Özet:

With reference to the conception of God, in philosophy of religion scholars make a distinction between the God of philosophers and the God of religion. A similar distinction is made between rational religion and religion based on revelation. In conformity with these distinctions, it is a deistic position to believe that we may know what God is and what the true religious beliefs are on the basis of reason alone, and to believe that revelation does not add anything further to our rational knowledge in this regard. In this article, I am going to discuss if Ibn Sīnā, who was charged with infidelity for some of his ideas about God and the nature of religious beliefs by al-Ghazālī, could be considered as a deist. To answer the question if Ibn Sīnā was a deist, I am going to discuss his theories regarding the nature of revelation and religious teachings. Then I am going to relate his theories to the position of medieval Muslim theologians. I am going to defend that even though there are important differences between Avicenna’s position and that of Muslim theologians on these issues, it would be misleading to consider his position as a deistic position.

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