Heart, Ear, and the Origin of Awareness: A Theological-Philosophical Reading of the Qur'anic Vocabulary of Consciousness, in Dialogue with Contemporary Neuroscience
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) September 1, 2026 Aissa Walid Benarous preprint
This paper takes as its starting point a recurring feature of Qur’anic vocabulary: verses that consistentlyassociate the faculties of reasoning (‘aql) and understanding with the heart (qalb), and verses that as-sociate genuine, efficacious hearing (sam‘) with consciousness or wakefulness (wa‘y), often placingthe two faculties in relations of equivalence, exchange, or causal dependence rather...