Muslim Theologians Research Articles

On the Limits of Islamic Cinema: The Politics of Halal Cinema Discourse in Kerala, India

Some of the most crucial debates surrounding Islamic legitimacy and cinema rotate around the question of the permissible ( ḥalāl) and prohibited ( ḥarām) in Islamic law and how these function for Muslim theology and politics. Emerging from these debates, halal cinema has been one of the recent critical interventions in the field of Indian and Islamic cinema. Rather than making cinema Islamic from an ideological position, the new halal experiments with the visual language of cinema without compromising the popular dimensions of its viewership. This article looks at the politics of halal cinema within the context of the state of Kerala in South India and argues that the space of halal cinema shows the aspirations and negotiations of the Muslim community in Kerala. Halal cinema thus becomes an immanent critique of Islamic cinema by destabilizing the dominant practice that connects the relationship between Islam and cinema.

The Significance of Nahj-ul-Balaghah in the Development of Muslim Theosophy: An Analytical Exposition

Nahj ul Balagah, the seminal work of wisdom by Ali ibn Talib (Karm Allah Wajho)[i] comprises the sermons, letters and sayings, delivered by him on various occasions during his life till his death. Every piece of writing in this work is exponent of his wisdom and his scholarship. The objective of this article is to highlight the role of Hazrat Ali’s insight and wisdom in the history of theology and theosophy of Islamic history of thought. Moreover, the focus of this humble research is to bring into light the missing aspect of Hazrat Ali’s personality as Theologian and Theosophist along-with to reveal the significance of his sermons and saying in the hot debates of that time theological sects and schools of thought. All his sermons, sayings and letters had been collected (Sharif al-Radi, 970 –1015 AD) and named as Nahj ul Balagah. This book has been read, quoted and revered but it is tragic fact that it had neither been given proper place nor understood impartially. In the same manner, the author, Hazrat Ali (KAW) had been respected and remembered as valor, wise, generous and pious person but very little had been mentioned regarding his being as a Theologian and Theosophist. This research article would reveal the significance of this book, and its relevance regarding the theological or theosophical dimension of the problem of Muslim Theology and Theosophy.

Rizaetdin Fakhretdin (1859–1936) as a Founder of Faizkhanov Studies

This article is timed to the 165th anniversary of the major Muslim theologian of Russia Rizaetdin Fakhretdin (1859–1936) and deals with the examination of his works on the life and activities of Husain Faizkhanov (1823–1866). The article shows that R. Fakhretdin was the author of the first works specially devoted to Kh. Faizkhanov and thus actually became the founder of Faizkhanov Studies. The article analyses the materials of R. Fakhretdinov’s materials published in the biographical work Asār (1908), the journal Shura (1916), and some unpublished works that appeared later are analysed. The article shows that R. Fakhretdin was purposefully engaged in the study of H. Faizkhanov’s activities and also purposefully collected the related materials. The range of sources he used is wide and varied. The main of them was the manuscript work of Shikhabetdin Marjani (1818– 1889) Vafiyyat al-’aslāf va takḥiyyat al-’akḫlāf, supplemented by documentary materials and oral testimonies obtained as a result of R. Fakhretdin’s own research. He details a number of information reported by Sh. Marjani. Some reports and comments of R. Fakhretdin were confirmed as a result of subsequent research.

The traditional and rational in the exegetical methodology of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (839–923)

It is generally believed that the commentary of the Qur’ān (tafsīr) by the medieval Muslim theologian Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (839–923), who is the first systematizer of classical Qur’ānic exegesis, “Jā mi‘ al-bayā n ‘an ta’wī l ay al-Qur’ā n” (“The Comprehensive Exposition of the Interpretation of the Qur’ān”) definitely belongs to the genre of commentary based on traditions (tafsīr bi-l-ma’thūr), which is usually opposed to the genre of rationalistic interpretations (tafsīr bi-r-ra’y), rejected by a number of literalist movements of Islam. However, the analysis carried out in this study shows that Ṭabarī not only cites the traditions of the “ancient fathers of the Ummah”, while often representing different opinions, but also expresses his own point of view, based in most cases on the basis of linguistic analysis. The exegetical formula “tradition + language” formulated by him, where the latter element is decisive, is a peculiar combination of the traditional with the rational. This approach of “the lead of the Mufassiers”, among other things, opens up wide opportunities for future generations to reveal modern interpretations of the Qur’ānic text.

Dynamics of Islamic Theological Thought Development in the Classical Period

The discourse surrounding the issue of classical Islamic theology that has developed so far is: First, that the emergence of schools in Islamic theology was predominantly due to political factors, even though if explored more deeply it turns out that differences in methods of thinking were the main factor; Second, there is an assumption that mutaqaddimin scholars understand theological verses in the Koran textually and do not understand them rationally, even though in reality many Muslim theologians interpret these theological verses rationally and freely. Based on these two issues, this article will reveal the dynamics of Islamic theological thinking of Islamic scholars in the classical period. The aim is to find the significance of the influence of the thinking activities of Muslim theologians during the classical period on the growth and development of Islamic theological thought and the birth of firqahs in Islamic theology during that period.

Decolonizing the Politics of Love: A Ghazālian Genealogy of Love in Islam

ABSTRACT This article invites a consideration of more diverse conceptions of love. It proposes as a contribution specific Islamic forms of love, especially those theorized by the medieval Muslim theologian, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111). The goal is to decolonize the concept of love from dominant Christocentric notions of agape and redemptive forms of love that shape interfaith dialogue. It argues why we need to explore and take account of different conceptions of love. Pope Benedict scandalized the Muslim world with his 2006 Regensberg lecture. The source for many of these misunderstandings is the equation of the ontotheology of love in a particular strand of Christianity with love in Islam. Historically, Islam's ontotheology is centered around incumbent mercy, whereas love is a product within a theological apparatus of experiential relationships of humans with each other as well as with the divine. The article elaborates why Ghazālī's phenomenology of love enriches our understanding of love. Foregrounding knowledge, perception, and obedience, Ghazālī offers a complex experiential conception of love within a Muslim theological ‘apparatus’ and matrix. Proposing that Christianity and Islam have love in common, as some have proposed, does not do justice to the rich, but very different conceptions of love in each tradition.

Normativ muslimsk ekoteologi

Many Muslim theologians have been engaged in the debate over environmental destruction, global warming, and humanity's role in the emission of greenhouse gases threating the Earth, humanity, and all animal and plant life. One element of the debate in the West has been the role played by Christianity in the environmental and climate crisis. The Christian creation theology, which elevates human beings to lords of creation with sovereignity over the Earth, has been a prominent target of criticism. Its perspective has been accused of conferring legitimacy upon humanity's plundering of nature. A similar viewpoint can be found in the Islamic creation theology, which presents human beings as the supreme creation in whose service God has created everything under the heavens. Muslim ecotheologians reject any criticism of the Islamic creation theology as a contributing factor to the environmental and climate crisis. Rather, they seek the root of these problems in the Western worldview and its anthropocentrism and individualism. Furthermore, the criticism is directed at Cartesian deism, industrialism, colonialism, the capitalist economic system, and, last but not least, the European model's claim to universalism. These are identified as the most important factors that have laid the foundation for a destructive impact on the environment and climate.

The Approach of Kalām to the Physical Universe: Schools and Breaks

Since the end of the eighth century, Muslim theologians (mutakallimūn) have been more interested in the physical universe and have put forward theories on subjects such as matter, motion, stasis, and change that were not on their agenda before. As the approaches to physics of Kalām schools are different from each other, the way of thinking about physics in different periods is also different. This study aims to determine the approaches of Muslim theologians to the physical universe. In this context, it can be said that Muslim theologians have five different approaches. The first of these is the supporters of accidents. This approach, which argues that the universe consists of accidents, suggests that it is the work of our minds to see objects as integrated structures. The second is naturalist theologians such as al-Naẓẓām, al-Jāḥiẓ, and Thumâma. Their common feature is that they accept the nature of objects. According to this approach, objects must behave according to their nature without needing any other intervention. al-Naẓẓām developed a theory suitable for this approach and tried to support it with experience. al-Naẓẓām, who rejects atomism, insists that objects are composed of opposite components and that they have an internal dynamism that allows them to be in constant motion. al-Jāhiz, on the other hand, did many experiments to learn the nature and movements of animals. The third approach to the physics of Kalām is atomist theologians. Atomism is the most common physics approach in Kalām. According to this approach, objects are not divided infinitely. The universe is made up of indivisible particles. This approach insists that there are voids between atoms. Atomist theologians, who give some examples to defend their ideas, do not accept that objects have nature. Instead, they developed the theory of impetus (iʿtimād) to explain motion. The fourth approach is both atomists and naturalist theologians. This approach, led by Abū al-Qāsim al-Kaʿbī, argues that the universe consists of atoms and that every object has a nature. This approach says there is no void in the universe and tries to prove this idea by explaining many phenomena. The fifth approach is taken by theologians who evaluate the physical universe with Aristotle’s theory of four causes. After al-Ghazzālī, Ashʿarī theologians tried to harmonize Aristotle’s theory of four causes, which formed the basis of his physics, with their theological theses. The article discusses what methods are followed to achieve this.

Eternity of the Word of God: Exploring a Common Theme in Judeo-Christian and Muslim Theological Discourse

Emerging religions typically lack an established theology initially. Their theology develops gradually; and Islam exhibits traces of influence from earlier belief systems. Therefore, some novel concepts in Muslim theology emerged through the contributions of converts from other faiths. The second and third centuries AH were the formative periods, after which thought degenerated into a split of hairs. Religion was in a ferment, which brought in many strange ideas. Nonetheless, some Muslim scholars disagree that even Judaism and Christianity had some influence on certain Muslim worldviews. Focusing on the doctrine of eternity of the Qur’ān, this paper finds out the extent to which not only Judaism and Christianity but even Greek philosophical principles had some influence on certain Muslim beliefs. The methodology was historical reasoning and analysis of facts in Greek, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The aim is to go beyond the semantic surface into the inner reaches of these traditions to see exactly where the notion of scriptural eternity is anchored. The paper draws attention to the fact that examining the theories about the Qur’ān in the light of inter-textual reasoning with the bible and pre-biblical literature produces interesting data for the Islamic theology of inclusivism although cross-cultural nexus with certain theories about the Qur’ān and Islam in general is rejected by Muslim researchers. The paper revisits the debate and traces the origin of the doctrine arguing that it has possible connections with Greek and Judeo-Christian beliefs. It also appraises some of the arguments of the principal theological groups that defended or refuted the doctrine, respectively.

What Is God’s Speech (Kalāmullāh): Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Rāzī’s Philosophical Solution to A Theological Disagreement

Centuries after the miḥnah, the problem of the status of the Qurʿān and God’s speech in general persisted as a crucial theological problem discussed among Muslim theologians. This study examines the solution to this debate suggested by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210), an Ashʿarite-Shafiʿite theologian, with special reference to his book Khalq al-Qurʾān Bayn al-Muʿtazilah Wa Ahl al-Sunnah. It aims principally to discuss how al-Rāzī responds to the objections from his opponents on the nature of God’s speech, its uniqueness, and its pre-eternity. This research found that despite his affiliation to Ashʿarite school, al-Rāzī took a more moderate position towards the Muʿtazilah compared to his predecessors. He accepts the argument of the Muʿtazilah school that is built on the different conceptions of speech (kalām). We also found that the main key to understanding the debate between the pre-eternity or adventitiousness of God’s speech, including the Qur’ān, derived principally from the definition of speech itself. Rāzī does not reject the createdness of the external dimension of God’s speech, but he defends that its inner dimension (kalām nafs) is eternal. Furthermore, al-Rāzī also does not hesitate to borrow the falsafa theory to solve the problem of the pre-eternity of kalām as God’s attribute.

ON THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AND THE LANGUAGE OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABU NASR AL-FARABI

Al-Farabi's views on the issue of language largely coincide with Aristotle's. But unlike Aristotle, who limited the study of language to the framework of poetics and rhetoric, and did not accept language as an independent object of study at all, Farabi singles out language as a subject of scientific research, distinguishes it as a subject of scientific research, and includes it in the classification list of subjects that are considered as the main branch of science, which is an in-depth study requires. In the philosophical question of language, the main question is the question of the origin of language. This question has not always escaped the attention of scholars of the Arabic-speaking world, this issue has interested Arab linguists, Muslim theologians, and, of course, philosophers. The philosophy of language and philosophical language problems in the teaching of Abu Nasir al-Farabi: to analyze the history of the development of the main problems of the philosophy of language in order to study the relationship between language and consciousness, the continuity of logic and grammar, and the peculiarities of the formation of philosophical terms, to show their importance for the development of the scientific paradigm of social and humanitarian education, Determining the philosophical (ontological, methodological, epistemological, axiological) foundations of Farabi's teaching about language, formulating the philosophical problems of language in connection with logic, studying his opinions on terms and terminology, conceptual-categorical apparatus with explanations, etc. the critical tasks of providing a philosophical basis for the actual problems and methodological principles of research. The philosophy of language is not only a branch of philosophy that studies the relationship between thinking and language, but also allows to determine the communicative role of language, different forms of speech and speech in discourse, the role of consciousness and knowledge in cognition. Although al-Farabi's sociological, political, and partially logical views have been studied until now, the study of the relationship between words and thinking, grammar and logic, making a systematic philosophical analysis of his linguistic researches, will be an important indicator of the article.

Al-Din al-Fit’rat’ Versus ‘Religion of Nature or Naturalism’: The Misunderstood Terms Regarding True Spirit of Islam

The two terms ‘al-Fitrat’ and ‘Nature’ have always been used as synonyms. Books and internet sources including encyclopaedias, provide abundant information based on the concept as these two terms as synonyms. But this paper will reveal that it is a mistake to regard them synonyms. When we expend this concept to Islam as Al-Din Al Fitrat and Western theory of Naturalism and Natural Religions, these terms become ambiguous or having different meanings. Situation becomes more grave when we use the term Nature about something as having some latent and permanent rules, inaccordance with the such thing is bound to work blindly such as the nature of wild animals e.g.snakes, the scorpion, the lion or the fierce phenomenon e.g. the natural forces.
 Application of the term ‘nature’ and use of the term ‘naturalism’ in comparison to Islamic concept of ‘Al-fitrat’is distorting image of Islam as Din al Fitrat. Western concept of ‘Nature’ and ‘Naturalism’ and ‘Natural explanation’, of the Universe are contrary to the concept of Al-Fitrat. The former is cruel, deterministic, and bound force to act according to its own deterministic rules and to act likewise towards other existents. But Islamic concept of ‘al Fitrat’, is neither deterministic nor static. It is creative and kind, that is why God calls himself Al Raheem, al Rehman, and claims that Islam as ‘Din Al- Fitrat’ as well as everyone is born on the basis of ‘al din al fitrat’. So the ‘Nature’ or ‘Naturalism’ does not qualify to be regarded as equal to ‘al-fitrat’. 
 Key Words: 
 Al-Fitrat, Creationism, Free Will and Determinism, Muslim Theology, Nature, Naturalism, Revealed and Natural Religions, Totemism

The Dialogical Paths with Islam in the East: Homage to Arabic Christian Theology

This is an opinion article, based on a lifelong syncretic study of the dialogical paths taken by Eastern theologians, Greeks and Arabs. At the crossroads of three continents, in direct relation with the Byzantine and Syriac traditions, with the Mediterranean and its Greco-Roman culture, but also with the Asian and African hinterland, Arab and Arabic-speaking Christian theologians have formed a culture of dialogue. They managed to engage with Islam in shapes and forms that are of very great interest and could point the way to a different approach to Islam today. The article, written by a Greek author, proposes a better integration of Arabic Orthodox theology as an enrichment to Orthodox theology as a whole, serving at the same time a broader connection between the Greek and Arab worlds. The article also proposes that discovering the heritage of the Orthodox East is interesting for Christian theology on a global scale. In primarily Christian/Western academia, one should be open to a genuine encounter with the Islamic world beyond geopolitics and other concerns extrinsic to religion; this is an encounter that would open up paths beyond the “clash of civilisations” impasse and allow for the rediscovery of the humanizing factor of religion. This is of interest to Christian and Muslim theologians as well as serving humanity and creation as a whole.

The “Metaphysical Monster” and Muslim Theology

By placing Blackamerican Muslim theologian Sherman A. Jackson’s work, especially his Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering, in conversation with the work of American pragmatist William James, I explore the pragmatic dimensions of Islamic thought through an examination of Jackson’s account of classical Islamic theology put forward in response to the problem of Black suffering. In doing so, I argue that Jackson’s account both parallels and challenges a Jamesian account of religion. It parallels James in that it speaks of the “practical effectiveness” of the “web of beliefs” constituting Islamic doctrines of God in inculcating certain habits of seeing and acting in the world that best deal with the challenges of “black experience”; however, in this process, the category of “experience” itself and its role in the verification of belief is thoroughly interrogated. In his critical engagement with Black philosopher of religion William R.Jones, Jackson exposes the uncritical role played by “experience” in Jones’ thought, a charge which will be made of James as well. In making this argument about Jackson, I hope to provide an example of a Muslim theologian who makes explicit the pragmatic dimensions of religious doctrine, demonstrating that thick theological discourse can be practical. There are some people—and I am one of them—who think that the most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe. —G.K. Chesterton, “Heretics”

Metaphysical Impact of Concealed beings on Man: A Thematic Study in the light of the Qur’an

The two worlds were made by Allah swt the physically visible world and the metaphysically invisible realm according to Muslim Theology. The unseen ‘Al-Ghayb’ means the things that cannot be perceived by the five senses or hidden or concealed from the human eye. Some modern Muslim theologians have the misperceptions concerning the ‘unseen creatures’ and their consequences or influences on humans mentioned in Quran which guides that these ‘unseen creatures’ may lead man towards the disturbance in the human nature as well as assistance to the man which effects man’s life. To belief in ghayb is the central element of Muslim’s belief. Invisible beings are made in the world entities that are invisible to the human eye be present in a world that is parallel to the physical world. The Qur'an and the literature of the Hadiths both feature stories about these creatures. The present study's focus is on determining whether the nature of invisible beings is good or evil, as well as how they interact with the physical world. Unseen creatures make people’s devastation and spoil their hearts and thoughts too to ruin their selves. There are invisible creatures that contribute to make man’s life and assist during the course of man’s life. The importance of studying the invisible beings is such that Allah SW addressed its final revelation due to its significance and impact on human beings.

On the Limits of Islamic Cinema: The Politics of Halal Cinema Discourse in Kerala, India

Some of the most crucial debates surrounding Islamic legitimacy and cinema rotate around the question of the permissible ( ḥalāl) and prohibited ( ḥarām) in Islamic law and how these function for Muslim theology and politics. Emerging from these debates, halal cinema has been one of the recent critical interventions in the field of Indian and Islamic cinema. Rather than making cinema Islamic from an ideological position, the new halal experiments with the visual language of cinema without compromising the popular dimensions of its viewership. This article looks at the politics of halal cinema within the context of the state of Kerala in South India and argues that the space of halal cinema shows the aspirations and negotiations of the Muslim community in Kerala. Halal cinema thus becomes an immanent critique of Islamic cinema by destabilizing the dominant practice that connects the relationship between Islam and cinema.

Sorcery or Science? Contesting Knowledge and Practice in West African Sufi Texts By Ariela Marcus-Sells

In late eighteenth-century West Africa, cycles of increasing violence and slave raiding sparked a desire for new modes of political organization. In the Sahel and savannah lands, there was a wave of military campaigns to establish Muslim-ruled states. In the western Sahara Desert, however, the Sufi Muslim theologians Sīdī al-Mukhtār (d. 1811) and his son and successor Sīdī Muḥammad al-Kuntī (d. 1826)—founders of the Kunta scholarly network—adopted a different model. Drawing on material and social capital acquired through trans-Saharan trade and pedagogical networks, they consolidated their position as socioreligious leaders, playing a pivotal role in the political developments of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. In Sorcery or Science? Ariela Marcus-Sells tells the story of Sīdī al-Mukhtār and Sīdī Muḥammad al-Kuntī through the prism of their writings on ‘the sciences of the unseen’ (ʿulūm al-ghayb). Through close analysis of these texts, Marcus-Sells looks at how the Kunta scholars defined and limited access to legitimate knowledge and practice, thus responding to—and shaping—the social authority under which they lived.

Reason vs. Religion in Medieval India: Mainly from Evidence in Persian

The pursuit of reason may be defined as the drawing of logical deductions from a study of actual phenomena, and thus be essentially confined to the results gained from access to the various branches of science. It was in Greece where, from the fifth century BCE onward, rational thought was deemed to have developed most. Greek texts exercised undeniable influence on early thought in the Islamic world, Alberūnī’s Kitabu’l Hind being a remarkable product of that influence. Muslim theologians mounted a tirade against rationality (‘aql), in which the ṣūfīs joined; but since ṣūfic moral thought often tended to override Muslim theology, there could arise figures (even if partly imaginary) like Rābi‘a of Basra, who stood up against theology and its fictions. The conflict between ma‘qūlāt (reason) and manqūlāt (theology) was duly imported into India, along with the arrival of the Arabic–Persian sciences in the 13th and 14th centuries. Here poetry in Persian also became a major vehicle undermining theology. The tendency is partly present in Amīr Khusrau of Delhi (extolling love above theology!), but especially in the Iranian poet Ḥāfiz Shīrāzī, where the sāqī and ale-house constituted the major alternative to the pulpit and the mosque. In Indo-Persian poetry the same role is often ascribed to the but (idol) and the butkhāna (temple). It was under Akbar (r. 1556–1605) that a detailed inquiry (1574 onward) into Islamic beliefs and the doctrines of other religions led to disquiet about their validity. Abū’l Faẓl (d. 1602) became the leading light of a revival of rationality. Akbar’s own critique of Islam was similarly extended to aspects of Hinduism. ‘Urfī represents best the shift to reason, by the boldness of his poetry, rejecting religion for its inadequacy and looking forward to a just world. The seventeenth century did not fulfil the promise of the 16th. There was continuing interest in religion, shown by Jahāngīr’s formula: Tasawwuf = Vedānta; Dārā Shukoh’s translation of the Upanishads; and Mobad’s unique work Dabistān. But there was no corresponding assertion of rationality, whose votaries were reduced to a small band, last described, c. 1655.

The Qurʾān and the Future of Islamic Analytic Theology

Islamic analytic theology emerges into an uncharted territory that is dominated by two loosely defined areas: analytic philosophy and analytic theology. As a nascent field, this article argues that for Islamic analytic theology to move forward, it needs to place the Qurʾān at its centre. To have a clear understanding of our terms, I begin by attempting a definition of Islamic analytic theology. Taking a normative approach to the subject, I consolidate the discussion with five methodical questions. Firstly, what has been going on in Islamic theology? (The descriptive task). Secondly, why has this been going on? (The interpretative task). Thirdly, what ought to be going on? (The normative task). Fourthly, how might we, as Muslim theologians, respond? (The pragmatic task). Fifthly, why should Muslim theologians conduct analytic theology? (The functional task) To situate Islamic analytic theology within this wider discussion, I end the article by offering some insights on how Islamic analytic theology relates to old Kalām. By the end of the article, we will have laid the groundwork showing the way forward for a more developed Islamic analytic theology.

Islamic legal discourse on the pages of the Tatar periodical press of the early XX century

The period between the late XIX – early XX centuries in the history of Tatar social thought represents the age of rapid development. On the one hand, this fact is connected with the processes of the formation of capitalism in Russia, since new circumstances required new conclusions of theologians. On the other hand, it is related with the political and economic stagnation in the Islamic world. In this regard, Muslim theologians, including Tatar theologians, were looking for a way out of the current crisis. In this regard, the study of the Tatar periodical press is particularly interesting, since, unlike theological treatises, it makes possible to identify real questions addressed by imams and ordinary Muslims to theologians. It makes possible to study the practical side of the problem.