CAIRO: Mona Abul-Fadl’s monograph, “Agency, Rationality, and Morality: A Qur’anic View of Man,” examines the spiritual and moral crisis of modern civilization through the Qur’anic worldview. A review of the work was published on 11 November 2026 on the Islamic Economics Project website under its “Science and Religion” category.
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| What | Review of a monograph on the Qur’anic view of man |
| When | Published 11 November 2026 |
| Where | Islamic Economics Project website (islamiceconomicsproject.com) |
| Who | Author Mona Abul-Fadl; review posted by “hammadiep” |
| Why-How | Contrasts the Western anthropocentric view of man with a Qur’anic, God-centred humanism |
For readers, the work offers a thoughtful way to reflect on how faith, reason and moral responsibility relate to one another in an age of rapid technological change.
A critique of secular modernity
According to the review, the central argument is that secular modernity, despite its technological and material achievements, has left man alienated and adrift. The author links this condition to the separation of modern thought from spiritual tradition and divine guidance.
Abul-Fadl traces the trajectory to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. Liberation from a rigid religious authority, she argues, grew into an unchecked anthropocentrism in which man became the measure of all things. The review states that she sees the human being as having been reduced by the behavioural sciences and technocratic systems to a biological organism or an abstraction open to manipulation.
In her account, the secular outlook treats the cosmos as an indifferent or hostile wilderness to be overcome. The Islamic outlook, by contrast, sees a purposefully created and balanced universe (mizan) placed at the service of humanity (taskhir), to be approached with reverence and gratitude (shukr).
The Qur’anic picture of man
The monograph presents man (insan) as a relational being, privileged within creation and sustained by divine Mercy. He is charged with a universal trust (amanah) and the mandate of vicegerency (khilafah). Man is described as combining an earthly frame with an innate disposition (fitrah) that inclines him toward truth, balance and righteousness.
On human agency, the review says Abul-Fadl rejects deterministic systems, whether materialist, scientific or historicist. In the Qur’anic view, man is a free moral agent able to discern (idrak/tamyiz) and to choose (ikhtiyar). This freedom is responsible rather than absolute, exercised within the primordial covenant (mithaq) between the Creator and humanity.
Referring to the Qur’anic Verse of the Trust, the author explains that man accepted the burden of the amanah that the heavens, the earth and the mountains declined. Freedom is therefore tied to accountability, and life on earth is a period of trial (ibtila).
Reason, revelation and equality
Abul-Fadl argues that reason (aql) and revelation (wahy) work in harmony. Revelation, she says, appeals to reason and to the heart (qalb) rather than suppressing freedom. It rescues reason from endless speculation and skepticism, offering a foundation of certainty (yaqin) in the Truth (al-Haqq).
The review also notes her reading of the descent of Adam and Eve from Paradise. In the Qur’anic account, she says, the two share equal dignity and moral capacity, with no doctrine of “original sin.” The descent is presented as a pre-ordained move to a stage of trial and growth, supported by prophetic guidance and by the possibility of repentance (tawbah).
Because all people come from a single soul (nafs wahidah) and share the same status of servitude (ubudiyyah) to the One Creator, human equality is described as intrinsic. Differences of race, colour, ethnicity or gender confer no superiority; the criterion of distinction is piety and God-consciousness (taqwa). The mandate of khilafah is described as responsible trusteeship within the limits set by Allah (hudud Allah), not exploitative dominion.
Conclusion of the work
In her concluding reflections, as summarised in the review, Abul-Fadl says secular humanism can dismantle old idolatries but falters when it tries to build an ethics independent of divine transcendence. She holds that an Islamic humanism, balancing human autonomy with dependence on the Creator, can restore meaning, community and moral integrity.
The review adds that, in this view, the human being is integrated with the cosmos and finds inner peace by aligning with a universe already engaged in worship of Allah.
Key points
- Mona Abul-Fadl’s monograph addresses the spiritual and moral crisis of modern civilization.
- She argues that secular modernity, cut off from divine guidance, has produced alienation, nihilism and anomie.
- The Qur’anic view presents man as a free, accountable agent holding the amanah and the mandate of khilafah.
- Reason and revelation are described as complementary, not opposed.
- Human equality is presented as intrinsic, with taqwa as the only criterion of distinction before Allah.
- The review was published on 11 November 2026 on the Islamic Economics Project website.
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