"Indeed, in view of its function, religion stands in greater need of a rational foundation of its ultimate principles than even the dogmas of science"
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Iqbal comes in sideways: he grants religion a “function” before he dares to demand its logic. That single word is the tell. For him, faith isn’t a museum of inherited doctrines; it’s an operating system for how a society thinks, acts, suffers, and hopes. If religion is going to do that level of work, he argues, it can’t float on piety alone. It needs a rational scaffolding sturdy enough to carry the weight of life-and-death decisions, moral obligations, and political imagination.
The sly provocation is the comparison: religion needs rational foundations “than even the dogmas of science.” Science, in modern culture, gets cast as the adult in the room, religion as the sentimental throwback. Iqbal flips that hierarchy, reminding readers that science also runs on articles of faith: core assumptions, methodological commitments, and paradigms that are rarely litigated in everyday practice. He’s not anti-science; he’s puncturing the myth that science is pure reason while religion is pure impulse.
Context matters. Writing in an era of colonial modernity and Muslim intellectual crisis, Iqbal is pushing against two pressures at once: Western positivism that treats religion as obsolete, and religious traditionalism that treats questioning as betrayal. The subtext is a rescue mission. Give religion intellectual dignity, or it will either harden into authoritarian dogma or dissolve into private feeling. Either way, it stops being a force capable of shaping a modern world.
The sly provocation is the comparison: religion needs rational foundations “than even the dogmas of science.” Science, in modern culture, gets cast as the adult in the room, religion as the sentimental throwback. Iqbal flips that hierarchy, reminding readers that science also runs on articles of faith: core assumptions, methodological commitments, and paradigms that are rarely litigated in everyday practice. He’s not anti-science; he’s puncturing the myth that science is pure reason while religion is pure impulse.
Context matters. Writing in an era of colonial modernity and Muslim intellectual crisis, Iqbal is pushing against two pressures at once: Western positivism that treats religion as obsolete, and religious traditionalism that treats questioning as betrayal. The subtext is a rescue mission. Give religion intellectual dignity, or it will either harden into authoritarian dogma or dissolve into private feeling. Either way, it stops being a force capable of shaping a modern world.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
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