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Islam from the Inside Out: ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī’s Reconception of Islam as Vector
By Nicholas Boylston, Harvard University
Abstract
Against the backdrop of recent work on how ‘Islam’ should be understood as a scholarly category, this article focuses in on one particularly striking insider definition of Islam: ‘Islam is whatever takes a man to God, and infidelity (kufr) is whatever prevents a man from the Way of God’. Articulated by the sixth/twelfth century Sufi ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī, who was executed on charges of heresy in 526/1131, this definition works as a key component in its author’s critical and constructive projects. Whilst forming part of a vociferous critique of interpretations of Islam as presented by the scholars of jurisprudence and theology, the definition also plays a central role in ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s reconceptualization of Islam as the dynamic and ever-changing Way to God, rather than a set of fixed doctrines and practices. In this article, I interpret this definition in light of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s complex, multifaceted and highly original theory of religious difference, which I suggest provides a theoretical framework in which it becomes evident that ʿAyn al-Quḍāt meant his definition to be taken literally.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etab015
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Tags: #Religion #Theology #Islam
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Trinity, Number and Image. The Christian Origins of the Concept of Person
By Graziano Lingua, University of Turin
Abstract
The studies on the history of the notion of “personhood” have largely recognized that Christian thought had a central role in the development and significance of this concept throughout the history of Western civilization. In late antiquity, Christianity used some terms taken from the classic and Hellenistic vocabulary in order to express its own theological content. This operation generated a “crisis” of classical language, namely a semantic transformation in the attempt to address some aspects of reality which were not envisioned by the previous usage of these words. The term person is a paradigmatic example of this process. In fact, from the outset, it played a strategic role in formulating the idea of Incarnation, one of the central doctrines of Christianity. This essay aims to show how, during the first centuries of Christianity, the terms commonly used in order to express the notion of “personhood” (prosōpon, hypostasis and persona) became pivotal elements for the formulation of the discourse about the Trinity and progressively acquired new meanings. The analysis focuses only on the initial stage of the elaboration of this concept in Christianity and, based on some of the most significant texts, tries to bring out a series of theoretical problems that may be useful to understand the subsequent debate. In order to do so, the author divides the text in two parts. In the first one, he analyses two features strictly connected to the theological use of the term “persona”, which remained central also when this term was later referred to man. These features are individuality and ontological stability, along with the structurally relational status of personhood. In the second part, the author offers more details about the theology of the Cappadocian Fathers, in particular of Basil of Caesarea, and analyses two sectorial languages—mathematical and iconic language—used by Basil in order to describe the intra-trinitarian relationships.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09835-9
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Tags: #Christianity #Trinity #God
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Reconciling the God of Traditional Theism with the World’s Evils
By Robin Attfield, Cardiff University
Abstract
Replying to James Sterba’s argument for the incompatibility of the world’s evils with the existence of the God of traditional theism, I argue for their compatibility, using the proposition that God has reasons for permitting these evils. Developing this case involves appeal to an enlarged version of both the Free Will Defence and Hick’s Vale of Soul-Making Defence, in the context of God’s decision to generate the kind of natural regularities conducive to the evolution of a range of creatures, including free and rational ones. Sterba writes as if God would be required to authorise frequent infringements of these regularities. Sterba’s arguments from ethics and from the inadequacy of post-mortem compensation are problematised. Predicates used of God must bear a sense appropriate to the level of creator, and not of a very powerful cosmic observer. The ethics that applies within creation should not be confused with the ethics of creating.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010064
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Tags: #ProblemOfEvil #Philosophy #Theodicy #God
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On the Significance of Assumptions about Divine Goodness and Divine Ontology for ‘Logical’ Arguments from Evil
By John Bishop, University of Auckland
Abstract
Sterba’s Is a Good God Logically Possible? (2019) draws attention to the importance of ethical assumptions in ‘logical’ arguments from evil (LAfEs) to the effect that the existence of (certain types) of evil is incompatible with the existence of a God who is all-powerful and morally perfect. I argue, first, that such arguments are likely to succeed only when ‘normatively relativized’—that is, when based on assumptions about divine goodness that may be subject to deep disagreement. I then argue that these arguments for atheism are also, and more fundamentally, conditioned by assumptions about the ontology of the divine. I criticise Sterba’s consideration of the implications for his own novel LAfE of the possibility that God is not a moral agent, arguing that Sterba fails to recognize the radical nature of this claim. I argue that, if we accept the ‘classical theist’ account that Brian Davies provides (interpreting Aquinas), then God does not count as ‘an’ agent at all, and the usual contemporary formulation of ‘the problem of evil’ falls away. I conclude by noting that the question of the logical compatibility of evil’s existence with divine goodness is settled in the affirmative by classical theism by appeal to its doctrine that evil is always the privation in something that exists of the good that ought to be.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12030186
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Tags: #ProblemOfEvil #Philosophy #Theodicy #God
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The Thomistic Dissolution of the Logical Problem of Evil
By Edward Feser, Pasadena City College
Abstract
In his book ‘Is a Good God Logically Possible?’, James Sterba argues that the existence of much of the evil to be found in the world is logically incompatible with the existence of God. I defend the Thomistic view that when one properly understands the nature of God and of his relationship to the world, this so-called logical problem of evil does not arise. While Sterba has responded to the version of the Thomistic position presented by Brian Davies, I argue that his response fails.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040268
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Tags: #ProblemOfEvil #Philosophy #Christianity
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Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science
By William M.R. Simpson, Robert C. Koons, Nicholas J. Teh
Abstract
The last two decades have seen two significant trends emerging within the philosophy of science: the rapid development and focus on the philosophy of the specialised sciences, and a resurgence of Aristotelian metaphysics, much of which is concerned with the possibility of emergence, as well as the ontological status and indispensability of dispositions and powers in science. Despite these recent trends, few Aristotelian metaphysicians have engaged directly with the philosophy of the specialised sciences. Additionally, the relationship between fundamental Aristotelian concepts—such as "hylomorphism", "substance", and "faculties"—and contemporary science has yet to receive a critical and systematic treatment. Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science aims to fill this gap in the literature by bringing together essays on the relationship between Aristotelianism and science that cut across interdisciplinary boundaries. The chapters in this volume are divided into two main sections covering the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of the life sciences. Featuring original contributions from distinguished and early-career scholars, this book will be of interest to specialists in analytical metaphysics and the philosophy of science.
Link: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315211626
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Tags: #Science #God #Philosophy #Theism #OpenAccess
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Knowledge and Theological Predication
Lessons from the Medieval Islamic Tradition
By Billy Dunaway, University of Missouri; Jon McGinnis, University of Missouri
Abstract
This article sketches how the debate over divine predications should be informed by the medieval Islamicate tradition. We emphasize the focus not only on the metaphysics and language of divine predications by al-Ghazali, Maimonides, and others, but also on the epistemology of divine predications. In particular, we emphasize the importance of a theory that explains not only what it takes to make a divine predication true, but also whether these predications are knowable. The epistemological element is central, because traditional views of theology aim to avoid theological skepticism, which is the view that, even if there are theological truths, these truths are unknowable. We pursue this point by emphasizing the role of substantives in al-Ghazalı’s theory of divine predicates, and Maimonides’s discussion of negative predications. In closing we apply these lessons to some recent discussions of theological predication.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2035
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy
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Can al-Ghazali's Conception of Modality Propose a Solution to Rowe's Argument against Divine Freedom?
By Seyma Yazici, Yildirim Beyazit University
Abstract
William L. Rowe poses a dilemma between God’s freedom and essential moral goodness by arguing that God cannot satisfy the arguably accepted condition for libertarian freedom, namely, ability to do otherwise. Accordingly, if God does a morally good action A freely, then there is at least a possible world in which God refrains from doing A and thereby does the morally wrong action. And if God does a morally wrong action in one of the possible worlds, he ceases to be essentially morally perfect. I will argue that Rowe’s conclusion is based on a specific possible world semantics, and we might avoid Rowe’s conclusion with an alternative understanding of modality. In doing so, I will examine the conception of modality proposed by al-Ghazalı in which the possibility of a state of affairs does not entail its actuality in at least one possible world.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2043
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy #Ghazali
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In Pursuit of the World's Creator
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi on the Origins of the Universe in al-Matalib al-'Aliya
By Laura Hassan, University of Oxford
Abstract
Fakhr al-Dın al-Razı’s (d. 606/1210) final theological treatise, al-Matalib al-‘Aliya min al-‘Ilm al-Ilahiyya, is sufficient justification for the assertion of his towering significance as interpreter of Ibn Sına (d. 428/1037) and in the development of new theological paradigms. Yet such is its richness and subtlety that al-Razı’s views in the Matalib on key doctrinal issues such as the creation of the world require much further study. Previously, scholars have maintained that al-Razı refrains from affirming any one doctrine of creation. I argue to the contrary, that despite al-Razı’s epistemological caution on matters pertaining to the action of God, he ultimately deems creation ex nihilo most probable on the balance of evidence, and therefore the doctrine that is to be believed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2042
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy #Razi
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Creative Imagining as Practical Knowing
An Akbariyya Account
By Reza Hadisi, University of Arizona
Abstract
I argue that ‘practical knowledge’ can be understood as constituted by a kind of imagining. In particular, it is the knowledge of what I am doing when that knowledge is represented via extramental imagination. Two interesting results follow. First, on this account, we can do justice both to the cognitive character and the practical character of practical knowledge. And second, we can identify a condition under which imagination becomes factive, and thus a source of objective evidence. I develop this view by extracting an account of self-knowledge via extramental imagination from the writings of Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240).
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2036
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Tags: #Epistemology #Philosophy #IbnArabi
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GETTING TO KNOW A GOD YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN: PANENTHEISM, EXTERNALISM, AND DIVINE HIDDENNESS
By Harvey Cawdron, University of St. Andrews
Abstract
J. L. Schellenberg's hiddenness argument is one of the key contemporary justifications for atheism and has prompted numerous responses from those defending the plausibility of belief in God. I will outline a recent counterargument from Michael C. Rea, who claims that relationships with God are far more widely available than Schellenberg assumes. However, I will suggest that it invites a response from proponents of the hiddenness argument because it leaves some nonbelievers unaccounted for. I will rectify this by suggesting that a model of panentheism in which God is embodied in the cosmos allows all, including all nonbelievers, to have a relationship with God. I will then claim that semantic externalism and externalism about beliefs can enable nonbelievers to get to know this God. I will then challenge the hiddenness argument by suggesting that these relationships can accommodate the key motivations behind Schellenberg's insistence on personal relationships without requiring subjects to recognize that they are in a relationship with God.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12689
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Tags: #God #Philosophy #Atheism
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Jihad vs Just War
Jihad vs. Just War, will offer a comparative analysis on the ethics of war and armed conflict in the Islamic legal tradition and International Law. Join us for a discussion with Dr. Sohail Hashmi, Professor of International Relations on the Alumnae Foundation and Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College, where he has taught since 1994.
Watch this space for more information, and for the links to register and access the event. RSVP to stay updated.
Link: https://www.criticalconnections.org/new-events/2021/4/11/jihad-vs-just-war-a-comparative-analysis
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Tags: #Jihad #War #Politics #Islam
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How free is speech?
In light of recent controversies two respected thinkers will engage in a civil discussion on freedom of speech.
Schedule: 30 March 2021, 4:30PM (GMT)
Link: https://youtu.be/SEs24mKHueA
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Tags: #Islam #Prophet #FreedomOfSpeech
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Obsolete Dawkinsian evidence for evolution
By Richard Buggs, Queen Mary University of London
For the public understanding of phylogenomics, an argument used by Richard Dawkins should be retired.
Link: https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/obsolete-dawkinsian-evidence-for-evolution
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Tags: #Evolution #Science #Dawkins
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Christians and the Prophecy of Muhammad ﷺ
By Hamza Yusuf, Zaytuna College; Anna Bonta Moreland, Villanova University
Anna Bonta Moreland’s book, Muhammad Reconsidered: A Christian Perspective on Islamic Prophecy (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020), grew out of the perplexing problem of how she, a committed Christian, could remain faithful to her own religion while teaching the sacred texts of other religions in a way that respected them as living faith traditions. Her conversation with editor-in-chief Hamza Yusuf about her book has been edited for length and clarity.
Link: https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/christians-and-the-prophecy-of-muhammad
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Prophecy
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Racialized Religion and Civic Engagement: Insights into Intra-Muslim Racial Diversity on University Campuses
By Saugher Nojan, University of California
Abstract
Sociologists continue to debate the levels of civic participation of multiply marginalized groups. While scholarship traditionally portrayed marginalized groups as disengaged, others have theorized how group identity threat may incite higher engagement levels. Nevertheless, few examine the extent to which marginalized religious groups also have higher levels of civic engagement. This study contributes an empirical account of a racialized-religious community’s civic participation compared to other religious and nonreligious groups while accounting for complex religion (i.e., how religion is embedded with inequality). Drawing on large-scale undergraduate survey data, this article suggests that Muslims’ faith and collective racialized-religious identities enhance their civic participation compared to other religious groups. Findings extend group identity threat and complex religion theories to consider how a racialized-religious identity may produce different engagement patterns within and across religious communities.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa043
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Tags: #Religion #Sociology #Islam
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Divine Hiddenness
By Veronika Weidner, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
Abstract
This Element provides an introduction to the hiddenness argument, as presented by John Schellenberg, and its up-to-date discussion in a comprehensible way. It concludes with a brief assessment of where things stand, from the author's point of view, and why divine hiddenness should not reduce a reflective theist's confidence in theism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108612647
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Tags: #DivineHidenness #Philosophy #God
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On James Sterba’s Refutation of Theistic Arguments to Justify Suffering
By Bruce R. Reichenbach, Augsburg University
Abstract
In his recent book Is a Good God Logically Possible? and article by the same name, James Sterba argued that the existence of significant and horrendous evils, both moral and natural, is incompatible with the existence of God. He advances the discussion by invoking three moral requirements and by creating an analogy with how the just state would address such evils, while protecting significant freedoms and rights to which all are entitled. I respond that his argument has important ambiguities and that consistent application of his moral principles will require that God remove all moral and natural evils. This would deleteriously restrict not only human moral decision making, but also the knowledge necessary to make moral judgments. He replies to this critique by appealing to the possibility of limited divine intervention, to which I rejoin with reasons why his middle ground is not viable.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010064
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Tags: #ProblemOfEvil #Philosophy #Theodicy #God
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God and the Problem of Evil: An Attempt at Reframing the Debate
By Brett Wilmot, Villanova University
Abstract
In his book ‘Is a Good God Logically Possible?’, James Sterba argues that the existence of much of the evil to be found in the world is logically incompatible with the existence of God. I defend the Thomistic view that when one properly understands the nature of God and of his relationship to the world, this so-called logical problem of evil does not arise. While Sterba has responded to the version of the Thomistic position presented by Brian Davies, I argue that his response fails.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040268
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Tags: #ProblemOfEvil #Philosophy #Theodicy #God
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Theorizing the Religious Habitus in the Context of Conversion to Islam among Polish Women of Catholic Background
By Joanna Krotofil, Anna Piela, Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska, Beata Abdallah-Krzepkowska
Abstract
This article explores the conversion processes of Polish women of Catholic background to Islam. Data from participant observation of mosque-based, women-only weekend gatherings for converts and in-depth interviews with 29 Polish female converts to Islam are presented to illustrate the dialectic between the persistence and transformation of religious habitus. Our analysis demonstrates that in the conversion process, Catholic habitus remains pervasive, and shapes converts’ engagement with the new religion; however, some elements of it become reflexive and change. We make a case for extending the discussion on habitus transformation by drawing attention to what we term a “translation” of religious beliefs and practices. Women in our study translate the system of Islamic practices and beliefs into a specific Catholic logic that is more intelligible to them and, in the process, recognize some of the power dynamics inherent in the religious field.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srab002
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Tags: #Sociology #Islam #Christianity
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Another Look at the Modal Collapse Argument
By Omar Fakhri, University of California
Abstract
On one classical conception of God, God has no parts, not even metaphysical parts. God is not composed of form and matter, act and potency, and he is not composed of existence and essence. God is absolutely simple. This is the doctrine of Absolute Divine Simplicity (ADS). It is claimed that ADS implies a modal collapse, i.e. that God’s creation is absolutely necessary. I argue that a proper way of understanding the modal collapse argument naturally leads the proponent of ADS to reject a particular premise of the argument: namely, “the same identical cause brings about the same effect.” However, I argue that the rejection of that premise leads to a deeper problem for ADS. It leads to an explanatory gap: how can we explain the relevant type of indeterminism in an absolutely simple God?
Link: https://philosophy-of-religion.eu/index.php/ejpr/article/view/3168
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy #Theism
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Illumination of the Heart
Doubt, Certainty, and Knowledge Acquisition in al-Ghazali and Augustine
By Julie Loveland Swanstrom, Augustana University
Abstract
Though al-Ghazalı is often superficially compared to Descartes, Ghazalı’s epistemological project echoes—in consonance or dissonance—Augustine’s, warranting a clear exploration of the depths of these echoes. For both Augustine and Ghazalı the epistemological and theological quest starts with an interior turn, and divine illumination provides the tools for and content of knowledge. Both recount skeptical leanings resolved by divine illumination; both employ philosophy as a tool in theological disputes; both see knowledge as dynamic and transformative; and both assert that God’s direct illumination is a necessary precursor to and a final capstone upon knowledge. Ghazalı’s use of illumination is more circumscribed and specified than Augustine’s. I argue that Ghazalı and Augustine take similar approaches to the role of divine illumination and the importance of interiority or the subjective grasp on knowledge, but despite these differences, Ghazalı and Augustine deal distinctly with the question of authority and certitude of knowledge.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2038
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy #Ghazali
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Revelation, Moral Skepticism, and the Mu'tazilites
By Amir Saemi, University of California
Abstract
Facing morally controversial passages in Scripture, many Muslims find themselves forced to choose between accepting the dictates of Scripture and trusting their modern moral sensibilities. Let’s call the view that our independent moral judgment is not reliable when it is in conflict with the apparent meaning of Scripture, moderate moral skepticism. Assuming the falsity of the divine command theory, I will explore the argument for moderate moral skepticism by discussing the ideas of the Mu‘tazilite theologian, Qadi ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamadani (935–1025). My hope is that the discussion of the ideas of ‘Abd al-Jabbar helps us to see why the argument for moderate moral skepticism is appealing and what is the best way to resist the argument.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2037
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Tags: #Theology #God #Philosophy #Quran
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Ontological Pluralism and Divine Naming
Insights from Avicenna
By Joshua Lee Harris, King's University
Abstract
In this article, I defend a version of ontological pluralism, specifically with an eye toward laying metaphysical groundwork for an account of divine naming inspired by Avicenna. I try to show (1) that Avicenna’s pluralism is well-motivated as a metaphysical thesis and (2) that it offers substantive philosophical support for a correlatively pluralist approach to divine naming. My argument proceeds by identifying two influential objections to ontological pluralism, and then offering replies to these objections with the help of Avicenna. The first objection pertains to pluralism as a position in general metaphysics, whereas the second pertains to pluralism as a position in theological epistemology or divine naming. To the extent that these replies are successful, I argue that Avicennian pluralism is compelling on both counts as a philosophical position.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2040
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Tags: #Epistemology #Philosophy #Avicenna
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Recovering a Role for Moral Character and Ascetic Practice in Religious Epistemology
By T. Ryan Byerly, University of Sheffield
Abstract
Moral character and ascetic practice have not been major themes in contemporary analytic religious epistemology, but they have been major themes in the religious epistemologies of several influential historical figures, including the medieval Islamic philosopher al-Ghazalı. This article will be concerned with the place of moral character and ascetic practice in both al-Ghazalı’s religious epistemology and in contemporary analytic religious epistemology. By reading al-Ghazalı alongside contemporary work, I aim to highlight some fruitful ideas about how moral character and ascetic practice could play important roles in religious epistemology. I argue that the exploration of these ideas may be enriched via engagement with recent developments in mainstream epistemology and virtue theory, pointing toward future avenues for such work.
Link: https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2039
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Tags: #Epistemology #Philosophy #Ghazali
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Doing, Allowing, and Occasionalism
By Sümer Şen, Radboud University Nijmegen
Abstract
In ‘God, evil, and occasionalism’ Matthew Shea and C.P. Ragland appeal to the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing to argue against Alvin Plantinga that occasionalism is morally worse than conservationism. In this article I critically examine their argument and conclude that it fails because it contains an equivocation or is unwarranted. I also offer a case against their position by, first, arguing that on none of three prominent accounts of doing and allowing God merely allows suffering.
Second, I develop the ‘Epistemological-Equivalence Argument’ in order to show that even if we grant such a distinction for God's acts, they would be morally on a par.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412521000056
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Tags: #Theology #Philosophy #Plantinga #Occasionalism
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MAKING SENSE OF BRITISH MUSLIM PARENTS’ OBJECTIONS TO ‘PROGRESSIVE’ SEXUALITY EDUCATION
By Fida Sanjakdar, Monash University
Abstract
Statutory requirements for compulsory Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in the UK is generating concern among many religious communities and reigniting debates about the purpose of School Based Sexuality Education (SBSE). Among the communities voicing their dissent are members of the British Islamic community. Quranic scripture deems obligatory the teaching and learning about all aspects relevant to human sexuality, however, religion, and in particular Islam, is widely viewed as hostile to sexuality education. Whilst Muslim objection to ‘progressive’ agendas in SBSE (i.e., same-sex relations, gender fluidity, pleasure and desire) is generating much attention, equal attention to understanding the Islamic theological, philosophical and epistemological underpinnings of these views, is less frequently sought. The purpose of this paper is to foreground Islamic responses to some of the ‘progressive’ topics featuring in RSE and SBSE more broadly. Using British printed media sources and Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper aims to make sense of British Muslim parents’ objections to ‘progressive’ sexuality education. A more concerted focus on Islamic underpinnings of these views is imperative to alleviate negative responses to Muslim positions on this subject as well as inform the ongoing dilemma of finding ways in which religious diversity be addressed in SBSE.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2021.1905770
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Tags: #Psychology #Education #Islam #Gender
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An explicit religious label impacts visual adaptation to Christian and Muslim faces
By Victoria Foglia, Alyssa Mueller, M. D. Rutherford & McMaster University,
Abstract
Opposing aftereffects can be induced across two sets of face categories. The current literature suggests that in order to create opposing aftereffects, the two categories must (1) be perceptually distinct and (2) represent distinct meaningfully social categories. The current study was designed to test whether religion is one of the types of social categories that can support the formation of opposing aftereffects. Experiment 1 reports the creation and validation of a Christian and Muslim face set, demonstrating that the religious membership of the face images is visually identifiable. In experiment 2 we attempted to create opposing aftereffects by having adult participants fixate on Christian and Muslim faces that were expanded and contracted. Participants either heard religious membership explicit or control audio recordings. Opposing aftereffects were observed only when Christian and Muslim faces were explicitly labeled. In experiment 3, eight-year-olds were adapted to a similar paradigm, with explicit religious information provided. Opposing aftereffects were not observed. Results of these experiments suggest that for adults, religion might be the kind of meaningful social category required for the formation of opposing aftereffects, but only if religious category membership is made explicit. Eight-year-old children's understanding of religious categories may still be developing.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.1900901
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Tags: #Psychology #Christianity #Islam
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Freedom of Speech Is Not an Absolute
By Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Institute of Race Relations
Abstract
In September 2005, the right-wing Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published specially commissioned cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that were judged, by Muslims and many non-Muslims, to be racist and offensive. Republished in February 2006 in newspapers across Europe (except the UK), they were the occasion for demonstrations and riots throughout both the Muslim and non-Muslim world. In this wide-ranging interview, originally conducted for the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen, A. Sivanandan reflects on free speech and its relation to other freedoms in an unequal, globalised world. He looks at it in the context both of the ‘war on terror’ and past histories of colonisation.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0306396806066648
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Tags: #Philosophy #FreedomOfSpeech #Islam #Prophet
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Reading Iqbal in the Light of Kierkegaard: Toward an Existentialist Approach to Islam
By Saida Mirsadri, University of Tehran; Mansour Nasiri, University of Tehran
Abstract
Taking the Christian existentialist approach—ushered in by Søren Kierkegaard—as a model, this contribution seeks to introduce an Islamic existentialist approach, which can be detected in Muhammad Iqbal's thought and works. The characteristics of this approach could be enumerated as follows: there is (1) an emphasis on that aspect of reality that is beyond the realm of reason, (2) the contention that reason is incapable of giving knowledge about God, (3) an emphasis on the need for a subjective approach to God and faith rather than an objective one, and (4) a practical way that is introduced that enables the individual in appropriating and living the truth—thus building a subjective relationship with it.
Link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/786043
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Tags: #Philosophy #Iqbal #Kierkegaard #Islam
