Ebu Hasan el-Amiri'de din olgusu

The bulk of the research on the tenth century Muslim philosopher Abū al-Ḥasan al- ʻĀmirī (d. 381/ 992) has focused mainly on his philosophical writings. Far less attention has been given to the study of the religious phenomenon as it has manifested in al-ʻĀmirī's extent works. This dissertation has attempted to fill this gap by analyzing al-ʻĀmirī's understanding of human nature as well as his method of comparing between religions. I will present how al-ʻĀmirī's view of man as religious by nature is deeply interlinked with his determination of religion, namely Islam, to be the container of both truth and logical necessity. His rational defense of religion against the skeptics and pseudo-philosophers, who were seeking to undermine its core role, will be examined. I will also attempt to demonstrate how al-ʻĀmirī's rational discourse had been developed while the Muslim community suffered fragmentation due to its internal political disintegration and religious separatism. The thesis, furthermore, will focus on the classification of science and the superiority of religious knowledge over all other types of knowledge according to al-ʻĀmirī. It will explain how al-ʻĀmirī, despite his acceptance of religious diversity, believed that only Islam, among the religions, is moderate, rational, and suitable for man. He comes to this conclusion based on the use of comparative method throughout his book Kitāb al-i'lām bimanāqib al-Islām. By using such method to analyze religion, al-Amiri provides an early and unprecedented perspective to the study of comparative religion.