The Thinking Muslim

Are We Hard-Wired to Believe in God? Jamie Turner on Fitra

09.15.2023 - By Muhammad JalalPlay

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Modernity brings with it the promise that ultimate truth can come through reason – a reason that often excludes believers as outside the realm of thinking. Liberalism places religion in a ‘non-reasoned’ bucket, which should be tolerated like all other irrational but ultimately comforting lifestyle choices. This is primarily why there is general animus against anyone who displays an over-exuberance towards belief systems. Such people are described as fundamentalists, unthinking and unable to make their own rational choices. 

Our guest this week, Jamie Turner is no stranger to these arguments. He is currently pursuing his doctoral research at the University of Birmingham, looking at Ibn Taymiyyah and natural theology.

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

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The Thinking Muslim Podcast Episode 109

00:00 Introduction 02:11 The idea of fitra  04:47 Fitra from a cognitive pov 05:19 Theistic disposition as natural 12:25 Nature of theistic faculty  13:30 The Mu'tazilite view  14:43 The Hadith about fitra 18:00 Role of environment  20:36 Our role as agents  22:05 The limits of fitra 24:00 Role of revelation 25:41 Convert vs. revert  28:42 Moral intuition  30:35 Journey to Islam  33:38 The role of reason  38:48 Obligation to use reason  45:33 Too much thinking? 47:52 Learning to reason well  49:27 Studying philosophy  51:50 Fitra and moral judgements  53:42 Dawah  55:37 Evidence for God 57:28 Signs in nature and humans  1:00:57 Responding to Stephen Fry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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