Thank you for clarifying your thoughts and to elaborate the essence of your thesis. Keep on writing and I am looking forward on the topic of Understanding Islam. I presume there will be some conjectures and misleading views that we as Muslim uphold in our understanding of Islam.

Salam.

First of all, I’m a computer engineer

Secondly, to recap what the message of the post is: We sometimes group different concepts together in a single mental template, even though there are differences between these concepts. A circle and an oval are both round, but they have different properties. In order to expand our knowledge, we must be able to make these distinctions. I am not addressing the issue of whether the concepts are true or false. In fact, I’m assuming that the concepts have some truth to them.

But there some concepts, such as “religion,” that represent a huge range of ideas, that we cannot simply talk about one aspect of this concept and ignore the rest. “Religion” could mean irrational belief for some, but rational conviction to others. Why the differences in opinion? It could be that the two are looking at different aspects or understandings of the concept: “religion.” I, for example, would agree that there are irrational religions (or understandings of religion), but wouldn’t say that religion, as such, promotes irrationality.

As for Islam being divine knowledge, the issue is very broad, and I would need to address it separately. For now, I would say that the aspects that we should believe in, according to Islam, are all accessible to the human intellect. However, most Islamic scholars try to undermine the validity of reason and human intellect, and try to explain Islam as something that cannot be understood (but we have to follow regardless). The very concept of an Ayah (a sign) is that it’s a sign to human beings. God doesn’t need signs to prove His existence to Himself!

The ambiguity that you mentioned doesn’t mean that the verses, or signs, cannot be understood by us, but that we need to possess sufficient knowledge in order to understand them correctly. I will, hopefully, deal with this issue in my near-future writings on Understanding Islam.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

I like Computerchi’s comment presiding his conclusive remarks.

Assalamu Alaikum Haider,
[I happened to browse this topic after solat Subuh and I like it]

I’m still trying to grasp what your Thoughts are in relation to this topic.
I’m also trying to figure out who you are in terms of your profession [ a Journalist, University Lecturer, Lawyer, I haven’t got the clue yet]. But that is beside the point.

OK. Let me explore the learning process and the elements that you had brought out in this blog.

1. You are putting a hypothetical condition that a template is storage of any learning behavior that took place or acquired that is the Knowledge-Based.
Initially most individual will go through the same pattern of the learning process: constant repetitions and through trial-error regimes. The Conceptual development stage is most critical and many studies proven that many of us fall to the process termed as misconceptions. This may occur during the formal and informal learning process.
Learning by its definition is a wide and complicated process which entailed its own theories and approaches. To cut it short that it is vitally important of the individual learner to acquire correct concepts to be registered into the Templates [as your term of reference].
So we can presume that the templates may contained some contaminated files or errors which are not compatible to the system or platform or according to the configurations that you/society may set forth.

2. Respectively, you proposed not to change the old templates but to generate them into a new one as to accommodate into the new environment. Putting into another word that we have to modify our perceptions to suit the new ideas such as religion, justice, selfishness and etc.
My reflection is that this presupposition is a bid worrisome [to me]. If we are applying this approach to an academic subject as in politics, economics, science, etc is exceptionally true and a MUST.

To apply it in Religion [Islam] one has to be very cautious. I am not well converse in this disciple but for the sake of discussion I would base my reservation on the premises that Islamic Religion is termed as a Divine Knowledge. For this there are knowledge which are transmitted [revealed] as direct or very precise and knowledge [Ayats] which are not easily understood by human [as Allah put in the surah]. And Allah [SWT] has clearly stated that “some of the people” will use these ambiguousness as a way of their arguments/rejections.[Sorry it doesn’t literally translated in this manner, I ‘m merely put it as my own understanding of the actual translation].

So this somehow has to be addressed to your idea of the utilizatation of the HumanTemplates per se.

Wabillah HiTawfiq wal Hidayah.

It is amazing that the very thing that helps our cognition, is also responsible for our ignorance. Learning new things sometimes means unlearning old things. I found that problem solving happens when I realise the difference between two ideas that I used to lump as one.