Averroës,1126-1198; criticism and interpretation; Ibn Taymīyah, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm,1263-1328.

In 1908, public figures of the Egyptian civil society created the Egyptia University on the pattern of European universities. Foreign scholars belonged to its faculty including orientalists. The only Spaniard appointed as professor was Vicente Galarza y Pérez Castañeda, who taught philosophy in the years between 1915 and 1919. The article analyses the texts of his courses, taught in Arabic, and considers Galarza to be the first to apply the critical method in his university teaching.

_This mirror for princes sheds light on the relationship between spiritual and political authority in early modern Egypt_ This guide to political behavior and expediency offers advice to Sufi shaykhs, or spiritual guides, on how to interact and negotiate with powerful secular officials, judges, and treasurers, or emirs. Translated into English for the first time, it is a unique account of the relationship between spiritual and political authority in late medieval / early modern Islamic society.

Ibn Taymīyah, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm, 1263-1328; views on philosophy, Islamic; Muslim philosophers; history; apologetic work; editor's Ph.D. dissertation.

The Arabic philosophical fable _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _is a classic of medieval Islamic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl, the Andalusian philosopher, tells of a child raised by a doe on an equatorial island who grows up to discover the truth about the world and his own place in it, unaided—but also unimpeded—by society, language, or tradition. Hayy’s discoveries about God, nature, and man challenge the values of the culture in which the tale was written as well as those of every contemporary society. (...) Goodman’s commentary places _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _in its historical and philosophical context. The volume features a new preface and index, and an updated bibliography. “One of the most remarkable books of the Middle Ages.”—_Times Literary Supplement_ “An enchanting and puzzling story.... The book transcends all historical and cultural environments to settle upon the questions of human life that perpetually intrigue men.”—_Middle East__ Journal_ “Goodman has done a service to the modern English reader by providing a readable translation of a philosophically significant allegory.”—_Philosophy East and West_ “Add[s] bright new pieces to an Islamic mosaic whose general shape is already known.”—_American Historical Review_. (shrink)

Two Andalusian Philosophers is a short but comprehensive introduction to the central concerns of Islamic philosophy and its relationship with sharia law. The Story of Hayy ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufayl and The Definitive Statement by Averroes represent the last, great flourish of Islamic philosophy in twelfth century Andalusia. The influence of Averroes upon Latin scholastic philosophy is well known (although the content of his writings may be rather less familiar to a modern readership). Ibn Tufayls reputation rests primarily upon (...) Hayy ibn Yaqzan, which is among the most accessible of Islamic mystical writings. Widely known in English translation during the early eighteenth century, he was an important influence upon the composition of Robinson Crusoe. (shrink)

Qurʼan; hermeneutics; criticism, textual; criticism, interpretation, etc.

Prophets, Pre-Islamic; conduct of life; early works to 1800.

كتاب مفيد يناقش مسألة مهمة ، وهي حكم الوفاء بالوعد. وترجع أهمية هذا الكتاب إلى أن المؤلفات التي أفردت هذا الموضوع بالبحث قليلة جدا ـ حسب علمي -. وقد تكلم المؤلف (رحمه الله) عن وعد الله سبحانه لرسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم بأنه سيجعل أمته خلفاء في الأرض ، وذكر الأدلة من الكتاب والسنة ، واعتنى بتخريج أكثر الأحاديث ، وأكثر النقل عن العلماء ، ثم ذكر محافظة الصحابة والتابعين ومن بعدهم على الوفاء بالوعد ، وذم الإخلاف ، ثم ختم (...) الكلام بشيء من الأشعار التي تحث على الوفاء بالوعد وتذم إخلافه يقول المؤلف في مقدمته ( وبعد : فهذا تصنيف لطيف سميته (( التماس السعد في الوفاء بالوعد )) جمعت فيه ما تيسر لي الوقوف عليه من الأحاديث والآثار ومناسبات الأشعار وافتتحته بآية في المعنى مع طرف من تفسيرها الأسنى ليتوافق دليل السنة والكتاب ويظهر قوة من جنح في ذلك للوجوب من الأصحاب ) أسأل الله أن يوفقنا لما فيه الخير وأن يجعل عملنا خالصا لوجهه إنه على كل شيء قدير وبالإجابة جدير. العبيكان للنشر 1997. (shrink)

Good and evil; religious aspects; Islam.

Muhammad al-Shahrastani, the famous Muslim theologian of the 12th century and author of the Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, was greatly influenced by Ismaili teachings. In this work al-Shahrastani refutes the metaphysics of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) from an Ismaili point of view.

Islamic sects; Islam; doctrines; Islamic philosophy.