The protracted entanglement of divine attributes vis-à-vis divine essence has long exercised the Muslim intellectual milieu. With myriad creedal and theological ramifications, the debate comes to the fore, most notably, in al-Ghazālī’s notorious charge of unbelief against the falāsifa on account of (among other things) the claim that God knows particulars ‘only in a universal way.’ A closely allied contention, in this instance, is the nature of divine volition (al-irādah) and preponderance (tarjīḥ) within a post-Avicennan modal framework—more specifically, whether it is distinct from God’s knowledge and power. With overarching creedal implications, the paper maps the vast complex of problemata which inform the discussion on God’s intention and its philosophical and theological import in the works of three prominent Ashʿarī theologians: Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī (d. 1085), Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210). The paper concludes with the curation of said problema in ʿAḍud al-Dīn al-Ījī’s (d.1355) monumental kitāb al-mawāqif fī ʿilm al-kalām, with a view towards the early commentarial activity elicited by the text.
Philosophy
Religious Studies/Theology
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