/islam/ - 8kun Masjid

existentialism is not compatible with islam

>>41361

Why is that?

>>41362

Because Allah, not the individual, determines everything. Existentialism is inherently atheistic.

>>41362

The other guy is right. The philosophers of existentialism worked on the presupposition that there was no god or Nietzsches 'God is dead' (that society has become atheistic), and so then they struggle to find the purpose of life (existentialism). Probably the most coherent conclusion is Nihilism, that (without god) life has no meaning, and so then they figure out how to deal with that.

Islamic philosophers worked on the presupposition that Islam is true, that God had told us our purpose, to worship and serve Him. And so Islamic philosophers were more focused on theological philosophy, justifying existence of God, the relationship between our free will and Gods will, etc. They proposed whats known today as the Kalam Cosmological argument which is arguably the strongest argument for the existence of God.

The most famous Islamic philosopher is probably Al-Ghazali, one of his popular works "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" he criticizes and argues claims made by other philosophers like Ibn Sina who took a lot of inspiration from Aristotle even when the views contradicted concepts in Islam. Ibn Sina was another influential philosopher, yet his most notable contribution was in the field of medicine with his "The Canon of Medicine", a medical encyclopedia which was the standard in many places for centuries.

>>41356

tbh I've read Kierkegaard and enjoyed/learn a lot from him. Even with western philosphy, although it is always secular, a muslim can learn quite a bit from them.

Naturally no book comes even close to the wisdom of the Quran, but with western philosphy one can still learn quite a few things from it.

Even Nietzsche, although an aetheist, his philosphical musings do have some merit, especially from the Islamic perspective. For example, while life itself is inhernetly meaningless, the worldy life for the sake of itself is meaningless (i.e. without religion, there is no meaning).

So tbh I say read Kierkegaard, but keep in mind that what he says (or any philospher) is not the be-all-end-all. Just keep the Quran nearest to your heart, and take the good from the books you read, and leave the bad

>>41528

I meant to say

"while life itself is not inherently meaningless"

>>41528

I agree there is benefit to be gained from such authors. But when I "object" is when a muslim is more interested in delving into the western literature/philosophers before touching the Islamic ones.