The Epistle of the eloquent clarification concerning the refutation of Ibn Qutayba /
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This is an edition of an early Shiite/Fatimid Arabic epistle that includes a controversy pertaining to several issues on Islamic law. Al-Qadi al-Nu'man (d. 363/974), the most famoust jurist of the early Fatimid period refutes the illustious Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889). In his book Adab al-Katib, Ibn Qutayba claimed that it was enough for civil servants (kuttab) to memorize a few legal formulas in order to be able to effectively do their work without the need of long dissertations on law from jurists. In the introduction to his epistle, al-Nu'man claims that without these dissertations the civil servants would not be able to apply the law correctly. Following this, al-Nu'man launches lengthy dissertations on each one of the succinct formulas listed by Ibn Qutayba. The main argument of al-Nu'man is that the only lawgivers in Islam are the prophet Muhammad and the Imams descendents of Ali (until the seventh Imam).
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1 online resource (22, 175 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216662 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Early Ibadi Theology: New Material on Rational Thought in Islam from the Pen of al-Fazārī (2nd/8th Century) /
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Al-Fazārī's writings are a unique source of information about Ibadi teachings on ʿilm al-kalām and the early development of this branch of religious knowledge. It is for this reason that scholars of Islamic theology are particularly interested in early Ibadi theology. In this volume newly discovered, re-edited texts by al-Fazārī are presented, with previously lacking fragments included, texts that had already begun to offer new perspectives on Islamic ʿilm al-kalām , and on its origins and the sources of its concepts and debating techniques. In their revised state these Ibadi texts represent a major contribution to scholastic theology. They demonstrate how their respective theological debates already took place at the beginning of the second/eighth century and how associated ideas, as well as related sects and treatises, remained current for some time afterwards, thereby contradicting earlier claims that these debates started in the third/ninth century.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004459571
9789004399136
Kitāb al-muʿtamad fī uṣūl al-dīn /
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Abu ʼl-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī (d. 436/1044) was the founder of the last theological school of the Muʿtazila and author of, among others, the Kitāb taṣaffuḥ al-adilla and Sharḥ al-uṣūl al-khamsa . None of his theological works survive in full, while his influential Kitāb taṣaffuḥ al-adilla , of which only fragments remain, was actually never finished. Al-Baṣrī's teachings were given a new impulse and audience through the writings of Rukn al-Dīn b. al-Maḥmūd al-Malāḥimī (d. 536/1141) of Khurāsān, where his ideas also gained support among the Shīʿa, including Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274). Al-Malāḥimī's Kitāb al-muʿtamad fī uṣūl al-dīn , in which he relies mostly on al-Baṣrī's Kitāb taṣaffuḥ al-adilla , survives only in part. The present volume contains a new edition of this text. Thanks to the discovery of two manuscripts in Yemen it was possible to amend the first edition in places and to add a lot of new material, the text now being double in size.
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Added t.p. has: Revised and enlarged edition by Wilferd Madelung.
"Mīras̲-i Maktūb ; 236" :
1 online resource. :
9789004405974
9786002030375
Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy of perpetual optimism /
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The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theology and rationalizing mysticism, but his positive theological contribution has not been well understood. This comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy helps to rectify this lack. Exposition and analysis of Ibn Taymiyya's writings on God's justice and wise purpose, divine determination and human agency, the problem of evil, and juristic method in theological doctrine show that he articulates a theodicy of optimism in which God in His essence perpetually wills the best possible world from eternity. This sets Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy apart from Ashʿarī divine voluntarism, the free-will theodicy of the Muʿtazilīs, and the essentially timeless God of other optimists like Ibn Sīnā and Ibn ʿArabī.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University of Birmingham, 2002) under the title: An Islamic theodicy : Ibn Taymiyya on the wise purpose of God, human agency, and problems of evil and justice. :
1 online resource (xii, 270 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047420194 :
0169-8729 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hope and otherness : Christian eschatology and interreligious hospitality /
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In Hope and Otherness , Jakob Wirén analyses the place and role of the religious Other in contemporary eschatology. In connection with this theme, he examines and compares different levels of inclusion and exclusion in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish eschatologies. He argues that a distinction should be made in approaches to this issue between soteriological openness and eschatological openness. By going beyond Christian theology and also looking to Muslim and Jewish sources and by combining the question of the religious Other with eschatology, Wirén explores ways of articulating Christian eschatology in light of religious otherness, and provides a new and vital slant to the threefold paradigm of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism that has been prevalent in the theology of religions. "Jakob Wirén's study pushes forward the frontiers of three disciplines all at the same time: theology of religions; comparative religions and eschatology. (...) This is a challenging and important book." - Gavin D'Costa, University of Bristol, Professor of Catholic Theology, 2017 "This book explores of the status of religious others in Christian eschatology, and of eschatology itself as a privileged place for reflecting on religious otherness. Wiren mines not only Christian, but also Jewish and Muslim sources to develop an inclusive eschatology. Hope and Otherness thus represents an important contribution to both theology of religions and comparative theology." - Catherine Cornille, Boston College, Professor of Comparative Theology, 2017
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004357068 :
0923-6201 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The expansion of prophetic experience : essays on historicity, contingency and plurality in religion /
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Abdulkarim Soroush is known primarily for his epistemological/hermeneutical theory, the "Contraction and Expansion of Religious Knowledge," and its application to Islamic political theory and religious pluralism. While his Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam applies that theory to plurality and the historicity of understanding and interpretation of religion, this book captures some of his original theories about religion itself. The Expansion of Prophetic Experience treats the historicity of the Prophet Muhammad's revelatory experience, including human and contextual influences on the genesis of the sacred Text. It presents substantial aspects of Soroush's Neo-Rationalist hermeneutical project for an Islamic reformed theology and ethics, systematically leading Islamic reformation beyond conventional projects of piecemeal adjustments to the Shariʿah or selective re-interpretations of the Qurʾān.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [345]-348) and index. :
9789047424369 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A Traditional Mu'tazilite Qur'ān Commentary : The Kashshāf of Jār Allāh al-Zamakhsharī (d.538/1144) /
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This book deals with the life and work of Jār Allāh al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/144). The greater part of it, however, is devoted to an examination of his Qurʾān commentary, al-Kashshāf. The book is divided into five chapters, supplemented by nine appendices. After a chapter on the author's life and writings (an annotated list of which is given in an appendix), there follow four chapters that focus on the Kashshāf itself. These deal with the history of the text, its structure and method, the traditions it contains and the sources the author relied on for it. Although both al-Zamakhsharī's name and the title of his commentary are well known, very little is actually known about either the author or the work. This book presents a more complete and nuanced picture of each.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047417767
9789004147003
Visions of sharīʻa : contemporary discussions in Shi'i legal theory /
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In Visions of Sharīʿa Bhojani, De Rooij and Bohlander present the first broad examination of ways in which legal theory ( uṣūl al-fiqh ) within Twelver Shīʿī thought continues to be a forum for vibrant debates regarding the assumptions, epistemology and hermeneutics of Sharīʿa in contemporary Shīʿī thought. Bringing together authoritative voices and emerging scholars, from both 'traditional' seminaries and 'Western' academies, the distinct critical insider and emic accounts provided develop a novel avenue in Islamic legal studies. Contextualised through reference to the history of Shīʿī legal theory as well as contemporary juristic practice and socio-political considerations, the volume demonstrates how one of the most intellectually vibrant and developed discourses of Islamic thought continues to be a key forum for exploring visions of Sharīʿa .
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Includes index.
"This collection of papers is the result of a two-day conference held in August 2015 in St Aidan's College at Durham University, organised jointly by the Al-Mahdi Institute in Birmingham and Durham's research group Islam, Law and Modernity (ILM)." --ECIP preface. :
1 online resource. :
9789004413948
The foundations of jurisprudence : an introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī legal theory /
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Foundations of Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Imāmī Shīʿī Legal Theory is a critical edition of the Arabic text with a parallel English translation of Mabādiʾ al-wuṣūl ilā ʿilm al-uṣūl by al-ʿAllāmah al-Ḥillī, introduced, edited and translated by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi. Al-ʿAllāmah al-Ḥillī participated in the leading debates of his day and applied his vast erudition in philosophy, logic, and theology to the paramount subject of jurisprudence. This text presents an exemplar of the rich revival of Shīʿī scholarship in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries of the Common Era. Concise, yet comprehensive, this work sets the standard for the subsequent development and discussion of Imāmī Shīʿī legal theory, such that its influence can be traced through to modern times. This dual-text edition is indispensable for students and scholars of Imāmi Shīʿī jurisprudence.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004311770 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Al-Arbaʿīniyyāt li-Kashf anwār al-qudsiyyāt /
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In the history of Islamic literature, there is a genre called arbaʿūna ḥadīthan , in which 40 Prophetic traditions are jointly published, mostly with some kind of commentary. The genre finds its origin in the tradition saying that whoever commits forty traditions to memory will be reckoned among the jurists on Resurrection Day. Qāḍī Saʿīd Qumī (d. after 1107/1696) is a Shīʿite philosopher, jurist, physician and mystic of the Safavid period. Having been trained by some of the foremost scholars of his time, he spent most of his active life in Qum, where he divided his time between his judgeship and teaching. In imitation of the forty-traditions genre, Qāḍī Saʿīd wanted to publish a collection of fourty essays, mostly on philosophy and mysticism, as the fruit of his many years of study. In fact, he got no further than ten. Still, this does not detract from their quality, as may be judged from the present edition.
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A collection of treatises on various subjects compiled by the author. :
1 online resource. :
9789004402812
9789646781658
Sabʿ rasāʾil /
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The history of Islamic philosophy was shaped by many great thinkers over a long period of time. As is well known, the Persianate world played an important role in this, almost from the very beginning. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the city of Shiraz saw the rise of a number of thinkers who together came to represent the 'School of Shiraz' in philosophy. A major figure in this school was Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī (d. 908/1502-03). A specialist in theology and philosophy, Dawānī's fame reached much beyond the confines of Shiraz, from the Ottoman empire all the way to the Indian subcontinent. Dawānī's religious proclivities have been subject of debate, the question being if he ever really was a Sunnī. It is therefore not without significance that the present volume should contain two works by him on Sunnī philosophical theology as well as three other texts of unmistakeably Shīʿī signature.
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Added t. pages in Roman script: Sabʻ Rasāʻil / ʻAllāmah Jalāl al-Dīn al-Dawānī and Mullā Ismāʻīl al-Xāǰūʼī al-Iṣfahānī :
1 online resource. :
9789004402393
9789646781504
The theology of Abu l-Qasim al-Balkhi/al-Ka'bi (d. 319/931) /
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This is the first comprehensive monograph on the theology of Abū l-Qāsim al-Kaʿbī al-Balkhī (d. 319/931), a leading Muʿtazilī who flourished at the end of the Baghdādī school and at the beginning of the scholastic phase of Muʿtazilī history. The study of al-Kaʿbī's theology has been hindered by historiographical barriers: the fragmentary nature of extant articles, and the difficulties of reconstructing their contexts. This work investigates the twofold challenge of recovering al-Kaʿbī's theology on the basis of a source-critical reconstruction of major extant fragments. One result of this study positions al-Kaʿbī's theology as influenced less by the precepts of a Baghdādī school, and guided more by his individual views and affinity for earlier independent Muʿtazilī positions. Another result not only corroborates al-Kaʿbī's previously noted contributions in epistemology and cosmology, but also argues for their centrality to his theology as a whole.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004259683 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sharḥ al-Muqaddama fi ʼl-kalām : maʿa ʼl-Muqaddama fi ʼl-kalām, nuskha muṣawwara min majmūʿat ʿĀṭif Efendī raqm 1338/1 /
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The Imāmī scholar Abū Jaʿfar Ṭūsī (d. 459-60/1066-7) was born in Ṭūs in Khurāsān. Having completed his basic education there, he left for Baghdad, which at the time was ruled by the Shīʿī Buwayhid dynasty. In Baghdad he attended the classes of various prominent scholars, notably the leading Imāmī rationalist of his time, al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022) and his successor al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (d. 436/1044). After the death of al-Murtaḍā, Ṭūsī, who had already made a name for himself as a thinker and a writer, became the undisputed leader of the Imāmī community. About ten years later Baghdad was invaded by the Saljuqs and Ṭūsī's house and libraries were laid to waste. Tūsī fled to Najaf where he remained until his death. Al-Muqaddima fi ʼl-kalām on concepts in theology figures among Ṭūsī's most important works. The commentary by Najīb al-Dīn al-Ḥusaynī (d. 582/1186) printed in facsimile here are lecture notes, made by one of his students.
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1 online resource. :
9789004406230
9786002030658
al-Sahib ibn 'Abbad, promoter of rational theology : two Mu'tazili kalam texts from the Cairo Geniza /
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The volume contains critical editions of the extant parts of two hitherto unknown theological works by the Būyid vizier al-Ṣāḥib born ʿAbbād (d. 385/925), who is well known to have vigorously promoted the teaching of Muʿtazilī theology throughout Būyid territories and beyond. The manuscripts on which the edition is based come from Cairo Geniza store rooms. They consist of two manuscripts for each of the two texts-testimony to the impact of al-Ṣāḥib's education policy on the contemporaneous Jewish community in Cairo. The longer treatise of al-Ṣāḥib of circa 350/960, possibly his Kitāb Nahj al-sabīl fī uṣūl al-dīn , appears to be the earliest Muʿtazilī work preserved among the Jewish community. The second, briefer treatise also contains a commentary by ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Hamadānī (d. 415/1025).
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004323735 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.