Iman, Kehendak, dan Batas Manusia: Rekonstruksi Epistemologi Iman dalam Perspektif Islam

Abstract

This article conceptually examines the epistemology of faith (īmān) in Islam, addressing how faith can be theologically and rationally justified without diminishing the status of revelation and divine guidance (hidāyah) as gifts from God. The issue is significant because contemporary religious discourse tends to polarize between rationalism, which makes reason the sole arbiter of religious truth, and fatalistic fideism, which negates human responsibility for effort (ikhtiyār). Employing library research with philosophical, theological (kalām), conceptual, and critical analysis, the study draws on Qur'anic verses, hadith, classical and modern exegesis (al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Razi, M. Quraish Shihab), and the thought of al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn Rushd, placed in dialogue with contemporary religious epistemology. The findings show that (1) humans possess dual potentials as beings capable of choice; (2) divine and human will relate hierarchically and complementarily; (3) reason functions as an instrument, not a source, of religious truth; (4) the command to use reason and the affirmation that guidance is God's prerogative operate at two distinct levels of guidance; and (5) awareness of human limits generates humility (tawāḍuʿ) and guards against epistemic arrogance (istikbār) and existential despair (yaʾs). These findings are synthesized into a Layered Epistemology of Faith Model comprising normative, instrumental, volitional, receptive, and confirmatory layers. The model is offered as a preliminary conceptual framework that requires systematic comparison and further testing.