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The ethics of disagreement (adab al-ikhtilaf): religious education for intercultural competence in Arabo-Islamic pedagogy
By Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar, Hamad Bin Khalifa University
This article explores Adab al-Ikhtilaf, the ethics of disagreement in Islamic thought, as a pedagogical framework for teaching religious education (RE) in high schools within diasporic Muslim contexts. It argues that the principles of ethical disagreement can serve as culturally grounded tools for fostering intercultural communication competence. The paper conceptualises Ikhtilaf as a dialogical practice rooted in humility, synthesis, and reasoned argumentation. For example, the integration of Iqrar, or concession, acts as a conflict resolution practice to nurture mutual recognition in classroom settings. The article responds to dominant Western pedagogical paradigms, such as the Socratic dialogue, and offers Adab al-Ikhtilaf, as an Islamic dialectical tradition, as an alternative mode of engaging disagreement. By distinguishing between Jadal, Munadhara, and Mukabara, it proposes a reorientation of Islamic dialectics away from polemics and towards ethical deliberation. The article provides a guide for implementation and an assessment rubric that translate these philosophical and theological concepts into teachable strategies. These include the use of Dalil (evidence) and Tadabbur (deliberation) to foster reasoning and ethical engagement. Ultimately, this study aims to equip students with the ethical, dialogical, and intercultural skills necessary for pluralistic societies. It theorises a curriculum that enacts religious thought as pedagogy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2026.2619036
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Tags: #Islam #Pedagogy #Ethics
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Sustainable Communication in Sūfī Way of Contemplative Life (Vita Contemplativa): Aspects of Silence (al-Ṣamt) and Speech (al-Nuṭq) in Theoretical and Practical Ṣūfīsm
By Nurullah Koltaş, Trakya University
The desire to discover the nature of existence and one’s proper role in the universe has been a matter of concern throughout the ages, and individuals have endeavoured to examine the events that occur around them accordingly. In their pursuit, some have embarked on a deeper search for meaning, independent of common perceptions, and have posited that forms of expression beyond the limits of language could potentially provide important clues about the course of their lives. Transcending the limits of language can essentially be achieved by choosing a form of expression that goes beyond sounds, letters, words, or speech. Explained by certain scholars as beyond words, silence (Ar. al-ṣamt) is a discourse or mode of expression that involves the ability to speak inwardly (Ar. al-nuṭq). Thus, silence encompasses the ability to speak through remaining silent—a mode that, at first glance, appears to be paradoxical. This study focuses on one of the ways of attaining truth in theoretical and practical Ṣūfīsm: by remaining silent and finding the key to inner silence simultaneously. To reach such a level of understanding, it is crucial to examine how Ṣūfīs attempt to assimilate the inherent meaning beyond the boundaries of ordinary speech and approach the concept of silence from various aspects. By way of examining the possibility of communicating through silence according to some Ṣūfīs, the ways to a life in contemplation may be analysed to the extent that one could find a language that goes beyond letters or words.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020174
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Tags: #Islam #Sufism #Religion
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Does the mark of the Beast lead to salvation? Some hypotheses on the eschatological meaning of the mark of the Beast in Christianity and Islam
By Anna Canton, Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies
The anticipation of the Hour or Final Judgment represents a central concern within both Christian and Islamic traditions, each envisioning history culminating in a decisive eschatological event. A shared motif in these narratives is the Beast of the Earth, described in the Book of Revelation (chapter 13) and the Qurʾān (sūra 27:82). In Islamic thought, the Beast (Dābba) is regarded as a divine sign endowed with two attributes associated with Solomon and Moses: the seal and the rod. These objects symbolize divine authority, enabling the Beast to distinguish between believers and unbelievers. According to tradition, it illuminates the faces of the faithful with the rod while marking the noses of the unbelievers with the seal. A parallel motif appears in Revelation, where the mark of the Beast is imposed upon the right hand or forehead of all individuals, regardless of social status. In both traditions, the mark serves as a sign of ultimate division: the faithful are identified for salvation, while the faithless are destined for destruction. This paper seeks to examine the theological and eschatological implications of the Beast’s mark, interrogating questions of authority, permanence, and consequence, and highlighting the interpretive resonance between Christian and Islamic perspectives.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.70020
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Eschatology
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Awareness, Agency, and Emergence in Organisms and Purpose in Evolution
By Jan-Boje Frauen, Zhejiang International Studies University
Wherever organisms engage in internal sign processing to represent and respond to their environment, subjective awareness and agency can emerge. Through connectivity, they form structures from which “super-agents” with higher levels of awareness and agency can emerge. An increase in subjectivity is thus congruent with an increase in the processing of the physical world through animation. If there were a final end to the increase of agency and awareness in freedom and consciousness, this absolute would fully reflect physical causation in itself. In this picture, subjectivity is thus compatible with physical determinism and yet substantial because it posits causation as much as it is made by it.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2592328
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Tags: #Evolution #Science #Causality
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Jihād and the Protection of Places of Worship in Early Islam: Between Covenant, Conquest, and a Just Peace
By Halim Rane, Griffith University; Ibrahim Zein, Hamad Bin Khalifa University; Ahmed El-Wakil, University of Oxford
This article examines the relationship between jihād and the protection of non-Muslim places of worship in early Islam. Drawing primarily on Qurʾānic verses 22:39–41 and the Covenants of the Prophet, it employs a synchronically comparative framework that analyzes a broad corpus of textual sources, seeking to reconstruct how the early Muslim worldview understood the justification for jihād. It also examines the norms governing conduct after conflict, particularly in relation to treaty-making. The article attempts to make sense of Q22:39–41 within the broader landscape of late antiquity, which was marked by religious persecution and the destruction of sanctuaries under Byzantine and Sasanian rule. The study highlights how clear rules of engagement were articulated in early Islam, including limits on violence and the consequences of treaty violation. It argues that the motivations behind the early conquests cannot be reduced to material interests but rather were guided by a theological and ideological vision linking conquest with the establishment of a just peace, one grounded in the protection of communities, faith, and places of worship through a covenantal paradigm.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010086
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Exegesis
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The Creation of the Heaven and the Earth in the Hebrew Tanakh and the Arabic Qur'an: A Comparative Rhetorical Study
By Hussein Ghaddar, American University of Beirut
This article explores the rhetorical devices employed in two foundational religious texts: the Hebrew Tanakh and the Arabic Qur'an, to present God's creation of the Heaven and the Earth. Through a comparative analysis, it identifies both shared and distinct rhetorical strategies within each text. The study reveals that while the Tanakh and the Qur'an utilize many common rhetorical elements such as metaphor and enumeration, the extent and function of these tools differ significantly. The Tanakh often uses subject-based, generally simplistic rhetorical structure, whereas the Qur'an tends toward expansion and deepening to enhance expressive power and eloquence. Each text uses rhetorical devices in a distinctive way to present the issue of the creation of the Heaven and the Earth and several concepts associated with it, especially the greatness of the Creator and His abundant grace.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.70035
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Creation #God
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Two Nativity Stories: The Example of Jesus And Muhammad in Literary Texts
By Reyhan Keleş, Ali Yılmaz, Esra Hacımüftüoğlu, Ayşe Hilal Kalkandelen, Ataturk University
This article aims to examine the birth of Jesus and Muhammad through literary texts dealing with religious or theological issues. In this literary text, the details, similarities and differences regarding the births of the two figures were revealed by subjecting content analysis. In the research conducted reveals numerous works, poems, and hymns dedicated to these figures. When these texts were analyzed, it was seen that the poets transferred the religious rituals and practices they witnessed and experienced into their poems by shaping tem with the concepts of their own religion and culture. In the Turkish literature, accounts of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad are found in mawlid texts. In contrast, in the Western literature, the nativity of Jesus Christ is discussed in works related to Christmas, Mary, and the Church. As a result of this comparison, some similarities and differences were identified and examined. As a result, when the poems written on the subject of birth are analyzed, it is seen that the content is nourished by religion or theology, and theological elements are widely included in these texts.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.70019
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Prophet #Jesus #History
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A ‘Lost’ Reading of Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī Reconstructed: A Study of Al-Nasafī’s Recension of the Ṣaḥīḥ
By Muntasir Zaman, Qalam Seminary
Marked by a multitude of recensions and sub-recensions, the transmission history of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī is notably complex and the subject of extensive study. Since its extant version traces back to one source, that is, al-Bukhārī’s student Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Farabrī (d. 320 AH), our understanding of the Ṣaḥīḥ is largely limited to what his recension has to offer. By reconstructing an inextant primary recension of the Ṣaḥīḥ, specifically that of Ibrāhīm b. Maʿqil al-Nasafī (d. 295 AH), this paper provides an alternative perspective that sheds light on the structure, variations, and evolution of the Ṣaḥīḥ. Despite the absence of a manuscript for al-Nasafī’s recension, numerous variants documented in secondary sources make it possible to enable its reconstruction. The findings of this study reveal notable variances in the text, chapter headings, exegetical content, and authorial comments between al-Farabrī’s and al-Nasafī’s respective recensions, highlighting the idiosyncrasies of al-Nasafī’s recension and what they tell us about the provenance and posthumous transmission of the Ṣaḥīḥ.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etaf050
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Tags: #Islam #Hadith #History
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Holistic Determinism and God’s Action in Nature’s World: David Bohm and Quantum Theology
By Carl Peterson, Columbus State University; Ted Peters, Graduate Theological Union
Can a theology of divine action within nature's world be rendered coherent and consonant with (1) classical determinism, as plied by Newtonian mechanics? No! With (2) quantum indeterminism as plied by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg? Yes! With (3) holistic determinism as plied by David Bohm? Maybe, if we take the perspective of proleptic holism. The proleptic theist will test the viability of downward causation from whole to part and future to past, knowing that the whole of the history of God's creation is only proleptically complete.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2592327
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Tags: #Science #Determinism #QuantumTheology
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Ibn Rushd on Miracles: Between Natural Law and Public Belief
By Maryam A. Alsayyed, Institut Français du Proche-Orient
This article explores the philosophical foundations of religion in Ibn Rushd’s thought, with particular attention to his treatment of miracles. It argues that Ibn Rushd relocates the discussion of miracles from the domain of natural philosophy to that of practical philosophy, where religion fulfills a civic and ethical function by shaping public belief and encouraging virtuous action. The study begins by examining Ibn Rushd’s critical engagement with the Ashʿarī theologians, focusing on his deconstruction of their arguments on miracles and his rejection of al-Ghazālī’s occasionalism in the debate over causality and the proof of miracles. It then turns to Ibn Rushd’s constructive position, which rests on three central elements: first, belief in miracles is fundamental to religious faith and not open to philosophical dispute; second, the miracle that validates prophethood consists in the establishment of divine laws that regulate thought and conduct; and third, this conception is grounded in the Qurʾān, representing the most authentic understanding of revelation. While the primary aim of the article is to clarify Ibn Rushd’s philosophical account of miracles and his reorientation of the debate toward practical philosophy, it also highlights his broader concern with the role of Sharīʿa in guiding communal beliefs and moral practices. This study also brings to light Ibn Rushd’s reliance on tawātur as a form of self-evident knowledge that secures certainty without the need for rational proof.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121516
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Tags: #Miracles #IbnRushd #Religion
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From “What” Makes It Miraculous to “How” It Is Miraculous: The Qurʾān’s Methodological Revolution
By Mohammed Gamal Abdelnour, Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies
This article reinterprets the doctrine of iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (the inimitability of the Qurʾān) by shifting the question from whatmakes the Qurʾān miraculous to how it is miraculous. It argues that the Qurʾān’s primary miracle lies not merely in its content, i.e., its eloquence or correspondence with scientific truth, but in its method: the transformation of the very frameworks through which knowledge, reason, and revelation were understood. Using Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-Jābirī’s tripartite epistemology of bayān (expressive reasoning), burhān(demonstrative reasoning), and ʿirfān (reflective reasoning) together with Gadamer’s “fusion of horizons,” the article argues that the Qurʾān can be read as fusing and transcending these three systems, uniting Arabic eloquence, Greek rationalism, and Persian–gnostic spirituality into a single, holistic discourse. Through close analysis of key passages, such as Abraham’s dialectical reasoning in Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ and the metaphysics of light in Āyat al-Nūr, the article shows how the Qurʾān integrates poetic language, rational argument, and mystical depth to create an epistemic design that addresses intellect, emotion, and spirit simultaneously. This synthesis allows the Qurʾān to be interpreted, within classical and later exegetical traditions, not only as a linguistic or theological miracle but as a paradigmatic reconfiguration of cognition: one that these traditions understood as teaching readers how to think, reflect, and awaken.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010037
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Tags: #Quran #God #Islam #Miracle
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Descartes, Principal Attributes, and God
By Eric Stencil, Utah Valley University
Scholars generally agree that René Descartes's God has no principal attribute. In this paper, I argue against this consensus. More specifically, I argue that Descartes's God's principal attribute is infiniteness qua ontological independence. Descartes's God is a res infinita in very much the same way as a mind is a res cogitans and a body is a res extensa. In order to make my case, I begin in section 1 with Descartes's account of principal attributes and argue that nothing about this account precludes God's having one. In section 2, I offer a prima facie case for the view that God's principal attribute is infiniteness qua ontological independence. And in section 3, I consider several passages which reveal the central role ontological independence plays in Descartes's account of God's nature and other attributes. I conclude that Descartes's God's principal attribute is infiniteness qua ontological independence.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.70045
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Tags: #Descartes #God #Metaphysics
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Certain Human Doubt
By Ahmed Amer, Santa Clara University
Professor Green's eloquent provocations encourage technological humility. Modern human advances, like the production of energy that surpasses Zeus's lightning, and computing power that seems to dwarf humans' ability to remember and calculate, can indeed be seen as a “power of the gods,” tempting us toward hubris. Green wisely cautions against such temptation, but as a computer scientist and in light of theological teachings (particularly Islamic teachings emphasizing intellectual humility), I urge that such humility must not be limited to our view of technology, but that to claim any special worthiness, humanity must hold a certain doubt about human exceptionalism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2592345
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Tags: #Islam #Gods #Theology
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Defending the Gate of Inimitability: Abū Rashīd al-Naysābūrī (d. After 415/1024) and the Freethinker Critiques
By Omar Aladwani, SOAS University of London
The intellectual legacy of the Baṣrān Muʿtazila has had a profound and lasting impact on the development of discussions on Qurʾānic inimitability. Numerous writings have been composed by Baṣrān Muʿtazila on the topic; among them is Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān by Abū Rashīd al-Naysābūrī, an unpublished manuscript preserved in the King Saud University Library under the number 7752. This paper focuses on the development of al-Naysābūrī’s understanding of Qurʾānic inimitability in the context of this manuscript, especially analysing his reception of early Muʿtazilī (specifically Bahshamī) thoughts on Qurʾānic inimitability. Moreover, it pays particular attention to al-Naysābūrī’s engagement with the critiques directed against the Bahshamī theory of Qurʾānic inimitability. This paper adopts a source-criticism approach to studying the manuscript and evaluating the historical development of its contents. It argues that the theoretical foundation underlying the theory of miraculous eloquence developed by ʿAbd al-Jabbār drew al-Naysābūrī’s attention towards a deep engagement with hypothetical dialogues inspired by the refutations of questions concerning Qurʾānic inimitability posed by the freethinkers’ movement. This engagement prompted al-Naysābūrī to adopt and assess numerous hypothetical frameworks and conditional views, including the ṣarfa theory, in his defence of Qurʾānic inimitability. This approach of addressing the freethinker critiques aligns greatly with the dynamic and responsive nature of Baṣrān Muʿtazila’s thoughts against freethinkers’ movement.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121584
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #History #Miracles
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Using the concept of the Mashwarah in family group conferences with British muslim families
By Deanna Edwards, University of Salford
This paper makes use of a case study approach to explore the use of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) with British Muslim families. In particular, it focuses upon the use of the concept of Mashwarah (here defined as consultation and deliberation) by the FGC coordinator to build relationships and trust with families. It discusses the importance of a culturally competent approach to FGCs, which includes the importance of faith. It debates whether this needs to include the employment of Muslim FGC coordinators to work with British Muslim families.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/15426432.2025.2601981
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Tags: #Islam #Sociology #Muslims
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The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Consciousness
One and the Same?
By Yujin Nagasawa, University of Oklahoma
The problem of evil and the problem of consciousness occupy central positions in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of mind, respectively. On the face of it, these problems seem to be fundamentally distinct. The problem of evil is concerned with whether the existence of evil in the world undermines belief in the existence of God while the problem of consciousness concerns the nature of consciousness and how it can arise from physical processes in the brain. In this paper, however, I defend the following novel thesis: the problem of evil and the problem of consciousness are versions of the same problem, which I term the “problem of ontological expectation mismatch.” I argue that, by recognizing that they stem from the same root, we can gain a fresh perspective for evaluating existing approaches to both problems in a systematic manner. I conclude my discussion by utilizing this thesis to critically examine panpsychism, a response to the problem of consciousness that has recently gained significant popularity.
Link: https://doi.org/10.69574/aejpr.v2i4.26509
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Tags: #PoE #Evil #Consciousness #God
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Light, Ontology, and Analogy: A Non-Concordist Reading of Qur’an 24:35 in Dialogue with Philosophy and Physics
By Adil Guler, Marmara University
This article develops a structural–analogical framework to investigate conceptual resonances between Qur’an 24:35—the Verse of Light—and contemporary relational models in physics, while maintaining firm epistemic boundaries between theology, philosophy, and empirical science. The Qur’anic metaphors of niche, glass, tree, oil, and layered light depict a graded ontology of manifestation in which being unfolds through ordered relations grounded in a transcendent divine command (amr). By contrast, modern physics—as represented by quantum field theory, loop quantum gravity, and cosmological models—operates entirely within immanent causality, conceiving spacetime and matter as relational, dynamic, and structurally emergent. Despite their distinct registers, both discourses converge structurally around a shared grammar of potentiality, relation, and manifestation. Drawing on classical Islamic metaphysics—especially al-Ghazālī’s Mishkāt al-Anwār—alongside contemporary relational ontologies in physics (Smolin, Rovelli, Markopoulou), the article argues that “real time” functions as an ontological choice that conditions intelligibility, agency, and novelty. The Qur’anic notion of nūr is interpreted not as physical luminosity but as the metaphysical ground of determinability, while the quantum vacuum is treated as a field of latent potential—without suggesting empirical equivalence. Rather than concordism, the comparison highlights a structural resonance (used here as a heuristic notion indicating pattern-level affinity rather than equivalence, correspondence, or empirical verification): both traditions affirm that reality is neither static nor substance-based, but arises through dynamic relational processes grounded—whether transcendently or immanently—in principled order.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11010015
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Physics #Cosmology
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Redefining Reality: An Islamic Metaphysical Critique of AI’s Data-Centric Worldview
By Boumediene Hamzi, The Alan Turing Institute
This essay explores the metaphysical and philosophical implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) through the intersecting insights of René Guénon (ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), Martin Heidegger, and Ibn al-ʿArabī. It argues that modern AI systems, particularly in their statistical and data-centric forms, are not merely instrumental tools but expressions of a deeper metaphysical worldview-one rooted in quantification, abstraction, and utility. Guénon’s critique of the “reign of quantity” and Heidegger’s notion of Enframing (Gestell) converge in diagnosing the loss of qualitative and sacred dimensions in modern life. While Heidegger’s phenomenology provides a powerful immanent critique of technological reductionism from within the Western philosophical tradition, Guénon’s metaphysical traditionalism articulates a diagnosis of modernity that resonates with Islamic metaphysics, especially as articulated by Ibn al-ʿArabī. The essay includes Heidegger in the argument as a representative of a critique of modern technology issuing from the Western tradition itself, and by emphasizing his shared concerns with Guénon, whose metaphysics resonates with Ibn al-ʿArabī’s metaphysics. Through a comparative metaphysical framework, this paper proposes an Islamic response to AI that avoids both technophilia and technophobia, insisting instead on a spiritually grounded ethic of technology that preserves human’s dignity and mission. Methodologically, the essay restores a prior order often inverted in contemporary AI ethics: ontology (what AI is) grounds epistemology (what it can know), and only then can ethical evaluation be coherent.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2592328
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Tags: #Islam #AI #IbnArabi #Ethics
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The Thematic and Rhetorical Transformation of ‘Aṣabiyya in Early Islamic Poetry
By Ramazan Aslan, Trabzon University; Ismail Araz, Mardin Artuklu University
Classical Arabic poetry played a powerful social role in Arab society, particularly during the Jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic) period, due to its high level of eloquence (faṣāḥa) and balāgha. Within this poetic tradition—shaped around themes such as heroism (ḥamāsah), boasting (fakhr), satire (hijā’), and love (tashbīb)—‘aṣabiyya occupied a central position as a means of constructing and preserving tribal identity through language. Poets exalted their own tribes and disparaged rival ones by employing persuasive and emotionally charged expression. With the revelation of the Qur’an in 610 CE, this literary and cultural heritage, grounded in aesthetic and expressive power, was reconfigured within a new religious framework. The Qur’an’s challenge-oriented discourse entered into direct interaction with existing poetic sensibilities. Against this background, the present study examines the transformation of ‘aṣabiyya in classical Arabic poetry during the early Islamic period. It offers a comparative analysis of lineage-centered ‘aṣabiyya in Jāhiliyya poetry and the emergence of an ummah-centered discourse of unity in Islamic poetry, drawing on poems by different poets from both periods. Using content analysis, rhetorical text analysis, and inductive methods, the study demonstrates that the Qur’an’s influence on Arabic poetry was neither uniform nor one-dimensional but significantly shaped poetic themes and authorial attitudes. By focusing on ‘aṣabiyya, the article aims to contribute to a renewed understanding of the Qur’an–poetry relationship in early Islam.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010086
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #History
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Entropy and Moral Order: Qur’ānic Reflections on Irreversibility, Agency, and Divine Justice in Dialog with Science and Theology
By Adil Guler, Marmara University
This article reconceptualizes entropy not as a metaphysical substance but as a structural constraint that shapes the formation, energetic cost, and durability of records. It links the coarse-grained—and typically irreversible—flow of time to questions of moral responsibility and divine justice. Drawing on the second law of thermodynamics, information theory, and contemporary cosmology, it advances an analogical and operational framework in which actions are accountable in an analogical sense insofar as they leave energetically costly traces that resist erasure. Within a Qur’ānic metaphysical horizon, concepts such as kitāb (Book), ṣaḥīfa (Record), and tawba (Repentance) function as structural counterparts to informational inscription and revision, without reducing theological meaning to physical process. In contrast to Kantian ethics, which grounds moral law in rational autonomy, the Qurʾān situates responsibility within the irreversible structure of time. Understood in this way, entropy is not a threat to coherence but a condition for accountability. By placing the Qurʾānic vision in dialog with modern science and theology, the article contributes to broader discussions on justice, agency, and the metaphysics of time within the science–religion discourse.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11010008
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #Science #Theology
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Islam and Modern Cosmology
By Enis Doko, Ibn Haldun University
Islam and Modern Cosmology examines how contemporary cosmological theories intersect with Islamic theology, exploring how modern science and Islamic thought can be brought into meaningful dialogue. It begins with a concise overview of modern cosmology, followed by an exploration of the Qur'an's cosmological perspectives and the philosophical models of creation proposed by Muslim thinkers, comparing these ideas with current scientific understandings. The discussion then considers the fine-tuning argument for God's existence and addresses the multiverse hypothesis, proposing that, under certain reasonable assumptions, the Islamic conception of God suggests the possibility of multiple universes. Finally, from a Muslim – specifically Sufi – perspective, it reflects on the problem of the significance of human life within this vast cosmos.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009608350
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Tags: #Islam #Cosmology #FTA #Creation #Science
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Repentance Made Manifest: From Highwayman to Ṣūfī in the Thought and Practice of al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ and Bishr al-Ḥāfī
By Jamal Ali Assadi, Sakhnin College; Mahmoud Naamneh, Achva Academic College; Khaled Sindawi, Al-Qassemi Academic College of Education
This article offers a comparative study of two closely linked constellations of early Ṣūfī thought: the ascetic–mystical program of al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ (d. 187/803) and that of his renowned disciple Bishr al-Ḥāfī (d. 227/841). Moving beyond hagiographic anecdote, the study advances the thesis that the pair articulate two complementary modalities of tawba(repentance) that generate distinct ascetic habitus and pedagogical lineages: al-Fudayl’s “ethic of awe” (fear, juridical redress, and renunciation of patronage) and Bishr’s “aesthetics of reverence” (beauty-induced modesty, evident humility, and fame avoidance). Drawing on primary sources (Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ, al-Sulamī’s Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfiyya, al-Qushayrī’s Risāla, al-Sarrāj’s Lumaʿ), the article reconstructs each thinker’s core concepts, practices (e.g., returning wrongs, ḥafāʾ/barefoot humility), and teaching styles and maps how the teacher–disciple nexus transmits, adapts, and ritualizes these ethics into durable Ṣūfī dispositions. Methodologically, the article combines close textual analysis with practice theory to show how emotions—such as fear and modesty (ḥayāʾ)—are choreographed into public, socially legible acts, thus reframing repentance as embodied discipline rather than interior feeling alone. A prosopographic appendix traces transmission from al-Fudayl to Bishr to Sarī al-Saqaṭī and al-Junayd, clarifying how each modality survives in later Baghdad sobriety and Malāmatī self-effacement. The contribution is twofold: first, it supplies a granular typology of early Ṣūfī repentance that explains divergent stances toward money, publicity, and power; second, it models how to read early Ṣūfī biography as anthropology of practice, recovering the lived grammar by which “conversion stories” become social programs. In doing so, the article nuances standard narratives of early Ṣūfism, showing that Bishr is not merely al-Fuḍayl’s echo but a creative reframer whose “reverential” path complements—rather than imitates—the awe-driven ethic associated with al-Fuḍayl.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010054
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Tags: #Islam #Sufism #Spirituality
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Debating the Origins: The Sanctity of Madina in Ḥadīth Narratives
By Seyfeddin Kara, University of Groningen
This article analyses ḥadīth narratives about the sanctification of Madina, using the isnād-cum-matnanalysis pioneered by the late Harald Motzki. It challenges the view––derived from the persistent assumption in Western scholarship that, unless proven case by case to be otherwise, the ḥadīth corpus must be regarded as back-projected forgery––that the sanctity of the Prophet’s city evolved several generations after his death. Following brief accounts of this view and of how the isnād-cum-matn analysis is applied, the paper works through several clusters of ḥadīth variants to demonstrate that the Prophet himself did, on a single occasion, sanctify Madina and indicate the boundaries of the sacred area. The veracity of these core elements of the report is strengthened, not weakened, by the fact of variations in wording, while the variations do also reflect changes in the boundaries of the city and in the early generations’ representation of its sanctity. This study should contribute to better understanding of Islamic origins, notably Madina’s historical and religious significance, and help in questioning the distrust of traditional Muslim records and accounts of early Islamic history.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etaf047
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Tags: #Islam #Hadith #History
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Omnisubjectivity as a Divine Attribute from Islamic Perspective
By Kemal Kikanovic, University of Bonn; Enis Doko, Ibn Haldun University
The paper aims to demonstrate how the concept of omnisubjectivity can be drawn upon in an attempt to solve philosophical problems pertinent to the divine attribute of omniscience in the Islamic context. Notably, we will address the charge that the concept of omniscience is logically impossible and incoherent. We will argue that omnisubjectivity could be an attribute of God in the Islamic paradigm. Furthermore, we will show that this attribute can be inferred from the primary Islamic source; the Qur’an, and that it sufficiently responds to the historical problems in terms of understanding omniscience faced by Islamic philosophers and theologians. We will argue that omnisubjectivity fulfills the conditions of both groups without facing common problems. Lastly, we will mention the benefits of adopting this model and show some philosophical and theological implications within an Islamic framework.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v9i2.86823
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Tags: #Islam #Omniscience #Quran #God
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Why Revelation Cannot Favor Panpsychism Over Physicalism
By Songchi Lin, Xiamen University
The revelation thesis, namely the claim that introspection or phenomenal concepts reveal the full essence of conscious states, has recently become a central topic in the philosophy of mind. On the one hand, many argue that the plausibility of anti-physicalist arguments (such as conceivability arguments) depends on it. On the other hand, the revival of panpsychism has also invoked the revelation thesis against physicalism. However, physicalists have pointed out that if the revelation thesis is true, panpsychism faces a parallel difficulty. David Chalmers has proposed a strategy, which I call the distinction strategy (DS) that seeks to defend panpsychism by distinguishing between the essence of phenomenal properties and their grounds. However, this proposal faces a dilemma: either it fails to genuinely rescue panpsychism, or it can equally be used to rescue physicalism. Consequently, Chalmers's proposal does not render panpsychism superior to physicalism, and the revelation thesis cannot serve as a reliable weapon for panpsychists against physicalism. Finally, this paper will offer further reflections on this debate.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/rati.70015
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Tags: #Panpsychism #Physicalism #Religion
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Ṣibghat Allāh in Q 2.138: A New Reading of the Qur’an in Light of pre-Islamic Christian Literature
By Ana Davitashvili, University of Tübingen
Scholars of Qur’anic Studies have commonly highlighted the relationship between ṣibghat allāh in Q 2.138, millat Ibrāhīm (‘the religion of Abraham’) in Q 2.135 and Christian baptism. Contrary to previous scholarship, this article proposes that ṣibghat allāhrelates to āmannā bi-llāhi wa-mā unzila ilaynā (‘we believe in God and what was sent down to us’) in Q 2.136, the baptismal rite inclusive of chrismation, and the Eucharist. In the baptismal rite and the Eucharist, humans acquire the dye of God and Christ by means of purification by and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Through the baptismal rite, the Holy Spirit purifies and begins to dwell in the baptized person. During the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit transforms the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ and remains present in them upon consumption, while the recipient receives the body and blood, is purified and becomes one with God, united with Christ. By contrast, in the Qur’an, if humans have faith in God and all His revelations including the Qur’an, they acquire the dye of God. Acquiring the dye of God nonetheless remains linked to purification and the Holy Spirit, given that, in Q 2.129, 151; 3.164; 62.2 and 5.41, humans are purified via faith and God’s revelation, the Qur’an, and, in Q 58.22, those who have faith written upon their hearts are strengthened with God’s spirit.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2025.2592171
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Tags: #Quran #God #Islam #Christianity
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Ethics and Theism
By Bruce A. Russell, Wayne State University
In this essay I argue that there are necessarily true synthetic a priori moral propositions whose truth does not depend on the existence of God. To make my case, I appeal to an analogy with arithmetic truths such as 2 + 2 = 4 whose truth does not depend on the existence of God. I criticize views like Peter Railton’s that hold that moral truths are like truths about natural kinds such as water and heat, and non-cognitivists who hold that there are no robust moral truths. The point of my criticisms is to answer challenges to my view that there are necessarily true synthetic a priori moral propositions and, in the case of Railton, to block an argument by Robert Adams for a Divine Command Theory of ethics. Second, I argue by example that there can be conflicts between what is best for me and those for whom I care and what is morally required that cannot be reconciled by a theistic ethics. It can be rational to violate moral requirements that have the same contents as the commands of a loving God even if there would be most reason to adhere to those requirements IF God exists, just as it can be rational to leave your umbrella at home even if there would be most reason to take it IF it rained. This will be true regardless of whether the reason to adhere to God’s commands, IF God exists, is because our greatest good is the love of God (and that requires adhering to his commands) or because God will punish you if you do not and reward you if you do. The problem of evil is the primary reason to believe that God does not exist, and so to believe that there are no divine commands that there would be most reason to follow if God did exist.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121575
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Tags: #Islam #God #Theism #DCT #Ethics
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Miracles Between Modern Science and Classical Thought: A Contemporary Perspective
By Suleyman Sertkaya, Charles Sturt University
This paper explores the function of miracles in classical and modern Islamic theology, focusing particularly on Fethullah Gülen’s interpretation and its relevance to contemporary discussions on revelation, rationality, and science. Traditionally, miracles are viewed as divine signs confirming prophethood by surpassing natural laws and serving as challenges to disbelievers. While classical scholars upheld their evidentiary role, modern thinkers—under the influence of positivism and rationalism—have sought to reinterpret or dismiss their validity, particularly sensory or physical miracles. In this context, Gülen presents a distinctive perspective that reframes miracles not merely as supernatural phenomena, but as signs pointing to both spiritual truths and technological inspiration. Drawing from the insights of Said Nursi, Gülen highlights how prophetic miracles have anticipated and guided scientific advancements, thereby integrating material progress with spiritual wisdom. Gülen’s holistic understanding of human nature and prophetic guidance, rooted in the concept of human beings as the most refined creation (ahsani taqwīm), positions prophets as leaders of both spiritual and intellectual advancement. This dual role challenges the perceived conflict between revelation and reason, asserting that rationality reaches its full potential only when informed by prophetic insight. The paper also situates Gülen’s thought within broader modern theological discourses, particularly in response to critiques that Islam is incompatible with science. Gülen affirms the necessity of revelation not as a hindrance to rational inquiry but as its essential guide, likening prophets to expert physicians who administer the elixir of revelation to protect and elevate the human mind. By analysing Gülen’s approach to miracles and prophetic intellect (fatānah), this paper argues that his theology offers a balanced framework for reconciling religion and science, and contributes a meaningful response to contemporary debates surrounding the rationality of faith and the enduring relevance of prophethood.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121579
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Tags: #Islam #Modernism #Prophet #Miracles
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A Miracle for Whom? Al-Sharīf Al-Murtaḍā’s Theory of Audience-Relative Miracles
By MohammadReza Moini, University of Tehran
This article examines the theory of miracles formulated by the distinguished Shī’ī-Mu’tazilī theologian, al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (965–1044 CE), specifically to contextualize his controversial doctrine of Qurʾānic iʿjāz, known as ṣarfah. The study reconstructs al-Murtaḍā’s general theory of miracles by analyzing his primary works and comparing his positions with standard Muʿtazilī theology. The investigation focused on how his metaphysical and moral frameworks interact to define the nature of miracles. I argue that al-Murtaḍā articulated a “minimal theory of miracles,” wherein miracles function as restricted, localized, and audience-relative “breaches of norms” (khawāriq al-ʿādāt) rather than violations of universal laws. In his view, miracles are morally necessary but temporally restricted acts of God, designed solely to authenticate a prophet to their immediate community. Al-Murtaḍā’s theory shifts the evidential burden of prophetic proof—including the Qur’ān—from continuing intrinsic supernatural qualities to discrete historical testimony. Finally, this study suggests that al-Murtaḍā appears to offer a rationally coherent alternative notion of miracles, that may well succeed from some of the most pressing contemporary intellectual challenges.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121592
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Tags: #Islam #Occasionalism #Morality #God #Miracles
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Powers of the Soul Beyond AI
By Angus John Louis Menuge, Concordia University Wisconsin
Could Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit rational characteristics traditionally attributed to the human soul? I argue that five features of human rationality will likely remain beyond LLMs and other adaptive physical systems. Insight into truth: using billions of pages of text, a LLM may harvest a sound rule of inference. However the LLM has no insight into why the rule is true. Meta-insight: both humans and machines can follow instructions that constitute an infinite loop. Yet humans can, but machines cannot, recognize that they are in an infinite loop. Free will: once humans realize they are trapped in a loop, they can exercise free will to break out of the loop. By contrast, when a machine is trapped in an infinite loop, an external intervention is required to end the task. Access to necessary conceptual relations: LLMs are inductive learners and cannot justify universal necessary truths. By contrast, a human being can, via insight, see that a conceptual relation is necessarily true. Non-combinatorial creativity: LLMs can recombine the products of human creativity in amazing ways. But unlike humans, they cannot use universal concepts to find a possible item that is not derived from items already instantiated in the world.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010008
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Tags: #AI #Soul #Metaphysics
