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God and Humans in Islamic Thought: Abd Al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali
Winner of The Iranian World Prize for the Book of the Year 2007 in the Philosophy and Mysticism category.
This new and original text provides a timely re-examination of Islamic thought, presenting a stark contrast to the more usual conservative view.
The explanation of the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in Islam, is often influenced by the images of God and of human beings which theologians, philosophers and mystics have in mind. The early period of Islam reveals a diversity of interpretations of this relationship. Elkaisy-Friemuth discusses the view of three scholars from the tenth and eleventh Abd al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali, which introduce three different approaches of looking at the relationship between God and Humans.
God and Humans in Islamic Thought attempts to shed light on an important side of medieval rational thought in demonstrating its significance in forming the basis of an understanding of the nature of God, the nature of human beings and the construction of different bridges between them.
This new and original text provides a timely re-examination of Islamic thought, presenting a stark contrast to the more usual conservative view.
The explanation of the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in Islam, is often influenced by the images of God and of human beings which theologians, philosophers and mystics have in mind. The early period of Islam reveals a diversity of interpretations of this relationship. Elkaisy-Friemuth discusses the view of three scholars from the tenth and eleventh Abd al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali, which introduce three different approaches of looking at the relationship between God and Humans.
God and Humans in Islamic Thought attempts to shed light on an important side of medieval rational thought in demonstrating its significance in forming the basis of an understanding of the nature of God, the nature of human beings and the construction of different bridges between them.
- GenresIslamPhilosophy
225 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2007
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March 31, 2022
In "God and Humans in Islamic Thought," Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth presents three different Islamic approaches for understanding the relationship between the human and the divine. These are the Mu’tazalite ‘Abd al-Jabbār, the philosopher Ibn Sina, and the mystic al-Ghazālī. Elkaisy-Friemuth is particularly interested in examining how these three figures approached questions of divine transcendence and immanence. She studies their affinity and contribution to Greek philosophy, their conceptions of approaching the divine (ḥads and ilhām), and the overlap of rationality, mysticism, and philosophy in each thinker’s approach to the divine.
While the book is informative, I take concern with the broad categories that Elkaisy-Friemuth uses. For example, while she defines ‘Abd al-Jabbār simply as a Mu’tazalite, she considers al-Ghazālī a rational thinker of “the school … of mystics” (p. 1) without reference to his Ash’arite affiliation or its impact on the formation of his thought. Overall, "God and Humans in Islamic Thought" serves as a handbook for reading these three thinkers, and also for questions of Islamic theology and mysticism.
While the book is informative, I take concern with the broad categories that Elkaisy-Friemuth uses. For example, while she defines ‘Abd al-Jabbār simply as a Mu’tazalite, she considers al-Ghazālī a rational thinker of “the school … of mystics” (p. 1) without reference to his Ash’arite affiliation or its impact on the formation of his thought. Overall, "God and Humans in Islamic Thought" serves as a handbook for reading these three thinkers, and also for questions of Islamic theology and mysticism.
Displaying 1 of 1 review