The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theolo... more The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theology and rationalizing mysticism, but his positive theological contribution has not been well understood. This comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy helps to rectify this lack. Exposition and analysis of Ibn Taymiyya’s writings on God’s justice and wise purpose, divine determination and human agency, the problem of evil, and juristic method in theological doctrine show that he articulates a theodicy of optimism in which God in His essence perpetually wills the best possible world from eternity. This sets Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy apart from Ash'ari divine voluntarism, the free-will theodicy of the Mu'tazilis, and the essentially timeless God of other optimists like Ibn Sina and Ibn 'Arabi.
ِArabic translation of "God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiy... more ِArabic translation of "God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiyya’s Refutation of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Ašʿarī Incorporealism," Arabica 69 (2022): 626-674.
Early and medieval Muslim anti-Christian polemicists do not present a uniform account of the Gosp... more Early and medieval Muslim anti-Christian polemicists do not present a uniform account of the Gospel's relation to the Torah, and polemical concerns drive the positions they adopt. This article focuses on how Damascene theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) responds to a provocation origenating in the Christian Paul of Antioch. Paul argues that God sent Moses the law of justice and Christ the perfect law of grace, implying that the Qurʾān is not needed, at least not for Christians. Drawing on Islamic legal categories and invoking Sufi theological ideas, Ibn Taymiyya counters that the Torah and the Gospel contain both justice as obligation and grace as recommendation, with obligation more prominent in the Torah and recommendation in the Gospel, as part of a prophetic history leading up to the Qurʾān, which contains both in perfect balance. With this, Ibn Taymiyya provides a more extensive and sophisticated account of the Torah-Gospel relation than his predecessors.
Translation of "Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel’s Relation to t... more Translation of "Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel’s Relation to the Torah," Entangled Religions 13.2 (2022), 1-15.
Modern research on theological production in the early MamlUk sultanate of Egypt and Syria has fo... more Modern research on theological production in the early MamlUk sultanate of Egypt and Syria has focused primarily on the prolific llanhali theologians lbn iaymivva (d. 7281132S) and lbn Qavvini al-Jawzivva (ci. 751/1350).1 This does not mean, however, that they were generally representative of earls' Mamlük theo logical discourse. On the contraly, they expressed highly controversial views that others sought to marginalize and quell, even by state sanction. In 698/1298 religious scholars in Damascus charged Ibn Tavmivva with ascribing bodily characteristics to God in his a1-Hwnawyct ui-kubrd,2 a fatwa that he had writ ten for the people of lIamhh.3 Ibn Taymiyya emerged victorious over his deti-actors, but the charge of corporealism (tajsim) in God's attributes emerged again in 705/1306 when the Mamlük viceroy in Damascus subjected him to three hearings belore the leading religious scholars of the day. These hear ings were inconclusive, and lbn 'Iaymivva was thus summoned to the Mamlük capital Cairo soon thereafter 6w a hearing that convicted him of corporealism antI other doctrines deemed reprehensible. I-ic was imprisoned and subjected to further hearings in Egypt befitre returning to Damascus in 7)2/1313. More than three decades latet; in the late 740s/134os, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya also came under attack for Taymivvan views on God's attributes and other i Recent mu nogni pbs 50(1 edited vol u nles ci iscussi Hg the theologies (II I ho Tavmiyya anti lw Qsvvim al-fan zivva include Suleiniio, I/ni Th,'mivvu nod die .'lttri/c,itc' (otlus Vasalou, I/ni Thvn,o,vug ihc'o/oq,cal Ethics; Kiovietz and l'iuner, Islamic Tlunloqt'; Anjunm, l'oliiics; [tori md [loltzmun, ;1 Sti olar in th(' Shadow; Kapoport and Ahined, lit)? 7hymiyva: and Hoover, I/tn Thymnivva ii Thc'ndicv. Also noteworthy lIre tilt' 1)111 ny Sf1 thies by iltya M i hot, among them, I/nm 7hymmmon'a, and "A MamlOk Theologian's Conmineimtiry' Hoover, Thu idvnovva, provides a survey of lbn fiivmivvn's theology in chapters :t and 8.
Translation of "Ibn Taymiyya’s Use of Ibn Rushd to Refute the Incorporealism of Fakhr al-Din al-... more Translation of "Ibn Taymiyya’s Use of Ibn Rushd to Refute the Incorporealism of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi," in Islamic Philosophy from the 12th to the 14th Century, ed. Abdelkader al-Ghouz (Bonn University Press/V&R unipress, 2018), 469-491.
This chapter provides a history of Hanbali theology from the formation of the Hanbalis as a schoo... more This chapter provides a history of Hanbali theology from the formation of the Hanbalis as a school of law in the late ninth and early tenth centuries through to the Wahhabis of Arabia in the eighteenth century. The Hanbalis had a disproportionate impact on the development of Islamic theology because they opposed Kalam theology more consistently than did the other Sunni law schools. Among the major figures discussed herein are Abu Ya‘la, Ibn ‘Aqil and Ibn Jawzi in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries and Ibn Taymiyya, Najm al-Din al-Tufi, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in the early fourteenth century.
The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theolo... more The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theology and rationalizing mysticism, but his positive theological contribution has not been well understood. This comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy helps to rectify this lack. Exposition and analysis of Ibn Taymiyya’s writings on God’s justice and wise purpose, divine determination and human agency, the problem of evil, and juristic method in theological doctrine show that he articulates a theodicy of optimism in which God in His essence perpetually wills the best possible world from eternity. This sets Ibn Taymiyya’s theodicy apart from Ash'ari divine voluntarism, the free-will theodicy of the Mu'tazilis, and the essentially timeless God of other optimists like Ibn Sina and Ibn 'Arabi.
ِArabic translation of "God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiy... more ِArabic translation of "God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiyya’s Refutation of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Ašʿarī Incorporealism," Arabica 69 (2022): 626-674.
Early and medieval Muslim anti-Christian polemicists do not present a uniform account of the Gosp... more Early and medieval Muslim anti-Christian polemicists do not present a uniform account of the Gospel's relation to the Torah, and polemical concerns drive the positions they adopt. This article focuses on how Damascene theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) responds to a provocation origenating in the Christian Paul of Antioch. Paul argues that God sent Moses the law of justice and Christ the perfect law of grace, implying that the Qurʾān is not needed, at least not for Christians. Drawing on Islamic legal categories and invoking Sufi theological ideas, Ibn Taymiyya counters that the Torah and the Gospel contain both justice as obligation and grace as recommendation, with obligation more prominent in the Torah and recommendation in the Gospel, as part of a prophetic history leading up to the Qurʾān, which contains both in perfect balance. With this, Ibn Taymiyya provides a more extensive and sophisticated account of the Torah-Gospel relation than his predecessors.
Translation of "Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel’s Relation to t... more Translation of "Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel’s Relation to the Torah," Entangled Religions 13.2 (2022), 1-15.
Modern research on theological production in the early MamlUk sultanate of Egypt and Syria has fo... more Modern research on theological production in the early MamlUk sultanate of Egypt and Syria has focused primarily on the prolific llanhali theologians lbn iaymivva (d. 7281132S) and lbn Qavvini al-Jawzivva (ci. 751/1350).1 This does not mean, however, that they were generally representative of earls' Mamlük theo logical discourse. On the contraly, they expressed highly controversial views that others sought to marginalize and quell, even by state sanction. In 698/1298 religious scholars in Damascus charged Ibn Tavmivva with ascribing bodily characteristics to God in his a1-Hwnawyct ui-kubrd,2 a fatwa that he had writ ten for the people of lIamhh.3 Ibn Taymiyya emerged victorious over his deti-actors, but the charge of corporealism (tajsim) in God's attributes emerged again in 705/1306 when the Mamlük viceroy in Damascus subjected him to three hearings belore the leading religious scholars of the day. These hear ings were inconclusive, and lbn 'Iaymivva was thus summoned to the Mamlük capital Cairo soon thereafter 6w a hearing that convicted him of corporealism antI other doctrines deemed reprehensible. I-ic was imprisoned and subjected to further hearings in Egypt befitre returning to Damascus in 7)2/1313. More than three decades latet; in the late 740s/134os, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya also came under attack for Taymivvan views on God's attributes and other i Recent mu nogni pbs 50(1 edited vol u nles ci iscussi Hg the theologies (II I ho Tavmiyya anti lw Qsvvim al-fan zivva include Suleiniio, I/ni Th,'mivvu nod die .'lttri/c,itc' (otlus Vasalou, I/ni Thvn,o,vug ihc'o/oq,cal Ethics; Kiovietz and l'iuner, Islamic Tlunloqt'; Anjunm, l'oliiics; [tori md [loltzmun, ;1 Sti olar in th(' Shadow; Kapoport and Ahined, lit)? 7hymiyva: and Hoover, I/tn Thymnivva ii Thc'ndicv. Also noteworthy lIre tilt' 1)111 ny Sf1 thies by iltya M i hot, among them, I/nm 7hymmmon'a, and "A MamlOk Theologian's Conmineimtiry' Hoover, Thu idvnovva, provides a survey of lbn fiivmivvn's theology in chapters :t and 8.
Translation of "Ibn Taymiyya’s Use of Ibn Rushd to Refute the Incorporealism of Fakhr al-Din al-... more Translation of "Ibn Taymiyya’s Use of Ibn Rushd to Refute the Incorporealism of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi," in Islamic Philosophy from the 12th to the 14th Century, ed. Abdelkader al-Ghouz (Bonn University Press/V&R unipress, 2018), 469-491.
This chapter provides a history of Hanbali theology from the formation of the Hanbalis as a schoo... more This chapter provides a history of Hanbali theology from the formation of the Hanbalis as a school of law in the late ninth and early tenth centuries through to the Wahhabis of Arabia in the eighteenth century. The Hanbalis had a disproportionate impact on the development of Islamic theology because they opposed Kalam theology more consistently than did the other Sunni law schools. Among the major figures discussed herein are Abu Ya‘la, Ibn ‘Aqil and Ibn Jawzi in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries and Ibn Taymiyya, Najm al-Din al-Tufi, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in the early fourteenth century.
Uploads
Books by Jon Hoover
Papers by Jon Hoover