration to be changed. Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) divided Islamic knowledge into two groups as 'ilm al-abdan, the knowledge of matter and science, and 'ilm al-adyan, the religious knowledge. Religious knowledge can be understood only through narration. These sources are the Qur'an al-karim and the Hadith ash-Sharif.

The things that can be understood through the organs of perception are limited. The knowledge beyond this limit cannot be understood through the organs of perception, or they may be misunderstood. Furthermore, man's perceptive powers are mostly weaker than those of animals. Man may find and comprehend through his reason the things which he cannot comprehend through his perceptive organs, yet reason, too, has a limit of comprehension. Reason cannot find or comprehend the knowledge beyond this limit. If reason attempts to understand the things which it can never grasp, it will go wrong. In such knowledge, reason cannot be relied on. For example, Allahu ta'ala's Attributes, the things in Paradise and Hell, the way of performing 'ibadat and much of religious knowledge cannot be grasped by reason. If reason contradicts narration about such knowledge, narration will be followed and it will be decided on that reason is mistaken about this matter.

Four kinds of knowledge are declared in the Qur'an: iman, ahkam, qisas and akhbar. Iman, the knowledge of what must be necessarily believed, can never be changed. The beliefs of every prophet and umma have been the same. There is no difference among their beliefs. Ahkam, Allahu ta'ala's commands and prohibitions, can be altered, but only by Allah, who made such alterations through His prophets. Qisas are the 'descriptions of the states and lives of the past peoples and ummas', and akhbar tells 'the happenings that took place in the past and those which will take place in future'. Among such reports are that the creatures live with water, what the signs of the coming of the end of the world are and that there are rivers in Paradise. No change can be made in qisas and akhbar. And if some religious teachings seem to contradict one another, they cannot be adapted to reason, either. They will be adapted to one another. Such a teaching that has several meanings should be understood so as not to contradict another teaching that has been declared clearly. Here, reason's task is, of the two teachings that seem opposite, to understand the right meaning of the one that has several meanings in accord with the one that can be understood clearly.

As for the second division of Islamic knowledge, scientific knowledge, it can be understood through perceptive organs and by observing, examining, calculating and experimenting with the tools which are assistants for these organs. All of these are done with mind and intellect. Here, what reason finds out can be relied on; when there is contradiction between narration and scientific knowledge, reason will be followed, that is, narration will be explained compatibly with reason. And the hadith which the reformer quotes means this. But we should not believe the impostors who pretend to be scientists and talk not through science but through sensations and ambitions, the liars and enemies of religion and morals. Though Muslim scholars esteem reason very highly, one of them, Hadrat Shaikh-i Akbar Muhyiddin ibn al-'Arabi, regards narration superior to reason in his book Al-futuhat. While Baykiyev, the Russian master of REFORMERS IN ISLAM, who clamors that reason should be given freedom, speaks intentional reflections on Muslim scholars, he gives a high place to the Shaikh-i Akbar.