Evil, Suffering, and the Art of Listening in Islamic Philosophy

This was a lecture recently given for Global Philosophy Research Interest Group. Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto. Toronto, December 1st, 2023

SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR – Muhammad U. Faruque

Abstract:

This article provides an overview of the substantive contribution from Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a contemporary Islamic philosopher with global influence. Dr. Nasr’s oeuvre covers an extended field from the perennial philosophy, which dominates his philosophical worldview, to religion, science, environmental studies, education, and the arts with particular attention to Islamic and comparative studies, as well as criticism of modernism. Grounded in Islamic tradition, Nasr’s far-reaching ideas have been acknowledged by the global scholarly community. Nasr is perhaps most famous for being one of the first people to predict, diagnose, and provide a response to the ecological crisis, having spoken out on the topic as early as 1966. He is considered the father of “Islamic environmentalism,” which is now gaining momentum in the Muslim world.

Keywords: order of the sacred; eco-philosophy; Islamic science; Islamic art; spirituality, religion and modernity

Islamic Thought and the Art of Translation Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata Edited by Mohammed Rustom

Abstract:

I have known William Chittick and Sachiko Murata for over half a century as their teacher, friend, colleague, and scholarly collaborator. It was in 1964, when I was the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut, that I first met a young American student named Chittick in one of my classes and during a public lecture I gave at the University. He drew my attention as a gifted student and potentially a serious scholar. During that year he also visited historical Islamic cities in Syria and became deeply attracted to the Islamic intellectual and spiritual tradition. After returning to America for his senior year and having received his bachelor’s degree, he came to Iran where he spent the next dozen years finishing his doctorate at the University of Tehran, becoming later an instructor at Aryamehr University of Technology and the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy when I headed both institutions.

Ayn al-Qudāt. The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism. Mohammed Rustom (ed. and trans.). New York: New York University Press, 2022. xxx + 241 pages. ISBN: 9781479816590.

From the Periphery to the Center – Journal of World Philosophies

ABSTRACT:

This article recounts one contemporary Muslim philosopher’s journey into the discipline of philosophy, detailingthe importance of diversifying the study of philosophy to take it beyond its Anglo-American and Eurocentric boarders along the way.

La gran cadena de laconciencia:Todaslas cosas poseenconciencia? –

Dr. C. Mohammed RustomProfesor de Pensamiento Islámico enla Universidad de Carleton, Canadá Traducción Karen Martnez García