MUSLIM EFFORTS TO REASON ABOUT GOD AND HIS RELATION TO HUMANS AND THE WORLD.

(8.1) Chapter 11 Theology and Philosophy

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.

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)

Reasons for theologyApparent contradictions or obscurities in the

Qur’an and Sunna.Political conflict (esp. involving Khārijīs)Debates with adherents of other religionsChallenge of (Greek) philosophy

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]

Mu‘tazila Ash / Mat (later)

Trad (al-Ash‘ari)

Attributes Same as essence

Not He not other than He

Bilā kayf

Qur’an created uncreated uncreated

Qur’an written and recited

created on our pages, in our hearts, does not inhere in them

Bilā kayf

“Physical” attributes

Ta‘wīl Ta‘wīl Bilā kayf

Major Issues

• Tawḥīd

Bilā kayf = without [asking] how Ta’wīl=esoteric interpretation

Major issues ctd.

Justice Mu‘tazila Ash‘ariyya Maturidiyya

God’s action

Must do best for creatures

Need not do best

Need not do best

Right and wrong

Inheres in things

Determined arbitrarily by God

Right and wrong

Can be known apart from revelation

Can be known only by revelation

Can be known apart from revelation

Qadar Humans create their actions

God creates actions, humans acquire

God creates actions, humans have choice

Major issues ctd.

Promise and threat

Mu‘tazila Ash‘ariyya Maturidiyya

Divine punishment

God must punish serious sins

God may forgive all sins but kufr and shirk

God may forgive all sins but kufr and shirk

Khariji Mu‘tazila Al-Ash‘ari Ash‘ariyya Maturidiyya

Muslims who commit serious sins are

kafirs believers fasiq believers

Faith includes

Heart, tongue, limbs

Heart, tongue, limbs

Heart, tongue, limbs

Heart

• Faith

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)

Philosophy – main figuresAl-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)

Philosophy and Religion

Philosophy Religion

Source of knowledge

pure reasoning and intellectual illumination

revelation to a prophet (to his intellect, or a high level of his intellect, and his imagination)

Knowledge gained

knowledge of the truth in its pure form

same truths but in a symbolic form

Knowledge accessible to

elite only All people

Philosophy as mysticismIntellect is not so much a process as a

perceptive facultyOne perceives the higher intellectual/spiritual

realitiesOne is illuminated by themReasoning may pass over into mystical

awareness (for some)

Philosophical teachings that are problematic for religion:

God is very abstractGod is perhaps not free, determined by His own

nature and the nature of existenceThe universe is eternal No bodily resurrectionReligion seems subordinate to philosophy (e.g., Qur’an

is interpreted to fit philosophical doctrines, not the reverse)

Fate of philosophyCeases to be a distinct discipline among Sunnis

after about 1200.Parts absorbed into theologyTerms 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.