The Muslim philosophers and theologians I have found addressing the issue seem to agree that there are "necessary" truths that God cannot change, which include logical necessity. Examples:
>From http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/K057 on Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, who rejected causal necessity but seems to have accepted logical necessity-- "Unlike the Ash'arites, however, al-Ghazali presents a philosophical argument for this position. The only form of necessity he recognizes is logical necessity, and he has little difficulty in showing that causes do not logically necessitate their effects." Also see http://www.betsymccall.net/edu/philo/blackbox.pdf "causality's black box" which suggests al-Ghazali accepts geometric necessity. Another Muslim thinker who discussed the issue is Ibn Rushd or Averroes, quoted on p. 85 of "An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy" by Leaman (Averroes had great influence on Maimonides and Aquinas as discussed at http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2011-11-08-malik-en.html ): "Those evil events which inevitably affect the individual cannot be said not to have come from God...he cannot do absolutely anything at all, for the corruptible cannot be eternal, nor can the eternal be corruptible. In the same way that the angles of a triangle cannot be equal to four right angles, and in the same way that colour cannot be heard, so it is an offence against human reason to reject such propositions." On Monday, December 2, 2013, Samiya Illias wrote: > Maybe. I'm a Muslim and the more I learn of science, the more convinced I > get of the authenticity of the Quran. Hence, when I read about the purpose > of this life and the hereafter, I do take it very seriously. > > Samiya > > Sent from my iPhone > > On 02-Dec-2013, at 4:54 PM, spudboy...@aol.com wrote: > > We're just guessing on this Samiya, or our ancestors, really. What God may > be, is may not exactly fit the Omni,characterizations. Moreover, being a > practical, American, we have to know, in a self-interested way, what > good/benefit does knowing about God do for us. A ridiculous statement, and > yet, We the Who in Whoville, to quote Dr. Suess-Geisel, need to know. > -----Original Message----- > From: Samiya Illias <samiyaill...@gmail.com> > To: everything-list <everything-list@googlegroups.com> > Sent: Mon, Dec 2, 2013 12:13 am > Subject: Re: How can a grown man be an atheist ? > > This is strange! What 'theism' it is if it limits God? We believe that > God is the Reality, the Prime Originator, the Sustainer, and the Final > Goal. Everything is as God wills and allows it to be. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On 02-Dec-2013, at 4:13 AM, Jesse Mazer <laserma...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Most theistic philosophers and theologians who have considered the issue > agree that God did not create the laws of math and logic, and does not have > the power to alter them (or any other "necessary" truths, which for theists > might include things like moral rules, or qualities of God such as > omnipotence). Do you think the Mandelbrot set, or any other piece of pure > mathematics, functions without a government, or are mathematical rules > themselves a form of government even if God didn't create them? Certainly > most atheists now think the universe follows mathematical laws, and one > could even adopt Max Tegmark's idea and speculate that our universe is just > another part of the uncreated Platonic realm of mathematical forms. > > > On Sunday, December 1, 2013, Roger Clough wrote: > > How can a grown man be an atheist ? > > An atheist is a person who believes that the universe can > function without some form of government. > > How silly. > > > Dr. Roger B Clough NIST (ret.) [1/1/2000] > See my Leibniz site at > http://independent.academia.edu/RogerClough > > > ------------------------------ > <http://www.avast.com/> > This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! > Antivirus<http://www.avast.com/>protection is active. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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