The historical relevance of Thomas Aquinas`theories do something I never thought would be so easy to point out. It shows how ignorant we are of the teachings of Islam, nonetheless, using its body of exploration, and discovery.
It is like a copyright infringement in fact. Concepts relating to how God is, and how God can relate to the human being, are now used in Christian thought.....due to thinkers like Thomas Aquinas.
However,this was a movement that wasn`t part of Christianity prior to his awareness. How did his awareness come about?
Arguably, from the intellectual dynamic with Jewish and Muslim thinkers of the time. Please read this excerpt to get a better idea:
The political philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), along with the broader philosophical teaching of which it is part, stands at the crossroads between the Christian gospel and the Aristotelian political doctrine that was, in Aquinas’ time, newly discovered in the Western world. In fact, Aquinas’ whole developed system is often understood to be simply a modification of Aristotelian philosophy in light of the Christian gospel and with special emphasis upon those questions most relevant to Christianity, such as the nature of the divine, the human soul, and morality. This generalization would explain why Aquinas seems to eschew, even neglect, the subject of politics. Unlike his medieval Jewish and Islamic counterparts, Aquinas does not have to reconcile Aristotelianism with a concrete political and legal code specified in the sacred writings of his religion. As far as he is concerned, God no longer requires people to live according to the judicial precepts of the Old Law (Summa Theologiae [hereafter ST], I-II, 104.3), and so the question of formulating a comprehensive Christian political teaching that is faithful to biblical principles loses it urgency if not its very possibility. Unlike Judaism and Islam, Christianity does not involve specific requirements for conducting civil society. In fact, most Christians before Aquinas’ time (such as St. Augustine) had interpreted Jesus’ assertion that we should “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew22:21) to mean that Christianity can flourish in any political regime so long as its authorities permit believers to “render unto God the things that are God’s.”
Now that you have read this, I beg you to look at one glaringly obvious , to a muslim that is, mistake made. And it is weird how common it is. To understand how Aquinas ëschewed¨putting politics with religion, we see that the reasoning for such doing is because he believed Christianity allowed us to no longer live according to the judicial principles of OLD LAW.
This point is extremely important, because if his reasoning is based on this, then , it is flawed today. (as it was then, bit but I mean, it is even woorse to make that mistake today, in light of the development constantly of theologya dn ohilosophy, as well as teh new face to face between Isalm andChrisitanity as brought uponus by events).
For today, we now know, that the law of Islam, while similar and in fact at times seemingly a repetition of Judaic law, is actaullya revelation after Christ. Therefore, the lessons for a return to not judaic, but now actually, rethought, more full of grace , inspired by spirtual ideas of the political state in a state of divinity ) (which made the arab scholars loook to the works of Plato and Aristotle). This is Islamic law, and it is full and different from Judaic law. It comes after Christ, and thus has much more relevance to Christians after the fact. ( This concept of Christians after the Fact, I will explain later, in a further blog). (But it is a point I believe we are reaching).
In order to understand Islam, we must approach it in its context in time, as we should do with Christianity and with Judaism. Although they are ëternal¨books and revelations, they are still words and works that took place and continue to take place in the hearts and minds of people. And we are subject to time. Se we create, just as Thomas Aquinas did, or all the Arab scholars, who with the spritual passion translated the Greek philosphers - searching to fill in the new question their new revelation from Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him, brought. This they did previous to Thomas Aquinas, just look at the dates of their works.
Obviously, I mean the new revelation of God, brought by his Messenger. His life, or the Sunnah, and the Holy Quran are the most living examples of the revelation. Yet all the developments of the people thereafter, are equally important to the development of Islam in the world. Thus, the developments of the Arab scholars cannot be seen as separate from this moment on Earth, in history. In Islam, there is no conufson between God and man,and actually form a peserpectiv elevating from not necessariy any other than th Chrisitan one. When God says in the surah al-Iqlas..we read something very much like post-modernism. That is why in the time of the Rennaissance, we see a turn to humanism. Christians were very affected by the views of Islam, that sought to merge more humanity into the Earth, but on a divine level. Take for example that the Prophet of Islam(p.b.u.h.), married, was a statesman, showed laws on how to conduct business, family affairs and so on. He perfected, or rather God did, through him, on this Earth, our religion. That is what we Muslims believe. Because Christianity and Judaism are earlier stages . (that ties in a bit to what I discussed earlier about a stage of Christianiy which would be After the Fact.)
Or any other movement therefore that negates a prior movement. Sometimes that is with irony or a certain twist. This negation not necessarily negates it totally but it doesn´t negate it as current event. (Perhaps it may have of occured in the past, but that might be haram to say, and it might be best to follow what is said now.) We recognize this form of speech in many places. (the speech of post -modernism, such as Magritte´s ceci nést pas une pipe). Especially among trends. And thus, we can see that this is human . In fact it is human nature to go through cycles. Also, it is important for memory to not always remember things. In religion ,it is the same, and in analyzing it more and more, things get weirder and weirder. However, I believe ,as a humanity, we should be as open to God as we are to our own humanity, which we see as infinite. In science, in psychology, in sociology, we see infinite layers to the human being. Thus , we must be so open when analyzing the intricacies of relgion. And perhaps that is to love God, to be open to Him, to not judge Him, to not retrict Him, and not to dwell always on whether He loves us, as Christians emphasize (perhaps in response to the Jewish revelation?? who knows.) But Islam is a maturity of revelation that allows you to see the magnificence of God in all aspects both divine and human, to the point that the divine is human and the human is divine. (Chrisitanity is a transtion from Judaism to Islam, where the human separates them but joins them in a sophomoric way, but it is the stage of development. )And then we can Love God, instead always thinking the other way around.
