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(8.1) Chapter 11 Theology and Philosophy

(8.1) Chapter 11 Theology and Philosophy . Muslim efforts to reason about God and His relation to humans and the world. . Philosophy and Theology Theology uses reason to explicate and interpret revelation Often argues from opponents’ premises

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(8.1) Chapter 11 Theology and Philosophy

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  1. (8.1) Chapter 11 Theology and Philosophy Muslim efforts to reason about God and His relation to humans and the world.

  2. Philosophy and Theology • Theology uses reason to explicate and interpret revelation • Often argues from opponents’ premises • Philosophy seeks to find the truth by reason alone • For both: reason properly exercised and revelation properly understood cannot contradict each other.

  3. Theology: names for • ‘Ilm al-kalām (science of disputation) • ‘Ilm uṣūl al-dīn (science of the roots of religion) • ‘Ilm al-tawḥīd (science of monotheism)

  4. Reasons for theology • Apparent contradictions or obscurities in the Qur’an and Sunna. • Political conflict (esp. involving Khārijīs) • Debates with adherents of other religions • Challenge of (Greek) philosophy

  5. Main schools (madhhabs) of theology (and usually associated madhhabs of fiqh) • Mu‘tazila (Hanafis, Shi‘is) • Ash‘ariyya (Shafi‘is) • Maturidiyya (Hanafis) • [Traditionalists (Hanbalis), anti-Kalām]

  6. Major Issues • Tawḥīd Bilā kayf = without [asking] how Ta’wīl=esoteric interpretation

  7. Major issues ctd. • Justice

  8. Major issues ctd. • Promise and threat

  9. Faith

  10. Philosophy (Falsafa, Ḥikma) • Stood in an unbroken line with pre-Islamic Hellenistic philosophy before and Western scholastic philosophy later • Included much of what we call “science”; closely associated with medicine • Was “ecumenical”; Christians, Jews and others • E.g. Maimonides (1135-1204, Spain>Egypt)

  11. Philosophy – main figures • Al-Kindī, Abū Yusuf Ya‘qūb ibn Isḥāq (801-866, Baghdad) • Al-Fārābī (c. 870-950) • Ibn Sīnā, Abū ‘Alī (Avicenna, 980-1037, Iran) • Ibn Ṭufayl c. 1105-1186, Andalus) • Ibn Rushd (Averroes 1126-1198, Andalus)

  12. Philosophy and Religion

  13. Philosophy as mysticism Intellect is not so much a process as a perceptive faculty • One perceives the higher intellectual/spiritual realities • One is illuminated by them • Reasoning may pass over into mystical awareness (for some)

  14. Philosophical teachings that are problematic for religion: • God is very abstract • God is perhaps not free, determined by His own nature and the nature of existence • The universe is eternal • No bodily resurrection • Religion seems subordinate to philosophy (e.g., Qur’an is interpreted to fit philosophical doctrines, not the reverse)

  15. Fate of philosophy • Ceases to be a distinct discipline among Sunnis after about 1200. • Parts absorbed into theology • Terms and ideas used by speculative Sufis • ‘Irfān, a mystical form of philosophy, continues and develops among Shi‘is in Iran. • Revitalized in modern times, through continuation of ‘irfān and contact with the West.

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