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Religious education and worldview theory
By Andrew Wright, Bishop Grosseteste University
This paper contributes to the ongoing debate surrounding the place of ‘worldviews’ in Religious Education. We examine the British Commission on Religious Education proposal that the subject be renamed ‘Religions and Worldviews’ from the perspective of Worldview Theory and Critical Religious Education and make the following suggestions: (a) the twin notion of ‘ultimate nature of reality’ and ‘our place in the ‘ultimate order-of things’ provides a substantial content for RE largely absent from the Commission’s vision; (b) worldviews are frequently implicit rather than explicitly affirmed in religious creeds and philosophical assertions; (c) worldviews are complex, interpersonal and take varying communal forms, surpassing the polarity of ‘personal’ and ‘institutional’; (d) the concept of ‘worldview’ has pedagogic and hermeneutical potential transcending content-driven curriculum development.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2023.2252190
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Tags: #Pedagogy #Religion #Sociology
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Sound of Quantitative Metres in Medieval Hebrew Poetry
By Boris Kleiner, Tel Aviv University
The conventional view of quantitative metres in medieval Hispano-Hebrew poetry confuses vowels and syllables. This is because it was syllable structure, rather than vowel typology, that produced the quantitative oppositions. Vocalic shewa was not a furtive but a regular short vowel; its syllable was light because it was not closed by a consonant. Heavy syllables were formed by closing consonants, replaceable by a long vowel, as in Arabic and other languages. Arabic metres could be used in Hebrew with no modification of their phonological basis. However, the quantitative prosody of Arabic poetry was the same as in Qurʾānic recitation, whereas its application to Hebrew contradicted the accentual prosody of the Bible. This appears to be the reason for the controversy surrounding the introduction of Arabic metrics into Hebrew poetry. Quantitative metres require only the focus on the articulatory structures to become audible. Musical durations and accents can corroborate the metre, but they can also be non-related without compromising metre perception.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgad017
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Tags: #Quran #History #Arabic
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Importance of Religion after Adversity
By Paul Frijters, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College; David W. Johnston and Rachel J Knott, Monash University; Benno Torgler, Queensland University of Technology
After major adversity, some people rely on their religious faith and networks for comfort, support, and material goods and services. Consistent with this behavior are findings that adversity has a positive causal effect on the importance of religion in people's lives. Using a large high-frequency US dataset, we estimate the causal effects of natural disasters on stated religious importance and attendance at religious services. Effects are identified by comparing changes in outcomes over time within counties affected by a natural disaster with changes over time in other counties from the same state. We find that most estimates are near-zero in magnitude; for the full sample, for subgroups defined by religious affiliation, demographics, and income, and for different disaster types. However, significant negative effects are found immediately postdisaster, suggesting a short-term crowding-out effect in which recovery activities limit time for worship. This explanation is supported by a finding that people are less “well rested” in the first weeks postdisaster.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12879
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Tags: #Religion #Sociology #Religiosity
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A Dilemma for Theistic Non-Naturalism
By St.John Lambert, Felsted School
Non-naturalism is the view that there are sui generis, non-natural moral properties. This paper poses a dilemma for theists who accept this view. Either God explains why non-moral properties make sui generis, non-natural moral properties obtain, or God does not explain this. If the former, then God is unacceptably involved in the explanation of his own moral goodness. If the latter, then God’s sovereignty, stature, and importance are undermined, and an unacceptable queerness is introduced into the world. This paper concludes that theists have good reasons to reject non-naturalism on account of the unacceptable consequences of accepting either horn.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091115
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Tags: #Naturalism #God #Theism
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Revivalism and Decoloniality: The Paradox of Modernization without Westernization in the Political Theology of Israr Ahmad
By Mohammad Adnan Rehman, College of Holy Cross
This article explores the contribution of modern Muslim revivalism to Muslims’ political decolonization, and the paradoxical role the West plays in that process. On the one hand, revivalism rejects the founding principles of liberal political theory, and on the other hand, it readily adopts the salient structures and mechanisms of the modern polity with a view to Islamize them, all the while insisting on the Muslims’ need to de-Westernize. Toward revealing the hitherto neglected dimensions of revivalism, my analysis adopts an unconventional route by subjecting revivalism to a semiotic analysis in conversation with the archetypal theories of Mircea Eliade and Carl G. Jung. The analysis unveils the universal psychological structures of revival, and their specific Muslim symbolization. I conclude (a) that depth psychology makes modern Muslim revival inevitable, which will only grow stronger and gain wider appeal while the Muslims continue to suffer decline; (b) that among the different forms of Muslim revival, revivalism ventures the farthest in decolonizing Muslim political imagination; (c) that the revivalist imagination makes their espoused caliphate imperative for the purpose of ritual participation in Islam’s sacred origins; and (d) that a critical reconstruction and evolution of revivalism holds out the promise of a greater contribution to Muslim decolonization. For my analysis, I largely turn to the Pakistani political theologian Israr Ahmad (d. 2010), whose ideas have been disseminated widely across the Muslim world, yet who has not received the requisite academic scrutiny. Moreover, intra-revivalist critique of revivalism has been a neglected aspect in the study of revival, and its careful scrutiny should become a topic of investigation in its own right. In that regard, Ahmad offers a most important critique of earlier revival efforts and their entanglement with certain aspects of coloniality.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091108
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Tags: #Islam #Reformism #Politics
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Answering Divine Love: Human Distinctiveness in the Light of Islam and Artificial Superintelligence
By Yusuf Çelik, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
In the Qur’an, human distinctiveness was first questioned by angels. These established denizens of the cosmos could not understand why God would create a seemingly pernicious human when immaculate devotees of God such as themselves existed. In other words, the angels asked the age-old question: what makes humans so special and different? Fast forward to our present age and this question is made relevant again in light of the encroaching arrival of an artificial superintelligence (ASI). Up to this point in history, humans have exceeded other creatures in various respects; now a possibility has arisen that another entity, namely ASI, will exceed humans at least on the level of intelligence and power. In relation to the age of angels, pre-modern Sunni exegesis construed human distinctiveness along the axes of reproductive knowledge and stewardship. Both brittle, distinguishing markers will disappear in the age of the ASI. Conversely, a more resilient and creative Islamic response can be derived from Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 1240) views on God and the imago Dei. Inspired by the Akbarian perspective, this paper construes human distinctiveness in relation to a capacity to expansively respond to God’s love to be recognized, a response that relies on (a) imitating divine virtues that operate in counterintuitive and illogical ways, and (b) exhibiting fragility and lack rather than exceptionalism. ASI, while responding already in part to God’s love, needs to make strides towards these traits before it can answer divine love as commensurately as humans can.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-023-00977-w
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Tags: #Islam #AI #God #Quran #Theology
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God’s absolute immutability vis-a-vis his real relation with the world
By Aloysius Nnaemeka Ezeoba, Bigard Memorial Seminary
The absolute immutability of God, as it was expounded by many ancient and medieval thinkers such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, contends that God has no real relation with the world, but only a relation of reason. This view lingered until contemporary scholars like the process thinkers such as Alfred North Whitehead and his disciple, Charles Hartshorne, argued that God has a dipolar meaning that God influences the world and that the world also influences him. While protecting God's intrinsic Being, some contemporary thinkers like Clarke, Grant, and others also tried to formulate his real relationship with the world. But the problem remains on how to posit this real relation with the world without insinuating two natures in God. I wish to state in this paper that God has real relation with his creatures which is rooted in what I call “creational relation" that was made manifest at creation and continues after it.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09889-8
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Aristotle
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Asceticism as Renouncing and Embracing the World in Ibn ‘Arabī’s Radical Metaphysics
By Ismail Lala, Gulf University for Science & Technology
Asceticism or renunciation (zuhd) is generally viewed as turning away from the world and all it has to offer in order to connect to the divine. The well-known mystical theorist, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638/1240), adds a denotation of asceticism to this conventional definition. Ibn ‘Arabī argues that the impetus for the creation of the cosmos was the divine wish to be known by something other than Itself. As the fulfilment of this wish, the universe is nothing but a manifestation of the cataphatic aspect of God described as His ‘most beautiful Names’ (al-Asmā’ al-ḥusnā) in the Qur’an, which is not God as He truly is in His apophatic essence that can never be comprehended, much less manifested. This means that there are two forms of asceticism or connecting to the divine: one is to assert God’s Sufism transcendence and His true apophatic nature by renouncing the world, while the other is to emphasise His comparability by embracing the world as a manifestation of God’s most beautiful Names. Ibn ‘Arabī presents the world-renouncing form of asceticism through the chapter of Prophet Idrīs in his most popular work, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, and he presents the world-embracing from of asceticism through the chapter of Prophet Ilyās. He then combines both forms of asceticism in the chapter of Prophet Muḥammad.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091092
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Tags: #Islam #Sufism #IbnArabi #Asceticism
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Islam and the Emancipatory Ethic: Islamic Law, Liberation Theology and Prison Abolition
By Haroon Bashir, Markfield Institute of Higher Education
This paper provides a genealogical overview of discourses pertaining to emancipation within Islamic thought. I demonstrate how classical Islamic scholarship developed a tradition in which a clear emancipatory ethic can be located. Further, I explore how emancipation came to be read as anticipating the abolition of slavery in the contemporary period through focusing on the work of Muhammad Abduh. Finally, I discuss the potential engagements between Islamic notions of emancipation and contemporary discourses pertaining to prison abolition. I argue that the strong emancipatory ethic found within the classical legal tradition would not abide by the exploitative prison systems found across various nations. Engaging Islamic law through a Liberation Theology framework, I claim that a serious engagement with prison abolition discourses is a natural continuation for a tradition with such a strong precedent of emancipatory impetus.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091083
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Tags: #Islam #History #LiberationTheology
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Mediated Morality as a Middle Position in Understanding the Relation between God and Morality
By Amund Tobias Måge Areklett and Atle Ottesen Søvik, MF Norwegian School of Theology
How should we understand the relation between God and morality? This article aims to address this question by constructing a theistic metaethical theory informed by postphenomenological mediation theory. According to postphenomenological mediation theory, properties and values are not independent entities but are instead mutually constituted through the relationships that they participate in. By emphasizing relationships and understanding goodness as harmony, the theory allows God and creation to jointly constitute goodness. This alternative theory is compared to the metaethical theories proposed by Robert M. Adams and Mark C. Murphy, which represent the two primary strands of theistic metaethics: theological voluntarism and natural law theory, respectively. The alternative theory exhibits certain advantages and resolves some of the issues found in Adams’ and Murphy’s theories.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081074
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Tags: #God #Theism #Morality #Voluntarism
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God as “The Highest and Most Elevated Thing”: Contributions to the Theological, Phenomenological Interpretations of God-Experiences in Heidegger, Conrad-Martius, and Stein
By Anna Jani, Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders
Maybe the most divisive topic of the Heideggerian reception is whether the question of God is part of the disclosure of being in Heidegger’s thinking, or if Heidegger rather obscures the phenomenological inquiry on God by way of his questions on being and his reinterpretation of the meaning of being as historical beyng. It is not accidental that Hedwig Conrad-Martius, the contemporary of Heidegger, writes in her critique on Being and Time that it is “like when, with tremendous force of wise prudence and unflagging tenacity, a door that has been closed for a long time and is almost impossible to open is blown open and then immediately slammed shut again, locked, and barricaded so tightly that it seems impossible to open it again.” (Cf. Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’). Unfortunately, the different stages of Heidegger’s thinking do not help further clarify the question of whether it is a conscious program of Heideggerian thinking to involve theological questions into the fundamental ontological analysis of being, if it follows from his theological background and from the relation to theology (as a positivistic science in Heidegger’s sense), or if that he includes theological knowledges into his thinking and shows a critical turn against the theological statements. Heidegger’s reflections on his own thinking in relation to theological questions and his influence on the Munich–Göttingen Phenomenology raises the present argumentation for the common phenomenological interpretation of God-experiences.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081064
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Tags: #God #Phenomenology #SystematicTheology
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The Terms Trade (Tijarah) and Road (Rihlah) in Qur’anic Context: With Special References to the Trade of Prophet Muhammad in Sirah
By Faruk Tuncer, Marmara Unıversity
The term rihlah, which means ‘commercial journey in summer and winter’ in Surah Quraysh, holds a special position in the vocabulary of the Qur’an. This term corresponds to a significant aspect of the real politics in the sīrah of Prophet Muhammad, particularly in seventh-century Mecca. Although rihlah, literally meaning road and journey, is used in the context of commerce, it is also in alignment with a group of similar words such as sabil, sirat, and ṭariq in the Qur’an. For instance, the words huda (guidance) and dalal (misguidance), which are key concepts in the Qur’an, are closely associated with the notion of the rihlah. This correlation will be explored in the article, shedding light on the sīrah of the Prophet. The close relationship between commerce and roads in the Qur’an constitutes a vast semantic field, which will be discussed from various perspectives. This discussion aims to elucidate how this relationship, briefly mentioned in Surah Quraysh, is reflected throughout the entirety of the Qur’an.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081055
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Seerah #Exegesis
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Preserving Qur’an Through Blind Eyes: Self-Regulation of Blind People in Memorizing the Qur’an
By Taufik and Riza Kurniawan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta; Rahimah Ibrahim and Haslinda Abdullah, Universiti Putra Malaysia
The present study aimed to investigate the self-regulation of blind people in memorizing the Qur’an. Eight blind Qur’an memorizers were interviewed about the internal motivation of Qur’an memorization, self-regulation, and Qur’an memorization with vision impairment. The research was conducted using a phenomenological approach on exploration of the lived experience of eight blind memorizers, who were selected using purposive and snowball techniques. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by Moustakas’ phenomenological method. The findings revealed that (1) gratitude was the main factor in regulating the rest of the metacognitive process among the blind memorizers, (2) the motivation to benefit for others served as a metacognitive purpose for the blind memorizers, (3) memorization strategies including the repetitive listening at a specific time and place were used in improving and maintaining the memorization, and (4) the belief in not to see and commit sins through eyes enabled the blind memorizers to maintain the purity of heart and made it easier for them to memorize the Qur’an. Informants described two spiritual meanings of the self-regulation within themes of gratitude and maintenance of heart purity associated with the Qur’an memorization. Gratitude is associated with the self-efficacy in the motivational dimension, whereas the reflective aspect of heart purity due to being blind is related to the metacognitive component of self-regulation. The findings provided new knowledge and understanding of blind individuals’ experiences in the self-regulation and memorization of the Qur’an.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2133788
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #Quran #Psychology
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God and Time in Islamic Thought: A Dialogue with Dr Ramon Harvey & Dr Ryan Mullins
Summary:
- The argument that God eternally wills the existence of the universe raises the question of whether the universe eternally exists alongside God, a problem acknowledged by Saint Augustine but not fully addressed.
- Dr. Ramon Harvey argues that there is nothing logically impossible or incoherent about God creating a temporal sequence with a finite first term, delimiting it as He wishes.
- God's temporal location being a contingent property raises the question of whether a temporal God can truly be considered God at all.
- God's existence at any given moment is explained by a combination of His necessary existence and His reasons for bringing about that particular moment, according to Dr. Ryan Mullins.
- The concept of a past infinite universe, where there is always another prior moment going back forever, raises interesting questions about the nature of God's existence.
- The concept of God being all alone and having a duration that precedes creation can be seen as introducing temporality into the understanding of God.
Perspectives on the Timelessness of God
- The dialogue between a Christian and a Muslim philosopher on the subject of God and time in Islamic thought showcases the importance of interfaith conversations and the exploration of diverse perspectives.
- The concept of a timeless God in Islamic thought goes beyond mere eternity, as it involves the absence of temporal change, relationships, and location.
- "Time is to be identified with God in some sense and so this view says that God is time in the sense that time is an essential attribute or an essential mode of God."
- "My position is that God in his absolutely durationless existence creates every temporal moment without himself being in the temporal sequence."
- Dr. Ryan defends a thoroughgoing timelessness of God, negating all duration from God, which challenges the traditional understanding of God's existence in an ongoing way from eternity until now and forever.
Link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Tc8bPCskwvw&feature=share
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Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's Himma: Entrepreneurial Leadership as an Expression of the Islamic Tradition
By Davide Ravazzoni, Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Risen to a prominent role in the 2030 visions of economical and societal transformation of several Arab nations of the Gulf, entrepreneurial leadership has emerged as a new paradigm of disseminated leadership whose function has less to do with notions of political power and hierarchy and more with the shared task of converting vision into reality. Yet the link between entrepreneurship and Islam has only received limited attention at the individual level thus far. Following the multiple semantic thread of the Arabic word himma, this article seeks to further the discourse by exploring the distinctive account of the word emerging from the writings of the Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyya. By bringing into a dialog the implications of this account with the classic portrait of the entrepreneur by the economist Joseph Schumpeter, the contribution of the Damascene scholar comes to light as particularly meaningful and momentous for furthering the discourse on entrepreneurial leadership as an expression of the Islamic tradition and opens the door to further inquiries into a topic of the highest relevance for a new generation of Muslim leaders across geographies.
Link: https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v8i2.531
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Tags: #Islam #Politics #MuslimWorld
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Weighing the Baghdādī Raṭl: A Metrological Muddle
By Daniel Martin Varisco, Austrian Academy of Sciences
This study addresses a metrological muddle: attempts to determine the metrical equivalence of the Baghdādī raṭl, a measure for coins, commerce, and religious requirements during the Abbasid and Mamluk eras. Western writers Sauvaire and Hinz interpreted the measure of the widespread Baghdādī raṭl by determining a metric equivalent around three grams for the building block of the silver dirham weight. Islamic scholars, however, proposed three different dirham amounts for this raṭl and noted that there were two different ways of determining the standard ratio of the dirham to the dinar. These scholars applied the Baghdādī raṭl of their day to determine the weights of two earlier measures, the ṣāʿ and the mudd from the time of the Prophet Muḥammad. The study of Islamic era metrology has received little critical attention, apart from the field of numismatics, since the work of Walther Hinz, last updated in 1970. I provide a prolegomenon for the need to reread both earlier Muslim authors and the seminal works of Don Vasquez Queipo, Henri Sauvaire and others. Suggestions for approaching the interpretation of Islamic era weights and measures are provided.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgad002
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Tags: #Islam #History #IslamicHistory
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The Eucharist in the Qur’an
By Mohsen Goudarzi, Harvard University
A passage in the Qur’an’s fifth sura (verses 112–15) relates that Jesus’s disciples asked him if God could send them a table or meal (māʾida) from heaven. The precise referent of this story and its significance have been the subject of debate in Qur’an scholarship. This study first argues that Q 5.112–5 refers to the institution of the Eucharist, by showing that worship is a central concern of Q 5 and that this passage is connected to earlier verses of the sura that refer to Christian worship. Second, the study provides a brief discussion of Christian conceptions of the Eucharist and of the prayers recited during this ritual in Late Antiquity, suggesting that the qur’anic account and its surrounding verses address critically three main issues: the affirmation of the Christian creed during the Eucharist, the capacity of this rite to bring about forgiveness and salvation, and the related idea of Christ as the prime mediator between God (the Father) and humanity. This critical engagement with Christian worship seems to be a reaction to Christian criticism of the Believers’ way of worship, which is referenced earlier in the sura.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2023.2246314
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Tags: #Quran #Islam #Christianity #Exegesis
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Does Leaving Faith Mean Leaving Family? Longitudinal Associations Between Religious Identification and Parent-Child Relationships Across Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
By Justin J. Hendricks, The Pennsylvania State University; Sam A. Hardy, Emily M. Taylor and David C. Dollahite, Brigham Young University
The present study investigated the parent-child relational repercussions of converting to religion, switching, or deconverting from religion. Qualitative research indicates that these religious changes may negatively affect parent-child relationship quality, however, few quantitative studies investigate this issue. Subsequently, we utilized structural equation modeling to test if changes in religious identification during adolescence and emerging adulthood predicted worse parent-child relationship quality using three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 2,352). We found that deconversion between Waves 1–2 significantly predicted poorer parent-child relationship quality at Wave 2 and father-child relationship quality at Wave 3. Further, deconversion between Waves 2–3 significantly predicted poorer mother-child relationship quality at Wave 3. Autoregressive cross-lagged models indicated an association between deconverson and father-child relationship quality. Deconversion had a significant indirect effect on parent-child relationship quality through decreased parental warmth and mother-child religious belief similarity. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12876
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Tags: #Religion #Sociology #Religiosity
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Holistic Wisdom from Abrahamic Faiths’ Earliest Encounters with Ancient China: Towards a Constructive Chinese Natural Theology
By Jacob Chengwei Feng, Fuller Theological Seminary
Philosophies in the East and West have favored wisdom in their search for truths. The Chinese civilization has sought holistic wisdom in its long history of absorbing the Abrahamic faiths since the seventh century. This paper aims to investigate how the Abrahamic faiths have interacted with ancient Chinese culture. In particular, this paper will examine the earliest written records in Chinese of the Luminous Religion (or Jingjiao), the earliest Jews in Kaifeng, and the earliest Muslims in China. By analyzing their theology of creation with reference to the Holy Spirit and qi (wind/breath/pneuma), this paper attempts a constructive Chinese natural theology based on a sympathetic and critical assessment of Alister McGrath’s natural theology but makes up for his spirit deficit. This paper argues that the holistic wisdom achieved in the early integration process of the Abrahamic faiths with the Chinese culture is closely intertwined with the Spirit and qi, which provides a fruitful ground to construct a Chinese natural theology. The contribution of this paper lies in its original research into the earliest written records of the three Abrahamic faiths in China from the perspective of the doctrine of creation and its relationship with the Spirit and qi.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091117
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Tags: #History #Religion #NaturalTheology
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Zakat and social capital: thoughts on modernism, postmodernism, and faith
By Issam Tlemsani, IE Business School; Robin Matthews, Kingston Business School
Islam has become a cause of Western anxiety, representing the Other and the Shadow. Raising the Shadow to consciousness by directing up communication is a matter of urgency. In Western socio-economic thought, the spiritual and secular are sharply separated, but in Islam they are indivisible. The area of communication chosen in this study’ involves religion and social capital. It is emphasized that there are relevant connections between the understanding of social capital and Zakat. These connections have the potential to provide a more in-depth understanding of the economic, social, and spiritual implications of Zakat; most specifically, in the Western discourses. This paper outlines the spirit of the tension between modernism, postmodernism, and Islam. The concept of social capital is delineated, and the main features of Zakat (almsgiving) in association with social capital are summarized.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14766086.2020.1841673
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Tags: #Islam #Modernism #Religion #Modernism
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God, gluts and evil
By Jc Beall, University of Notre Dame
Traditional monotheism appears to many to involve contradiction in basic 'omni' properties (e.g. omnipotence and too-heavy stones, etc.). A glut-theoretic account of such problems treats them as gluts (dual to familiar truth-value gaps): 'omnipotence' is both true of and false of God. Many philosophers, glut theorists and otherwise, acknowledge that such a glut-theoretic account of at least some traditional omni-god problems is natural, at least in the abstract. But what about the problem of evil? The unanimous view even among glut theorists (including myself until now) has long been clear: gluts have nothing to offer in response to the problem of evil even if they are involved in true theology elsewhere. This paper refutes said view by advancing a simple glut-theoretic response to the target problem of evil on the assumption that gluts are involved in the theology elsewhere (notably, at 'omnipotent' or 'omniscient' or both).
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anad043
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Evil #PoE
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Descartes on intellectual joy and the intellectual love of god
By Zachary Agoff, University of Pennsylvania
Descartes maintains that we can love God and that it is pleasant and morally beneficial to do so. In this essay, I examine the necessary conditions for such an intellectual love of God. I argue that the intellectual love of God is incited by a judgment that we are joined to God in reality, which is constitutive of an intellectual joy. I go on to show that the intellectual love of God is, itself, constituted by a stripping of our private interests in favor of God’s divine will.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09885-y
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Tags: #Descartes #God #Metaphysics
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Friendships, Fidelities and Sufi Imaginaries: Theorizing Islamic Feminism
By Sa’diyya Shaikh, University of Cape Town
This article theorizes Islamic feminism as a form of ‘friendship with/in tradition’, drawing creatively on Sufism. It unpacks these feminist friendships as forms of ‘radical, critical fidelity’ which includes commitments and loyalties to tradition while simultaneously engaging critically with sexism, patriarchy, and homophobia. Core epistemological and ethical concerns are explored, including the nature of relationships to tradition; analytical methods for engaging with Muslim tradition from a gendered lens; religious authority and authoritarianism; and most significantly, engaging with emancipatory horizons of imagination that are attentive to the contemporary axes of power and privilege. The paper turns to rethinking approaches to hierarchy and possibilities for abuse, focusing on the shaykh–murīd and broader teacher–student relationships. It presents a nuanced approach to engaging with hierarchies as a serious analytical category that requires attention. Positing fluidity, transparency, and accountability as central to cultivating responsible hierarchical practices, the article suggests that friendship as a modality of relationships can contribute to such positive transformations. This article, emerging from a project on Muslim feminist ethics, presents creative theorizations of Islamic feminism as a liberatory project of human and divine friendships, inspired by Sufi ideas of walāya
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091082
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Tags: #Islam #Sufism #Feminism #LiberationTheology
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The Egalitarian Principle of “Qist” as Lived Ethic: Towards a Liberational Tafsir
By Omaima Mostafa Abou-Bakr, Cairo University
The Qur’anic term and principle of “qist”—generally defined as fairness, equity, and giving each his/her due share—occurs twenty-two times and forms a particular intentional discourse against social and economic privilege and against power in its various dimensions. These occurrences, their contexts, and fields of meaning demonstrate its distinctive place within the Qur’anic moral worldview, at the nexus between private virtue ethics and collective praxis. Qist is presented not merely as an abstract ideal, but as a specific, concrete social and economic goal for the marginalized and disempowered of any community. Especially in the domains of gender relations, poverty conditions, and authorial power, the divine injunction for applying equality in lived contexts becomes a call for liberation from “zulm” (injustice) and “taghut” (false deities). Can the examination of this concept and its affiliates form the basis for a scriptural theorization on an Islamic theology of social and economic justice, of resistance to tyranny and unjust constructions of privilege and superiority? Towards an answer to this inquiry, one can argue that qist directs attention to the practical ways of applying the overarching, comprehensive value of shari’ah, al-‘adl (justice), as well as to its defining features of collectivity and distributiveness.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091087
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Tags: #Quran #Exegesis #LiberationTheology
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Tawhid Paradigm and an Inclusive Concept of Liberative Struggle
By Siavash Saffari, Seoul National University
Building on previous studies on a mid- and late-twentieth-century recasting of Islam’s doctrine of monotheism, or tawhid, as a distinctly Islamic framework for liberative praxis, this article considers the interplay between the particular and the universal in the tawhidic paradigms of Iranian lay theologian Ali Shariati (1933–1977) and African-American pro-faith and pro-feminist theologian amina wadud (b. 1952). The article proposes that although it was developed in a distinctly Islamic register by means of Quranic exegesis and intrareligious conversations, the tawhidic paradigm has always been conversant with a range of non-Islamic liberative paradigms, and these conversations have been integral to the negotiation of a more inclusive concept of tawhid. To continue to recast tawhid in a more inclusive register, the article further argues, requires taking account of the non-Muslim ‘other’ as an equal moral agent in liberative struggles and embracing Islam’s theological and ideological ‘others’ as equally significant repositories of liberative potential.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091088
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Tags: #Islam #LiberationTheology #Feminism
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Ibn ‘Arabī and the Theologization of Aristotelian Hylomorphism
By Ismail Lala, Gulf University for Science & Technology
The works of Aristotle left an indelible impression on Arabic philosophy after the translation movement. While many philosophers accepted the works of the revered First Teacher (Al-Mu‘allim al-awwal), as Aristotle was designated, others sought to reformulate his ideas in accordance with their own priorities. One such thinker is the hugely influential mystical theorist, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638/1240), who agrees with Aristotle that all existents are hylomorphic compounds made from the combination of form with matter that comes from prime matter, or hyle (hayūlā), which he frequently uses interchangeably with ‘substance’ (jawhar). He claims that prime matter or substance accepts all forms (ṣuwar), but he theologizes these terms as he believes all things are loci of divine manifestation. Ibn ‘Arabī thus situates Aristotelian hylomorphism within the framework of his own metaphysics. He proceeds to equate the universal hayūlā with the primordial ‘cloud’ (‘amā’), mentioned in prophetic traditions, from which all things in the different levels of existence derive because of the existentiating divine breath. When it comes to the sensible world in particular, Ibn ‘Arabī employs the Qur’anic term of ‘dust’ (habā’) to denote prime matter that serves as the basis of sensible hylomorphic compounds. This study conducts close textual content analysis to demonstrate the way in which Ibn ‘Arabī theologizes Aristotelian hylomorphism to expound his conception of the different realms of existence.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081066
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Tags: #IbnArabi #Quran #Aristotle #Hylomorphism
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Ribât in Early Islamic Ifrîqiya: Another Islam from the Edge
By Jean-Pierre Van Staëvel, University Paris
After a difficult conquest under the Umayyads, the eastern Maghreb or Ifrîqiya region was turned into the western borderland of the Abbasid Empire in the second half of the 8th century, and its governance was soon delegated to the Aghlabid Emirate (800–909). In this context, the Sahel (or Ifriqîyan coastline) quickly became a major centre of asceticism and pious collective retreat in places dedicated to ribât activities. This practice provided a framework for the life of devout people who kept a watchful eye on the Byzantine enemy while zealously performing their devotions. A genuine frontier society of religious men and devotees, ascetics and traditionalists arose in this burgeoning coastal fringe. Over the last two decades, this topic has given rise to a very rich historiography, notably produced by Tunisian researchers who have profoundly renewed our understanding. Based on these considerable achievements, the present contribution proposes to broaden the analysis in order to show how the rise of this movement of warrior piety, advocating an ideal of jihâd, must be related to a more global phenomenon, considered at the scale of the Abbasid Empire. Remaining in a comparative dimension, this article also proposes several approaches to the specific architecture of ribât sites, especially the place devoted to the community mosque.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081051
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Tags: #Islam #History #ascetism
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The Question of Theodicy in Islamic Philosophy—Introducing a Shīʿa Response: Badāʾ
By Mona Jahangiri, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The problem of evil is one that has earned much attention in recent decades and is frequently used as a justification for atheism, and increasingly so due to the rise in popularity of secularism and atheism. How is the issue of theodicy considered in Islamic philosophy, and especially in Shīʿa theology? Does this problem arise there at all? The following discussion addresses these questions, examining the basis of the so-called ‘problem of evil’ through the rationale and multiple perspectives offered by Islamic Shīʿa theology on the issue. First, some verses in the Qurʾān dealing with evil and suffering will be illuminated. After that, some mutakallimūn’s views will be presented. Following that, the problem of evil will be investigated from the perspectives of Ibn Sīnā and Mullā Ṣadrā. After briefly highlighting the mystical perspective, finally, a practical theological solution according to Shīʿa theology known as badāʾ will be introduced.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081047
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Tags: #Shiasm #PoE #Theology #Theodicy #Avicenna
The Deputy of Maryam – The Mystic Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya in Light of the Qur’anic Mary
By Younus Y. Mirza,Georgetown University
Discussions of the Islamic Mary or Maryam frequently engage the Qur’an, especially the chapter that is named after her (Surat Maryam). However, it is important to point out that Maryam exists throughout Islamic literature and Muslim memory and her name appears across various texts of exegesis (tafsir), hadith, and theology. Likewise in Islamic mystical literature, often referred to as Sufism, she plays a prominent role. There, Maryam is treated as a model for...
Read more: https://themaydan.com/2023/08/the-deputy-of-maryam-the-mystic-rabia-al-adawiyya-in-light-of-the-quranic-mary/
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Tags: #Islam #History #Quran
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Altruistic Leadership for the Ummah in Crisis
By Jan A Ali, Western Sydney University
This paper is a study of the concept of leadership in the context of the crisis of the Muslim world. It is a conceptual paper which relies exclusively on published materials on leadership in general and Muslim leadership in particular. The purpose of this study is to draw on some of the modern ideas and theories of leadership and present a critical discussion as well as a model of leadership which in this case is altruistic leadership. The aim is to offer a solution to the crisis of the Muslim world through the development and implementation of altruistic leadership. The paper argue that the Muslim world is in crisis because of an absence of a useful and effective leadership. It posits that the crisis can be ameliorated or even averted if the ummah utilises the altruistic leadership in the governance practice.
Link: https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v8i2.557
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Tags: #Islam #Politics #MuslimWorld
