Islamic Theology and Philosophy

Major Tensions in Islamic Theology Khawd vs. Speculation: bila kayf Reason vs. Revelation Do we believe in fallible hadith for our doctrine? Is God really above us? Literal vs. Figurative Interpretation What is God’s ‘hand’ like? Do we protect God’s power or His justice? Free Will vs. Pre-Destination…

The Flow of Islamic Theological History 800 CE 950 CE on… Rationalist/Mu’tazilite God is rational god Reason tells us what is possible and impossible in belief Hadith not reliable enough for doctrine Adios…except for Zaydis and Imamis The Ash’ari Compromise: Figurative interpretation of God’s attributes Speculation allowed to prevent heretical beliefs Mu’tazilite tools used to achieve Sunni Literalist results Sunnis Literalists O.g. ahl al-sunna No speculation Follow hadith in doctrine Literalist/Ahl al-Hadith: No speculation, no rational tools But heretical beliefs not the correct literal readings! Sunni

Major Issues of Contention Free Will vs. Predestination: political origins? Quran supports both… “God does not change the condition of a people until they change themselves” Anfal 42 Mu’tazilite Position: man must have free will because it would not be just for God to judge people for what they were predestined to do. Original Sunni Position: predestinarian… but don’t ask! Sunni Position/Ash’ari Compromise: God creates man’s actions, but we ‘acquire’ them and that’s what we’re judged for

Major Issues of Contention 2 The Fate of the Grave Sinner: political? Kharijite: grave sinner is an unbeliever Mu’tazilite Position: if God says that a punishment leads to hellfire, then even a Muslim is condemned to hellfire Sunni Position: a grave sinner is still a Muslim, and if God wishes He can forgive him (or not) Bigger question: what is the nature of faith? Belief? Actions? Or Both?

Nature of Faith Murji’ite: “The Hopers” = faith is a knowledge and belief, actions can’t affect it…. Supposedly held by Abu Hanifa Kharijites: faith is both belief in the heart (based on knowledge of course) and deeds & deeds indicate it 100%! Sunnis: faith is “belief in the heart, a statement by the tongue and acting on the pillars”  denying an essential duty is disbelief!

Major Issues of Contention 3 God’s Attributes: how does He speak? Does He have hands? Mu’tazilite Position: God’s speech is created (i.e., the Quran) Original Sunni/Ahl al-Hadith Position: God’s hands are hands, don’t ask! God is above us, God descends to the lowest heavens at night Sunni/Ash’ari position: God’s hands are figurative for ‘power’, to assign a direction to God is disbelief.

Major Issue of Contention 4 Can Hadith Create Dogma? Mahdi: from hadith… Return of Jesus: from hadith… Punishment of the Grave: from hadith Mu’tazilite Position: these are not substantiated! Original Sunni/Ahl al-Hadith Position: hadith are sufficient if authenticated Sunni/Ash’ari Position: these beliefs are 100% because community has agreed on them!

Islamic Philosophy Derived from Classical Greek and Hellenistic Logic and Philosophy Aristotle (d. 322 BCE): logic, categorization of proofs, God as First Cause Plotinus (d. 270 CE): creation as a series of 3 concentric emanations (the last is material world) a from the One, Perfect, God: an attribute-less ‘Will’ Reason is the link connecting us with the closest of the spheres: the Active Intellect Through proper understanding one can achieve moments of ecstatic union with the One

Islamic Adoption and Synthesis Al-Kindi (d. 866): first Arab/Muslim philosopher; philosophy as “the search for truth” (talab al-haqq) Al-Farabi (d. 950): elaborates Islamic Neo-Platonism; 10 spheres corresponding to 10 celestial bodies; last before earth the Active Intellect (reason and prophets alone access it) Ibn Sina/Avicenna (d. 1037): fully developed Islamic neo-Platonism Ibn Rushd/Averroes (d. 1198):represents full synthesis of Aristotelian thought and Islam 

Islamic Aristotelian Thought Highly debated! Logic is a “tool of investigation” and lingua franca of thought: theology, law, language Levels of Proofs/Audiences: Aristotle’s Organon (70AD works of Aristotle all edited and combined by Andronicus of Rhodes ) Demonstration: yields certainty Dialectic Argument: for scholars, yields probability only Rhetoric: for the masses Poetry: also for the masses

Friday Question Do you notice any thematic or similarities (or similar trends) between the Islamic legal and theological traditions?

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“God takes your charity with His hand…” More than one scholar has said that this hadith and other narrations like it dealing with God’s attributes and the Lord most high’s descending every night to the lowest heavens, that these narrations have been established [as reliable] and are to be believed. They say that one should not fall into error concerning them and say ‘How could this be?’ It has been reported that Malik b. Anas, Sufyan b. ‘Uyayna and ‘Abdallah b. al-Mubarak all said about such hadiths, “Take them as is without asking ‘How’.” Such is the stance of the scholars from the People of the Sunna and the Early Community (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a).” – al-Tirmidhi (d. 892) back

Surat al-Anfal 42 “When you were on the nearer side (of the valley) and they were on the farthest side, while the caravan was in a lower place than you; and if you had mutually made an appointment, you would certainly have broken away from the appointment, but-- in order that Allah might bring about a matter which was to be done, that he who would perish might perish by clear proof, and he who would live might live by clear proof; and most surely Allah is Hearing, Knowing.” back