2.3 Intellectual Contestations - Madrasa Discourses

In this section, students learn to view the tradition as more than a mere set of orthodox doctrines transmitted from generation to generation through chains of authentic transmission. Students will read on contending schools of Islamic thought, the positions of Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun, and consider a debate between al Biruni and Ibn Sina. Throughout the section we invite students to consider whether creativity and contestation remains important to Islamic theology.

Key terms:

Orientalism
Falsafa
Metaphysics

Thumbnail: “Eid ul-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the fast of Ramadan,” Sudan. Photo Credit: UNAMID, 2012. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Learning Materials:

2.3.7 Astronomy and Astrology

This article from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City shows how science can be studied in relation to many other disciplines. (Laurascudder/"Kitab al-Tafhim")

2.3.8 Thinking About Tradition (Supplemental)

One of the most sophisticated theorizations of tradition is found in the works of Professor Talal Asad. (Sonia Sevilla/"Imam Ali Shrine")

2.3.1 Reimagining Tradition

Professor of Islamic Studies Ebrahim Moosa proposes that tradition must be dynamic. (Adam Kliczek/"Hagia Sophia Medallion")

2.3.2 The Myth of Intellectual Decline

Aburrahman Mihrig, then a graduate student at Harvard University, contests Shaykh Hamza Yusuf's assumption of Islamic intellectual decline. (Ashrf1979/"Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī")

2.3.3 Islamic Theology

This article from Islamic Philosophy Online presents an overview of the Islamic theological tradition and its contending schools of thought. (Ninara/"Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam")

2.3.4 The Silent Theology of Islamic Art

This Renovatio article suggests that Islam is best known not through books or discursive arguments, but rather through aesthetics. (InfoCan/"Shah-i Zinda Tuman Aqa")

2.3.5 Intellectual Contestations Video

Madrasa Discourses principal investigator Ebrahim Moosa and lead faculty Mahan Mirza discuss Ghazali and his place within the wider tradition. (Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/"Le Penseur")

2.3.6 Hierarchy and Islamic Ethics

What does it mean for Islam if only a male elite can achieve ethical refinement, at the expense of non male elites? (The Met/"Tumanba Khan, His Wife, and His Nine Sons")

Previous [2.2 Civilizational Encounters]