Drafts by Saf Chowdhury
Scheme of Work for the Kalam Module 2024-2025 for the program Advanced Diploma in Islamic Scholar... more Scheme of Work for the Kalam Module 2024-2025 for the program Advanced Diploma in Islamic Scholarship and Leadership (ADIL) delivered for the Centre for Islamic Knowledge (CIK)
In this paper, I explore the paradigmatic case of the problem of evilthat of the problem of suffe... more In this paper, I explore the paradigmatic case of the problem of evilthat of the problem of suffering. As a result of many Muslims theologians and academics in contemporary times adopting the approach of theodicy as a way to address the problem of suffering, other considerations have been neglected. One consideration put forth in this paper is to explore how the problem of suffering can be shifted away from being preoccupied with theoretical vindications of Allah's justice and fairness in the face of evil to one that focusses more on how the patient, the person suffering, can construct meaning out of the suffering by utilising the theological resources of their creed.
TBA
In this essay, I attempt to explore the account of logic in some of the major philosophical works... more In this essay, I attempt to explore the account of logic in some of the major philosophical works of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in an attempt to see if he invested it with any degree of metaphysical significance. Speculating the answer in the positive, I use the answer as a juncture p+oint to formulate a Ghazali inspired divine conceptualism argument to ground the nature and necessity of logic drawing on the logical insights of Recber, Welty and Anderson. I then conclude with a brief assessment of a Divine Voluntarism model and and a tentative reading of a Divine Activism model in Ibn Taymiyya as explanations for grounding logic.
The current philosophical literature on God and abstract objects has taken an exhilarating turn i... more The current philosophical literature on God and abstract objects has taken an exhilarating turn in recent years. Although the discussion has remained broadly within the inherited Hellenic trichotomy of realism, nominalism and conceptualism, nuanced metaphysical positions have been argued within that trichotomy. The debate assumes particular importance for classical theism in that one of its core doctrines is God as a “self-existent being” (qā’im bi-nafsihi; aseity), i.e. He exists by virtue of Himself. If abstract objects are entities that exist necessarily (as is claimed by its proponents), then that would imply a compromise of that doctrine. Moreover, it also leaves open the question of how they are to be accounted for. This short paper will explore some possible options open for the Islamic theist to account for abstract entities drawing on contemporary debates and ideas to enrich the philosophical positions espoused by Muslim thinkers in the formative and post-formative period.
This was an my initial undergraduate dissertation but was later changed to John Philoponus's agai... more This was an my initial undergraduate dissertation but was later changed to John Philoponus's against Aristotle on the eternity of the world.
The draft dissertation outlines Alfarabi's solution to the puzzle of divine foreknowledge and free will which revolves around God's knowledge not being causally determinative of future events.
Ashʿarī surveys a number of different theological views about God's knowledge of events and human... more Ashʿarī surveys a number of different theological views about God's knowledge of events and human actions and their relation with time as held by some of the early kalām practitioners. Two areas that he surveys include: 1. The disagreement of those who believed God does not know something unless it is; 2. Whether God knowing something without it mixing with Him. Two arguments from the first section are particularly interesting, especially with regard to Omniscience and time. This paper will explore these views and examine them in detail.
Teaching Documents by Saf Chowdhury
* these class notes are for a draft essay on the doctrine of resurrection in Islamic theology and... more * these class notes are for a draft essay on the doctrine of resurrection in Islamic theology and the problem of personal identity. An updated bibliography (as of 2017) can be found at the end under " Updated Bibliography " .
A lecture handout surveying the account of the Qur'an's compilation by orientalist scholars (MA O... more A lecture handout surveying the account of the Qur'an's compilation by orientalist scholars (MA Orality and Textuality Course, Birkbeck, 2009).
A class handout on the account of the 'Codex' of the Ibn Mas'd, the Prophet Muhammad's companion ... more A class handout on the account of the 'Codex' of the Ibn Mas'd, the Prophet Muhammad's companion (MA Orality and Textuality Course, Birkbeck, 2009).
Lecture handout for the MA Program entitled Orality and Textuality Course for Birkbeck College, 2009
Conference Presentations by Saf Chowdhury
This essay situates speculation on Sufi themes within a posthuman paradigm. Although difficult to... more This essay situates speculation on Sufi themes within a posthuman paradigm. Although difficult to define (like any major concept), posthumanism raises some challenges that invite serious inquiry and consideration. This essay will explore two definitions or iterations of posthumanism how that may affect the way Sufis understand, assess and reassess the major ideational categories that regulate both their outlook and lived expression of Islam. The first is philosophical posthumanism that interrogates assumptions about human nature, species exceptionalism and identity. The second is posthuman transhumanism and the ever increasing and encroaching dominance of technoscientific modalities that particularly seek to enhance human intellectual, physical and psychological capacities and potentialities. What challenges are generated when some of these posthuman definitions or iterations intersect with Sufi concerns, issues and themes will form the exploration of this essay.
Presentation video: https://youtu.be/uhfKkENmjtA
• Works on logic and argumentation were notable ones in his large oeuvre. • al-Risāla fī ādāb al-... more • Works on logic and argumentation were notable ones in his large oeuvre. • al-Risāla fī ādāb al-baḥth wa-l-munāẓara although a short text, it was innovative and highly beneficial.
ASIPT, 2023
Presentation slides on the Paper : Kalām Jadīd from the Indian Context: A Philosophical Examinati... more Presentation slides on the Paper : Kalām Jadīd from the Indian Context: A Philosophical Examination of Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thānwī’s (d. 1943) Text al-Intibāhāt al-Mufīda
For details see the handout
BBSI , 2023
Slides on the problem of suffering and the Islamic application of the meaning making model
A presentation delivered at the annual American Society of Islamic Philosophy and Theology (ASIPT... more A presentation delivered at the annual American Society of Islamic Philosophy and Theology (ASIPT), December 2-5 2022, Brandeis and Harvard
ISAR : Osmanlı’da İlm-i Mantık ve Münazara, 2022
A presentation of a forthcoming article on Isma'il Gelenbevi's theory of argumentation and applic... more A presentation of a forthcoming article on Isma'il Gelenbevi's theory of argumentation and applications to two modern argumentation theories
Journal of Islamic Ethics (tbc), 2023
In this presentation I suggest a meaning-making turn within Islamic ethics that moves away from t... more In this presentation I suggest a meaning-making turn within Islamic ethics that moves away from the standard abstract, ahistorical and theoretical proposals of analytic theodicists to the problem of suffering. I utilise the Arabic genre of tasliyat al-musab (consoling the grief-stricken) as my conceptual resource to construct meaning in the midst of personal sufferring using Parks meaning-making model.
A short presentation on some obstacles to transalting Arabic argumentation and dialectical texts
The Problem of Evil is one of the most difficult and protracted problems for the Abrahamic adhere... more The Problem of Evil is one of the most difficult and protracted problems for the Abrahamic adherents who uphold the classical conception of an “omni-competent” God – omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent. In its core formulation, the existence and/or character of God is brought into direct contention with the existence of evil. One sub-set of this problem, reinvigorated by recent discussions within the intersection between the philosophy of religion and philosophy of science, is the evolutionary problem of evil. The aim of this article is to analyse this subset of the Problem of Evil hitherto unexplored in any depth within contemporary Islamic ethics. After presenting a few versions of the evolutionary argument from evil in the first section, the article in the second section will survey some possible theodicies based on key philosophers and theologians from the Islamic formative, classical and postclassical periods in order to assess whether they can be adequately pressed into addressing the core challenge posed by the problem. Building on these theodicies, the article in section three moves into a proposal of an Islamic evolutionary theodicy based on the core doctrines of the Qur’ān as well as ideas developed within evolutionary theism. The final section evaluates the overall cogency and plausibility of an Islamic theistic evolution (IET) and ipso facto an Islamic evolutionary theodicy (IET) based on possible theological, philosophical and scientific objections.
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Drafts by Saf Chowdhury
The draft dissertation outlines Alfarabi's solution to the puzzle of divine foreknowledge and free will which revolves around God's knowledge not being causally determinative of future events.
Teaching Documents by Saf Chowdhury
Conference Presentations by Saf Chowdhury
Presentation video: https://youtu.be/uhfKkENmjtA
For details see the handout
The draft dissertation outlines Alfarabi's solution to the puzzle of divine foreknowledge and free will which revolves around God's knowledge not being causally determinative of future events.
Presentation video: https://youtu.be/uhfKkENmjtA
For details see the handout
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/R28VW2PMKR9RNAXFYTRH/full?target=10.1080/01445340.2020.1797449
The work’s introduction makes plain its real-world connections; the 2017 Grenfell tragedy and 2019 Christchurch bombings are chosen to exemplify the omnipresent suffering in our world (though interestingly, accounting for suffering produced by human actors is not a focus of the subsequent study). Chowdhury writes of the book as ‘an attempt to argue that the existence of evil is at least logically compatible with God as revealed in the Muslim sacred scripture of the Qur’an’ (p. 2). He describes his method as ‘that of analytic theology, where the tools of conceptual precision, argumentative rigor, logical coherence and systematic reasoning … define the style and communication of the content’ (p. 3). It is the reviewer’s opinion that the author’s achievement is better captured in a comment made in between these two assertions. Chowdhury draws a distinction between the problem of evil ‘as a serious theoretical (intellectual) problem [… with] an experiential (existential) component that has layers of complexity’, and the problem of evil as a ‘discursive engagement with theological and philosophical concepts that involve solving a logical problem’ (p. 2). Here he identifies his study with the former, and it is clear that the author’s sensitivity to the experiential reality of evil makes this study both far more, and also something distinct from, the formulation of an argument for the logical compatibility of evil and Islamic belief. Within the conclusion, the project’s true contribution is plainly expressed: Chowdhury reflects that he has brought forth a wide range of possible solutions to various aspects of the problem of evil. These he has engaged using the tools of analytic philosophy, assessing and often critiquing them. His approach to these resources has encompassed straightforward exposition and systematic reformulation. At times, he has ventured his own novel solutions. The study should thus be understood to establish the general strength (in number and in force) of possible Islamic responses to the problem of evil, rather than to state a generalizing logical argument for the compatibility of the existence of evil and Islamic belief.
al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī ( d. 412/1021), all of which are revised versions of doctoral dissertations: one in German, one in French, and, most recently,
S.Z. Chowdhury’s study in English, the volume under review. All three essentially provide “the life and times of al-Sulamī” (though Chowdhury’s subtitle favors “Life and Thought”) and each purports to offer a one-volume systematic introduction to this medieval master. An assessment of the most recent publication thus must involve a comparison with these prior offerings in order to identify the author’s distinctive contribution.
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