Islamic sciences

A scholar writing a commentary on the Qur'an during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1592–1666)

The Islamic sciences (Arabic: علوم الدين, romanizedʿulūm al-dīn, lit.'the sciences of religion') are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars (ʿulamāʾ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic religious knowledge.[1]

Different sciences

These sciences include:

In Shiʿi Islam

Shiʿi Islam[4][5] Many of the same subjects are studied at Shiʿi seminaries (known as hawza), but there are some differences:

According to Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali

The celebrated Islamic scholar Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali wrote on Islamic sciences in his well known book The Revival of Religious Sciences (Ihya `ulum al‑din). He argued that a Muslim has a religious obligation (wajib) to know whatever aspects of religious science are necessary for them to obey Shari'ah in doing whatever work it is they do. So, for example, someone working in animal husbandry should know rules concerning zakat; a merchant "doing business in an usurious environment", should learn rules about riba so as "to effectively avoid it".[6] Sciences whose knowledge is wajib kifa'i (must be known by some people in society, although once enough people have met the obligation, the rest of the population is relieved of it).

Al‑Ghazali considers wajib kifa'i religious sciences to be classified into four groups:

  1. Usul (principles; i.e. the Qur’an, the sunnah, ijma` or consensus and the traditions of the Prophet's companions)
  2. Furu` (secondary matters; i.e. problems of jurisprudence, ethics and mystical experience)
  3. Introductory studies (Arabic grammar, syntax, etc.)
  4. Complementary studies (recitation and interpretation of the Qur’an, study of the principles of jurisprudence, `ilm al‑rijal or biographical research about narrators of Islamic traditions etc.)[6]

Al‑Ghazzali aserts that not all religious sciences are "praiseworthy" (mahmud), as some proport to be "oriented towards the Shari'ah but actually deviate from its teachings". These are known as "undesirable" (madhmum).[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gilliot et al. 1960–2007.
  2. ^ On the term uṣūl al-dīn, see Gimaret 1960–2007. On the term 'speculative theology', see, e.g. Schmidtke 2016, p. 2: "rationally minded theologians employed the methods and techniques of speculative theology, ‘kalām’ or ‘ʿilm al-kalām’, as it is typically called".
  3. ^ Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam, "Ethics and morality" 2009: p.217
  4. ^ "Hawza - Advanced Islamic Studies". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011.
  5. ^ Thinkin ahead: Shi'ite Islam in Iraq and its seminaries Archived 10 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Christoph Marcinkowsi, Nayang Technological University, Singapore
  6. ^ a b c Golshani, Mehdi (12 March 2013). "Introduction". Science and the Muslim Ummah. Al-Islam.org. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

Works cited