Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question

Description

Can non-Muslims be saved? And can those who are damned to Hell ever be redeemed? In Islam and the Fate of Others, Mohammad Hassan Khalil examines the writings of influential medieval and modern Muslim scholars on the controversial and consequential question of non-Muslim salvation. This is an illuminating study of four of the most prominent figures in the history of Islam: Ghazali, Ibn 'Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Rashid Rida. Khalil demonstrates that though these paradigmatic figures tended to affirm the superiority of the Islamic message, they also envisioned a God of mercy and justice and a Paradise populated by Muslims and non-Muslims. Islam and the Fate of Others reveals that these theologians' interpretations of the Qur'an and hadith corpus-from optimistic depictions of Judgment Day to notions of a temporal Hell and salvation for all-challenge widespread assumptions about Islamic scripture and thought. Along the way, Khalil examines the writings of many other important writers, such as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Mulla Sadra, Shah Wali Allah of Delhi, Muhammad Ali of Lahore, James Robson, Sayyid Qutb, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Farid Esack, Reza Shah-Kazemi, T. J. Winter, and Muhammad Legenhausen. Islam and the Fate of Others is both timely and overdue. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Conventions Introduction: Rethinking Our Assumptions The Question A Brief Introduction to Salvation in Islam The Question Reconsidered 1. Damnation as the Exception: The Case of Ghazālī The Nature of Belief and the Hierarchy of Humanity The Criterion Sanguine Expectations Revisiting the Criterion “Those Who Will Perish” Excursus: Looking to the “Other Ghazālī”: Shāh Walī; Allāh’s Alternative Inclusivism Closing Thoughts 2. All Paths Lead to God: The Case of Ibn 'Arabī God Is All The Superiority of the Final Message “. . . Until We Have Sent a Messenger” A Paradisiacal Hell? The Veil Excursus: Corroborating Ibn 'Arabī’s Quasi-Universalism: The Case of Mullā Sadrā Closing Thoughts 3. The Redemption of Humanity: The Case of Ibn Taymiyya A Warning to All Recipients The Grand Finale The Denial The Rejoinder The Rearticulation Excursus: The Ibn Taymiyya Controversy Resurfaces in a Twentieth-Century Dispute: The Case of Maulana Muhammad Ali and James Robson Closing Thoughts 4. The Modern Scene:and Beyond Beyond Religious Affiliations Excusing Others Cautious Universalism Beyond Ridā: A Survey of Some Modern Trends Closing Thoughts: Back to the Question Glossary of Select Terms A F H I J K M O Q S W Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Index of Qur’anic Verses