انوار معرفت

In the Islamic philosophical–mystical tradition, the virtue of moderation is not merely understood as moral temperance in the faculties of the soul, but as an existential virtue that pertains to the balance of the entire human being. This article, employing a conceptual-analytical and text-interpretive approach and referring to religious texts and the words of Muslim thinkers, explores various dimensions of existential moderation and the manner of acquiring it, while examining its role in understanding religion and in the Islamization of the sciences. In this inquiry, the realization of the virtue of moderation is considered to occur through the integration of knowledge and action. Based on the principle of “proportion between the knower and the known,” it is explained that the moderation of the soul is essential for comprehending the full and balanced reality of religion. Accordingly, Islamization of the sciences does not mean the mere addition of religious propositions to the structure of science; rather, it depends on the cultivation and refinement of the moderate scholar and his attainment of the virtue of moderation or the level of moderate reason (ʿaql iʿtidālī). One who reaches this level possesses the comprehensive unity of knowledge, action, ethics, and faith and is capable of perceiving the truth in balanced clarity. The findings of the article indicate that embodying divine attributes, piety, and righteous deeds—together with a balanced understanding of religious teachings—constitute the existential elements for realizing this virtue. Consequently, the Islamization of the sciences is the outcome of reconstructing human reason upon the foundations of moderation and Tawḥīd (Divine Unity).