theology
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Revisiting the Sensitive Question of Islamic Orthodoxy
For much of Islamic history, the question of who embodies the majoritarian orthodox path of ahl al-sunnah wa’l-jama‘ah has been rather contentious. One view holds that it is only the Atharis [Salafis] that are orthodox, with the Ash‘aris and Maturidis being the closest of the heterodox Muslim sects to ahl al-sunnah. Another view is that… Continue reading
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Taqlid & Madhhabs: the Good, Bad, and the Ugly [1/2]
Must each Muslim know the proofs behind a religious action before performing that act? In Islam, what counts as “proof”? Is accepting a fatwa of a qualified Muslim scholar on trust, without knowing his legal reasoning, blind following? Can ordinary Muslims who’ve had no legal training evaluate proof-texts and identify the strongest view. How can Muslim… Continue reading
correctives & clarifications, fiqh & usul al-fiqh, knowledge & learning, salafism reconsidered, theologyal-Dhahabi on what qualifies as ijtihad, al-Shanqiti on the two types of taqlid, can a non-jurist weigh-up proofs?, definition of ijtihad, Ibn Qudamah on the consensus of taqlid, Ibn Taymiyyah on the lawful taqlid, meaning of taqlid, only innovators deny taqlid, the layman and religious learning, three types of forbidden taqlid, what type of taqlid is prescribed in Islam? -
Jihad & Martyrdom, War & Peace
Is Islam a conquest ideology more than an actual religion, as some now claim? Is Jihad identical to ‘perpetual war’ in Islam’s grand political scheme of things? And is the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ mostly about blood and gore and body counts? These are the issues addressed here. Muslim scholars have long identified two types of jihad… Continue reading
death toll in the great civilizations, does islamic civilisation have the greatest body count?, Hostility is reason for jihad not disbelief, Ibn taymiyyah and defensive jihad, inner and outer jihad, is Islam inherently violent?, is jihad fought to convert people?, jihad al-nafs, jihad in Islam, Muslim holy war, Muslim jurists and UN Peace Charter, philosophy of jihad in classical and contemporary Islam, rules of war in Islam, the greater jihad, truth about jihad, truth about Muslim martyrdom, vital in Islam, war in Islam, was the Prophet a war monger?, were the Prophet’s battles defensive or offensive? -
Syria: Rulers, Righteous Outrage & Rethinking Revolutions
Initially, Aleppo never witnessed the large scale anti-government protests that kicked-off in other parts of Syria, in March 2011. A year later, though, and Aleppo too became a bloody battleground when rebel fighters tried to drive government forces from the city. The offensive was not decisive and Aleppo ended up divided: government forces controlling the west, rebel fighters the east. For… Continue reading
conditions for revolting against Muslim ruler, difference between pre-modern and modern states, Hasan al-Basri on rebellion, how to help Aleppo, how to help Syrian refugees, is khuruj allowed in Islam?, Islamic ruling on rebellion against unjust rulers, Muslim political theory, Muslim theory about the state, reason for Syrian civil war, ruling on Arab springs, three conditions for khuruj, what to do about Aleppo?, what to do about Syria -
5 Cornerstones of Islam’s Bigger Picture
What follows are five cornerstones that lie at the heart of Islam’s bigger picture of life. They concern: (i) What is life’s higher purpose? (ii) Who has the right to our ultimate love and loyalty? (iii) The obligation of faithfully keeping covenants and contracts, (iv) Loving the sacred law and thanking the Lawgiver, (v) Fatwas: between… Continue reading
contracts and covenants in Islam, Ibn al-Qayyim on hiylah, Ibn Hamdan al-Hanbali, Ibn Hamdan on when fatwa cannot be given, Ibn Qudamah on the covenant of security, Islam and the covenant of security, principle of ease in Islam, purpose behind Islamic law, purpose of life in Islam, rukhsah and azimah, rules of fatwa, shariah reforms, taysir in shariah -
Pilgrimage of Reason: Proofs for God’s Existence [2/2]
In the first part of the blog (here), I discussed a ‘proof’ for the existence of God vis-a-via the kalam cosmological argument. We saw how, as a rational argument, it is well reasoned, cogent and logical; hence giving a lie to New Atheism’s allegation that belief in God is irrational. But since the proof is highly abstract and theoretical, I suggested… Continue reading
aQuranic argument for design, C.S. Lewis and the moral argument, God’s signs as proof for existence and His attributes, God’s signs lead to awe and love of Him, Ibn al-Qayyim’s watermill, knowing God’s existence via fitrah, moral proof, ontological proof, Paley’s watch anallogy, proofs for the existence of God, teleological proof, the signs of Allah -
Pilgrimage of Reason: Proofs for God’s Existence [1/2]
As anyone familiar with anti-religious polemics knows, the core criticism by today’s New Atheists is that, allegedly, belief in God is both infantile and irrational. It is, they say, a childish delusion that ought to have died out as humanity reached its maturity. In the New Atheism’s canon, belief in God is likened to believing in the Tooth Fairy or… Continue reading
‘ilm al-kalam, al-shafi’i against kalam, discursive theology, do hanbalis reject kalam, does the universe have a cause, Hanbali school and kalam, Hawking of the origins of the universe, Ibn Hamdan al-Hanbali, Imam Ahmad on kalam, Islamic dialectics, islamic theology, kalam, proofs for God, speculative theology, status of kalam in Islam, the first cause