Ibn Taymiyya’s Fiṭralism and Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology

A Comparative Study

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20249779
AutoresSafaruk Chowdhury (0000-0002-2196-2968, Cambridge Muslim College, autor de correspondencia), Safaruk Zaman Chowdhury (Cambridge Muslim College, Cambridge CB1 2EZ, UK)
Año2025
Volumen16
Número11
Páginas1371
Fecha de publicación2025-10-29
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditorialMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel16111371
OpenAlexW4415656394
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas24

Contemporary philosophers and epistemologists as well as scholars of Islamic studies have not failed to notice some striking similarities between aspects of the Islamic notion of the “fiṭra” (humanity’s archetypal nature) articulated by the medieval Hanbalī traditionalist jurist and theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d.728/1328) and the account of the sensus divinitatis (an innate, direct perception of God) espoused by the reformed philosopher Alvin Plantinga (1932–present). This article systematically compares both these notions and more by first situating them within the antecedent historical factors and developments leading up to their emergence in their respective intellectual milieu, the theological anthropology espoused by both thinkers and the religious epistemology of each respective thinker. The article will also discuss salient differences between each doctrine and their broader parent epistemologies and will examine major objections raised against them. The comparative study reveals not only a rich source of Islamic religious epistemology to be mined by diligent researchers but the exciting application of philosophical analysis to the thought of Ibn Taymiyya. Finally, the article argues that Ibn Taymiyya’s account of the fiṭra faces some problematic epistemological conundrums, one of which will be explored in detail

Doctrine · Islam · Islamic Philosophy · Islamic studies · Notice · Philosophy of religion · Salient · Islamic Studies and History · Islamic Thought and Society Studies · Medieval and Classical Philosophy

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