Abstract The problem of evil challenges the conception of a deity that combines the attributes of Omnipotence and Goodness: either attribute alone is compatible with the existence of evil, but the combination of the two is not. And yet it is precisely this combination of attributes that is claimed by the monotheistic God of the […]
Abstract“The Sevillan thinker Ibn Barrajān (Abū al-Ḥakam ʿAbd al-Salām b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī al-Rijāl Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Lakhmī al-Ifrīqī al- Ishbīlī, d. 536/1141), much like his Cordoban predecessor Ibn Masarra al-Jabalī (d. 319/931), has appeared in modern scholarship mostly as a silhouette in the penumbra of the great Sufi thinker Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn […]
Abstract “Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Qawami al-Shirazi (1571–1640),1 known as Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi and more popularly as Mulla Sadra, is one of the most prominent figures of post Avicennan Islamic philosophy. His school of thought called‘ transcendent wisdom’(al-hikmatal-muta‘aliyah) has made”(link below)
Abstract: Arabic and Persian terms have been transliterated in accordance with the system employed by the (), with the following major exceptions: (1) no distinction is made in transliterating consonants shared between Arabic and Persian; (2) complete transliterations of book and article titles have been retained throughout; (3) in contexts where transliteration is not an […]
Abstract: Anyone with the vaguest knowledge of Islamic culture knows that it has produced extraordinary works of art and architecture — Persian miniatures, the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra. Few are aware, however, that this rich artistic heritage is firmly rooted in a worldview that highlights love and beauty…….
Abstract: The martyrdom of the Imam Husayn can hardly be called a major theme of Rumi’s works; in over 50,000 couplets he refers to it less than twenty times. Nevertheless, these few lines are sufficient to suggest how the events of Karbala’ were viewed not only by Rumi’s, this great representative of the………….
Abstract: Western studies of Islam have paid relatively little attention to love. Early scholars were heirs to a long history of European animosity toward this upstart religion and tended to assume that love was a Christian monopoly. When Muslim writing on love did come to their attention, they typically considered it peripheral or borrowed, often […]
Abstract: Avicenna’s Neoplatonic account of divine providence and theodicy was hugely influential on later philosophical and religious thought in the Islamic world. However, it was severely criticised by one of his earlier commentators, the theologian-philosopher Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210). While Avicenna champions an optimist theodicean thesis of a plenitude of good to support the […]
ABSTRACT “Although less technical philosophically than many of al-Kind‡¯’s known treatises, this Epistle remains basic for understanding the spirit that underlies his thinking. Socratic, yet very Kindian in spirit, this Epistle displays its author’s tendency to harmonize Greek philosophy and Islam, particularly as this relates to ethics, and his belief in man’s free will and […]
Abstract This article explores Avicenna’s conception of divine providence in the light of his allegorical work Decree and Determination (R. fī l-Qaḍāʾ wa-l-qadar), wherein the philosopher stages interactions between the rational soul, the animal soul, and the Active Intelligence. Centering on the parable of the two generous men told in Decree and Determination by the […]