An Analysis of whether the Metaphysics of Causation as presented by Muslim philosophers is consistent with the Qurʾānic concept of Miracles.

The subject of causality has been a battleground of philosophical speculation dating from the Hellenistic period to its reception in the Muslim world and development therein. The four causes discussed by Aristotle and their concomitant problems were avidly accepted by Muslim philosophers especially of the peripatetic persuasion who were recipients of Hellenic thought through the Graeco‐Arabic translation movement. The metaphysic of causation along with other problems such as the issue of the eternity of the universe, the problem of universals, the attributes and knowledge of God or the theory of emanation was of the most important philosophical speculation, argumentation and diatribe amongst the falāsifa and mutakallimūn. The aforementioned philosophical ideas bought to light contentions (or lack of) with the revealed cannon of Islam as expressed in the indubitable source of the Qurʾān and Sunnah. The canonical sources lay emphasis upon miraculous happenings in human history through the agency of God or his chosen prophets and the teleological aims of the creator God. I will be looking at this aspect of the perceived contention between philosophy and revelation in the Islamicate tradition. The idea of miracles being an imprint or impact of God in the course of history that belies reason and natural laws was a reason why empiricists of western philosophical thought such as Hume rendered miracles implausible and major theologians as Ghazālī to castigate the philosophers for their insistence on causal theories that undermine scriptural integrity and absolute freedom of God. I will provide a detailed discussion on causality as viewed by the Muslim philosophers engaged with Greek (mainly Aristotelian) theories of causation. I will be making use of Bidāya al Ḥikmah of Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī as a reference point for understanding the metaphysics of causation in an Islamicate reception. Philosophy in the Islamic world progressed on a synthetically and the recent period Ṭabāṭabāʾī lived in represents hitherto, a culmination of centuries long discourse and speculation by brilliant Muslim thinkers and philosophers. The nature of miracles as presented in the Quran, the scriptural authority for all Muslims. The definition of a miracle as provided by early philologists and exegetes is presented along with theological analyses of the nature of miracles as presented by Muslim theologians. A key work will be the magnum opus of Ṭabāṭabāʾī in the field of Qurʾānic exegesis, al mīzān fi tafsīr al Qurʾān.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Shah, Ahmer Zamir

• B Athroniaeth (Cyffredinol)
• BP Islam. Bahaiaeth. Theosoffi, ac yn y blaen

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:1705