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Divine Motivation and Humanity
By Jordan Wessling, Lindsey Wilson College and Ross Parker, Charleston Southern University
Theists maintain that God created the world and acts within it. However, opinions divide regarding the motives that rest behind and systematically structure God's actions ad extra, especially those actions pertaining to humanity. The major paradigms differ as to whether God is principally motivated (i) by the goal of glorifying Himself, or (ii) by the demands of His own holiness, or (iii) in perfect conformity to moral norms, or (iv) by perfect love. The challenge of providing a theoretical framework for understanding God's fundamental motives vis-à-vis creation constitutes the problem of divine motivation. This Element addresses this problem from a Christian perspective. It assesses leading divine motivational frameworks concerning God's engagement with humanity, and it defends one framework in particular: the Agapist Framework. According to this preferred framework, God's actions toward humans are fundamentally motivated by God's perfect love.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.3
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Tags: #God #DivineHoliness #Metaphysics
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GOD’S PROBLEM OF CUT-AND-PASTE
By Noah Gordon, University of Southern California
I argue that classical theism is in tension with a kind of modal recombination principle known as ‘cut-and-paste.’ I develop this tension at length, giving two arguments against theism based on cut-and-paste. I then both lay out and respond to various original proposals for reconciling theism with cut-and-paste. I conclude by measuring the cost of having to deny cut-and-paste. I argue that while there is an intuitive cost to this consequence of theism, theists also have plausible ways of addressing various motivations for cut-and-paste.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.6
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Tags: #PoE #Evil #God #Theology
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Contingency in Leibniz's Philosophical Theology
By Dylan Flint, The Ohio State University
Trying to secure a source of contingency in Leibniz's philosophical theology has been a central concern for Leibniz scholars over the past century. This article examines some of the most promising strategies on offer, including the “per se” account, the “infinite analysis” account, and the “moral necessity” account. I suggest that a helpful distinction can be made between strategies which try to locate a source of contingency in the objectsof God's choice and strategies which try to locate a source of contingency in God's actions. I then argue that act-based strategies fare better because object-based strategies struggle to account for a number of Leibniz's core philo-theological commitments, most notably his commitment that God is both free and praiseworthy. I then argue that the moral necessity account of the contingency of God's actions is Leibniz's most promising act-based strategy because the moral necessity account most clearly satisfies Leibniz's contingency condition on free action. I then conclude by pointing out problems that a fully satisfying moral necessity account must overcome.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.70041
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Tags: #Leibniz #God #Theology
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Does science undermine the theistic multiverse?
By Miles K. Donahue, University of Oxford
I examine the claim that theistic and scientific multiverses conflict: the former require that only universes above a certain threshold of value exist, while the latter make no such stipulations. I explore several avenues of reconciliation: appealing to ceteris peribus conditions, redefining ‘universe’ in the philosophical context, advocating skeptical theism, contending that God and gratuitous evil are compatible, and adjusting the relevant scientific theories. I conclude that only the last strategy is viable, as long as we grant the coherence of a Molinist account of divine providence. If successful, it would entail that scientific and theistic models conflict only superficially. If not, however, then the theistic multiverse is inconsistent with its scientific counterparts.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-025-00972-2
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Tags: #Theism #God #Science
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Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics
By Phil Corkum, University of Alberta
Contemporary metaphysicians who might be classified as 'neo-Aristotelian' tend towards positions reminiscent of Aristotle's metaphysics – such as category theory, trope theory, substance ontology, endurantism, hylomorphism, essentialism, and agent causation. However, prima facie it seems that one might hold any one of these positions while rejecting the others. What perhaps unifies a neo-Aristotelian approach in metaphysics, then, is not a shared collection of positions so much as a willingness to engage with Aristotle and to view this historical figure as providing a fruitful way of initially framing certain philosophical issues. This Element will begin with a methodological reflection on the contribution historical scholarship on Aristotle might make to contemporary metaphysics. It will then discuss as case studies category theory, properties, substance theory, and hylomorphism. The aim of the Element is to make the relevant exegetical questions accessible to contemporary metaphysicians, and the corresponding contemporary topics accessible to historians.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009234948
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Tags: #Aristotle #Metaphysics #History
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The Extended vs. The Modern Synthesis of Evolutionary Theory
By Sergio Da Silva, Federal University of Santa Catarina
This paper examines the extended evolutionary synthesis’s critique of the modern synthesis, and introduces the “survival of the luckiest” framework as a mediating perspective. This framework preserves the core principles of the modern synthesis, while incorporating an additional element of randomness arising from the interplay of natural and sexual selection. Although the extended synthesis emphasizes developmental processes, niche construction, epigenetic inheritance, and horizontal gene transfer, it also neglects the critical role of this additional randomness. By critically analyzing the evidence provided by proponents of the extended synthesis, we show that the survival of the luckiest framework offers compelling alternative explanations. In doing so, it bridges the modern synthesis with principles of self-organization and emergence, addressing key gaps while maintaining its foundational tenets.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10030058
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Tags: #Evolution #EES #Science
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A Crazy Idea: Ibn Sīnā on Hylomorphism, the Elements, Mixture and Evolutionary Processes
By Jon McGinnis, Philosophy University of Toronto
Ibn Sīnā (c. 973-1037), the Avicenna of Latin fame, developed a unique theory of the elements and their status in mixtures that severely challenged the views of earlier natural philosophers and in its turn was severely challenged by later Latin Schoolmen in the West. At its core, Ibn Sīnā argues that the elemental forms remain actual, not merely potential, in mixtures. His elemental theory profoundly affected his own understanding of hylomorphic composition, has ramifications on his theory of essentialism and even limits empirical methods to investigating only the material conditions and not the essences of things. In this study, I present the background to Ibn Sīnā's new theory of the elements and mixtures together with its implications for hylomorphism, Avicennan essentialism and the limitations on empirical investigation. I conclude with a ‘crazy idea.’ The idea is that Ibn Sīnā's brand of hylomorphism and essentialism can accommodate the Theory of Evolution in ways that other accounts of essentialism have trouble doing. Specifically, I conclude with three critiques of essentialism found among contemporary philosophers of biology and argue that Ibn Sīnā provides the resources to handle these critiques in relatively natural ways.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.70009
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Tags: #Avicenna #Hylomorphism #Evolution
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PSR, Modal Collapse, and Open Future in Ibn Sīnā's Philosophy
By Mohammad Saleh Zarepour, The University of Manchester
It has been contended that the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) implies necessitarianism—that is, the view that everything occurs out of necessity. Discussing a well-known argument for this claim developed by contemporary metaphysicians, I show that Ibn Sīnā has anticipated a counterpart of this argument, and that is precisely why he is usually described as a necessitarian. This raises a puzzle because he also appears to endorse the existence of contingencies in the world. In particular, he seems to believe that the future is open, not only epistemically and alethically but also ontically. This means that there are future states of affairs that are genuinely contingent and the truth values of the propositions expressing these states are not determined now. Focusing on Ibn Sīnā's commitment to the Coexistence Principle—according to which the cause coexists with the effect—I will provide a solution to the aforementioned puzzle.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.70017
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Tags: #PSR #Avicenna #AnalyticalPhilosophy #Logic
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Science as Divine Signs: Al-Sanūsī’s Framework of Legal (sharʿī), Nomic (ʿādī), and Rational (ʿaqlī) Judgements
By Shoaib Ahmed Malik, University of Edinburgh
This article examines the Ashʿarī theological framework of Imam Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Sanūsī (d. 1490) and its potential for shaping contemporary Muslim engagement with science. At the heart of al-Sanūsī’s thought is a tripartite typology of judgements—legal (ḥukm sharʿī), nomic (ḥukm ʿādī), and rational (ḥukm ʿaqlī)—as articulated in The Preliminaries of Theology (al-Muqaddimāt). This classification distinguishes between rulings grounded in revelation, patterns observed in nature, and conclusions drawn from reason. Unlike other theological approaches, al-Sanūsī’s model integrates core Ashʿarī doctrines such as radical contingency, occasionalism, and divine command theory, offering a coherent synthesis of metaphysics, empirical inquiry, and ethics. Building on recent scholarship that re-engages with Ashʿarī in the context of Islam and science, this article argues that al-Sanūsī’s schema offers a meta-framework—one that positions science not merely as an object of analysis but as a locus for theology.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050549
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Tags: #Theology #Islam #Sanusi #Science
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A perfectly free God cannot satisfice
By Luke Wilson, Illinois Wesleyan University
To accept divine satisficing is to hold that it is possible for God to choose a worse option over a better one provided that the worse option is “good enough.” Divine satisficing plays an important role in certain responses to the problem of evil and problems of divine creation. Here I argue that if God is perfectly free, then divine satisficing is not possible even if it is permissible. To be perfectly free, in the sense intended here, is to be free from all non-rational influences, including desires or preferences not derived simply from the recognition of one’s external reasons. An account of divine motivation which allows for brute preferences is thus needed to accommodate divine satisficing. Thus, we should either accept a brute preference model of divine motivation or reject divine satisficing. In Sect. 1 I will give an overview of the debate on divine satisficing. After clarifying the nature of God’s reasons in Sect. 2, I will present my main argument that a perfectly free God cannot satisfice in Sect. 3 and introduce a brute preference model of divine action as an alternative to divine perfect freedom in Sect. 4. Finally, in Sect. 5 I discuss how my argument addresses countervailing considerations and the possibility that God does not face a single best option.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-025-02317-9
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Philosophy
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A Criticism of the Argument for the Possibility of Religious Science
By Mostafa Taqavi & Maryam Poostforush, Sharif Institute of Technology
Having quoted a number of cases from contemporary science, some philosophers have shown that science has naturalistic biases and argued that in his encounter with such a science one can defend the possibility of religious (or Augustinian) science. In this essay we have shown that “argument of the possibility of religious science” can only prove the possibility of “science influenced by religion” not the “possibility of religious science”. To this end, we have studied three issues: I) religious science, II) presuppositions that play a role in the formation of scientific content, and III) those norms that orient empirical data collection.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2472122
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Tags: #Islam #Science #Religion #ConflictTheisis
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An ancient Arabian war (ḥarb al-Basūs) as reflected in classical Arabic poetry
By Ali Ahmad Hussein, University of Haifa
The war of al-Basūs is among the most renowned wars of pre-Islamic Arabia. It was said to have been fought between two sister-tribes, and to have lasted allegedly for forty years. Its story, especially since the eighteenth century CE, became rich material that nurtured epic and non-epic literary works. This article examines the influence of that war on early Arabic poetry, based on every reference in a corpus of some 27,000 poems, dating from the pre-Islamic era to the fifteenth century. The verses are identified using the Rhetorical Element Identifier database (REI), a web-based tool developed by Ali Ahmad Hussein et al. It considers how the theme of the war developed and compares the mark it made on the earlier poetry with its significant imprint on modern and pre-modern Arabic literature. The main conclusion is that the influence and/or importance of the war in the classical period differed from that of later times. It seems that in this early period it was no more than a local incident, its importance restricted to those involved, and its influence on the wider Arabian community minimal. This study emphasizes the hypothesis that a significant portion of this war is embedded in Arab folklore rather than Arab history.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etae061
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Tags: #Islam #Arab #History
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The Reign of the Muhājirūn: An Exercise in Re-periodization
By Khaled M G Keshk, DePaul University
This article utilizes Bruce Lincoln’s theoretical framework of discourse analysis to understand the power dynamics within three important narratives defined herein as the Muhājirūn period (632–56 CE): the saqīfa incident, the Kufan exiles incident, and the killing of ʿUthmān incident. Discourse analysis allows us to go beyond simply using these stories to reconstruct events in order to understand the nascent Islamic polity and the civil wars of the early Islamic community (umma) in the latter half of the seventh century. The discourse analysis presented in this article disentangles the seventh-century personalities and stories from the restrictive roles that were imposed on them by historians of the eighth to twelfth centuries, so that the Muhājirūn period can be freed from the anachronism of historical retrospectivity.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etaf016
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Tags: #Islam #History #Religion
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Saadya on Necessary Knowledge
By Xiuyuan Dong and Abd-Salam Memet-Ali, Shandong University
Most Muslim and Jewish Mutakallimūn accepted the definition of necessary knowledge as opposed to inferential knowledge, with one remarkable exception, namely, Saadya’s problematic use of this term. He characterized some type of mediate knowledge as “necessary knowledge” and accordingly introduced a second-order necessary knowledge that is necessarily concomitant of the original one. This move may have marked a synthesis of the two main epistemological trends (classical intellectualism and analytical empiricism) at the time.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040453
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Tags: #Islam #Judaism #Kalam #Epistemology
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Islam and Psychedelics: An Essay on the Issues of Permissibility and Medical Utility
By Haroon Asghar, Chatham Street Surgery
Islamic rulings on intoxicants prohibit psychoactive compounds which : veil the faculties of the mind (khamr), intoxicate (Sakr), do harm and cause enmity between people (Quran 5:91). Psychedelic drugs, recognised by some as not being within this category of intoxicants [Ibn Taymiyyah on Henbane alFataawa al-Kubra, 3/423], are still deemed intoxicants by both the Muslim world and general society. This paper demonstrates that classic psychedelic medicines do not constitute the characteristics of intoxicants. It does so by observing the following characteristics of subjects taking both types of substances:
Behaviour of subjects
Neuroimaging and psychopharmacology
Phenomenology of the Subjects i.e. the conscious experience produced.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2472125
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Tags: #Islam #Psychology #Shariah
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Eternal Omni-Powers
By Ben Page, Eton College
Power metaphysicians are concerned with, well, powers. Theists claim interest in the most powerful entity there is, God. As such, recent work on the ontology of powers may well have much to offer theists when thinking about God’s power. In this paper I start to provide a metaphysics of God’s ‘power,’ something many definitions of omnipotence make reference to. In particular I will be interested in explicating how a power ontology can account for the strength and range of God’s power, as well as showing how this account of divine power can fit with a timeless conception of God.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.3
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Tags: #God #Theology #Metaphysics
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Foundational Grounding and Four Sources of Contingency
By Kenneth L. Pearce, James Madison University
I have previously argued that theists should understand God as the foundational ground of the created world. This view is a version of metaphysical rationalism, holding that everything that is apt for grounding is grounded. Views of this sort can avoid necessitarianism only if some grounding relations are indeterministic, that is, if complete grounds, even given their total circumstances, do not always necessitate what they ground. The present paper argues that there are (at least) four places in the grounding hierarchy where theists may plausibly insert this kind of indeterminism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.5
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Tags: #Contingency #God #Theology
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A Wave of Unbelief? Conservative Muslims and the Challenge of Ilḥād in the Post-2013 Arab World
By Sebastian Elsässer, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel
This article analyses the spread of unbelief among conservative Egyptian and Syrian Muslims in the post-Arab Spring period. In this period, social media gave an unprecedented visibility to transgressive expressions of fiducial doubt, creating the impression of a ‘wave of atheism’ within the conservative milieu. Based on original sources and interviews, the article argues that what the participants called ‘atheism’ (ilḥād) must not be read from the perspective of preconceived notions of atheism, but examined inductively as an emergent phenomenon of nonreligion in a specific social context, the conservative Muslim and Islamist milieu. Its appearance can be traced to a multifaceted overlay of different developments and factors, including cultural and media globalisation, the unsettling social effects of the Arab Spring, and the severe doubts and disappointments suffered by sympathisers of political Islam in the post-2013 period. It is conceivable that a significant number of people defected from conservative Islam to other shapes of religion and nonreligion, but their personal trajectories await further research. More manifestly, the crisis provided an opportunity for a new generation of conservative religious guides and thinkers who have been leading an updating of religious socialisation and propagation methods among conservative Muslims.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060670
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Tags: #Atheism #Arab #Religion #Sociology
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Prolegomena to the Concept of God When Dealing with the Question: Is Ethics Without God Possible?
By Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University
This article examines the assumption that, in order to respond adequately to the question in the title, one must have the classical concept of God in mind. Classical theism is criticized and neoclassical/process theism is briefly defended. Specifically, the classical theistic attribute of omnipotence receives four criticisms. The hope is that these criticisms prepare the way for a more fruitful response to the question in the title than is possible when the classical concept of God is assumed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050651
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Tags: #Theism #God #Ethics
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Divination
A Cognitive Perspective
By Ze Hong, University of Macau
This Element adopts a naturalistic, cognitive perspective to understand divination. Following an overview of divination and the historical background of its scholarly study, Section 2 examines various definitions and proposes a working definition that balances common usage with theoretical coherence. Section 3 surveys existing theories of divination, including symbolic and functional perspectives, while critiquing their limitations. Section 4 argues for the primacy of cognition in divinatory practices, emphasizing the role of universal cognitive mechanisms and culturally specific worldviews in shaping their plausibility and persistence. Expanding on these ideas, Section 5 investigates the interplay between individual cognition and societal processes, highlighting socio-cultural factors such as the preferential reporting of successful outcomes that bolster divination's perceived efficacy. Finally, Section 6 concludes by summarizing the Element's key arguments and identifying open questions for future research on the cognitive dimension of divination.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009541961
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Tags: #Metaphysics #Divinity #Science
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The Virtue of Understanding God as Almighty
By Bruce R. Reichenbach, Augsburg University
God’s power is usually discussed in terms of omnipotence. However, the problems associated with omnipotence are complex, and even if some think that the problems are resolvable, many find the purported resolutions unsatisfactory. I turn away from the notion of God as omnipotent, with its emphasis on omnicausality (roughly, the ability to cause anything logically possible), to that of God as almighty (the ability to do what one wills and as being the source of and controlling power over all things). I contend that in speaking about God’s power from a Christian perspective, all that is necessary is that God be almighty. Further, I argue that understanding God’s power in terms of being almighty more readily resolves the persistent paradoxes of omnipotence, of God’s impeccability, and of God self-limiting his power.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050607
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Omnipotence
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Does agnosticism have positive evidence?
By Nesim Aslantatar, Indiana University
Alexandra Zinke argues that there are different ways of justifying suspension of judgment. In Zinke (Theoria 87:1050–1066, 2021), she claims that one suspends judgment not only as a result of a lack of evidence (privatively) but also positively, that is because there is evidence that provides reasons for suspending judgment. Zinke’s argument suggests that suspension goes beyond being a rational default in cases of insufficient evidence. I align with Zinke’s perspective on affirming that agnosticism is not simply a fallback position. Yet, I argue that her attempt to justify it through positive evidence fails. However, this paper argues that (i) the vagueness and chance-driven evidences of agnosticism espoused by Zinke exhibit non-rational aspects. I will draw parallels between these evidences and Bayesian agnosticism articulated by Fraassen (Analysis 58:212–220, 1998), as well as the degrees of belief account expounded by Hájek (Analysis 58:199–206, 1998) to show these aspects and contend that Zinke’s evidences align with certain trivialities clarified within the aforementioned conceptual frameworks and (ii) due to the unique nature of agnosticism, the relationship between agnosticism, evidence, and rationality takes place on a different ground from theism and atheism. Therefore, even if there is no positive evidence for agnosticism, it is still justified by a reference to two truth conditions: belief and awareness.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-025-09955-3
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Tags: #Agnosticism #Belief #Religion
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Death in Qur’an courses for 4–6 year-olds: a critical analysis of teaching programmes and teacher’s books
By Fatma Kurttekin, Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University
This study aims to answer the question of whether the phenomenon of death is directly or indirectly included in the Qur’an course (QC) teaching programmes (TPfQCs) and teacher’s books for 4–6 year-olds. In the examination of the TPfQCs conducted in line with the aim of the study, no learning area or outcome was found that directly addresses the phenomenon of death. However, it was determined that there are references to death in the activities in the teacher’s books. Among the elements of death, it was observed that universality, finitude, non-corporeal continuity, causality, and especially loss of bodily function are prominent. In these activities, death can be evaluated as a part of citizenship, health and environmental education. In conclusion, consistent with the findings in the literature, it was revealed that death is not discussed in a planned, programmed or systematic way in QCs for 4–6 year-olds.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050549
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Tags: #Quran #Pedagogy #Sociology #Islam
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Whether God Exists Is Irrelevant to Ethics
By David Kyle Johnson, King’s College
The question of whether ethics is possible without God is a non-issue. While many believe that without God, morality collapses, I contend that the existence or non-existence of God has no bearing on whether ethics is possible, whether moral truths exist, or whether ethical inquiry is viable. Ethics is no more secure within a theistic framework than an atheistic one. I establish this by critically examining Divine Command Theory (DCT) and its variants, including Divine Nature Theory, demonstrating that they fail to provide truthmakers for moral statements, explain moral truths, generate moral knowledge, or serve as a practical guide for ethical decision making. If one seeks a way to justify ethical principles or resolve moral dilemmas, appealing to God does not improve the situation; supernatural explanations, including those invoking divine commands or nature, fail to meet the criteria of explanatory adequacy. I conclude by suggesting a secular approach to ethics—drawing from Ted Schick’s inference to the best action—that does not depend on God’s existence. Ultimately, if moral nihilism is a concern, God’s existence offers no solution. If ethics is possible at all, it is possible regardless of whether God exists.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050558
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Tags: #God #DCT #Nihilism #Ethics
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Health effect on Human’s moral identity from Avicenna’s point of view (with focusing on exercise, nutrition, and sleep)
By Aysooda hashempour & Forough alsadat Rahimpoor, University of Isfahan
Moral identity refers to those characteristics and attributes playing an important role in the formation of an individual’s identity. Indeed, the role performed by moral attributes in the evolution of a person’s identity is such that quite a few of today’s scholars maintain oneness of “self/psyche” and “moral character”. Adopting this approach, the researchers have set out to produce a wide range of research works in the field of moral philosophy. The present study is an attempt to measure the effect of three components of ‘exercise’, ‘nutrition’, and ‘sleep’ on shaping moral character from Avicenna’s viewpoints. The findings of the present research illuminate the fact that the latter three elements have direct influence on individual’s temperament whereby suitable grounds are created in which moral character develops. Avicenna holds that this statement may not challenge man’s will and authority. The reason is that every individual-by identifying his own physical coordinates and applying most apt instructions- can approximate his temperament to moderation. As a result, the necessary ground for developing most desirable moral character is created.
Link: https://doi.org/10.22091/JPTR.2025.10720.3056
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Tags: #Avicenna #Morality #Philosophy
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The Apocalypse of Peace: Eschatological Pacifism in the Meccan Qur’an
By Javad T. Hashmi, Harvard University
‘Forbear them and say, “Peace!” For soon they will know’, warns Q 43.89, ominously alluding to the imminent eschaton and the final judgement of the wicked. This article argues that the Meccan Qur’an adopts a biblical and Christ-like paradigm of eschatological pacifism, counselling Believers to practise patient endurance (ṣabr) in the face of pagan persecution (fitna), with the assurance that God’s judgement is near at hand. I suggest that the Arabic ṣabara (‘to patiently endure’, root: ṣ-b-r), upon which the Qur’an’s eschatological pacifism is based, is a calque of the New Testament hypomenō, plausibly mediated through the Syriac saybar (root: s-b-r). If correct, this would represent a fascinating ideational trajectory linking Jesus of Nazareth to Muḥammad of Mecca. The Meccan Qur’an’s eschatological pacifism provides a compelling counter-model to the thesis of militant-imperial eschatology recently advanced by Stephen Shoemaker in his 2018 monograph The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, in which he provocatively compares Muḥammad’s movement to ISIS. In contrast, I argue that the Qur’an’s imminent eschatology, located primarily in the Meccan corpus, promotes not world conquest but quietism, manifesting in various pacifistic responses that resemble not ISIS but ʿĪsā.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2025.2484082
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Prophet
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Genre analysis and religious texts: a methodological model of ḥadīth commentary
By Nurullah Ardıç, Istanbul Technical University; Mustafa Macit Karagözoğlu, Marmara University
This article proposes a methodological model of genre analysis to apply to Muslim exegesis on the compilations of Prophetic traditions, known as ḥadīth commentary. Inspired by John Swales’s approach to genre analysis, and drawing upon 23 Sunni ḥadīth commentary texts from the tenth century to the present, the model consists of a number of analytical strategies and research questions, as well as specific generic analyses, in four steps: identifying the main generic features of these commentary texts, including the characteristics of their expository and hortatory discourses; examining their internal structures as constructed by commentators; and applying the move analysis of rhetorical structures twice—to both their introduction and the body of the text. The proposed model offers a way to make ḥadīth commentary texts more accessible and manageable, and helps explore the structural commonalities and differences within the commentary tradition across generations and throughout the Muslim world.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etae068
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Tags: #Islam #Hadith #Exegesis #Quran
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Contemporary Reflections on Substantial Kind Change in Avicenna
By Tuomas E. Tahko, University of Bristo
Contemporary metaphysics, and especially neo-Aristotelian metaphysics, tackles many of the same problems as Avicenna did. One of these problems is the possibility of substantial kind change. For instance, is it possible for an animal to change its species? Aristotle and Avicenna both regarded species to be eternal, but their metaphysics might allow for individuals to change their kinds—what is important is that one kind cannot change into another kind. From a contemporary perspective, this may seem odd, given what we know about the evolution of species. Moreover, phenomena like beta decay seem to suggest that a given sample of an element may change into another element, so one might think that contemporary science allows both changing kinds and substantial kind change. Yet, I suggest that the essentialist metaphysics that has developed from Aristotle to neo-Aristotelian metaphysics, via Avicenna, may already possess the necessary tools to accommodate all this.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.70010
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Tags: #Aristotle #Avicenna #Metaphysics
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Tawaqquf and Adamic Exceptionalism: Silver Bullet or Optical Illusion?
By Stefano Bigliardi, Al Akhawayn University
The article discusses Adamic exceptionalism as explained by Shoaib Ahmed Malik and David Solomon Jalajel. It is argued that the concept of tawaqquf as a foundation of Adamic exceptionalism is defined and exemplified in a way that raises epistemological concerns, and that Adamic exceptionalism is likewise problematic even without reference to tawaqquf.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2472126
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Tags: #Islam #Evolution #Science
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The Qur’an and Communal Memory: Q. 85 and the Martyrs of Najrān
By Walid A. Saleh, University of Toronto
Sura 85 has attracted scholarly attention for the past two centuries due to its supposed reference to the massacre of the Christians of Najrān in 523 ce. Following the massacre, Byzantium and Christian Ethiopia (i.e. the Kingdom of Aksum) took the initiative to reaffirm their hegemony in southern Arabia: an Ethiopian army invaded Yemen and installed a Christian ruler, and the Jewish king of Yemen who was responsible for the persecution of the Christians was deposed and supposedly committed suicide. The earliest layers of the Islamic tradition saw Sura 85 as commentary on this massacre. However, this connection would prove problematic to the later Islamic tradition, and a concerted attempt was made to downplay, if not to obliterate it. Alternative readings were proposed, including that Q. 85 referred to the Biblical story of Daniel 3, specifically to the three youths who survived the fire. Most commentators, though, linked Sura 85 to what is certainly an apocryphal story of an anonymous monotheistic youth who opposed a similarly anonymous polytheistic king and was killed by fire. For its part, the Euro-American tradition has, overall, denied the existence of any historical reference in Sura 85 and claimed that the torture by fire described in this sura is instead a reference to Hell. This article reviews the massive literature on this sura and proposes that the Najran martyrs remain the most plausible referent.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2024.0596
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Tags: #God #Quran #Exegesis #Arabic
