⬜⬛
Can We Trust the Word of God? Defending Skeptical Theism from Skeptical Theology
By Joshua David McKeown, Mississippi College
I argue that skeptical theism does not imply skepticism about theologically indispensable propositions. I distinguish metaphorical truth and belief from “ordinary” or cognitive truth and belief. I then argue that the belief that theologically indispensable propositions like “Jesus is the Son of God” are true belongs to the former, metaphorical kind of belief. I therefore argue that God cannot tell us that they are true without commanding us to do something that is either moral or immoral. If then He loves us in the “parental” sense, and it is detrimental to our well-being to do something immoral, I argue that He cannot tell us that such a proposition is true unless it is.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-026-09991-7
────────────
Tags: #SkepticalTheism #PhilosophyOfReligion #Theology #Epistemology
Can We Trust the Word of God? Defending Skeptical Theism from Skeptical Theology
By Joshua David McKeown, Mississippi College
I argue that skeptical theism does not imply skepticism about theologically indispensable propositions. I distinguish metaphorical truth and belief from “ordinary” or cognitive truth and belief. I then argue that the belief that theologically indispensable propositions like “Jesus is the Son of God” are true belongs to the former, metaphorical kind of belief. I therefore argue that God cannot tell us that they are true without commanding us to do something that is either moral or immoral. If then He loves us in the “parental” sense, and it is detrimental to our well-being to do something immoral, I argue that He cannot tell us that such a proposition is true unless it is.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-026-09991-7
────────────
Tags: #SkepticalTheism #PhilosophyOfReligion #Theology #Epistemology
⬜⬛
The Rukhsa of Psychedelics in Shariah: Neural Correlates of Religious Experience and the Issue of License
By Haroon Asghar, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
A previous paper by the same author demonstrates that psychedelic medicines differ from intoxicants (khamr) as they do not induce moral impairment or “veil” rational faculties. While unsupervised should remain impermissible due to psychological risks, their therapeutic application may be justified under Islamic law through rukhsa (legal concession). Since psychedelics can mimic neural and phenomenological states which are produced in prayer or meditation, the paper suggests permitting their clinical use when such spiritual practices would otherwise serve as treatment, provided threshold of disease severity or functional impairment is met.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637223
────────────
Tags: #IslamicLaw #Psychedelics #Neuroscience #ReligiousExperience #Shariah
The Rukhsa of Psychedelics in Shariah: Neural Correlates of Religious Experience and the Issue of License
By Haroon Asghar, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
A previous paper by the same author demonstrates that psychedelic medicines differ from intoxicants (khamr) as they do not induce moral impairment or “veil” rational faculties. While unsupervised should remain impermissible due to psychological risks, their therapeutic application may be justified under Islamic law through rukhsa (legal concession). Since psychedelics can mimic neural and phenomenological states which are produced in prayer or meditation, the paper suggests permitting their clinical use when such spiritual practices would otherwise serve as treatment, provided threshold of disease severity or functional impairment is met.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637223
────────────
Tags: #IslamicLaw #Psychedelics #Neuroscience #ReligiousExperience #Shariah
⬜⬛
Attachment, Religion, and Spirituality
By Edward (Ward) B. Davis, Wheaton College (Illinois); Pehr Granqvist, Stockholm University
Across the world, most people are religious or spiritual, and many have a strong relational-emotional bond (attachment relationship) with God(s). This Element summarizes social-scientific theory and research on these relationships. Part I outlines basic principles of attachment and religion/spirituality. Part II describes normative (human-universal) processes and patterns. It explains how God and other supernatural beings often serve as irreplaceable relational caregivers (attachment figures), safe havens, and secure bases for people. Then it examines how religious/spiritual development interacts with attachment maturation across the lifespan. Part III explores individual differences in human and religious/spiritual attachment. After describing human-attachment differences, it examines how such differences can manifest jointly in forms of emotionally/socially correspondent or emotionally compensatory human attachment and religion/spirituality. Part IV discusses applied theory and research on religious/spiritual attachment. It explores the relationship between religious/spiritual attachment and health/well-being and concludes discussing how transformation in religious/spiritual attachment can occur through psychospiritual intervention or healthy relationships. (Cambridge University Press & Assessment)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501019
────────────
Tags: #PsychologyOfReligion #AttachmentTheory #Spirituality #Religion #MentalHealth
Attachment, Religion, and Spirituality
By Edward (Ward) B. Davis, Wheaton College (Illinois); Pehr Granqvist, Stockholm University
Across the world, most people are religious or spiritual, and many have a strong relational-emotional bond (attachment relationship) with God(s). This Element summarizes social-scientific theory and research on these relationships. Part I outlines basic principles of attachment and religion/spirituality. Part II describes normative (human-universal) processes and patterns. It explains how God and other supernatural beings often serve as irreplaceable relational caregivers (attachment figures), safe havens, and secure bases for people. Then it examines how religious/spiritual development interacts with attachment maturation across the lifespan. Part III explores individual differences in human and religious/spiritual attachment. After describing human-attachment differences, it examines how such differences can manifest jointly in forms of emotionally/socially correspondent or emotionally compensatory human attachment and religion/spirituality. Part IV discusses applied theory and research on religious/spiritual attachment. It explores the relationship between religious/spiritual attachment and health/well-being and concludes discussing how transformation in religious/spiritual attachment can occur through psychospiritual intervention or healthy relationships. (Cambridge University Press & Assessment)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501019
────────────
Tags: #PsychologyOfReligion #AttachmentTheory #Spirituality #Religion #MentalHealth
⬜⬛
Pondering Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri’s Project of an ‘Arab Reason’: A Critical Assessment
By Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana
Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri (d. 2010) is one of the most important and stimulating contemporary Arabic philosophers. He is well-known for his project Critique of Arab Reason, which aims to analyze the epistemological foundations of Arab–Islamic thought and to diagnose the causes of its intellectual stagnation. This article offers a critical assessment of Al-Jabri’s project, examining both its methodological assumptions and its philosophical implications. It explores how Al-Jabri reconstructs the history of Arab reason through categories such as bayān, ʿirfān, and burhān, and evaluates the extent to which his framework succeeds in providing a coherent and transformative account of intellectual renewal within the Arab–Islamic tradition.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030381
────────────
Tags: #IslamicPhilosophy #AlJabri #ArabReason #IntellectualHistory #ReligiousStudies
Pondering Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri’s Project of an ‘Arab Reason’: A Critical Assessment
By Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana
Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri (d. 2010) is one of the most important and stimulating contemporary Arabic philosophers. He is well-known for his project Critique of Arab Reason, which aims to analyze the epistemological foundations of Arab–Islamic thought and to diagnose the causes of its intellectual stagnation. This article offers a critical assessment of Al-Jabri’s project, examining both its methodological assumptions and its philosophical implications. It explores how Al-Jabri reconstructs the history of Arab reason through categories such as bayān, ʿirfān, and burhān, and evaluates the extent to which his framework succeeds in providing a coherent and transformative account of intellectual renewal within the Arab–Islamic tradition.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030381
────────────
Tags: #IslamicPhilosophy #AlJabri #ArabReason #IntellectualHistory #ReligiousStudies
⬜⬛
Human Evolution and Islam: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and the Origins of Language
By Shoaib Ahmed Malik, University of Edinburgh
The relationship between Islam and human evolution remains contested. One possible tension concerns language, since Q. 2:31 is often read as implying that Adam was taught a complete revealed language, leaving little room for gradual linguistic development. Yet Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210), in The Compendium on the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (al-Maḥṣūl fī ʿilm uṣūl al-fiqh), examined four theories of language origin and suspended judgement (tawaqquf) after finding no decisive proof for any one view. This article argues that al-Rāzī’s analysis weakens a key theological barrier, allowing Muslims to consider scientific accounts of language origins within an Islamic framework.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637214
────────────
Tags: #IslamAndScience #HumanEvolution #AlRazi #LanguageOrigins #IslamicThought
Human Evolution and Islam: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and the Origins of Language
By Shoaib Ahmed Malik, University of Edinburgh
The relationship between Islam and human evolution remains contested. One possible tension concerns language, since Q. 2:31 is often read as implying that Adam was taught a complete revealed language, leaving little room for gradual linguistic development. Yet Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210), in The Compendium on the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (al-Maḥṣūl fī ʿilm uṣūl al-fiqh), examined four theories of language origin and suspended judgement (tawaqquf) after finding no decisive proof for any one view. This article argues that al-Rāzī’s analysis weakens a key theological barrier, allowing Muslims to consider scientific accounts of language origins within an Islamic framework.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637214
────────────
Tags: #IslamAndScience #HumanEvolution #AlRazi #LanguageOrigins #IslamicThought
⬜⬛
Narrating the Jewish Presence in Islamic Jerusalem: A Muslim–Christian–Jewish Debate
By Moshe Yagur, Bar Ilan University
Early Islamic sources present contradictory opinions regarding a prohibition on Jewish residence in Jerusalem after the Muslim conquest. Some sources report such a prohibition, while others do not. Modern scholars have taken varying stances on this issue. In the scholarly debate, a Cairo Geniza fragment, describing Jews escorting the Caliph ʿUmar and helping to identify the rock where the Dome of the Rock was built, has been presented as confirmation of a Jewish presence in early Islamic Jerusalem. In the present article, I clarify that this fragment is better understood in the context of the tenth or eleventh century, rather than the seventh. I present the evidence for a fierce Muslim-Christian-Jewish debate over a Jewish presence in Islamic Jerusalem, and its theological implications. This debate reached its peak around the tenth century, from which time most of the sources originate. This coincides with documented Jewish activity in the city.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2026.2642526
────────────
Tags: #IslamicHistory #Jerusalem #JewishHistory #InterfaithRelations #ReligiousStudies
Narrating the Jewish Presence in Islamic Jerusalem: A Muslim–Christian–Jewish Debate
By Moshe Yagur, Bar Ilan University
Early Islamic sources present contradictory opinions regarding a prohibition on Jewish residence in Jerusalem after the Muslim conquest. Some sources report such a prohibition, while others do not. Modern scholars have taken varying stances on this issue. In the scholarly debate, a Cairo Geniza fragment, describing Jews escorting the Caliph ʿUmar and helping to identify the rock where the Dome of the Rock was built, has been presented as confirmation of a Jewish presence in early Islamic Jerusalem. In the present article, I clarify that this fragment is better understood in the context of the tenth or eleventh century, rather than the seventh. I present the evidence for a fierce Muslim-Christian-Jewish debate over a Jewish presence in Islamic Jerusalem, and its theological implications. This debate reached its peak around the tenth century, from which time most of the sources originate. This coincides with documented Jewish activity in the city.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2026.2642526
────────────
Tags: #IslamicHistory #Jerusalem #JewishHistory #InterfaithRelations #ReligiousStudies
⬜⬛
Theorized Evolutionary Creational Origin of Life/Species (Molecular Biology/Islam Perspectives)
By Bilal Ghareeb, Arab American University
To better understand the origin of life in contexts of mechanisms and time parameters, the coincidental appearance of cells and organisms is calculated at the molecular biology level (e.g. calculation of coincidental odds of synthesis of life’s molecules). Coincidence is proven to be practically impossible, which favors the approach of creation. To understand better the origin of species, the odds of coincidental similarity (homology) of life’s molecules is proven also to be practically impossible, which supports the approach of evolution. The combination of the two impossibilities plausibly gives rise to an extraordinary evolutionary creation of life, as theorized herein.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637222
────────────
Tags: #IslamAndScience #Evolution #Creation #MolecularBiology #PhilosophyOfBiology
Theorized Evolutionary Creational Origin of Life/Species (Molecular Biology/Islam Perspectives)
By Bilal Ghareeb, Arab American University
To better understand the origin of life in contexts of mechanisms and time parameters, the coincidental appearance of cells and organisms is calculated at the molecular biology level (e.g. calculation of coincidental odds of synthesis of life’s molecules). Coincidence is proven to be practically impossible, which favors the approach of creation. To understand better the origin of species, the odds of coincidental similarity (homology) of life’s molecules is proven also to be practically impossible, which supports the approach of evolution. The combination of the two impossibilities plausibly gives rise to an extraordinary evolutionary creation of life, as theorized herein.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637222
────────────
Tags: #IslamAndScience #Evolution #Creation #MolecularBiology #PhilosophyOfBiology
⬜⬛
Language and Human Uniqueness: An Exploration of Abū Muḥammad Ibn Mattawayh’s Discussions of Speech and Language
By Laura Hassan, independent scholar
Scholars of the Mu‘tazilī school of Islamic rational theology (‘ilm al-kalām) entertained extensive discussions of the ontology of human speech and language. This paper presents a case for the interest of these discussions for contemporary scholars involved in constructing theological anthropologies. Despite their remote historical and intellectual context, the ideas of the Mu‘tazila—in particular concerning the ontological continuity between human speech acts and other types of sound, the uniqueness of speech as a co-creation of God and man, and the profound blessing constituted in our capacity for speech—all have important resonances with the concerns of modern theologians.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637215
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #Mutazila #Language #TheologicalAnthropology #PhilosophyOfLanguage #Kalam
Language and Human Uniqueness: An Exploration of Abū Muḥammad Ibn Mattawayh’s Discussions of Speech and Language
By Laura Hassan, independent scholar
Scholars of the Mu‘tazilī school of Islamic rational theology (‘ilm al-kalām) entertained extensive discussions of the ontology of human speech and language. This paper presents a case for the interest of these discussions for contemporary scholars involved in constructing theological anthropologies. Despite their remote historical and intellectual context, the ideas of the Mu‘tazila—in particular concerning the ontological continuity between human speech acts and other types of sound, the uniqueness of speech as a co-creation of God and man, and the profound blessing constituted in our capacity for speech—all have important resonances with the concerns of modern theologians.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637215
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #Mutazila #Language #TheologicalAnthropology #PhilosophyOfLanguage #Kalam
⬜⬛
Al-Māturīdī’s Perspectival Account of Human Distinctiveness
By David Solomon Jalajel, King Saud University
A central concern in theological anthropology is the position of human beings within creation, to what extent and in what ways humans are unique and distinctive. This article examines relevant verses in Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s exegesis Ta’wilāt al-Qur’ān. What emerges is a cautious tendency to approach such matters from the perspective of human concerns, interests and needs, rather than in absolute ontological terms, which differs from anthropocentric tendencies prevalent in classical Islamic thought. This has relevance to current concerns in theological anthropology, like evolution, animal intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrials, which are arguably less challenging with al-Māturīdī’s perspectival approach.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637213
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #PhilosophyOfReligion #IslamAndScience #Maturidi #ReligiousStudies
Al-Māturīdī’s Perspectival Account of Human Distinctiveness
By David Solomon Jalajel, King Saud University
A central concern in theological anthropology is the position of human beings within creation, to what extent and in what ways humans are unique and distinctive. This article examines relevant verses in Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s exegesis Ta’wilāt al-Qur’ān. What emerges is a cautious tendency to approach such matters from the perspective of human concerns, interests and needs, rather than in absolute ontological terms, which differs from anthropocentric tendencies prevalent in classical Islamic thought. This has relevance to current concerns in theological anthropology, like evolution, animal intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrials, which are arguably less challenging with al-Māturīdī’s perspectival approach.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637213
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #PhilosophyOfReligion #IslamAndScience #Maturidi #ReligiousStudies
⬜⬛
Human Uniqueness in an Ecotheological Context: Jürgen Moltmann and Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Conversation
By Sevcan Öztürk, Social Sciences University of Ankara
This study explores human uniqueness through a comparative analysis of Jürgen Moltmann’s Christian and Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s Islamic perspectives in an ecotheological framework. With particular focus on the relationships between God, the human being, and nature, and with attention to the relational themes in their thought, this study investigates how these theologians conceptualize human uniqueness while addressing ecological challenges. The study critically examines whether Abrahamic religious traditions can discuss human uniqueness without falling into extreme anthropocentrism, offering insights into reimagining the role of the human being in the natural world from Moltmann’s and Nasr’s distinctive approaches.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637216
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #PhilosophyOfReligion #IslamicTheology #Ecotheology #ReligiousStudies #Nasr #Moltmann
Human Uniqueness in an Ecotheological Context: Jürgen Moltmann and Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Conversation
By Sevcan Öztürk, Social Sciences University of Ankara
This study explores human uniqueness through a comparative analysis of Jürgen Moltmann’s Christian and Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s Islamic perspectives in an ecotheological framework. With particular focus on the relationships between God, the human being, and nature, and with attention to the relational themes in their thought, this study investigates how these theologians conceptualize human uniqueness while addressing ecological challenges. The study critically examines whether Abrahamic religious traditions can discuss human uniqueness without falling into extreme anthropocentrism, offering insights into reimagining the role of the human being in the natural world from Moltmann’s and Nasr’s distinctive approaches.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637216
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #PhilosophyOfReligion #IslamicTheology #Ecotheology #ReligiousStudies #Nasr #Moltmann
⬜⬛
Past and Present References to Khaybar and the Jews in Medina: From Early Islamic Sources to Contemporary Antisemitism
By Göran Larsson, University of Gothenburg
The aim of this article is to address a specific episode in Jewish–Muslim relations, namely the period in Medina, and how this episode has been interpreted and utilized by later Muslim scholars. In addition to outlining how Jewish–Muslim relations are reported in early Islamic texts compiled or attributed to scholars such as Ibn Isḥāq (85–150/704–767), al-Wāqidī (130–207/747–823), Ibn Rāshid (96–153/714–770) and al-Ṭabarī (224–310/839–923), the article also aims to shed light on how this formative history has been employed by the Muslim Brotherhood and, more recently, by Hamas (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwama al-Islāmiyya), to legitimize anti-Jewish sentiments, antisemitism and violence against Jews and Israel. To address this question, I present a contextualization and analysis of the antisemitic slogan ‘Khaybar, Khaybar yā yahūd, jaysh Muḥammad sawf yaʿūd’ (‘Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews! The army of Muhammad will return’), which was coined by Hamas during the First Intifada in 1987. By doing so, I demonstrate that interpretations of early Islamic history are relevant for understanding how, why and when antisemitic tropes are significant for movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2026.2637045
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #IslamicHistory #MiddleEasternStudies #Antisemitism #MuslimBrotherhood #Hamas
Past and Present References to Khaybar and the Jews in Medina: From Early Islamic Sources to Contemporary Antisemitism
By Göran Larsson, University of Gothenburg
The aim of this article is to address a specific episode in Jewish–Muslim relations, namely the period in Medina, and how this episode has been interpreted and utilized by later Muslim scholars. In addition to outlining how Jewish–Muslim relations are reported in early Islamic texts compiled or attributed to scholars such as Ibn Isḥāq (85–150/704–767), al-Wāqidī (130–207/747–823), Ibn Rāshid (96–153/714–770) and al-Ṭabarī (224–310/839–923), the article also aims to shed light on how this formative history has been employed by the Muslim Brotherhood and, more recently, by Hamas (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwama al-Islāmiyya), to legitimize anti-Jewish sentiments, antisemitism and violence against Jews and Israel. To address this question, I present a contextualization and analysis of the antisemitic slogan ‘Khaybar, Khaybar yā yahūd, jaysh Muḥammad sawf yaʿūd’ (‘Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews! The army of Muhammad will return’), which was coined by Hamas during the First Intifada in 1987. By doing so, I demonstrate that interpretations of early Islamic history are relevant for understanding how, why and when antisemitic tropes are significant for movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2026.2637045
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #IslamicHistory #MiddleEasternStudies #Antisemitism #MuslimBrotherhood #Hamas
⬜⬛
Weeping Christians and the First Hijra to Ethiopia
By Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame
This article examines the Islamic tradition of the ‘first hijra’, the reported migration of a group of early Muslims from Mecca to the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, focusing in particular on the well-known account of the Ethiopian king (the Negus) and his court weeping upon hearing the Qur’an recited. Scholars and religious leaders frequently treat this narrative as a historical episode that exemplifies early Muslim–Christian harmony, or authorizes Muslim settlement in non-Muslim lands. Its historicity is almost never questioned. In this article, however, I argue that the evidence for its historicity is weak. The extraordinary dangers of such a journey, the absence of corroboration in Ethiopian sources, the silence of the Qur’an regarding any Ethiopian migration and the vague, schematic nature of the Islamic reports themselves all argue against its historicity. This article proposes an alternative explanation for the origin of the story: that the first hijra narrative functions as an exegetical and apologetic construction, designed to instantiate qur’anic passages describing Christians who recognize the truth of the Qur’an with tears (Q 5.82–3), and to model an ideal Christian response to Islamic claims. The story thus reflects early Muslim sectarian competition with Christianity rather than historical memory.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2026.2643074
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #IslamicHistory #QuranStudies #MuslimChristianRelations #Hijra
Weeping Christians and the First Hijra to Ethiopia
By Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame
This article examines the Islamic tradition of the ‘first hijra’, the reported migration of a group of early Muslims from Mecca to the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, focusing in particular on the well-known account of the Ethiopian king (the Negus) and his court weeping upon hearing the Qur’an recited. Scholars and religious leaders frequently treat this narrative as a historical episode that exemplifies early Muslim–Christian harmony, or authorizes Muslim settlement in non-Muslim lands. Its historicity is almost never questioned. In this article, however, I argue that the evidence for its historicity is weak. The extraordinary dangers of such a journey, the absence of corroboration in Ethiopian sources, the silence of the Qur’an regarding any Ethiopian migration and the vague, schematic nature of the Islamic reports themselves all argue against its historicity. This article proposes an alternative explanation for the origin of the story: that the first hijra narrative functions as an exegetical and apologetic construction, designed to instantiate qur’anic passages describing Christians who recognize the truth of the Qur’an with tears (Q 5.82–3), and to model an ideal Christian response to Islamic claims. The story thus reflects early Muslim sectarian competition with Christianity rather than historical memory.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2026.2643074
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #IslamicHistory #QuranStudies #MuslimChristianRelations #Hijra
⬜⬛
From Ego-Politics to Rūḥ-Politics: Abderrahmane Taha’s Insurgent Ethics of Izʿāj as a Decolonial Imperative
By Achraf G. Idrissi, Abu Dhabi University
This article probes the Moroccan philosopher Abderrahmane Taha’s concept of izʿāj—literally agitation/disturbance—as an Islamic decolonial option. Reading it through his notion of al-majāl al-tadāwulī (the pragmatic discursive field), this study shows how izʿāj redirects Walter Mignolo’s “body-politics” of epistemic disobedience toward an insurgent rūḥ-politics, relocating agency in divine trusteeship (amānah) and innate human disposition (fiṭrah). Against both religionist quietism and secular activist models, Taha’s rūḥ-centred critique refuses any split between inner purification (tazkiyah) and outward struggle: al-zāʿij—the epistemoral agitator—fuses ethical sincerity (ikhlāṣ) with justice, and spiritual renewal with social liberation. Anchored in amānah (trusteeship) and animated by the logic of khilāfah (stewardship), Taha’ian resistance seeks to ‘insurgify’ political life by recalibrating worldly power through ethical responsibility. Thus, this intervention recasts decolonial resistance as a covenantal ethic that redefines the telos of resistant disobedience itself. To illustrate izʿāj in action, the discussion closes with a reading of Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure (1961), tracing how communal ritual, personal defiance, and interior crisis each unsettle the materialist and epistemic regimes of colonial modernity. This framework demonstrates that true liberation requires ethical insurgency, resisting the reduction of ethics to private piety. Izʿāj thus emerges as an Islamically grounded and morally integrated Islamic decolonial option.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v43i1-2.3812
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #Philosophy #ReligiousStudies #Ethics #PoliticalPhilosophy #TahaAbderrahman
From Ego-Politics to Rūḥ-Politics: Abderrahmane Taha’s Insurgent Ethics of Izʿāj as a Decolonial Imperative
By Achraf G. Idrissi, Abu Dhabi University
This article probes the Moroccan philosopher Abderrahmane Taha’s concept of izʿāj—literally agitation/disturbance—as an Islamic decolonial option. Reading it through his notion of al-majāl al-tadāwulī (the pragmatic discursive field), this study shows how izʿāj redirects Walter Mignolo’s “body-politics” of epistemic disobedience toward an insurgent rūḥ-politics, relocating agency in divine trusteeship (amānah) and innate human disposition (fiṭrah). Against both religionist quietism and secular activist models, Taha’s rūḥ-centred critique refuses any split between inner purification (tazkiyah) and outward struggle: al-zāʿij—the epistemoral agitator—fuses ethical sincerity (ikhlāṣ) with justice, and spiritual renewal with social liberation. Anchored in amānah (trusteeship) and animated by the logic of khilāfah (stewardship), Taha’ian resistance seeks to ‘insurgify’ political life by recalibrating worldly power through ethical responsibility. Thus, this intervention recasts decolonial resistance as a covenantal ethic that redefines the telos of resistant disobedience itself. To illustrate izʿāj in action, the discussion closes with a reading of Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure (1961), tracing how communal ritual, personal defiance, and interior crisis each unsettle the materialist and epistemic regimes of colonial modernity. This framework demonstrates that true liberation requires ethical insurgency, resisting the reduction of ethics to private piety. Izʿāj thus emerges as an Islamically grounded and morally integrated Islamic decolonial option.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v43i1-2.3812
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #Philosophy #ReligiousStudies #Ethics #PoliticalPhilosophy #TahaAbderrahman
⬜⬛
“The Grove of Imagination”: Re-reading Ibn ‘Arabī’s Barzakh as a Spiritual Ecology
By Andi Herawati, Indiana University
This paper re-examines Ibn ʿArabī’s concept of the barzakh through the lens of spiritual ecology, arguing that it functions not only as an eschatological or metaphysical intermediary but as a dynamic, growth-oriented realm integral to the soul’s development. Moving beyond previous structural and ontological readings, the paper highlights the barzakh as an active, vegetal-like ecosystem where the human being—understood as a “plant-like” entity (nabātī)—matures through embodied, experiential engagement with the natural world. Drawing on Ibn ʿArabī’s descriptions of the “Vast Earth” (ard al-ḥaqīqa) and the “Pledge of the Plants,” the analysis reveals how the barzakh serves as a spiritual geography that integrates mineral, vegetal, and animal dimensions into the path of human perfection. By synthesizing insights from contemporary Islamic scholarship and vegetal philosophy, the paper presents the barzakh as a foundational, indigenous framework for an Islamic ecological spirituality—one that decenters anthropocentrism and affirms the sacred interconnectivity of all beings in the journey toward divine proximity.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v43i1-2.3974
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #Philosophy #Theology #Ecology #IbnArabi
“The Grove of Imagination”: Re-reading Ibn ‘Arabī’s Barzakh as a Spiritual Ecology
By Andi Herawati, Indiana University
This paper re-examines Ibn ʿArabī’s concept of the barzakh through the lens of spiritual ecology, arguing that it functions not only as an eschatological or metaphysical intermediary but as a dynamic, growth-oriented realm integral to the soul’s development. Moving beyond previous structural and ontological readings, the paper highlights the barzakh as an active, vegetal-like ecosystem where the human being—understood as a “plant-like” entity (nabātī)—matures through embodied, experiential engagement with the natural world. Drawing on Ibn ʿArabī’s descriptions of the “Vast Earth” (ard al-ḥaqīqa) and the “Pledge of the Plants,” the analysis reveals how the barzakh serves as a spiritual geography that integrates mineral, vegetal, and animal dimensions into the path of human perfection. By synthesizing insights from contemporary Islamic scholarship and vegetal philosophy, the paper presents the barzakh as a foundational, indigenous framework for an Islamic ecological spirituality—one that decenters anthropocentrism and affirms the sacred interconnectivity of all beings in the journey toward divine proximity.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v43i1-2.3974
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #Philosophy #Theology #Ecology #IbnArabi
⬜⬛
God’s Power and Natural Limits (the Concept of lim Δ)
By John F. Pohl, University of Utah
The theological concept of God’s omniscience in the natural world has been long debated. In the setting of both process theology and open and relational theology, God is in time and desires novelty or creativity. If God’s inclination is to want complete freedom in nature’s creativity, then nature can freely put limits in place as part of creativity. This natural limit can be defined as “lim Δ” or a limit (lim) to change (Δ). The human microbiome in specific organ systems is a biological and theological metaphor for lim Δ occurring in both nature and real time.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637227
────────────
Tags: #ReligiousStudies #Philosophy #Theology #PhilosophyOfReligion
God’s Power and Natural Limits (the Concept of lim Δ)
By John F. Pohl, University of Utah
The theological concept of God’s omniscience in the natural world has been long debated. In the setting of both process theology and open and relational theology, God is in time and desires novelty or creativity. If God’s inclination is to want complete freedom in nature’s creativity, then nature can freely put limits in place as part of creativity. This natural limit can be defined as “lim Δ” or a limit (lim) to change (Δ). The human microbiome in specific organ systems is a biological and theological metaphor for lim Δ occurring in both nature and real time.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2026.2637227
────────────
Tags: #ReligiousStudies #Philosophy #Theology #PhilosophyOfReligion
⬜⬛
Necessary-Law Arguments
By A. C. Paseau, Wadham College, Oxford University
The fundamental principles of morality, mathematics, and logic are all necessary. A necessary-law argument tries to infer the existence of God from the character or existence of these necessary laws. The present essay examines some general features of necessary-law arguments, clarifies their nature and allays some general concerns about them, thereby clearing the way for their individual assessment. Although its aim is not to appraise any specific necessary-law argument, it does sketch one such argument based on the nature of several necessary laws.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2026.42.1.1
────────────
Tags: #PhilosophyOfReligion #Metaphysics #Philosophy #Epistemology #Ethics
Necessary-Law Arguments
By A. C. Paseau, Wadham College, Oxford University
The fundamental principles of morality, mathematics, and logic are all necessary. A necessary-law argument tries to infer the existence of God from the character or existence of these necessary laws. The present essay examines some general features of necessary-law arguments, clarifies their nature and allays some general concerns about them, thereby clearing the way for their individual assessment. Although its aim is not to appraise any specific necessary-law argument, it does sketch one such argument based on the nature of several necessary laws.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2026.42.1.1
────────────
Tags: #PhilosophyOfReligion #Metaphysics #Philosophy #Epistemology #Ethics
⬜⬛
The Malebranchean Ontological Argument
By Christophe de Ray, Nanyang Technological University
Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715) advanced a form of the ontological argument for theism that has gone largely unnoticed. The argument’s central contention is that an infinitely perfect being could not have a corresponding idea distinct from it, since no finite idea could ‘contain’ such a being. Thus, an infinitely perfect being could only be its own idea. Our awareness of the idea of infinite perfection, then, just is a direct awareness of an infinitely perfect being. I present and defend a reconstruction of the Malebranchean argument.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2026.42.1.6
────────────
Tags: #PhilosophyOfReligion #Metaphysics #Philosophy #Epistemology #Malebranche
The Malebranchean Ontological Argument
By Christophe de Ray, Nanyang Technological University
Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715) advanced a form of the ontological argument for theism that has gone largely unnoticed. The argument’s central contention is that an infinitely perfect being could not have a corresponding idea distinct from it, since no finite idea could ‘contain’ such a being. Thus, an infinitely perfect being could only be its own idea. Our awareness of the idea of infinite perfection, then, just is a direct awareness of an infinitely perfect being. I present and defend a reconstruction of the Malebranchean argument.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2026.42.1.6
────────────
Tags: #PhilosophyOfReligion #Metaphysics #Philosophy #Epistemology #Malebranche
⬜⬛
The Ontology of Individualization in Avicenna in the Context of Identity and Differentiation
By Kübra Bilgin Tiryaki, Marmara University
Discussion of the issue of individuation in Avicenna’s philosophy seeks an answer to the question of how individuation can be explained ontologically in light of species-realization in individuals. The ontological aspect of individuation itself has two facets. One of them is what makes the individuals of a given species identical to themselves. The other pertains to what truly distinguishes the individuals of the species from each other. Just as answering for the self alone does not yield dissociation, the dissociation of individuals does not answer the question about their selves. Prior to Avicenna, the explanation of individuals’ selfhood was interpreted in the context of Aristotle’s philosophy and discussions were conducted on whether it is matter or form that gives selfhood. The differentiation of individuals from each other was handled on the sensory plane through the field of properties. The main claim of this article is that Avicenna developed a unique approach with his theory of quiddity that encompasses both aspects of individuation. With this theory, Avicenna explains the self-identity of the individual with “the existence of quiddity-in-itself specific to that individual” and thus creates the necessary ground for a field of properties that will make it possible for the individual to be differentiated from other individuals of the species. The differentiation of individuals is answered through the field of properties that can be “pointed to” as a result of sensory perception. Among these features, position (waḍʿ) and place (ayn) come to the fore in terms of being considered primordial. In order to justify this claim, the theory of quiddity-in-itself, which underlies Avicenna’s original approach to the issue of individuation, and the structure of the properties that emerge depending on secondary dispositions (istiʿdād) will be revealed. In this way, it will be argued that quiddity-in-itself provides the substantial unity that will save the object from being a mass of properties, and that first position and place, and then other sensible properties give the distinctive individual structure on the basis of the idea of istiʿdād. In this way, the article will argue that Avicenna develops an integrated ontology of individuation in terms of quiddity and istiʿdād theories.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.65643/Nazariyat.11.2.M0257en
────────────
Tags: #IslamicPhilosophy #Philosophy #Metaphysics #Avicenna #PhilosophyOfReligion
The Ontology of Individualization in Avicenna in the Context of Identity and Differentiation
By Kübra Bilgin Tiryaki, Marmara University
Discussion of the issue of individuation in Avicenna’s philosophy seeks an answer to the question of how individuation can be explained ontologically in light of species-realization in individuals. The ontological aspect of individuation itself has two facets. One of them is what makes the individuals of a given species identical to themselves. The other pertains to what truly distinguishes the individuals of the species from each other. Just as answering for the self alone does not yield dissociation, the dissociation of individuals does not answer the question about their selves. Prior to Avicenna, the explanation of individuals’ selfhood was interpreted in the context of Aristotle’s philosophy and discussions were conducted on whether it is matter or form that gives selfhood. The differentiation of individuals from each other was handled on the sensory plane through the field of properties. The main claim of this article is that Avicenna developed a unique approach with his theory of quiddity that encompasses both aspects of individuation. With this theory, Avicenna explains the self-identity of the individual with “the existence of quiddity-in-itself specific to that individual” and thus creates the necessary ground for a field of properties that will make it possible for the individual to be differentiated from other individuals of the species. The differentiation of individuals is answered through the field of properties that can be “pointed to” as a result of sensory perception. Among these features, position (waḍʿ) and place (ayn) come to the fore in terms of being considered primordial. In order to justify this claim, the theory of quiddity-in-itself, which underlies Avicenna’s original approach to the issue of individuation, and the structure of the properties that emerge depending on secondary dispositions (istiʿdād) will be revealed. In this way, it will be argued that quiddity-in-itself provides the substantial unity that will save the object from being a mass of properties, and that first position and place, and then other sensible properties give the distinctive individual structure on the basis of the idea of istiʿdād. In this way, the article will argue that Avicenna develops an integrated ontology of individuation in terms of quiddity and istiʿdād theories.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.65643/Nazariyat.11.2.M0257en
────────────
Tags: #IslamicPhilosophy #Philosophy #Metaphysics #Avicenna #PhilosophyOfReligion
⬜⬛
From Poetic Vision to Religious Witness: The Qurʾānic Transformation of Poetic Travel
By Hannelies Koloska, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
This article explores the Qurʾānic transformation of poetic travel, situating it within the broader cultural and religious context of Late Antiquity. By examining the Qurʾān’s repeated injunctions to travel and observe the landscape, the study reveals how travel is reconfigured from a poetic act of nostalgic vision into a religious epistemic practice of witnessing divine truth. It compares pre-Islamic Arabic poetic traditions, particularly the qasīda, with Late Antique Christian pilgrimage practices to demonstrate how the Qurʾān synthesizes and reshapes these modes of journeying into a vision-centered theology of travel.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17040444
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #Quran #History #PhilosophyOfReligion
From Poetic Vision to Religious Witness: The Qurʾānic Transformation of Poetic Travel
By Hannelies Koloska, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
This article explores the Qurʾānic transformation of poetic travel, situating it within the broader cultural and religious context of Late Antiquity. By examining the Qurʾān’s repeated injunctions to travel and observe the landscape, the study reveals how travel is reconfigured from a poetic act of nostalgic vision into a religious epistemic practice of witnessing divine truth. It compares pre-Islamic Arabic poetic traditions, particularly the qasīda, with Late Antique Christian pilgrimage practices to demonstrate how the Qurʾān synthesizes and reshapes these modes of journeying into a vision-centered theology of travel.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17040444
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #ReligiousStudies #Quran #History #PhilosophyOfReligion
⬜⬛
Between Speech and Silence: Islamic Fairy Tales as a Mystical Bridge in the Siyasatnama and Sufi Traditions
By Fehmi Ünsalan; Sema Ülper Oktar, Kocaeli University
This article posits that Islamic fairy tales function as a mystical bridge of speech, a discursive passage that, within the siyasatnama tradition, summons the subject toward ethico-political responsibility, while in Sufi narrative, it carries the seeker beyond the limits of language toward a transformative silence. Reading Indo-Persian and Ottoman siyasatnama texts alongside the Sufi classics of Attar and Rumi, the article traces this movement across both traditions. In the siyasatnama context, the fairy tale translates divine commandments into a set of virtues, such as justice, mercy, and compassion, that regulate the conduct of both ruler and subject, framing governance as an ethical response to a sacred truth. Conversely, in Sufi narrative, the fairy tale operates within a similar ethical–pedagogical grammar but directs the subject toward a fundamentally different ontological end: The dissolution of the self. Here, speech becomes a threshold to be crossed and narrative a cage to be surrendered, allowing the seeker to enter the silence in which divine love is realized. Ultimately, the article proposes that mystical transcendence does not signify a withdrawal from the ethical sphere; instead, it constitutes its most profound enactment, manifested either through the responsible exercise of power or its radical renunciation in love.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17040451
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #Sufism #PhilosophyOfReligion #Ethics #ReligiousStudies
Between Speech and Silence: Islamic Fairy Tales as a Mystical Bridge in the Siyasatnama and Sufi Traditions
By Fehmi Ünsalan; Sema Ülper Oktar, Kocaeli University
This article posits that Islamic fairy tales function as a mystical bridge of speech, a discursive passage that, within the siyasatnama tradition, summons the subject toward ethico-political responsibility, while in Sufi narrative, it carries the seeker beyond the limits of language toward a transformative silence. Reading Indo-Persian and Ottoman siyasatnama texts alongside the Sufi classics of Attar and Rumi, the article traces this movement across both traditions. In the siyasatnama context, the fairy tale translates divine commandments into a set of virtues, such as justice, mercy, and compassion, that regulate the conduct of both ruler and subject, framing governance as an ethical response to a sacred truth. Conversely, in Sufi narrative, the fairy tale operates within a similar ethical–pedagogical grammar but directs the subject toward a fundamentally different ontological end: The dissolution of the self. Here, speech becomes a threshold to be crossed and narrative a cage to be surrendered, allowing the seeker to enter the silence in which divine love is realized. Ultimately, the article proposes that mystical transcendence does not signify a withdrawal from the ethical sphere; instead, it constitutes its most profound enactment, manifested either through the responsible exercise of power or its radical renunciation in love.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17040451
────────────
Tags: #IslamicStudies #Sufism #PhilosophyOfReligion #Ethics #ReligiousStudies
⬜⬛
The Metaphysics of Emotion: Said Nursi’s Contribution to Positive Psychology
By Salih Yucel, Charles Sturt University
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (d. 1960) is one of the most influential theologians of the modern Islamic world. Although he did not write a dedicated work on psychology or wellbeing, both themes are interwoven throughout his Magnum Opus, the Risale-i Nur (Epistle of Light). Having endured persecution, imprisonment, exile, and constant surveillance for approximately 35 years under Jacobin-style secularism, Nursi developed and practised a form of positive psychology not only in theory but also in his daily life. This positive psychology is reflected in his concept of nazar (positive outlook) and müspet hareket (positive action), which shaped his social relations even with oppressors and adversaries. In addition, Nursi formulated a methodology for regulating emotions. He argues that each person possesses thousands of emotions, each with two dimensions – figurative and real – and every emotion is inherently infinite and cannot be satisfied by finite objects. When emotions are not directed toward the purposes for which they were created, a human being cannot attain genuine or lasting happiness in the mind, soul, or heart. Nursi’s understanding of positive psychology is firmly grounded in Qur’anic metaphysics and traditional Islamic ethics. This article first offers a brief overview of positive psychology, which is discussed under the concept of husnu zann (positive thinking), ilmun nafs(carnal soul), ruh (soul), sa’adah (happiness), and qalb(heart). It then examines Nursi’s conception of positive psychology and its manifestation in his daily life. Finally, it explores how Nursi regulated and rationalised his emotions during the most challenging periods of his life.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v11i1.1255
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #PhilosophyOfReligion #Psychology #Ethics #SaidNursi
The Metaphysics of Emotion: Said Nursi’s Contribution to Positive Psychology
By Salih Yucel, Charles Sturt University
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (d. 1960) is one of the most influential theologians of the modern Islamic world. Although he did not write a dedicated work on psychology or wellbeing, both themes are interwoven throughout his Magnum Opus, the Risale-i Nur (Epistle of Light). Having endured persecution, imprisonment, exile, and constant surveillance for approximately 35 years under Jacobin-style secularism, Nursi developed and practised a form of positive psychology not only in theory but also in his daily life. This positive psychology is reflected in his concept of nazar (positive outlook) and müspet hareket (positive action), which shaped his social relations even with oppressors and adversaries. In addition, Nursi formulated a methodology for regulating emotions. He argues that each person possesses thousands of emotions, each with two dimensions – figurative and real – and every emotion is inherently infinite and cannot be satisfied by finite objects. When emotions are not directed toward the purposes for which they were created, a human being cannot attain genuine or lasting happiness in the mind, soul, or heart. Nursi’s understanding of positive psychology is firmly grounded in Qur’anic metaphysics and traditional Islamic ethics. This article first offers a brief overview of positive psychology, which is discussed under the concept of husnu zann (positive thinking), ilmun nafs(carnal soul), ruh (soul), sa’adah (happiness), and qalb(heart). It then examines Nursi’s conception of positive psychology and its manifestation in his daily life. Finally, it explores how Nursi regulated and rationalised his emotions during the most challenging periods of his life.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v11i1.1255
────────────
Tags: #IslamicTheology #PhilosophyOfReligion #Psychology #Ethics #SaidNursi