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the beginning of a
historical movement, which was also a
climactic end in the history of prophetic
missions. The verses of the Qurn (meaning
recitation) were revealed in layers upon
layers of meaning. Every layer when
removed reveals new depths and profundities
of content. The Qurn and Islam can best be
compared to Nature itself; like nature, the
more it is studied, newer dimensions are
revealed, and fresher secrets are discovered.
This comparison guides me to understand the
philosophy of the Qurn and Islam, which
comprise of a wealth of knowledge. Reading
and understanding the Qurn can take
people back to the 7th Century; bring them to
SLAM MANIFESTED
MUHAMMAD
was born in Mecca
the desert of Arabiaon
April 20, 571 C.E. The
name Muhammad means
highly praised. He is to
me the greatest mind
among all the sons of
Arabia. God sent him as a
mercy for the world. He
means so much more than
all the poets and kings that
preceded him in that
impenetrable desert of redsand. Prophet Muhammad
received
divine
ROPHET
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Teaching of Islam:
L-FATIHA (BELOW) is
the first surah (chapter) of the Qurn, and was one of the earliest
portions of the Qurn revealed to prophet Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. The entire
Qurn was revealed in the years from 610 to 632 A.D.
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Brown (2004),
theology is sought to maintain and
protect the products of revelation, where
philosophers like to start from scratch.
Some believe that, Islamic philosophers
saw themselves as simply building on the
work of Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus
(Brown, 2004, p. 149). The Arabic word
falsafah is a direct borrowing form the
Greeks phil sophia; during Islamic
history, the term was used for Islamic
philosophy as well as for the debates
between the philosophers and the
theologians from one period to another.
Falsafah continued to be used and gained
new meaning and usage in later centuries
of Islamic history. This understanding
includes
what
the
Greeks
had
comprehended by the term philosophia.
In addition, many of the Greek
philosophical definitions found their way
into Arabic philosophy sometimes with
only slight modifications. Furthermore,
What falsafah added to the accumulating
pieces of the Greek sciences was an
epistemological claim. It brought before
the Muslim an alternative theory of
wisdom that simultaneously exalted itself
and set down in an inferior position the
channel of revelation opened by the
Prophet of Islam4. (Peters, 1973)
CCORDING
TO
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because of my former
studies
of
Islam.
Moreover,
when
I
finished the book I felt it
was good to read different
points of views, as well as
to know the importance of
the whole story. The
Author Daniel Brown has
lived in Egypt and in
Pakistan where he was
born and spent his first
eighteen years. He taught
Islamic Studies at Mount
Holyoke, Amherst and
Smith Colleges and he is
the author of Rethinking
Tradition in Modern
Islamic Thought.
Mouwafac Sidaoui
Spring 2004
Father Collins
704-700 Philosophical Foundations of Education
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