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Vocabulary of Islam Criticism of Islam Index of articles on Islam

The Asharite (Arabic الأشعرية al-ash`aryah) is a school of early Muslim philosophy that wasinstrumental in drastically changing the direction of Islamic philosophy, separating its development radically from that of philosophy in the Christian world. It was founded by the theologian Abu l'Hasan al-Ashari (d. 945) who gave it its name. The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Hadith (Arabic: , Arabic pl. ... This article is not about the group of British engineering companies called Sira; see Sira (group of British companies). ... - Islamic jurisprudence, Fiqh (in Arabic and Persian: فقه) is made up of the rulings of Islamic jurists to direct the lives of the Muslim faithful. ... Sharia (Arabic: ; also SharÄ«ah, Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is the Arabic word for Islamic law, also known as the Law of Allah. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic: سنّة ) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Shia Islam (Arabic: or follower. ... Sufism (Arabic تصوف tasÌ£awwuf) is the school of esoteric philosophy in Islam, which is based on the pursuit of spiritual truth as a definite goal to attain. ... The religion of Islam has many divisions, sects, schools, traditions, and related faiths. ... This is a list of cities that various groups regard as holy. ... Islamic architecture is the entire range of architecture that has evolved from Islam as a social, cultural, political and religious phenomenon. ... Mediums of Islamic art Islamic art throughout history has been mainly abstract and decorative, portraying geometric, floral, Arabesque, and calligraphic designs. ... The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar (also called Hijri calendar) is the calendar used to date events in predominantly Muslim countries, and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Muslim holy days. ... Islamic religious leaders are persons who, as part of the clerisy, mosque, or government, perform a prominent role within their community or nation. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... Islam as a political movement has a diverse character that has at different times incorporated elements of many other political movements, while simultaneously adapting the religious views of Islamic fundamentalism, particularly the view of Islam as a political religion. ... Jihad (ǧihād جهاد) is an Islamic term, from the Arabic root ǧhd (to exert utmost effort, to strive, struggle), which connotes a wide range of meanings: anything from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to a political or military struggle to further the Islamic cause. ... The following list consists of concepts that are derived from both Islam and Arab tradition, which are expressed as words in the Arabic language. ... Strictly speaking, criticism of or opposition to Islam is the theological criticism of Islamic dogma and the Quran. ... Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Early Muslim philosophy can be starkly divided into four clear sets of influences: First, the life of Muhammad or sira which generated both the Quran (revelation) and hadith (his daily utterances and discourses on social and legal matters), during which philosophy was defined by acceptance or rejection of his... Islamic philosophy (فلسفه Ù‰ اسلامى) is a long living attempt to create harmony between faith and reason or philosophy and the religious teachings of Islam. ... Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. ... Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari (c. ... Events Saint Dunstan abbot at Glastonbury Edmund I of England conquers Strathclyde Howell the Good convenes a conference at Whitland, which reforms the laws of Wales Births Abbo of Fleury, French monk Deaths Igor of Kiev Categories: 945 ...

In contrast to the Mutazilite school of Greek-inspired philosophers, the Asharite view was that comprehension of unique nature and characteristics of God were beyond human capability. And that, while man had free will, he had no power to create anything. It was an ignorance-based view which did not assume that human reason could discern morality. Mutazili (Arabic المعتزلة) is an extinct theological school of thought within Islam. ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... An ignorance-based view is the philosophical idea or belief that ones self or group can have no real knowledge of the nature of existence, in general, or specifically about a particular issue, and that nothing can or should be done, because ones intelligence does not come close...

Despite being named for Ashari, the most influential work of this school's thought was "The Incoherence of the Philosophers", by the Muslim polymath Al-Ghazali (d. 1111). He laid the groundwork to "shut the door of ijtihad" centuries later in the Ottoman Empire. This is one of the most influential works ever produced. Ibn Rushd, a rationalist, famously responded that "to say that philosophers are incoherent is itself to make an incoherent statement." and even wrote a book "The Incoherence of the Incoherence" to refute Al-Ghazali's views, though the work was not well received in the Muslim community. The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-Falasifa) is the title of a landmark polemic in Islamic philosophy by the Sufi sympathetic Al-Ghazali of the Asharite school against the neoplatonic school of thought in Islamic Philosophy. ... Haruniyeh tomb, named after Harun al-Rashid. ... Events The Synod of Rathbreasail marked the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan one Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Paschal II Baldwin VII becomes Count of Flanders Births Deaths March 3 - Bohemund I, prince of Antioch Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad... Ijtihad is a technical term of the Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the sources of the law, the Quran and the Sunnah. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (Ottoman Turkish for the Eternal State) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Constantinople (İstanbul) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... Averroes (1126 - December 10, 1198) was an Andalusi philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics and medicine. ...

His The Revival of the Religious Sciences in Islam was the cornerstone of the school's thinking, and combined theology, skepticism, mysticism, Islam and other conceptions, discussed in depth in the article on Islamic philosophy. Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Occams razor non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem or plurality should not be posited without necessity is a central tenet of skeptical thought. ... Mysticism, from the Greek (mueo, to conceal), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct, personal experience (intuition or insight) rather than rational thought; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that...   Islam? (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Islamic philosophy (فلسفه Ù‰ اسلامى) is a long living attempt to create harmony between faith and reason or philosophy and the religious teachings of Islam. ...

His mode of thought was the standard in the Ottoman Empire. When Ataturk sought to separate Turkey from dominance of religious thought in 1922 he changed the script used in the Turkic language from Arab calligraphy to the Latin script, and forbade translations of some works, including Al-Ghazali's. Such was the power of his thinking over eight centuries later. Even today, with a moderate Islamic party in power in Turkey, challenging some of Ataturk's doctrine, taking positions on international affairs based on foundations of thought laid by Al-Ghazili, he influences. The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (Ottoman Turkish for the Eternal State) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Constantinople (Ä°stanbul) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881—November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. ... 1922 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Turkic languages are a group of related languages that are spoken by a variety of people distributed across a vast area from Eastern Europe to Siberia and Western China. ...

Two other philosophers influential in the rise of the Asharite school were:

• Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1209) was a Persian mathematician, physicist, physician, philosopher, and a master of Kalam - the school of early Muslim philosophy that focused on the application of ijtihad and questioning to develop fiqh or jurisprudence. He wrote an encyclopedia of science, which was influential, and a later referent for such modern efforts as the Islamization of knowledge, which have similar intention.
• Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) was an historian, pedagogue, philosopher particularly interested in history and sociology. The Muqadimmah is still referenced today in these fields.

Other works of universal history from al-Tabri, al-Masudi, al-Athir, and Khaldun himself, were quite influential in what we now call archaeology and ethnology. Other than Khaldun, these were not Asharites, but worked in a relatively modern style that historians of the present would recognize. At the time, 13th century, the Christian world was simply not authoring honest histories, and the investigation of other cultures was a Muslim monopoly. As Muhammad himself had put it: "Seek knowledge, even as far as China." The Asharites took this instruction literally. Abu `Abdallah Muhammad bin `Umar al-Razi, known as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, (1149–1209) is a famous and well known Muslim theologian and philosopher from Ray, Iran, Persia. ... Events Albigensian Crusade against Cathars (1209-1218) the Franciscans are founded. ... Kalam in Arabic means speech or discourse and refers to the Islamic tradition of seeking theological principles through dialectic. ... Early Muslim philosophy can be starkly divided into four clear sets of influences: First, the life of Muhammad or sira which generated both the Quran (revelation) and hadith (his daily utterances and discourses on social and legal matters), during which philosophy was defined by acceptance or rejection of his... Ijtihad is a technical term of the Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the sources of the law, the Quran and the Sunnah. ... - Islamic jurisprudence, Fiqh (in Arabic and Persian: فقه) is made up of the rulings of Islamic jurists to direct the lives of the Muslim faithful. ... The Islamization of knowledge is a term which describes a variety of attempts and approaches to synthesize the ethics of Islam with various fields of modern thought. ... Ibn Khaldun, full name Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun al-Hadrami (عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي), May 27, 1332/ah732 to March 19, 1406/ah808) was a famous Tunisian historiographer and historian born in what is modern day Tunisia, and is widely acclaimed as a forerunner of modern historiography, sociology and... Events Construction of Forbidden City begins in Beijing. ... The Muqaddimah records an early Muslim view of universal history. Many modern thinkers view it as one of the first works of sociology. ... Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari (AD 838-AD 923), Iranian historian and theologian, was born in Amol, Tabaristan (south of the Caspian), and studied in Ray (Rages) , Baghdad, and in Syria and Egypt. ... Al-Masudi or Abu-Alhasan Ali bin al-Husain. ... Importance and applicability Most of human history is not described by any written records. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Muhammad is a common Muslim male name. ...

A critical spirit of inquiry was far from absent in the Asharite school. Rather, what they lacked, was a trust in reason itself, separate from a moral code, to decide what experiments or what knowledge to pursue. The modern sociology of knowledge could reasonably be said to be based firmly on Asharite views, as illustrated by modern experiences of science without ethics. Moral codes (see Morality) are often complex statements of right and wrong. ... The sociology of knowledge is the study of the social origins of ideas, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies. ...

The influence of the Asharites is still hotly debate today.

Most agree that the Asharites put an end to philosophy as such in the Muslim world, but permitted these methods to continue to be applied to science and technology. The 12th-to-14th century marked the peak of innovation in Muslim civilization. During this period many remarkable achievements of engineering and social organization were made, and the ulema began to generate a fiqh based on taqlid ("blind imitation") rather than on the old ijtihad. Eventually, however, modern historians think that lack of improvements in basic processes and confusion with theology and law degraded methods: Ulema (Arabic: علماء) is the community of legal scholars of Islam and the Sharia. ...

Ironically, the rigorous means by which the Asharites had reached their conclusions were largely forgotten by Muslims before The Renaissance, due in large part to the success of their effort to subordinate inquiry to a prior ethics - and assume ignorance was the norm for humankind. By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was a great cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...

Modern commentators blame or laud Asharites for curtailing much of the Arab world's innovation in sciences and technology, then (12th century to 14th century) leading the world. This innovation was not in general revived in the West until The Renaissance, and emergence of scientific method - which ironically was based on traditional Islamic methods of ijtihad (open inquiry) and isnad (backing or scientific citation). The Asharites did not reject these, amongst the ulema or learned, but they stifled these in the mosque and discouraged their application by the lay public. (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was a great cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... The characterization phase can require extended and extensive study, even centuries. ... Ijtihad is a technical term of the Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the sources of the law, the Quran and the Sunnah. ... The isnad (Arabic اسناد or in Quranic era Arabic اسند) are the citations or backings that establish the legitimacy of the hadith, which are the sayings of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam. ... Scientific citation is the process by which conclusions of previous scientists are used to justify experimental procedures, apparatus, goals or theses. ... Ulema (Arabic: علماء) is the community of legal scholars of Islam and the Sharia. ... Tulip Mosque in Ufa, Russia. ...

It was a drastic shift in historical initiative, foreshadowing later loss of Muslim Spain and the discovery of the Western Hemisphere - both in 1492. But the decisive influence was most likely that of the new Ottoman Empire, which found the Asharite views politically useful, and were to a degree taking the advantages of Islamic technologies, sciences, and openness for granted. Which, for some centuries after as the Ottomans pushed forth into Europe, they were able to do - losing those advantages gradually up until The Enlightenment when European innovation simply overwhelmed that of the Muslims. Al-Andalus is the Arabic name given the Iberian Peninsula by its Muslim conquerors; it refers to both the Caliphate proper and the general period of Muslim rule (711–1492). ... The term Western Hemisphere can mean either the half of the Earth that lies west of the prime meridian or the major landmass on that half, namely the continent North America (aka the Americas). ... Events January 2 - Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of Ferdinand and Isabella after a lengthy siege. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (Ottoman Turkish for the Eternal State) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Constantinople (Ä°stanbul) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... ...

The Asharites may have succeeded in laying the groundwork for a stable empire, and for subordinating philosophy as a process to fixed notions of ethics derived directly from Islam - perhaps this even improved the quality of life of average citizens. But it seems the historical impact was to yield the initiative of Western civilization to Christians in Europe. Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. ... Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ...   Islam? (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

See also

Mutazilite, kalam, Early Muslim philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamization of knowledge Mutazili (Arabic المعتزلة) is an extinct theological school of thought within Islam. ... Kalam in Arabic means speech or discourse and refers to the Islamic tradition of seeking theological principles through dialectic. ... Early Muslim philosophy can be starkly divided into four clear sets of influences: First, the life of Muhammad or sira which generated both the Quran (revelation) and hadith (his daily utterances and discourses on social and legal matters), during which philosophy was defined by acceptance or rejection of his... Islamic philosophy (فلسفه Ù‰ اسلامى) is a long living attempt to create harmony between faith and reason or philosophy and the religious teachings of Islam. ... The Islamization of knowledge is a term which describes a variety of attempts and approaches to synthesize the ethics of Islam with various fields of modern thought. ...