For al-Ghazali, Kufr is “purely a matter of rejecting the truthfulness of the Prophet Muhammad. First, he points out that heresy was not always “synonymous with infidelity or apostasy” in classical Islam because scholars differentiated between formal and material heresy it thus connoted “several categories of theological deviance,” including Kufr. However, in this essay, I discuss not his methodology - which emphasizes the need for reasoned and logical proofs - but those parts of his argument that bear on intolerance, claims to interpretive authority, and the rush to accuse people of Kufr, since these are exceptionally pertinent to Pakistan’s problems.Īs a way to situate Faysal both theologically and politically, Jackson makes a number of arguments. In this book, al-Ghazali defines the methodological criteria by means of which Muslims can legitimately distinguish between belief and unbelief (Kufr). Of particular relevance is his Faysal al-tafriqa bayna al-islam wa al-zandaqa, which Sherman Jackson translates as “The Decisive Criterion for Distinguishing Islam from Masked Infidelity” (On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam, Oxford University Press, 2002). It is truly illuminating to read the work of Islam’s most famous theologian, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, against the backdrop of religious politics (specially, the application of blasphemy laws) in Pakistan today.
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