Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics

Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics
Author: Sophia Vasalou
Publisher:
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2016
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 019939783X

This book investigates Ibn Taymiyya's approach to some of the core ethical and theological questions of the classical period of Islam and, in doing so, sheds new light on his intellectual identity.

Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics

Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics
Author: Sophia Vasalou
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 9780199397853

Ibn Taymiyya is a thinker often associated with dogmatism, but who also valued moderation and considered himself a defender of the harmony between human reason and religious faith. By closely examining the tenets of his ethical thought, Sophia Vasalou sheds fresh light on Taymiyya's intellectual identity.

Ibn Taymiyya

Ibn Taymiyya
Author: Jon Hoover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 178607690X

Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) of Damascus was one of the most prominent and controversial religious scholars of medieval Islam. He called for jihad against the Mongol invaders of Syria, appealed to the foundational sources of Islam for reform, and battled against religious innovation. Today, he inspires such diverse movements as Global Salafism, Islamic revivalism and modernism, and violent jihadism. This volume synthesizes the latest research, discusses many little-known aspects of Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, and highlights the religious utilitarianism that pervades his activism, ethics, and theology.

Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism

Ibn Taymiyya's Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism
Author: Jon Hoover
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2007-07-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9047420195

The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theology and rationalizing mysticism, but his positive theological contribution has not been well understood. This comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy helps to rectify this lack. Exposition and analysis of Ibn Taymiyya’s writings on God’s justice and wise purpose, divine determination and human agency, the problem of evil, and juristic method in theological doctrine show that he articulates a theodicy of optimism in which God in His essence perpetually wills the best possible world from eternity. This sets Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy apart from Ashʿarī divine voluntarism, the free-will theodicy of the Muʿtazilīs, and the essentially timeless God of other optimists like Ibn Sīnā and Ibn ʿArabī.

Ibn Taymiyya and His Times

Ibn Taymiyya and His Times
Author: Yossef Rapoport
Publisher: Studies in Islamic Philosophy
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-05-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780199402069

Papers presented at a conference on Ibn Tamiyya and his times, held at Princeton University during 8-10 April 2005.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes
Author: Miriam Ovadia
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2018-06-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004372512

In Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes Miriam Ovadia offers a thorough discussion on the hermeneutical methodology applied in the theology of the Ḥanbalite traditionalistic scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350), the most prominent disciple of the renowned Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328). Focusing on Ibn al-Qayyim's voluminous – yet so far understudied – work on anthropomorphism, al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Mursala, Ovadia explores his modus operandi in his attack on four fundamental rationalistic convictions, while demonstrating Ibn al-Qayyim's systemization of the Taymiyyan theological doctrine and theoretical discourse. Contextualizing al-Ṣawāʿiq with relevant writings of thinkers who preceded Ibn al-Qayyim, Ovadia unfolds his employment of Kalāmic terminology and argumentations; thus, his rationalized-traditionalistic authoring of a theological manifesto directed against his contemporary Ashʿarite elite of Mamluk Damascus.

Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought

Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought
Author: Ovamir Anjum
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2012-03-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107378974

This revisionist account of the history of Islamic political thought from the early to the late medieval period focuses on Ibn Taymiyya, one of the most brilliant theologians of his day. This original study demonstrates how his influence shed new light on the entire trajectory of Islamic political thought. Although he did not reject the Caliphate ideal, as is commonly believed, he nevertheless radically redefined it by turning it into a rational political institution intended to serve the community (umma). Through creative reinterpretation, he deployed the Qur'anic concept of fitra (divinely endowed human nature) to centre the community of believers and its common-sense reading of revelation as the highest epistemic authority. In this way, he subverted the elitism that had become ensconced in classical theological, legal and spiritual doctrines, and tried to revive the ethico-political, rather than strictly legal, dimension of Islam. In reassessing Ibn Taymiyya's work, this book marks a major departure from traditional interpretations of medieval Islamic thought.

The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī

The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
Author: Ayman Shihadeh
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2021-08-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9047409000

Using hitherto unstudied sources, this monograph provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the ethical theory of al-Rāzī, one of the most complex and influential medieval philosophers and theologians. It reveals remarkable and previously unidentified aspects of ethical thought in Islam.

Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law

Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law
Author: Birgit Krawietz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2013-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110285401

A unique collection of studies, the present volume sheds new light on central themes of Ibn Taymiyya's (661/1263-728/1328) and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's (691/1292-751/1350) thought and the relevance of their ideas to diverse Muslim societies. Investigating their positions in Islamic theology, philosophy and law, the contributions discuss a wide range of subjects, e.g. law and order; the divine compulsion of human beings; the eternity of eschatological punishment; the treatment of Sufi terminology; and the proper Islamic attitude towards Christianity. Notably, a section of the book is dedicated to analyzing Ibn Taymiyya's struggle for and against reason as well as his image as a philosopher in contemporary Islamic thought. Several articles present the influential legacy of both thinkers in shaping an Islamic discourse facing the challenges of modernity. This volume will be especially useful for students and scholars of Islamic studies, philosophy, sociology, theology, and history of ideas.

Al-Ghazālī and the Idea of Moral Beauty

Al-Ghazālī and the Idea of Moral Beauty
Author: Sophia Vasalou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2021-09-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000472965

Al-Ghazālī and the Idea of Moral Beauty rethinks the relationship between the good and the beautiful by considering the work of eleventh-century Muslim theologian Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111). A giant of Islamic intellectual history, al-Ghazālī is celebrated for his achievements in a wide range of disciplines. One of his greatest intellectual contributions lies in the sphere of ethics, where he presided over an ambitious attempt to integrate philosophical and scriptural ideas into a seamless ethical vision. The connection between ethics and aesthetics turns out to be a signature feature of this account. Virtue is one of the forms of beauty, and human beings are naturally disposed to respond to it with love. The universal human response to beauty in turn provides the central paradigm for thinking about the love commanded by God. While al-Ghazālī’s account of divine love has received ample attention, his special way of drawing the good into relation with the beautiful has oddly escaped remark. In this book Sophia Vasalou addresses this gap by offering a philosophical and contextual study of this aspect of al-Ghazālī’s ethics and of the conception of moral beauty that emerges from it. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in Islamic ethics, Islamic intellectual history, and the history of ethics.