Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Al-Jāḥiẓ And Religious Knowledge: A Forgotten Islamic Rationalism

Al-Jāḥiẓ And Religious Knowledge: A Forgotten Islamic Rationalism

Abdulsater, Hussein Ali

Hardcover

Series: Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Scripture and Theology

PhilosophyIslamGeneral Middle Eastern History

ISBN10: 1399521977
ISBN13: 9781399521970
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: May 31 2025
Pages: 360
Weight: 1.50
Height: 0.81 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

While it may seem paradoxical to combine trust in rational religion with distrust of human reason, this is exactly what a group of understudied Muslim theologians proposed. Known as the Epistemists, they pushed for an inclusive epistemology that broadened the scope of knowledge. They argued that humans can acquire rational knowledge without discursive arguments, through an unconscious process of social exposure. In this, the Epistemists presented a radical alternative to other Islamic conceptions of rationalism, with immense promise for modern contexts.

This book reconstructs a worldview prominent among the Epistemists, and explores how it correlates with their rise and fall as a theological trend. It examines the intellectual project of their premier advocate, al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 868-9), offering a systematic reading of his oeuvre as an Epistemist, and situates it in the formative ʿAbbasid moment of Islamic history.

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