Vahid Behbahani

There's an interesting PhD dissertation available online about the emergence of an Islamic Reform Movement in Early Modern Iraq and Iran

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/us-etd3&CISOPTR=223&filename=364.pdf

I am specifically interested to read about Vahid Behbahani (Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Akmal al-Wahid Bihbahani).

This work goes deeply into his biography, his thoughts and his scholarly career.

Al Quran Chapter 14 Verses 24-26

I am studying the following verses from The Book.

These are the translation of the verses (please see them in the original Arabic language).

Verse 24
Have you not regarded how Allah has drawn a parable?
A good word is like a good tree:
its roots are steady and its branches are in the sky.

Verse 25
It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord.
Allah draws these parables for mankind so that they may take admonition.

Verse 26
And the parable of a bad word is that of a bad tree: uprooted from the ground, it has no stability.

The above translations is by Ali Quli Qara'i.

Items of note

- In verse 24, the word mathalan is used. A literal translation of this word seems to be Example.

- Ali Quli, rightly so, added another degree of preciseness to his translation and used the word parable (def: a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like).

- The word similitude (def: a likening or comparison in the form of a simile, parable, or allegory) is also a good replacement.

- The second important word in verse 24 it Kalimatan Tayyibatan (short form: Kalima tayyiba). A literal translation would be 'a good word'.

- There's been some dispute on the meaning of the good word.

- Some believe that the good word here is referring to the shahādat (lā illāha illā llāh) witnessing Allah and his messenger.

- Some of the Sunnis have speculated that the verse good tree is probably a date palm tree. And the whole verses might be referring so someone's good deeds that may reach up high to the heaven. Yes, this does sound extremely speculative.

- Al-Zamakhshari, the Mutazila scholar, said the good word is tawhid with all the attributes of God.

- Al-Razi rejected the tree (mentioned here) as the palm tree.

- In the Shia commentary by al-Kashi, he narrated a hadith by the sixth Imam, where the good tree is Ahle Muhammad, Imam Ali and his descendents. The Holy Prophet is the root, Imam Ali is the trunk and his descendents are the branches of knowledge or its fruits.

- Furthermore, the bad tree in the verse 26 is referring to the Umayad.

You're wasting your time leaving spams on my blog

A single click. That's how long it takes me to trash your garbage comments.

To all the genuine comments, I don't have time to respond to your comments/feedback since I've been away for a while. I'm busy working on new new stuffs.

Mutazilah Position on the Imamah

The main dispute between the ahl al-Sunnah Wal Jamaah with the Shia was the question of Imammah.

The main proponent of Mutazila sect, Qadi Abd al Jabbar, who was previously a Shafii, and now a hanafi, believed that the rightful leaders for the Ummah were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. He rejected the Shia Imami position that Ali was superior than other calips.

A Zaydi by the name of Manekdim (or Abu-1-Husayn Ahmad) disagreed with the above position.

He presented the following arguments, not from the Shia Imami position but from his own sect the Zaydi.

- The Imam has authority over those who hold the offices of the land (such as qadis/judges).

- The Imam is needed to carry out and enforce divine legislation. (Shi'a generally (refers them as ah1 al-bayt).

- Imam is needed to implement the Shari'a

- Imam functions specifically as mujtahid, one who is entrusted with ijtihad, authority to decide in legal and theological matters.

- Imam is designated/chosen by al-nass

- His view, based on the Zaydi sect, was that the Prophet appointed 'Ali ibn Abi Talib as Imam. His sons Hasan, then Husayn, were appointed, down to the fifth Imam, Zayd ibn 'Ali, and thereafter those (and there could be more than one at a time) who followed in their path.


Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Qadariya again

This is a continuation of an old post.

The doctrine of al Kalam fi al-Qadar - Major concept in the Qadariya sect

The Beginnings of Kalam - from wikipedia [1]

Though nothing definite can be said about the beginnings of 'ilm al-kalam among Muslims, what is certain is that discussion of some of the problems of kalam, such as the issue of predestination (jabr) and free will (ikhtiyar), and that of Divine Justice, became current among Muslims during the first half of the second century of Hijrah. Perhaps the first formal centre of such discussions was the circle of al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728-29).

Briefly, the Qadariya believes that evil and ethically bad things exist in the world not through divine agency but through human agency and other causes. For the Qadariya, God is removed from doing ethically bad and evil acts. [2]


Umayad Opposition to the above doctrine

Caliph 'Abd al-Malik (date: 685-705) and his immediate successors had condemned the doctrine of al-kalam fi 1-qadar because the doctrine was a theological critique of Umayyad rule. [2]

Evidence from the the Quran to support this belief
Chapter 4: Verse 123

Paradise is not [obtained] by your wishful thinking nor by that of the People of the Scripture. Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it, and he will not find besides Allah a protector or a helper.

References
[1] Wikipedia - Predestination in Islam
[2] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471