REASON AND RELIGION IN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY

The first of the Philosophy and World Religions seminars took place yesterday evening, led by Dr Kamran Karrimullah, Lecturer in Islamic Philosophy and Medicine at the University of Manchester. Kamran introduced students to philosophical movements from across a wide span of historical periods that had attempted to interpret Reason -- and complex concepts like 'aql' -- found in the Quran.

Through asking questions raised by their preparatory reading, students came to understand the debate between reason and religion, or the "fact-value dichotomy", frequently found in discussions about Islam. The seminar ended with a discussion of the relationship between Islam and science, and the problematic nature of contemporary interpretations of the forms of reason found within each.