Islamic Thought

Open Theism, as a new perspective in theology, has attracted attention of many scholars and mainly claims that some teachings of classical theism are not in accordance with Scripture and depict God in the way of Greek metaphysic and Hermeneutical pattern. Therefore, Open Theists proposed a new model of theology based on the notion of Openness in reaction to deterministic model of classical theism. Their point of view had some implications like mutability, temporality and direct involvement of God. But these lead to some problems in their view like inconsistency and ambiguity in addition to denying absolute perfection from Him. In this paper, we will clarify these defects and give solutions based on Islamic thought and Lastly introduce Doctrine of Badāʾ by which we will answer many of unsolved problems that led some theologians toward Open Theism. It will be shown that by Badāʾ there will be no room for inconsistency in Devine properties. 

Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali is one of the most important thinkers of the Seljuk period in Iran. Ghazali’s Thought, based on his works, is very wide-ranging in various fields of religious sciences. At the beginning of his scientific life, he wrote a book entitled “Maqasid al Falasifa” (The Aims of Philosophers), but in the final period of his research, he wrote the “Tahafut al-Falasifah” (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) and joined the opponents of philosophy, in which he expressed the contradictions of philosophers. Consequently, many thinkers believe that he is not only against philosophy but also against reason, and as a result reach the conflict between reason and religion or the sharia of religion.This article examines the question of whether there is a conflict between reason and sharia in Ghazali's thought? Does al-Ghazali mean the philosophical views of philosophers only those that are incompatible with the Shari'a? And what should be done if there seems to be a contradiction? This article tries to address these questions by referring to Ghazali's intellectual works.

The interaction between political elites and the general populace is a key subject of scholarly inquiry, receiving significant attention in academic discourse. This relationship can be seen as the relationship between the government and the people in one interpretation and the relationship between the government and society in another. In a general division, some people believe in the priority of the political elites, some in the people, and finally, the third group believes in the same priority of the political elites and the people. Islamic thinkers have also theorized in this regard. This research, based on the library and documentary methods and contextual interpretation methods, seeks to answer these questions: "What is the relationship between the people and the political elites in Islamic thought?" What are its most important features, and what are the obstacles to the participation of more elites? In order to achieve these goals, we first discuss the basics, and then, based on Islamic principles and values, we examine the role of the people with the political elites or the government. We point out the obstacles to the desired interaction and finally provide some recommendations.