Thread: Philosophy of Islam, "the one & the many"

I started a thread a little while ago on "the one and the many."
There were many great answers on there, but I thought I'd
start another one which is somewhat similar.

Since many seem to agree that the Christian teaching of
the Trinity is the answer to the philosophical problem
of the "one & the many," and since it seems that just
about every culture attempts to reconcile the issues
of the particulars and the universals, I've been thinking
about how Muslims have attempted to solve those issues.

Since Muslims have a strict Monotheism that allows no
"partners" with Allah --which is their "universal" or their
"one" --I've been wondering how they attempt to solve
the "many" problem --how is that we can have particulars
when Allah himself is only one. It seems to me that the
counterpart to Allah --the "one" --is the Ummah (the
Muslim community).

Anyone who has done any study in the area of Islamic
apologetics knows that for a Muslim to embrace
Christianity it means so much more than simply changing
one's religion, for them, it means that they turn their backs
on their community --this is viewed (from what
I can gather) in almost a similar light as turning
one's back on Allah --it's a horrible sin; it's pretty much
unpardonable and results in death (theoretically).

It seems to me that the "one" in Islamic thought is
Allah; while the "many" is the Ummah, and the two
cannot be separated --otherwise their world would
make no sense.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by amishrockstar

I started a thread a little while ago on "the one and the many."
There were many great answers on there, but I thought I'd
start another one which is somewhat similar.

Since many seem to agree that the Christian teaching of
the Trinity is the answer to the philosophical problem
of the "one & the many," and since it seems that just
about every culture attempts to reconcile the issues
of the particulars and the universals, I've been thinking
about how Muslims have attempted to solve those issues.

Since Muslims have a strict Monotheism that allows no
"partners" with Allah --which is their "universal" or their
"one" --I've been wondering how they attempt to solve
the "many" problem --how is that we can have particulars
when Allah himself is only one. It seems to me that the
counterpart to Allah --the "one" --is the Ummah (the
Muslim community).

Anyone who has done any study in the area of Islamic
apologetics knows that for a Muslim to embrace
Christianity it means so much more than simply changing
one's religion, for them, it means that they turn their backs
on their community --this is viewed (from what
I can gather) in almost a similar light as turning
one's back on Allah --it's a horrible sin; it's pretty much
unpardonable and results in death (theoretically).

It seems to me that the "one" in Islamic thought is
Allah; while the "many" is the Ummah, and the two
cannot be separated --otherwise their world would
make no sense.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

I know that the Sunni theoloigan Mohammad Al-Ghazali, wrote a book on that subject. I picked up a Translation at an Islamic Bookstore a while back but I never got around to reading it------too many books, not enough time. This book may be an extract from his "" Ihya ulum al-din"", Translation which you can find in an Islamic bookstore. I can't seem to find my copy at the moment, but I will post the title when I come across it.

A problem with Muslim theology is that there are so many forms. The Allawi, who rule Syria have a form of the Trinity, with Mohammad, Ali and one of the Companions, a guy named Al-Pharsee as the third member. But even there, you can't pick up a book and find out definitely what they believe about it since there aren't, from what I can gather, those sorts of ultimate authority that we normally find in the various branches of Christianity.

Originally Posted by TimV

A problem with Muslim theology is that there are so many forms. The Allawi, who rule Syria have a form of the Trinity, with Mohammad, Ali and one of the Companions, a guy named Al-Pharsee as the third member. But even there, you can't pick up a book and find out definitely what they believe about it since there aren't, from what I can gather, those sorts of ultimate authority that we normally find in the various branches of Christianity.

In Shia Islam, you would not find the strict monotheism(Tawhid) that one sees in Sunni Wahabi Islam. Shia have such a deep veneration for Ali and Fatima that Wahabis like Bin Laden regard them as practitioners of shirk(associating partners with God) and thus heretics. Some scholars consider Bin Laden a follower of Ibn Taymiyah(13th Cent.) who was a Hanbilite and who regarded all other Muslims like ***** and Sufi as heretics ,who should be exterminated. The Taliban are Deobandites who are part of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam with likewise a very strict adherance to Tawhid. Sunni Islam in all its schools comprise the large majority of Muslims worldwide.

In Shia Islam, you would not find the strict monotheism(Tawhid) that one sees in Sunni Wahabi Islam.

Yes, I can see how that would be true. I've followed the movements politically rather than theologically, so I don't have a deeper level of understanding. It makes sense, though, since the Allawi ended up finding a Lebanese Shia cleric who judged them a form of Shia Islam back in the 70's.

Originally Posted by TimV

In Shia Islam, you would not find the strict monotheism(Tawhid) that one sees in Sunni Wahabi Islam.

Yes, I can see how that would be true. I've followed the movements politically rather than theologically, so I don't have a deeper level of understanding. It makes sense, though, since the Allawi ended up finding a Lebanese Shia cleric who judged them a form of Shia Islam back in the 70's.

Interestingly the Druze in Lebanon consider themselves Shia, although most Muslims would reject them as such as they do not believe that Mohammed was the Final Prophet.