Islamic Philosophy

Question 1

Islam

Answer 1

one of the Abrahamic religions, Mohammed is the last prophet, monotheistic, has a separate Islamic calendar

Question 2

5 pillars of Islam

Answer 2

comprise five official acts considered obligatory for all Muslims as a framework for worship and a sign of commitment to the faith
1. Shahadah
2. Salat
3. Zakat
4. Sawm/siyyam
5. Performance of the haji

Question 3

Shahada

Answer 3

witnessing the oneness of God and the prophethood of Mohammed thru 2 declarations which signify the entrance of the believer into Islam

Question 4

Salat

Answer 4

regular observance of the five prescribed prayers which are recited at specific times of the day, involves ritual bowing and repetition of prayers

Question 5

Zakat

Answer 5

paying a tax, contributing a part of wealth for the good of the community (almsgiving) which stems from social responsibility, typically paid to a religious official, rep of the Islamic state, or the local mosque

Question 6

Sawm

Answer 6

fasting during the month of Ramadan, believers must abstain from food, drink, and sexual activity to demonstrate affirmation of ethical awareness

Question 7

Haji

Answer 7

pilgrimage, every believer who is physically and financially capable of making the trip and performing the rites is required to do so, rites include putting on the ihram, circumambulation, standing at the plain, throwing stones, sacrifice of an animal, prayer, etc.

Question 8

theology

Answer 8

study of God; natural theology: study of God by way of natural reason (without revelation); Aristotle asserted that God must exist if we want to explain physical phenomenon Plato considered God as the highest good; Stoics saw Godd as an energetic principle in all things

Question 9

the major questions for theology and philosophy

Answer 9

• what is the relation between the truths of revelation (faith) and the truths we arrive at via our own rational capacities (reason)?
• do they provide us with the same truths in diff forms?
• can reason “prove” religion?
• does faith include smth that goes beyond reason?
• does faith affirm smth that goes against reason?

Question 10

the “other”

Answer 10

refers to the idea that we think in binaries (pairs of opposites) or the idea that we often think in terms of us vs them, can be found in Stoicism, which talks about building identities by associating ourselves first with bodies, parents, societies, etc. and that this process continues until we recognize all of humanity as part of “us”; this is why the Stoics are known for cosmopolitanism (the idea that the world is their city or state rather than a restricted community)

Question 11

Orientalism

Answer 11

coined by Edward Said, the tendency to see the Islamic world (and Asia) as being diff and opposite to European culture in either negative or positive terms

Question 12

Abbasid Era

Answer 12

Harun Ar-Rasid sponsored the institution, the House of Wisdom, which synthesized and translated all philosophical works at the time and inspired advancements in the field

Question 13

relations between Islam and Christianity in the history of philosophy

Answer 13

Islamic philosophy played a key role in the history of E philosophy since the Greek philosophical texts were translated into Arabic and studied in an Islamic context before arriving in E; synthesis of faith and reason, Platonic and Aristotelian thought, and central tools in philosophy were formulated in the Islamic world and had a massive impact on E thought

Question 14

Islam in the Iberian Peninsula

Answer 14

the South of Spain was under Muslim control, Cordoba was a very important philosophical centre, many texts came to uni centres in the Middle Ages from Cordoba via Toledo

Question 15

basic premise of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufayl

Answer 15

a story and thought experiment based on the hypothetical situation of a baby being placed on an island, isolated from other humans, and growing up

Question 16

natural reason

Answer 16

discovering truths of reality by way of natural ability to reason

Question 17

Sufism

Answer 17

“mystical Islam,” focuses on the direct experience of Allah rather than reason/revelation, experiencing God provides the highest pleasure that cannot be explained and compared, ecstasy is associated with this experience and refers to the idea of standing outside yourself or normal state to become transcendent

Question 18

levels of reality

Answer 18

reality is split into diff dimensions (such as the imaginary, experiential, and divine), a person experiences the world which leads into reality and the divine is the highest; for Plato, reality is split into the world of being (reality) and the world of becoming (the world we experience thru senses)

Question 19

negative theology

Answer 19

studying what God is not in order to describe his nature, negative statements that express knowledge of God in contrast of positive theologies that emphasize positive statements

Question 20

Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufayl

Answer 20

contains 7 stages of developments (7 periods of 7 years) characterized by a childlike approach to the world, corresponds to diff levels of knowledge or sciences; by dissecting the doe, he discovers the soul and God by concluding that there was smth above the material world, leads him to come up with theories of metaphysics by questioning how life comes to be, concluded that some being is present in all things and unites them despite their differences