This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking.

The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.

We take for granted that only certain kind of things exist - electrons but not angels, passports but not nymphs. This is what we understand as 'reality'. But in fact, 'reality' varies with each era of the world, in turn shaping the field of what is possible to do, think and imagine. Our contemporary age has embraced a troubling and painful form of reality: Technic. Under Technic, the foundations of reality begin to crumble, shrinking the field of the possible and freezing our lives in an anguished state of paralysis. Technic and Magic shows that the way out of the present deadlock lies much deeper than debates on politics or economics. By drawing from an array of Northern and Southern sources - spanning from Heidegger, Junger and Stirner's philosophies, through Pessoa's poetry, to Advaita Vedanta, Bhartrhari, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra's theosophies - Magic is presented as an alternative system of reality to Technic. While Technic attempts to capture the world through an 'absolute language', Magic centres its reconstruction of the world around the notion of the 'ineffable' that lies at the heart of existence. Technic and Magic is an original philosophical work, and a timely cultural intervention. It disturbs our understanding of the structure of reality, while restoring it in a new form. This is possibly the most radical act: if we wish to change our world, first we have to change the idea of 'reality' that defines it.

Showing that Muslim societies are facing a crisis that is more cultural than religious, this book focuses on cultural representations through which social life is experienced in the Muslim world. It brings a new theoretical framework to address the secularization process that is underway and the contradictions it entails. This volume will arouse a new debate on secularization and the relations between religion, culture and philosophy. The crisis Muslim societies are undergoing pertains to the culture and not to the Qur'an to the extent that people do not have access to the sacred in itself but only for oneself, meaning a cultural interpretation of the sacred. The Qur'an in itself is not an obstacle to secularization and modernization since any sacred text is experienced through culture. If we consider the European experience where secularization has first emerged, we see that culture has been transformed from medieval metaphysics to modern philosophy upholding a civic culture. Discussing secularization through cultural representation, this book launches new ideas that fill an important gap in the literature on secularization. It is a key resource for any readers interested in religious studies, philosophy and the anthropology of religion.

The contributions, composed in this volume, are inspired not only by the necessity but also by the potentialities of a process which continues and deepens cross-cultural understanding, especially between Islamic and Western philosophy. Following the tradition of an East-Western symphony of thoughts, the authors focus on common horizons and while applying comparative and historical approaches, varieties of unity appear on the ways towards a New Enlightenment. The creative force, orchestrating the harmony in the web of Life, communicates in the mean time with the capacities of human beings, advancing in deciphering its micro-macrocosmic dimensions. Here, the encounter of the Logos of Life Philosophy (A-T. Tymieniecka) and Islamic Philosophy open the space for constructive disputation. In the wake of the crisis of postmodern unknowability, paths towards a new critique of reason go hand in hand with fundamental issues, being reflected newly.

This book addresses this gap by offering a philosophical and contextual study of this aspect of al-Ghazali's ethics and of the conception of moral beauty that emerges from it. It will be of interest to scholars and students in Islamic ethics, Islamic intellectual history and the history of ethics.

Providing a comprehensive and widely accessible investigation into Mulla Sadra's works, this book establishes his political philosophy and instigates a dialogue on the relevance of Sadra's philosophy to present day challenges. Investigating Sadra's primary sources, the book reveals that his discourse on politics cannot be interpreted as a discursive springboard for hierocracy and political authority of jurists, nor does the mystical attitude of his philosophy (with its emphasis on the inner aspects of religion) promote an idea of quietism or a fundamental separation of religion and politics. Laying the groundwork for further translations and interpretation, this volume is not just concerned with 'political philosophy' as yet another particular and limited facet of Sadra's overall system. Rather, through unifying mystical, intellectual and political aspects of this singular philosopher, the volume is concerned with properly contextualizing and understanding the guiding intentions and inspirations that unify and underlie all of his creative philosophical endeavour. This pioneering and provocative work of genuine reflection is a new contribution to the wider subject of political philosophy. It will be of interest to researchers of political philosophy, Islamic philosophy, mysticism, theology, history and Iranian studies.

This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to one of the most significant Arab thinkers of the late 20th century and the early 21st century: the Moroccan philosopher and social theorist Mohammed Abed al-Jabri. With his intellectual and political engagement, al-Jabri has influenced the development of a modern reading of the Islamic tradition in the broad Arab-Islamic world and has been, in recent years, subject to an increasing interest among Muslims and non-Muslim scholars, social activists and lay men. The contributors to this volume read al-Jabri with reference to prominent past Arab-Muslim scholars, such as Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali, al-Shatibi, and Ibn Khaldun, as well as contemporary Arab philosophers, like Hassan Hanafi, Abdellah Laroui, George Tarabishi, Taha Abderrahmane; they engage with various aspects of his intellectual project, and trace his influence in non-Arab-Islamic lands, like Indonesia, as well. His analysis of Arab thought since the 1970s as a harbinger analysis of the ongoing "Arab Spring uprising" remains relevant for today's political challenges in the region.

This thematic introduction to classical Islamic philosophy focuses on the most prevalent philosophical debates of the medieval Islamic world and their importance within the history of philosophy. Approaching the topics in a comprehensive and accessible way in this new volume, Luis Xavier Lopez-Farjeat, one of the co-editors of The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, makes classical Islamic philosophy approachable for both the new and returning student of the history of philosophy, medieval philosophy, the history of ideas, classical Islamic intellectual history, and the history of religion. Providing readers with a complete view of the most hotly contested debates in the Islamic philosophical tradition, Lopez-Farjeat discusses the development of theology (kalam) and philosophy ( falsafa) during the 'Abbasid period, including the translation of Aristotle into Arabic, the philosophy and theology of Islamic revelation, logic and philosophy of language, philosophy of natural science, metaphysics, psychology and cognition, and ethics and political philosophy. This volume serves as an indispensable tool for teachers, students, and independent learners aiming to discover the philosophical problems and ideas that defined the classical Islamic world. Key Features * Offers readers a broad, thorough view of the history of Islamic philosophy by using a thematic approach. * Traces the dialogues between philosophers and theologians about important and controversial topics. * Offers both historical descriptions of the key debates in classical Islamic philosophy and current interpretations by contemporary scholars. * Includes extensive lists for further reading at the end of each chapter, directing curious students to the best avenues for further research.

This thematic introduction to classical Islamic philosophy focuses on the most prevalent philosophical debates of the medieval Islamic world and their importance within the history of philosophy. Approaching the topics in a comprehensive and accessible way in this new volume, Luis Xavier Lopez-Farjeat, one of the co-editors of The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, makes classical Islamic philosophy approachable for both the new and returning student of the history of philosophy, medieval philosophy, the history of ideas, classical Islamic intellectual history, and the history of religion. Providing readers with a complete view of the most hotly contested debates in the Islamic philosophical tradition, Lopez-Farjeat discusses the development of theology (kalam) and philosophy ( falsafa) during the 'Abbasid period, including the translation of Aristotle into Arabic, the philosophy and theology of Islamic revelation, logic and philosophy of language, philosophy of natural science, metaphysics, psychology and cognition, and ethics and political philosophy. This volume serves as an indispensable tool for teachers, students, and independent learners aiming to discover the philosophical problems and ideas that defined the classical Islamic world. Key Features * Offers readers a broad, thorough view of the history of Islamic philosophy by using a thematic approach. * Traces the dialogues between philosophers and theologians about important and controversial topics. * Offers both historical descriptions of the key debates in classical Islamic philosophy and current interpretations by contemporary scholars. * Includes extensive lists for further reading at the end of each chapter, directing curious students to the best avenues for further research.

The objective of the following collected volume is to encourage a critical reflection on the relationship between "power" and "non-power" in our contemporary "world" and, proceeding from various philosophical traditions, to investigate the multifaceted aspects of this relationship. The authors' respective investigations proceed from an intercultural perspective and fall predominantly in the domain of political theory and philosophy. This volume takes an intercultural political perspective, which means, on the one hand, involving non-European philosophies in a global debate about power relations and their effects in the world and, on the other hand, confronting local traditions of thought with a global inquiry in order to enter into a philosophical-political dialogue with these traditions. An intercultural approach of this type to political philosophy seeks not only to join others in reflecting upon global problems, but also to decenter of our understanding of the world, drawing attention to new ways of thinking. Insofar as the authors of the planned volume deal with "concrete" philosophical-political problems unfolding in various regions of the world, they seek to shed light on burning issues like migration, human rights violations, dictatorship and language, global poverty, power asymmetries, experiences of injustice with the further goal of offering a particularly intercultural analysis of these problems along with approaches to resolving them. To date, there is no book that collects various essays from different countries and perspectives and poses political-philosophical problems from an intercultural point of view.

This book looks at contemporary political violence, in the form of jihadism, through the lens of a philosophical polemic between Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon: intellectual representatives of the global north and global south. It explores the relationship of Arendt's thought, mostly as expressed in On Violence (1969), to Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (1961) and the transposition of that relationship to the contemporary phenomenon of violent Islamic extremism. The book reveals a greater commonality between Fanon and Arendt as well as the universal function of jihadism that satisfies the conditions for political violence, as categorized by Fanon in the global south and Arendt in the global north. Read in tandem, Arendt and Fanon help uncover the fundamental problems of our European, American, Middle Eastern and African political systems as well as north-south relations. By studying political theory, the book finds global political commonalities in a postcolonial reality. Written in an accessible style, this book will be of great interest to undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, political sciences and international relations (IR), sociology and Middle Eastern studies as well as scholars and professionals interested in radicalization; violent extremism; and the foreign policies of European, Middle Eastern and African countries.

This volume offers an aesthetic reading of the Muqaddima by Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), a text that has been studied up to the present as a work on historiography. It argues that the Muqaddima is also a comprehensive treatise on classical Arab-Islamic culture and provides a picture of classical Arab-Islamic aesthetics in its totality. The theme of the book is the intrinsic connection between beauty and knowledge in the Muqaddima. Whenever Ibn Khaldun deals with the problem of knowledge and science, he also deals with the problem of sensual beauty as an instrument or an obstacle to attain it. Ibn Khaldun's philosophy of history is necessarily also an aesthetics of history. His key-notion of "group feeling", the physical, ethic and aesthetic virtue of Bedouin societies, is at once the origin of the ascent of centralised States and the cause of their ruin. It represents a tragic contradiction that applies to the history of the Maghreb but then takes a universal value. It reflects a range of other contradictions inherent to the "system" of classical Arab-Islamic aesthetics. These contradictions undermine the aesthetic system of the Muqaddima from within and provide decisive elements for the emergence of modern aesthetics. Offering a comparative approach, the volume is a key resource to scholars and students interested in Arabic and Islamic studies, philosophy, aesthetics and global history.

This volume of essays by scholars in ancient Greek, medieval, and Arabic philosophy examines the full range of Aristotle's influence upon the Arabic tradition. It explores central themes from Aristotle's corpus, including logic, rhetoric and poetics, physics and meteorology, psychology, metaphysics, ethics and politics, and examines how these themes are investigated and developed by Arabic philosophers including al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Ibn Bajja and Averroes. The volume also includes essays which explicitly focus upon the historical reception of Aristotle, from the time of the Greek and Syriac transmission of his texts into the Islamic world to the period of their integration and assimilation into Arabic philosophy. This rich and wide-ranging collection will appeal to all those who are interested in the themes, development and context of Aristotle's enduring legacy within the Arabic tradition.

Despite the apparent lack of any cultural and religious connection between Kierkegaard and Iqbal, their philosophical and religious concerns and their methods of dealing with these concerns show certain parallels. This book provides a Kierkegaardian reading of Muhammad Iqbal's idea of becoming a genuine Muslim. It reflects on the parallels between the philosophical approaches of Kierkegaard and Iqbal, and argues that, though there are certain parallels between their approaches, there is a significant difference between their philosophical stances. Kierkegaard was concerned with developing an existential dialectics; Iqbal, however, focused mostly on the identification of the problems of the modern Muslim world. As a result, Iqbal's idea of becoming a genuine Muslim - the practical aspect of his thought and one of the most central issues of his philosophy - seems to be unclear and even contradictory at points. This book therefore uses the parallels between the two philosophers' endeavours and the notions developed by Kierkegaard to provide a strong hermeneutical tool for clarifying where the significance of Iqbal's idea of becoming a Muslim lies. By bringing together two philosophers from different cultural, traditional and religious backgrounds, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Comparative Politics, Contemporary Islamic Philosophy and the Philosophy of Religion.

This book explores the intellectual discourse in post-revolutionary Iran. It focuses on Abdolkarim Soroush, a leading Muslim liberal thinker, whose theory of religion is regarded as highly relevant to the current theological and intellectual dynamics in the Islamic world. The Philosophy of Religion in Post-Revolutionary Iran discusses why and how Soroush's thought has developed from an Islamic apologetic modernist theology in the 1970s to a liberal theory about religion in post-revolutionary Iran. Through a close and detailed analysis of Soroush's main theories, the book argues that Soroush's thought evolved, through reception of post-positivist epistemology and interaction with Islamism in practice, into a historicist and pluralist theory of religion, a theory that regards religion, including Islam, as being a contextual and historical dialogue between man and the Absolute. The book also highlights some shortcomings of Soroush's reform project. Specifically, it notes that Soroush, consciously or unconsciously, has not yet admitted many extensive consequences of his theories, such as those relating to historicity of religious rituals ('ibadat) or recognition of the post-Mohammadan revelations and religions. In addition, some other features and implications of Soroush's thought, such as a historical-critical approach to the Koran, post-secular and post-Islamist theologies, and his dialogical approach that goes beyond the Orientalism-Occidentalism dichotomy, are discussed. Providing a detailed overview on this leading Muslim thinker, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Islamic Philosophy, Middle East Studies, and Philosophy of Religion.

The book explains Sadra's theory of the nature of afterlife. It presents Sadra's philosophical premises concerning the nature of human beings and their physical and psychological developments through which Sadra shows how the afterlife is intimately connected to the nature of the human being and how it is a natural stage of the evolution of each individual in which a corporeal body has no role. Presenting Mulla Sadra in a new light, the aim of this book is to investigate Sadra's metaphysical principles of the Return (al-ma'ad) that have been either partially presented or misunderstood in most of the existing secondary literature. Focusing on Sadra's philosophical works, specifically the Asfar and his commentary on the Quran, this study demonstrates how Sadra is a philosopher able to carry the premises of the previous philosophical theories to radically different conclusions. Mulla Sadra and Eschatology demonstrates the manner in which Sadra explains the Return as presented in the Quran and Hadith, but also shows how he presents the Return as a natural stage of the evolution of human beings in which a corporeal body has no role. Thus, Sadra offers a plausible philosophical explanation to the problem of bodily resurrection that had occupied Muslim philosophers for centuries. Explaining Mulla Sadra 's distinctive method of "doing" philosophy, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic Philosophy, Religion and Islamic Studies more broadly.

Philosophy in the Islamic world from the 9th to 11th centuries was characterized by an engagement with Greek philosophical works in Arabic translation. This volume collects papers on both the Greek philosophers in their new Arabic guise, and on reactions to the translation movement in the period leading up to Avicenna. In a first section, Adamson provides general studies of the 'formative' period of philosophy in the Islamic world, discussing the Arabic reception of Aristotle and of his commentators. He also argues that this formative period was characterized not just by the use of Hellenic materials, but also by a productive exchange of ideas between Greek-inspired 'philosophy (falsafa)' and Islamic theology (kalAE m). A second section considers the underappreciated philosophical impact of Galen, using Arabic sources to understand Galen himself, and exploring the thought of the doctor and philosopher al-RAE zAE", who drew on Galen as a chief inspiration. A third section looks at al-FAE rAE bAE" and the so-called 'Baghdad school' of the 10th century, examining their reaction to Aristotle's Metaphysics, his epistemology, and his famous deterministic 'sea battle' argument. A final group of papers is devoted to Avicenna's philosophy, which marks the beginning of a new era of philosophy in the Islamic world.

This book looks at contemporary political violence, in the form of jihadism, through the lens of a philosophical polemic between Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon: intellectual representatives of the global north and global south. It explores the relationship of Arendt's thought, mostly as expressed in On Violence (1969), to Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (1961) and the transposition of that relationship to the contemporary phenomenon of violent Islamic extremism. The book reveals a greater commonality between Fanon and Arendt as well as the universal function of jihadism that satisfies the conditions for political violence, as categorized by Fanon in the global south and Arendt in the global north. Read in tandem, Arendt and Fanon help uncover the fundamental problems of our European, American, Middle Eastern and African political systems as well as north-south relations. By studying political theory, the book finds global political commonalities in a postcolonial reality. Written in an accessible style, this book will be of great interest to undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, political sciences and international relations (IR), sociology and Middle Eastern studies as well as scholars and professionals interested in radicalization; violent extremism; and the foreign policies of European, Middle Eastern and African countries.

This book explores philosophical ethics in Arabo-Islamic thought. Examining the meaning, origin and development of "Divine Command Theory", it underscores the philosophical bases of religious fundamentalism that hinder social development and hamper dialogue between different cultures and nations. Challenging traditional stereotypes of Islam, the book refutes contemporary claims that Islam is a defining case of ethical voluntarism, and that the prominent theory in Islamic ethical thought is Divine Command Theory. The author argues that, in fact, early Arab-Islamic scholars articulated moral theories: theories of value and theories of obligation. She traces the development of Arabo-Islamic ethics from the early Islamic theological and political debates between the Kharijites and the Murji'ites, shedding new light on the moral theory of Abd al-Jabbar al-Mu'tazili and the effects of this moral theory on post-Mu'tazilite ethical thought. Highlighting important aspects in the development of Islamic thought, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Islamic moral thought and ethics, Islamic law, and religious fundamentalism.

This landmark collection features selected writings by John D. Caputo, one of the most creative and influential thinkers working in the philosophy of religion today. B Keith Putt presents 21 of Caputo's most significant contributions from his distinguished 40-year career. Putt's thoughtful editing and arrangement highlights how Caputo's multidimensional thought has evolved from radical hermeneutics to radical theology. A guiding introduction situates Caputo's corpus within the context of debates in the Continental philosophy of religion and exclusive interview with him adds valuable information about his own views of his work.

This landmark collection features selected writings by John D. Caputo, one of the most creative and influential thinkers working in the philosophy of religion today. B Keith Putt presents 21 of Caputo's most significant contributions from his distinguished 40-year career. Putt's thoughtful editing and arrangement highlights how Caputo's multidimensional thought has evolved from radical hermeneutics to radical theology. A guiding introduction situates Caputo's corpus within the context of debates in the Continental philosophy of religion and exclusive interview with him adds valuable information about his own views of his work.

This book deals with the philosophy of Ibn Sina - Avicenna as he was known in the Latin West- a Persian Muslim who lived in the eleventh century, considered one of the most important figures in the history of philosophy. Although much has been written about Avicenna, and especially about his major philosophical work, Al-Shifa, this book presents the rationalist Avicenna in an entirely new light, showing him to have presented a theory where our claims of knowledge about the world are in effect just that, claims, and must therefore be underwritten by our faith in God. His project enlists arguments in psychology as well as in language and logic. In a sense, the ceiling he puts on the reach of reason can be compared with later rationalists in the Western tradition, from Descartes to Kant -though, unlike Descartes, he does not deem it necessary to reconstruct his theory of knowledge via a proof of the existence of God. Indeed, Avicenna's theory presents the concept of God as being necessarily presupposed by our theory of knowledge, and God as the Necessary Being who is presupposed by an existing world where nothing of itself is what it is by an intrinsic nature, and must therefore be as it is due to an external cause. The detailed and original analysis of Avicenna's work here is presented as what he considered to be his own, or 'oriental' philosophy. Presenting an innovative interpretation of Avicenna's thought, this book will appeal to scholars working on classical Islamic philosophy, kalam and the History of Logic.

This volume presents ten leading scholars' writings on contemporary Islamic law and Muslim thought. The essays examine a range of issues, from modern Muslim discourses on justice, natural law, and the common good, to democracy, the social contract, and "the authority of the preeminent jurist." Changes in how Shari'a has been understood over the centuries are explored, as well as how it has been applied in both Sunni and Shi'i Islam.
Debates on the nature, interpretation, reform, and application of Shari'a lie at the core of all Islamist revivalist ideologies and movements of the past two centuries. The demand for the implementation of Shari'a is one of the hallmarks of Islamic fundamentalism, and Shari'a has become one of the most controversial and politicized concepts in Muslim-majority countries today. This will be one of the first books to examine how Muslims understand and apply Shari'a in contemporary societies.

Narratives of Jihadi-Salafi operations are often filled with praise for what are considered exemplary acts of self-renunciation in the vein of early Islamic tradition. While many studies sift through the biographies of these so-called martyrs for evidence of social, psychological, political, or economic strain in an effort to rationalize what are often labeled "suicide bombings," Nathan French argues that, through their legal arguments, Jihadi-Salafis craft a theodicy that is meant to address the suffering and oppression of the global Muslim community. Pulling from a broad selection of primary sources, including previously untranslated fatwas, on the subjects of martyrdom operations, jurisprudence, and political philosophies, French reveals that the Jihadi-Salafi legal debates on martyrdom reorient the basic objectives of the Shari 'a, focusing on maximizing the general welfare and promoting religion above all other concerns-including the preservation of life. Understanding this utilitarian turn opens the possibility for formulating a meaningful engagement and critique of Jihadi-Salafi legal interpretation and theories of warfare within a broader, just-war framework. And, as the jurists and propagandists of ISIS have demonstrated, this turn also opens the possibility for the use of self-renunciative violence as a means of state formation.

Fitzroy Morrissey's brilliant guide to Islamic thought - from its foundation in the seventh century to the present day. 'A magisterial accomplishment' Professor Eugene Rogan 'The best guide to Islamic thinking that I've read' James Barr 'I greatly enjoyed [it]' Peter Frankopan, Spectator, Books of the Year Day after day we read of the caliphate and the Qur'an, of Sunni and Shi'a, Salafis and Sufis. Almost a quarter of the world's populate is Muslim. Understanding the modern world requires knowing something about Islam. Tracing fourteen centuries of Islamic history - from the foundation of Islam in the seventh century and the life of Muhammad, through the growth of great Islamic empires, to the often fraught modern period - Fitzroy Morrissey considers questions of interpretation and legacy, of God and His relationship with His followers, of the lives of Muslims and how they relate to others. He presents the key teachings of the Qur'an and Hadith, analyzes the great works of Islamic theology, philosophy, and law, and delves into the mystical writings of the Sufis. He considers the impact of foreign cultures - Greek and Persian, Jewish and Christian - on early Islam, accounts for the crystallization of the Sunni and Shi'i forms of the faith, and explains the rise of intellectual trends like Islamic modernism and Islamism in recent times. In this way, Morrissey presents not a monolithic creed, but a nuanced faith made up of several often competing - and always fascinating - intellectual tendencies. This concise and engaging volume will appeal to readers looking to better understand the world's second largest religion and to those interested in the intellectual history of the last millennium and a half.