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THE MOSLEM WORLD: THEORETICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS
2018.01.015. PLATON POLOMOSHNOV, ANDREI POLOMOSHNOV. ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY AS VERSIONS OF RELIGIOUS HUMANISM // "Islamovediniye," Daghestan State University, Makhachkala, 2017, Vol. 8, № 1, P. 5-18.
Keywords: socio-cultural singularity, comparative analysis, religious anthropology, monotheism, Islam, Orthodox Christianity.
Platon Polomoshnov,
PhD (Philosophy), Assistant Professor, Chair of Philosophy and Culturology, Rostov State Economic University; Andrei Polomoshnov, Dr.Sc. (Philosophy), Professor,
Head of the Chair of Philosophy and History of Russia, Donskoi State Agrarian University
One of the aims of a comparative analysis of Islamic and Christian anthropology is the specification of their individual socio-cultural singularity. Researchers reveal the key structural elements of these theories as specific points of comparative analysis.
The initial point of any religious anthropology is the understanding of God. Proceeding from this, it is possible to determine the understanding of man and his relations with God. Monotheism is common for Islam and Orthodox Christianity. Then follow principal differences. In Islam God is One and Single, and in Orthodox Christianity He is triune, there is Trinity: God
Father, God Son and God Holy Spirit. In Islam God is not anthropomorphous, He is not like man. By explanations of Islamic theologians, certain attributes of Allah, coinciding in name with human features principally differ from the latter. In Orthodox Christianity the key role is played by the dogma of Godlikeness of man, that is, actually "humanlikeness" of God. Another difference in the understanding of God in Islam and Christianity is connected with the knowledge and understanding of God. In Islam, inasmuch as God is not like man, He is principally incognizable and unimaginable in any imaginative form. On the contrary, in Orthodox Christianity God is not only human, but also cognizable for man. Cognition of God, direct mystical contact with Him is one of the principal tasks of a true Christian.
Difference in understanding God in Orthodox Christianity and Islam determines difference in understanding Nature, that is, the essence and origin of man. The only common thesis for both religions is that of the creation of man by God. The main premise of Christianity in understanding the nature of man is that man was created by the image of God. Man's divine likeness in Christianity makes the latter the religion of personification. This is why there is no abstract man in general, but each man is a person, rooted in God.
In Orthodox Christian theology the thesis of the personal nature of God and hence the personal nature of man plays the key role. In Islam the problem of the nature of man is interpreted on the basis of opposite principles. Being a creation of Allah man is not like Him and has no qualities inherent in Him. Man is alien to the nature of God. The nature of man has no divine ontological basis. The highest individuality is inherent only in Allah. The individuality of each man, on the one hand, is created by Allah, inasmuch as the existence of not only man, but the entire living world is the act of Allah's will, and on the other hand, is made by the efforts of man himself aimed at conforming to the standards of behavior and the mission given man by God. It is not accidental that the description of the image of perfect man
(Muslim) plays a special role in the anthropology of Islam. In modern Islamic theology one can see and feel increased attention to the problem of individuality, which shows that the traditional concept of man is being slightly modernized in the direction of certain personification of the interpretation of the nature of man. Many contemporary Islamic theologians deal with such aspects of the nature of man which condition his formation as a personality: the freedom of choice, ability to control his emotions, desires and will with the help of reason and thereby to create himself. However, such interpretations are essentially at variance with traditional orthodox Islam.
The status of man is determined in his attitude to God and in his relation to the world created by God. Both in the two religions are predestined by God. However, the essence of relations between God and man in Islam and Orthodox Christianity essentially differ. The status of man in Islam is determined by the following key principles: man is the slave of Allah, man is Allah's governor on earth. The notion "slave" in Arab culture has a different connotation than in European culture. Here "slave" is not a creature deprived of free will and freedom, but a person with an active position of worshiping God, but not of passive submission and humility.
The status of man as a slave of Allah is complemented and specified by the notion of man as a "vicar" of Allah in this world of ours described by the Koran. This status determines a certain selectness of man among all other living creatures. This selectness is expressed in special qualities which Allah bestowed on man in contrast to other creatures - reason and free will. The status of Allah's vicar on Earth also presupposes man's power over the material world within the limits given by Allah. This status does not eliminate two principal weaknesses of man - moral and physical. The latter is in his physical nature and the former lies in his inclination to abandon true faith and commit sin. Man's physical weakness is insurmountable inasmuch as he is a living creature, but as he is also a moral creature he stands above all
other physical creatures. The status of Allah's vicar presupposes man's ability to overcome his moral weakness. This ability is his merit. The status of Allah's vicar on Earth means man's potential to prove his ability to conquer his moral weakness. Each man worshipping God, serving Him and fulfilling His precepts is Allah's vicar. Relations between God and man in Islam are based on worship and submission on the part of man, and on constant guidance and mercy on the part of Allah. Allah's mercy is bestowed only on the righteous submitting to His will and Muslims. Apostates and sinners will be severely punished. This is why an important place in man's attitude to Allah is taken by fear of punishment. Characteristically, in Islam relations between God and men are not interpreted in terms of "love" as is the case of Christianity. This is due to the principal absence of anthropomorphous nature of Allah.
The status of man in Orthodox Christianity is also determined by two principles: man is the supreme creation of God, and man is the son of God. The first thesis determined not only the physical nature of man, but also his place in the created world. God who created man by his image and semblance endowed him with Godlike qualities - reason and free will, and also made him the master of Nature. The thesis of man as the supreme creature of God brings Christianity closer to Islam, whereas the thesis of man as the son of God reveals the principal difference of Christianity from Islam. However, man being the Son of God is only his potential status, it was not initially given him by God. Thanks to Jesus Christ who gave the example of the Son of God, men are faced with a possibility of switching over from the status of God's slave to the status of the Son of God. In the "New Testament" the status of the slave is eliminated by the act of adoption, which man receives due to the peace-offering of the Son of God.
Thus, both in Islam and Christianity man is the most perfect creature of God and is called upon to fulfill His will or perform the mission of the "vicar" of Allah or the master of Nature, or a more important mission - to follow the divine enactments in his
behavior. In contrast to Islam, Christianity opens a possibility to raise the status of man to becoming the Son of God, and through his personal attitude to God to reach mutual divine love.
The interpretation of the status of man determines the essence of the purport of life of the believer or his divine mission, that is, his avocation established for him by God. There are both similar and different features in the interpretation of this mission in Islam and Christianity. The purport of life of the Muslim is to fulfill the mission predestined to man by Allah. The main condition for the realization of this mission is to submit to the will of Allah. But submission to His will is not passive action, but energetic struggle against one's own depravity, fulfillment of orders and behests of Allah, and striving to perfection.
Outwardly, the life mission of the Christian is much like that of the Muslim - obedience to God and fulfillment of the purport of life predetermined by Him. This mission also presupposes overcoming the depravity of one's own nature, nearness the Christian ideal of the divine man presented by Jesus Christ. Differences between Islam and Christianity are revealed, first, in the essence of the elements of the mission, and secondly in the emphases of the structure of life mission of the believer.
If we speak of the struggle with the sinful nature of man stemming from his imperfection as compared with God, as far as Islam is concerned, the meaning of this struggle boils down to rectifying wrong deeds by acts of will, and in Christianity it is perfecting the individual by the act of spirit. This is why in Islam fight against sin is always a single-step act of victory over concrete sin. As for Christianity, fight against sin is radical eradication of sin in one's own soul, which forms the foundation of righteous life and fortitude against temptations. Striving for a perfect way of life in Islam presupposes principal inability to reach an ideal image, whereas in Christianity such possibility is open to every believer.
In tackling the task of religious perfection of man Islam proceeds from deeds to the good qualities of soul to deeds, and
Christianity - from the good qualities of soul to deeds. Islam makes an emphasis on the quality of deeds, and Christianity - on soul and moral perfection. Hence, the essential difference in the nature of religious morality of Muslims and Christians.
Analyzing the key aspects of Islamic and Christian anthropologies, experts make the following conclusions:
Differences between these religious anthropologies reflect differences between Christian and Muslim civilizations, whereas affinity contributes to a constructive dialogue of these civilizations. The humane character of these anthropologies differs, but they are the forms of specific religious humanism. Modern Islamic extremism, just as the various forms of Christian extremism and sectarianism are based on distortion of Islamic and Christian anthropologies. Russia is a polyconfessional country on a single civilizational, socio-political and economic basis. It is necessary not only to preserve inter-religious peace, but also to realize inter-religious cooperation aimed at adapting the human nature of traditional religions to modern reality.
Author of the abstract - Elena Dmitrieva
2018.01.016. AIDAR IUZEEV. FORMATION OF ISLAMIC THEOLOGY: CONFESSIONAL AND REGIONAL ASPECTS //
"Islam v sovremennom mire," Moscow, 2016, Vol. 12, № 4, P. 193-196.
Keywords: theology, Islam, regional component.
Aidar Iuzeev,
Dr.Sc. (Philosophy), Professor,
Head of Chair of Socio-Humanitarian Disciplines,
Kazan Branch of Russian State University of Justice
Theology as a scientific secular discipline having a direct relation to religion ("teaching about God") should be based on objective truth, which may not always correspond to the
