Between the God of the Prophets and the God of the Philosophers

Between the God of the Prophets and the God of the Philosophers
Author: Hatem Al-Haj
Publisher:
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2020-03-09
Genre:
ISBN:

The apophatic god of negative theology is the areligious philosophers' preferred god; a god which is remote, detached, and can hardly be an object of adoration or worship, even though it may be an object of wonderment. This is not God according to the Prophets. However, the depiction of God in the theistic traditions has been always charged with anthropomorphism. In this book, I attempt to respond to this charge and explain what Athari (scripturalist) Muslim theologians believe about the Divine attributes and why. Where Do We Get Our Belief From? Our Epistemological Position. The Role of Truthful Reports. The Role of Reason. The Place of Kalâm: Reason as a Tool of Understanding and Armor for Defense. A Typology of Islamic Positions on the Attributes of God. What Do We Believe In? Why Do We Believe in Amodal Affirmation and Why? Do We Believe It Is Important? What Are the Counter Arguments? Reports from the Salaf; Conflict with Reason; The Perfect Does Not Change; The Composite god and Divisibility; Anthropomorphism and Assimilation. Conclusion: Ontologically, no extant being lacks quiddity and attributes. Noumenally, the apophatic god is nonexistent, and phenomenally, it cannot be felt or related to, let alone loved and worshiped. In conclusion of this work, here are my recommendations: -To be deserving of Divine guidance, we need to purify our intentions by true devotion to Allah. We also need to constantly rehabilitate our fiṭrah and heal it from the ills of bias (hawa), ulterior motives (aghrâḍ), blind imitation (taqleed), habit ('âdah), and conjecture (gharṣ). This can only be done through spiritual labor and immersion in the Revelation as understood and practiced by the first community. -We must not subject the Divine instruction to prevalent intellectual or social conventions or transplant xenografts and foreign discourses into our hermeneutical system. We must affirm our belief in the epistemic superiority and self-sufficiency of the Revelation as the ultimate source of truth about the unseen. This will never require us to impugn the office of reason or undercut its value in understanding the Revelation and defending its doctrines. -Our belief in Allah must be rooted in His exoneration from all deficiencies and His absolute incomparability (tanzeeh), and the amodal affirmation (ithbât) of His attributes by which He has described Himself and His Messenger described Him. In our affirmation of the Divine attributes, we should never accept the so-called "necessary concomitants." Inferring from the world of shahâdah (seen) about the world of ghayb (unseen) is both irrational and perilous.-We must be respectful of the imams of this deen, regardless of our agreement or disagreement with them. When we have to disagree, we must continue to love those who spent their lives serving Allah and His cause, and show them the requisite respect. -The public should be spared the confusion of intra-Islamic polemics on creed and taught the basics of 'aqeedah that will provide them with enough guardrails. People should then be uplifted spiritually to want to seek Allah and earn His pleasure. When it comes to the Divine attributes, teachers must prime their understanding with tanzeeh and let the rhetorical strength and richness of the Revelation flow to their hearts, unimpeded by intellectual objections.

Milestones

Milestones
Author: Sayyid Quṭb
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Islam
ISBN: 9781450590648

On Islam and Islamic civilization.

Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam

Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam
Author: Martin van Bruinessen
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814414565

"Once celebrated in the Western media as a shining example of a 'liberal' and 'tolerant' Islam, Indonesia since the end of the Soeharto regime (May 1998) has witnessed a variety of developments that bespeak a conservative turn in the country's Muslim politics. In this timely collection of original essays, Martin van Bruinessen, our most distinguished senior Western scholar of Indonesian Islam, and four leading Indonesian Muslim scholars explore and explain these developments. Each chapter examines recent trends from a strategic institutional perch: the Council of Indonesian Muslim scholars, the reformist Muhammadiyah, South Sulawesi's Committee for the Implementation of Islamic Shari'a, and radical Islamism in Solo. With van Bruinessen's brilliantly synthetic introduction and conclusion, these essays shed a bright light on what Indonesian Muslim politics was and where it seems to be going. The analysis is complex and by no means uniformly dire. For readers interested in Indonesian Muslim politics, and for analysts interested in the dialectical interplay of progressive and conservative Islam, this book is fascinating and essential reading." -Robert Hefner, Director Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University

Bayan Talbis Al-Jahmiyyah (English Translation Artificial) (Volume 1)

Bayan Talbis Al-Jahmiyyah (English Translation Artificial) (Volume 1)
Author: Ibn Taymiyyah
Publisher: Independently Published
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2021-11-02
Genre:
ISBN:

This is an ai translation of BAYAN TALBIS AL-JAHMIYYAH by IBN TAYMIYYAH. It is only volume 1, I am going to release volume 2 soon. This is an artificial translation from a program I use. I read all the pages, and its very comprehensible. Its not perfect, but im sure you will be able to understand the book. I figured its better to have an artificial translation than to have none at all. This book is a literary debate between AL-Razi and Ibn Taymiyyah, the topic is whether God is located in a direction or not. Very important book for Salafis.

Status and Preservation of Hadith: Answering the contentions of orientalists, Christian missionaries and modernists on Hadith

Status and Preservation of Hadith: Answering the contentions of orientalists, Christian missionaries and modernists on Hadith
Author: Syed Nooruzuha Barmaver
Publisher: Arriqaaq Publications
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2021-05-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9354735401

Muslims believe hadith to be an authority and explanation of the Quran. The task of preserving hadith was taken by Allah himself by means of the Sahabah, the Tabieen and then from generation to generation through unique discipline of hadith sciences. The Sahabah understood that the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) was the final messenger sent for mankind and that the task of preserving his teachings would fall upon their shoulders. Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) instructed them to spread his teachings to those who were absent. They used to give great concern to sitting with the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) to hear aḥadith from him as much as possible. They would tell each other what they had learnt from the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم). The Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) also warned them in strong words about narrating anything from him which is not authentic. At the same time, Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) had also warned, that it is a major sin to hide knowledge, whenever it is asked for. Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not restrict himself to giving sermons, he ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) also guided the Sahabah practically. Whenever they learnt anything from the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم) they spared no effort to bring it into practice. A Large number of the Sahabah wrote down ahadith and compiled Sahifas (booklets) after hearing them from the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه وسلم). A number of young companions devoted themselves to attaining knowledge and then passed it down to the following generations. Tabieen followed the example of Sahabah in preserving ahadith, for example, Urwah bin Zubair (nephew of Aisha), Nafi Mawla of Abdullah bin Umar and Thabit bin Aslam al-Bunani spent forty years with Anas bin Malik. Also, Amra bint Abdirrahman grew up with Aisha learning ahadith. Like the Sahabah, the Tabieen also collected and compiled ahadith in booklets which were incorporated in books by the next generation and most of those that survive today are in that form as part of other larger books like Musnad Ahmad, Saheeh al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim, four Sunan and so on. Scholars of ḥadith from the time of the Tabieen developed the science of al-Jarḥ wa Tadeel. This is the science of examining the narrations of different narrators to make a determination about their trustworthiness and thus authenticity of their narrations.

Al Muhajiroun

Al Muhajiroun
Author: Douglas Weeks
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-03-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030358402

Grounded in nine years of ethnographic research on the al Muhajiroun/Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah movement (ALM/ASWJ), Douglas Weeks mixes ethnography and traditional research methods to tell the complete story of al Muhajiroun. Beginning with three core events that became a primer for radical Islamic political thought in the UK, Al Muhajiroun, A Case Study in Islamic Activism traces the development of the movement form its incipient beginnings to its current status. Based on his extensive interaction with the group and its leaders, Weeks contextualizes the history, beliefs, methods, and differences between ALM/ASWJ, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State so that the group and the threat it poses is comprehensively understood.

The Madrasa in Asia

The Madrasa in Asia
Author: Farish A. Noor
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2008
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9053567100

Summary: "Since the rise of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the traditional Islamic schools known as the madrasa have frequently been portrayed as hotbeds of terrorism. For much longer, the madrasa has been considered by some as a backward and petrified impediment to social progress. However, for an important segment of the poor Muslim populations of Asia, madrasas constitute the only accessible form of education. This volume presents an overview of the madrasas in countries such as China, Indonesia, Malayisia, India and Pakistan."--Publisher description.

The Military and Democracy in Indonesia

The Military and Democracy in Indonesia
Author: Angel Rabasa
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2002-12-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0833034022

The military is one of the few institutions that cut across the divides of Indonesian society. As it continues to play a critical part in determining Indonesia's future, the military itself is undergoing profound change. The authors of this book examine the role of the military in politics and society since the fall of President Suharto in 1998. They present several strategic scenarios for Indonesia, which have important implications for U.S.-Indonesian relations, and propose goals for Indonesian military reform and elements of a U.S. engagement policy.

Sharh Al-Aqeedat-il-Wasitiyah

Sharh Al-Aqeedat-il-Wasitiyah
Author: Ibn Taymiyyah
Publisher: Noah Publishing Company
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2018-09-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781643541167

The eminent scholar of Islam, Sheikh-ul-Islam Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, discusses the real & original faith of Islam according to the Qur'an & Sunnah. It deals with the perfect and undefiled Islamic Faith and Creed of the As-Salaf-As-Salih (Pious Predecessors) particularly in regards to Allah's names and attributes, with solid arguments in brief words and terminologies. The book is highly appreciated by the scholars for its brevity as well as comprehensiveness; and for its contents produced in line with the Qur'an and Sunnah in an appealing and manifest manner.