Islamic Religious Epistemology

Abstract

This chapter aims to lay out a map of the diverse epistemological perspectiveswithin the Islamic theological tradition, in the conceptual framework of con-temporary analytic philosophy of religion. In order achieve that goal, it aims toconsider epistemological views in light of their historic context, while at thesame time seeking to “translate” those broadly medieval perspectives intocontemporary philosophical language. In doing so, the chapter offers a succinctoverview of the main epistemic trends within the Islamic theological traditionconcerning religious epistemology. The chapter is divided into two main sectionsdesignated for discussions of differing accounts found in distinct trends of thetradition, namely the Rationalist and Traditionalist trends. The discussion con-cerning the Rationalist trend focuses on the philosophical-theologians of thedominant Mu’tazilite, Ash’arite, and Maturidite schools. The section on IslamicTraditionalism focuses on the Atharite scripturalism of Ibn Qudāma, and inparticular the thought of Ibn Taymiyya. In order to map out these historicpositions in light of contemporary religious epistemology, reference is made toa threefold typology of current views in the literature: (1) theistic evidentialism,(2) reformed epistemology, and (3) fideism.1 As such, the remainder of thechapter will attempt to outline the different approaches toward religious episte-mology in the Islamic theological tradition with this threefold typology in mind.