The Problem of Evil in the Early Modern Ottoman Period: ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī’s Synthetic Metaphysics of Faith and Disbelief

<p dir="ltr">The early modern Muslim world witnessed unparalleled development in theological discussion, of which the problem of evil is a part. This paper aims to uncover a new discourse on the problem of evil in the Ottoman period, by examining the eleventh/ seventeenth-century polymath ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī’s (d. 1143/1731) synthetic theology of evil. More specifically, the study will analyze the way al-Nābulusī discusses the issue of faith (<i>īmān</i>) and disbelief (<i>kufr</i>) in his Ashʿarī kalām and Akbarian Sufism. Looking first at al-Nābulusī’s <i>kalām</i> metaphysics of <i>īmān</i> and <i>kufr</i> and then his mystical metaphysics, the paper corroborates how between the two sciences, there is a coherent logic in al-Nābulusī’s <i>concordia</i> theology.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Journal of Islamic Ethics<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/24685542-20240004" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/24685542-20240004</a></p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr">Volume and issue information: Vol 8 No. 1-2 (2024): December 2024</p>