Islamic Philosophy Research Articles

Ibn Khaldun’s Thoughts on Religion as A Personal Experience and A Social System

Dialogue and discussion about religion requires a cautious attitude. Because even though religion has a social function, its appreciation is very individual. Religion is the deepest part of a person's personality. The essential reality of religion is a special experience which expresses itself in symbols and seeks its intellectual expression in the science of kalam. Ibn Khaldun's concept of God is the beginning of the world's existence and theological phenomena. This is what equates ibn Khaldun with Muslim philosophers and scholastic theologians. Ibn Khaldul is firm about the relationship between man and his God because it is the law of causality. The creation process occurs because of the creation of the Absolute. It also rejects secondary causality, that all occurs in the world the elements come from the initiative or direct power of God. Similarly, there is no need to rationally prove God. Because absolute things in religion cannot be proven rationally. because the truth has been guaranteed by Allah's revelation. But this does not mean ignores reason, or autonomous thinking. According to him, sense is very precise and careful scale, innovative and reliable for the results. But in relation to the attribut of God, the role of reason is very limited. Ibn Khaldun's concept of religion as social legitimacy, that religion an important role that has the power of reconciliation, unifying, and unifying a large society. he projected on nomadic society, which was an unruly nation. But when religion comes to them, they submit to the rules created by religion, so something of solidarity is realized. Thus, he saw that religion could add political power, and his enthusiasm could accelerate the movement of history. however, religion needs an 'ashabiyyah foundation to be able to exert its influence. Between 'ashabiyyah and religion there is a dialectical relationship that cannot be contradicted. 'Ashabiyyah supported by religion is the most powerful politics. And religion without the 'ashabiyyah foundation will not be able to exert its influence

Proofs for Eternity, Creation and the Existence of God in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy By Herbert A. Davidson

This is a most welcome reissue of Davidson’s highly praised book, first published in 1987. The combination in a single book of arguments for the existence of God with arguments for or against the eternity of the universe is neither arbitrary nor a matter of convenience. As Davidson lucidly explains in his introduction, there was no ‘public atheism’ in the medieval period. All Jewish and Islamic thinkers accepted the existence of a deity. However, their conceptions of the deity differed, most critically with regard to the question, does the deity—in addition to other qualities—possess will? The answer hinges, as affirmed by Moses Maimonides—one of Davidson’s chief sources—on the question of the creation or eternity. A created universe is the product of a willful God. In kalām proofs for the existence of God, ‘the indispensable premise is creation’, a method that has been labeled Platonic (p. 2). Though distinguished from each other by a host of major disagreements, philosophy and kalām are coloured to some extent one by the other. From the perspective of both, an argument for creation is an argument for a willful deity.

Historicity of Islamic Inheritance Law in Indonesia and Turkey

This article talks about renewal in the field of Islamic family law regarding inheritance. Islamic inheritance law is a law that regulates the inheritance of the assets of someone who has died and is given to those who are entitled. Islamic inheritance law in Indonesia is regulated in KHI Articles 176-191, this rule is also influenced by the school of thought that is developing in Indonesia, namely the Shafi'i. The basis for the renewal of Islamic Inheritance Law is the obligatory will, in which according to some Islamic thinkers, non-Muslim heirs can receive a share of the heir's assets through the obligatory will. Meanwhile, inheritance law in Turkish civil regulations has been regulated in the third book. The third book contains regulations on an inheritance without a will and these regulations are adopted from Swiss civil regulations. The Swiss civil code replaces Turkish law with the Hanafi school. Inheritance law in Turkey has the principle of equality between men and women so that they get the same distribution of inheritance.

Moral Economy: The Afterlife of a Nebulous Concept

Since the re-purposing of the concept of the moral economy by the British historian, E.P. Thompson in the late 1960s, scholars from a variety of disciplines in social sciences and humanities have attempted to apply it as a tool for empirical analysis. As a migratory concept, the meaning of 'moral economy' has shifted from theology to philosophy to anthropology and history. Scholars of religions and historians of religion, however, have shown a reluctance in deploying the concept in their field of study. A flexible and vintage concept such as the moral economy may seem to be an oxymoron when applied to the study of religion and religious reforms. Its utility, however, is demonstrated by a collection of four critical articles in this special issue of this journal to explore wide-ranging empirical materials and contexts. These include the contemporary analysis of religious morality and regulation in Northern Nigeria, the entanglements of Muslim-owned restaurants and Islamic morality in Mumbai (India), Zulu ethnic nationality and morality in the Nazareth Baptist Church in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), and finally, the pre-modern theoretical and philosophical reflections of the 14th-century Tunisian Muslim philosopher, Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun. In these diverse scenarios and contexts, the moral economy concept illustrates its theoretical and analytical capacity and potential in the field of the study of religions.

Imam Gazzali: A Great Philosopher of Islam

Imam Gazzali is known one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, logicians and mystics of the Islamic Golden Age. He is considered to be the 5th century’s mujaddid, means a renewer of the faith, who, according to the prophetic hadith, appears once every hundred years to restore the faith of the Islam and its community. His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded by the honour of the title “Hujjat al-Islam” means “Proof of Islam” Gazzali believed that the Islamic spiritual tradition had become moribund and that the spiritual sciences taught by the first generation of Muslim had been forgotten. This belief led him to write his mugnum opus entitled ‘Ihyaulumad-din’ (The Revival of the Religious Science). Among his other works, the Tuhfat al- Falasifa (Incoherence of the philosophers) is a landmark in the history of philosophy, as it advances the critique of Aristotelian science developed later in 14th century in Europe. Others have cited his opposition to certain stands of Islamic philosophy as a detriment to Islamic scientific progress. Besides his work that successfully changed the course of Islamic philosophy the early Islamic Neo-Platonism that developed on the grounds of Hellenistic philosophy, for example, was so successfully criticized by al- Ghazzali that it never recovered—he also brought the orthodox Islam of his time in close contact with Sufism. It became increasingly possible for individuals to combine orthodox theology and Sufism, while adherents of both camps developed a sense of mutual appreciation that made sweeping condemnation of one by the other increasingly problematic.Al-Ghazzali occupies a unique position in the history of Muslim religious and philosophical thought by whatever standard we may judge him. Al-Subki went so far in his estimation of him as to claim that if there had been a prophet after Muhammad, al-Ghazzali would have been the man. Various spiritual phases developed by him. He was in turn a canon-lawyer and a scholastic, a philosopher and a skeptic, a mystic and a theologian, and a moralist. His position as a theologian of Islam is undoubtedly the most eminent. Through a living synthesis of his creative and energetic personality, he revitalized Muslim theology and reoriented its values and attitudes.His combination of spiritualization and fundamentalism in Islam had such a marked stamp of his powerful personality that it has continued to be accepted by the community since his time. His outlook on philosophy is characterized by a remarkable originality which, however, is more critical than constructive. In his works on philosophy one is struck by a keen philosophical acumen and penetration with which he gives a clear and readable exposition of the views of the philosophers, the subtlety and analyticity with which he criticizes them, and the candour and open-mindedness with which he accepts them whenever he finds them to be true. Nothing frightened him nor fascinated him, and through an extraordinary independence of mind, he became a veritable challenge to the philosophies of Aristotle and Plotinus and to their Muslim representatives before him, al-Farabi and ibnSina. The main trends of the religious and philosophical thought of al-Ghazali, however, come close to the temper of the modern mind. The champions of the modern movement of religious empiricism, on the one hand, and that of logical positivism, on the other, paradoxical though it may seem, would equally find comfort in his works. The teachings of this remarkable figure of Islam pertaining either to religion or philosophy, either constructive or critical, cannot, however, be fully understood without knowing the story of his life with some measure of detail, for, in his case, life and thought were one: rooted in his own personality. Whatever he thought and wrote came with the living reality of his own experience.

CRITICISM OF HADITH AUTHENTICITY ON CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIC THINKERS

Islam knows two primary sources in its legislation, first, the holy Qur’an and the second, Hadith, however, there is a significant difference in the inventory system of both sources. This study aims to discuss about how are the modern Islamic scholars’ perspectives on the Hadith authenticity. The method used is qualitative. Qualitative methods are used to examine natural objects, where researchers become key instruments. In addition, data collected are triangulated (combined), data analyses are inductive, and the results of qualitative research emphasize meaning rather than generalization. The interaction of moslems with the Prophet’s Hadith is very dynamic. The attention of it was not very big at the beginning of Islam because the Prophet was still alive and lived around them at that time as the living Islam (the source of everything), but in the period after the Prophet’s death, the attention to the Hadith increased rapidly. The contemporary Islamic thinkers assume that the Hadith scholars have not given great attention to matan criticism as what in sanad has. The critic opportunity is still opened on the Prophet’s authenticity by using internal criticism (matan of Hadith), as long as using the right methodology as the Hadith scholars have explained.

Ibn Sinā's psychology: the substantiation of soul values in Islamic education

This article presents the concept of the soul from Ibn Sinā's perspective and its substantiation in Islamic education. The soul is one of the major psychological topics which has been explored by Muslim scholars. Among them was Ibn Sinā, a Muslim philosopher, who emphasized the study of the human soul. His mental conception of the soul was so well-developed that it received much attention and appreciation from later Islamic philosophers such as al-Ghazāli, Fakhruddin al-Rāzi, Ibn Rushd and Western scholars. This article explores Ibn Sinā's concept of the soul and its substance in Islamic education. The methodology employed is a literature review together with qualitative research using exploratory, descriptive, and analytical approaches. Ibn Sinā argued that the soul is a living spiritual substance inspiring the body and forms the infrastructure for acquiring knowledge and transforming it in real life. In contrast to the body, the soul is immaterial and eternal. Islamic education cannot be separated from the psychological elements elucidated by Ibn Sinā and must incorporate relevant psychological aspects in order to fully develop the potential of students towards becoming exemplary human beings (insān kāmil).

Muhammad Iqbal’s Innovative Project “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” in the Light of Typology of Eurasia Civilization-Specific Rationalities

Muhammad Iqbal’s Innovative Project “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” in the Light of Typology of Eurasia Civilization-Specific Rationalities

Haj ibn Jakzan - Ibn Tufejlovo remek-delo

Ibn Tufayl, the great Andalusian thinker of the 12th century, is important in the history of Islamic philosophical thought because of his masterpiece Hayy ibn Yaqzan. Ibn Tufayl's novel is one of the most translated texts of Islamic philosophy into Western languages. Hayy ibn Yaqzan is a story about a child born and raised on an island far from civilization and according to many historians of Islamic philosophy, it symbolizes the human soul on its developing spiritual journey towards eternal bliss. Ibn Tufayl's introduction to the book gives a unique insight into the thought background of this philosopher and shows how familiar Ibn Tufayl was with the ideas of prominent Islamic philosophers. The fact that Ibn Tufayl was not a student of any of the four philosophers he names in the introduction - Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ghazali and Ibn Bajja - justifies the choice of the translators of his book to give him the title of self-taught philosopher. Knowing that Hayy ibn Yaqzan is the story of a self-taught man, this nickname can be an additional sign that Ibn Tufayl wrote about himself in the novel. The main motive of Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan is the harmony of religion and science, that is, philosophy. Over time, Hayy unravels most of the most significant scientific achievements of Ibn Tufayl's time to finally devote himself to thinking about the origins of being. This thought development, before Absal, a symbol of religious revelation or mystical tradition, comes to the island, Hayy achieves independently without the help of other cognitive beings. Hayy's autodidacticism symbolizes the self-sufficiency of the rational method in dealing with the truth. From Absal, Hayy learns how to speak and learns about religious rituals, which he begins to practice. The pinnacle of Ibn Tufayl's skill in showing the harmony between religion and philosophy is reflected in the fact that Ibn Tufayl writes about philosophical discoveries in the allegorical language of religion.

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines

Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought and Civilizations as an actor in the process of Islamization in modern Indonesia

The presented article analyzes the features of development and the main vectors of transformation of conservative Islam in modern Indonesia in contexts of the activities of the organization known as the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought and Civilizations (INSISTS). INSISTS is supposed to be the intellectual center of contemporary Islamic traditionalism in Indonesia. The article analyzes the problems of the intellectual agenda of conservatives, including the ideas of the Islamization of science, the rejection of liberal Islam and the criticism of feminism. The article considers the main directions of Muslim conservatives activity as a reaction to the modernization of the Ummah and the temporary success of liberal Islam, although its influence on Muslims was extremely limited. It is believed that INSISTS appeared as an attempt to institutionalize and legitimize conservative and traditionalist trends in modern Indonesian Islam in the form of their expansion into the space of scientific knowledge and political criticism. It is shown that INSISTS, as a formally conservative institution, actually uses liberal discourse, trying to actualize the contemporary problems related to gender and feminism in the political agenda of traditionalists. Therefore, it is assumed that the conservative trends in the modern history of the Indonesian Ummah actualize the significant adaptive potential of the traditionalists.

Book Reviews: Max Stille, Islamic Sermons and Public Piety in Bangladesh: The Poetics of Popular Preaching | Andrew F March, The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought

Book Reviews: Max Stille, Islamic Sermons and Public Piety in Bangladesh: The Poetics of Popular Preaching | Andrew F March, The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought

The peculiarity of the dialectical ideas of the Second Teacher, a prominent representative of the Muslim Renaissance

AbstractThis paper investigates the development of dialectical concepts about the universe, being, metaphysics, scientific methods, and the knowledge of philosophers. The methods it uses are mainly theoretical and empirical methods, such as analysis and synthesis. Within the boundaries of the designated topic, it offers a systematic analysis of the historical periodization of Arab Muslim philosophy from the eighth century to the twentieth. The paper examines the activities of the prominent philosopher and mathematician Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al‐Farabi, showing the circumstances of his borrowing certain forms, concepts, and structures from ancient Greek philosophers. The paper's main conclusion is that al‐Farabi is a Second Teacher in modern philosophy, meaning the continuation in his works of the search for a scientific approach to the study of various forms of being.

A NEXUS BETWEEN RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE With special reference to “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”

Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) (Iqbal, D. J. 1979) is a well-known Muslim theologian, philosopher, mystic, political theorist, politician, and wisdom poet of the 20th century. He is also known as the architect of Pakistan. He contributed in both the mediums of prose and poetry. His poetry is in both the languages Urdu and Persian. Similarly, he wrote and delivered lectures in both Urdu and English. His major philosophical work is in English. The magnum opus of his philosophical work is ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’. This book consists of seven lectures. In the beginning, in 1924, he wrote an article on the concept of Ijtihad. He delivered it as a lecture on 13th December 1924 in Habibia Hall, Islamia College Lahore. Sheikh Abdul Qadir presided over the address. This lecture was warmly welcomed by Muslim intellectuals all over the subcontinent. The representative of the Madras Muslim Association Saith Jamal Ahmad invited Iqbal to deliver a series of lectures under the above-said title. He wrote and delivered six lectures in Madras in January 1929 and later at Hyderabad and Aligarh University. The 1st edition of this book was published in 1930 with six lectures. In 1932/1933 he visited England to participate in the second round table conference. During his stay in England at the request of Aristotelian Society London, he delivered a lecture under the title ‘Is Religion Possible?’ Later on, he included the above-mentioned lecture in the second edition of this book. The 2nd edition was published in 1934 by Oxford University Press. The problem of the relationship between religion, philosophy, and science was a subject of special interest to him. Although he discussed this issue in his wisdom poetry also but he systematically addressed it in this book which is his major philosophical contribution. This article is an effort to critically appreciate Allama Iqbal’s views on religion, philosophy, and science from the perspective of his philosophical discourse. Key Words: Religion, Philosophy, Science, Civilization, Reconstruction, Revelation, Reason

Pengaruh Filsafat Yunani Terhadap Ilmu Kalam Dan Implementasinya Pada Materi Pembelajaran Ilmu Kalam Di Madrasah Aliyah

Philosophy is a science that can never be separated from human life without exception. Philosophy comes from the Greek words Philos which means love and Sophia or Shopos which means knowledge or wisdom. Philosophy is very developed, especially Greek philosophy which gave birth to the great philosophers in the world to be able to influence Islamic philosophy. However, because there are so many pros and cons regarding this influence, several things need to be emphasized so that there are no misunderstandings. The purpose of writing this article is to determine the influence of Greek philosophy on Islamic philosophy which is then implemented in the teaching materials of Kalam at the Madrasah Aliyah level. The research method used is literature study. Sources of data used come from books and related journal articles. The results of his research are Greek philosophy has a great influence in the development of Islamic philosophy, but not as the basis or foundation of Islamic philosophy itself. As for what is implemented in the Kalam Science teaching material, it is Islamic philosophy.

Theological inquest of the teaching of life sciences within the Muslim schools

The teaching of life sciences within the Islamic culture was observed in this investigation by instructors at the Association of Muslim Schools in the KZN region. The following question served as the basis for the investigation: Do Islamic schools teach life sciences from an Islamic perspective? The Association of Muslim Schools gave its approval after receiving ethical scrutiny. A questionnaire, interviews, and observations were used to gather data. The analysis of the data was conducted using an inductive methodology. The philosophy of Islam and its approaches to teaching the required Life Sciences curriculum served as the study's conceptual foundation. The results show that there is a problem with integrating religious knowledge into science teaching in Muslim ethos schools in South Africa. The Professional Teaching Model was an initiative to close the gap caused by educational dualism.

Islamic Cosmology in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Zaghloul al-Najjar, and Nidhal Guessoum’s Perspective

The development of modern science not only provides an influence in terms of the development of science and technology scientifically but also gets a response from academicians who tried to integrate religion and science. Specifically in this study, the focus of the discourse is directed at the field of cosmology. When interpreted by Islamic thinkers such as Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Zaghloul Al-Najjar, and Nidhal Guessoum, cosmology has added the term to Islamic cosmology. The archeological and genealogical theories of Michel Foucault used in this study attempt to explore further the course of Islamic cosmological discourse developed by the three figures. Archeological and genealogical theories seek the genealogical thinking of those three figures. So, we could find the pattern in every methodology they used and the people who influenced them. The research results show that Islamic cosmology discourse is one of the efforts to Islamize science that is unprecedented in the development of Islamic civilization.

The Harmonizing Perspective of Theoretically Theological (Aqidah)-Based and Realistically Fiqhi-Based in Dealing with Pandemics and Plagues

This research discusses the issue of pandemics in relation to the perceptions and views of Muslim theologians on the issues of evil and agony. Besides, it discusses the cause-effect relationship between infection and pandemics. It investigates how affliction affects humans as short and long-term chastisement as argued by the Mu’tazila, Asha’irah and Sufis on one hand and other Muslim philosophers on the other. The study discusses how such pandemics are addressed by Muslim scholars’ jurisprudential interpretations in line with worship, financial and urban countermeasures. It also discusses some essential medical and spiritual approaches to be used as preventative countermeasures against pandemics. The study concludes that it is “faith” that motivates humans to be patient and that instills in them essential values and principles for happiness and self-satisfaction.

ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ ‘S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIO-POLITICAL

This paper explores the socio-political and religious thoughts of Alija Izetbegović, a Bosnian intellectual-turned-politician and one of the Islamic thinkers in ex-Yugoslavia in the 20th century. It applies descriptive and analytical methods to examine the contributions of Izetbegović in the socio-historical context, with particular reference to the Young Muslims movement. It studies the tribulations he endured due to persecution by the Communist Yugoslav authorities. Izetbegović's thought is a response to a twofold equally negative influence on Muslim intellectuals and leaders of the time – the traditionalists whose emphasis on rituals obstructed the reform and the modernists who blindly followed what Izetbegović considered un-Islamic sources. As a solution, Izetbegović advocated attaining personal freedom through education and establishing closer ties among Muslim countries from Indonesia to Morocco.

Knowledge Workers & 'Ilm' - A Retrospective on Islamic Philosophy and Epistemology for Learning Organizations

Purpose - The current paper is intended to introduce knowledge workers and managers to a unique paradigm on virtue epistemology, that is, reflective knowledge, based on the doctrines of Islamic philosophy as 'Ilm.' The study proposed a holistic framework to acquire reflective knowledge, the epistemic attributes of knowledge workers, and the significance of reflective knowledge in the dynamic knowledge economy.
 Methodology – Theoretical framework proposed in the current paper is based on the theories proposed by Muslim philosophers. Books on the epistemological aspect of Islamic philosophy and web-based articles on Ilm as reflective knowledge were taken as references. 
 Findings - Islamic philosophy helps to put forth a holistic paradigm on the virtues of knowledge workers and the attributes that help learning organizations acquire reflective knowledge.
 Practical Implications - The propositions made in this paper may be tested for empirical evidence in future research. Moreover, the framework to acquire reflective knowledge and instilling epistemic virtues in knowledge workers may be a powerful tool for knowledge managers.
 Originality/Value - Islamic philosophy is based on theological grounds; however, this paper intends to introduce the doctrines based on logic and rationale, proposed by noted scholars. The current study is also unique in constructing a holistic framework that may assist organizations to acquire reflective knowledge and train knowledge workers to acquire prescribed epistemic attributes.