Ibn Taymiyya’s Fiṭralism and Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology
A Comparative Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20249779 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Safaruk Chowdhury (0000-0002-2196-2968, Cambridge Muslim College, corresponding author), Safaruk Zaman Chowdhury (Cambridge Muslim College, Cambridge CB1 2EZ, UK) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 1371 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel16111371 |
| OpenAlex | W4415656394 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
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
Warranted Christian Belief
Warrant and Proper Function
Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics
Politics, Law and Reason in Islamic Thought
Islam as the inborn religion of mankind
Ibn Taymiyya on theistic signs and knowledge of God
Rethinking the Concept of Fiṭra
What kind of Classical Foundationalism has Plantinga refuted
La Fiṭrah Come Espressione di Imān
Al‐Ghazālī's Use of “Original Human Disposition” ( Fiṭra ) and Its Background in the Teachings of al‐Fārābī and Avicenna
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |