This thesis presents a comparative study of two modern Muslim biographers of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad Husayn Haykal and Sayyid Ja$ rm sp{c}$far Murtada, the one a Sunni the other a Shispc$ = i. In dealing with their works on the { it s = i ra}, the intention is to focus on some aspects of the life of the Prophet of Islam from the time when he resided in Makka. After outlining the authors' scholarly backgrounds, sources, methods, and purposes, etc., the thesis deals with certain specific issues concerning the Prophet's birth, his nursing and the reason behind the custom of having foster-mothers, the controversial stories of the splitting of his chest and of his participation in the sacrilegious war, his state both before and after the announcement to him of his Mission, the authors' interpretations of his night journey and ascent to heaven and lastly their discussion about the Prophet and miracles. This research should not be considered as historical in nature; rather, it aims at clarifying the similarities and differences which may be discovered between our two biographers, and at comparing their respective Sunn = i and Sh = i$spc$ = i approaches.

No description available.

No description available.

This is an interpretive study of the life of the Prophet Muhammad as it is artistically depicted in the repertoire (especially the narrative ballads) of fifty-one contemporary Egyptian maddahin (singers of eulogies in honour of the Prophet Muhammad, sing. maddah). The elements of this repertoire, as diverse as narrative ballads, classical odes, Qur'an chanting, and the melodies of the secular songs of well-known Egyptian singers, do not exist as discrete units but rather as a lively tawlifa (blend)--to use a common term in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic (CEA). This study is about blends where discrete units lose their borderlines and leak into one another, about phenomena which are "betwixt and between" the perceived scholarly categories which confidently delineate boundaries between elite and popular Islam, the historical and the legendary Muhammad, the sacred and the profane, orality and writing, standard and colloquial Arabic. / In order to understand the process which marks the making of the people's Muhammad, the study deals with the sources and the contents of the repertoire of the Egyptian maddahin. The performance of these singers as well as their interaction with the audience are also considered. The "legendary" material in this repertoire is attested as historical by many authoritative and well-recognized "orthodox" authors of the past. Classical Arabic, classical poetic forms, philosophical notions, long believed to be the exclusive possessions of the learned, are freely utilized in the ballads and popular songs under study. The people's Muhammad appears as both a commanding figure, empowered by the supernatural, and a touchingly vulnerable human being; God's ascetic messenger and a man who savours life's lawful pleasures; an eloquent speaker who utters Qur'an-like terse Arabic and a lovingly familiar figure who also uses local patois. Bipolarity, beloved of many scholars, is seriously challenged by the art of the Egyptian maddahin. A renewed effort has to be made to discover more valid categories which will take into account the intermediary combinations (Mischbildungen) characteristic of that art.

Miskawayh's theory of intellect is the subject of this thesis; in addition, the historical and conceptual sources--Greek and Islamic--that were to shape Miskawayh's noetic are examined. The first part of this thesis examines the Greek tradition and its first most complete work dealing with the intellect, Aristotle's De Anima. Then, Alexander of Aphrodisias' noetic, as it is found in his Risalah fi/ 'Aql, Plotinus' conception of Intelligence, as it occurs in his Theologia Aristotelis and Proclus' conception of Intelligence, as it occurs in his Liber de Causis and finally, Themistius' noetic which is elaborated in his commentary of Aristotle's De Anima will be examined and evaluated in relation to Miskawayh's noetic. The second part of this thesis examines the Islamic tradition. The noetics of al-Kindiand of al-Farabi elaborated in their respective Risalah fi al-'Aql, are examined. In spite of Miskawayh's apparent shunning of his Islamic tradition, he is greatly influenced by it. The last part of this thesis examines Miskawayh's noetic as it can be reconstructed from his works: the Risalah fi al-Nafs wa al-'Aql, the al-Fawz al-Asghar and the Tahdhib al-Akhlaq. However, the use of the Risalah fial- 'Aql wa al-Ma'qul, a text attributed to Miskawayh, for the reconstruction of Miskawayh's noetic is more problematic. At he end of this study, it will appear that Miskawayh's noetic is indebted to both Greek and Islamic traditions. In spite of Miskawayh's explicit emphasis on Aristotelian aspects, he implicitly adheres to cosmological and anthropological speculations belonging to his Islamic tradition, which in turn, are greatly influenced by Neoplatonism. Thus Miskawayh, in an attempt to revive and utilize the Greek heritage, operated a rearticulation of the noeticsphere.

This thesis will examine Mulla Sadra's theory of substantive motion. Mulla Sadra (1571-1640) challenged those philosophers who restricted motion to accidents and held that the substance of nature is unmovable, otherwise insurmountable problems arise. In order to solve the dilemmas, Mulla Sadra sought various ways to prove that motion is identical with nature and that no stable entity exists in the corporeal world. Here, time is one of the most important elements in the proofs for the theory of substantive motion, where, for the first time in intellectual history, Mulla Sadra introduced time as the fourth dimension of corporeal being. This implies mobility of nature, including its substances. This evolutionary motion in the case of body extends from the material realm to the emergence of soul, which is immaterial. / By solving problems like the one concerning the eternity or temporality of the world debated between theologians and philosophers, this theory played a significant role in Islamic philosophy.

The problem of causality and its relation to the unity of existence is one of the peculiar themes of Mulla Sadra (1571-1640). Although the treatment of and solutions to the problem of "causality" and the problem of "unity of existence" were considered by previous Islamic philosophers, no one considered these two problems could complement each other. Sadra, through the law of causality, proves the unity of existence. The applications of Sadra's principles (of the fundamental reality of existence and the analogical gradation of existence) which are the central principles of his entire thought, provide his unique theory of "unity of existence." By this theory he attempted to convince mystics that although there is in the world one reality, that reality manifests itself in various degrees of classifications and intensity of existence.

This thesis examines Muhammad 'Abduh's ideas on Islamic Law, and the extent to which his writings influenced subsequent Muslim reformers in the sphere of law. The study focuses on 'Abduh's views on ijtihad and its application in modern society. / The principle of ijtihad, as practised by 'Abduh, was not dependent upon the opinions of previous scholars. A leading reformer of Islamic law (1849-1905), 'Abduh rejected taqlid which in nineteenth century Egypt was the rule of the day. Scholars in his day adhered to the books of their respective madhhabs to the extent of choosing to ignore the main sources of Islamic law, viz. the Qur'an and Hadith. For this reason, 'Abduh did not follow any particular madhhab in his ijtihad, but chose to be guided by whichever school of law he believed was best fit to deal with a particular contemporary problem. This practice has come to be known as talfiq. His use of it was the beginning of legal reform in Islamic law. / To facilitate legal reform, 'Abduh employed the Islamic legal principle of al-maslahah al-mursalah. This principle was an application of ijtihad which he invoked in order to deal with issues such as polygamy and bank interest. 'Abduh's fatwas were based on the sources of Islamic law, i.e. the Qur'an and the Hadith. Although his main concern was to rehabilitate the use of reason in law, he never strayed far from the traditional sources.

The present thesis examines Shafi'i's theory of naskh and its influence on the 'ulum al-Qur'an. The thesis looks at two types of sources: internal and external. Internally, the discussion focuses on the origins of naskh, the background and construction of Shafi'i's theory of naskh, tracing the ingredients of Shafi'i's thought in general and of his theory of naskh in particular. Having established Shafi'i's theory of naskh, the thesis goes on to examine it externally by considering Shafi'i's influence on six authors of naskh books (Naḣḣas's al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh, Makki's al-Idḍaḥ, Ibn al-Jawzi's Nawasikh al-Qur'an, Shu'lah's Ṣafwat al-Rasikh, Ibn al-'Ata'iqi's al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh) and his impact on the exegesis of eight Qur'anic verses -Q. 2: 106, Q. 22: 52, Q. 45: 29, Q. 7: 154, Q. 16: 101, Q. 13: 39, Q. 4: 160, and Q. 3: 7, discussed by six authors of tafsir (Ṭabari's Jami' al-Bayan, Jaṣṣaṣ's Aḥkam al-Qur'an, Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf , Ibn al-Jawzi's Zad al-Masir, Qurṭubi's al-Jami' li Aḥkam al-Qur'an, and Suyuṭi's al-Durr al-Manthur). / This thesis argues that despite its marginality in Shafi'i own time and throughout the ninth century in general, his theory of naskh played a significant role in the process of elaborating and systematizing the conceptual discourse on naskh in Qur'anic studies. Support for this assertion is found in the direct quotation of Shafi'i's view by the authors discussed herein, as well as by inference through a comparative analysis of their opinion. Nevertheless, this influence was not carried over into the domain of exegesis.

This thesis is a study of the mystical thought of Muhammad Nafis al-Banjari an Indonesian sufi of the eighteenth century, based on his treatise "al-Durr al-Nafis". After introducing the background of the topic, the thesis investigates the life and the religious education of Muhammad Nafis. The thesis then analyzes the concepts of Martabat Tujuh, Tawhid, and the light of Muhammad. This thesis also attempts to compare Nafis' mystical concepts with those of other sufis, especially from the Sammaniyya order. This will lead us to the conclusion that Nafis' ideas are very close to Burhanfuris doctrine of Martabat Tujuh.