The concept of evil from the point of view of Ibn Maimun and Ghazali

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate in Religions and Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the issue of evil from the perspective of Ibn Maimon in Judaism and Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali in Islam. Ibn Maimun does not consider evil to be issued from God because he believes that anti-existence has no actuality and all evils are non-existent to which no act belongs unless the matter has existed by its nature and therefore matter causes corruption and evil. With Ibn Maimon, he considered evil to be material, and God free from evil, and always considered God to be pure good, and he considered the world to be good and the evil in which man is placed to be due to human existence. Al-Ghazali also emphasizes that good and evil are from God and he who does not know evil from God is ignorant. In the sense that God does not create evil for evil, and God's purpose in creating evil is actually to achieve a greater good. According to Ghazali, the ambiguity about the compatibility of God's mercy and the existence of evil is due to a misunderstanding of the true meaning of mercy. The conclusion is that Ibn Maimun considers evil to be non-existent and considers the principle of its existence to be due to factors such as ignorance and the limited power of man, and considers evil to be due to the human nature of individuals; Al-Ghazali, on the other hand, considers God to have created evil and good together and considers the principle of evil to be a factor in achieving greater and unknown good.

Keywords

References

-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (1408 LH) al-Arba'in fi Usul al-Din, Beirut: Daroljeyl.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (1410 LH) The Revival of the Religious Sciences, School of Abdul Wakil Al-Drubi, Damascus.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (2001) The Incoherence of the Philosophers, Beirut.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (2006) Median in Belief, Cairo: Bina.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (2007) Almaqsad Al-asna Felsharhe Ma,any Asmah-al-Husna, Beirut: Dar El Mashreq.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (2008) Motahari, Morteza, Introduction to Islamic Sciences 1 (logic, philosophy); Sadra Publications.
-       Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġaz(z)ālīy (2018) Aims of Philosophers, Cairo: Bina.
-       Aghayi Poursedehi, Nafiseh (2017) A Comparative Study of Good and Evil from the Perspective of Augustine and Imam Muhammad Al Ghazali, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran. (in Persian)
-       Brody, Alexander (2007) Moses ben Maimon, History of Islamic Philosophy, vol. 3, under the supervision of Hussein Nasr.
-       Cordoba Moses ben Maimon (1994) The Guide for the Perplexed, by Hussein Ata, Ankara.
-       Cordoba Moses ben Maimon (2013) a book "explaining the names of medicinal plants", trans. Ehsan Moqaddas, Niloberg Publications, Tehran, first edition. (in Persian)
-       Ghadrdan Gharamaleki, Mohammad Hassan (2009) The issue of evil from the perspective of theologians, Mofid Quarterly, No. 11. (in Persian)
-       Goldin, Hyman E (1991) Code of Jewish Law, Forward to the New Edition. (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company.
-       Hana Al-Fakhouri, Khalil Al-Jarr (1998) History of Philosophy in the Islamic World, trans. Abdul Mohammad Ayati, Scientific and Cultural Publication. (in Persian)
-       Leaman, Oliver (1998) Averroes and Philosophy, Surrey: Curzon Press.
-       Maki, Abu Talib (2019) Ghov’a-Tolghloob, Cairo: Bina. .
-       Mousavi Bojnourdi, Seyyed Mohammad (2007) Good and Evil, Matin Research Journal, pp. 23 and 24. (in Persian)
-       Ormsby, Eric (2014) Theodicy in Islamic thought, The Dispute over Al-Ghazali's Best of All Possible Worlds, Princeton Legacy Library. P. 36.
-       Pourjavadi, Nasrallah (2013) Al Ghazali, Works of His Philosophy, Encyclopedia of Iranica, Khat Publication. (in Persian)
-       Sadeghi, Hadi (1994) The problem of evil from the perspective of Judaism, Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, Ma’arefat Journal, Vol. 11, Winter. (in Persian)
-       Scholem, Gershom (1995) Major Trands in Jewish Mysticism, with a new foreword by Robert Alter, New York: Schocken books.
-       Shams, Hossein (2011) The attitude of religions towards the issue of evil, available at: http://shams47.blogfa.com/post/872. (in Persian)
-       Sherbak, Dan Cohen, Harambam (2009) Moses ben Maimon, Library of the Tehran Jewish Association.
-       Skolnik, Fred (2008) Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, vol 8. P. 647.
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics