This document provides an overview of the sources and development of Islamic theology. It discusses several internal and external factors that influenced Islamic thought, including political developments after the Prophet's death, cultural influences from Greece, Persia, and India, and the rise of philosophical schools of thought like the Mutazilites and Sufism. Key internal influences included the use of reason, tradition, and intuition; dealing with new problems as revelations ceased; and theological debates. Externally, translations of Greek and other texts, and Christian and Persian cultural influences, helped shape Islamic philosophy over time. The document also provides brief summaries of the views of different theological groups like the Qadrites, Jabrites, and Mutazilites, as

1. Fouzia Reza
Lecturer
Department of English
Southeast University
Islamic Philosophy

2. Islam as a Religion
 History of Kaba’h
 An Abrahamic Religion
 Monotheism
 Pillars of Islam
 Present Condition:
Various Sects of Islam- Political,
Theological, Orthodox

3. Sources of Islamic Theology
 Theology: the study of religious faith,
practice, and experience; especially
: the study of God and of God's relation
to the world
 The real basis lies in Quran and Hadith.
 Historical, political and social conditions
of the people developed the
fundamental ideas contained therein.
 Many internal and external factors
molded the trend of development.

4. Internal Factors
 First: Rise of political parties and principles by which
the parties justify themselves, the parties rose in
response to the question of leadership after the
Prophet’s demise.
 Second: Assimilating and accommodating cultural
heritage, liberal spirit of Islam, Quranic teachings with
foreign ideas
 Third: Reason (Aql), Tradition (Naql), Intuition (Kashf)-
the three sources as origin of human knowledge.
Example- Mutazilites- logical inclination, Sufis- stress
on intuition
 Fourth: The growing problems of life and ceasing of
revelations from God led to different practice and
explanation of Islam through Qiyas (Analogical
Deduction), Ijma (Consensus of Opinion), and Ijtihad
(Exercise of Judgement)
 Fifth: Theological debates and free thinking. Qadirtes

5. External Factors
 Greek Philosophy/Neo-Platonic and Christian
Influence: Translations of books of the world into
Arabic, Christian missionaries in courts of Muslim
caliphs, Baghdad as the capital of Muslim world-
a cosmopolitan city
 Persian Influence: Longing affection for old
customs of a doting nation, the Persians, over the
fierzy zeal of newly converted victors, Arabs led
to the idea of divinely-appointed Imam and mystic
tendencies.
 Indian Influence: Rise of Darvish fraternity and
mystic tendencies

6. Qadrites and Jabrites
 Qadrites: Qadr means Power. Man is a moral
being and has power over his actions.
Quran’s Verse: “Whoseoverr acts viciously does
so for himself, and whoseover gets himself to a
sin, gets solely on his responsibility.”
 Jabrites: Jabr means Compulsion. Affairs of the
world are absolutely controlled by God.
Quran’s Verse: “God has all things at His
command. He pardons whom He wills and
punishes whom He wills.

7. The Mtuazilites
 Earliest school oof Muslims thinkers which
developed under the influence of Greek
philosophy
 Mutazila means “one who has seceded”
 History of the origin: an event seceding from
Hasan Al Basri’s interpretation by Wasil-bin-Ata,
his disciple
 Prof. Nalliono’s theory: compromising attitude of
the group about the status of being Muslim after
committing a grave sin.
 Purpose: Making faith logical and rational,
subjective and critical attitude of mind, Aristotle

8. Sufism
 Mystic tendency, an emotional experience, self-
culture, emphasis on Intuition, Tasawuf: love of God
 Pessimistic philosophy, world is elementally evil, unfit
for the spiritual development of man
 A sufi needs deep mediation and contemplation rather
than discussion, “He who has known God has his
tongue tied.”
 The word Sufi- 1. Arabic word suf (wool)- wollen
garments as marks of renunciation of worldly vanities
2. Safa: purity, purity of the heart
3. Greek word Sophia, modification of Sophist
4. Ahli-saffa (Men of the bench), Five hundred men in
Madina who had no worldly interest, lived on what
they earned daily and did not save anything for future

9. Origin of Sufism
 1. Indian, Vedantic or Buddhistic Influence Theory:
Both the Vedantic, Buddhistic and Islamic philosophy
regard the world transitory, illusory. Fana= Nirvana,
Khorasan- a center of world commerce through this
Indian ideas crept into Islam. The Buddhist moralises
himself, the sufi becomes moral only through knowing
and living in God.
 2. The Christian or Neo-Plationic Influence Theory:
Christian monks who preached religion recast in the
light of Neo-Platonic philosophy
 3. The Persian Influence Theory: The conquest of
Persia by Arabia was the history of an inferior nation
gaining supremacy over a superior one, the fire-
worshippers of Persia thus felt pride and conceit and
brought changes in Islamic philosophy

10. Origin of Sufism (Contd.)
 4. The Quranic Origin Theory: The sufis tried to
establish an intimate connection of love between
God and man.
 A. All-pervading influence of God: “He is with you
wherever you are”
 B. Nearness of God to man: “God is nearer to
man than his neck-vein”
 C. Eternal nature of God: “Everything of this world
is perishable and only eternal being is God”
 D. Seeker of esoteric knowledge: “Whoever is
blind in this world will remain blind in the world to
come”

11. Omar Khayyam
 Traditionally, Umar Khayyam’s significance in the annals of
Islamic intellectual tradition is due to, his Rubā‘iyyāt (quatrains)
and his scientific works, especially those in the field of
mathematics. The latter have always been overshadowed by his
poetry. In recent years, critical editions of the philosophical works
of Khayyam have been published which not only provide us with
an insight into his philosophical thought but also provide a
context for a more philosophical interpretation of the Rubā‘iyyāt.
 In his Rubā‘iyyāt, Khayyam challenged religious doctrines,
alluded to the hypocrisy of the clergy, cast doubt on almost every
facet of religious belief, and appears to have advocated a type of
humanism. It is no wonder that some referred to him as the
“Eastern Voltaire” (Dole 1901, 81). This Western image, solidified
by the Victorian sense of the exotic, romantic, and often erotic
notions attached to the East, was echoed through the rendition
of the Rubā‘iyyāt by Edward FitzGerald in the 19th century.

12. Omar Khayyam
 “Because the erotic longing for the beloved is used in Sufi verse
as a vehicle for expressing the devotee's longing for union with
God, and because wine in Sufi symbology implies not
drunkenness but God-intoxication, and because many of Rumi's
poems are addressed to or concerned with his beloved teacher,
the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, it is easy enough to
misread his rapturous devotional poetry as blissed-out amatory
verse, which helps explain the sizzling, seductive flavor of Barks'
versions.”
 Much in the work itself argues against it. In his stunning act of
creative transformation, FitzGerald took roughly 100 discrete
verses attributed to Khayyám and unified them into a single
narrative, a series of exquisite ruminations on the transitory
nature of life. Here's one of his ruba'i that you've probably heard
before: The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, / Moves on:
nor all your Piety nor Wit / Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

13. Omar Khayyam
 In verse after verse, the poet questions religion's
consoling certainties and opts for the transient joys of
this bittersweet world: Come, fill the Cup, and in the
fire of Spring / Your Winter-garment of Repentance
fling: / The Bird of Time has but a little way / To
flutter? and the Bird is on the Wing. Or take this
marvelous passage: Some for the Glories of This
World; and some / Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to
come; / Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, / Nor
heed the rumble of a distant Drum!
 Many of the quatrains from FitzGerald's “Rubaiyát,”
like those quoted above, have etched themselves into
our culture's collective memory, but none more than
this one: A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, / A
Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread – and Thou / Beside me
singing in the Wilderness / – Oh, Wilderness were
Paradise enow! What apostasy – but what heavenly
verse!

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