Reconciling between Reason and Revelation & the Role of Intellect in Islam
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T18:20:27.180548+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Reconciling between Reason and Revelation & the Role of Intellect in Islam
By Yasir Qadhi | March 2013
Opening
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah wa as-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala.
The First Revelation and the Call to Knowledge
We all know that the very first revelation that Allah sent down was (اقْرَأْ - iqra). And iqra of course means to read, to explore, to learn more. And the purpose of the first revelation to our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was to tell him that Allah would give him knowledge directly. (اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ - iqra bismi rabbik) - Read or recite directly from Allah.
And in the same series that Allah revealed iqra, iqra is repeated twice if you look at it.
And then a few ayat later,
Twice iqra is said.
Two Types of Knowledge
And some scholars have said that the purpose of the repetition is that the first iqra is a reference to the Islamic sciences. Why? Because it is linked with the knowledge from Allah.
And the second iqra is a reference to the secular sciences that we derive. Why? Because right after that Allah says,
The one who taught by the pen.
And what do we read by the pen? We read the knowledge of men. We read whatever they have written. Encyclopedias, research papers, all of the secular sciences, this is what is written by the pen. So Allah is telling us to learn:
- First, knowledge of the religion
- And then learn, second, the knowledge of this world
Islam's Unique Position in History
So there is no question that Allah has praised knowledge and thoughts. Intellect and reflection. And there is no denying that in our Islamic history, unlike previous religions and other civilizations, our civilization was the only one that was religious and scientific at the same time.
If you look at western civilization, when it was religious, it was in the dark ages, it was in the middle ages. Only when it got rid of religion, through the reformation, only when it overtook and threw away the shackles of the church, was it able to then proceed onward scientifically. And then the renaissance took place after the reformation.
Islamic Golden Age
We as a Muslim society and an Islamic civilization, we are the only group in the history of mankind that when we reach the pinnacle of religiosity, when we had religion, we also had science. When we had deen, we also had dunya. When we had understanding of the religious text, we also encouraged chemistry and biology and medicine and astronomy.
And many of you should be aware that in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th centuries of the Christian era, our Islamic caliphates produced the world's greatest scientists. And we were the ones who charted out the course of the human body and anatomy. We were the ones who named most of the stars that to this day when you study astronomy, most of the stars have names derived in Arabic. We were the ones who invented the science of algebra.
The Dangers of Intellectual Pride
My talk today is in fact not going to be about singing the praise of the intellect and science, because that is something that, alhamdulillah, we have done quite a lot. And we deserve all of those talks.
My talk is actually going to be somewhat of the opposite, and that is the dangers of assuming that our intellect is all-knowing. Because you see, our intellect, our aql in Arabic is called aql. Our aql is what Allah has blessed us with above the animals. No question about it. The animals don't have the type of intellects we do. Yet at the same time, it is not all-powerful, it is not infallible.
The Modern Challenge
And we are living at a time when many people think that the intellect should be what reigns supreme. If our intellect, if our rational thoughts says something to be true, we don't care what the religious texts say. We don't care what the Quran says. We don't care what Allah says. Rather, our intellect should hold supreme over the Quran. And this no doubt is something that we as Muslims would disagree with.
Reconciling Intellect and Scripture
So then the flip side of the coin is, somebody will say, so are you saying that Islam is not compatible with the intellect? That Islam is intellectually challenged? That things that the rational mind says to be true don't mix with the Quran?
And so to answer this question, I will now go into the topic of trying to reconcile, trying to bring forth the good cooperation between the intellect and between the Quran. In Arabic, the intellect is called (عقل - aql). And the scriptures are called (نقل - naql), which is the scripture.
So, we're trying to find the common ground between the aql and between the naql.
The Scientific Challenge to Faith
And again, the reason for this is we're living in such a ultra-scientific era that if science can't prove it, then it's not something that is a fact. And that's why for example atheism is on the rise because scientifically, you really cannot prove God.
This is my position. Scientifically, you cannot prove God. But this is not a limitation on God, it is a limitation on science. Because science has a role, science has a function, science has an arena. And if you try to extrapolate it beyond that arena, you're gonna fall into problems.
Allah exists, this is beyond the shadow of a doubt. Because science cannot prove it, many people doubt His existence. And the same goes for many Islamic principles, for many issues of our religion, that people will say, we now believe logically, rationally, this is true, your book says something else, we have to abandon the book and then follow what we think is rationally true.
Four Categories of Quranic Calls to Reason
So let us look at the Quran and Sunnah, and let us see how does Allah describe the thought process. What does Allah say about the aql? What does Allah say to think, to reflect and ponder?
And we all know that the concept of thinking and the concept of pondering is mentioned in the Quran literally hundreds of times. The word (تَعْقِلُونَ - taqiloon), the word (تَذَكَّرُونَ - tathakkaroon), all of these indicate thinking. And Allah says in over a hundred verses, why don't you think? Why don't you ponder? Why don't you rationalize?
My Research Background
And by the way, just for your information, this is in fact my PhD dissertation at Yale University. It is entitled, "Reconciling Between Reason and Revelation in the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah." Ibn Taymiyyah was one of the greatest scholars of our tradition. And he wrote a 10 volume book. It is called, در تعارض العقل والنقل (Dar'u Ta'arud al-Aql wa al-Naql) - Or, "Averting the Conflict Between Reason and Revelation."
Category 1: Challenging Disbelievers to Monotheism
The first category: Allah challenges those who do not believe in Him. Atheists, agnostics, disbelievers. Allah challenges them to think and come to the logical and rational conclusion that there is only one God. And that that God is worthy of being worshipped.
This is the bulk of the times in the Quran that Allah challenges mankind to think. Allah tells us in the Quran that,
Don't you look at your own selves (Quran 30:8). Look at your bodies, examine your anatomy, examine your own systems inside of you. Don't they see? Verily, no other being could have created this other than Allah.
Allah challenges us to think about the creation. Allah challenges us to think about the world around us. And then Allah says, doesn't it make sense that all of this perfection and harmony has one creator?
So this is the bulk of the verses in the Quran about human intellect and that is to challenge people who don't believe in God or people who don't believe in Allah. They might believe in idols. They might believe that an idol created them. And Allah says, do you think this idol creates you when you created it? This is a verse in the Quran that isn't this foolish. You created the idol. You carved the idol. Now you think the idol created you. Use your brains. Is this your object of worship?
So the bulk of Quranic verses and most of them, maybe I would say 30-40%. All of these can come under intellect leads you to one God. Monotheism. And that God is worthy of worship.
Category 2: The Prophethood of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
The second category of verses: When Allah challenges us to think is to examine the life of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and come to the conclusion that he is a true Prophet. This is the second category of verses. Look at his lifestyle. Look at his seerah.
Now, what motivates this man to preach what he's preaching? Did he want money? For sure he didn't. Look at his lifestyle. Did he want fame? If he wanted fame, he would not be preaching the most unpopular message in Makkah. Did he want power? No, he didn't. Because when the Quraysh came and said, we'll make you our king. If you give up this message, he said, no, I cannot. You can put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left. I will never give up preaching this message.
The Knowledge Argument
So what did he want? Why is he preaching? Not just this. Where does he get all of this knowledge from? Because a lot of Muslims don't realize this, that Makkah was a very backward society. There was no library in Makkah. People were all illiterate. The bulk of people were illiterate. There was no connection. There were no large civilizations. Makkah did not even have a script of Arabic that was refined. The people of Arabia did not even have two, three story buildings. There's no civilization as we call it. They're literally backward people, jahiliyyah.
And yet our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) comes forth with a book, the likes of which mankind to this day marvels at. And it contains the histories of previous nations that the Arabs were never exposed to. The Arabs had never heard of the stories of Musa and Firaun, the stories of Zakariyya. These are Judeo-Christian stories, have nothing to do with the Arabs.
The Arabs had never heard of Yusuf (عليه السلام). They'd never heard of the temptation of Yusuf. It's not something of their culture. And yet our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) brings forth detailed descriptions.
Quranic Challenges
And the Quran challenges mankind to think, where do you think he got this from?
Neither you nor your people before you were aware of these stories (Quran 42:52). This is what the Quran tells us. Neither you nor your people before you were aware of these histories.
says Allah - You were not there on Mount Sinai when we spoke to Musa. You were not there. How can you know all of these descriptions? Allah says, because we have revealed it to you.
Allah says
- You were not there in the room when Zakariyya was arguing with the other people who will take care of Maryam. You were not there when they were arguing. How did you get all of this information?
The Example of Jesus and the Birds
And you know, just as a footnote here, as an interesting point. Wallahi, it's amazing, brothers and sisters. Some of the Quranic stories about Jesus Christ. And this is the weekend that Christians celebrate the quote-unquote resurrection of Jesus. As for us, we know that Jesus never died in the first place. He's still alive. And Allah will save him as we know from the plotting of his enemies. And he is still alive.
Nonetheless, this weekend is the weekend that they celebrate the resurrection. Wallahi, it is amazing that there are stories in the Quran about Jesus Christ that Christians did not know until recently.
And I'll give you an example. The story of the birds that we all know as children. Jesus and the birds. We all know this story, right? That he fashioned birds with clay, and he blew into it, and then the birds became real. And they became living birds, right? This is in the Quran.
Do you know that this story is not mentioned in any of the testaments? Neither Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, not none of them. Recently, 150 years ago, they discovered a whole section of lost manuscripts in a monastery in Egypt. It is called the Geniza discovery. The Geniza documents. This is in Egypt. And they go back to branches of Christianity that no longer exist in our times.
And lo and behold, in those manuscripts, they discovered a story of Jesus Christ creating life by Allah's power, as the Quran says, Allah's power, fashioning birds out of clay, blowing upon them, and they become real birds. This was only discovered 150 years ago. And yet the Quran has this 14 centuries ago.
Tell me, where does this story come from? When even the Christians didn't have this story. Protestant and Catholic Christianity had no knowledge of this story. This was found in manuscripts that were untouched for over a thousand years. Neither the Arabs nor the Romans knew this story. But it is in the Quran.
Quranic Verses on Prophethood
And only recently, when we discovered some lost Christianities, we were able to find this story, and then link it together. So this goes back to my point here that Allah says in the Quran, and of those verses Allah says, Surah Al-A'raf verse 184 that, (أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا مَا بِصَاحِبِهِم مِّن جِنَّةِ - awalam yatafakkaroo ma bisahibihim min jinnatin) - Don't they think in their minds, their companion is not mad (Quran 7:184). Their companion meaning the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . He's not mad, he's a sane person.
I'm telling you to do, I'm only telling you to do one thing. Stand up, single and in groups. And then think, debate, negotiate amongst yourselves. About what? Think about, your companion, where is he getting all of this from? He's a normal, sane human being. He's coming forth with this revelation. Where does the Quran come from? Use your brains.
This is the second category of when we're told to think. And in a beautiful verse in Surah Yunus verse 16, Allah says, that tell them, that if Allah had willed, I would never have had this message from the Quran. Don't you realize I have lived a lifetime before without producing anything like it?
For 40 years, you did not know me as a poet, you did not know me as an author, you did not know me as anything of producing a book. And now all of a sudden, I am producing the most powerful book you have ever heard. Where is it coming from?
Category 3: Increasing Faith for Believers
The third point, when Allah challenges us to use our intellect, is to increase our iman in Allah, even if we already have iman. So, the Muslim scientist, when he studies the creation, he will be marveled at the perfection of all of these disciplines. Whether it is biology, whether it is chemistry, whether it is physics, whether it is astronomy.
The deeper he goes, the more astounded he will be at how perfect Allah created everything. And by the way, we are calling these disciplines physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and this and that. The fact of the matter is, in the real world, there is no distinction, they're all the same.
In the real world, physics and biology and chemistry all interact with one another. We don't have the laws of biology operating upon us, then tomorrow the laws of physics, then the day after the laws of chemistry. Right now, as we speak and as we're living, all of these sciences interact simultaneously with us.
And our minds are so limited, we can only study one discipline out of all of these disciplines. But the fact of the matter is, all of these disciplines overlap with one another. And Allah challenges us to think about, to ponder over the creation and then increase our iman.
And of the greatest examples for this is Allah says, that the believers are those who they think about the creation of the heavens and earth:
Go ahead and do your research. Become an astronomer, become a physicist, become any discipline science. And then have your iman increase as you wonder and marvel at the creation of Allah.
Now, by the way, this point number three, it is the same as point number one, except that point number one is for non-Muslims to believe. Point number three, for believers to increase their belief. In fact, this is to be more precise, right? Point number one is non-Muslims believe in Allah. Point number three, all believers in Allah increase their belief in Allah. So it's in fact the same thing.
Category 4: Understanding the Quran and Sunnah
And then the final point, the four points, the final point where Allah challenges us to use our brains, to use our mind. Allah asks us to derive the meanings of the Quran and sunnah. Extract wisdoms from the Quran.
Allah says in the Quran, we have made the Quran easy to ponder. Who is there that's thinking about it?
In the Quran, we have revealed the Quran in simple Arabic language. (لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ - la'allahum yatafakkaroon) - So that they can understand, they can think, they can derive (Quran 16:44).
So, Muslims use their intellect to study the Quran, to study the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to derive how do we worship Allah, to derive fiqh, to derive theology, to derive understanding the Quran.
And my point here is that never does Allah tell us in the Quran to use our intellects to challenge the meaning of the Quran. And if you think about it, this is nonsensical. This is nonsensical. Why would Allah tell us to reject the Quran? The Quran is His book, His speech. And the intellect is His gift to us. And His gift and His speech will go hand in hand. They will not clash. They will not negate one another. They will not contradict one another.
The Meaning of Aql (Intellect)
The purpose of the human intellect for the Muslim is to increase his iman and to study the Quran. The purpose of intellect for the non-Muslim is to realize the beauty and perfection of Islam. Really this is in a nutshell what the purpose of the intellect is.
And now that I've defined the Quranic role for the intellect, it's interesting here to talk about the meaning of the word aql. What does aql mean? It's very interesting that the word aqla, linguistically, it means to reign in an animal, to harness an animal. Like you know animals, they have something around their heads and they are harnessed. You pull them back. That is what aqla means.
What does human intellect have to do with harnessing? The purpose of aql is to reign us in during times of danger. To control us from acting foolishly and stupidly. To make us act in an intelligent manner. Aql pulls us back from falling to our deaths. Aql pulls us back from doing that which is foolish to do.
Intelligence Equals Worshipping Allah
And therefore it should not come as any surprise to us. In Islam, aql means to be a good worshipper of Allah. If you are a worshipper of Allah, you are aql, you're smart. And if you reject Allah, if you commit sins, if you don't act in an intelligent manner, you're acting foolishly.
And that is why, for example, in the Quran, in Surah Al-Mulk, Surah Tabarak, when the angels asked the people of Jahannam, how did you end up here? What caused you to end up here? What did they say?
If we only heard the message or we only thought, we would not end up in Jahannam. If they were intelligent, they would have accepted Islam and worshipped Allah.
Beautiful message here.
Likewise, Allah mentions in the Quran that The hypocrites, they just don't have aql (Quran 63:7). The hypocrites are acting foolishly.
And Allah mentions in the Quran that anybody who disobeys Allah is acting in an ignorant, in a foolish manner. Allah says in Surah An-Nisa that, everybody who disobeys Allah in the state of (جَهَالَةٍ - jahalah) (Quran 4:17) - Everybody who sins in a state of ignorance and then repents, Allah will forgive him.
So the purpose is about repentance. But there's an interesting clause here. That whoever disobeys - in the state of being jahil. Jahil is the opposite of alim. Alim and jahil, two opposites, right? And Allah describes the sinner as being jahil.
The famous cousin of the Prophet Ibn Abbas, he said, anybody who commits a sin against Allah, he is a jahil. He's not aqil, he's not intelligent. Anybody (كل من عصى الله فهو جاهل - kullu man 'asa allaha fahuwa jahil) - Anybody who disobeys Allah, he is foolish, he's stupid, literally, jahil. Because if he were intelligent, he wouldn't disobey Allah.
That is the meaning of intelligence in Islam. To act in accordance with the commandments of Allah. And to live one's life obeying Allah. This is intelligence. And to reject that is foolish, even if you win the Nobel Prize in Science. But if you don't believe in Allah, this is foolish. If you don't recognize the truth when it is staring you in the face, this is foolish.
The purpose of aqil is to recognize the truth. When aqil is not used to recognize the truth, it doesn't matter if you can get to the moon and back. You are not using the intelligence for what it was meant for. And this is the message that we get from the Quran.
Dangers of Placing Intellect Above Revelation
Now a few final points before we wrap up our talk. And that is some of the dangers that arise when we claim that we will listen to our aqil even if it contradicts the Quran. We'll listen to what our intellect say is the truth even if it contradicts the Quran. We will follow the aqil over the Quran.
This is actually very problematic for multiple reasons.
First Danger: The Purpose of Revelation Becomes Meaningless
First and foremost, the purpose of the Quran becomes meaningless. There's no point to have revealed the Quran then. If you will follow what your common sense, your wisdom, what culture, what aqil tells you and say this will always be above the Quran, then what is the purpose of revealing the Quran?
And I want to make a very significant point here. Our Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم for 40 years, wahy did not come down, agreed? For 40 years, he was not communicating with Allah, correct? During those 40 years, did he know the details of revelation? How many times to pray? What are the details of halal and haram? Yes, he knew the broad halal and haram. Yes, he knew. Not to worship idols, not to womanize. He knew the broad. But the detailed commandments of the shariah, did he know them? No.
And Allah references this in the Quran. We found you not upon guidance. We were the ones who guided you (Quran 93:7).
Allah says in the Quran - You did not know what was the book or what was iman, until we revealed to you the light by which we guide whom we will of our servants.
If Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was unaware of the details of how to live his life, until the Quran came down, how about the rest of us? And this is the fundamental difference between philosophy and the Abrahamic tradition. That the science of philosophy is based on that simple premise that our minds can derive all ultimate truths. We don't need any communication from Allah.
Whereas the Abrahamic tradition, and in particular our tradition, the Quran, tells us very clearly that the brain can only take you so far, but for the rest you need the Quran.
Second Danger: There is Never an Actual Clash
Point number two here, there is never an actual clash between the Quran and between human intellect. There can never be an actual contradiction. And I explained why very briefly, and that is that they both come from Allah. The Quran is Allah's speech, the intellect is Allah's gift. And it is impossible that Allah's gift will contradict Allah's speech.
Therefore, anytime you think the science, or intellect, or our culture, or our human derived sciences contradicts the Quran, there must be some type of explanation that is not contradictory. You must work out a relationship between the two.
Third Danger: Intellect Has No Precise Limit
Number three, intellect does not have a precise limit. Every society, every civilization, thinks certain things are reasonable, whereas another society will think it is unreasonable. And all you need to do is to look at the last 200 years of our own western thought, the last 300 years, the last 500 years.
What this society thought was reasonable, right now, their own parents did not think was reasonable. The limits of freedom, the limits of sexuality, the limits of modern culture. What we believe is reasonable, 50 years ago, they didn't think it was reasonable. 100 years ago, they thought something else. 500 years ago, yet something else.
That which is reasonable evolves from every society, and every place, and every time. And we don't even need to look at history. Every one of us in this room, we have come to a point in our lives where we were certain something was the most reasonable thing for us to do. And we might have even done that. And then we realize, my God, that was so foolish. How could I have done that? I made a mistake.
What does this show us? Our knowledge, our minds, our intellect, our reasonability is relative. Changes from time to time, place to place, culture to culture, situation to situation. Whereas the Quran is eternal. The Quran is forever. The Quran is kalamullah, it doesn't change.
So why should we prefer that which changes every decade, and abandon that which is unchanging? Reasonability shows us that there is no such thing as a standard of reasonability. Think about that. There is no such thing as a judge of what is reasonable and what is unreasonable.
And again, as I said, all you need to do is look at today's modern society. Wallahi, the parents of this generation, back in the 50s, would never have approved of much of the lifestyles that now is common in the western world. They would never have approved of it. And their grandfathers before them, and their great grandfathers before them. Yet, now it is considered reasonable.
And anybody who opposes those lifestyles is considered backward, considered fundamentalist, considered this and that. There is clearly a change going on. What's changing? Have biologically humans changed? No. We are still the same. We breathe the same air. We eat the same... But what has changed? Our values have changed. Not us. We have not changed biologically. We still eat the same food. We still drink the same water. We're still same biological species. Yet, our aql has modified. What we consider reasonable has modified.
Fourth Danger: Following the Example of Iblis
And the final point that we'll mention for this regard, then I'll summarize and conclude. The final point, for us Muslims in particular, the very first person who thought he knew better than Allah was none other than Iblis.
The very first being who thought he knew better than Allah was Iblis. When Allah told Iblis to do sajdah to Adam, what did Iblis say? I'm not gonna do sajdah to him. I'm better than him. You created me from fire, you created him from clay. Doesn't make sense to me. It's not logical and rational to me that I should prostrate to an inferior species.
We have in our history the very first case of somebody preferring his own intellect over the commandments of Allah. And we know what is the fate of this. And anybody who prefers his own intellect over the Quran has an element of Iblis in him. Very frankly, has an element of Iblis in him that I think I know better than the Quran.
Ibn Taymiyyah's Example
Rather, our intellect, Ibn Taymiyyah gives this example. He says, imagine, let me give you an example of Stockholm and myself. I come to Stockholm for the first time as I have come. And I don't know who is anybody in the city. So I find a Muslim in the streets. I say, Akhi, can you tell me, where is the Sheikh of Stockholm? Where is the Mufti of Stockholm? Where is the greatest scholar of Stockholm?
So this man will say, I know. Here, take me by the hand. He'll take me to the Mufti. He'll say, this is our Mufti. This is our greatest scholar. So I ask the scholar my question. The scholar gives a response. And he says, this is what you need to do.
Then my guide will tell me, no, no, no, no. You cannot listen to the Mufti. He's wrong. And because I led you to the Mufti, I must be more knowledgeable than the Mufti. So now you need to listen to me instead of the Mufti.
What is all of this example? In this case, the Mufti is the Quran and Sunnah. And this guide is the human intellect. The guide that leads us to the Quran is our aql. Once we are guided to the Quran, the role of the aql does not take supremacy over the role of the Mufti, the role of the Quran.
You see the example here, right? And so Ibn Taymiyyah says, if this were to happen to you, you would say to the guide that you testified that he is the scholar of Stockholm. So now that you've testified, you have no right to disagree. Because you have testified that this is the sheikh of the city. And the fact that you led me to the sheikh does not make you the sheikh.
Similarly, the aql and the Quran. The aql leads you to the Quran. Once you know the Quran to be true, you cannot use the aql to reject the Quran. The aql tells you, if this is the Quran, I must believe in it. If this is what Allah says, I must believe in it. I might not understand everything, but I must believe in it.
And this is not only rational, it is also what Islam itself demands.
Summary: The Role of the Intellect
So we conclude by stating a summary, what is the role of the intellect? What is the purpose of the intellect? The intellect is a faculty, a sense that Allah has given us. It has its limits, and it has its realm of operating. And if we use it within that realm, it's perfect.
Like our eyes, we use our eyes to see immediately around us in the broad daylight, it's great. If somebody tries to use his eyes to see in pitch black, what's gonna happen? He'll make a fool out of himself. If somebody tries to use his eyes to see 5 miles away, it's not gonna happen.
So the aql has also a role. It has a limited place. You use it within that place, and yes, you will go to the moon and come back. MashaAllah, Tabarakallah. But if you try to extrapolate it beyond its place, and you start challenging the Quran, saying, this doesn't make sense. This ayah is staghfirullah, nonsensical. This ruling is backward and uncivilized. Now you have taken the aql and taken it beyond. You're like a person trying to see in a black room, in a dark room. It's not going to happen.
Also realize that for the non-Muslim, the purpose of the intellect is to be guided to Islam. And for the Muslim, the purpose of the intellect is to understand Islam, not to challenge Islam.
The Quran and the Unseen
In fact, the very first verse of the Quran is what? Surah Al-Baqarah.
You simply believe in the unseen.
The Quran tells you many things that are beyond the realm of the intellect. By the way, it's a very important point. Memorize this or write it down. The Quran can never contradict the intellect, but the Quran might astound the intellect with what knowledge it has. The Quran will bring knowledge the intellect can never have.
For example, angels, heaven and hell. Scientifically, can we prove angels exist? No. Subhanallah, forget angels. Can we prove our own bodies have ruh inside of it? Ruh, soul. Can science prove we have a ruh? Wallahi, you can invent any scientific apparatus, anything, and it will not be able to detect whether you have a soul or not. Yes, subhanallah.
If we cannot even detect our souls, are we going to then use science to derive everything from around us? No. Science has a role. Keep it in its role. Don't take it beyond its role.
Conclusion
And we conclude by stating that Allah has gifted us and created our intellects amongst us, and He has also revealed our scripture, and the two of them are meant to be used in harmony. The two of them are meant to be used together as a cooperation.
And when we use our intellect to believe in the Quran and to understand the Quran, then we are using it in complete harmony, and we'll reach the pinnacle of our humanity. But if we attempt to derive a clash, to bring forth a contradiction, then we will lose out on our intellect, and we will also lose out on believing in the Quran.
May Allah bless us with a firm intellect and with an iman in Allah.