Journal of Islamic Philosophy 6: A Special Issue on Mulla Sadra
Abstract:
“Mohammed Rustom is Professor of Islamic Thought at Carleton University. He has been the recipient of a number of academic distinctions and prizes such as the Ibn ‘Arabi Society Latina’s Tarjuman Prize (Spain), a Templeton Foundation/University of Birmingham Global Philosophy of Religion grant (USA/UK), a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Fellowship (Canada), the 21st International Book of the Year Prize (Iran), The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship (UK), and Senior Fellowships courtesy of the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute’s Library of Arabic Literature and Humanities Research Fellowship programs (UAE). An internationally recognized scholar whose works have been translated into over ten languages, Professor Rustom’s research focuses on Islamic philosophy, Sufism, Quranic exegesis, and cross-cultural philosophy. He is also Editor of Equinox Publishing’s Global Philosophy series, Associate Editor of the Journal of Sufi Studies (Brill), Commissioning Editor of the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society (JMIAS), and Editorial Board member of the Library of Arabic Literature (NYU Press). This profile is maintained by students of Professor Rustom.”
Journal_of_Islamic_Philosophy_6_2010_A_SPhilosophical Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: The Case of Shaykh Dan Tafa – Oludamini Ogunnaike
Abstract:
It has long been assumed that the discipline of falsafa (Islamic philosophy) died out in the Western lands of the Islamic world after the fall of Andalusia, and that philosophical intellectual work was largely limited to the disciplines of theology (kalām) and Sufism (taṣawwuf). Moreover, the more creative and discursive tradition of theoretical of philosophical Sufism is also supposed to have migrated East in the 13th-C along with figures such as Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240) and Ibn Sab‘in (d. 1271). However, the oeuvre of the Sokoto scholar Shaykh ‘abd al-Qādir ibn Muṣṭafā (d. 1864) (better known as dan Tafa, the grandson of Shaykh ‘Uthmān dan Fodio) poses a significant challenge to these assumptions. Shaykh Dan Tafa’s works include a defense of philosophy, a treatise on universals (kulliyāt), a versified introduction to the study of philosophy, a critical evaluation of materialist and naturalist philosophies, as well as several works of philosophical Sufism, including a treatise on certain topics from ‘abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī’s masterpiece of Philosophical Sufism, al-Insān al-Kāmil. It seems unlikely that Shaykh Dan Tafa studied and produced these works entirely on his own, indicating the existence of little-known West African traditions of Islamic philosophy and philosophical Sufism. This chapter evaluates some of Shaykh Dan Tafa’s works and their ramifications for our understanding of the history of Islamic philosophy and philosophical Sufism in West Africa, and the role of these two traditions in the intellectual history the region.
Philosophical_Sufism_in_the_Sokoto_CalipRūmī on Traveling the Path of the Prophet – William Chittick
Abstract:
“Rūmī saw himself as belonging to the line of prophets (anbiyā ) and saints (awliyā ), the God-given function of whom is to guide the human race. He had a great deal to say about most sorts of Islamic teachings, as can be verified by the traditional commentaries on the Mathnawī or modern studies like that of Jalāl al-Dīn Humā ī. Despite the extent to which he has been singled out in modern times as a unique spokesman for love, much of what he said about the topic was fairly standard in Sufi works; it was prefigured by poets like Sanā ī and Aār as well as in Persian prose classics like Kashf al-asrār wauddat al-abrār , the great Quran commentary by Maybudī (begun in 520/1126), andRaw al-ar-wā fī shar asmā al-malik al-fattā , a long commentary on the divine names by A mad Samānī (d.534/1140). Perhaps the most systematic exposition of the worldview of love that infuses Rūmī’s works is provided by another Persian classic, Mir ād al-ibād min al-mabda ila’l-ma ād , written by his con-temporary Najm al-Dīn Rāzī (d. 654/1256). No one other than Rūmī, however, was so successful in combining magical poetry with explicit and detailed teachings on love as the path to God“
Rumi_on_Traveling_the_Path_of_the_PropheRule of the One: Avicenna,Bahmanyār, and al-Rāzī on the Argument from the Mubāḥathāt – Davlat Dadikhuda
Abstract:
“Avicenna is a strong proponent of what some of the later ones call qāʻidat al-wāḥid or ‘rule of the one’(RO). The gist of RO states: from the one only one directly proceeds. In the secondary literature, discussion of this Avicennian rule is usually limited to a particular application of it i.e., the issue of emanation. As result, it’s not really clear what RO means, nor why Avicenna endorsed it. In this paper, I try and remedy this situation by doing two things – one on the taṣawwur front, the other on the tasdīq. First, explain just what the terms of RO amount to – that is, its subject and predicate. In doing this, I distinguish between a narrow and a broad understanding of RO, and the show that, on the Avicennian view, the scope of RO is broad; it is meant to be a general principle of efficient causality. This is why it is appealed to in various contexts to establish substantial philosophical theses. Second, I consider an argument Avicenna offers for RO in the Mubāḥathāt. In unpacking it, I uncover some of its realist presuppositions, and then further clarify it in light of a critique first raised by Bahmanyār and then later made famous by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. I then conclude by seeing whether the Avicennian has the resources within the initial premises of the argument to meet the objection that’s raised”
Rule Of The OneJalāl al-Dīn Rūmī – Philosophy
Abstract:
“Rumi’s teachings, whether in the Maṯnawi or his other works, focus on “the roots of the roots of the roots of the religion” (o ṣul o ṣul o ṣul al-din, Ma ṯ nawi I intro.). By “the religion” he means the Islamic tradition, not religion generically; he is saying that his works go to the heart and soul of the Quranic message and do not get mired down in the limitations of theological formalism or juridical nitpicking. He sees himself as belonging to the line of prophets (anbiā) and saints(awliā), whose God-given function is to provide guidance (hed ā yat ) to the human race. He has a good deal to say about most Islamic teachings, as can be verified by the traditional commentaries on the Maṯnawi or modern studies like that of Jall-al-Din Homa(1900-1980). Despite the extent to which he has been singled out in modern times as a unique exponent of love, much of what he says about love is fairly standard in Sufi works“
Rumi_Jalal_al_Din_vii_Philosophy_EncycloThe Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy
Abstract:
“Only rarely does a publication such as this offer scholars the opportunity to explain what they hope to accomplish, and why they are motivated to do it. In this jubilee edition, our department of religious studies has invited each of us to ask the question: why? For my own part, the answer begins with the simple fact of the existence of such a department in this school. The educational tradition of the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes itself, with its yearly invitation to new intellectual adventures, based on the Chair’s own recent research, was what launched me on a career of Oriental studies. This in turn led me to guide others towards research into unexplored areas of religion and”
Problem And Method In Religious History (Corbin)Avicenna on Theology
Abstract:
“The year 1951 is being celebrated throughout the Muslim world, and especially in Persia, as the millennary according to lunar reckoning of the birth of Avicenna, one of the greatest and most original thinkers produced by Islam, Dom in 370 (980) at the little village of Afshana in the province of Bukhara-a region now hopelessly lost within the territories of the Soviet empire -Abu ‘Ali al-Husain ibn ,Abd Allah called Ibn Sina (to give him his Muslim name) largely by virtue of his own exceptional genius and diligent self-instruction became a master alike of the ancient Greek learning and the Arab sciences, and was the author of large works on medicine and philosophy which, translated into Latin, continued to be studied in the medieval universities of Europe to the end of the sixteenth century. Concerning Avicenna genealogy we know virtually nothing. His father ‘Abd Allah, a native of Balkh, was appointed governor of an outlying district of Bukhara by the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur, and was therefore presumably a man of some”
Ibn Sina, Avicenna On Theology (trans. Arberry)Avicenna – Jon McGinnis
Abstract:
“Ex nihilo nihilo fit: Nothing comes from nothing, and Avicenna and his philosophy are no exception. Indeed, multiple influences were at work in the formation of his thought. In this chapter, I consider a few of these influ- ences so as to provide a general backdrop against which to situate the intel- lectual and political-historical milieu within which Avicenna worked.1 To this end, I begin the odyssey that was Avicenna’s life with a brief look at the Greek scientific and philosophical course curriculum being taught at the Academies in Athens and Alexandria, which in turn became the standard regimen of study for those practitioners of falsafa, that is, the Arabic philo-“
McGinnis, Avicenna