Classic Issues in Islamic Philosophy and Theology Today

Description

This collection of studies in classic issues of Islamic theology and philosophy, authored primarily by young Islamic scholars, is directed to Islamic and Occidental readers alike. While the questions here explored are classic, these studies are definitely not narrowly focused on historical matters or the delineation of the filiation of ideas. Rather they proceed from the personal quest of each of the authors, who are prompted by contemporary concerns as they seek to understand the old themes afresh. While appreciating the benefits of humanity’s modern technological progress, they keenly discern the relevance of inherited Islamic wisdom in addressing the problems that accompany that progress. Two striking conclusions emerge as one absorbs these studies. Firstly, the deplored technological-pragmatic turn of present day civilization, which threatens to deconstruct the metaphysical core of Islamic as well as Christian thought and to silence the quest for Truth, is loosening its grip. The universal concerns of humanity call for a revivified authentic understanding of metaphysics, one to be enriched through the evolution of humankind. Into this New Enlightenment, which shimmers and beckons, Islamic wisdom is now entering and contributing. Secondly, the search for renewed Islamic illumination of the perennial concerns of human souls is manifested in our authors’ sharing their philosophical insights and points of view across cultural borders in encounters with past and present Occidental thinkers. This work renews the precious ties between Islamic and Western thinkers that were formed in the Middle Ages and then disrupted. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 An Internalist Model of Immediate Awareness of God From an Islamic Philosophy Perspective....Pages 3-17 On the Prospects of an Islamic Externalist Account of Warrant....Pages 19-41 Front Matter....Pages 43-43 An Occasionalist Defence of Free Will....Pages 45-62 Revelation and Reason: Ibn ‘Arabi’s Sufism and G.W. Leibniz’s Idealism....Pages 63-77 Iqbal on Self and Privacy: A Critical Analysis in the Light of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations ....Pages 79-88 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 Who is the God of the Qur’an? A Medieval Islamic Debate and Contemporary Philosophy of Religion....Pages 91-109 Nursi on Theodicy: A New Theological Perspective....Pages 111-135 Front Matter....Pages 137-137 Poetry and the Emotions in Islamic Philosophy....Pages 139-150 A Discussion of the Aesthetic Views of Ibn Sina and Aristotle on the Basis of Aesthetic Value....Pages 151-170 Translating Male-Oriented Philosophical Works for a Multi-Gender Society....Pages 171-181 Back Matter....Pages 183-187