“It is in fact revelation itself that makes Islam a religion of liberation for mankind, freeing God’s servants from all forms of sacerdotalism, ecclesialism, caesaro-papism, Ma ‘munism, esotericism, or neo-Mu’tazilism.”
From “Revelation” by Yahya Michot in The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology, edited by Tim Winter.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 
January 12, 2009 at 10:18 pm |
Mashallah, how perfectly incomprehensible.
September 27, 2009 at 11:23 am |
I think I know what all the terms, but I’m not sure what the author’s declaration really means, at least based purely on this snippet (interesting as it is).
I’ll take a stab:
sacerdotalism=reliance on priests by believers in their relationship with God
ecclesialism=reliance on churches/sects in the same
caesaro-papism=merging of church & state
Ma ‘munism=religious tyranny & intolerance
esotericism=concern with secret or obscure matters
neo-Mu’tazilism =over-reliance on logic and personal opinion
December 11, 2009 at 2:05 pm |
So Islam isn’t responsible for any of those things then?
Reliance on priests or immans by believers in their relationship with God? I think originally islam was supposed to be a personal relationship but it surely cannot be thought of as simply that anymore, not with whole islamic regimes and religious police.
Merging of the church and state? Iran and Saudi Arabia anybody?
Religious tyranny & intolerance? If only there weren’t people who believe themselves to be muslims who commit evil and violent deeds in Allahs name
Over reliance on logic and personal opinion? Since when was this a bad thing? It is nice to be humble and selfless, indeed most religions will advocate that on paper, but logic surely is a virtue.