This study contains a critical edition of Ibn al-Jawzī’s Kitāb Akhbār as-Sifāt along with an annotated translation and introduction. KAS is primarily a critique of anthropomorphic conceptions of God, directed against fellow Hanbalis and traditionalists generally. It sheds important new light on the intellectual fault-lines within medieval Hanbalism, and reveals the extent to which kalām had penetrated the school by the 12th century.

This article examines how Muslim religious scholars find space within political and legal discourses to deal with thorny issues such as rebellion. It takes as its case study a treatise by Ibn al-Jawzī regarding the permissibility to curse the second Umayyad caliph Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya. Although written to address the cursing of Yazīd, the treatise also speaks to questions regarding rulership and rebellion. Overall, the article argues that Ibn al-Jawzī adopted a juristically prudent approach to rebellion against an (...) unjust and sinful ruler which synthesizes various elements of the Sunni caliphate discourse and the Islamic legal discourse on the treatment of rebels. This allowed him to shift the debate from one on the permissibility of rebellion to one on the question of legitimacy, thus enabling him to justify actions against Yazīd without overtly condoning the act of rebellion. (shrink)

The spread of Islam to a wide geography in a short time had an effect on the activities of notification and invitation rather than military success. While Muslims invite communities that have not yet converted to Islam, on the other hand, they have taken care to keep the Muslim community alive with sermons and guidance by not neglecting their own internal reforms. They encouraged people who are well-equipped in terms of religious knowledge and inclined to oratory to bring religious love (...) and enthusiasm to the new generations, especially to the new generations. This sermon expectation of society has encouraged the growth of powerful preachers throughout history in the Islamic community. One of the factors that make the sermon effective is the reinforcement of the speech content with the literary language. Human nature, which is inclined towards beauty by nature, values the word being spoken by considering aesthetic concerns. The way to make speeches that are concise in words, deep in meaning, declaratively clear and intelligible depends on the proper use of literary arts. Literary writers try to make the most of the possibilities of literature and make their works permanent. In this study, the work al-Mudhish of Ibn al-Jawzī, who is one of the preachers who made his sermons effective by taking advantage of the rich possibilities of Arabic literature, was examined within the framework of the relationship between literature and preaching. The prominent literary elements in the work were examined in titles, striking examples were selected and critiqued. As a result, it has been revealed what Ibn al-Jawzī’s bringing together his sermon language and his literary work has brought to the sermon text. (shrink)

Bibliography of work by and on al-Fārabī, classical Muslim scholar.

Ibn Taymīyah, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm, 1263-1328. Naqḍ al-manṭiq; Islamic philosophy; logic.

The Buyide wezir Abū I-Faḍl Ibn al-‘Amīd became famous as a poet and expert in epistolary literature, but also as a scholar and scientist. His letters, published here together with translation, commentary and complete glossary, inform us on questions of meteorology, physics, mechanics and psychology.

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Islamic philosophy; Hanbalites; doctrines; creation (Islam); early works to 1800.