Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval IslamWhat cannot be said about God, and how can we speak about God by negating what we say? Traveling across prominent negators, denialists, ineffectualists, paradoxographers, naysayers, ignorance-pretenders, unknowers, I-don't-knowers, and taciturns, Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam delves into the negative theological movements that flourished in the first seven centuries of Islam. Aydogan Kars argues that there were multiple, and often competing, strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formations on the nature of God that circulated in medieval Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God. This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. It encompasses many fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam rather than as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Ismāʿīlī Apophaticism | 23 |
Philosophical Apophaticism | 73 |
Paradoxical Apophaticism and Dialectical Logic | 129 |
Amodal Apophaticism | 195 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abū Hāmid al-Ghazāli Accordingly adopted affirmation Ahmad al-Andalus al-Fārābī al-Jilani al-Juwayni al-Kalābādhi al-Kindi al-Măturidi al-Qushayri al-Răzi al-Sijistānī al-Suhrawardi Alī Allāh amodally Andalusia anthropomorphism anthropomorphist anti-interpretive apophatic theology approach Arabic text argues Ash'arites bilä kayfa apophaticism binaries claim context creation Creed depictions divine attributes divine essence divine nature divine unity divine unknowability double negation early employed Epistle Fātimid follows footstool God's Hanbali Hence hermeneutical Hujwiri human Ibid Ibn al-‘Arabi Ibn Masarra Ibn Sab‘in Ibn Sīnā Ibn Taymiyya Imām intellect interpretation ipseity Islamic Ismā‘īlī Ismā‘īlism knowability Kubrā Lam Yazal law of non-contradiction logical Maimonides manifest meaning Mu'tazilites Muhammad Muslim mysticism Nasafi negative theology non-cognitive non-discursive paradoxical apophaticism Persian philosophical apophaticism position prophetic Qūnavī Qur'anic Qur’an scholars soul Sufi Sufi manuals Sufi master Sufism Sunni tahlil tashbih theologians theological discourse theology of divine thing thirteenth century throne tion tradition traditionists transcendent discourse translation Tūsī veil verse vision wayfaring words