Mid Term Islamic Thought

 

Dear all, 

 

These are the 30 multiple choice questions on which you will examined next week. Good luck with the preparation!

• 1) Which of these lists of Muslim scholars is organized chronologically?
• Week 3: Famous Philosophers
• Al-Kindī (d. after 256/870)
• Al-Fārābī (d. 339/950-1)
• Al-‘Āmirī (d. 381/991)
• Ibn Sīnā (370-428/980-1037)
• Ibn Tufayl (d. 581/1185-6)
• Suhrawardī (549-587/1154-1191)
• Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (520-595/1126-1198)
• Al-Tūsī, Nasīr al-Din (1201-1274)
• Al-Ījī (d. 756/1355)
• Mulla Sadrā (Sadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī) (979-1050/1571-1640)
• Week 5: Famous Theologians
• Al-Ash‘ari (d. 324/935-6)
• ‘Abd al-Jabbār (d. 415/1024-5)
• Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064)
• Al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085)
• Al-Ghazālī (450-505/1058-1111)
• Fakhr al-Din al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210)
• Ibn Arabi (560-638/1165-1240)
• Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728-9/1328)
• Sa‘d al-Din al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390)
• Combined List: (P for Philosophy & T for Theologian)
• Al-Kindī (d. after 256/870) P
• Abu Hatim, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Razi (811–890) T/Shi’i
• Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī (854–925) T
• Al-Ash‘ari (d. 324/935-6) T
• Al-Fārābī (d. 339/950-1) P
• Mas‘udi (896-956) H
• Al-‘Āmirī (d. 381/991) P
• ‘Abd al-Jabbār (d. 415/1024-5) T
• Ibn Sīnā (370-428/980-1037) P
• Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064) T
• Al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085) T
• Al-Ghazālī (450-505/1058-1111) T
• Ibn Tufayl (d. 581/1185-6) P
• Suhrawardī (549-587/1154-1191) P
• Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (520-595/1126-1198) P
• Fakhr al-Din al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) T
• Ibn Arabi (560-638/1165-1240) T
• Nasīr al-Din Al-Tūsī (1201-1274) P
• Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728-9/1328) T
• Al-Ījī (d. 756/1355) P
• Sa‘d al-Din al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390) T
• Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406)
• Mulla Sadrā (Sadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī) (979-1050/1571-1640) P
• Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (1839-1897)
• Muḥammad 'Abduh (1849 – 11 July 1905)
• Said Nursi (1870-1960)

• 2) Which one of these features characterizes Islamic thought in the twentieth century according to SuhaTaji-Farouki and Basheer Nafi?

·       Week 1-2

• The diversity and fragmentation of contemporary Islamic discourse
• Its responsiveness: a discourse of crisis
• The lasting impact of Orientalism
• Growing influence of the social sciences  

• 3) Why do SuhaTaji-Farouki and Basheer Nafi describe Islamic thought in the twentieth century as a “discourse of crisis”?
• Nafi and Taji-Farouki text (pg. 3):
• The conflict that arises when trying to reconcile both the old (Islamic tradition) and the new (modern world)
• Irreconcilable differences between the old and the new
• Values of the mosque vis-vie morality of the secular public sphere
• Laws from the sacred book vis-vie official law of the land
• The unrepresentativeness of the body politic vis-vie pervasive and centralized modern state
• Worldview advanced by Islamic Schools vis-vie world view advanced by modern education

• 4) Which of these are criteria used by Abdullah Saeed to categorize contemporary Islamic thought?
• Week 1-2
• Hermeneutical approaches (ways of reading and contextualizing the sacred texts)
• Understandings of [Western] modernity
• Visions of Islam (what is the proper place for Islam in public and private life?)
• Ideas about the (il)legitimacy of political violence

• 5) How does Ibn Rushd prove that the pursuit of philosophy is mandatory in Islam?
• Week 3:
• Philosophy is mandatory according to Islamic Law
• Ibn Rushd offers this syllogistic reasoning:
• A) Philosophy is the study of the divine order
• B) The study of the Divine order is commanded by the Law
• C) Therefore, philosophy is commanded by the Law

• 6) What is the method proposed by Ibn Rushd to reconcile any conflicts that may arise between philosophical claims and religious truths?
• Decisive Treatise text (pg. 9):
• If the demonstrative reflection (philosophical claims) is different from the Law (religious truths) then an interpretation (figurative significance) is pursued. This, without violating the Arabic language.

 

• 7) What are the issues that place Arabic philosophers outside the fold of Islam according to Abu Hamid al-Ghazali?
• Week 3:
• The eternity of the world
• God’s knowledge of particulars
• The resurrection of the bodies

• 8) How should one characterize the debate between Abu Bakr al-Razi and Abu Hatim al-Razi in The Proofs of Prophecy?
• Week 3:
• There is an anthropological rift between Abu Bakr al-Razi and Abu Hatim al-Razi. The disagreement revolves around their different understandings of God.
• Deistic God (Abu Bakr) vs. Theistic God (Abu Hatim)
• Dialectical Argumentation:
• Abu Hatim tries to show inconsistencies in Abu Bakr in a dialectical manner

• 9) How does Abu Hatim al-Razi counter Abu Bakr al-Razi’s claim that interpreters of religious traditions foster conflict and animosity among peoples?
• Week 3:
• Philological argument
• Abu Hatim accused Abu Bakr of lacking a full mastery of the Arabic language

• 10) How has Jamal al-Din al-Afghani sought to re-orient Islamic philosophy in his lecture on “The Benefits of Philosophy”?
• Week 4 Slides & The Benefits of Philosophy text
• Al-Afghani seeks to reorient Islamic philosophy towards contemporary problems
• Wants to revive the part of philosophy that was concerned with “the circumstances of the rise and fall of peoples in civilization, science, learning, and manufactures. It sought the causes of laws and the reasons for legislation” (112)

§  He tried to reorient philosophy towards a project of civilizational awakening and contemporary problems (p.120), thus making philosophy more worldly

§  Causes of poverty, helplessness, distress

§  Philosophy aims at “human perfection in reason, mind, soul, and way of life” (Al-Afghani, 110). In this definition, philosophical knowledge is not disembodied. Philosophy is not only an abstract body of thought that can be known or ignored. It is on the contrary an integral part of a virtuous and harmonious life. This understanding of philosophy offers a useful corrective to the pitfalls of modern academic life.

 

·       11) Why is Ghazali's thought better equipped than Ibn Rushd's to address the challenges of modernity according to Basit Koshul?

o   Basit Bilal Koshul  text (pg. 224):

·       Describing and providing the limits of rational thought (pg. 224)

o   The problem of modern thought lies in an excess of reason and dissolution of the sacred (p.223)

o   The most pressing challenge is to recognize the limit of reason (p.224)

o   Ibn Rushd’s corpus offers virtually nothing of value (p.224)

o   If modern Islamic thought is to make positive contribution, Koshul believe that Ghazali’s corpus contains a great deal more resource than Ibn Rushd, and that al-Ghazali is a better starting point for Islam’s sojourn into modernity. (p.224-225)

• 12) Why is a philosophical feminist engagement with the Islamic tradition of akhlaq important according to Zahra Ayubi?
• Week 4 Slides & Ayubi text:
• Provides a framework whereby questions of inclusivity and justice can be foregrounded (248)
• It allows us to ask new and critical questions about the akhlaq tradition
• It helps us develop a program for more inclusive ethics in Islam

• 13) Which one of these features is not part of the program articulated by Zahra Ayubi within her call to develop a feminist philosophy of Islam?
• Week 4 & Ayubi text:
•  Reconstruct human flourishing, social welfare and justice on a foundation of equality (253)
• Liberate reason from exclusion (262): rework the ethicist commitment to rationality while avoiding an exclusionary definition of humanity (255)
• Reimagine the social responsibility of enacting justice by decoupling khilafa from patriarchy (264)
• Develop a gender-equal understanding of knowledge that is attentive to standpoint epistemology (265)

• 14) What best explains the emergence of the discipline of theology ('ilm al-kalam) according to Ibn Khaldun?
• Week 5 Slides and Muqaddimah:
• Defense of the article of faith
• Theology is “a science that involves arguing with logical proofs in defense of the articles of faith and refuting innovators who deviate in their dogmas from the early Muslims and Muslim orthodoxy”

§  Divergent opinion began to surface concerning details of the article of faith; most of the differences concerned ambiguous verses. This led to hostility and disputation. Logical argumentation was used in addition to the traditional material. In this way, the science of speculative theology originated (45).

• 15) Why does Ibn Khaldun speak about measuring mountains in a scale made for weighing gold?
• Muqaddimah:
• The intellect is a correct scale but is too small to weigh such matters like the oneness of God, the other world, the truth of prophecy, the real character of the divine attributes, or anything else that lies beyond the level of the intellect (38) in understanding such matters like;
• Just like a gold scale cannot weigh mountains, so too is reason unable to fully grasp what transcends the realm of human perception (38)

• 16) What were common arguments of the opponents of theology (‘ilm al-kalam) in the tenth century CE?
• Week 5 Slides & Al-Ash‘ari’s Vindication of Kalam text:
•  If theology was a matter of importance, the prophet and the companions would have discussed it (p.151)
• He (the prophet) left nothing to be said by anyone about religion without addressing it
• It is innovation and deviation
• Since kalam is not practiced by the prophet or companion, it is therefore an innovation (p.152)
• They did not discuss it because of two reasons: (p.152)
• They were intentionally silent about it
• They were ignorant about it
• There are a number of Qur’anic verses that have been understood to discourage systematic inquiry:
• the frivolous inquiries of the soul
• frivolous debate about the number of people in the Cave of surat al-Kahf

• 17) How does Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari defend Islamic theology against accusations of "innovation" (bid'a)?
• Week 5 and Al-Ash‘ari’s Vindication of Kalam text:
• Three ways argument:
1. Turn the question against them (p.152)
• It is also true that the Prophet never said: “IF anyone shold inquire into that and discuss it, regard him as a deviating innovator.” So you are constrained to regard yourselves as deviating innovators, since you have discussed something that the Prophet did not discuss, and you have accused of deviation him whom the Prophet did not so accuse.”
2. The basic principle of the subject of kalam (the questions) are present in the Quran and Sunnah in general terms, not in detail (p.152)
3. The prophet knows these questions but they did not occur in his time in such specific form that he should (not) have discussed them (p.157)

• 18) Which of these doctrines does not constitute a key principle of Mu'tazili doctrine as articulated by Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar?
• Week 5 Slides and ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s Mu‘tazili Five Principles

§  The five fundamentals or doctrines (p.161)

1.      Unicity

§  “It is the knowledge that God, being unique, has attributes that no creatures shares with Him” (162)

2.      Justice

§  God is removed from moral wrong, all His acts are good (162)

§  Non-Muslims and Individual moral responsibility (162)

§  Freedom vs. Predestination

3.      The promise and the threat

§  The promise of recompense to those who obey Him and punishment for those who disobey Him

4.      The intermediate position (neither believer nor unbeliever)

§  Whoever murders, fornicates, or commits serious sins is a grave sinner and not a believer. Nonetheless, he is not an unbeliever who can’t be buried in our cemetery, or be prayed for, or marry a Muslim (163)

5.      Commanding good and prohibiting bad

§  “commanding religious duties when someone neglects them… commanding supererogatory acts of devotion when someone omits to do them…prohibiting evil” (163)

• 19) How is Muhammad 'Abduh's account of Islamic theology in Risalat al-Tawhid shaped by modern assumptions?
• Week 6:
• Present Islam in a theory of human freedom
• Defend a vision of Islam as a modern, rational and individualized religion that fosters critical inquiry and productive enterprise
• Egalitarian vision of religion

• 20) What are the conditions that give rise to the problem of theodicy?
• Week 6:
• Consider God to be Omnipotence of God (All Powerful), Omni benevolence of God (All Merciful), Omniscience God (All Knowing)
• Theodicy in Islam emerges out of several debates, including:
• Understanding Divine attributes
• Free will vs. Predestination
• Reason in matters of religious interpretation
• Purification and expiation of sins
• Making sense of the existence of evil

• 21) What are the limits of theological discourse according to Sherman Jackson?
• Week 6:
• It is not relational, not palpable; a calm and speechless theology
• Freezes God into strict and static descriptions
• It is negotiated, medium through which religious communities conceptualize and talk about God in public space, only valid form of knowledge is objective knowledge which everyone has equal access

• 22) Why is Sunni Islamic theology better equipped than dominant traditions of Black Theology to address Jones' provocative suggestion that God is either pleased with black suffering, or incapable of changing it?
• Traditionalism and Black Theodicy (pg. 149 – 152):
• Distinction between ontological will and deontological will (God may prefer things that does not exist) (149)
• Four schools of classical Sunni theology reject notions of omnipotence and omnibenevolence found in dominant traditions of Black Theology which see to imply that everything an all-powerful God wills to occur must also be desired or preferred by God.
• Distinction between free will and create their own action. All of the four schools challenge the notion of strict moral objectivism.
• And, that humans being possessed of an independent agency through which to carry out actions according to their own will is deemed a contradiction of divine omnipotence. And, that omnibenevolence is taken to imply a contradiction between good and evil, not simply as theoretical concepts but as actual acts/events in the world, implying a moral objectivism that is wholly indexed into Blackamerican interests.

• 23) What is Ghazali’s critique of natural causality in the Seventeenth Discussion of The Incoherence of the Philosophers?
• Incoherence of the Philosopher (pg. 166-167):
• No necessary link between cause and effect (Asharite theology)
• Occassionalism - Occurrence by either God or mediation of angels, not cause and effect (167) 

• 24) What does Mas‘udi’s presentation of the scientific debates in Wathiq’s court demonstrate?
• Meadows of Gold (pg. 233):
• Wathiq was knowledge and interested in the sciences
• People of different backgrounds would gather at the caliph’s court
• Shows the active involvement of caliphs as patrons of the arts and sciences.
• Flowering of the Abbasid caliphate

• 25) What are the three qualities necessary for social life that religions produce in human beings according to Jamal al-Din al-Afghani?
• Week 8 slides and text (p.144-147)

§  Shame/modesty

§  Trustworthiness

§  Truthfulness/honesty

• 26) How does Jamal al-Din al-Afghani conceptualize social order in “The Truth about the Neicheri Sect”?
• sees social class as natural and that our arrangements are innate and a product of divine wisdom

 

• 27) What is the relevance of Qur’anic miracle stories for Said Nursi?
• Week 8 and Yazicioglou text:
• the Qur’an reframes the question by depicting the familiar as miraculous (ordinary events). The miracle of divine power refers here to ordinary events such as rain and the growth of a flower.
• The Qur’an’s primary task is to edify and disclose the miracles in everyday life and to force humans to see natural causality as a divine gift.
• Both the Qur’an and everyday life point to “a transcendental gap” between cause and effect – a gap that indicates the presence of the One God (97)

• 28) What is the problem of modern science according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr?
• Nasr’s text (pg. 64-70)
• Ever-changing
• It is not neutral but grounded in secularism

§  Reflected in language (70)

§  Muslims must seek to create their own science by incorporating what is positive in modern science into a worldview where God reigns supreme, where one is aware of the purposefulness of His creation, where all causes are ultimately related to Him, where there is no realm of secularity independent of His laws and presence, where every phenomenon reflects the wisdom of the creator and is a sign or ayah of the Bestower of all existence.

• Raises ethical issues
• Devoid of morals and spirituality
• Muslim must first of all assert their own philosophy of nature as stated so beautifully and forcefully in nearly every page of the Qur’an, and in light of this philosophy of nature provide the necessary criticism of modern science, never confusing the theoretical limitations of this science with its unethical applications or divorced from ethical considerations.

• 29) Which one of these statements is normative?

Anormative statement expresses a value judgment about whether a situation is desirable or undesirable. Whereas a descriptive statement (also known as a positive statement) is meant to describe the world as it is, a normative statement is meant to talk about the world as it should be. For instance, "the world would be a better place if the moon were made of green cheese" is a normative statement because it expresses a judgment about what ought to be. Normative statements are characterized by the modal verbs "should", "would", "could" or "must". (Wikipedia)

A NORMATIVE claim, on the other hand, is a claim that asserts that such-and-such OUGHT to be the case.

Normative claims make value judgments.

 

• 30) Which one of these statements is descriptive?

A DESCRIPTIVE claim is a claim that asserts that such-and-such IS the case.

Descriptive claims do not make value judgments.