Reading the Signs: A Qur'anic Perspective on Thinking‪.‬

This essay advances a perspective on the Qur'anic conception of thinking, rationality, and critical reason. It begins with a discussion of the divine signs, the ayat, and the prominent profile that they take in the Qur'anic conception of thinking. This being the principal theme that runs through the whole of this paper, other topics discussed include an identification of the sources of knowledge in the Qur'an, factors that impede rational thinking, and a historical sketch of the golden age of scientific creativity and its eventual decline. A brief section is also devoted to ijtihad and where it fits into the scheme of our analysis on thinking. This is followed by a short comparison of Islamic and Western philosophical perceptions of rationality. Keywords: Qur'an; ayat; intellect; hikmah; sense-perception; science; God; man; thinking; the universe; al-Ghazali; Iqbal.