Prophetic Niche in the Virtous City: The Concept of Ḥikmah in Early Islamic Thought, by Hikmet Yaman

Abstract

First paragraph: The concept of ḥikma, which first appeared in pre-Islamic poetry, exists in every field of Islamic thought. It permeates the Qurʾān and its commentaries, lexicons and dictionaries of terms, law and its sources, mysticism, theology, and philosophy. Hikmet Yaman discuss-es this concept in all these domains, to the exclusion of law and theology, informing us that “it would be a more realistic project to ad-dress ḥikmah in fiqh and kalām literatures in separate detailed studies” (p. 1, n. 1). To my mind, the author’s explanation for omitting these two important domains of Islamic thought from his presentation seems somewhat opaque, and hence unconvincing.

Prophetic Niche in the Virtous City: The Concept of Ḥikmah in Early Islamic Thought, by Hikmet Yaman

Abstract

First paragraph: The concept of ḥikma, which first appeared in pre-Islamic poetry, exists in every field of Islamic thought. It permeates the Qurʾān and its commentaries, lexicons and dictionaries of terms, law and its sources, mysticism, theology, and philosophy. Hikmet Yaman discuss-es this concept in all these domains, to the exclusion of law and theology, informing us that “it would be a more realistic project to ad-dress ḥikmah in fiqh and kalām literatures in separate detailed studies” (p. 1, n. 1). To my mind, the author’s explanation for omitting these two important domains of Islamic thought from his presentation seems somewhat opaque, and hence unconvincing.

Keywords

• Prophetic Niche
• Virtous City
• Ḥikmah
• Early Islamic Thought