Historical Course of the Use of Reason in Setting and Discovering Rules from Imami Point of View

The use of reason in religion has always been a serious issue that some have basically denied its effectiveness and with their critiques have sought to undermine the rational understanding of religion. They consider the dignity and status of intellect in expression, but in practice and in relation to the use of reason in the realm of religion, they have relied on textualism and focused on religious texts. On the contrary, some have considered intellect as one of the sources of religious thought along with religious texts and spiritual perceptions. The present descriptive and analytical article, regardless of the doubts and controversies in the field of rationalism, seeks to explain that rationalism in legislation and religious knowledge is related only to the epistemological dimension of religion and is responsible for discovering and recognizing the rules and not for setting them. Therefore, only from this perspective, the historical course of the use of reason from the time of the Prophet until now can be proved and explained. Naturally, clarifying this issue will have a great impact on explaining the dignity of intellect and rational arguments in relation to the tradition.