Time, Determinism, and Religious Worldviews

Revisiting the Open Future Hypothesis in Islamic Thought Through Ibn Arbi and Iqbal

Abstract

As opposed to the deterministic, static and block universe of Parmenides that has generally been considered ‘official’ by philosophers and clergy alike, the present study aims at outlining the contours of a world with open future. Contrary to the philosophy of being, this work advocates the philosophy of becoming. The task has been undertaken in three steps. First, given the nature of time is compatible with the philosophy of becoming, the concept of open future is established. Secondly, the concept of destiny, which is the lifeline of static interpretations of time, is interpreted in line with the dynamic view. Finally, as the nature of God’s knowledge of future events is in harmony with free, creative and accountable world, it is hypothesized. The seeds of this endeavor are collected mainly from Iqbal’s ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.’ Additionally, enlightening principles on the concept of time, destiny and the nature of God’s names and attributes have been picked from Ibn Arbi’s ‘The Meccan Revelations.’ Whereas, the thoughts from the former are fully endorsed, the results drawn from the latterare divergent to what he offers in his deterministic system of the unity of being.