al-Wahy wal-Insan - Qiraa Marifiya
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Dar Quba' lil-Tiba'ah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Al-Wahy wal-Insan: Qira'a Ma'rifiyya (Revelation and Man: An Epistemological Reading) is a contemporary work on Islamic epistemology by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad al-Sayyid al-Julaynd, examining the relationship between divine revelation, human reason, the physical universe, and scientific inquiry .
Purpose and Scope
The book constitutes the sixth installment in the author's conceptual clarification series, Silsilat Tashih al-Mafahim . Its central objective is to clarify the relationship connecting divine revelation (al-wahy) with humanity, the cosmos, and science through an epistemological reading of the Quranic methodology . Al-Julaynd argues that the Quran constructs an epistemological framework founded upon the observable, physical world ('alam al-shahada), from which the principle of rational necessity is derived to establish the fundamental laws of knowledge . Within this framework, man functions simultaneously as the knowing subject (al-dhat al-'arifa), the possessor of the instruments of cognition, and—as part of the empirical world—the object of knowledge itself . Certainty attained through empirical observation of the created order is intended to lead to belief in the unseen realm ('alam al-ghayb), affirming divine wisdom and purpose while refuting notions of existential absurdity or randomness .
Structure and Themes
The work is organized into several thematic sections addressing the historical and conceptual dimensions of revelation and intellect :
- Historical and Conceptual Background: A historical reading tracing the interplay between religion and reason across human civilizations, treating it not as a phenomenon unique to modernity but as a shared human inheritance rooted in primordial human nature (al-fitra) .
- Reason and the Spheres of Knowledge: Detailed analyses defining revelation and the intellect, the operational domain of reason within the empirical world, its relationship to the unseen realm, and the different levels and methodologies of approaching the unseen .
- Revelation, Science, and the Cosmos: Conceptual definitions of revelation and science, an epistemological study of the cosmos as the object of knowledge, and the relationship between revelation and lived reality . In this context, the author critiques the transposition of the Western historical conflict between the Church and natural science into the Islamic world, arguing that Arab secularist thinkers uncritically adopted orientalist premises to assert an inherent contradiction between Islam and scientific inquiry .
- Revelation as a Multidimensional Need: Concluding chapters examining revelation as an indispensable social necessity, a psychological need, an intellectual requirement, and a comprehensive human necessity .
Publication
The book was published in Cairo by Dar Quba' lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzi' in a single volume comprising 238 pages .
Answer updated