Islam and science - Rushd

Question 1

What was Rushd’s reply to Ghazali called?

Answer 1

“The Incoherence of the Incoherence”

Question 2

Why did Rushd respond to Ghazali?

Answer 2

Ghazali had attacked the use of Aristotle’s philosophy in Islam and saw it as undermining the text of the Qur’an, whereas, Ibn Rushd sought to refute this position.

Question 3

What does Rushd say about the Qur’an?

Answer 3

The Qur’an commands it. He refers to passages like “Reflect, you have a vision.” So humans should reflect upon God and creation. If you stop this, you block knowledge of God.

Question 4

What other passages does Rushd reference in the Qur’an?

Answer 4

“They give thought to the creation of heaven and earth”. And, God told Abraham to “see the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth”

Question 5

For Rushd, what is the best way to study creation? Why?

Answer 5

Through philosophy because philosophy uses demonstration i.e. it draw conclusions from accepted premises. It draws out what is unknown from the known. Philosophy teaches the intellectual which reasoning is valid and which is invalid.

Question 6

What does Rushd say philosophers must do?

Answer 6

Study the work of previous philosophers as it is too much to expect one person to study it from the beginning. They must build on the work of previous philosophers and study it critically

Question 7

What does Rushd say the the Qur’an commanded humans to do?

Answer 7

Study the ancients, so if the believer studies philosophy properly and critically, they will not be harmed by their studies.

Question 8

What does Rushd say about harm caused by philosophy?

Answer 8

Any harm that does occur is accidental. Gives the example of choking on water. This is a side effect of drinking water when thirsty and is accidental. The water and thirst are not accidental. If there is any serious harm from studying philosophy, this must be due to the student being over passionate, having a bad teacher of suffering some natural deficiency.

Question 9

What example of Muhammad did Rushd give?

Answer 9

Muhammad being asked how someone’s brother can be helped with diarrhoea. Muhammad advised drinking honey. When the diarrhoea worsened, Muhammad said “Allah has said the truth, but your bother’s abdomen has told a lie”

Question 10

What does Rushd say about the uneducated?

Answer 10

Not all people can find truth through philosophy. Philosophy can lead the uneducated astray. There are other ways of finding the truth - dialectical (discussion) and rhetorical (preaching). These divide humans into philosophers (demonstration), theologians (dialectical) and the masses (rhetorical).

Question 11

What does Rushd believe about the universe?

Answer 11

The universe is eternal. Allah sustains the universe which is already in existence.

Question 12

What does Ghazali believe about the universe?

Answer 12

The universe is not eternal. This is upheld in the Qur’an, which states the universe came about from nothing. Allah brought the universe into existence and could destroy it if he chose.

Question 13

What does Rushd think about Allah?

Answer 13

Allah is timeless, spaceless and wholly simple. he cannot act in time. Allah cannot act to create and cannot “just decide”. to say Allah can act is too anthropomorphic. The Qur’an must be read allegorically.

Question 14

What does Ghazali think about Allah?

Answer 14

Allah is in time much like a human agent. Divine action is like human action. Allah can will to do things and then act. This is how the Qur’an portrays Allah. Allah lives, will and knows. He is personal and not impersonal like the God of the philosophers.

Question 15

What does Rushd say about human action?

Answer 15

Not every human act is due to the will of Allah and to say that anything happens is due to Allah’s will is to deny science, philosophy and Theology.

Question 16

For Rushd, what does philosophy point to?

Answer 16

Allah sustaining rather than causing acts. If everything happened due to the will of Allah, there would be no rational pattern in creation but there is.

Question 17

What does Ghazali say about human action?

Answer 17

All human acts are only possible because of the will of Allah. It is possible for a decapitated human still to act through the will of Allah.

Question 18

How does Rushd respond to Ghazali’s determinism?

Answer 18

If Ghazali is right, we would never be able to know the creator because everything would be so random.

Question 19

How are Rushd’s and Ghazali’s views on philosophy different?

Answer 19

For Rushd, philosophy is not harmful and any harm done is caused by accident - choking on water. Ghazali concluded that too much harm came from Philosophy. A better way to necessary truths was through experience.

Question 20

What does Rushd say about the afterlife?

Answer 20

Heaven and Hell are allegories. They are not real. No bodily resurrection, there is soul immortality. It is the soul which can understand universal truths and can transcend death.

Question 21

What did Rushd think about people in society?

Answer 21

Only those with knowledge of logic and philosophy can discover the truths and so only they will be saved. Ordinary people should follow religion to help society and heretics should be given no voice and if necessary, executed.

Question 22

What did Ghazali think about the afterlife?

Answer 22

The Qur’an has revealed bodily resurrection and heaven and hell. To deny these is to deny the Qur’an which simply cannot be done.

Question 23

What did Rushd say about Shariah law and the Qur’an?

Answer 23

Cannot be understood without using philosophy. Only those trained in philosophy will be able to arrive at an accurate understanding and they need to teach those who do not have this understanding - elitist.

Question 24

What did Rushd think about the law schools/ sects?

Answer 24

None of them had it right, none of the sects have the authority to impose their views on others. Only the philosophers or those who are learned can interpret correctly.

Question 25

What does Rushd say about who scripture addresses?

Answer 25

Scripture addresses three classes of people - the learned, the theologians and the common people but it does so in different ways.

Question 26

What did Rushd say about interpretation?

Answer 26

Needs to be correctly applied and Averroes argued that false application gave rise to heretical sects in Islam of which it was held that only one group would be saved.

Question 27

What does Ghazali say about interpretation?

Answer 27

There should be a very limited interpretation of the Qur’an. Sufism was the way to salvation and knowing God, not Philosophy.