Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Religious Studies

Major Professor

Tori Lockler, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Michael DeJonge, Ph.D.

Committee Member

William Schanbacher, Ph.D.

Keywords

Anamnesis, Innate-disposition, Intelligibility, Islam, Knowledge

Abstract

This thesis reconstructs a Qur’anic epistemological architecture grounded in narrative rather than abstract system-building. It argues that the Qur’an articulates a unified account of human cognition in which intelligibility is grounded in divine instruction, recognition is affirmed through primordial testimony, and knowledge is exercised within finite yet accountable faculties.

Through close analysis of the story of Adam in Surat al-Baqarah, the primordial covenant in Surat al-Aʿrāf, and the verse of the Amanah in Surat al-Aḥzāb, the study demonstrates that the Qur’an presents human knowing as structured, oriented, and morally conditioned. Revelation functions not as the introduction of wholly new knowledge, but as reminder and reorientation within a created cognitive framework that is sufficient for intelligibility yet vulnerable to distortion.

Engaging classical exegetes and theologians, focusing on Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, the thesis situates their contributions within a broader reconstruction that extends beyond individual schools. It further explores the implications of this framework for scientific reasoning, drawing on contemporary philosophy of science to show that inquiry presupposes structured intelligibility rather than epistemic emptiness. While the model bears limited structural resemblance to Plato’s doctrine of recollection, it diverges in metaphysical grounding, locating the source of intelligibility not in eternal Forms but in divine teaching and primordial recognition. The study concludes that the Qur’an offers a philosophically defensible and internally coherent epistemological framework that integrates teaching, testimony, responsibility, and reminder into a unified account of human knowledge.

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