Rereading Ibn Arabi's Answers to the Problem of Evil with an Approach to Contemporary Theology

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Tahereh Baghestani 1
Hadi Vakili 2
Naeimeh Pourmohammadi 3
Seyyed Hosein Seyyed Moosavi 4
1 Ph. D. Candidate of Islamic Mysticism, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy of Religion, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran.
4 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Teachings, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
10.30497/prr.2024.244958.1853
Abstract
The problem of evil is a significant issue that theologians worldwide have addressed with considerable seriousness, offering responses informed by their theological perspectives and concerns. Among them, the patterns of Process, open, protest, weakness of God, cross, death of God, existential, and feminist theologies are notable examples. The great mystical theologian, Ibn Arabi, also gave answers to the problem of evil, which in this article we intend to reconstruct them according to contemporary theological models. Some of the components in the reconstructed responses according to each theology include: The diffusion of absolute power and its non-exclusivity to God, as well as the existence of indeterminate possibilities for the future of humans in process theology; human agency in the world and the reciprocal influence between humans and phenomena, and the monistic exchange between God And man in open theology in open theology; the ontological unity of God with the world and with the causes of good and evil, which legitimizes the right to protest against God in protest theology; divine moderation regarding the good and evil of the world, indicating that the world is considered "the most novel possible world" in the theology of God’s weakness; the transformation of Christ's suffering through His martyrdom and God's caretaking of the people in the theology of the cross; the implications of expressions such as “Fabulous Gryphon (ʿAnqāʾ Maghrib)” and “Absolute Unseen” for God's absence, and the emphasis on the principle of inward and spiritual joy in the theology of the death of God; the capability for meaning-making and the reconstruction of the relationship with God in existential theology; and the emphasis on both divine and earthly aspects in human beings, with a more complete active-passive vision of God in women in feminist theology.
Keywords
the problem of evil
Ibn Arabi
contemporary theology
Fusus al-Hikam
al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya
Subjects
Holy Qurʾan.
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Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 22, Issue 2 - Serial Number 44
November 2024
Pages 93-116