Islamic Scientific Schools

In the Name of Allah---the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Adam A.S and the Hominids: A Synthesis of Qur'anic Anthropology with Genomics, Archaeology and Anatomy Introduction Pre-human hominins such as Australopithecus may represent products of the evolutionary history of primates, whereas the later populations conventionally classified as Homo erectus , Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may be understood as diverse populations or races within the broader human lineage descended from Adam A.S. Adam A.S himself, however, was not produced through biological evolution; he was independently and directly created by Allah. The question of Adam (Peace be upon him) occupies a unique position at the intersection of revelation, anthropology and human origins. Modern paleoanthropology has uncovered an extraordinary succession of hominins  spanning several million years. At the same time, genomics has revealed that the history of the populations conventionally called  Homo sapiens , Nea...

In the Name of Allah---the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. The Four Domains of Taqdīr: From Creation to Moral Choice and Ultimate Fate Introduction The doctrine of Qadar (Divine Decree) is among the most profound and, at the same time, most frequently misunderstood subjects in Islamic theology. The difficulty arises partly because several distinct dimensions of Divine determination are often compressed into a single statement: "Everything has already been decreed." That statement is true, but by itself it does not explain what has been decreed, at what level it has been decreed, and how Divine decree relates to human choice and responsibility . This is particularly important when discussing the relationship between Qadar and human freedom. If the entire subject is reduced to the assertion that Allah has already determined the final destiny of every person, the listener may easily arrive at a deterministic conception resembling Jabr : the idea that human beings are merely...

In the Name of Allah---the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Ibn Taymiyyah’s Most Rational Treatise Ibn Taymiyyah’s monumental work موافقة صحيح المنقول لصريح المعقول is one of the most important books in the Islamic intellectual tradition on the relationship between reason ( ʿaql ) and revelation ( naql ) . It is more commonly known by its shorter title: درء تعارض العقل والنقل Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa al-Naql and its full title is: موافقة صحيح المنقول لصريح المعقول A close rendering of the full title would be: “The Harmony of Soundly Transmitted Revelation with Clear Rational Judgment.” The alternative title Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa al-Naql means: “Repelling the Alleged Conflict between Reason and Revelation.” 1. The central thesis The fundamental thesis of the book is remarkably simple: There can be no genuine contradiction between authentic revelation and sound reason. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, Allah is the Creator both of the human intellect and of the revealed guidance . There...