In a recent article on the canonisation of the #Nahj_al_Balāgha, Aun Hasan Ali cites the words of the eminent authority of contemporary #Shii_Islam Sayyid ʿAlī Sīstānī that advises believers to read this famous collection from the 11th century - a thread on the Nahj 1/ The article itself can be found here 2/contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi…

Any consideration of a #decolonial approach to #philosophy must engage with #Africana philosophy - but what is often occluded in that is the #Islamic element 1/ @HistPhilosophy with @ChikeJeffers has done an excellent job in introducing many to #Africana philosophy and let’s hope they continue to flourish 2/

The influence of Immanuel Kant on modern philosophy cannot be underestimated - a thread on #Kant in #Iran Often in academic departments of philosophy (#analytic but also beyond) #Kant is the key figure if the modern period 2/

Sad to hear that Mahmoud Ayoub (1935-2021) one of the pioneers of #ShiiStudies and #intrafaith and #interfaith #MuslimChristian studies has passed away earlier today - a 🧵 Much of his career was in #MuslimChristian understanding partly influenced by his own biography - born into a #Shii family in Qana in Southern Lebanon in 1935 and converting to Protestantism 2/

With the recent passing of Āgha-ye Ḥasanzādeh Āmulī, mention was made of his teacher Mīrzā Abūʾl-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī (1903-1973) whom most Iranians know through his translation of the Qurʾan - a 🧵 In terms of his scholarly family background, his father was a descendant of Fatḥollāh Kāshānī, author of the 16th century #QurʾanExegesis Manhaj al-ṣādiqayn, and his maternal grandfather was Navvāb-e Tehrānī, author of the literary Shiʿi martyrology Fayż al-dumūʿ 1/

The seminarian philosopher and polymath Āqā-ye Ḥasan Ḥasanzāde Āmolī (b. 1307Sh/1928) passed away yesterday 25 September 2021 - a 🧵 on his life and works #ShiiPhilosophy #mysticism #ʿerfān #ḥekmat As his name suggests, he was born in Āmol and began his seminary studies there and only moved to Tehran as a young man in 1950 to continue his studies 2/

Ibn ʿArabī performed his first ḥajj in 598/1202 and consequently wrote his major work al-Futūḥāt al-Makkīya based on his experiences - a 🧵 In the introduction he wrote: 'The essence of what is included in this work comes from what God inspired in me while I was fulfilling my circumambulations of his house and while I was contemplating it seated in its holy precincts' 2/

There is little doubt that the Andalusian Sufi Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240), born in Murcia, who settled and died in Damascus where his tomb lies on the foothills of Qasiyūn is one of the most exciting and controversial figures in #IslamicIntellectualHistory - a 🧵 Much ink has been spilled on him and his work - a useful introduction to his thought from an insider perspective is Chittick and another insider Sufi approach to his life is Addas 2/

In the late 90s as a grad student I became interested in the utility of #analytic_philosophy as a language and method of presentation and looked to how other traditions used it - a thread on #Indian_philosophy 1/ I began reading the work of Bimal Krishna Matilal (1935-1991), who had studied traditional logic and mastered it as a Tarkatirtha at Sanskrit College in Calcutta by the early 1960s 2/

None of #Plato dialogues were fully translated into Arabic or Persian in the classical period - and on that we have ‘Abd al-Rahman Badawi’s classic study - a short thread on #Persian translation 1/ The lives of the two modern #Persian translators of #Plato can be rather instructive on the nature of modern #iranian intellectual history 2/

Some further thoughts on the links of #IslamicPhilosophy in #Iran and #NorthIndia relating to Mīr Muḥammad Bāqir Dāmād Astarābādī (d. 1631), who is far less known than his student Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1636) 1/ Despite being the Shaykh al-islām of Iṣfahān late in life and a leading jurist of his time - he was the grandson of the first major jurist of the Safavid empire Shaykh Nūr al-dīn ʿAlī al-Karakī (d. 1534) - his work remains little known 2/

Slowly it seems that interest in Islamic thought - the rational disciplines including philosophy and logic - in India is growing, and the recent book by Shankar Nair is a good indication towards it #IslamicPhilosophy #India 1/ His chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy is also a very positive approach; now a number of older works discussed the contributions of Indian scholars to the intellectual traditions in Islam oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/o… 2/

The Chishtī Ṣābirī Sufi Shāh Muḥibbullāh Ilāhābādī is perhaps one of the most celebrated figures in Mughal intellectual history, acting as a confluence of the school of #IbnArabi #Avicennism and engagement with the court and #PersoIndica 1/ He is actually presented within the long and significant engagement with the school of #IbnArabi in North India and juxtaposed (at least in the much later reformist historiography) against the 'Naqshbandī' reaction of Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindī (d. 1624) against monism 2/

The #Mughal period in India is known for a court sponsored programme of translation from #Sanskrit and attempts to translate Indic metaphysics into the idiom of #Sufism and #Persianate #IslamicPhilosophy #PersoIndica 1/ We already have a number of important studies but first we should mention the highly important Perso-Indica project based in Paris and Bonn perso-indica.net
This is a great resource 2/

Alongside the #ExeterTehranConvos I’m been thinking about the nature of philosophy and research in #Iran within the context of the reception of #European philosophy - thread on #philosophy in #Iran 1/ And the ways in which continental philosophy dominated in an earlier period due to the influence of the #Heideggerians and the circle of #AhmadFardid (1909-1994) many of whom became prominent in the committee for the cultural revolution after 1979 2/

#manuscripts #Shii MS Astan-e Quds-e Razavi 7936 Kitab al-mazar of Ibn al-Mashhadi #pilgrimage_guides 1/ The Kitab al-mazar of Muhammad b. Ja’far al-Mashhadi (d. 594/1198) was a prominent #Shii traditionist who had studied with Ibn Shahrashub (d. 588/1192), Warram b. Abi Firas (d. 605/1208) and Sayyid Ibn Zuhra naqib of Aleppo (d. 585/1189) 2/

Shared from Ahmed Naji #Karbala in #IraqiArt Shaker Hassan Al Said (Iraqi, 1925-2004), 𝘡𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘭 𝘈𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯, circa 1955, oil on board, 75cm × 44cm. Image courtesy of @christiesdubai 1/ From Ahmed Naji: Al Said explored a number of elements in the material culture of the tragedy of Karbala visible in posters, Muharram Procession paraphernalia and performances 2/

#manuscripts #Shii_arcana an important genre of writing concerns the arcana of acts of worship (asrār al-ʿibādāt) and here is MS Maktabat al-Imām al-Ḥakīm in Najaf 2032 - a copy of Asrār al-ṣalāt of Ibn Fahd al-Ḥillī (d. 841/1437) 1/ There are a number of classic works in the #Shii tradition on this including works by Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. after 786/1385), Qāḍī Saʿīd Qummī (d. 1107/1696) and even recently Āyatullāh Khumaynī (d. 1989) 2/

#manuscripts #ShiiLaw this is a collection of the works of Shaykh Luṭfullāh al-Maysī (d. 1032/1622) MS Kitābkhānah-yi Burūjirdī in Qum 255 1/ Shaykh Luṭfullāh was a jurist in the age of Shāh ʿAbbās and is perhaps best known to posterity through his mosque in the Maydan-e naqsh-e jahān in #Isfahan archnet.org/sites/1623 2/

Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) has become a household name and part of our common intellectual culture not least because of his famous 1935 thought experiment questioning the #Copenhagen interpretation of #quantum_mechanics 1/ This is a good explanation of the thought experiment and the cat who is and isn’t 3/

#EidGhadir is widely celebrated not just by #Twelver but also #Ismaili and #Zaydi #Shia - the impact on the arts is also considerable 1/ Extensively in painting (and let’s not even bother with the so called prohibitions on figuration) such as classic illustrations on manuscripts and #Farschian 2/