Muhiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society_SOAS_London

issues in free will and Divine prescience in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism in the middle ages.

Al-Shajarah, 2022

Criticising Mutazilite and Asharite interpretations of free will, Ibn Arabi accepted free will in the human being and considered it as a kind of human independency, although he was doubtful about the meaning of free will in two specific contexts – divinity and humanity. Therefore, he provided contradictory ideas about the issue. This paper deals with the origin of the contradictions in his ideas on the issue through the review of his two major theories, namely the unity of being and the divine form of human being. Based on the concept of unity of being, there is no existence but God. Therefore, there is no effective function of free will by creatures since they are manifestations of God. However, Ibn Arabi at least provided two interpretations of the divine form of human beings: man possesses all the divine names including the name Al-Murīd (The Desiring), and also man is vicegerent of God on earth, which means man is responsible, and hence he has free will to assume his responsibility.

Nazariyat Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences, 2020

The present paper aims to explore the medieval philosopher Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī's (d. pre-560 AH/1164-5) position concerning the problem of divine foreknowledge and human free will and argues Abū al-Barakāt to have considered the argument for compatibility between divine foreknowledge and human free will to be invalid. One can defend either divine foreknowledge or human free will; no other solution is available. By examining his accounts on this issue through the logic and metaphysics of his book al-Muʿtabar fi-l-ḥikma, Abū al-Barakāt defense of human free will shall become evident.

My first delving into the subject of Free Will at a graduate level tackling modern issues and novel ideas that under cut the determinism/free will debate through non-western thinking.

darulfunun ilahiyat, 2024

This article attempts to systematically set out al-Māturīdī's theory of free will and human action. To this end, firstly, a presentation is given of his refutations of both his main rivals, determinists and libertarians, as represented by the Jabriyya and Muʿtazila, respectively. The following section then presents those arguments al-Māturīdī offers in direct support his own theory. These arguments are discussed in terms of different possible interpretations and are used as the basis for an analysis of his theory that maps out its overall framework by listing its main concepts and principles. By this means, key terms such as power and free will, as denoted chiefly by the Arabic terms qudra and quwwa, and ikhtiyār, are clarified. In the third and final section of this study, questions regarding the specifics of al-Māturīdī's theory of human agency in relation to divine creation are addressed, and some problems are identified as fundamental. A resolution is undertaken with aid from Aristotle's metaphysics and J.L. Mackie's analysis of causation in order to determine exactly what human power consists of and how it relates to the effects with which al-Māturīdī says it is connected.

Oped News, 2010

The kind of approach to the subject of divine will and human freedom that dominates the religious outlook (belief system) of Muslims is that major events such as life, death, livelihood, etc., if not all that happens, are divinely preordained, fixed, and inevitable — i.e., unalterable by human effort. Such a belief is encouraged by the Hadith literature and the opinions of some Muslim theologians. However, the Quran does not support this belief. This article demonstrates, in light of the Quran, that this idea is a major misconception. The Quran strongly upholds human freedom, responsibility, and accountability. Destiny, of course, plays a part in human life. But that part often gets overemphasized to the virtual exclusion of human freedom. The truth is, as it has been throughout the history of human civilization, that man is largely the architect of his own destiny. If that is not the case, the whole foundation of religion falls apart.

This brief review attempts to explore a small collection of literature by Christian historians and theologians around the predestination-versus-free-will debate to see whether there are any mediating viewpoints that those across the typical Calvinist and Arminian camps might reasonably agree.

One of the problems of Metaphysics that continues to shape the courses of human actions, human history, theology and theodicy is the battle between the free will and determinism. In this paper we will tackle the issues regarding the free will and determinism by different philosophers from different periods of the history of Western Philosophy. This paper will also tackle on how Leibniz reconcile the ideas of free will and determinism in order to understand his concept of monadology and " monads " as small particles that are the building blocks of all things that exists in the universe, and its relation to the concept of God " s existence and freedom. We will also find the common