In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Latin Lay Piety in an Islamic Context:The Development of the Third Order Community of St. Mary's of Mt. Sion in Mamluk Jerusalem1Jon Paul Heyne (bio)In the spring of 1353, roughly half a century after the Latin world's loss of Acre, the Florentine lady Sofia degli Arcangeli purchased lands in Mamluk Jerusalem for the establishment of a pilgrim hospital run by a group of select companions.2 Thus began the (...) Latin hospice of St. Mary's of Mt. Sion. For twenty years under Sofia's direction, the foundation obtained numerous privileges from the popes until suddenly, in 1375, Gregory XI denounced Sofia, forbidding her continued association with the hospital. Shortly thereafter, care of St. Mary's fell into the hands of a community of Franciscan friars living in Jerusalem—members of the recently formed Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land—who in turn established various regulations for the workers at the hospital, identified simply as women (mulieres) of the hospice.3 By the fifteenth century, the community at St. Mary's was transformed into a female house of Third Order Franciscans directly under the authority of the Custody, which, [End Page 33] for its own part, had adopted the regular Observance sub vicariis of the Franciscan order.The story of Sofia's hospital and its associated house of workers raises important questions regarding the relationship of penitential lay communities to the papacy and to the mendicant orders in the late medieval period. At first glance, St. Mary's appears simply to have encountered the same fate of many quasi-religious groups in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; driven by papal, clerical, and Observant efforts to establish uniformity and avoid heresy among lay penitents, the hospice fell under the supervision of the Franciscans, and the women living and working there were made tertiary members of the friars' order. Was, however, this clerical interest in regulating penitential groups the primary driving force in the development and transformation of Sofia's hospital? How did the hospital's location in Jerusalem, a city under Islamic rule, influence the dynamics that formed between Sofia and the popes and between the community at St. Mary's and the nearby Franciscan monastery? I argue that both the popes' changing relationship with Sofia and the formation of closer ties between the hospice community in Jerusalem and the Franciscan Custody had as much or more to do with the opportunities and challenges presented by the hospital's position as a Latin establishment in the Mamluk Empire as it did with clerical preoccupations to promote uniformity in the late medieval Church. Thus, the history of St. Mary's expands upon recent scholarly understandings of the creation of the third orders, offering a view of these tertiary communities within the wider scope of Muslim-Christian relations in the Mediterranean.Before examining the history of St. Mary's, I offer a brief overview of recent scholarship on female tertiary communities.4 Traditional narratives on the Franciscan Third Order assert that the tertiaries officially began with St. Francis or at the very least with the creation of an "order of penitents" through the 1289 bull Supra montem.5 Several studies have challenged this older interpretation, describing the formation of the Third [End Page 34] Order Franciscans as a much messier and less coherent process spanning the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries.6 According to some of the most recent revisionist approaches, female penitential establishments first fell under increased clerical scrutiny and canonical regulation in the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth centuries.7 Nonetheless, despite such ecclesiastical efforts to conform penitential groups to more traditional forms of religious life—by requiring enclosure, a rule, and the direct association with an existing order—many lay communities remained merely quasi-religious and even those that adopted Supra montem as a "rule" were only superficially connected to the Franciscan friars. Indeed neither the lay communities nor the friars were typically interested in a more official or direct association, and the adoption of Supra montem was primarily a means by which female penitents put on the façade of a regulated monastic lifestyle so as to evade potential accusations that they were inappropriately... (shrink)

This paper constructs the theological polemic among Near Eastern Christian sects and the encounter with the new religio-political regional power: Islam. Focusing on the period from around the first Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century until the ninth centure C. E., a list of East Syriac Church Fathers and their writings are selected as representative voices in the continuing Christological debates. In particular, the paper is concerned with how theological arguments were first used and reinterpreted to address conversion to Islam (...) and later used to emphasize, in an ironic twist, the proximity between Nestorianism and Islam contra other Christian “heresies”. This historical development is important to understand how Nestorian literature was later used by Muslim theologians well after the ninth century, such as Ibn Abī Ţālib al-Dimašqī in the fourteenth century, to defend Islam and debunk Christianity. For Nestorian apologetics the immediacy of addressing the issue of Christian conversion to Islam was clear. Letters from Nestorian clergy, such as Katholikos Īšō’yahb III. and Katholikos Georg, recount the old debates among Nestorians, Miaphysites, and Melkites concerning the nature of Christ. In order to explicate best the erroneous attraction of Islam, these two men contextualized Islamic theology as similar to a Christian heretical sect. Yet over time, appealing to Islamic overlordship became necessary. With the rise of the Abbasid caliphate and the establishment of its capital in the historical heartland of the Nestorian Church, the polemic was reversed. Hereafter, Nestorian dyophysite doctrine was used as an appeal to the Islamic conception of Christ’s divinity. For example, Katholikos Timotheos I. and the theologian Theodor Bar Koni underlined the blasphemy of the Miaphysite and Chalcedonian Christology. This very tactic, however, was easy for Muslim scholars to appropriate in Islamic apologetics. Well before al-Dimašqi, the words of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi to Timotheos are distinct: the Nestorians understood correctly that God could not have suffered and died, but that they all were still wrong that Jesus is the Son of God. (shrink)

To overcome various problems, the practice of shamanism has gained popularity in Javanese society. The belief of the society in this practice is increasing, mainly because of the involvement of the kyai (an honorific title of the Muslim clergy), who serves as a shaman. The kyai, in this regard, uses Qur’anic verses in his mantra. This study aims to reveal how the use of the Qur’anic verses is interpreted and legitimised in the practice of shamanism amongst the Javanese community. This (...) article concluded that what people understand about the heresy practice of shamanism as it is considered contrary to religious law or shirk (idolatry) is not proven. The practice of shamanism carried out by santri or kyai has normative arguments and theological legitimacy from the Qur’an and books of salaf scholars. Contribution: It is prevailing that the practice of shamanism is often considered heresy and un-Islamic. This article however, will give a new insight that the practice of shamanism is not always against Islamic teaching as conducted by kyai because he always refers to the Qur’an as a mantra. (shrink)

Renowned philosopher Kurt Flasch offers a full-scale reappraisal of the life and legacy of Meister Eckhart, the medieval German theologian, philosopher, and alleged mystic who was active during the Avignon Papacy of the fourteenth century and was tried for heresy by Pope John XXII. Disputing his subject’s frequent characterization as a hero of a modern, syncretic spirituality, Flasch attempts to free Eckhart from the “Mystical Flood” by inviting his readers to think along with Eckhart in a careful rereading of his (...) Latin and German works. This fascinating study makes a powerful case for Eckhart’s position as an important philosopher of the time rather than a mystic and casts new light on an important figure of the Middle Ages whose ideas attracted considerable attention from such diverse modern thinkers as Schopenhauer, Vivekananda, Suzuki, Fromm, and Derrida. (shrink)

The Arab revolts of 2011 raised new questions regarding democracy. On the one hand, a new kind of democracy is apparently born: the democracy of the multitude. On the other, Islam has been a major actor in the Arab revolts and presumably will play a growing role in the future. The article investigates if there is a new political model put forward by the foreseeable Islamic developments of the revolts. If we take for granted that there is not only (...) one kind of democracy and that there is much more space for Islamic organizations in the present and future political arena of the Muslim countries, then it will not sound like a heresy to ask whether there is an Islamic way to democracy. In order to demonstrate this original point of view, it is necessary to deal with the principles of Islamic political thought. The Arab revolts promise to renew and update these principles. The article will try to peruse this revision from the point of view of Antonio Gramsci and his theory of hegemony. (shrink)

This famous Persian mystic was born in Hamadhān in ah 490 or 492 (ad/) and was executed in the same town in 525/ on the charge of heresy. ...

In this volume the history of Islamic sects is analysed as a literary genus in its own right. It consists of three sections: the first deals with structural constants in the texts such as the arrangement, or the number and classification of the "sects." The main section describes the most important works and authors from the 8th to the 19th century. Finally, the central concepts - "religion," "sects," "orthodoxy," etc. - are considered and the historical background of the literary (...) development examined in more detail. It turns out that the "heresies" were rather "confessions" which can be understood as proof of the pluralistic structure of the Islamic community. (shrink)

Deism, which is known for denying the belief in prophethood and the hereafter while accepting the existence of a deity who is understood through reason but does not interfere with the universe while, has gained increasing popularity especially in positive scientific circles in Europe with the Enlightenment period. The development of deism in Europe has been significantly influenced by the ideas of philosophers and scientists such as Descartes, Newton, Voltaire, David Hume, and Kant. Although there is no word in (...) class='Hi'>Islamic terminology that corresponds with the meaning of deism, terms such as Dahriyya, Barāhima, ilhad and heresy have been used to refer to different types of denial, including deism and atheism. However, it can be said that “Dahriyyah” is closer to atheism in meaning, while “Barāhima” is used in a more specific sense to deny prophethood. The words “ilhad” and heresy are used to express any kind of denial that rejects the principles of Islam. Parallel to deism being a subject of interest in our country and around the world, there has been a significant increase in studies conducted both in favour and against it. In this article, the rational proofs mentioned by Māturīdī regarding the existence of the hereafter, which deism rejects, have been discussed. In particular, the evidence found in the exegesis of relevant verses of the Qur’ān in Kitab al-Ta’wilat have been subject to examination. Māturīdī has emphasized the importance of providing rational proof for those who do not believe in the Qur’ān, stating that they will not accept any evidence derived from it. Māturīdī, who researched the reasons why people deny the afterlife, explained that people’s attempt to understand everything by comparing them to their own abilities is an important reason for the denial of the afterlife. According to him, people deny the afterlife because they believe that the power to resurrect the dead is beyond their own abilities and assume that their power is not enough for such an act. If they had contemplated the creation of the heavens and the earth, they would have realised that Allāh’s power is different from the power of His creatures. Furthermore, Imam Māturīdī pointed out that it would be absurd and pointless for Allāh, the Creator of the universe, to have created it solely for the purpose of its destruction. He emphasised that there must be a purpose for its creation, and that this purpose indicates the existence of the afterlife, where the actions of the created beings will be accounted for. In addition, Māturīdī, who said “If the world was eternal, it would not be possible to repay the deeds done,” emphasised the necessity of distinguishing between virtuous and evil individuals and giving everyone the reward or punishment they deserve. He acknowledged that human beings live in this world as a test, and the true consequences of their actions will be revealed in the hereafter. (shrink)

De tout temps, les hommes d'Etat ont eu pour préoccupation majeure de réaliser l'intégration de leurs citoyens. C'est ce souci qui conduit, dès -334, Alexandre le Grand, élève d'Aristote, à l'élaboration d'une pensée unique et universelle pour assurer la cohésion de son Empire à l'échelle planétaire. La pensée devient alors, par sa fonction d'intégration, une entreprise gérée par l'Etat qui la fait évoluer selon des procédés appelés à se transmettre d'Empire à Empire. L'enquête menée par l'auteur, en suivant la formation (...) de la pensée universelle en milieux grec et romain, sa rivalité avec le judaïsme, sa rencontre avec le christianisme et sa confrontation avec l'Islam révèle les enjeux de fond qui expliquent la genèse de la pensée en Occident et les temps forts de son évolution. C'est à la lumière de ces enjeux que se sont trouvés éclairés les grands phénomènes de l'Histoire tels que la construction de l'Europe, les Renaissances et les profondes transformations mentales, culturelles et sociales qu'elles provoquent dans les sociétés d'Occident, l'explosion des hérésies, (des albigeois, des vaudois... ) et leur répression, les guerres saintes (le djihad, les croisades), l'antijudaïsme précurseur de l'antisémitisme, l'inquisition... Poursuivie jusqu'à Saint Louis, l'enquête a confronté l'auteur à trois espaces: l'Orient sunnite et chiite, l'Espagne musulmane et l'Occident chrétien et à plusieurs courants de pensée. En cela cet ouvrage pose un jalon essentiel dans l'exploration de l'histoire de l'Occident dans ses rapports avec l'histoire universelle, l'histoire du Saint-Siège et celle des minorités à laquelle Denise Bonan accorde une grande place. " Autant de sujets de discussion, souligne Jean Glénisson dans sa préface, pour les historiens et les philosophes qui trouveront dans cet ouvrage le lieu de rencontres stimulantes. ". (shrink)

The The sustainability of social life is based on social values. The manifestation of these values also takes place within the society. On the other hand, the realization of individuals is possible in society because a non-social human being is not a "human" in the philosophical sense. With human-oriented conditions that manifest themselves in the network of social relations, the criteria (moral values) related to the purpose of creation crystallize and become known so that the construction of a social paradigm (...) becomes possible. However, the society in which individuals live is also surrounded by an external world (material world). For this reason, the social paradigm also indirectly relies on a perception of the outside world. Thus, no matter what period of history, people's endeavor for an ideal society is accompanied by an interpretation of the external world, and with this "cumulative" knowledge, a "reducing" simulation of being is derived (cosmology). In fact, causality, which is the subject of physics, becomes the subject of philosophy in this mediation. As it can be understood, a significant problem here is the correlation between the fixed values (unconditional imperatives) that form the core of the social paradigm and the variable external world knowledge that is culturally effective in the manifestation of these values. Consequently, while determining the rules in the social order, one should act on the basis of values, not as if they have absolute knowledge of the material world. Whether we believe that the universe consists of "seven heavens" and is geocentric or heliocentric; Existential values such as justice, equality, and freedom are essential regardless of time and space. However, as historical facts show, those who have problems with this value system, which is accompanied by an interpretation of the external world, have raised objections through ever-developing knowledge of nature instead of universal values. For this reason, the geocentric perception of the universe, which forms the basis of the political paradigm in the class-based society of medieval Europe, was strongly desired to be maintained by the ruling classes. Ultimately, although this model of the universe collapsed, moral pursuits of human life continued to be sabotaged for the same political reasons, and disinformation began. Thus, scientific studies and the search for the truth (philosophy) were accompanied by endless polemics disguised as "philosophy." In fact, this situation reveals two opposing attitudes that repeat themselves in history, either in the East or the West: paradigmatic attitude (paradigmism) and enigmatic attitude (enigmatism). As a reflection of these two attitudes, the dominant discourse, which categorically accuses even the interest in understanding Western modernization in the Islamic world as heresy, did not occasionally hesitate to refer to some Western references by confirming with a vulgar pragmatism. For instance, Newtonian physics has been ignored. On the other hand, an attempt has been made to jump directly from Aristotelian physics to quantum physics by assuming an overlapping in classical texts. However, facing the new knowledge of nature has more actual consequences than polemics. To face these results and to show the legitimacy of Islamic values in the modern era, which are in conformity with the creation of human beings, the developments in the current knowledge of the universe (modern cosmology) cannot be ignored. This endeavor can be possible only when the philosophical and historical foundations of the subject are examined throughout the Western experience. (shrink)

Although Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali lived a relatively short life, he established himself as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Islam. _The Incoherence of the Philosophers_, written after more than a decade of travel and ascetic contemplation, contends that while such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna boasted of unassailable arguments on matters of theology and metaphysics, they could not deliver on their claims; moreover, many of their assertions represented disguised heresy and unbelief. Despite its attempted refutation by (...) the twelfth-century philosopher Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali's work remains widely read and influential. (shrink)

The paper analyses the philosophical aspects of the 'religion - national mythology' synthesis. The main directions of the study are as follows: 1. Both on the individual and social plan, the orientation of the transcending universalizing power of religion could vary depending on the macro-social movements a community /or an individual/ is involved in. For the individual as for the community, religion could be a cultural position transcending ego and ethno-centrism, mono-cultural tendencies; in situations of internal differentiation and disintegration of (...) these entities, the universalizing binding role of religion is partialized and determined by various social groups, who are often in opposition to each other due to their economic political, ethnic, psychological features; 2. This process is usually related to the invalidation of universally uniting religious-moral bonds and values and intensification of differences: power, property, doctrinal differences to a shift of the weight center from internal spiritual movements /particularly typical of mysticism, asceticism, priesthood/ on to practical social action - reformist heresies, the various practical theologies of revolution, liberation, the religious-motivated wars; 3. When reduced to an ethnic, political, or state emblem, religious affiliation to Judaism, Islam Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism has become and still remain a tool for the sacralization of military and political conflicts. In religion-motivated conflict situations, opposing parties de-sacralize their Sacred Books as their acts contradict the books' moral content; 4. The power of historical mythologies is in reverse proportion to the capacity of a nation to periodically renew its social life world - its psychological attitudes labour relations, political stereotypes; 5. In this type of situation religion is usually reduced to 'belonging', as G. Davie put it, at the expense of 'believing' and a corresponding moral behavior. The religious universe becomes thus subordinated to partial group values, instead of standing above them. Ovaj tekst analizira filozofske aspekte sinteze 'religija - nacionalna ideologija'. Sledeci su glavni pravci studije: 1. I na individualnom i na drustvenom planu, usmerenje na transcendiranju, univerzalizaciji moci religije moze varirati u zavisnosti od makrosocijalnih kretanja zajednice koji je u njih ukljucen. Kako za pojedinca tako i za zajednicu, religija bi mogla biti kulturno stanoviste koje transcendira egocentrizam i etnocentrizam, kao i monokulturna kretanja; u situacijama unutrasnjih raslojavanja i dezintegracije tih entiteta, univerzalizujuca uloga religije je parcijalizovana i odredjena od razlicitih drustvenih grupa koje cesto stoje nasuprot jedna drugoj zbog njihovih politickih, ekonomskih etnickih i psiholoskih osobina. 2. Taj je proces obicno povezan s obezvredjivanjem univerzalno ujedinjujucih religijsko-moralnih vrednosti i intenziviranjem razlika: moc, svojina, doktrinalne razlike; 3. Kada su svedeni na etnicke, politicke ili drzavne simbole, religiozna pripadnost judaizmu, islamu, pravoslavlju, katolicanstvu, protestantizmu postaje i ostaje sredstvo za sakralizaciju vojnih i politickih sukoba. U situacijama sukoba koji religijski motivisani, protivnicke strane desakralizuju svete knjige druge strane kako njihova dela protivrece moralnom sadrzaju tih knjiga. 4. Moc istorijskih mitologija je u obrnutoj srazmeri sa sposobnoscu nacije da periodicno obnovi svoj drustveni svet zivota - svoja psiholoska drzanja, radne odnose, politicke stereotipe. 5. U situaciji tog tipa religija je obicno svedena na 'pripadnistvo', kako na to ukazuje G. Dejvi naustrb 'verovanja' i odgovarajuceg moralnog ponasanja. (shrink)

¿Cuáles fueron los mecanismos mediante los cuales se llevó a cabo la exclusión de herejes, apóstatas e innovadores en una sociedad islámica pre-moderna como la andalusí? ¿Cuáles fueron los mecanismos o las estrategias mediante los cuales los acusados de here-jía o desviación religiosa lograron no ser excluidos de la comunidad o, en el caso de ser-lo, consiguieron la reincorporación a su medio social y religioso? Este artículo busca dar respuesta a estas preguntas, basándose en estudios previos sobre las acusaciones de (...) apos-tasía, herejía, innovación y blasfemia que tuvieron lugar en al-Andalus. = What were the mechanisms by which exclusion of heretics, apostates and innovators operated in a pre-modem Islamic society, that of al-Andalus? What were the mechanisms or strategies by which those labelled as heretics or as religious dissenters managed not to be excluded or if they had been, managed to be reincorporated finto their social and religious milieu? This article seeks to provide answers to these questions, drawing on previous studies carried out on accusations of apostasy, heresy, innovation and blasphemy that took place in al-Andalus. (shrink)

This book introduces readers to Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (known as Rhazes in Latin), one of the most innovative and divisive figures of the early philosophical tradition in the Islamic world. It attempts to reconstruct his notorious theory of "five eternals" which posited four principles alongside God for the creation of the world, which led Razi to be charged with heresy by other authors. Other topics discussed in depth include his medical works, his alchemical theories, his works on ethics, and (...) his controversial views on religion and prophecy. (shrink)

Commentators have mainly viewed the Ahmadiyya debate in Indonesia either as a controversy over heterodoxy or as an episode raising questions about the human rights of ‘religious minorities’. Instead, I suggest viewing these debates as a field of normative questions of secularism in which the claims of religious are renegotiated in response to the fragmentation of religious and political authority brought on by a diversification of the use of media and a loss of trust in the Indonesian post-Suharto democracy, and (...) between normative questions of secularism. (shrink)

The existence of ‘human-like’ attributes and actions in the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible entails to various interpretations towards anthropomorphic verses among the Muslim and Jewish counterparts. Al-Ghazali and Maimonides in their discourses strongly affirmed the unity of God and refuted anthropomorphism. Therefore, this study expounded al-Ghazali and Maimonides’ methods in affirming the incorporeality of God through outlining the similarities and differences in their interpretation. This study was qualitative in nature which analyses writings of al-Ghazali and Maimonides in encountering anthropomorphism. It (...) can be deduced that both scholars were found to be employing allegorical interpretation with different level of interpretations in their attempts to repudiate the corporeal form of God. Alternatively, they both agree on the literalist’s approach with conditions that one must not perceive God’s essence in a bodily figure. Consequently, believing so will lead one to heresy. In sum, their emphasis on an incorporeal God brought them to similar interpretation despite their different religion and theological or philosophical orientation.Contribution: This article contributed to comparative theological study in understanding anthropomorphic verses through the discourse of al-Ghazali and Maimonides in Islam and Judaism, respectively. (shrink)

Ṣāliḥ bin ʿAbd al-Quddūs of Persian origin was born in Basra, the crossroad of religions and teachings with its socio-cultural, scientific and intellectual structure. He grew up in a family that values religion, politics and literature. Rich scientific background and cross-cultural integration of Basra significantly influenced his scientific and intellectual development. However, in historiographical sources, he is an intellectual who has come to the fore with his literary identity. His ‘sectarian’, ‘political’, ‘wise’ (ḥikami), ‘didactic’ and 'gnomic' poems form the main (...) theme of his literary writings. Various titles have been attributed to him by the authors of history and biography. "Master of poets, street preacher, storyteller, theologian and philosopher" are a number of them. Before the translation of philosophical works, he became one of the important representatives of the 'literary theology', the dialectical technique of the period. Thus, besides his poetic and literary identity, he is mentioned as one of the six theologians of Basra. Over time, he was able to attract the attention of the political power with his theoretical and literary works for both theo-political and social adjustment. However, he was not understood adequately, and his poems did not attract the necessary attention since philosophical/wise expressions were widely found in them. In his poems, it is possible to see every tone of hope and hopelessness. He reflects hope, rights, justice, equality, freedom, moral virtues, but more often; despair, death, transience of the world, ascetism and distancing from people. For this reason, he is also referred to as the "poet of despair." From this point of view, his call to the life of ascetism was interpreted as dualism. The opinions of Ṣāliḥ calling for social adjustment, justice and equality were perceived as a threat by the political authority and he was killed with the accusation of heresy. Although it is generally accepted that he was executed due to heresy, there is much speculative information about the subject. Of two examples are that he subjected to ethnic discrimination due to his Persian origin, and that he was a philosopher of dualism and a follower of Manichaeism. However, the reason for the murder of Ṣāliḥ was neither his theological choice nor ethnic origin. His poetry, which motivated social morality, intellectual development, freedom and social enlightenment, turned him into a threat to the political power. It would appear that his opposition to Arab nationalism and privilege in the ranks of Šuʿūbiyya, a populism movement and his demand that justice and equality should spread throughout all layers of society, caused political prosecution. In this process, the rule chose the easiest way to silence any opposing voice by implementing the accusation of heresy. The concept of heresy, especially with the Abbasids, quickly turned away from its religious concerm and changed into a political notion. As a result, academic discussions conducted at the scientific and intellectual level in Basra were moved to a practical arena by politics, and the dose of criticism and violence increased. First of all, with its scientific and bureaucratic elements, the state embarked on an intellectual and actual struggle with heretical teachings, which aims to distort the essential principles of Islam by dissimulation (taqīyya). Although this political attitude towards heresy, which aims to break down Islamic values, can somehow be considered reasonable, the area of accusation of heresy expanded in time; causing every opposing movement to be evaluated within this scope. However, when the main theme of his poems is examined, the first point, attracting attention is his call to believe in God, the truth of the hereafter, reckoning consciousness, responsibility, justice, equality, freedom, etc. In fact, referring to the Qur’ān and ḥadīth in his poems already proves that he was a Muslim. Nevertheless, his poems were sometimes interpreted and presented as an evidence of his heresy and whenever he was found stating the right, his statements were found invalid because of accusation of dissimulation. Considering all these facts, this article will make a logical consistency analysis of the information and narrations about Ṣāliḥ. It will also examine the validity of the accusations of heresy against him, based on his literary discourses, religious identity and political attitude. As a result, it will determine whether the negative (theological) attribution to him is really an accusation or truth by an analytical inference. (shrink)

Tomo I. Religione ed eterodossia, Normatiavità e non conformismo: Dallo gnosticismo al Romanticismo nelle prime tre edizioni -- Tomo II. Appendice alla IV edizione -- Appendice alla V edizone -- Dopo e a lato, Rassegna bibliografica ragionata sulle origini dell'Islam e la loro importanza nel determinarne i succesivi sviluppi -- Marginalia.

Le Prophète - que la bénédiction et le salut de Dieu soient sur lui - a dit : " La recherche du licite est une obligation pour tout musulman ". C'est là une obligation d'entre les obligations, la plus difficile à comprendre et à mettre en pratique. C'est ce qui explique la quasi-disparition de la science du licite et de sa mise en application. La difficulté à la saisir est la cause de sa disparition car les ignorants pensent que le (...) licite est perdu et qu'il ne reste de sain que l'eau douce et l'herbe qui pousse dans les terres en friche tout le reste ayant été souillé par des mains malignes et corrompu par de mauvaises pratiques. Ce prétexte de l'herbe justifierait le recours à l'illicite. Ils ont totalement rejeté ce principe de la religion et ne peuvent différencier les choses. Hélas! Le licite est clair et l'illicite aussi, et, entre les deux, se situe l'ambigu. Ces trois cas demeurent liés, quelle que soit la situation. Et puisque cette hérésie s'est répandue dans la religion et que ses méfaits se sont propagés parmi les gens, il est un devoir d'en dévoiler la corruption en amenant, par une argumentation rigoureuse, à la faculté de distinguer entre le licite et l'illicite pour atteindre une clarté que nul obstacle ne pourra voiler. (shrink)

This study highlights various totalitarian and undemocratic practices in which Bangladesh’s current Awami League-led coalition regime engages. It shows that since its inception in early 2009, the regime has tried to mobilize and manipulate public support from within through—among other means—creating the discourse of “war crimes” and to obtain international support through the discourse of “Islamism” and terrorism. Although “a secular plan” to combat and replace “Islamism” may soothe the nerves of many in the international community, its deployment in Bangladesh (...) has paradoxically produced a dangerous culture of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, infringements on freedom of speech and the stifling of dissenting voices, and the interception of opposition programs and the torture of opposition leaders and activists. The regime has also made a mockery of the law and the country’s judicial system. Many commentators believe that the country’s law courts are now simply an extension of the regime’s political clout. In these circumstances, political repression continues unabated, and victims of persecution are left with inadequate legal recourse. In the name of combating “Islamic terrorism,” Bangladesh’s ruling regime has resorted to a reign of terror that is in many respects tantamount to what we know as fascism. (shrink)

Perspectives of Islamic philosophy; articles.

Animals have encountered cruelty and suffering throughout the ages. It is something perpetrated up till this day, particularly, in factory farms, animal laboratories, and even in the name of sports or amusement. However, since the second half of the twentieth century, there has been growing concerns for animal welfare and the protection of animal rights within the discourse of environmentalism, developed mainly in the West. Nevertheless, a recently developed Islamic Ecological Paradigm rooted in the classical Islamic traditions contests (...) the ‘Western’ monopoly of modern environmentalism, sug­gesting that there is much in Islamic traditions dealing with environmental issues in­cluding non-human animal species. IEP asserts that several centuries ago Islamic traditions significantly focused on and strongly advocated for animal welfare and animal rights. This paper explores and examines animal rights within the broader spectrum of Islamic environmentalism or Islamic eco-ethic. While the philosophical roots of IEP concerning animal rights date far back in seventh century, it can potentially make both ethical and educational contributions to the twenty-first century environmentalism and animal rights movements. (shrink)

Social practices of quantification, or the production and communication of numbers, have been recognized as important foundations of organizational knowledge, as well as sources of power. With the advent of increasingly sophisticated digital tools to capture and extract numerical data from social life, however, there is a pressing need to understand the ethical stakes of quantification. The current study examines quantification from an ethical lens, to frame and promote a research agenda around the ethics of quantification. After a brief overview (...) of quantification research and its uses in state and market organization, I discuss quantification in terms of three core subprocesses—capture, specification, and appropriation, illustrating and identifying ethical concerns around each process. Linking these processes to the performative effects of measures, I present a working model of quantification from which the discussion builds ideas for developing a research agenda around quantification. (shrink)

Decision-makers in governments, enterprises, businesses and agencies or individuals, typically, make decisions according to various regulations, guidelines and policies based on existing records stored in various databases, in particular, relational databases. To assist decision-makers, an expert system, encompasses interactive computer-based systems or subsystems to support the decision-making process. Typically, most expert systems are built on top of transaction systems, databases, and data models and restricted in decision-making to the analysis, processing and presenting data and information, and they do not provide (...) support for the normative layer. This paper will provide a solution to one specific problem that arises from this situation, namely the lack of tool/mechanism to demonstrate how an expert system is well-suited for supporting decision-making activities drawn from existing records and relevant legal requirements aligned existing records stored in various databases.We present a Rule-based reporting systems architecture, which is intended to integrate databases, in particular, relational databases, with a logic-based reasoner and rule engine to assist in decision-making or create reports according to legal norms. We argue that the resulting RuleRS provides an efficient and flexible solution to the problem at hand using defeasible inference. To this end, we have also conducted empirical evaluations of RuleRS performance. (shrink)

Metrics shape our social worlds in many and more ways. Everyday quantifications of our preferences, our behaviors and our relationships, alter us and the institutions that we constitute. This essay takes a brief look at the metrics of business ethics through two analytic devices. Representation explains the notion that metrics can capture or demonstrate ethics and performativity explains the notion that metrics can shape or constitute ethics. The analytic distinction between representation and performativity is obscured in practice when metrics become (...) targets, indeed much of the social power of metrics comes from their use as targets. Hence, we should pay attention to the world of practice in which measuring and doing are entangled. However, we should not lose sight of the limitations of measurement and the possibility that there are areas of ethical life best left unmeasured. (shrink)

Following their violent suppression of the Indian Revolution of1857, the British founded and consolidated their secular empire in the IndianSubcontinent, which marginalized and bypassed religion as far as possible,particularly Islam, which had been the official religion of the Mughal ancienrégime. Contemporaneous Ottoman efforts to counter European imperialism ledto Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s policy of pan-Islamism, particularlythe call for Islamic unity against the Russian aggression against Turkey in1877. It was at this critical juncture that some Indian Muslim scholars gallantlyvolunteered to (...) counter this threat, and to preserve the Islamic faith and heritageworldwide, despite the severe problems faced by the Muslims in India itself.This study highlights the role of an eminent scholar in this movement, namelyAllama Shibli Nu’mani, who in 1914 conceived the idea offounding the world-famous Islamic research institute Darul Musannefin ShibliAcademy in his home town of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Shibli was veryactive and instrumental in collecting donations from the wealthy landowners among the Muslim elite in his hometown of Azamgarh for theOttoman cause, raising 3,000 rupees, which was handed to Husain HasibAfendi, the Ottoman Consul in Bombay in 1877. Furthermore, his eloquentpoetry rallied Muslims across India to support the valour and heroism displayedin the jihad by Ghazi Usman Pasha against the Russians. Shibli travelled toIstanbul in 1892 and met with the Pasha, on whose efforts Tamgha-i Majidi was granted to Shibli on 13th Muharram, 1310/7th August, 1892.This article is based on Shibli’s major works in Urdu, particularly his arousingeulogies, Turkish archival reports, newspapers and magazines, andsecondary sources in Urdu and English. (shrink)

Ethical principles are among the topics that are widely emphasised in the Islamic society. Ethics is a set of values, do's and don'ts that can play an important role in the effective management of organisations. If employees of organisations, especially medical staff, are working in the atmosphere of Islamic ethics, they show functional behaviours in line with the goals and missions of organisation. Due to the direct relationship and treatment of nurses with recipients of medical services, nurses' behaviours (...) have significant impact on the quality of services provided by medical centres. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between Islamic ethics and commitment of 1100 Muslim nurses in Indonesia in 2021. This study was performed by descriptive-analytical correlational method. Data were collected using Islamic ethics and organisational commitment questionnaires and measured by Pearson correlation coefficient in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modelling analysis (SEM) in linear structural relationships (LISREL). The results indicate that Islamic ethics have significant and positive relationship with nurses' commitment as p = 0.542 and t = 5.63. CONTRIBUTION: According to the research findings, it can be concluded that commitment of nurses can be improved by applying Islamic ethics in medical centres. (shrink)

Arguing that psychology and business ethics are best brought together through a multi-level, broad-based agenda, this essay articulates a vision of psychology and business ethics to frame a future research agenda. The essay draws upon work published in JBE, but also identifies gaps where published research is needed, to build upon psychological conceptions of business ethics. Psychological concepts, notably, are not restricted to phenomena “in the head”, but are discussed at the intra-psychic, relational, and contextual levels of analysis. On the (...) basis of this presentation, I discuss future directions for development in psychology and business ethics, including but not limited to studies of personality, emotion, decision making, motivation, and the biological bases of psychology and business ethics. An inclusive approach to these and related areas, it is argued, will both bring about depth of understanding on the psychological bases of business ethics, and allow dialogue across disciplinary areas within JBE. (shrink)

In this editorial essay, we argue that business ethics research should be aware of the ethical implications of its own methodological choices, and that these implications include, but go beyond, mere compliance with standardized ethical norms. Methodological choices should be made specifically with reference to their effects on the world, both within and outside the academy. Awareness of these effects takes researchers beyond assuring ethics in their methods to more fully consider the ethics of their methods as knowledge practices that (...) have broader institutional consequences. Drawing from examples in published research, we examine five ways in which authors can formulate their methodological approaches with purpose, care and reflexivity. (shrink)

This study investigated the neuromodulatory effects of transspinal stimulation on soleus H-reflex excitability and electromyographic activity during stepping in humans with and without spinal cord injury. Thirteen able-bodied adults and 5 individuals with SCI participated in the study. EMG activity from both legs was determined for steps without, during, and after a single-pulse or pulse train transspinal stimulation delivered during stepping randomly at different phases of the step cycle. The soleus H-reflex was recorded in both subject groups under control conditions (...) and following single-pulse transspinal stimulation at an individualized exactly similar positive and negative conditioning-test interval. The EMG activity was decreased in both subject groups at the steps during transspinal stimulation, while intralimb and interlimb coordination were altered only in SCI subjects. At the steps immediately after transspinal stimulation, the physiological phase-dependent EMG modulation pattern remained unaffected in able-bodied subjects. The conditioned soleus H-reflex was depressed throughout the step cycle in both subject groups. Transspinal stimulation modulated depolarization of motoneurons over multiple segments, limb coordination, and soleus H-reflex excitability during assisted stepping. The soleus H-reflex depression may be the result of complex spinal inhibitory interneuronal circuits activated by transspinal stimulation and collision between orthodromic and antidromic volleys in the peripheral mixed nerve. The soleus H-reflex depression by transspinal stimulation suggests a potential application for normalization of spinal reflex excitability after SCI. (shrink)

China is moving from a centralized to a market economy to bring about efficiency in its economy and to form a business partnership with the West. With its reform adopting an open-door policy, there may be a need to assure its partners in the western world that appropriate steps would be taken to develop and foster a business culture with which the western countries and the Chinese businesses can work. The present study attempted to find whether there has been a (...) change in business ethical culture, accounting system and practice in the Chinese business between 1978 and the present, and the degree of similarity in the Chinese ethics and guidelines compared to Western ethics and guidelines. The result of the study has been analyzed from an institutional perspective to explore institutional change. The result showed that there is general growing support of Chinese management toward change in business ethical culture and practice. It was observed that there was not much similarity in the documents used for ethical guidance and control with those of the West. The findings of the paper are expected to be relevant to international investors and executives interested in investing or working in China. (shrink)

This study traces the history of the origin and development of Unanimedicine in the Islamic world and its later blossoming in Persia. Based mainly onArabic, Persian, Urdu and English sources, the study focuses on the intellectuallegacy of the Muslims in the development of Unani medicine and their interestin the progress of medical sciences, when a number of classical works wereproduced by great Muslim scholars during this period that provide evidenceof organized medical care that provided the basis for modern medicine (...) as itemerged from the 17th century onwards in Europe. The early Muslim scholars’works were focused on the integration or Islamicisation of human knowledgein the areas of medical and health-care sciences as well as those who seekto understand the role of moral values and Maqaṣid al-Sharīʿah in medical and healthcare practices in a more comprehensiveframework, exposing the dynamic contribution of Islamic civilization tomedical progress that was later obscured in modernity by Western ideologies. (shrink)

Drawing on the narratives of young lower-middle-class women employed in cafés, call centers, shopping malls, and offices in Delhi, India, in this paper I identify malleability or “plasticity” of the body as an important feature of contemporary service work. As neophyte service professionals, young women mold themselves to the middle-/upper-class milieu of their workplaces through clothes, makeup, and body language. Such body plasticity can be experienced as enabling: Identifying with the image of the “New Indian Woman,” young women enter the (...) bourgeoning service economy. However, they also experience this body plasticity as threatening; bodily changes to meet the requirements of work can, at times, feel inauthentic as well as be read as promiscuous by others. I draw attention to how women appraise plastic bodies as both generative of change and a site of labor discipline, thus offering insights into the relationship among bodies, social inequalities, and contemporary service work. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to problematise a particular social transparency and disclosure regulation in the UK, that transcend national boundaries in order to control slavery in supply chains operating in the developing world. Drawing on notions from the regulatory and sociology literature, i.e. transparency and normativity, and by interviewing anti-slavery activists and experts, this study explores the limitations of the disclosure and transparency requirements of the UK Modern Slavery Act and, more specifically, how anti-slavery activists experience and interpret (...) the new regulations and the regulators’ implementation of the regulation. This research found limited confidence among anti-slavery activists regarding the Act’s call for transparency in relation to the elimination of slavery from global supply chains. The research also found that the limits of the transparency provisions within the Act appear to hinder the attainment of normativity. This study provides new and unique insights into the critical role that social activists play in exposing the lack of corporate transparency and failures of responsibility to protect workers within global supply chains. (shrink)

Recent studies highlight the need for ethical and equitable digital health research that protects the rights and interests of racialized communities. We argue for practices in digital health that promote data self-determination for these communities, especially in data collection and management. We suggest that researchers partner with racialized communities to curate data that reflects their wellness understandings and health priorities, and respects their consent over data use for policy and other outcomes. These data governance approach honors and builds on Indigenous (...) Data Sovereignty (IDS) decolonial scholarship by Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers and its adaptations to health research involving racialized communities from former European colonies in the global South. We discuss strategies to practice equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and decolonization (EDIAD) principles in digital health. We draw upon and adapt the concept of Precision Health Equity (PHE) to emphasize models of data sharing that are co-defined by racialized communities and researchers, and stress their shared governance and stewardship of data that is generated from digital health research. This paper contributes to an emerging research on equity issues in digital health and reducing health, institutional, and technological disparities. It also promotes the self-determination of racialized peoples through ethical data management. (shrink)

Though all the religions of the world teach love, preach sympathy for others and encourage man to exercise utmost self-restraint and have most profoundly been a source of inspiration for the highest good of mankind, the world today is torn by conflicts, enmity and religious hatred. In this predicament, a lasting and peaceful society is impossible unless different faiths are understood in their proper perspectives. Therefore, it is necessary that people belonging to different faiths understand each other well. This necessitates (...) a constant dialogue and effort to generate moral and hearty religious thinking. The advocates of all the religions of the world emphasize the importance of certain virtues and moral values. Only these can foster unity and cohesion of mankind. But the moral and religious values cannot be invoked by force. This can be achieved through the exchange of words, kind words, sincere words and loving words that can reach the deepest fathoms of the heart. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#61-62-; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2017 P 1-14. (shrink)