User:Clemmy/100-183

100-183 Understanding Asia

Sharia
Qu'ran
Prophet Muhammad, born in Makkah, later was forced to migrate to Medina. 622AD: Islamic calendar begins with migration of Muhammad. Community in Medina as a model of an Islamic state.
Islamic calendar: Ramadan
Muslim countries VS Islamic countries (=follows Islamic law and Islamic calendar)

Islamic world view
- Monotheism - see especially Tawhid
- God cannot be described, you cannot depict God
- No images of Muhammad, since it would give him divinity - but only God is divine. - Wahhabism (predominant in Saudi Arabia)
- Unity of God: no other being is glorified; there is only one God who has created the universe out of nothing

- Three concepts of God:
  - (predominant view:) God is a personal (= a person, self-conscious), transcendental being (= beyond space and time, because if God was not transcendental then he would be subject to change and limited - but God is unlimited - so God cannot be physical/material)
  - maybe God is impersonal (maybe God is not aware of individual beings, because God does not have perception, because perception requires a physical body and God does not have a body)
  - maybe God is not separated from the universe/nature - just as we cannot separate our souls from our bodies -> the whole universe is the body of God

- Unity of the prophethood: all prophets are considered to be true messengers from God (a Muslim has to accept all prophets)
- Unity of the scripture: 3 divine texts: Old Testament, New Testament, Qu'ran (they are not written by human beings but revealed by God)

Day of Judgement: Divine Justice (God will judge people according to their actions), Divine Retribution (and punish people accordingly) - so there has to be free will. How can God fairly punish someone if he "made" that person bad.

causa sui and causa immanence
Creation ex nihilo: God created everything out of nothing (supported by some Qu'ranic verses), time, labor is not involved
however, God needed 6 days to create the universe, so since time is involved, so is labor

Sharia - means "the way"
- more than a law; in civic society a law regulates public life - but Sharia regulates more than that (what to eat, what to wear, how to behave)
- family law has become a matter of debate nowadays: women's rights, structure of the family, status of family members, custody of children; e.g. polygamy - read it as it is written or interpret it historically?

Session 2 - Philosophy
- Muhammad died in 632 without appointing successors
- disagreement about successor
  - one group wanted to have an election/consensus - they later became the Sunnis - a successor should be elected, and should be from the same tribe as Muhammad.
  - another group believed Muhammad nominated his first cousin (and son-in-law) Ali, and that the successor should be from the same house as Muhammad - they later became the Shi'ites
- a number of successors, then a revolt against the Caliph, the rebels appointed Ali
- a committee was set up to see which group was right; they ruled against Ali
- a split-group of Ali's group, Kharijis revolted against Ali; most of them were killed, as a backlash Ali was killed; end of Medina period
Muslims defeated other empires, moved around, came in contact with other cultures - philosophical exchange

Theological/philosophical search for the truth
- who is responsible for moral corruption? is it the will of God?
- Traditionalists believe in predestination
- Mu'tazilites - rationalist school; Free will? Predetermination? how to resolve contradictions in the Qu'ran on this matter? Argue for free will. Another problem: if God's attributes are eternal and different from God, it would be polytheism. How can the Qu'ran be eternal?
- Ash'arites - moderate school; believe God is beyond human understanding

- Christian and Jewish thinkers translated philosophical works into Arabic - foundation of Muslim (not Islamic!) philosophy