Free Will

The ability to make free choices unconstrained by external forces (such as a supreme being)

Paradox of Free Will

The contadiction between an omniscient all-powerful supreme being and freedom of will on the part of humans

Predestination

The doctrine that God wills everything that happens and will happen

Molonism

• A religious doctrine that seeks to reconcile God's omnipotence w/ human free will.
• Argues that though we are still completely free agents, God knowns everything that will come to be because God Possesses contingent knowledge og how any particular agent or person would choose in any given circumstance 

Deteminism

The doctrine that all events are ultimately determined by causes external to the will; often understood as denying the possibility of free will

Free Will/ Hinduism

In general, there is no unifying Hindu position on free will and different schools of thought on the question.

Many Hindu sects advocate a strong belief in destiny, maintaining that all facts and events occurring in the past and future are knowable for certain deities and spiritual creatures. However, many such sects still argue that free will is compatible with this sort ofdeterminism*.

The Hindu belief in karma also complicates the issue of free will, since the karma that one has experienced and will experience is in some sense unavoidable once it has been acquired. However, some believe that, though there are certain facts about what one will undergo that are already predetermined based on one's karma, decisions and choices that are made in the present are still, to some degree, under one's control. By making good decisions in the present and future, one can limit the karma that is accumulated and thereby limit the future effects of that karma.

However, for some Hindu sects it is accepted that there is no such thing as free will, and that our everyday belief in the notion is illusory. The Samkhya school, for example, argues for this position. The Yoga school similarly believes that individuals have no genuine control over their physical surroundings, though one might interpret this school of thought as compatible with a weaker version of free will, one in which we are free in so much as we can resist or accept the true nature of things.

Free Will/Jainism

Jainism advocates a strong version of free will in which individuals are capable of exerting agency and making genuine decisions. Though mankind exhibits an inclination towards certain sorts of behaviors, Jainism maintains that avoiding or refraining from such inclinations is possible by controlled exercise of the will.

Free Will/Buddhism

Buddha maintained the position that many metaphysical questions are unanswerable because our physical and mental capacities limit our ability to understand the world.

Nonetheless, some Buddhist scholars have attempted to avoid the problems associated with determinism and free will by identifying some sort of middle ground. Such a position maintains some events are determined and some events are not, and those events that are undetermined are not wholly random either. If this were the case, a free agent might have the capacity to decide the outcome of such undetermined events.

Others have opted to highlight parts of Buddhist thought that argue the self does not exist. Without the existence of an agent, the problem of free agency does not arise. While there are pragmatic reasons to associate actions with individuals and to hold those identified individuals responsible for those associated actions, these entities have no fundamental reality and therefore are not in conflict with determinism.

Free Will/Judaism

Those of the Jewish faith believe that free will is required because God is just, and it is only just for God to punish or reward individuals for the choices they make if those choices were theirs to freely will.

Nonetheless, Jewish doctrine maintains that God is an omniscient creator, and so the paradox of free will arises. Some have attempted to explain the paradox by positing that God exists outside of time, and therefore his knowledge of the future does not directly interfere with the temporal exercise of free will.

While this appeal to God's position as outside of time is the most popular Jewish response to the paradox of free will, other responses have been suggested. An alternative position argues that God, being omnipotent, has chosen to place restrictions on his own omniscience to allow for the existence of free will.

Free Will/Chirstianity

Christian responses to the problem of free will are extremely varied, and this issue has been a source of disagreement between denominations.

Catholic doctrine maintains that free will exists and is exercised by individuals, and the choices that are freely made will determine whether or not one receives salvation. By arguing that God exists "outside of time," many believe that God's omnipotent and omniscient powers need not be compromised to maintain a belief in free will.

Calvinist Protestants, on the other hand, believe God's omnipotence and omniscience causes all things to be predetermined, including the fate of every individual's spiritual life. It is predetermined who will be saved and who will not, and it is predetermined who will, after death, ascend to heaven and who will be damned to hell. Some Calvinists have adopted a quasi-compatibilist position, arguing that, though no one has the ability to change what is happening or will happen, each person does have the ability to either internally submit to one's predetermined impulses or to resist them. However, it is important to note that such resistance will not result in any sort of external change.

Free Will/Islam

Those of the Muslim faith strongly believe in the truth of predestination and predeterminism (jabr). It is believed that destiny is that which Allah has commanded, and nothing happens without Allah's knowledge or His being the origin of its creation.

However, Islamic doctrine also posits a belief in free will (ikhtyar) and advocates a sort of compatibilism. It is believed that despite the foreknowledge possessed by Allah of the outcome of all events, this should not be understood as causally connected to the actions and choices of individuals. While individuals act and choose freely, Allah knows and has always known what actions and choices will be decided upon because He exists outside of the restrictions of time.

It is also maintained that an individual may be subject to spiritual punishment based on the decisions that he or she has made during his or her life, even though Allah already had foreknowledge that such an outcome was predestined. Some explain this seeming paradox by positing that Allah's will is what permits individuals the ability to exercise their own will, but by doing so they must assume full responsibility for any choices that are acted upon.

Free Will/Confucianism

Free Will/Daoism

Islam

Monotheistic religion based on the Qur'an and teaching the there is only one God and that Mohammed is his prophet

Mohammed

Founder of Islam

Mecca

The most holy City of Islam

Qur'an

Holy text of Islam

Caliph

The Office held by a successor of the prophet Mohammed as temporal and spiritual leadr of islam

Ottoman Empire

A turkish empire created by the Ottoman turks in the 13th century that lasted until the end of WWI

History of Islam

• Began in the 7th century in Mecca and Medina
• primarily based on the revelations and teachings of the prophet Mohammed
• Mohammed born in Mecca around 570CE
• The Qur'an is believed to have been revealed to the prophet over a period of 20 years starting in 610 CE
• Meccan authorities tried to persecute Mohammed for wanting to abandon polytheism
• Mohammed and follwers left mecca went to medina and gained authority 
• in 630 muslims conqured mecca
• Mohammad died in 632
• 1st 4 caliphs expanded muslims rule into persian an byzantine territories
• conqured egypt, syria, and iran in 644
• 1st 4 caliphs known as rightly guided caliphs
• 3 out of the 4 were murdered
• Umayyad Dynasty was 1 of the largest empires in the history of the world and ranged 5 million sq miles
• In 750 Umayyad Dynast was over thrown by Abbasid Dynasty
• Islamic golden age occured during the Abbasid Dynasty
• Mongolian invasion ended the Abbasid in the 13th century
• attacks and effects of black plague caused serious fractures in islamic control

Modern Period

• Ottoman Empire chose to support germany during WWI which resulted in a weakening empire by the end of the war
• turkish nationalists overthrew the ottomans
• collapse of OE came the end of the caliphate
• turkish government insituted a more secularized state
• previous OE territories were granted to European powers as protectorates after the end of the first WW
• organizations lke the muslim brotherhood formed in opposition to moderization and infulence of western values and ideas

Central to Islam

Submission to the will of God

Allah

Arabic for God

Five Pillars Definition

Islamic dusties of observing creed, parying, charity to poor, fasting during Ramadan, and making pilgrimage to Mecca

Hadith

The sayings and traditions of the prophet Mohammad

Five Pillars

1. shahada, professing that Allah is the only God and that Mohammed was his messenger
2. daily prayers
3. almsgiving
4. fasting for the month of Ramadan
5. pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime

Shahada

For Muslims, the act of professing that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad was his messenger

Kalima

For Muslims, the formal content of the declaration of faith

Salat

The ritual prayer of Muslims, preformed five times a day

Kaaba

A small building in the Holy Mosgue of Mecca, which encloses the Black Stone, which is believed to have been given by Gabriel to Abraham; Islam's holiest shrine

Zakat

Islamic practice of giving alms

Ramadan

9th month of the Muslim year, during which strict fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset

Hajj

Pilgrimage Muslims make to Mecca

Key Beliefs of Islam

• Mohammed encountered Gabriel 1st while meditating in a cave outside of Mecca 610 in 610CE
• Mulims believe Mohammed was the last and greatest prophet to deliver word of god
• Recognize adam, hoah, abraham, moses, elijah, john the baptist, and jesus
• Hebrew Bible connects Islam, Judaism, and Christianity
• Christianity and Islam share parts of the new testament
• all 2 religions trace their patriarchal lineages back to Abraham
• All 3 describe Allah as the creator, sustainerm and judge of life, being both omniscient an omnipresent
• Jesus is not considered son of God
• salat is highly ritualized creating a sense of kinship and closeness amoung Muslim community
• 2.5% of wealth goes to the needy

Tawrat

Sacred text revealed to moses

Injil

Scripiture revealed to jesus

Sharia

Islamic religious law

Sharia Law

The sacred law of islam (the law)

Sunnah

Collections of rules which were said to have been passed down by Mohammed

Sunnah

Collections of rules which were said to have been passed down by Mohammed

Hadith

The sayings and traditions of the prophet mohammed

Zabur

Prophet David was the messenger and the books corresspond with the biblical book of psalms

Shahada

For Muslims, the act of professing that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad was his messenger

Sunni

Follwers of the Path of the Prophet

Shia

Followers of the House of the Prophet

Sunni Islam

Largest denomination of Islam which believe that the prophet Mohammed died w/o appointing a successor; it accepts the 1st 4 caliphs a rightful successors to mohammed

Shia Islam

Second largest denomination is Islam which supports the claims of the prophet mohammad's son-in-law ali and his line to leadership of the world Muslim community

Imam

Title for the highest position of religious authority for Shia Islam

Sufism

Muslim mystical practice found across all types of Islam; its origins are Iranian

Self-Mortification

The use of self-imposed punishment such as fasting and subjection to cold or coarse fabrics to trigger mystical experiences that will lead a person to his or her true self

Jihad

The Arabic word meaning "struggle" denoting striving by a muslim for a moral or spiritual or political goal

Hijab

A head covering worn in public by some Muslim women

Baha'ism

A religious movement originating in Iran in the 19th century that emphasizes the spiritual unity of humankind; also called the Baha'i faith

Baha'u'llah

founder of Baha'ism