Elif Baga. Hesab Biliminde Kılavuz: eş-Şemsiyye fi’l-Hisâb (Nizâmeddin en-Nîsâbûrî), İnceleme-Çeviri-Eleştirmeli Metin

The review of the book.

Hüseyin Yılmaz. Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought

The book-review of the book.

The Power and Limits of Reason: Al-Razı on the Possibility of General and Particular Metaphysical Knowledge

This article examines al-Rāzī’s views on the possibility of metaphysical knowledge. Firstly, after outlining his classification of the metaphysical knowable into essence and existence as well as undetailed (ijmālī) and detailed (tafṣīlī), the article analyzes al-Rāzī’s acceptance of the possibility of general knowledge of metaphysics under a few headings by delving into some major themes. These include the claims that the category of existence is broader than the world of the sensible, that theoretical reasoning leads to metaphysical knowledge, and lastly that the theoretical evidence provides necessary knowledge about the existence of a creator. Al-Rāzī has also been demonstrated in al-Matālib to have inherited the arguments rejecting metaphysical knowledge, which he had attributed in his earlier works to a group with the name muhandisiyyūn, by restricting them to the issue of God’s essence being knowable. For al-Rāzī, theoretical reasoning could provide knowledge about the existence of a particular metaphysical being but not about its quiddity. The article further underlines the metaphysical and epistemic theses for the position on the unknowability of God’s essence and discusses its semantic interpretation. The debate on the potential of theoretical reason to provide uncertain knowledge of detailed metaphysics in the form of the best possible explanations (the metaphysics of the best explanation, or al-awlawiyya), however, is left to another article.

Teftâzânî’nin Düşünce Sisteminde İnsanî Nefsin Varlığı ve Hakikati

İnsanî nefsin mahiyeti/hakikati sorunu, İslâm düşüncesinde farklı yönleriyle inceleme konusu olmuş ve âlimler tarafından çeşitli yaklaşımlar ileri sürülmüştür. Mütekaddimîn kelamcılarının aksine müteahhirîn kelâmcıları takip ettikleri yöntem ve telif üslubu gibi sebeplerden dolayı genelde nefsin mahiyetini tartıştıkları bölümde görüşlerini açıkça belirtmemişlerdir. Müteahhirîn döneminin önde gelen kelamcılarından Teftâzânî de eserlerinin nefisle ilgili bölümlerinde, bir taraftan cismânî nefis görüşünü benimsediğini gösteren ifadeler kullanırken diğer taraftan soyut nefse kapı aralayan açıklamalara da yer vermiştir. Konuyla ilgili görüşünü tam olarak tespit etmek için düşünce sistemini meydana getiren diğer konulardaki görüşlerinin incelenmesi gerekir. Düşünce sistemi bir bütün olarak incelendiğinde Teftâzânî’nin, duyumsanan bedenin ötesinde bir nefsin varlığının apaçıklığını savunduğu ve farklı cismânî nefis anla- yışları arasından “diğer cisimlerle aynı hakikate sahip latif cisim” görüşünü tercih ettiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Ayrıca onun, insanî nefsin hakikati konusunda kelâmcıların çoğunluğuna nispet ettiği aslî parçaları da insanî nefsin değil bedenin özü olarak kabul ettiği belirlenmiştir. Bu çalışmada Teftâzânî’nin fizik, epistemoloji, ontoloji ve teoloji konularına ilişkin görüşlerinde insan tasavvurunun izleri takip edilecek ve elde edilen verilerden hareketle onun insanî nefsin hakikatine dair yaklaşımı ortaya konulacaktır.

Criticism of the Neo-Classical Salafı Understanding Forming the Discourse of Religious Exclusivism An Evaluation on the Specifics of the Critiques Aimed at Fakhr al-Dın al-Razı Regarding the Epistemological Value of Language

Al-Rāzī stated that specific criteria should exist for interpreting religious texts, with one of the two in particular prioritizing the conflict of ʿaql [reason] and naql [revelation]. Accordingly, he developed the theory of the hypothetical nature of linguistic evidence. According to al-Rāzī’s theory, literary evidence have been exposed to possible errors from transferring al-nahw [lexicography, morphology, and grammar] rules to the present day; different linguistic possibilities such as figurative speech homonymy and transfer of meanings (naql al-lugha) are likely to have occurred in the process. Therefore, religious texts do not express certainty when qarīnas [contextual clues] are absent. Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, leading names in the neo-classical Salafī understanding, described the view that literal evidence does not express ʿilm [definitive knowledge] but rather expresses Ûann [speculative knowledge] as taghūt [an idol], criticizing it to have a marginalizing and exclusionary style. The present article will examine the discourse of religious exclusivism produced within the framework of the hypotheticality of language and will show that this discourse is caused by Ibn Taymiyya’s and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s words being misunderstood. This study will first explain what is meant by religious exclusion and provide the intellectual background of the theory of the hypotheticality of language. Next, it will cover Ibn Taymiyya’s and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s questioning of al-Rāzī’s religiosity, and finish with how the accusations against Rāzī had stemmed from a misunderstanding of his ideas.

Nadja Danilenko. Picturing the Islamicate World: The Story of al-Iṣṭakhrī’s Book of Routes and Realms

The review of the book.

The Being and Essence of the Human Soul in al-Taftazanī’s Thought

Scholars in Islamic thought have examined the question of the human soul`s essence through its various aspects and asserted diverse approaches. Unlike the earlier Islamic theologians (al-mutaqaddimūn), the later Islamic theologians (almuta’akhkhirūn) generally did not explicitly express their opinions on the essence of the human soul within the chapters discussing this issue because of their distinctive method and discussion style pertaining to the works in that period. Al-Taftāzānī, who is among the foremost Islamic theologians of the later period of kalām, wrote statements indicating his acceptance of the concept of corporeal soul in his works’ chapters on the human soul. However, he also included statements implying the idea of the immaterial soul in these same chapters. Analyzing Taftāzānī`s opinions about the varied topics with which his thought system was involved is essential for determining his views on the essence of the human soul. By examining his thought system, this article has concluded Taftāzānī to have argued the human soul to self-evidently exist beyond the sensible body and to have preferred the view of the subtle body as identical to other bodies in terms of essence within the diversified views of corporeal soul. Moreover, he considered the essential parts (al-ajzā’ al-a~liyya), which he had predicated to most Islamic theologians as a view on the essence of the human soul, not as the essence of the human soul but as the basis of the sensible body. This article traces Taftāzānī`s thoughts on the human soul through his views on physics, epistemology, ontology, and theology then reveals his opinions on the essence of the human soul based on these findings.