Al-Taftazani As The Quintessential Philosophical Theologian: Contextualising The Post-Mongol Transoxanian Islamic Theological Tradition

That the Fall of Baghdad in 656/1258 dramatically changed the Islamic world is unquestionable. Newer scholarship has documented how the unprecedented political shifts in the Islamic world under the Mongols would prompt a number of significant socio-cultural, educational, and intellectual developments. In light of these reconceptualised attitudes to post-Mongol history, it is no longer possible to accept the narrative that 'rationalist philosophy' was marginalised in favour of 'theological orthodoxy' which subsequently prompted an era of intellectual decline in the Islamic world, further exacerbated by the Mongol Conquests. However, it is clear that as a consequence of these narratives, post-Mongol Islamic philosophical theology and its major representatives, texts, and trends remain understudied, neglected, or yet to be discovered. Such is true of the thought of the Timurid-era theologian Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani (d. 792/1390). With these newer historical attitudes to post-Mongol history in mind, this project opens up a new line of enquiry, namely Taftazani's understanding of the nature of reality.

At the heart of this thesis is an examination of a theologian's primary question concerning the nature of reality, namely: who or what is 'God'? Such a question preoccupied representatives of both philosophy (falsafa) and systematic theology (kalam), whose interactions and convergences would harmonise and serve as the foundation and intellectual basis for Taftazani's own approach. This twofold foundation is crucial in understanding Taftazani and his enterprise. On the one hand, as a theologian, Taftazani would uphold his doctrinal commitment that God is the ultimate cause of the world and creates other existents that would serve as the objects of knowledge for humans. On the other hand, Taftazani would rely on the methodological tools and lexis offered in the metaphysical framework of Ibn Sina (d. 428/1037), at the heart of which rests the conceptual distinction between essences-what things are-and their existence-how these things exists. What is crucial to note is that a theological motivation propels Taftazani's endeavour to clarify the nature of existence: for Taftazani, understanding God, His nature, and His existence relies on a systematic exposition of the nature of reality in general.

As such, in order to examine Taftazani's understanding of God, this project will consider Taftazani's overall metaphysical project. First, it will examine Taftazani's general ontology, his systematic treatment concerning the nature of existence, and address why and how Taftazani uses the Avicennan schema within the context of kalam. This will also include Taftazani's treatments of ontological questions pertinent to Taftazani's theological enterprise, such as whether existence is a single concept that can be applied to both God and all other existing things. Secondly, it will consider how Taftazani tackles the major epistemological problems that arise from this general ontology, such as whether existence is self-evident and what it means for things to exist in the mind. This examination of Taftazani's general ontology will then serve to clarify the conceptual links between God and the world-the former necessary, eternal, and singular and the latter possible, temporally originated, and plural-before examining Taftazani's approach to the question of God's nature.

This examination of Taftazani's metaphysics will also prompt a much-needed contextualisation of Taftazani in light of the major geopolitical, socio-cultural, and educational changes caused and facilitated by Mongol rule, and his intellectual heritage in order to explain what specific factors, sources, and influences shaped Taftazani and his enterprise.