Tag: Philosophy
-
A Study of Worldviews: Islām and the Modern West, Part I: Inversion
How do we make sense of reality? This is inarguably the most difficult question one can pose because it amounts to giving an explanation of everything. Even if we concede to the Heideggerian claim that metaphysics is inevitably nihilism, nihilism’s fundamental claim that there is no such thing as reality does constitute itself as an…
-
Differences in Approaching History Between Reform Oriented and Traditionalist Muslims
Contemporary rifts between reform oriented and traditionalist Muslims might be traced back to differences in their respective philosophies on the progress of history. By first examining the three most prominent enlightenment philosophies of history, which share much in common, and then contrasting them with pre-modern philosophies of history, I will lead us to the possible…
-
Reclaiming the Question
You wake up one day to find yourself in an ornate and decorated room. You have no recollection of who you are or how you got there. From the moment you are conscious, you are beset by a relentless curiosity: Who am I? Why am I here? You are attempting to make sense of the…
-
Scriptural Reasoning: Healing the Divide Between the Self and the Other
The purpose of this piece is to bring attention to the field of scriptural reasoning which, among other approaches, proposes the use of logic of relations and a constructive-critical engagement with the Other. These approaches help curb the colonial instinct, or what has been identified as the subsuming nature of the Western philosophical thought, that…
-
Urban Places Rich in Islam? The Ethos of an Islamic City in the Modern World
Istanbul’s enigmatic name mirrors its versatile history. While today Istanbul’s name is considered etymologically related to the quotidian expression of its well-established Christian population εις την Πόλιν (is tim polis, to the city), folk-etymological accounts of Turkish people attibutes its origin to the phrase Islam bol which means “rich in Islam” (Inalcık 2001). But how…
-
Shaykh Amin Kholwadia on Theology and Ontology in Medical Ethics
I’m going to try and explain the terminologies so it becomes easier for us to explain what we hope to do with bioethics or Islamic bioethics. Theology as the owner: the study of God and what God wants, God’s will, and what God wants us to believe in. That is the Islamic outlook. Ontology is…
-
Daqīq Al-Kalām Revisited in the Age of Modern Science
In the past, our respected ‘ulamā’ have developed ‘ilm al-kalām to rationally explain the various arguments of ʿaqīdah (Islamic creed). This discipline was further classified into jalīl al-kalām and daqīq al-kalām. The former deals with basic questions of Islamic creed and the latter deals with natural philosophy. Daqīq al-kalām can be said to be our…
-
Fate and Free Will in No Country for Old Men
Whilst No Country for Old Men never alludes directly to the existence of God, it spurs us to think about the cycle of life as we inevitably come to the conclusion that there has to be a higher being in charge of the good and bad things that come our way.
-
Reflections on Dualism in Blade Runner 2049
Is it possible to know what it is like to want to be desired or loved, without a soul? This thought-provoking question is grappled with throughout the film Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017). The protagonist Officer K (Ryan Gosling) is a Nexus-9 replicant who works for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and secretly…
-
Science, History, and Atheism: Q&A with Asadullah Ali
…the Islamic scientific tradition began to decline once we began to borrow from the West in order to compete with the West (ironically, considering they were then rejecting their own past tradition), and it replaced our former tradition of ingenuity, forcing us into a position where now all we can do is borrow. This, combined…