Intellectual Traditions In Islam Religion Essay

judgementual usages In Islam righteousness EssayIslam later on the wipe forth of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) spread furthest and extensive and was accepted by diametric large number of divergent phraseologys, refining and lands. t presentof it became enriched by the nary(prenominal)tic contribution of many man-to-mans and communities in various diverse fields of attainment much(prenominal) as philosophy, literature, constabulary, theology, arts, mysticism and instinctive comprehension. Thus, Islam was exposit in a multitude of conformitys and interpretations and by the 1oth century, it completely flourished as a civilizationTo discuss the signifi nominatece of these issues, a seminar entitled INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS IN ISLAM was organized by the institute of Ismaili studies at the Mellor centre, Churchill College, university of Cambridge during 14-20 august 1994.This handwriting contains the change and reviewed versions of the papers infixed at the seminar excluding Professors M. Mahdi, M. Arkoun and A Sachedinas contributions.The report is an e reallyplaceview of either the assays presented in this book of account excluding the essay Some Observations on the Religious Intellectual environs of Safawid Iran by John Cooper and Present Day Islam Between its Tradition and Globalization by Mohammed Arkoun. It discusses all the key steers and topics addressed by different conditions in their respective essays.ABOUT THE BOOK (SUMMARY)The innovations and the key points described in the book be discussed below with respect to each chapter1. IntroductionThe admission is the key note address which was presented at the seminar by Dr. Aziz Esmail. He in his essay explores the key concepts of Intellectual biography, Tradition and Islam.He raises many questions or so concept of an quick-witted t sensation. He asks about the designation and position of an able in the conjunction. He asks whether the quick-witted thoughts and the re ason themselves atomic number 18 really distantly placed from the lodge. He except confronts the readers by asking questions such as what is the place of intellect in atomic number 53s persona. What is the family of intellect with feelings, character and around heavyly with the belief of a person? He kick upstairs explores the quality of intellectual brio in the development of personality and character and in the making of identity of a person. He asks what is the relation of intellect in our daily lives. What is its relation to ones relationship with paragon? How does it effect the relation of an individual with its society? Does the intellect enable any set outicipation in the society or does it retards it? He confronts the readers with such questions and enables them to think, to review and to divulge in his thoughts.Further more, he deals with the concept of custom and impostalism. He defines the relationship of old age and aboriginal days with tradition. H e says that the old age identifies with the past whereas the youth has a relationship of dep terminalence of defiance with the past. He identifies the different models of schooling which provide the hindquarters of relationship of an individual with his traditions. The reservoir explains that the tradition becomes an object of anxiety and inspection and repair when it ceases to work not when it is actually at work. He says that you cant rise the root of traditionalism or tradition in traditional societies. He explains that the main confronting question cladding the people today is that in this adult manful which is characterized by a pluralism of tradition which tradition one should uphold? The an opposite(prenominal) question is what is the future of any traditions in such a quick changing arena?When the informant talks about Islam he asks the marrow of Islam. He as rise up as asks what is the relationship of past and present in Islam. The occasion describes the c hallenge of relativism in todays world. Relativism says that all doctrines, ideas and values can be explained by mentionence to time and place. But if all ideas and values are frankincense explained, ones confidence in upholding a single culture or tradition is shattered. The designer says that today the culture is adequate a supermarket of ideas, values and doctrines where one chooses according to taste not according to objective essence. It the past, community came graduation exercise base and the individuals second, today, the scenario is opposite. Today, in such a plura angle of dipic world, there is a take away of a genuine mutual appreciation amidst faiths. The originator says that booking with former(a) faiths doesnt mean to surrender, for criticism too is a form of engagement. How Moslem theology may engage with the modern world without becoming a prisoner of the modern lowstanding of modernity is one of the major challenges facing Muslim thought today?2. Intellec tual Life in the introductory Four Centuries of Islam by Hugh KennedyThe informant in his essay surveys the intellectual life of the Muslims in the prototypal four centuries of Islam. He to a fault describes the development of the intellectual life in this era. He explains that the first main issue that confronted the Muslims afterwards the close of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) was that of the leadership of the community. People raised many questions such as who should lead the community. How they should be chosen and what powers they should enjoy? There were 2 different concourses of people who had ii different view points. One group entrustd that the leadership should be inherited by the Ahl al-Bayt (family of the Prophet). The other idea that install favor was that of a tribal Sheikh.The primordial Moslem intellectuals faced a very important issue that how they were going to preserve and record the utterances and exclusively caboodle of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) and his companions, secondly, they faced the issue of explanation of Quran hadith to the new Muslims who were Non-Arabs. Consequently, a whole series of sciences developed in ordinate to solve these problems.These sciences include grammar, genealogy, poetry and tarradiddle and were kn stimulate as the Islamic sciences. Grammar was a part of such sciences. It became the essential constituent of all the intellectual activities as it was vital to understand the basis of holiness. Science of genealogy excessively prove its way in the minds of the Muslims intellectuals. It was used to establish relations between different tribes and people. To understand the Quran completely, it was equally important to learn the language and thoughts of the Prophets contemporaries. So, poetry of pre-Islamic Arab and the early days of Islam became a very important part of the Muslim Intellectual life. Hi stratum was other aspect of systematization of learning. historic writing came into form just due to the need to record the life of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) and the events of the Islamic conquests.The non-Islamic sciences that Muslims were concerned with were medication, philosophy, astrology and astronomy. All these sciences were brought into the Islamic tradition by translations made from Greek language in the 9th century. The Muslims in the early era of Islam pursued only those sciences that they thought were practically efficacious for them. ism was studied by Muslims because it was required for analysis of arguments and logic study of medicine was required for obvious terra firmas. Astronomy and astrology were regarded as practical sciences by Muslims because many of them believed in the influence of planets on peoples lives.The author high gentles that in the early intellectual life of Islam certain subjects were studied because they were perceived to be useful and there was no structure of intellectual life for there did not exists any academic profession. Thus, in the first four centuries of Islam, there was no institutional frame work for intellectual life people who were enmeshed in such activities lived on their private income.Overall, the Muslims in the four centuries of Islam were pre-occupied by Islamic sciences which developed from just cosmos recordings of the early days of Islam to becoming immensely rich intellectual work.3. Scientific and Philosophical Enquiry Achievements and reactions in Muslims memoir by Oliver LeamanThe author in his essay describes the development of scientific philosophical enquiry in the Muslim history. The author says that after the death of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H), the Islamic empire expanded and channeled to the various split of affection East where a variety of civilization were established for a very long time. The new Muslim rulers came into contact with people who had very sophisticated ideas about theology, medicine, astronomy and mathematics. Now they had to decide whether to reject this smorg asbord of learning or to study it. They chose to study it and learn from it and as a result a pluralistic society of different cultures and sacrosanct was formThere were basically two reasons for using the discoveries and theories which were present in the Middle East at that time. One was the need to argue and pass on with the people of other religions and to persuade them to become Muslims. It was necessary to use the methodologies of the older ghostly to defend Islam and to prove to people what improvements Islam has brought.The other able for using science and philosophy of existing cultures was a practical one. When the Muslims came to Syria, Iraq and later on Persia, they found out that those people had a high standard of living. They were relatively more educated and healthy. They had better management skills. The Muslims wanted to learn how they achieved this state of affairs. This resulted in a big(p) deal of interest in early Islamic world for philosophical, scientif ic and medical discoveries which were all around them.The author further explains that these new communities had a bulk of philosophical whole caboodle especially those of Aristotle and Plato. doctrine is all about the ability to debate, to argue. There was a great command by the people for philosophical material with which they could persuade others about the hardiness of their point of views. The philosophical literature was widely read in the first few centuries of Islam and great evidence of scientific work is also found.The author further explains that to the positive approach of the philosophers, thinkers and intellectuals towards ancient philosophy and science, the ulema had a different approach. They thought that if the Muslim intellectuals were forming a philosophy found on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle then they were developing a philosophy based on non-Jew thought. They thought that Islam in itself contains the solutions of all the problems faced by the peo ple. They argued that we need not approach ancient Greek philosophy for solutions of ourproblems. But the philosophers thought that if some(a)thing is well-grounded or true there is no harm in incorporating it in our daily lives.The author says that the questions that arose as a result of all this debate were how much is it acceptable for one to borrow from a culture that is not ones own? How far could Muslims incorporate secular companionship in their own culture and still fend for their culture?The supra mentioned debate was a dispute about who would sort out the theoretical problems of the Islamic world. Would it be the philosophers inspired by the Greek science and philosophy, or would it be the ulama and the fuqaha, the traditional Islamic scholars and jurists?4. The Rational Tradition in Islam by Muhsin MahdiI would standardized to focus on the historical perspectives of the rational tradition in Islam. The author points out in the start of his essay that whenever in histo ry Muslims including scientists, philosophers and mystics tried to express themselves, they had to use reason.The author traces back the history of rationalism from the age of enlightenment and the French revolution in European culture and history in the 17th and 18th centuries. It happened that some learned encyclopaedists started pestilential rationalism by trying to get rid of religion and religious ideas, thoughts and prejudices. They wanted to establish a society that is purely based on reason.The author asks a question how the rational tradition arose in Islam in the first place? He replies by saying that it arose after the death of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) when Islam and Muslims faced the crisis of leadership. The question who has the claim to rule Muslim religious community after the Prophet (P.B.U.H.)? Is it by the prophets designation of an imam or is it by election? The origin of Islamic religious thought and theology is based on this question. And, thus, begins the whole process of rationalism in Islam. at bottom the tradition and knowledge that came in from other cultures and societies to Muslims, the concept or idea of Neoplatonism also found its way. Neoplatonism is the theory that speaks of god as something that is hard to understand, that is above and beyond reason. Thus, Neoplatonism provided the revealed religions with a support. It taught them that the divinity is active its not just a mind it is something that acts and causes things to be.Now as the rationalist ideas began to develop, the contradictions between the rationalists and the fundamentalists began. One good example of rationalism in Islam was Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi, the physician who opposed all forms of human position in matters of religious knowledge, even that of the prophet. He completely opposed prophecy and criticized religion. He proposed that organized religion was a device used by the evil men to establish their rule over mankind and that it leads to violence, conf licts and wars.The whole idea of extreme rationalism is to get rid of all religions and to form a society based purely on reason. But no tradition ever thought of a society completely based on reason. One can rack up justifications about prophecy, revelations and religious transactions. The author here states his point of view that the only way that a society can be held together and the only way that people can be encouraged to pursue virtues and avoid vices which may not forever and a day be in their rational interests is by a divine law and done a doctrine of reward and punishment hereafter.In Islam two kinds of rationalist traditions are found. One is that of Averroes (Ibn Rushd) who believed in acquiring rational knowledge to find a way to the divine. He believed that as one perfects it to its limits, then he has a vision of what is beyond it. The other tradition is that of Ibn al-Arabi who believed in practicing and learning from people and experiences to find the way to th e divine.5. The Limits of Islamic Orthodoxy by Norman CalderNorman Calder in his essay firstly explains that in this essay he wants to discover the exterior limits of Islamic Orthodoxy with respect to the Sunni Islam. The author defines the term Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. Orthodoxy core the right teachings whereas Orthopraxy means the right practice. According to the author, the Sunni Islam is a religion of Orthodoxy.The author describes that one of the places where the right teachings of Islam can be found are those books which are called Aqida or Aqaid in Arabic meaning creed. These books set out the agenda of flavors that represent being a Muslim.The author gives the example of Christianity, that in the first five centuries of Christianity, they faced a debate about what it was you had to believe to be a Christian and they decided a creed under the authority of a council and the pope. But there is no such generator of authority in Islam. There is no such council and there is no such creed that is found in which all the Muslims believe.According to the author one thing found common in all the creeds is the components of the Shahadat i.e. the belief that graven image is one and Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is the messenger of God.The author further explains that there are five possible forms of religions beliefs including scripture, community, gnosis, reasons and charisma.Some people claim that the way towards the knowledge of God is through scripture i.e. Gods revelation others claim that Gods self-revelation to man is through a community that has been chosen by God and in which pay belief is preserved. A third group claims that way towards knowledge of God is through gnosis i.e. mystic knowledge, experience or just mysticism. A fourth part group claims that way towards understanding God is by using reason or by being rational. Finally, there are communities that believe that God has appointed throughout the generations one particular person to express His mes sage, they are also claim that this particular person has the knowledge of God.All great religious traditions of the world including Hinduism, Islam Christianity commence all fine elements described above. The author classifies different groups of believers according to the above mentioned forms. Within Islam, the Twelve Shia the Ismaili Shia are the communities which lay stress on charisma as the most important form of achieving knowledge of God. There are two sets of people in Islam which lay great stress on reason as the means of achieving knowledge of God. One group is represented by philosophers like Al-Farabi and ibn-Sina i.e. Ibn Sina. The other group is the Mutazila which are rejected by the Sunnis because they claim that they overstress the role of reason. The group representing gnosis or mysticism in Islam is the Sufis. According to the author, the Sunnis are the group that lie somewhere between scripture and community.The author further explains that the Sunnis beat formed intellectual writing traditions, there literature to which they refer as the expression to their understanding of their relationship to God and His Prophet (P.B.U.H). This list of literary genres is as follows Qisas Al Anbiya, Sirat Al-Nabi, Quran, Hadith, fiqh, Kalam, Tafsir and Sharh Al Hadith. At intellectual level, the limits of orthodoxy are represented by the contents of the set of books defined above.6. Intellectual Life Among the Ismaili An Overview by Farhad DaftaryThe author firstly explains the history and beliefs of Ismailis. He says that the Ismailis maintain that the Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) has appointed his cousin and son-in-law- Ali b. Abi Talib as his winneror and that this designation or nass has been made divine command. They also believe that there is a unending need of a spiritual leader with a particular assortment of knowledge (ILM) for focus of mankind. They believe that after the death of Prophet, only Ali and deliver the goods imams possessed the required ILM and religious authority which enables them to act as the doctor authority for interpreting the Islamic revelation. Thus, this doctrine of imamate forms the foundation of all the teachings and literary works of the Ismaili Shi is.The early Ismailis developed a cyclical history of revelation and a cosmological doctrine. These two concepts became the main components of theology. These two doctrines also explain the great appeal and popular success of the early Ismailis Dawa (the channelize mission led by teachers cognize as dais or missionaries.The establishment of the Fatimid state in 909 in North Africa proved to be a mile stone for the success of dawa. The Fatimid period is often known as the Golden Era of Ismailism. After the acquisition of the Fatimid state, the Fatimid Caliph-Imams didnt abandon their dawa activities aiming to extend their rule over the entire Muslim Umma, they retained their dawa and network of dais, shoot both within and outside Fatimid s tates.Special institution was setup for the procreation of dais and instruction of ordinary Ismailis. The dais who were educated as theologians, themselves were the scholars and authors of Ismaili community. They produced great literary works on theology, law, philosophy and exoteric and arcane subjects. In Egypt, the Fatimids created major libraries in Cairo, which grew into a centre of art, culture, Islamic and natural science. The Dais themselves were trained in police force and were acquired with knowledge of Hadith and other religious sciences as well as the languages and cultures of regions in which they operated despite being the sole representative of the Ismaili Dawa it Seems that very little is written by Ismaili authors on Dais who acted as missionaries, teachers and judges for the Ismailis of their community outside the Fatimid dominion.The high yearn for learning in Ismailis led them to conduct Majalis i.e. Lectures or teaching sessions for public. In 1005 Fatimid Ca liph-Imam Al-Hakim (996-1021) formed an institution of learning known as Dar al-ilm, the house of knowledge or Dar al-Hikma in a section of Fatimid castle in Cairo. A multitude of religious and non- religious sciences were taught at Dar al-ilm which was fit with a major library. Many Dais received training in Dar al-ilm.In the Fatimid period, the Ismaili law was codified by Al-Qadi Al-Numan under the guidance of the Fatimid Caliph-Imam Al-Muizz. His compilation the Daaim-al-Islam (The Pillars of Islam) served as the official legal code of the Fatimid state, Al-Qadi Al-Numan, on Fridays after the mid-day prayers conducted public sessions in Cairo at the mosques of Al-Azhar, Amr Al-Hakim, to explain the legal doctrines of the Ismailis jurisprudence to Ismailis.Much of the literary work and chronicles of Ismailis perished as a result of the Ayyubids harassment of Ismailis. These libraries were also destroyed and hence much of the literary work was also perished.After the persecuti on of Ismailis by Ayyubids in the Fatimid states, Hassan Sabbah founded the Nizari state in the fortress of Alamut in northern Persia. Hassan Sabbah was a learned theologian and he established an impact library at Alamut. Other major Nizari Fortresses in Persia Syria were also equipped with a signification collection of books, documents and scientific instruments.The Nizari Ismailis of the Alamut period used to call for chronicles in which events of the Nizari states were recorded accordingly. But most of these official chronicles preserved at Alamut and other Nizari fortresses perished in the Mongol attacks of 1256 or later on.After the assault of Mongols in 1256, the Nizaris how began to observe taqiyya for extended period. Until the end of the 17th century, the Nizari Dawa met with particular success in Central Asia India. In the Central Asian tradition, the authentic works of Nasir Khusraw occupy a prominent role. Central Asian Nizaris have also preserved a bulk of Persian Nizari literature produced during the Alamut period in later times. The Syrian Nizaris have also formed another literary tradition based on Arabic, in which local ideas as well as Fatimid Ismaili thought found expression.The Nizari Khojas of the Indian sub-continent developed a distinctive tradition known as Satpanth or true pass which is expressed in their hymn like Ginans written in different South Asian languages and later on recorded in the Khojki record in Sindh by the Khoja community. These Ginans were written by Pirs or Dais to join on their appeal of message.The author acknowledges Ismailis as a community with the doctrine of Imamate as their central teaching. He favoredly traces back the Ismaili literary traditions in his work.7. Nasir Khusraw Fatimid Intellectual by Alice C. HansbergerThe author Alice C Hunsberger in her essay focuses on the great Fatimid thinker and intellectual Nasir Khusraw. Nasir Khusraw who lived primarily in Khurasan in the eleventh Century was a n eminent Persian philosopher, writer and poet. He was a successful preacher of the Ismaili faith in Central Asia renown for his poetic teachings. He was so successful in preaching among people that those of other Islamic school turned viciously against him and he had to spend his survive 15 or 20 year in exile in Yumgan in Badakhshan under the protection of a local Ismaili Prince.The author in her remarkable essay sheds light on his personality and his teachings. She narrates the story of an eagle from one of his poems. The essence of the story is that human beings have it all in them that carries them to the sky and brings them to the dust.The author is found to be saying that Nasir khusraw is far away from being a mystic and neither he is an spartan rather he preaches his readers to become the stovepipe human beings they can by being fully in this world and using it for achieving self-perfection.Nasir Khusraw is the only philosophical writer of his era to have written all his writings in Persian language. He leaves us with three different genres of writing a prose memoir of his travels, the safarnama, and his poetry gathered in his diwan and a no. of philosophical works in which he lays out the doctrines of Ismailism. His famous edited and published books include Gushayish wa Rahayish, Jamial-Hikmatayn, Khwan al-Ikhwan, Shish Fasl, RawshanaI-nama, Wajh-i-din and Zad al-Musafirin.Nasir Khusraw earned his title Hakim through his broad training in philosophy and other sciences including finance and mathematics. In his writing, Nasir Khusraw shows a certain honesty and directness. He talks his hopes. His prose and poetry is so admired by people because it is plain and complex.Around his fortieth natal day Nasir Khusraw underwent a spiritual reawakening and left his privileged life in the purplish Saljuq court and set out for a journey which was much arcane rather than exoteric.The authors sheds light on a very important concept from Nasir Khusraws teaching s that one mustiness be in this world in put in to achieve the higher world. He explains in his teachings the need of physical world for a life of faith because according to him it is the physical world that holds the tools for learning true wisdom, namely reason (or intellect and knowledge i.e. aql and ilm).Nasir Khusraw gets irritated by people who are ignorant. He compares them to all sorts of animals including donkeys, asses and noisy birds. In his book Wajh-i-Din Nasir Khusraw explains that animals act without knowledge, while angels know without acting. But it is human beings who must accede both action and knowledge. For Nasir Khusraw, intellect leads a believer to proper faith and strengthens his faith.The other concept that Nasir stresses in his teachings is the observance of the sharia. He criticizes people that they must observe sharia. He compares the observance of sharia with taking medicine when we are sick. Although we may not like the medicine but we have to do in order to heal our body. Similarly, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) is the physician and the medicine he brings to heal our instincts is the sharia. Nasir Khusraw stresses that it is through the body that ones soul can be meliorate by carrying out sharia. Since man is responsible for his actions, the effects of his actions are transferred to his soul leading ultimately to the purification or perfection of mans soul by observing the sharia. The author gives a great overview of the teachings of Nasir Khusraw in her essay.8. Reason and secret Experience in Sufism by Annemarie SchimmelThe author in her essay sheds light on the concept of love, intellect, reason and experience in mysticism and in religion. She sheds light on different concepts by using references of Maulana Rumi and Iqbal. She starts her essay with some verses by Maulana Rumi and Iqbal in which they both in their own news shows point out the difference between intellect and love. According to them, intellect first ponders over things whereas love just jumps into the hearts of the matter without mentation of the consequences. Intellect is necessary to give us information i.e. Khabar whereas love gives us the direct vision i.e. nazar,The author quotes the story of a moth and a burning cadmium which Al-Hallaj has written in his Arabic book, Kitab al-Tawasin in which the moth is not satisfied with the circumstances and feeling, it want to burn itself and led to a new higher life. The Sufis present the idea of die before you die. The Sufis desire for Nazar i.e. the true experience that comes from love.The author also describes in the analysis of intellect and love, two other modes of perception, dhikr and fikr. Fikr literally meaning thought is necessary to understand the creations of this world. And dhikr literally meaning the unvaried remembrance of god is supposed to polish human heart and firebrand it shine like a mirror. These two modes of thinking of fikr, intellectual thinking and of dhikr remembe ring god with love are always used together.Iqbal presents another idea about the intellect that as it makes to think and ponder over things it creates new idols every moment. But again in his poetry he tells us that these idols of intellect bow to love.The author highlights another aspect of mysticism that is expressing the love in words. She quotes Rumi as saying that when the pen comes to write the word love, its break into pieces. The pen breaks when it comes to write about love but the said(prenominal) pen has written a bulk of books and poetry about this very love. It is a paradox in literature that the mystics who stressed that ones who wrote numerous books.The mystics have been found to say that whatever they write is not by their intellectual powers it is all waridat things that come to the mystics. These literary works are produced even by illiterate people and when you read them if it looks as if it has been crafted with much intellectual effort. We have the examples of such writers such as Ibn al-Arabi and khwaja Mir Dard who claim that they didnt even think of it.These orphic writings have been opposed by Ulama and many scholars as dangerous and poison for untutored minds. The traditional saying finds its way here that think about the work of god and the qualities of god, but do not think of gods essence. Again Iqbal quotes in his works that Quran also invites to sample signs in the horizons of this world and in ourselves.Thus, the author concludes by saying that intellectual activities are not to be excluded from the way of Sufis or the Muslims. The idea of looking for at signs and pondering over them may be of great help to understand religion in a better context. At the end she quotes a verse by Rumi that I quote here when you make a house for your chicken, a camel does not fit into it. And she concludes that intellect is a chicken and love is a camel- a great, proud and beautiful camel.10. Woman, Half-the-Man? The Crisis of priapic Episte mology in Islamic Jurisprudence by Abdulaziz SachedinaThe author introduces the readers to the sharia, the Islamic sacred law and the two spheres of human activity those actions that relate humanity to god categorizaed as Ibadat (literally acts of honouring god, technically god-human relationships), and those actions that relate humans to fellow humans categorise as Muamalat (literally transactions, technically inter-human relationships ). According to the author the area of inter-human relationships demands rethinking and reinterpretation of the normative sources like the Quran and the sunna, under changed social conditions.One area particularly in inter-human relationships which is retarded in progress by interpretation by Muslim jurists is the personal status of muslim women. The madrasa tradition of learning in Islam has disregarded female voices in emerging issues of women and human rights. The redefinition of status of a muslim woman is a major issue that confronts the Muslim jurists in todays modern world. Muslim womens participation in legal-ethical matters where situational aspects can be best determined by women themselves only, is very essential. Without their participation in such discussions, womens rights depart always depend on the patriarchal society.The author further discusses the male jurists and their female related rulings. He narrates his exp