CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Bajodah, Abdulrahman Ayman |
|---|---|
| Title | Denying the Eternity of the World: Creation and Emanation in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa |
| Summary | The aim of my inquiry is to examine Ikhwan al-Safa’s (“Brethren of Purity”) creationist arguments against the Aristotelian doctrine of the world’s eternity. Arguing for creationism, Ikhwan al-Safa employ the Neoplatonic emanation theory as it is developed in their tenth-century Arabic encyclopedia. However, some historians have claimed that Ikhwan al-Safa’s emanation theory is a veiled attack on creationism that embraces the Aristotelian doctrine of the world’s eternity. Ikhwan al-Safa’s philosophical project is thus characterized as a project that aims either to reconcile or propagate a presupposed conflict between philosophy and religion, expressed for instance in this tension between Aristotelianism and creationism. This characterization allegedly lurks behind opposing historical testimonies regarding Ikhwan al-Safa’s identity and doctrine which I claim is contemporarily reproduced in similar terms with Ikhwan al-Safa’s scholarship. While both historical and contemporary characterizations tempt a double reading approach to Ikhwan al-Safa’s philosophy, I consider their philosophical project within the tradition of early Arabic philosophy, whose enterprise can be characterized as a natural theology project which does not presuppose a conflict between philosophy and religion. While Ikhwan al-Safa identify the philosophical tension between creationism and the world’s eternity doctrine, I demonstrate that Ikhwan al-Safa use emanation theory rather to substantiate their creationist arguments in light of their overall identification of creation with emanation. Consequently, Ikhwan al-Safa’s reception of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic sources should be recognized as a particular philosophical synthesis of both with creationism, for they did not merely transmit these sources, but assimilated them into the Islamic context of 10th century Iraq. |
| Supervisor | István Bodnár |
| Department | Philosophy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/bajodah_abdulrahman.pdf |
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