There are two fundamental ways to close the mind. One is to deny reason’s capability for knowing anything. The other is to dismiss reality as unknowable. Reason cannot know, or there is nothing to be known. Either approach suffices in making reality irrelevant. In Sunni Islam, both were employed in the Ash’arite [school]. As a consequence, a fissure opened between man’s reason and reality – and, most importantly, between man’s reason and God. The fatal disconnect between the Creator and the mind of his creature is the source of Sunni Islam’s profound woes. This bifurcation, located not in the Qu’ran but in early Islamic theology, ultimately led to the closing of the Muslim mind.
Two ways to close the mind
There are two fundamental ways to close the mind. One is to deny reason’s capability for knowing anything. The other is to dismiss reality as unknowable. Reason cannot know, or there is nothing to be known. Either approach suffices in making reality irrelevant. In Sunni Islam, both were employed in the Ash’arite [school]. As a consequence, a fissure opened between man’s reason and reality – and, most importantly, between man’s reason and God. The fatal disconnect between the Creator and the mind of his creature is the source of Sunni Islam’s profound woes. This bifurcation, located not in the Qu’ran but in early Islamic theology, ultimately led to the closing of the Muslim mind.
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