Tag Archive for: Theology

Maratib al-Taqwa: Sa’id al-Din Farghani on the Ontology of Ethics

Given the philosophical tradition’s explicit acknowledgment that “the Necessary in Existence” (al-wājib al-wujūd) is a proper designation for God per se, and given the fact that this acknowledgment came to be shared by various forms of Sufism and Kalam, it should come as no surprise that many scholars who investigated the reality of the human, “created upon the form of God,” concluded that ethical perfection amounted to the soul’s harmonious conformity with the Real Existence (al-wujūd al-ḥaqq). Early on, philosophers tended to keep ontology separate from ʿilm al-akhlāq, the science of ethics, but they used expressions like al-tashabbuh bi’l-ilāh, “similarity to the God,” and taʾalluh, “deiformity,” to designate the state of human perfection. Achieving perfection demanded transformation of khulq

La Grande chaîne de la conscience – Par Mohammed Rustom

Dans son Essai sur l’homme, le poète britannique Alexander Pope proposait au XVIIIèsiècle une formulation succincte d’une ancienne doctrine philosophique de la réalité. Cettedoctrine, à laquelle Arthur Lovejoy a donné le nom de “grande chaîne des êtres,” soutientque l’existence est une structure organique, entremêlée et hiérarchisée, reposant sur lesdegrés décroissants d’états de l’existence. La réalité vient de Dieu et elle part de Lui, l’ÊtreSuprême; et elle vient trouver sa fin dans la plus infinitésimale des formes d’existence.Chaque élément du cosmos, y compris le cosmos lui-même, nourrit un lien vital avec lesautres éléments qui en composent la grande chaîne. Pour citer Pope

Actionless Action – Mohammed Rustom

Abstract:

“It has indeed been a blessing to sit with the great Kenan Rifai’s commentary upon book one of Mevlana’s Mesnevi .Spending time with this book naturally led me to Kenan Rifai’s explanation of a famous tale in the Mesnevi  centered around ‘Ali b. Abi Talib tale is retold from Islamic tradition and is cast in Mevlana’s unique terms and worldview. The long and short of the story is as follows: in the heat of a one-on-one encounter with an enemy of Islam, ‘Ali gained the upper hand and thru this opponent to the ground. Just as he was about to finish him off withone blow from his sword, the enemy spat at ‘Ali’s face. When this happened, ‘Ali immediately dropped his sword and walked away. This per-plexed his enemy, and led him to ask ‘Ali in earnest why he had not killed him at that very moment. ‘Ali then speaks, telling the enemy that he only fights for the sake of God. But, when the man insulted him by spitting at him, the possibility that it would become a personal affair had presented itself to him. So he walked away from the situation. ‘Ali then explains that he never acts out of self-interest, but only for, in, and through God

Actionless_Action

THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF JERUSALEM-THE ISLAMIC VISION*

THE SUBJECT OF JERUSALEM is an extremely significant one for both spiritual and obviously mundane reasons. For men and women of faith, especially those who belong to the world of Abrahamic monotheism, it is of both immediate and ultimate concern……………

Nasr_Article_The Spiritual Significance Of Jerusalem_The Islamic Vision (1999)

A Commentary on the Creed of Islam: Sa’d al-Din al-Taftazani on the Creed of Najm al-Din al-Nasafi – Translated with introduction and notes by Earl Edgar Elder

This book is a translation of one of the most important texts on the creed of Islam, the Sharh al-‘Aqa’id al-Nasafiyyah of Imam Sa’ad al-Din al-Taftazani (d. 1389).  It is a commentary by Taftazani of Imam Abu Hafs al-Nasafi’s (d. 1177) work al-‘Aqa’id al-Nasafiyyah.

Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law: Sharh al-‘Aqa’id al-Nasafiyyah

Imam Razi’s ‘Ilm al-Akhlaq

Imām Rāzī’s ʿIlm al-akhlāq –

Classic work on Islamic Ethics