On February 5, 2026, the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) organized an academic workshop entitled “Current Approaches and Methods to the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Theology: A Workshop for Researchers.” The event brought together 28 selected participants, including researchers and graduate students, to explore how Islamic philosophy and theology can be studied more rigorously within today’s academic landscape.
Participation in the workshop was determined through an abstract selection process. A total of 39 abstracts were submitted, from which 28 participants were accepted. The selected participants represented diverse academic backgrounds and came from various regions across Indonesia. Notably, some participants traveled long distances to attend the workshop, including those who came from Banyuwangi at their own expense, reflecting strong enthusiasm and commitment to the field.
The workshop featured presentations by Muhammad Fariduddin Attar (Carleton University, Canada), Wawan Kurniawan (UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta), and Djody Firmansyah (al-Mustafa International University; UIN Alauddin Makassar). It aimed to review and evaluate recent developments in the study of Islamic philosophy (falsafa or ḥikma) and theology (kalām), while equipping participants with a clearer understanding of current research paradigms, methodological approaches, key themes, and scholarly debates shaping leading publications in the field.
Studying Islamic Philosophy as Scholarly Intellectual History
Shifting the focus from philosophical ideas to research methodology, Wawan Kurniawan emphasized that studying Islamic philosophy is not about serving personal opinions or contemporary ideological and political agendas, but instead about understanding what philosophers actually argued and influenced each other.
Kurniawan introduced the approach of scholarly intellectual history, which involves close reading of primary texts, tracing intellectual influences among philosophers, and understanding ideas within their historical contexts. He also addressed challenges commonly faced in Indonesia, such as limited engagement with original texts, insufficient language training, and the perception that classical Islamic philosophy is no longer relevant. His session encouraged participants to rebuild the study of Islamic philosophy on strong textual and historical foundations.
Understanding the Core Questions of Islamic Philosophy
Exploring the key philosophical and theological questions that have shaped Islamic intellectual history, Djody Firmansyah explained that Islamic philosophy deals with fundamental issues such as existence and essence, causality, necessity and contingency, and the nature of creation.
By discussing thinkers such as Ibn Sina and later theologians such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Firmansyah showed how philosophical (falsafa) reasoning became deeply embedded in theological (kalām) discourse. His presentation equipped participants to understand what was truly at stake in classical debates between philosophers and theologians, and why philosophy became an essential tool for theological reflection.
Revisiting the Encounter between Philosophy and Theology in Islamic Thought
The workshop also highlighted key methodological insights delivered by Muhammad Fariduddin Attar, who presented a long historical narrative of how Islamic theology (kalām) and philosophy gradually moved from initial separation, through periods of tension and conflict, toward deeper intellectual integration. Addressing the question of how Islamic theology changed once philosophy entered the Muslim intellectual world, Attar explained that philosophical ideas and methods did not merely confront theology from the outside, but increasingly reshaped it from within. He emphasized that research in Islamic philosophy and theology must therefore be grounded in the nature of its subject matter, encouraging participants to approach “philosophy” and “theology” as open intellectual questions rather than fixed categories.
In his concluding remarks, Attar stressed the importance of bottom-up, text-based research, close and deep textual reading, historical and philological rigor, and scholarly collaboration in advancing future studies, particularly in exploring the rich but often under-studied post-classical period.
Strengthening Research in Islamic Intellectual Traditions
Overall, the workshop highlighted the importance of methodological rigor, historical awareness, and conceptual clarity in the study of Islamic philosophy and theology. At a time when scholarly interest in Islamic philosophy may appear stagnant or even in decline, the event demonstrated the Faculty of Islamic Studies’ strong commitment to reinvigorating a field often overlooked in contemporary Islamic studies.
The workshop also provided an important space for dialogue among researchers and graduate students, while laying the groundwork for future academic initiatives to revitalize research and teaching in Islamic philosophy and theology at the faculty.