REL 137g 1st EditionFinal Exam Study GuideThe Classical Synthesis – a number of competing tendencies, readings and ways of understanding Islam. Through organizational categories like: law, theology, philosophy, Sufism, shiism, caliph/sultan dichotomy, the Arabic language. Muslims measure their degree of integritythrough conversation with classical synthesis; the topics are continually debated because that’s what it means to be a Muslim. Interpretive authority is necessary because one cannot understand Islam simply by going back to the Qur’an and Hadith because Islam is a communal self-understanding. A body of understandings that are not all in agreement but one cannot fully defeat any of the others in a competition for orthodoxy. Those articulations of Islam that become institutionalized and serve as the basis of Muslim self-understanding. Ibn Hazm – a philosopher who was a leading proponent of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought. He strongly advocated using reason when reflecting upon the Qur’an because human perception can be flawed. He wrote about logic in Islamic philosophy and law. Asas/samit – The Silent One. Came after the first sic prophets, is then followed by the seven imams. He is the one who brings the batin; the hidden meaning of the message. Ali is considered to be The Silent One; he brings the new, exoteric revelation and pulls back the veil from the words of the Qur’an to expose the hidden meaning.Ibn Rushd – a philosopher who didn’t follow any of the schools of law or theology because he so closely followed neoplatonism. He was an elitist who believed philosophers were more intelligent than common people. He believed that the Qur’an was never meant to be taken literally and only with unanimous consensus could an apparent meaning be found. The Qur’an istrue from the perspective of our perception, not from the perception of physical reality. He wrote The Incoherence of Incoherence. Safir – of the belief that the 11th Imam, who left no heir, actually did have a son who was hiddenaway for his own protection. The safir represents the doctrines and views of the Imam with total reliability. They are looked upon as heroes who saved the movement. The only person whohas access to Muhammad, the 12th Imam. He goes back and forth delivering doctrines. He announced that Muhammad has disappeared and moved on to a metaphysical state of existence.Sultan – the leader of Arabian nations. He is the power rather than the authority, which falls to the caliph. He cannot be caliph because the caliph must come from the tribe of Muhammad. The traditional caliphate, which had ultimate power, ended with the Mongol invasion. The Sultan replaced him but this led to decentralization because the sultan can only rule over the state, not then entire community. Ibn Arabi – developed the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, a Sufi orientation. He says that rather than God descending down to humans, God is absolute existence and we are all apart of that existence. He supported the effort to realize one’s unity with God, which some thought was basically pantheism. Wahat al-wujud – the unity of existence. The Sufi idea that humans and God are one in the same. It is about realizing and acknowledging oneness with God. Zayd b. Ali – is held to be the 5th Imam and brought about the idea that anyone from the Prophet’s family can be an Imam who must actively promote the cause of the Shiite community.His followers, Zaydists, are almost indistinguishable from Sunnis. They do not subscribe to taqiyya. Shah Wali Allah – advocated the idea that the root of the cause of the downfall of Indian Muslims was their ignorance of the sacred scripture of Islam. He initiated a movement with the theme of going back to the Qur’an. Enlightenment rationalism – liberalism. Clearing a way out of the pre-modern past. Good and evil are open to discussion, debate, interpretation and negotiation. Doctrines are not just ‘what God tells us’. Puts humans in control of morals. As an example, it says that a stone is a stone because we decided to call it a stone. Intelligible essences – the opposite of enlightenment rationalism which argues that things are what they are because of an unidentifiable, unknown ‘essence’. Wahhabi movement – a modern form of traditionalism. A way to cleanse Arabia. Founded by Muhammad Ibn ‘Ahb al-Wahhab. A local movement within his own community to rid it of Western influences. It now has a reputation for being ultra-conservative and extremist bordering on violent. It is against superstition, especially Sufism. Supports lesser jihad. Believes in getting rid of biddah: unsanctioned innovation, the opposite of Sunnah. Idea that the Prophetperfected Islam and everything after is unsanctioned. Advocates going back to the ways of the pious ancestors.Jamal al-Din al-Afghani – a political activist and Islamic ideologist, one of the early founders of Islamic modernism. He advocated pan-Islamic unity and was less about theology and more about uniting a Muslim response to Western pressure. Rashid Rida – died in 1935. A trained jurist working under a modernist regime. He recognizes the corruption and decay that has come into Islamic tradition; he wants to reform this tradition. He also recognizes that some Western things cannot be ignored and they must be taken into consideration when modernizing. With Muhammad Abudh he founded the Salafi movement which argues that if Muslims go back to the early pristine generations before Islam expanded they will find themselves much less encumbered and freer to indulge the modern world. They could engage with modernity the same way these early communities engaged with foreign cultures/societies. When picked up by political movements it can turn to radicalism. The primary target is not the West but the rulers of their own society who would want to rid governments of religion, which they don’t think is the way to advancement. Ottoman Empire – area of the Middle East and Eastern Europe that is now home to many dominantly Muslim nations, including Turkey. Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) – founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna. Another trend in the post-modern era. The last Muslim intellectuals who were classically trained as sheiks to lead movements. Started a trend of movements being led by Muslims, not clerics. They believed that though the spirit of Muslim society was broken it had to be healed and repaired. This