Tag: Philosophy

Theology

The Ibn ‘Arabī Connection: How Akbarian Metaphysics Shaped South Asian Sufism      

To those that, like me, spent their lockdown evenings watching Diliriş: Ertuğrul, Ibn ʿArabī will be a familiar name. Draped in the robes of a dervish, Ozman Sirgood’s character wanders the landscapes of medieval Anatolia, dispensing scriptural wisdom and delivering spiritual guidance to the eponymous protagonist and his plucky tribespeople. Continue reading The Ibn ‘Arabī Connection: How Akbarian Metaphysics Shaped South Asian Sufism      

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Essays

Abderrahmane Taha: A Sublime Life of Tajdīd

Taha Abderrahmane is a larger-than-life philosopher from Morocco— his life has spanned a plurality of Muslim crises and he has sought to set forth, through logic, Kalām, language, and Usūl al-fiqh, an entirely new way of living by which non-Muslims may see the dazzling wonder of Islamic civilization, and by which Muslims may abandon all forms of Taqlīd towards Western epistemology, ontology, and phenomenology. Continue reading Abderrahmane Taha: A Sublime Life of Tajdīd

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Philosophy

7 Modern Deadly Sins and Misunderstandings: Exclusivity and Priority

Serving as a continuation of the series on “7 Deadly Modern Sins and Misunderstandings,” this second section focuses on a less analytical issue: the idea of misjudging ethical prioritization. As in, who do we, at a threshold level, owe moral respect and obligations to, and how do we prioritize these obligations towards our friends, family, community, and spouses? Continue reading 7 Modern Deadly Sins and Misunderstandings: Exclusivity and Priority

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Shorts

A Critique of Islamism

Islamism, in current contexts, connotes a political order based on and around Islam. However, these connotations are primarily negative, ranging from a vile and violent overthrow of the modern political system to a petty abuse hurled at Muslims. [1] Professor Salman Sayyid appears to have taken cue from this, and attempts to displace the negative connotations that the term possesses by presenting Islamism in a different light. Although it is a hopeful exercise, exercises like this are susceptible to failure, and at times even dangerous. In this article, I argue against Sayyid’s attempt, elucidating the negative consequences that result from and further the overall employment of Islamism as concept and term. Continue reading A Critique of Islamism

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Philosophy

7 Modern Deadly Sins and Misunderstandings: Inequality

In any given society, there are certain common sense moralisms ingrained within that culture. Certain aspects of ethical life and sentiments may be universal in nature and span multiple countries and continents, as part of a generalized weltanschauung. Yet, the particular way in which that ethic is practiced is always subject to cultural conditions and specifics. The key part to this common-sense morality is that you do not think much about these things: they are simply the immediate ethical context one engages with and considers as obvious. As a result, one of the main arenas where we see a stark shift from pre-modern to modern societies, and from religious to liberal societies, is in ethical sentiments and “common sense.” Continue reading 7 Modern Deadly Sins and Misunderstandings: Inequality

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Philosophy

Conceptualization of Islam as a ‘Religion’ and the Possibility of the Secularist/Islamist Binary

The history of the modern Middle East is often narrated as a story of power struggles between competing ideologies. One such set of competing ideologies is Islamism and secularism. The aim of this paper is not to explore these ideologies in the light of Middle Eastern history and argue in favor of either one of the two; instead, this essay will attempt to explore one of the factors that enables this dichotomization in the first place. The conceptualization of Islam as a “religion” creates the possibility of characterizing actors as “Islamists” in opposition to those characterized as secularists. I argue that this “religion-making” is intricately linked to the workings of the modern state which makes “religion” essential to its existence as secular. Continue reading Conceptualization of Islam as a ‘Religion’ and the Possibility of the Secularist/Islamist Binary

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Philosophy

Is ‘God’ Meaningless? Exploring Theological Noncognitivism

What is theological noncognitivism? [1] Most people may not be familiar with the term, but more familiar with the sentiment. Theological noncognitivism roughly holds that all theological discourse is meaningless. Unlike atheism, which essentially rejects the proposition that “God exists,” theological noncognitivism holds that propositions like “God exists” are not even meaningful or intelligible in any way. To really understand this position, it is important to talk about the position’s philosophical origins.  Continue reading Is ‘God’ Meaningless? Exploring Theological Noncognitivism

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Philosophy

A Study of Worldviews: Islām and the Modern West, Part III: The Reign of Quantity

In the previous part, the notion of what I call ontological apathy was explored, which occurs when the reality of our place as humans in relation to God and nature is dissolved. In the worldview of Islām, we operate with the hierarchy of “ontology-epistemology-axiology-politics-economics,” and I have asserted that in the modern West, this hierarchy is inverted and thus it moves in the opposite direction, “economics-politics-axiology-epistemology-ontology,” which is what we will examine in more detail. Continue reading A Study of Worldviews: Islām and the Modern West, Part III: The Reign of Quantity

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Philosophy

A Study of Worldviews: Islām and the Modern West, Part II: Ontological Apathy

This article is part two of a series, you can find the part one here and part three here .  In the last part, we established how the Islāmic civilization is built on a worldview that deems ontology as the highest determinative factor. This ontology, or pure metaphysics as Guénon calls it, concerns the Ultimate Reality, Allāh, and how everything else is contingent upon Him. … Continue reading A Study of Worldviews: Islām and the Modern West, Part II: Ontological Apathy

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