The Metaphysics of Presence and Absence: the Primacy of the Ear over the Eye in the Holy Qurʾan (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Holy Quran being the most comprehensive book of reference has discussed on every minute details of human anatomy. One of them is human senses and can be categorized by external parts and internal parts. For example external parts such as ears are used to sense audio, eyes are used to sense visual, and nose is used to sense smell. While for internal parts, emotion is used to sense feelings such as happiness and sadness. Although all of the senses that comes from the external and internal parts are important in human's well-being, the Holy Quran has placed different emphasizes on all of these senses. This is because some of the senses are quoted more often than others. Using data extraction technology, this study finds that ears and eyes are quoted most often although ears seem to be more superior. Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to investigate the reason why ears are quoted more often than eyes in the Holy Quran. In addressing this question, this paper applies two methods. Firstly, all verses related to sound and sight senses are gathered. Then the superiority between them are measured based on the book of exegesis (tafsir) and scientific reports.
Aural epistemology : hearing and listening in the text of the Qur'an
Body and Religion, 2020
This article takes the Qur'an's discourse on the sense of hearing as part of its greater world of emotion and affect, wherein sense perceptions can be understood as part of its felt landscape. Taking the prevalence of the Qur'an's recita-tion in tradition and the Qur'an's own discourse about orality and revelation as a starting point, the paper examines the understanding of the sense of hearing found within the text. Specifically, in the Qur'an, the sense of hearing is linked to ideas of cognition and comprehension. Understanding of the discursive content or meaning of a message is obtained through hearing.
Cosmic and Psychic Energies in Islamic Tradition: The Soul (rūḥ) and the Self (nafs)
Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness 2017 Annual Conference, 2017
The paper applies phenomenological insights through which the exegeses of cosmic and psychic energies in Islamic tradition can be systematically addressed. It discusses how the soul (rūḥ) is depicted as a divine secret (sirr ilāhī) made of the light of God (qabas min nūr Allah), while the self (nafs) is equated with conscious and unconscious energies. Human beings participate in the invisible, transcendental, secret and divine qualities of the cosmos through the participation of their souls with the divine world. Muslims assert their relationship with the unseen and spiritual world through participation with invisible entities and forces such as souls, angels, and intermediary holy persons or saints. The paper proposes that cosmic and psychic energies and related actions can be understood by focusing on two liminal states, great eschatology (barzakh), bridging this life with the other life and small eschatology (also barzakh), indicating dream or vision. Dreams can be the source of spiritual energy and religious experiences, connecting humans with sacred beings forces, and realities. According to Islamic tradition, it is not only the body or the self through which the human energy is explained but also and more importantly the soul, which exists independently and gives the person autonomous character even after death. Our thoughts, consciousness, dreams and ideas are energy floating all around the universe. We send and receive energy continuously each second of our life; or in other word, we gain or lose energy from and to our surrounding each second of our life. Because Islamic thought is holistic and accentuates the hierarchically interconnected relationship between body and spirit, the cosmos, al-kaun, or the world, al-'alam, is conceptualized as being composed of two different but indissociable and complementary domains: one knowable, visible, or natural and the other unknowable, invisible or supernatural. Two of the
Moses and Khidr Consciousness Between the Two Seas of Reason and Intuition Preface, 2019
The Quranic story of Moses and his meeting with "someone who is more knowledgeable than he" at the junction between the two seas is the only story of Moses in the Quran that does not have roots in Biblical texts. Most readers are probably familiar with who Prophet Moses was, the Prophet who freed the Children of Jacob from the Egyptian Pharaoh. They may be less familiar with the "someone who is more knowledgeable than he," who has sapiental wisdom which is "to taste," "to realize," "to be transformed," having gained knowledge through purifying consciousness (kashf) and replacing reason with intuition. As the Quran tells us: Certainly, there had been in their narratives a lesson for those imbued with intuition. (Q12:111) The Hadith indicate that Moses meet with "someone who was more knowledgeable than he," whom they designated as Khidr. Khidr is a spiritual guide who comes to people in their dream visions or through clairvoyance. Clairvoyance refers to discernment (furqan). It is the power of discerning objects not present to the senses; the power to perceive matters beyond the range of ordinary perception. In other words, it is an experience "beyond perception." The dream vision world is known as coming from a barzakh or barrier or intermediate world between the material, physical world and the spiritual world. It is also known as the 'alam al-mithal or world of likenesses, home to our creative imagination. As a realm of existence that mediates between different levels of existence , an understanding of this allows dream visions or visionary experiences-which have played a major role in many fields of Muslim life from historiography to medicine-to exist in a special sphere of existence of its own. They are, as in ISBN 9781567446791
Proceedings of the 3rd Asian Education Symposium (AES 2018), 2019
This research is motivated by humans who are equipped with the nature of God which can be filled with various skills and skills, according to their position as noble creatures and the best creation (ahsani taqwim). This study aims to find out how the development of potential, Sense, reason, and heart according to the Qur'an and its application in learning. This research is a library research using thematic interpretation method, which is collecting reading that talks about the five senses of man, then determines the topic and conducts an analysis using tahlili interpretation analysis, which then draws conclusions. Based on the results of the analysis that the author did, it can be concluded that; Senses potential in the Qur'an is to hear (al-sam '), sight (al-bashr), touch, and sense of taste (aldhuq); The potential for reason in the Qur'an is in form, understanding (faqiha), knowing ('alima), remembering (dzakara), paying attention to (tadabbara) Ulu al-Abab, an...
From Sense Perception to the Vision of God: a Path towards Knowledge according to the Ihwān al-Safā
Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 1998
The aim of this paper is to identify the position the ru'yat Allāh holds within the curriculum of sciences described by the Iḫwān al-Ṣafa'. Their concept of knowledge is first clarified. The Ihwan use the terminology of rational knowledge to describe items of faith too. But faith is only an introduction to a greater knowledge. Now: is the supreme knowledge to be considered as speculative and theoretical, or are the ḫawciṣṣ, the only ones entitled to the vision of God, eventually obliged to rely on a kind of divine “revelation” or “inspiration”? If the “vision of God” appears beyond any possible connotation of knowledge in “rational” terms, it is unclear, however, whether the Ihwan use the concepts of “revelation” and “inspiration” as a way of explaining in a theological terminology the utmost degree of human knowledge (perhaps according to the same analogical function waḥy and ilhām appear to have in Ibn Sīnā). Moreover, the qualities and moral dispositions attributed to the...
Phenomenology of Quranic Corporeality and Affect: A Concrete Sense of Being Muslim in the World,
Religions 2023, 14(7), 827, 2023
This is my contribution to the latest special issue 'Religions in 2022', guest edited by Prof. Dyron B. Daughrity, Prof. Susanne Olsson and Prof. Paul Morris, that includes the theme of critical perspectives in Islamic studies. Abstract: It is a matter to ponder that, among the three Abrahamic monotheisms, Islam places the greatest ontotheological distance between the human and the divine. While God is the ground of being Muslim, Islam excludes theophany and prohibits any tangible association between the divine and anything in the material world. God’s mode of manifesting Himself to His creatures has consisted of the most fleeting and discorporate of all means of communication, namely, sound. His words gathered in the Qur’an thus form a non-solid verbal bridge crossing over that unfathomable distance. One could then think that the relationship between the unique Creator and His creatures relies only on the strength of a blind faith founded on a dry, discursive pact. Arguing his “idea of an anthropology of Islam”, Talal Asad did posit that this religion and its culture form “a discursive tradition”. Exclusively focused on the mental modes of knowledge acquisition, this cognitivist verbalist characterization has become a certitude in Islamic studies at large. Yet, it is only a half-truth, for it overlooks the emphatic involvement, in the definition of this tradition of Islam, of the non-linguistic phenomenality of experience that implicates the pre-logical non-cognitive double agency of affect and sensation in the pursuit of divine knowledge. This article expounds this phenomenology of the Qur’an in using an innovative combination of philosophical and literary conceptualities, and in addressing some hermeneutical problems posed by the established Quranic studies.
Sapiential insights for ultimate wisdom and intelligence appraising the Qur'an and science
Journal of Islam and Sceince, 2023
The human body is an extremely intricate work of art, with systems and organs interacting to create what has been acknowledged as life. Among these intricate relationships, one of the most fascinating and significant is the one that has been recently discovered between the gut, the brain, and the heart. This discovery has potentially changed our fundamental reductionist, positivist and more precisely biochemical understanding of higher consciousness, wisdom intelligence etc, paving way for a more holistic comprehension which includes philosophical and epistemological analysis. More importantly, such changed paradigm, challenges the accepted dualisms and invites serious research to explore the interconnectedness of mind, body, and emotion. However, these discoveries sparked a surge of discussions among diverse Muslim scholars and researchers who seek to understand the Qur'anic concept of heart-interceded wisdom, as well as the reasons why the Qur'an insist and talks about heart as a reflection of man's religiousness or piety. It is important to keep in mind that science and the Qur'an are two different discipline each with their own set of argument and approaches. For instance, science is an always changing discipline due to technological innovations while, the teachings of the Qur'an are constant, ageless, occasionally metaphorical or allegorical. In the light of this intricate landscape, science and the Qur'an may either support or challenge each other on various matters. Therefore, it is imperative to note that scientific knowledge should not be regarded as the ultimate source for comprehending the Qur'an. Nonetheless, many individuals explore scientific findings to deepen their faith and their comprehension of the Qur'an. So, in this exploratory article, we will delve into the heart-gut-brain relationship, its scientific underpinnings, and the implications it holds for our understanding of Qur'anic teachings, health, emotions, and consciousness.
Quranic Hermeneutics: Between Science, History, and the Bible
2018
Qurʾanic Hermeneutics argues for the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qurʾan and outlines a new method of Qurʾanic exegesis called intertextual polysemy. By interweaving science, history, and religious studies, Abdulla Galadari introduces a linguistic approach which draws on neuropsychology. This book features examples of intertextual polysemy within the Qurʾan, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible. It provides examples that intimately engage with Christological concepts of the Gospels, in addition to examples of allegorical interpretation through inner-Qurʾanic allusions. Galadari reveals how new creative insights are possible, and argues that the Qurʾan did not come to denounce the Gospel – which is one of the stumbling blocks between Islam and Christianity – but only to interpret it in its own words. There is a debate among academic and religious scholars alike on the reliability of classical Qurʾanic exegesis for interpretation. This book proposes a new and innovative method of Qurʾanic exegesis called intertextual polysemy, using provocative examples. It breaks away the shackles of classical exegesis and tries to demystify the concept of Muhammad’s revelation and allegories by adopting concepts of neuropsychology. It introduces Psychological Qurʾanic Criticism as a field, similar to that found in Biblical Studies. The book proposes a method that argues the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qurʾan and uses intertextuality between the Qurʾan and itself, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible to identify how words and their various morphologies are used. It also gives insightful but controversial examples using this methodology. To argue in favour of such a method, the book touches very crucial and sometimes controversial subjects. An example of such, contrary to recent scholarly debates, the book argues that “taḥrīf,” according to the Qurʾan, perhaps means turning away (inḥirāf) from Scriptures, and not necessarily changing either the words or their meanings. This is a diverging thought from existing literature that did not look at this as a possible definition of the term. The book also presents few working examples of intertextual polysemy for Qurʾanic hermeneutics. It gives examples for intertextualizing the Qurʾan with itself, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible. Many of the stumbling blocks between Christianity and Islam when it comes to Christology and the theology are completely reinterpreted showing that in fact the Qurʾan did not come to denounce the Gospel, but only interpret it in its own words. With those examples, it shows how new creative insights on understanding possible deeper meanings to the Qurʾan along with its Biblical subtext. As examples adopted in the book, it shows how the term Ibn Allah in the Qurʾan is defining the Temple of God, not actually the Son. It also mentions how the concept that God neither begets nor is begotten in the Qurʾan is an attempt to interpret the Logos in the Gospel of John and not denying it, as it is currently assumed by both academic and religious scholars. This book is very different than existing literature in Qurʾanic studies in that it proposes and argues in favour of a new method of Qurʾanic hermeneutics using a linguistic approach that is not found in any other books in the field, stemming from a possible neuropsychological basis.