By Ian Almond What do we understand by the term ‘representation of Islam’? What does it mean to investigate the depiction of the Muslim world – be it the faith, the cultures, the believers, the literature – in non- Muslim discourse? How would studies of the representation of Muslims by non-Muslims differ from their logical inverse […]
Just as theologians were making bold statements about kalam (theology), claiming that it is the queen of the religious sciences, so Qur’an commentators asserted that tafsir is the most noble of religious sciences
By Arjun A Nair Research into the unio mystica has revealed what seems to be an area of “real discussion” between scholars of different traditions of mysticism, particularly those of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although this research serves as a promising start to the dialogue among scholars, it has also raised many questions about a “shared […]
Throughout Islamic intellectual history, a wide range of conceptions of God have been articulated, among which the problematic view of Ibn ʿArabī-identifying God with Absolute Existence (al-wujūd al-muṭlaq)-stands out. Numerous critiques have been leveled against this identification, but the objections of Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī are particularly notable for their originality, clarity, and lasting influence on […]
What does music mean in the context of Islamic culture and what fields does music in the English sense cover in this culture? Historical examples are given along with the views of muslim jurists, both Sunni and Shi’ite, about music. Different types of specifically religious music are discussed from Qur’a nic chanting to nawha-kha ni […]
The Tokat Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies is a non-partisan academic body that is informed by a broad and robust approach to Islamic studies. Led by an internationally renowned team of specialists, it draws from the best traditions of scholarship in Islamic thought, taking in fields as diverse and interconnected as philosophy, mysticism, rational theology, […]
It is somewhat puzzling that while the vast majority of the world (around 80 percent) believes in some form of supernatural transcendence, the dominant view in many scientific and philosophical circles is that those who affirm God’s existence bear the burden of proof. Meanwhile, atheists, who deny God’s existence, need not prove God’s nonexistence, because […]
Saʿīd b. Aḥmad Farghānī (d. 699/1300) was one of the foremost students of Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī, Ibn ʿArabī’s stepson and primary propagator. He was the author of the first commentary, in two versions, on Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s famous 760-verse qasida, The Poem of the Way. The first version was written in Persian, based on lectures delivered […]
This essay, which is an amalgamation of two presentations given at roundtables held by the Constructive Muslim Thought Seminar at the American Academy of Religion in 2022 and 2023, attempts to describe “constructive Muslim thought” in contexts both classical and contemporary, but focuses on delineating the continuing colonial context of this academy in which we […]
More than thirty-five years ago, with the publication of Ibn ‘Arabī ou La quête du Soufre Rouge, a revised version of which was introduced to an English audience in 1993 as Quest for the Red Sulphur: the Life of Ibn ‘Arabī, Claude Addas single-handedly transformed the landscape of Akbarian Studies. We now had before us […]
Al-nūr al-muḥammadī, the “Muḥammadan light”, is an Arabic expression which designates the inner and transcendent reality of the prophetic being, alluding thereby symbolically to the meta-historical significance of the Prophet Muḥammad, especially within Islamic soteriology, cosmology, spirituality and metaphysics. One of the foremost doctrinal implications of the Muḥammadan light is the Prophet’s primordial existence and […]
By Razieh S. Mousavi Before the existence of weather stations, people relied on a variety of visible and invisible signs to predict the weather. Among Arabs, observing the regular motions of the stars was a common method for weather forecasting, both before and after the rise of Islam. How did they perceive the connection between cosmic […]