Tag: Philosophy
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Whose Body? Islam, Surrogacy, and the Limits of Market Autonomy
Meghan Trainor’s announcement of her third child’s birth through surrogacy is the latest example of the ongoing debate over commercial surrogacy, particularly in wealthy circles. The discussion addresses the theological and philosophical considerations regarding bodily autonomy, consent, and the commodification of reproduction, emphasizing the Islamic perspective that prohibits such practices based on moral principles.
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The Ghazalian Turn is the Beginning of Islamic Philosophy
If you were to ask a historian of philosophy to give you an elevator summary of the story of philosophy in the Islamicate world, the story would go something like this: “The rapid territorial expansion of early Islam led to an encounter with Greek philosophy; translation ensued; the new philosophy instigated a productive tension between…
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Nikos Kazantzakis and Imam Al-Ghazali: On Pursuit of the Self
Nikos Kazantzakis’s portrayal of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ reflects a struggle between flesh and spirit, aimed at self-discovery and reaching God. His interpretation draws parallels to Imam Al-Ghazali’s exploration of self-realization, emphasizing the need to confront worldly desires and temptations in their quests for spiritual unity and meaning.
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The Gazan Man Against Absolute Evil
The tragedy in Gaza exemplifies what Moroccan philosopher Taha Abdurahmane identifies as “Absolute Evil,” a type of evil from which all other smaller evils emanate. It aims to violate human dignity, freedom, and memory. The struggle against this evil signifies a necessary resistance for humanity.
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The Soul: An Exploration through Intuition and Epistemology
The author explores the concept of the Soul, its significance in epistemology, intuition, and ethics, referencing historical theological perspectives. It emphasizes the interconnection between the Soul’s faculties and ethical understanding, highlighting intuitive knowledge’s role in human cognition.
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The Shadows of the West: On the Fate of Civilizations, Von Franz and Islam in Europe
Professor A. Alejandro Espinoza explores how Western identity has historically been constructed in opposition to an “Other,” particularly focusing on Islam. It discusses the psychological effects of this dichotomy, drawing parallels between ancient Greece, Christianity, and modern perceptions of Islam. Ignoring the “Shadow” leads to societal repercussions, affecting collective destinies.
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Understanding the Self Through Muhammad Iqbal’s Philosophical and Political Thought
What is ḳhūdī? For Muhammad Iqbal, one of the foremost celebrated intellectuals and poets of South Asia, his falsafa-e-ḳhūdī (philosophy of the self) is one of the most discussed elements of his intellectual thought. As a philosopher, poet, lawyer, and more, Iqbal is a prominent figure both in South Asian households and in scholarly circles,…
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Postscript: Dr. Hammou Al-Nakkari’s Interview in Saudi Arabia on Logic, Ibn Taymiyya, Taha Abderrahmane, and Philosophy in the Arab World
Hammou al-Nakkari, a celebrated logician and philosopher (who has written a dozen books related to conceptual mathematics, pre-classical Arabic logic, notions of Tajdid and Taqlid, a dictionary of Sunni kalam terms, an synthesis on Western legal theory and Usul al-Fiqh, a mathematical comparison of Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya in logic, et bien beaucoup plus), revealed to the Arab…
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The Metaphysics of Palestine
Taha begins his lecture by declaring that political analysts, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists—even if they are pro-Palestine—have engaged in secular violence to Palestine by erasing the ghayb in their analysis of Palestinian history. The world of the unseen—or the ghayb in Quranic idiom—is a critical feature of discussing the land, and by assigning Palestine into…
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Spiker’s Hierarchy & Freedom: A Case For Akbarianism Against the Poverty of Modernity
Hasan Spiker’s most recent work, Hierarchy & Freedom, explores the historical/philosophical relationship between “hierarchy” and “freedom” in Western thought, providing a convincing case for Platonism and its innate hierarchical structures in opposition to the empirical, positivistic philosophical structure forwarded by the West.