The second lecture in Iqbal’s Reconstruction is titled “The Philosophical Test of the Revelations of Religious Experience.” The lecture is divided into two main section. In the first, shorter section, Iqbal looks at one of the most significant past efforts to apply the philosophical test—scholastic arguments for the existence of God—and declares that project to…
When a reader is grappling with a challenging text—such as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam by Muhammad Iqbal—it’s important for the reader to watch out for possible misinterpretations. I don’t mean that one must avoid all misinterpretations—for that is impossible, given the imperfect nature of language and general human fallibility. Rather, I mean…
One of the conclusions of the first lecture in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is that the content of religious experience cannot be communicated, except indirectly in the form of judgments, otherwise known as “revelations.” Starting from this point of departure, the arguments of the second lecture produces the following conclusions: In Lecture…