Tag: death

Islam & The Meaning of Life

The course explores how Islamic thought engages questions such as: What is the ultimate purpose of human existence? What is true happiness? How can human beings overcome alienation and find inner peace? How are faith and reason related in the search for meaning? What grounds moral obligations, justice, and human dignity? And how does belief in God shape the understanding of human destiny? The course approaches the meaning of life from three complementary perspectives within Islamic intellectual tradition: The Qur’anic perspective, the mystical perspective, and the philosophical and rational-theological perspective.

Memorial of Fraidoon Hovaizi

Death reminds us of the path that awaits every one of us; it is the inseparable counterpart of life. Each human being passes through four stages of existence: the fetal realm, earthly life, the world of the grave, and the Resurrection. Dr. Fraidoon Hovaizi—an economist and an Iranian Arab from Khuzestan—played a singular and enduring role in the Muslim community of Charlottesville. He offered valuable counsel and support to Arab, Iranian, and Afghan immigrants alike. He lived with joy, and he departed this world with the same serenity.

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of religion is a critical examination of metaphysics and rational justification for religious claims, as well as philosophical exploration of faith, religious experience, and the distinctive features of religious discourse. The course explores the nature of God’s attributes; arguments for God’s existence; the problem of evil; religious epistemology; religious language; God, science, and naturalism; faith and revelation; morality and religion; death and afterlife; miracles; and religious diversity. We compare the advantages and disadvantages of four methods of practicing the philosophy of religion: analytic, Wittgensteinian, continental, and feminist.