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Monotheism and Creation
By David Cheetham, University of Birmingham
This Element discusses the idea of creation ex nihilo as an expression of monotheistic belief mainly with reference to Jewish and Christian traditions. It outlines the philosophical and theological discussion about monotheism and creation, considering key historical figures such as Philo, Irenaeus, Augustine, and Aquinas as well as contemporary thinkers. It reviews key topics such as divine sovereignty, the goodness of creation, pantheism, process, and feminist thinking on creation. It argues for creation ex nihilo over other models. In particular, it examines the notion of 'creaturehood' as an overlooked and under-developed dimension in contemporary debates about the relationship between created humanity and the one God. The doctrine of creation does not just address the question of origins, it also serves to affirm the finite or immanent aspects of life.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009357395
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Tags: #Religion #God #Theology #Evolution #Creationism
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The Moral Argument for the Existence of God: An Evaluation of Some Recent Discussions
By Henry Hock Guan Teh, Andrew Loke, Hong Kong Baptist University
This paper contributes to the discussion on the Moral Argument for the existence of God—an important argument of natural theology which is relevant to science and religion dialogues—by showing that the argument can be formulated in a such way that avoids the lack of comprehensiveness in Andrew Loke’s original formulation and the unnecessarily complicated reformulation offered in Jack et al.’s criticism of Loke. This paper also contributes to the discussion by demonstrating the failure of relaxed (moral) realism proposed by Jack et al. to rebut the Moral Argument and offers replies to their other objections concerning moral obligations and social relations, the law-like character of moral obligations, and moral truths and responsibilities.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111467
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Tags: #Realism #Theology #God
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The Ethics-First View Defended: Responses to Audi, Aijaz, Akhlaghi, and Buchak
By Amir Saemi, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences
This paper offers four detailed responses to four commentators on my book. First, in response to Robert Audi, I clarify my position on the Abraham’s sacrifice case, defending both the objective and subjective impermissibility of the sacrifice, grounded in the “Moses principle” and the “Accessibility Constraint.” Second, in reply to Imran Aijaz, I address concerns that my “Legal Interpretation” solution could be appropriated by Islamic fundamentalists, clarifying my metaphor of Hayy’s island as a condition of reasoned moral reflection rather than a narrative of historical inevitability. Third, in response to Farbod Akhlaghi, I engage with challenges to Legal Interpretation, defending it against charges of question-begging, examining whether legislation can justifiably require grave moral wrongs, and elaborating the unique epistemic role of revelation in providing underdetermination-solving and relationship-based reasons. Finally, in response to Lara Buchak, I explore her game-theoretic model of moral development as an enhancement of Legal Interpretation and propose a variation that addresses gender dynamics in 7th-century Arabia.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i3.60061
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Tags: #Islam #Morality #PoE #God
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Comments on Amir Saemi’s Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond: A New Problem of Evil
By Imran Aijaz, University of Michigan-Dearborn
In this article, I offer a friendly engagement with Amir Saemi’s recent publication, Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond: A New Problem of Evil. In this book, Saemi introduces what he terms the “Problem of Divinely Prescribed Evil,” which arises from the apparent conflict between the divinity of Scripture, the existence of seemingly prescribed immoral actions, and the reliability of human moral judgment. To resolve this conflict, Saemi proposes and defends what he calls the “Legal Interpretation” solution, which reframes morally problematic scriptural injunctions as historically contingent legal measures intended to resolve the social challenges of a nonideal community. In what follows, I argue that this solution is vulnerable to two significant objections. First, it risks being appropriated by traditionalist or fundamentalist perspectives that resist claims of moral progress (the “Absāl’s Island” objection). Second, it fails to resolve the underlying moral tension, merely relocating the problem without dissolving it (the “Illusory Solution” objection). I conclude my discussion by noting that my criticisms should be viewed as constructive and part of a larger, ongoing conversation about Saemi’s important work.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i3.58859
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Tags: #Islam #Morality #PoE #God
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One Book, Many Gains: On Saemi’s Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond
By Mohammad Saleh Zarepour, University of Manchester
Over the past twenty years, many scholars have argued that the analytic philosophy
of religion is unhealthy for the following reasons, among others: Most analytic
philosophers of religion are Christian theists or are significantly influenced by Christianity more than by any other religion. Most of the field’s central problems have arisen through engagement with Christian beliefs. Most philosophical theories developed in defence of religious belief are proposed from a Christian perspective, and most arguments against religious belief are primarily targeted at Christianity. Until very recently, all the leading journals in the field were Christianity oriented, and most of the major funded research projects centred on themes inspired by or formed in reaction to Christianity.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i3.62593
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Tags: #Islam #Morality #PoE #God
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Reconfiguring Political Islam
A Discursive Tradition Approach
By Abbas Jong, Freie Universität Berlin
This article reconceptualizes Political Islam through the analytic lens of discursive tradition, restructured within the framework of social configurations. Departing from essentialist, universalist, nominalist, and reductionist readings, the study foregrounds the epistemological contingencies and internal pluralities that characterize Political Islam as a historically situated and discursively constructed phenomenon. Rather than treating political Islam as a fixed ideological project or a transhistorical expression of Islamic governance, the article theorizes it as a dynamic and contested field in which diverse actors articulate Islamic categories within distinct configurations shaped by contextual transformations, historical ruptures, institutional dislocations, regimes of reasoning, and so on. Drawing on Talal Asad’s notion of discursive tradition, the analysis reconstructs its scope through the concept of social configurations, which enables a multilayered reading of Political Islam across three analytical levels: conditions of possibility, categorical and discursive formation, and social objectification. This theoretical reconstruction clarifies how Islamist discourses emerge not from doctrinal continuity alone, but through strategic negotiations over core issues such as temporality, authority, power, and legitimacy. Through comparative and context-sensitive examination of various Islamist traditions—from reformist to revolutionary, nationalist to transnational, moderate to militant—the article shows how Political Islam operates through a grammar of differentiation and reconfiguration within the broader Islamic tradition. The resulting framework not only situates Political Islam within shifting social terrains, but also offers an epistemological intervention into its interpretation as a plural, indeterminate, and generative discursive tradition.
Link: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v42i3-4.3609
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Tags: #Islam #Politics #Tradition
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Theology meets philosophy of science
By Meghan D. Page, Loyola Maryland University; Ignacio Silva, Universidad Austral
This is a brief introduction to a special issue highlighting the relevance of philosophy of science to many core topics in theology and philosophy of religion. Several points of intersection between knowledge production in the sciences and knowledge production in philosophy and theology are discussed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412525101297
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Tags: #Philosophy #Theology #Religion #Science
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Islam, Science, and the Environment
An Application of Ibrahim Kalin’s “Three Views of Science in the Islamic World”
By Bilkis Bharucha
Contemporary discussions on Islam and science are highly variegated, often taking on fundamentally opposite assumptions. The remarkable divergence in the basic methods and assumptions underlying publications in this field make any meta-study, or comparison between approaches, nearly impossible. One pragmatic meta-framework of Islam and science that incorporates a wide range of views and provides meaningful distinctions between them is suggested by Ibrahim Kalin. In his chapter titled, “Three Views of Science in the Islamic World,” Kalin identifies three (non-exhaustive) Islamic critiques of science, which he labels as: ‘ethical/puritanical’; ‘epistemological’; and ‘ontological/metaphysical’. Applying Kalin’s framework to contemporary publications on Islam and the environment offers a rich analysis, enabling us to identify attempts at the instrumentalization of Islamic ethics, hermeneutics, and metaphysics, as well as identify contact points between religion and science.
Link: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v39i3--4.3724
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Tags: #Islam #Ethics #Religion
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Is Ethics Without God Possible? An Answer, Plus Some Thoughts, About the Question
By Michael Tooley, University of Colorado
Is Ethics Without God Possible? In this article, I argue for the conclusion that ethics without God is possible. First, I begin by offering a brief overview of metaethics, outlining the main options concerning the nature of ethical statements. Next, I set out my argument. As it turns out, that argument does involve some philosophy of religion, but of a limited scope, since the only issue relevant to my argument is whether some version of the ontological argument for the existence of God is sound or not. Finally, having argued that ethics without God is possible—leaving aside the minor qualification mentioned above—I shall indicate why I think it is crucial to consider how philosophy of religion might bear upon the question initially posed, and thus why it is a mistake to address the question posed without considering how philosophy of religion might bear upon the question initially posed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111426
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Tags: #God #Ethics #Religion
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Sayyida al-Ḥurra: An Early Modern Decolonial Muslim Exemplar
By Jason Idriss Sparkes, Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University
Five centuries ago, the Gibraltar Strait was emerging as the border zone between the core and the periphery of the modern/colonial world-system—a liminal position it continues to occupy today. During this period, Muslims on the southern shore of the Strait resisted the Portuguese and Spanish imperialism which was supported by several other Western European powers as well as the Catholic Papacy. This paper examines the life of Sayyida al-Ḥurra (c. 1491–c. 1552), who played an active role in this resistance, as Governor of the city-state of Tétouan and eventually Queen of Morocco. It summarizes years of transdisciplinary research about her life, which draws upon historical sources and popular narratives, as well as fieldwork in Northern Morocco and Southern Spain. The main finding of this research is that Sayyida al-Ḥurra is an early modern Muslim decolonial exemplar who remains significant today. She embodied an alternate way of being a ruler, a warrior, a woman, and a Muslim. Remembering her life can inspire contemporary decolonial thought, since the very fact of her existence unsettles modern colonial formations of race, ethnicity, governance, war, gender, and religion.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111362
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Tags: #History #Islam #Religion
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Islamic Environmentalism and Epistemic Waste
By Aysenur Cam, Princeton University
Environmental ethics is concerned with how humans use and relate to the environment, including its conservation and protection. In recent decades, works on Islamic environmentalism have increased multiplied with efforts to ground an ethics based on the resources of the Islamic scholarly tradition. In this article, I offer an approach to environmentalism that is based on a Qur’anic epistemology of divine names. Utilizing Said Nursi’s (d. 1960) Qur’anic commentary, the Risâle-i Nur, I argue that waste (isrāf) occurs when the epistemic meaning carried by all of creation is not engaged with or read. An Islamic environmental ethics should look to how one interacts with the physical world in light of its relation to the Creator and how it serves to convey meaningful speech content through the manifestation of divine qualities.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.70009
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Religion
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Discussions of Drought in Premodern Ḥadīth Collections
Islamic Ethics and Attitudes to the Causes of and Responses to Natural Disasters
By Abdessamad Belhaj, University of Public Service
The subject of drought, or qaḥṭ, is extensively discussed in ḥadīth compilations, however very little research has been undertaken on their treatment of the subject. This paper thus proposes to investigate the treatment of drought in the ḥadīth literature in a systematic way. Our methodology consists in analysing the explanations offered by medieval Islamic ethics for drought, their discussions of the responses of political and religious authorities, the Prophet’s guidance on the subject, and the actions or behaviours they advocate to overcome the dangers and hardships drought presents. Drawing on sources from major Sunni ḥadīth compilations, this article aims to offer a comprehensive description and discussion of the treatment of drought in Islamic ethics discourse as found in these texts. It is argued here that this discourse links drought to political, social, and religious corruption, especially denial of religious truth, greed, and injustice.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.12784
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Tags: #Islam #Hadith #Politics #Religion
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Sobriety (zuhd) and Hunger (jūʿ)
Ethical Responses to Natural Disasters in al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) Theology of Creation
By Emmanuel Pisani, Institut Dominicain D’études Orientales
Although al-Ghazālī’s cosmology emphasises divine harmony and providential wisdom, natural calamities nonetheless pose a challenge to his theodicy. Al-Ghazālī resolves this tension by situating disasters within a providential design that integrates both time and space. While their ultimate purpose remains beyond human understanding, for al-Ghazālī, catastrophes function as divine signs—either as trials for believers or as punishments for the impious—that demand an ethical and spiritual response. The appropriate response required of the believer is made possible through the Sufi concepts of zuhd (ascetic detachment) and juʿ (voluntary hunger), which cultivate self-discipline, purify the soul and redirect the believer toward reliance on God. These practices not only prepare individuals to endure trials with patience and gratitude but also strengthen communal solidarity, particularly in times of crisis such as epidemics. By integrating theodicy with ascetic discipline, al-Ghazālī transforms adversity into a means of spiritual elevation, affirming that faith requires both intellectual adherence and transformative praxis.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.12788
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Tags: #Islam #God #Ghazali
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The Role of Ritual Prayer (Ṣalāh) in Self-Purification and Identity Formation: An Islamic Educational Perspective
By Adeeb Obaid Alsuhaymi and Fouad Ahmed Atallah, Jouf University
Ritual prayer (ṣalāh) is one of the most central and enduring practices in Islam, widely recognized for its spiritual significance. However, its educational and formative role in shaping the Muslim’s inner self and moral identity remains insufficiently explored in contemporary scholarship. This paper aims to examine ritual prayer as a core pedagogical tool within Islamic education, focusing on its transformative power in the processes of self-purification (tazkiyah) and identity formation. The study seeks to analyze the ethical and psychological dimensions of ṣalāh, drawing on classical Islamic sources, as well as integrating insights from contemporary critical philosophy—particularly Byung-Chul Han’s Vita Contemplativa—and Islamic virtue ethics, including perspectives such as those advanced by Elizabeth Bucar. Through this framework, the paper explores how prayer shapes inner dispositions like humility, mindfulness, sincerity, patience, and submission, reinforcing both spiritual awareness and communal belonging. Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, the study engages Qur’anic verses, prophetic traditions, and traditional pedagogical literature to investigate how ṣalāh functions as a lived and repeated experience that cultivates the soul and molds ethical behavior. The discussion highlights how regular performance of prayer integrates belief with action and contributes to the formation of a reflective and morally grounded Muslim identity. This paper contributes to the field of Islamic Practical Theology by demonstrating how ritual prayer operates as a dynamic and holistic model for moral and spiritual development. It provides educators and scholars with a theoretical and applied vision for incorporating ṣalāh-based character education into Islamic curricula. Future research may explore how prayer interacts with modern lifestyles, digital spiritual practices, and intergenerational transmission of religious identity in diverse contexts.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111347
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Tags: #Islam #Pedagogy #Religion
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On Literary Miracles and Social Credibility: The Epistemology of an Islamic Argument
By Erkki V. R. Kojonen, University of Helsinki
The idea that the Qur’an is miraculous is common in Islamic apologetics, but has received little attention in Western philosophy of religion. Despite the common claim that the supposed miracle of the Qur’an is distinct in not requiring testimonial support, testimonial considerations are central for many claims about Qur’anic inimitability. This article clarifies and evaluates the logic of such arguments for the purpose of fostering inter-religious understanding and raising the intellectual level of discourse. The analysis focuses on three different versions of the literary miracle claim: (1) arguments from early Muslim history, (2) arguments from Muslim aesthetic experience, and (3) arguments from Qur’anic literary features. Using recent advances in social epistemology and critical Islamic studies, the article explores how religious testimonial inferences can be evaluated and the difficulties involved in arguing for a literary miracle.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16101319
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Miracles #Epistemology
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Religion and Food
By Alexandra S. Wormley and Adam B. Cohen, Arizona State University
Religion plays an important role in what and how we eat. Indeed, food is a critical component of religion-as well as a reflection of the other components that make religion unique. This fact is what necessitates greater attention towards food as a lens for understanding psychological phenomenon both within the psychology of religion and the social scientific community at large. Utilizing theories and exemplars from multiple disciplines, the authors discuss how food relates to four dimensions of religion – beliefs (Section 2), values (Section 3), practices (Section 4), and community (Section 5). Throughout the Element and in a concluding section, the authors provide exciting directions for future research. In addition to providing a review of our current understanding of the role of food and religion, this work ultimately seeks to inspire researchers and students to investigate the role of food in religious life.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009421898
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Tags: #Religion #God #Theology
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Assisted Reproduction in the Abrahamic Religions: Ethical Contributions for a Pluralistic Society
By María del Carmen Massé García, Pontifical University Comillas
Recent advances in reproductive science have prompted a profound reexamination of some of the most fundamental anthropological aspects of human life: the value of nascent human life, the meanings of motherhood and fatherhood, and the concept of family. Abrahamic religious traditions in particular offer a rich moral heritage, developed over centuries, that can significantly contribute to ethical reflection on assisted reproductive technologies. This article examines the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, which are predominant in the Western cultural context and greatly influence the lives and moral frameworks of more than half of the world’s population. The study underscores the strength of the ethical foundations shared across these religious traditions and common values, principles, and moral concerns, while also seeking to understand and integrate the distinctive nuances that differentiate them.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121508
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Tags: #Religion #Ethics #Islam
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Divinely Prescribed Evil and Moral Knowledge in Islam and Beyond
By Farbod Akhlaghi, Trinity College Dublin
Can one who takes Scripture to be the word of God, and who takes their independent moral judgements to be reliable, reconcile such beliefs with Scriptural injunctions that appear to permit and require evil actions? That is the Problem of Divinely Prescribed Evil. An ethics-first solution takes our independent moral judgements to be reliable and attempts to reconcile them with seemingly divinely prescribed evil. Amir Saemi (2024) offers a prima facie promising ethics-first solution: take Scriptural injunctions to be not moral, but legal. In this paper, I critically examine this proposal. After raising worries about Saemi’s argument for his solution, I explore his analogy with the ethics and laws of war, raise three concerns for his solution, and present a dilemma which is, ultimately, an argument against Saemi’s solution. I end with some suggestions for further inquiry into this recalcitrant problem, and analytic philosophy of religion about Islam.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i3.58891
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Tags: #Islam #Morality #PoE #God
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Problems of Evil: Old and New
By Robert Audi, University of Notre Dame
This paper is a critical study of Amir Saemi’s Morality and Religion in Islamic Moral Thought and Beyond: A New Problem of Evil. This book identifies and enhances resources available to conscientious Muslims for resolving normative conflicts. Saemi focuses particularly on tensions between, on the one hand, Scriptural commands and permissions and, on the other, deliverances of moral reflection. This paper first notes some representative ideas Saemi brings out from among the many classic Islamic philosophers and theologians he explicates. It then indicates the apparently central elements in his own resolution of some major conflicts faced by conscientious Muslims. These conflicts center on the issues of how to interpret theologically authoritative testimony; how, in doing so, to weight the reliability of competent human reflection; and how to balance the requirements of piety with the constraints of conscientious believers. The paper concludes with a proposal that respects the piety Saemi hopes to accommodate and the sound moral standards of conduct that, despite their tension with commands and permissions widely considered theologically binding, he argues are reasonable for conscientious Muslims.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i3.59385
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Tags: #Islam #Morality #PoE #God
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Evidence-Based Creationism: The Origin of the Universe
By Richard Liangchen Wang, Independent Researcher
There is currently no scientific theory on God’s creation of the universe yet, which has a negative impact on people’s belief in God. This paper aims to establish an evidence-based creationism about God creating the universe. The Creationism Theorem, which is proved in this paper, asserts that the fundamental physical laws were designed by a Designer. The universality, mathematical formulation, and succinctness of physical laws reveal that the Designer is almighty and possesses the highest wisdom. It is concluded that God, a supernatural being, designed physical laws and used them to create and govern the universe.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2592330
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Tags: #Creationism #Evolution #Design #God
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Reviving Manichaeism with the Evil God Challenge
By Zoheir Bagheri Noaparast, Stellenbosch University
In contemporary analytic philosophy of religion, the evil God challenge has been developed by several authors as a parody argument. Proponents of this challenge contend that, given the goods in our world, the hypothesis of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnimalevolent God or the Evil God is absurd. Similarly, they argue, we should conclude that the hypothesis of a good God is also absurd due to the evils present in our world. This paper argues that, with the aid of this challenge and other contemporary debates in the philosophy of religion, one can make the case that a reintroduction of Manichaeism into philosophy of religion is worthwhile. This argument will propose that, considering our total evidence, the Good-God and the Evil-God demonstrate a similar level of support. Additionally, under a reconstructed Manichaean hypothesis, good and evil are seen as mutually explanatory. Furthermore, the natural order can be understood within this framework. Therefore, the Manichaean hypothesis could serve as a viable alternative to monotheistic theism; it can account for the co-existence of good and evil and is compatible with the observed order in nature.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111432
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Tags: #PoE #Evil #God
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Atheist Morality Without God
By John W. Loftus, Independent Researcher
This essay is a response to James Sterba’s “An Ethics without God That Is Compatible with Darwinian Evolution.” As an atheist philosopher I show that atheist morality is essentially and thoroughly a secular morality, and that the most reasonable ethics are secular systems in that they do not require a God, gods, or goddesses. I go on to defend an atheist morality based on polls showing that countries with atheist populations are healthier than religious ones. Then I point out the sources of human morality, arguing that there is a common neighborly morality that matters, based on facts about who we are as a species, which includes the pre-human sources in the animal world. Finally, I mention how that Sterbaian Ethics, as it should henceforth be called, can succeed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111444
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Tags: #God #Morality #Religion #Atheism #Ethics
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Miracles and the Holy Spirit in the Sufi Metaphysics of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī
By Fitzroy Morrissey, University of Oxford
In this paper, I analyze the account of miracles given by ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d. 811/1408), one of the major interpreters of the Sufi metaphysics of Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240). Al-Jīlī outlines his theory of miracles in chapter fifty of his major work, al-Insān al-kāmil fī maʿrifat al-awākhir wa-l-awāʾil, which is devoted to the Holy Spirit. Based on a close reading of this chapter and other relevant sections of al-Insān al-kāmil, I suggest that al-Jīlī’s interest in miracles reflects the miracle-saturated Yemeni environment in which he wrote, and find that he most often uses taṣarrufāt (“acts of free disposal”) to denote saintly miracles, rather than the more common karāmāt. Most significantly, I show how, based on his threefold categorization of humanity (into those dominated by their physical form, spiritual things, and divine things), he articulates a hierarchy of the miraculous, distinguishing between bodily miracles, which indicate the dominance of the Holy Spirit, and the higher level of creative speech acts, which reflect the dominance of God’s creative attributes. Finally, notwithstanding the fact that his account of miracles and the Holy Spirit chimes with certain Christian ideas, I show that miracles, in his view, point to the spiritual pre-eminence of the Prophet Muhammad.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111423
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Tags: #Miracles #Sufism #Religion
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Between Fidelity and Reform: Muḥammad Qāsim Nanotvi's (1833–1880) Rearticulation of Waḥdat al-Wujūd
By Safaruk Chowdhury, Cambridge Muslim College
Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi (1833–1880) is primarily recognized as the founder of the Deoband seminary. His engagement with waḥdat al-wujūd reveals a neglected philosophical project that seeks to reconcile mystical intuition with rigorous metaphysical reasoning. Drawing on the intellectual legacy of Shāh Walīullāh al-Dihlawī and Ḥājī Imdādullāh Muhājir Makkī, Nanotvi affirms that all existence depends on God, yet rearticulates this within a theological structure that safeguards divine transcendence. This article examines Nanotvi's reinterpretation of waḥdat al-wujūd (the unity of being), a foundational yet contested concept in Islamic metaphysics and Sufi thought. Employing a historical-critical approach, this study reveals that Nanotvi does not fully endorse waḥdat al-wujūd but rearticulates it as the unity of the attribute of existence (ṣifāt al-wujūd), emphasizing that all existence depends on God while preserving divine transcendence and ontological distinctions between God and creation. By focusing on the attribute of existence, Nanotvi offers a systematic response to ontological debates, avoiding the controversies surrounding waḥdat al-wujūd, while maintaining the spiritual depth of this concept.
Link: https://doi.org/10.21580/tos.v14i1.27370
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Tags: #God #Islam #History #Theology
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Ibn Taymiyya’s Fiṭralism and Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology: A Comparative Study
By Safaruk Zaman Chowdhury, Cambridge Muslim College
Contemporary philosophers and epistemologists as well as scholars of Islamic studies have not failed to notice some striking similarities between aspects of the Islamic notion of the “fiṭra” (humanity’s archetypal nature) articulated by the medieval Hanbalī traditionalist jurist and theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d.728/1328) and the account of the sensus divinitatis (an innate, direct perception of God) espoused by the reformed philosopher Alvin Plantinga (1932–present). This article systematically compares both these notions and more by first situating them within the antecedent historical factors and developments leading up to their emergence in their respective intellectual milieu, the theological anthropology espoused by both thinkers and the religious epistemology of each respective thinker. The article will also discuss salient differences between each doctrine and their broader parent epistemologies and will examine major objections raised against them. The comparative study reveals not only a rich source of Islamic religious epistemology to be mined by diligent researchers but the exciting application of philosophical analysis to the thought of Ibn Taymiyya. Finally, the article argues that Ibn Taymiyya’s account of the fiṭra faces some problematic epistemological conundrums, one of which will be explored in detail.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111371
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Tags: #Fitra #IbnTaymiyya #Religion #Plantinga #God
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Higher Objectives of Islamic Law (Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa) in Substantiating Justice in Land Tax
By Öznur Özdemir, Bursa Uludag University; Mehmet Asutay, Durham University
This article discusses the relationship between the systemization of kharāj (land tax) and the higher objective of Islamic law or Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa. After the conquest of Sawād region (located in modern-day southern Iraq), the First Caliph ʿUmar (634 - 644 CE) introduced a new approach to the distribution of ghanīmah (spoils of war), leaving the lands to their pre-conquest owners but demanding the payment of taxes for redistribution among community members. This system was strengthened through the establishment of dīwān (register). We claim that ʿUmar’s decision in this regard was influenced by his understanding of Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa and that this historical example should also be considered in essentialising social justice in the making of contemporary Islamic economics theory and Islamic finance principles.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.70017
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Tags: #Islam #Law #Shariah #Economics
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Divine Trials and Political Authority
Droughts and Plagues in al-Ṭabarī’s Tārīkh
By Ines Peta, Università di Bologna
This article examines the representation of natural catastrophes in al-Ṭabarī’s Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk, focusing on droughts and plagues as central motifs through which divine will, moral order and political authority are articulated. By analysing selected episodes ranging from the prophetic narratives of ʿĀd and David to his account of the caliphate of ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, as well as his reports on the Umayyad period, and the Abbasid rise and consolidation of power, this study highlights the multiplicity of interpretive functions ascribed to calamities — generally viewed as forms of divine punishment, moral trial, or ominous signs — and draws out the political implications that emerge from these readings, particularly their role as instruments of dynastic legitimisation or delegitimisation and as mechanisms for restructuring authority. The article emphasises al-Ṭabarī’s methodological strategy of embedding natural disasters within a broader, coherent ethical, theological and political framework. By situating al-Ṭabarī’s historiography within the wider context of Islamic intellectual traditions on catastrophe, the study sheds light on the enduring interplay between providence, governance and communal responsibility in early Islamic historical consciousness, highlighting the foundational framework on which later historians will base their own (re)interpretations of natural catastrophes.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.12785
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Tags: #Islam #History #Politics
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How to (Try to) Tame a Disaster?
Annotating Approaches to the Integration of Politics and Power Strategies into the Creation of a Disasters Database in Classical Arabic Sources
By Ilaria Cicola, University of Bologna
The Disasters Corpus in Classical Arabic Sources (DiCCAS) was conceived as a resource that would encompass a diverse range of materials, including the Qur’an and the ḥadīth collections Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Saḥīḥ Muslim, as well as several significant historical orks, such as al-Ṭabarī’s Kitāb Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk and Ibn Taghrībirdī’s Kitāb al-Nujūm al-zāhira fī mulūk Miṣr wa-l-Qāhira. The corpus also incorporates adab texts by al-Jāhiẓ, notably his Rasāʾil, and Ibn al-Jawzī’s al-Mudhish. DiCCAS is designed to allow historians to compare different accounts and narratives of disasters in a variety of classical sources. While the breadth of this corpus is essential to fulfil the objectives of the ‘Environmental Anomalies & Political Legitimacy in Global Eurasia, 12th–14th Century’ project, it presents a formidable challenge for the digital humanist whose job is developing a structure capable of accommodating a variety of text types and their respective idiosyncrasies. This paper discusses the validity of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) as an encoding language, on the basis that its inherent flexibility and adaptability make it an optimal tool for a project of such scope, and seeks to outline the methodological hurdles encountered in the creation of a historical corpus. Finally, it explores the potential for integrating contemporary technological tools with classical sources. In doing so, it aims to assess how these tools can facilitate the comparative analysis of multiple sources, allowing researchers to understand the political and power strategies employed during and after a disaster.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.12791
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Tags: #Islam #History #Arabic
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Idealizing the Qur’an: A Phenomenological Account of Early Islamic Scriptural Canonization
By Ramon Harvey, Cambridge Muslim College
This article addresses a lack of engagement between Husserlian phenomenology and Qur’anic studies by applying Edmund Husserl’s “historical reduction” in his “The Origin of Geometry” essay to early Qur’anic canonization. I start by summarizing recent findings in the field to characterize a basic outline of the “ʿUthmānī canonization event,” the historical occurrence by which the third Islamic caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān (r. 644–656), oversaw the production of the canonical consonantal skeleton that is the origin for copies of the Qur’an today. I then develop my argument by critically discussing Husserl’s concepts of “idealization,” “traditionalization,” and “reactivation” in dialogue with influential interpretations by David Carr and Jacques Derrida. Finally, I use Husserl’s ideas to recast the early canonization of the Qur’an in phenomenological terms as a “founding act,” showing how a focus on intersubjectivity shifts the terms of debate over the interpretation of minor so-called scribal errors in key early manuscripts.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfaf090
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Phenomenology
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Evil, Hiddenness, and Nonbelief in Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes:
A Contemporary Philosophical Reflection
By Bakinaz Abdalla, Nazarbayev University
The problem of evil has consistently challenged theistic belief. This challenge appears in both contemporary and medieval philosophical sources, including those written by Jewish and Muslim philosophers and theologians. Treatments of the problem vary across historical contexts. This study examines a significant, yet understudied, engagement with this problem by Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī (a 12th-century Jewish philosopher who converted to Islam) in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, proposing to contribute to research on both intellectual history, within the realms of Islamic and Jewish philosophy and theology, and philosophy of religion. First, I reconstruct the problem of evil as presented in Abū al-Barakāt’s Judeo-Arabic commentary on Ecclesiastes (extant in manuscript form), highlighting the surrounding philosophical and theological trends that shaped its overall perspective. Second, reflecting a deeper philosophical dimension of the reconstructed problem of evil, I analyze it through the lens of contemporary philosophy of religion, particularly the evidential argument from evil and relevant aspects of the problem of divine hiddenness. I argue that Abū al-Barakāt’s formulation, distinct from customary articulations of the problem in his intellectual milieu, anticipates atheistic challenges posed by the evidential argument and divine hiddenness. Finally, I propose that potential complementary responses to these challenges can be developed by analyzing (1) Abū al-Barakāt’s conception of taqlīd (conformism) in light of Alvin Plantinga’s concept of the basicality of belief, and (2) his use of the Islamic doctrine of al-Qaḍāʾ wa al-Qadar (divine Decree and Predestination), which allows for a skeptical response.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v9i1.84943
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Tags: #Islam #PoE #Evil
