Al-Ghazali, Averroes and the Interpretation of the Qur'an


Book Description

This book examines the contrasting interpretations of Islam and the Qur’an by Averroes and Al-Ghazali, as a way of helping us untangle current impasses affecting each Abrahamic faith. This has traditionally been portrayed as a battle between philosophy and theology, but the book shows that Averroes was rather more religious and Al-Ghazali more philosophical than they are usually portrayed. The book traces the interaction between two Muslim thinkers, showing how each is convinced of the existence of a Book in which God is revealed to rational beings, to whom He has given commandments, as well as of the excellence of Islamic society. Yet they differ regarding the proper way to interpret the sacred Book. From this point of view, their discussion does not address the contrast between philosophy and religion, or that between reason and revelation that is so characteristic of the Middle Ages, but rather explores differences at the heart of philosophical discussion in our day: is there a level of discourse which will facilitate mutual comprehension among persons, allowing them to engage in debate? This interpretation of sacred texts illustrates the ways religious practice can shape believers’ readings of their sacred texts, and how philosophical interpretations can be modified by religious practice. Moreover, since this sort of inquiry characterizes each Abrahamic tradition, this study can be expected to enhance interfaith conversation and explore religious ways to enhance tolerance between other believers.




Averroes (Ibn Rushd)


Book Description

Presents the life and times of the Muslim philosopher and physician Averroes.




Islam and Rationality


Book Description

Al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) is one of the most influential thinkers of Islam. There is hardly a genre of Islamic literature where he is not regarded as a major authority. Islamic Law, Sufism, ethics, philosophy, and theology are all deeply shaped by him. Yet in the past thirty years, the field of Ghazālī-studies has been shaken by the realization that Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 428/1037) and other philosophers had a strong influence on him. Now, after the 900th anniversary at his death, the field emerges stronger than ever. This second volume of Islam and Rationality: The Impact of al-Ghazālī brings together twelve leading experts on al-Ghazālī who write about his thought and the impact it had on later Muslim thinkers. Contributors are: Anna Ayşe Akasoy, Ahmed El Shamsy, Kenneth Garden, Frank Griffel, Jules Janssens, Damien Janos, Taneli Kukkonen, Stephen Ogden, M. Sait Özervarlı, Martin Riexinger, Ulrich Rudolph, and Ayman Shihadeh.




Al-Ghazali's Philosophical Theology


Book Description

A comprehensive study of Muslim thinker al-Ghazali's life and his understanding of cosmology-how God creates things and events in the world, how human acts relate to God's power, and how the universe is structured.




تهافت الفلاسفة


Book Description

Although Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali lived a relatively short life (1058-1111), he established himself as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Islam. The Incoherence of the Philosophers, written after more than a decade of travel and ascetic contemplation, contends that while such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna boasted of unassailable arguments on matters of theology and metaphysics, they could not deliver on their claims; moreover, many of their assertions represented disguised heresy and unbelief. Despite its attempted refutation by the twelfth-century philosopher Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali's work remains widely read and influential.




Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey


Book Description

This book explores how traditional Sunni Muslim conceptions have informed or shaped Islamization strategies in contemporary Turkey. In particular, the author proposes to examine the teaching curriculum of the Ministry of Education, which oversees Turkish public religious education; the activities and teachings of Diyanet, the constitutional organ responsible for managing all religious affairs; and the ideas and activities of three Muslim religious groups currently operating in Turkey. The monograph explains how the interpretation and practice of Islam affects various situations in the Muslim world and analyzes the concept of nature in Islam, which has been an indivisible component of Islamic tradition since the beginning.




Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition


Book Description

An initial chapter on the history of Islamic philosophy sets the stage for sixteen articles on issues across the three traditions. The goal is to see the Islamic tradition in its own richness and complexity as the context of most Jewish intellectual work.




A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran


Book Description

This comprehensive set includes thorough examinations of the Qurán in Wherry's essential four volume commentary. There is also an excellent overview of Islam by the well known scholar Edward Sell, The Faith of Islam which examines the history of Islam, the different forms of Islam and religious practice. This set will prove to be an excellent historical resource for anyone interested in western scholarship of Islamic doctrine, and the writings in the Qurán




The Qur'an in Christian-Muslim Dialogue


Book Description

Offering an analysis of Christian-Muslim dialogue across four centuries, this book highlights those voices of ecumenical tone which have more often used the Qur’an for drawing the two faiths together rather than pushing them apart, and amplifies the voice of the Qur’an itself. Finding that there is tremendous ecumenical ground between Christianity and Islam in the voices of their own scholars, this book ranges from a period of declining ecumenism during the first three centuries of Islam, to a period of resurging ecumenism during the most recent century until now. Among the ecumenical voices in the Christian-Muslim dialogue, this book points out that the Qur’an itself is possibly the strongest of those voices. These findings are cause for, and evidence of, hope for the Christian–Muslim relationship: that although agreement may never be reached, dialogue has led at times to very real mutual understanding and appreciation of the religious other. Providing a tool for those pursuing understanding and mutual appreciation between the Islamic and Christian faiths, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of Islam, the Qur’an and the history of Christian-Muslim relations.




Biblical Figures in the Islamic Faith


Book Description

Vicchio believes that by understanding how much Muslim tradition overlaps with the biblical traditions of Judaism and Christianity, we might begin to expose a wedge of common ground on which understanding and respect might begin to be built. Vicchio begins with a brief introduction sketching some fundamentals of Muslim history and culture, and clearing away some common misconceptions. His main goal, however, is to give us a detailed look at the treatment of biblical figures in the literature of Islam. The broad range of his research and presentation is startling. He begins with the Qur'an but continues on to the collected writing of the roughly two hundred years after Mohammed (Hadith, Sunnah, Akhbar) that came to be regarded as authoritative in the various traditions that developed in early Islam. He then traces the interest in these biblical figures on into modern treatments of the role of these figures in Muslim scholarship and how these figures are understood and used in the traditions of Islam yet today. The result of Vicchio's scholarship and presentation will be a revelation to most Christian and Jewish readers. It has become somewhat commonplace to refer to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as the three Abrahamic faiths. This shows a beginning awareness of the beginnings of each of these three great religions, birthed in the Middle East, in a common ancestor, Abraham (Ibrahim). Abraham's faithfulness and his closeness to God make his a revered figure in each of these three great faiths, and for each Abraham is a beginning of the story of the particular relationship between God and the people of each of these religions. --from the Foreword