1. Islamic Theology and Philosophy

2. 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…

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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!

7. 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.

8. 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!

9. 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

10. 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 

11. 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

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

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14. “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

15. 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.”
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