The Misfortune of Making Human Reason the Judge in Sacred Texts (The Adoption of This Methodology by the Tahrir Party)

The Shaykh : This is a reality, unfortunately, that all Islamic parties overlook, and specifically the Tahrir Party, which distinguishes itself from any other Islamic party by giving human reason a weight greater than what Islam has given it. We know with certainty that when Allah, Mighty and Majestic, addresses people with His speech, He addresses those of intellect, He addresses the scholars, and He addresses those who reflect. However, we know that human intellect varies; there are two types of intellect: the intellect of a Muslim and the intellect of a disbeliever. This disbeliever's intellect is not true intellect; it may be intelligence, but it is not intellect, because in the original Arabic language, intellect is that which restrains its owner, binds him, and restricts him from running wild to the right and left. A person of intellect cannot run wild to the right and left unless he follows the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, narrated from the disbelievers and polytheists, when they acknowledge the reality of their condition, that when they were, as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said in the Noble Qur'an: , they acknowledge that when they were knowledgeable about the affairs of this world, they were not people of intellect. That is their statement as our Lord narrated it about them: . So, there are two types of intellect: true intellect and figurative intellect. The true intellect is the Muslim intellect that believed in Allah and His Messenger, while the figurative intellect is the intellect of the disbelievers. Therefore, the Exalted said in the Qur'an, as you heard earlier about them: . And He said generally about the disbelievers: . So, they have hearts, but they do not use them to understand; they do not comprehend the truth with them. If we understand this reality, which is a reality in which I do not think two people would differ, nor would two goats butt heads, because it is explicit in the Qur'an and in the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him), I want to derive from this reality another reality, which is the point of discussion at this moment. If the disbeliever's intellect is not true intellect, then the Muslim's intellect is also divided into two parts: the intellect of a scholar and the intellect of an ignorant person. The intellect of the ignorant Muslim cannot be equal in intellect and understanding to the intellect of the scholar; they are never equal in example. Therefore, the Exalted said: . And therefore, the Exalted said: . So, it is not permissible for the true Muslim who truly believes in Allah and His Messenger to judge by his intellect; rather, he must submit his intellect to what Allah said and what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said. From here, we raise a point regarding the call of the Tahrir Party: they were influenced by the Mu'tazilah in their starting point on the path of faith, and the path of faith is a title for them in some of the books written by their leader, Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani (may Allah have mercy on him). I met him more than once, and I know him completely, and I know what the Tahrir Party is upon as well as one can know. Therefore, I am speaking, if Allah wills, with knowledge about what their call is based on. This is the first point taken against them: they gave intellect a distinction greater than it deserves. I repeat to your ears what I said earlier: I do not deny that intellect has its value, as mentioned before, but intellect does not have the right to judge the Book and the Sunnah; rather, intellect submits to the judgment of the Book and the Sunnah, and its only role is to understand what came in the Book and the Sunnah. From here, the Mu'tazilah deviated in the past, denying many, many sacred realities because they imposed their intellects on the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, so they distorted them, changed them, and altered them. In the expression of the scholars of the Salaf, they negated the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. This is a point I want to draw your attention to: it is necessary to submit the Muslim to the text of the Book and the Sunnah after understanding the Book and the Sunnah. The judge is Allah and the Messenger of Allah, not the intellect of humans, because we have mentioned that human intellect varies: the intellect of a Muslim and the intellect of a disbeliever, and then the intellect of a Muslim varies from the intellect of an ignorant Muslim to the intellect of a sensible Muslim. So, the understanding of the Muslim scholar is not like the understanding of the ignorant Muslim. Therefore, the Exalted said, and there is no harm in repetition because I know that this topic rarely reaches the ears of the millions of sedentary Muslims, men, let alone the sedentary women. Therefore, I am compelled to repeat these points and these evidences. Only the scholars understand them. Here we pause briefly: Who are the scholars? Are they the disbelieving scholars? No, we do not give them weight, as we mentioned earlier, that they are not people of intellect. The truth is that they are intelligent, because they invented and innovated, and so on, and they advanced in the material civilization known to everyone. Likewise, the intellect of the Muslims; this intellect in all of its individuals is not equal. So, the intellect of the scholar is not equal to the intellect of the ignorant person. And I will say something else: the intellect of the scholar who acts upon his knowledge is not equal to the intellect of the scholar who does not act upon his knowledge; they are never equal in example. Therefore, the Mu'tazilah deviated in many of the principles they established, contradicting the method of the Shari'ah, the Book and the Sunnah, and the methodology of the righteous Salaf. This is the first point: the Tahrir Party's reliance on intellect more than is appropriate.