Why is Islamic theology important? How we should we study Islamic theology in the world we live in today? Why is it often taught poorly? How can we study and understand Islamic theology in a contemporary context without sacrificing beliefs agreed upon by Sunni scholarship?

How did philosophical theology start in Islamic History? Is it problematic in Islam to use logic and philosophy in Islamic theology? Why did scholars disagree about it? When is it acceptable to use logic and philosophy, when is it not? What role, if any, can the natural sciences have in Islamic theology?

Metaphysics is the study of ‘what is’. How did classical Islamic theologians understand it? How does modern science change our understanding of metaphysics and how can we reconcile new understandings with Islamic theology?

Why is it critical to understand concepts of knowledge, belief and truth before we learn Islamic theology? What are the differences between classical and contemporary theories of knowledge and truth? What would an ‘Islamic epistemology’ today look like?

We will discuss, in some detail, several proofs from classical Sunni Islamic theology on the existence of God, and how are they are still well-justified using contemporary epistemology, the natural sciences and new ways of understanding mind and how it interacts with reality.

We will discuss and compare with the sacred or historical texts of other faiths; the preservation, miraculous nature, and content of the Qur’an with an emphasis on contemporary academic literature in the subject.

We will contextualize the miracles, characteristics and life history of our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and how it is unreasonable, irrational and historically problematic to believe he was anything other than what he ﷺ said he was.

What is the role of the soul and spiritual experience in knowing Allah? How do these experiences give us knowledge? How can a Muslim attain spiritual intuition using worship and righteousness?

What is the resulting ontology or worldview that results from the Islamic sacred texts and Sunni theological tradition? How does this ontology or worldview compare with others common in the contemporary world e.g. liberalism, secularism, feminism, naturalism etc. How do we understand ideas like the theory of evolution, the social construction of gender, scientism and other popular ideologies using Islamic ontology and epistemology?

*Please note: that addition of this content to this course is tentative. It may be removed and added later as a separate course. Students will have the option of registering for it after THY12 is complete.