Ibn Taymiyya on Human Nature and Belief in God

Using the Cognitive Science of Religion to Study the Fiṭra

Bibliographic Data

ID3226789
AuthorsDaniel Jou (International Islamic University Malaysia, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue10
Pages951
Publication date2022-10-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13100951
OpenAlexW4304166012
LanguageEN
References cited46

Ibn Taymiyya proposes his unique epistemology by employing the concept of the fiṭra. When his statements describing the fiṭra are collected, we see that Ibn Taymiyya has presented a detailed view of human nature and how that nature relates to God and the universe as a whole. His fiṭra-centric theory of human nature can be usefully compared to other theories, not only within the Islamic tradition but also in theories of the self found in other religions or even contemporary scientific theories. As of yet, Ibn Taymiyya's work has not been studied through the lens of Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). Ibn Taymiyya is an ideal candidate for applying CSR research to Islamic thought in order to reach broader insights about theories of human nature within the Islamic scholarly tradition. CSR findings are relevant to Ibn Taymiyya's work specifically because Ibn Taymiyya claims that certain human emotions, intuitions, and behaviors are inborn and universal. By applying CSR, we can conclude that some aspects of Ibn Taymiyya's theological perspective are grounded in deeper and more universal features of human cognition that are not specific to the particularities of his biases, his milieu, political pressures of his time, etc

Cognition · Epistemology · Islam · Islamic Philosophy · Politics · Sociology · Theology · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Islamic Thought and Society Studies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment