Tag Archive for: Islam

Review of Rabia from Narrative to Myth – Atif Khalil

Abstract:

“Ever since Margaret Smith (d. 1970) published the Mystic A.D. 717- 801 and Her Fellow Saints in Islam almost a century ago, Rabi’a has remained a figure of abiding interest in the study of lslam in the West. For Muslims, she has often embodied the archetype of the selfless lover of God, the devotee whose sole desire is neither to be saved from Hell nor to be granted Paradise, but to receive the Beloved’s acceptance. Rabi’a Yet, how many of the stories and accounts of Rabi’a that have been recorded and repeated for more than a millennium of lslamic history actually took place? How much of what has been bequeathed to us about her by countless generations is historically accurate? This is one the guiding aims of the book: to disentangle, as much as possible, the “real” Rabi’a from the one of legend and lore. In this archival endeavor, which involved closely scrutinizing more primary sources than any other study on her thus far, Rkia Cornell left virtually no stone unturned. And in the process of doing so, she produced a theoretically rich 400+ page tome, not only on Rabi’a, but also on the unfolding and development of early Islamic ascetical, mystical”

Review Of Cornell By Khalil PDFDownload

Eternity, Perpetuity, and Time in the Cosmologies of Plotinus and Mīr Dāmād – Syed A. H. Zaidi

Abstract:

“The present piece focuses on the influence of Plotinus’ understanding of time and eternity as articulated in Plotinus’ third and fifth Enneads upon Mīr Dāmād’s(d. 1631–2) conception of eternity, perpetuity, and time found in his Book of Blazing Brands(Kitab al-Qabasāt).Although Mīr Dāmād’s conception of eternity, perpetuity, and time resembles that of Plotinus’ cosmologyand ontology, he departs from Plotinus’ hypostases in establishing strict parameters for each domain. Unlike Plotinus, Mīr Dāmād argues that the realm of eternity is reserved for God alone, while the realm of Perpetuity contains the Platonic Forms. For Mīr Dāmād, the realm of time is an effect of the realm of Perpetuity and a tool for human beings to understand how to measure eventsin the temporal world. Unlike many other Shī’ite philosophers, Mīr Dāmād’s articulation of these three cosmological realms incorporates thought found in the works of both prominent Sunni and Shī’ite scholars such as Ibn Sīnā, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghāzālī, Suhrawardī, and Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. Although his most successful student, Mullā Ṣadrā Shirazī, had ultimately disagreed with his teacher’s cosmological doctrine, he remained influenced by the multitude of sources that his teacher had used”


Eternity_Perpetuity_and_Time_in_the_CosmDownload

An Interview with Abdel Baki Meftah,Algerian Master of Akbarian Teachings – Hany Ibrahim and Mohammed Rustom

Abstract:

“This interview seeks to introduce English-speaking audiences to the life and work of Abdel Baki Meftah, a major contemporary interpreter of Ibn ʿArabi and his school. To date, he has published nearly thirty books in Arabic on Ibn ʿArabi, which include expositions of his life, in-depth studies of particular themes and concepts in Ibn ʿArabi’s writings, com- mentaries upon some of Ibn ʿArabi’s key works, and a four-volume compilation and discussion of Ibn ʿArabi’s Sufi readings of verses from the Quran. In addition to writing more than ten other books on Sufi concepts, important Sufi orders and practices, and the thought of Amir ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jazaʾiri, Meftah has also translated into Arabic ten of René Guénon’s writings and compiled two collections of his essays. The interview, which is presented here in condensed form, was conducted in Arabic by Hany Ibrahim and Mohammed Rustom in August 2021 and translated into English by Omar Edaibat”

Interview With Abdel Baki Meftah (JMIAS 72, 2022)Download

Why Miracles Cannot Prove the Truth of Prophecy? (With a Glance at the Views of al-Ghazali, Averroes and Mulla Sadra) – را معجزه راه مناسبی برای اثبات صدق دعوی نبوت نیست؟ (با نگاهی به دیدگاه غزالی، ابن‌رشد و ملاصدرا))

Abstract:

“As it is well-known in theology, performing miracles is the main way prophets used to show that they are honest in their claims and are the true messengers of God. In contrast to this famous opinion, some theologians have not considered miracles as proof of the truth of prophecy. Muslim thinkers such as Mullah Sadra, al-Ghazali, Averroes, ‘Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji, and Hiji Mulla Hadi Sabzavari believe that a true believer does not base his faith and certainty on seeing a miracle from a prophet, and the religion which is the result of a miracle is the religion of ordinary people. According to them, miracles cannot bring about intellectual certainty; moreover, it is difficult to distinguish them from magic. In this article, after considering the objections in Islamic intellectual tradition, some other critiques in terms of the role of miracles in proving prophecy are introduced: the reports of miracles are not adequately sequential and multiple; the miracles are exclusively reported by the believers; there is no practical criterion for identifying miracles; the claim that miracles are related to the dominant art and techniques of the prophet’s time cannot be proved, and miracles can be explained in a completely natural –and not supernatural– way. Accordingly, it has been demonstrated that miracles narrated in religions do not serve theological functions desired by theologians. However, the best way for knowing a true prophet is investigating his teachings and experiencing his spiritual aura”

Why_Miracles_Cannot_Prove_the_Truth_of_PDownload

A Scholar in the Shadow: Essays in the Legal and Theological Thought of Ibn Qayyim al-Gawziyyah, Oriente Moderno 90, 1 (2010)

Abstract:

“When strolling through the buzzing Muslim book markets at Friday prayer services, one is immediately struck by the persistent presence of Ibn Qay-yim al-ßawziyyah’s (d. 751/1350)writings paraded on the packed shelves of the market bookstalls. Ibn Qayyim al-ßawziyyah’s books, in multiple sizes and formats, in tacky colorful and flowery covers, as well as in more subdued mono-chromatic editions, have gained their secure place on the crowded stands of Muslim booksellers. As simple as this may sound, the most likely conclusion to be drawn is that, today, Ibn Qayyim al-ßawziyyah sells. The popularity he enjoys on the contemporary Muslim scene is well reflected by the recent copious scholarly production about him in Arabic, and by the current efforts to produce high quality academic editions of his works”

A_Scholar_in_the_Shadow_Essays_in_the_LeDownload

“if I must die” Japanese translation of Refaat Alareer’s poem written in traditional Japanese calligraphy – Naoki Yamamoto

1

  1. Source: https://twitter.com/NaokiQYamamoto ↩︎

Creating an Islamicate Fiction: Futuwwa Samurai Art – Dr Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto

Creating Harmony Through Tradition in Japan – Matthew Teller

Abstract:

The tea ceremony is a marker of Japanese traditional culture, refined over centuries so that every aspect has significance, from the room setting and the arrangement of flowers to the calibrated movements of the tea master in preparing and serving the brew. Yet despite his skill, Yamamoto is not a tea master. A professor of Islamic studies at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey, he is an influential figure shaping Japanese Muslim society. His tea ceremony is taking place not in a traditional tea house but before a seated audience ranging from students to elders in Tokyo’s main congregational mosque. At the age of only 33, Yamamoto has developed what he calls an “Islamic tea ceremony” as an experiment, an innovative public workshop in which new links of understanding can be forged between Japan’s roughly 0.1-percent Muslim population and the rest of the country’s people, almost all of whom follow Buddhism and Japan’s homegrown religion, Shinto.“The point is to help people acquire the power of interpretation, the intellectual muscles of critical thinking and critical understanding of this world,” Yamamoto says. “We, as Muslims, can contribute to the prosperity and diversity of Japanese society.”

92d679f2-ab45-4a42-9f2d-a164a48fa4d0Download

Introduction: Knowledge, Power, and the “Settler Colonial Turn” in Palestine Studies – Ilan Pappe

Abstract:

This special issue presents articles on the topic of “Settler Colonialism in Palestine,” covering conceptual and empirical, historical and contemporary, as well as literary, legal and political aspects of the debate. All articles examine the validity and applicability of the settler colonial paradigm to the context of Palestine (West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the 1948territories). They approach this paradigm as a powerful means to challenge and disarticulate established historiographies and narratives, and, as such, engage with settler colonialism as a structure (Wolfe, 1999, 2006), but also with the various forms of resistance and decolonization that aim at undoing this structure

Introduction_Knowledge_Power_and_the_SetDownload

Realizing Islam: The Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World – Zachary Valentine 

Abstract:

Studies on eighteenth-century Islamic intellectual history tend to highlight the Wahhabi movement or “fundamentalist” movements. Few studies oer insights into less understood—though by no means less influential scholarly currents. One such book is Zachary Valentine Wright’s Realizing Islam The Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World Focusing on the knowledge production of the modern Tijani Sufi order—one of the largest Sufi orders

Realizing_Islam_The_Tijaniyya_in_North_ADownload