A Rationality Immersed in Religiosity: Reason and Religiosity in Abu’l Fazl’s Oeuvre

Abstract

Abu’l Fazl is often invested with a dichotomy between reason and religion, grandly upholding the majesty of reason (mā’qūlāt) over received blind faith (taqlīd), drawing inspiration from varied sources but falling short of going the distance towards ‘scientific rationality’. Abu’l Fazl’s rationality had little in common with it; it was rooted in a new dichotomy he was constituting, one between universal religiosity and denominational religions, thus redefining dīn. Sulh-i kul (Absolute peace) in the midst of religious strife was his rationality. It is suggested that the main inspiration for this dichotomy came from the saint-poet Kabir, even as Abu’l Fazl was greatly influenced by the Sufi doctrines of ‘Illumination’ of the Eastern School and wahdat al-wujūd of Ibn al-‘Arabi.