[0:03]The third point in importance we are talking about Epistemology because of many of the deviations within the Islamic frame
[0:17]are a result of deviation in sources of knowledge. I am not talking about the modern history... I am talking about Islamic history For example, those who say that the mind is favored over the texts Where is the issue in their statement? In the sources of knowledge, right? They made the mind the biggest and most favored source of knowledge. Many of the doctrinal details are built upon this idea. Another aspect that is more sensitive is the negation of Ahad (singular) hadith as a source of knowledge
[1:06]Many doctrinal details result from negating Ahad hadiths, but their source is not the hadiths.. These details came about because of negating Ahad (isolated) hadith as a source of knowledge. In addition, those who make inspiration and unveiling the greatest sources of knowledge.. and some of them declare in Islamic books that religious texts should be judged by inspiration and unveiling we take whatever agrees with them and interpret what disagrees I have some texts that exaggerate this aspect. for example, one of the notable people of this school says: "All of our sciences are preserved from fault."
[2:11]"The sayings of the perfect.." Excuse me. Look at this text. He says: "Sheikh for Murids (those who seek) is trustworthy of inspiration as Gabriel is trustworthy of revelation" "As Gabriel does not betray revelation, Sheikh does not betray in inspiration" "and as the prophet (PBUH) does not speak from his own inclination" "Shiekh follows the prophet inside out so he does not speak from his desire" A portion of the issues that emerged within the Islamic schools is a result of deviation in the sources of knowledge Did you realize how serious the topic is? Did you realize how important it is? I intended to follow this outline to show its importance, rather than talking about it from a purely philosophical perspective where you do not understand why we talk about Epistemology Which reason is this? The third The fourth reason Those who contemplate the sequence of the thoughts that had a great historical influence on nations will find that knowledge was one of the most important milestones that influenced the subsequent historical events
[3:50]Who knows the person who is presented as the first to write about Epistemology in a book? John Locke, he died at the beginning of the 18th century All of his work was in the 17th century, but he is not the first to write We have so many historical Islamic writings I will present some of it later when we come to the History of Epistemology look at what Hunter Mead, who wrote about philosophy, wrote about John Locke It is common to specify the date at which modern thought started addressing Epistemology by the year John Locke published (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding) in 1690 this book, which started a new era in the history of thought represents the quintessence of a philosophical debate that lasted for a long period since the youth of the author we also find before John Locke, Who is "the father of modern philosophy"? He is given this title in books about intellectual history. Descartes. He came before John Locke. Descartes was one of the most prominent people to move the wheel of Epistemology. Do you know what he is famous for? Doubt. What is it related to Epistemology? The possibility of knowledge It is also related to the second topic, the sources. Why? Because he discarded acquiring knowledge through the mind and the senses as he re-established ideas So Descartes is related to Epistemology by the possibility and the sources of knowledge He had a great influence on western thought and even contemporary Islamic thought. In the lecture (Stations in the History of the Arabic Thought)
[6:07]do you remember when I mentioned Taha Hussein and the issue of pre-Islamic poetry One of the issues that I mentioned was that he adopted Descartes's theory for skepticism did you see the connection? where are talking about two or three centuries between Descartes and Taha Hussein
[6:33]Malik bin Nabi wrote about the process of thinking he said nothing can be added to what Descartes said What did Descartes write about? He wrote about knowledge John Locke wrote about knowledge Then comes Kant What was his major? he is nor a physicist, chemist, doctor, explorer, nor the inventor of electricity, air conditioner, airplane, car... his main concern was knowledge. This does not mean that he didn't write about other topics. the intention is that the essence of his work is knowledge we are talking about atheism, doubt, and religious deviation in the western thought Who are the people that had a great influence on these issues in the western thought? They are philosophers that wrote about knowledge one of the most prominent western philosophers that influenced faith status in the west is David Hume He is one of the great philosophers that established skepticism. His establishment for skepticism is more extreme than that of Descartes Because Descartes adopts methodological skepticism that leads to certainty or knowledge whereas David Hume planted seeds in doubt that lead to absolute skepticism.
[8:17]So he is one of the prominent philosophers to challenge causality. David Hume.. The topic is connected. We are not talking about a world that is far from us. We are talking about a world that is very connected. For example, let's mention something from the book “The Phenomenon of Criticizing Religion” which will be distributed as a prize. We have six copies In some of the texts that talk about... The influence of Descartes for example Pascal says: "I cannot forgive Descartes. In all his philosophy he would have been quite willing to dispense with God. But he had to make Him give a fillip to set the world in motion; beyond this, he has no further need of God. Paul Hazard wrote "To the cause of religion, the Cartesian philosophy came bringing what seemed most valuable support, to begin with" But that same philosophy bore within it a germ of irreligion which time was to bring to light, and which acts and works and is made deliberate use of to sap and undermine the foundations of belief" One thing the Cartesian philosophy established as a certitude; to the sceptic's "No" it replied with a resounding "Yes" But wait a while and you will see to what a pass the Cartesian line pf thought will bring you" you would be not a little astonished of Descartes were to come back to earth today" "I fancy you would see in him the most redoubtable enemy of Christianity" The intention is that the issue is not just philosophical It is researched that had an influence on their reality and that reality influenced our reality We finished the third element. Let's move on to the fourth element. Write your inquiries and leave them till the end of the lecture A quick historical overview We do not want to talk in detail about Epistemology so we can reach the important aspects of the Islamic establishment.
[10:24]When we talk about Epistemology remember the topics so we can link them together
[10:33]Pre-Islam The call of prophets that is mentioned in Quran
[10:44]Does it have a connection with aspects of knowledge? From which aspect? From the aspect of the source, revelation
[10:56]and from the aspect of possibility because all prophets call to a decisive knowledge they call to believe in Allah and his Angels, they call to believe in the unseen what is the aspect that is connected to the possibility? the limits. the prophets (blessings of Allah be upon them) were calling to knowledge from the aspect of its possibility, meaning certainty and regarding the limits, they were calling to knowledge that is related to the unseen and the witnessed, these are the limits so we should not forget when we talk about the knowledge that all the prophets were calling people to a decisive knowledge that settles the heart and reassures the emotions and leads people to discover the facts that are related to their existence in this life and the reason behind that ((worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him)) ((Do you construct on every elevation a sign, amusing yourselves, (129) And take for yourselves palaces and fortresses that you might abide eternally?)) these aspects are related to answering great cognitive questions on the other hand... Prophets mention skepticism in the context of receiving their call by their people. For example ((They said, "O Salih, you were among us a man of promise before this.)) ((Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshipped? And indeed we are, about that to which you invite us, in disquieting doubt.")) ((And We had already given Moses the Scripture, but it came under disagreement.)) ((And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, it would have been concluded between them. ((And indeed they are, concerning the Qur'an, in disquieting doubt)) so you find that the Quran always mentions skepticism and it increases in the context of the call of the Messenger (PBUH) and it addresses the sources and decisive knowledge. ((You have no authority for this [claim]. Do you say about Allah that which you do not know?)) ((Can there be doubt about Allah, Creator of the heavens and earth?)) ((They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption.)) This applies to the previous nations so you find that the Quran is filled with speeches about the aspects of knowledge from the point of history but from the point of what is written in the books of Epistemology or philosophy
[13:34]they always talk about Greece in the beginning
[13:41]considering that the great philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were in Greece and considering that a great portion of their work was about knowledge Do you know sophism and sophists?
[14:05]Who are the sophists? what did they say? what did they do?
[14:19]Sophists used to practice a portion of what postmodernism conceptualizers do today relativity of truth. that's why the most prominent sect of sophism is called subjectivism
[14:42]meaning that what I have is what I evaluate and judge with
[14:50]What is I measure everything... I am the norm of truth and the standard for knowledge so they disagreed, some of them make sophists three categories subjectivism and agnosticism and some say that sophism is only subjectivism while agnosticism and subjectivism are part of the skeptics but not sophists The disagreement does not matter to us... My intention is to say that humanity went through a severe period of skepticism by the hands of these sophists it is said that the emergence of sophists is a consequence of the disagreement of prior philosophers in the aspect of natural sciences Who formed natural sciences? Philosophers. There weren't experimental scientists that specialized in this field. Philosophers are the ones that worked on natural sciences they have plenty of theories, some say that the origin of the universe is air some say the origin is water, others say it's a fire long stories in natural sciences produced by philosophers Then came sophists that did not get involved in the various arguments of the philosophers The origin of the universe is none of our business "we will work on the matters of humans" so they worked the most on the aspect of human knowledge One of their most prominent arguments is skepticism about the senses They argued that we cannot acquire knowledge through the senses This is a very brief book (Introduction to Epistemology), a new release by Takween by the friend Ahmad al-Tarsawy as an example, this book mentions the arguments of sophists for skepticism about senses and it mentions the responses to their arguments and it mentions their suspicions for skepticism about the mind and the responses to this aspect We will not get into these details The intention is that when we mention epistemology, we should mention sophists and their skepticism in knowledge and the revolution that was made by the great three philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle their revolution was in essence against sophists to prove knowledge and the other aspects that they mentioned. Upon the advent of Islam, the Quran brought facts related to the knowledge that is clear and plenty, and so did Sunnah.
[17:47]The holy Quran depicts the state of humanity before revelation as living in the darkness
[17:58]and that they moved from the darkness into the light. what are words that are related to darkness? suspicion, ignorance, doubt, confusion, uncertainty... what are the words that are related to knowledge and light? certainty, clarity, isn't it?
[18:23]so, Islam depicted a clear picture of the status of humanity that they suffered from the different aspects of knowledge, whether it's skepticism or the sources... Islam came with total clarity In fact, the first surah came to clarify the value of science, and that science is essential in Islam ((Recite in the name of your Lord who created (1) Created man from a clinging substance) ((Recite, and your Lord is the Most Generous (3) Who taught by the pen (4) Taught man that which he knew not)) These are the first ayahs to be revealed from the holy Quran it is clear that science and knowledge are essential in this religion. ((The Most Merciful (1) Taught the Qur'an (2) Created man (3) [And] taught him eloquence)) and so forth
