ASIPT - Basira Seminars in Philosophical Theology
An Overview of Iji's al-Mawaqif fi 'Ilm al-Kalam With Contemporary Applications
Seminar 1: Aristotle, Revelation, and Kalam
Hamza Karamali describes two paths from Aristotle: (1) the path through Avicenna and Averroes to Thomas Aquinas and the European Enlightenment, and (2) the path through Ghazali and Razi to the mature kalam tradition represented by Adud al-Din al-Iji in his monumental al-Mawaqif fi 'Ilm al-Kalam. The former is well-known. The latter isn't. This series of seven seminars will walk the audience through al-Mawaqif.
These seminars are sponsored by:
Basira - www.basiraeducation.org/
ASIPT - asipt.org/
Tabah Research - tabahresearch.org/en/
Living Insights Foundation - www.livinginsights.org.uk/
In this first seminar, Hamza describes the six sections into which al-Mawaqif is divided and explains the rationale for that division. He takes as his point of departure the famous statement by Taftazani in his Sharh al-Aqaid that the late kalam tradition integrated falsafa so thoroughly that it became indistinguishable from it. He explains what "falsafa" was (and what it would be today), its place in the curriculum of the traditional madrasa, and how the six sections of al-Mawaqif illustrate the meaning and significance of Taftazani's famous statement.
Topics:
00:00:00 - Introduction to the american society of islamic philosophy and theology (ASIPT)
00:08:00 - Beginning of Seminar
00:14:16 - How mature kalam came to resemble falsafa
00:18:32 - Aristotle was the most influential philosopher in the Western philosophical tradition
00:19:43 - The two philosophical paths from Aristotle - one to modernity, and one to kalam
00:23:56 - The revelatory and philosophical sciences of the madrasa
00:31:06 - The definition of falsafa
00:32:54 - The six sub-sciences of falsafa
00:42:25 - The definition of metaphysics / al-ilm al-ilahi
00:46:30 - The six sections of al-Mawaqif
00:47:25 - 1st section- An outline of the prolegomenon to the science of kalam
00:53:14 - Purpose of Sections 2-5: Construct cosmological argument for the existence of God
00:58:22 - 2nd section - An outline of the common topics
01:03:48 - 3rd and 4th sections- An outline of the sections on natural philosophy
01:07:12 - 5th and 6th section - An outline of the sections on theology proper
01:10:59 - Mature kalam as falsafa "according to the measure of Islam"
Questions and Answers:
1:15:25 - Ghazali does a tahafut of falsafa more than falsafa itself
1:17:15 - Where does al-Bidaya fi Usul al-Din fit into a traditional kalam syllabus?
1:19:32 - Mature kalam is a shared rational tradition between Sunnis and Shiites
1:22:07 - Most mutakallimun did not accept the existence of immaterial contingent things
1:27:30 - How much logic must one learn in order to study the Mawaqif?
1:28:52 - The fallacy of composition
1:30:02 - Weren't the concepts of contingency and necessity introduced by Avicenna?
1:31:52 - Saying "on the measure of Islam" is philosophically acceptable if there is a rational synthesis
1:33:52 - In light of modern science, what parts of the Mawaqif need to be abandoned, revised, updated?
1:37:03 - How do Jewish/Christian theologians navigate philosophy if they are cut off from revelation?
1:40:25 - The difference between qidam and wujub in the late kalam tradition
1:41:55 - Is it suitable to use dalil al-huduth in contemporary discussions?
1:43:26 - How can the argument from contingency be ascribed to the mutakallimun if Avicenna articulated it?