Islamic Philosophy
The basic Islamic philosophy entails fundamental Islamic topics such as principles of religion, man, Iman (faith), definitive knowledge, monotheism of the Qur’an, name and attributes of God, guides of humanity, evolution, history, self-making, family, economy and social system.
Introduction
Islamic Philosophy and Christian philosophy agree in some ways because both are theistic and share some biblical roots. Both affirm the supernatural and miracles. Both also use faith and reason to support their religious beliefs. Thoughtful Muslims would agree with most of what J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig say in Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. In tandem with it, a fuller treatment of Islamic philosophy is available in Oliver Leaman’s An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy.
Though some traditionalist Muslims believe such ventures into philosophy inherently conflict with the Qur’an and the Hadith, many others believe such attempts to explain and defend Islam with philosophical tools are entirely appropriate (though they would not be able to affirm all that Islamic philosophers have concluded).
Islamic philosophy argues for the existence of entities beyond the natural world; affirmation of the existence of God, for example, illustrates that Islam denies naturalism in favor of super-naturalism. Islam also affirms the existence of the human spirit beyond death, as well as the existence of angels and jinn.
Abdalati writes, “The true Muslim also believes in the angels of God. They are purely spiritual and splendid beings whose nature requires no food or drink or sleep. They have no physical desires of any kind nor material needs. They spend their days and nights in the service of God. There are many of them, and each is charged with a certain duty. If we cannot see the angels with our naked eyes, it does not necessarily deny their actual existence . . . Belief in angels originates from the Islamic principle that knowledge and truth are not entirely confined to the sensory knowledge or sensory perception alone…”
In admitting the existence of angels, Abdalati also alludes to the Islamic view of epistemology: not all things may be known through human senses, nor may we limit the field of existence to what our senses perceive.
Fundamental to Islam is the belief in final judgment, necessitating an implied belief in life after death. Muslims further affirm the bodily resurrection of the dead (though they deny that Jesus died and was resurrected). “See thee not that God, Who created the heavens and the earth… is able to give life to the dead? Yea, verily He has power over all things (Qur’an 46:33). And he [unbelieving man] makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and) Creation: He says, ‘Who can give Life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?’ Say, ‘He will give them Life Who created them for the first time! For He is well-versed in every kind of creation’” (36:78–79).