Twilight of Reason Anti-rationalism in Islam and Europe

Abstract

Islam has perennially been the subject of criticism by Western writers, journalists and commentators. Islam, according to one argument, has always advocated irrational views and opposes reason unlike Christianity and Judaism. No doubt, the revival of Islamic ideology on the global world stage as represented in the Salafi-Jihadi trend has reinforced this stereotype. Islam, as preached by Salafi view, stands against reason, prohibits philosophy and condemns logic. To validate this argument, Islamists and Salafists invoke Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Ghazali and their likes, as a pretext for the construction of a narrative opposing rationality. This view, however, appears in the mass media to be synonymous with Islam itself. ".