Islamic Theology and Philosophy

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

The Flow of Islamic Theological History Rationalist/Mu’tazilite God is rational god Reason tells us what is possible and impossible in belief Hadith not reliable enough for doctrine 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! 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 ‘ilm al-kalam = speculative theology 800 CE 950 CE on… Adios…except for Zaydis and Imamis Sunni Sunnis Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari (d. 935)

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 42Anfal 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

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? Major Issues of Contention 2

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!

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: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 Issues of Contention 3

Major Issue of Contention 4 Can Hadith Create Dogma? Mahdi: from hadith… Return of Jesus & Antichrist: 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 authenticatedauthenticated 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 CauseAristotle –Plotinus (d. 270 CE): creation as a series of 4 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 – the realm of souls Through proper understanding one can achieve moments of ecstatic union with the One… Theology of Aristotle?

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! But with al-Ghazali (d. 1111) it’s generally accepted 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 ) 1.Demonstration: yields certainty 2.Dialectic Argument: for scholars, yields probability only 3.Rhetoric: for the masses 4.Poetry: also for the masses

“ 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) backback

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

Early Sunni Position Ibn Hanbal: “these sahih hadiths, we believe in them and affirm them. All that comes from the Messenger of God with a good isnad we affirm, For if we do not affirm what the Messenger of God brought and rejected it then we would refuse God’s command that ‘What the Messenger has brought you, take it.’” back