Medieval Islam & the Nature of God

Musa Mumtaz meditates on two maverick medieval Muslim metaphysicians.

- Musa Mumtaz

Islam's scriptural foundation, the Quran, unequivocally asserts as its core metaphysical tenet tawhid - the uncompromising and absolute oneness of God. For the sake of human comprehension, it also seeks to define God through supreme degrees or perfections of qualities that are found in a limited way in humans.

This has oftentimes caused Muslim theologians to think of God, a fundamentally non-human entity, in a somewhat human-like way. It's a habit further reinforced by the innate tendency of humans to attribute human qualities to non-human entities, and also to clothe ineffable divinity with fathomable covers just out of complete desperation. However, this 'humanised' idea of God has long bothered Muslim theologians and philosophers alike.

The dilemma gave monism a place in the rich philosophical tradition of Islam. First and foremost we must understand monism in its general sense, where it may be referred to as an 'absolute nondualism'. In general, monism says that there is some absolute single supreme reality that underlies every other phenomenon in the universe. From this basic definition, monism has been divided and applied to varying schools of thought.

For instance, both the ancient Greek and Hindu philosophical traditions developed rich interpretations and adaptations of monism, which would be served unjustly if I were to try to explain them in such a short article. But among the preSocratics, the Pythagoreans developed one of the earliest forms of monism we still know today - an idea known as the monad.