On Early Islam

  The Path of Reason

Abu Al-Nasr Al-Farabi

Islamic rational philosopher (870-950 CE)

Here is an extraordinary account from the autobiography of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037 CE), the famous Medieval Islamic thinker - the 'Islamic Galen'.♣ 

"My father was a man of Balkh; he moved from there to Bukhara ... [to govern] the royal estates ... [he] was one of those who responded to the propagandist of the Egyptians and was reckoned among the Isma'iliyya. From them, he, as well as my brother, heard the account of the soul and the intellect in the special manner in which they speak about it and know it ... but my soul would not accept it ...  they began appealing to me [to accept Isma'ili doctrines] ... there was also talk of philosophy, geometry, and Indian calculation. Then he [my father] sent me to a vegetable seller who used Indian calculation♣ and so I studied with him. 

"At that time Abu Abd Allah al-Natali, who claimed to know philosophy, arrived in Bukhara; so my father had him stay in our house and he devoted himself to educating me. Before his arrival I had devoted myself to jurisprudence, with frequent visits to Isma'il the Ascetic about it. I was a skillful questioner, having become acquainted with the methods of prosecution and the procedures of rebuttal in the manner which the practitioners of it follow. Then I began to read the Isagoge♣ under al-Natali ... He was extremely amazed at me; whatever problem he posed I conceptualized better than he, so he advised my father against my taking up any occupation other than learning. 

"[Then, I mastered logic]. As for Euclid, I read the first five or six figures under him [al-Natali]; then I undertook the solution of the rest of the book in its entirety by myself. Then I moved on to the Almagest [by Ptolemy], and when ... I got to the geometrical figures ... I deciphered it myself. Many a figure [al-Natali] did not grasp until I put it before him and made him understand it. Then al-Natali left me, going on to Gurganj.  

"I devoted myself to studying the texts - the original and commentaries - in the natural sciences and metaphysics, and the gates of knowledge began opening to me. Next I sought to know medicine, and so I read the books written on it ... I excelled in it in a very short time, to the point that distinguished physicians began to read the science of medicine under me. I cared for the sick and there opened to me some doors of medical treatment that are indescribable and can be learned only from practice. In addition I devoted myself to jurisprudence and used to engage in legal disputations, at that time being sixteen years old. 

"Then for the next year and a half, I dedicated myself to learning and reading ... logic and all the parts of philosophy. During this time I did not sleep completely through a single night nor devote myself to anything else by day. I compiled a set of files for myself, and for each proof that I examined, I entered into the files its syllogistic premises, their classification, and what might follow from them. I pondered over the conditions of its premises, ... , not being able to solve the middle term of the syllogism, I used to visit the mosque frequently and worship, praying humbly to the All-Creating until He opened the mystery of it to me and made the difficult seem easy. At night I would return home, set out a lamp before me, and devote myself to reading and writing. When sleep overcame me or I became conscious of weakening, I would turn aside to drink a cup of wine, so that my strength would return to me. Then I would return to reading. And whenever sleep seized me I would see those very problems in my dream; and many questions became clear to me in my sleep. I continued in this until all of the sciences were deeply rooted within me and I understood them as far as is humanly possible. Everything which I knew at that time is just as I know it now; I have not added anything to it to this day. 

"Thus I mastered the logical, natural and mathematical sciences, and I had now reached the science of metaphysics. I read the Metaphysics [of Aristotle], but I could not comprehend its contents, and its author's object remained obscure to me, even when I had gone back and read it forty times and had got to a point where I had memorized it. In spite of this I could not understand it nor its object, and I despaired of myself and said, 'This is a book which there is no way of understanding'. But one day in the afternoon when I was at the booksellers' quarter a salesman approached with a book in his hand which he was calling out for sale. He offered it to me, but I refused it with disgust, believing that there was no merit in this science. But he said to me, 'Buy it, because its owner needs the money and so it is cheap. I will sell it to you for three dirhams.' So I bought it and, lo and behold, it was Abu Nasr al-Farabi's book on the objects of Metaphysics. I returned home and was quick to read it, and in no time the objects of that book became clear to me because I had got to the point of having memorized it by heart. I rejoiced at this and the next day gave much in alms to the poor in gratitude to God, who is exalted ...

"So when I had reached the age of eighteen I was finished with all of these sciences; at that time I had a better memory for learning, but today my knowledge is more mature; otherwise it is the same; nothing new has come to me since ..."

Medieval Islamic scholars widely referred to Aristotle as the 'First Teacher,' evidence of the high regard in which they held the ancient Greek philosopher. The man ranked by his contemporaries in the Arab world as second only to Aristotle was a tenth-century Muslim thinker by the name of Abu Nasr al-Farabi.♣ In the words of Muhsin Mahdi, a leading modern scholar of Islamic studies,♣ 

[Al-Farabi was] the great interpreter of the thought of Plato and Aristotle and their commentators, and the master to whom almost all major Muslim as well as a number of Jewish and Christian philosophers turned for a fuller understanding of the controversial, troublesome and intricate questions of philosophy ... He paid special attention to the study of language and its relation to logic. In his numerous commentaries on Aristotle's logical works he expounded for the first time in Arabic the entire range of the scientific and non-scientific forms of argument and established the place of logic as the indispensable prerequisite for philosophic inquiry.

On his works on logic, Maimonides (1135-1204 CE), the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism, had this to say,  

You should always follow this rule: in studying logic, deal only with what was written by the wise Abu Nasr al-Farabi, for all that he wrote, and particularly his work Madabi al-Mawjudat [The Principles of Being], is a pure meal ... The books of Ali Ibn Sina [Avicenna♣], on the other hand, although they are very accurate, do not match the writings of al-Farabi. 

§

The memory of Classical Greece - a legacy of Alexander - had survived in parts of Syria and Iraq, amid Eastern Christianity and Zoroastrianism. In fact, the language of high culture and theology in Byzantine cities was Greek. The Syriac-speaking Christian scholars, in order to gain access to theological texts written in Alexandria and Antioch, studied Greek language. When the Umayyad caliph al-Malik made Arabic the official state language (end of eighth century) replacing Persian and Greek, it catalyzed translations of Greek texts into Arabic by the Eastern Christians.♣  

'The city of Peace ... the scene of vibrant cultural renaissance ... With its vast number of scholars, its bookstores, its meeting places for learned discussions, its diversified population, the sophistication of its intellectual elite, the ambition and energy of its rulers, this great urban center witnessed a splendor hardly equaled in the entire Medieval world.'♣ 

'One of the most revealing measures of the intellectual variety of the period ... was the frequency in Baghdad of public debates between members of opposing schools of thought. [For example, one] debate in 932 CE between ibn Yunis and al-Sarafi was on the relative merits of the sciences of logic and grammar ... sponsored by the Caliph's vizier ... the authorities were still willing to entertain a diversity of views at a time when the proponents of orthodoxy had become increasingly articulate and powerful ... the atmosphere ... was generally cosmopolitan.'♣

In Baghdad, al-Farabi learnt philosophy, science, and languages from the leading teachers of the day and despite his youth, soon outstripped them in fame.♣  One of his early conclusions was that man could find truth by reason alone and live according to it. Scholars have inferred from his works that he held human reason superior to revelation and the ultimate highway to happiness.♣ His faith in the rational method is expressed in these words,♣   

The attainment of certain truth is aimed at in every problem. Yet frequently we do not attain certainty. Instead we may attain certainty about part of what we seek, and belief and persuasion about the rest ... Or we may become perplexed, as when the arguments for and against strike us as having equal force. The cause of this [confusion] is the variety of methods we use in treating a problem ... So let it be clear to you that before setting out to investigate problems we must realize that all these methods have to be learned as an art ... This [logical] faculty enables us to discern whether what we infer is certain knowledge or mere belief, whether it is the thing itself or its image and similitude. 

Al-Farabi's attempt to resuscitate and elevate ideas and texts written over a millennium ago was in itself an act of boldness and supreme self-confidence, especially when they were entirely outside his own tradition. One can only imagine his mounting excitement as he discovered and dissected them. Here is, for instance, how he begins his introduction to the philosophy of Plato, the very first of its kind in Medieval times, ♣ 

1. First [Plato] investigated ... whether man's perfection consists only in having his bodily organs unimpaired, a beautiful face, and soft skin; or whether it consists also in his having a distinguished ancestry and tribe, or having a large tribe and many friends and lovers; or whether it consists also in his being prosperous; or being glorified and exalted, ruling over a group or a city in which his command is enforced and which submits to his wish. In order to attain the happiness that gives him his ultimate perfection, is it sufficient for man to have some or all of these? It became evident to him ... that either they are themselves not happiness at all but are only believed to attain happiness, or they are not themselves sufficient for man to attain happiness without having something else in addition to them or to some of them. 

2. Then he investigated what this other thing might be. It became evident to him that this other thing ... is [a] certain [kind of] knowledge and a certain way of life. 

3. Then he investigated what this knowledge is and its distinguishing mark, until he found ... that it is knowledge of the substance of each of the beings: this knowledge is the final perfection of man and the highest perfection he can possess. 

4. Then, after that, he investigated the happiness that is truly happiness, what it is, from which kind of knowledge it proceeds, which state of character it is, and which act it is. He distinguished it from what is believed to be happiness but is not. And he made it known that the virtuous way of life is what leads to the achievement of happiness.

The framework of his philosophy had a political science at its apex concerned with happiness realized in this life, and how it could be achieved in cities and nations - without recourse to revelation. He drew a close relation between happiness and knowledge. 'Happiness is an end . attained by virtuous actions, as knowledge results from learning and study, ... '♣ This is also the basis for the 'highest perfection of man'. 

The human things through which nations and citizens of cities attain earthly happiness in this life and supreme happiness in the life beyond are of four kinds: theoretical virtues, deliberative virtues, moral virtues, and practical arts. [Theoretical virtues are innate in mankind, the rest] are acquired by meditation, investigation and inference, instruction and study. ♣

Al-Farabi  is regarded as the founder of political philosophy in Islam.♣ He embraced Plato's philosopher-king as the ideal: just as God rules the universe, so should the philosopher, being the best of mankind, rule the state. He thus relates the political travails of his time to the divorce of philosophy from governance. He decried wars fought for conquest or gain, derided the superstition, mysticism and astrology of the day, advocated an allegorical interpretation of scripture, and declared the pursuit of scientific knowledge a prerequisite for the good life man must seek. For human beings are not only free to choose their actions, they are fully responsible for them. 

The two areas that appear to have occupied al-Farabi most are logic and political philosophy ... [his] logical theories, in the last analysis, are informed by and reflect a theory of human nature and human happiness. For al-Farabi, the end of human existence includes, if it is not confined to, the effort to understand being in so far it is knowable through reason ...

At the same time, the second conspicuous fact of al-Farabi's political theory is his recognition of the challenge that revealed religion poses to the philosophic way of life. Simply put, revealed religion claims to give a complete and authoritative account of all things - human and divine, natural and metaphysical ... [it] exalts certainty over investigation ... there are no basic truths left to discover, and wisdom becomes a system of rules to be learned and taught. To meet the challenge ... al-Farabi resorts to an ingenious applications of Aristotle's logical theories according to which religion can be explained as an imitation of philosophy ... a direct presentation of truths for which philosophy provides the proofs ... ♣

If the philosopher could live happily by reason alone what then of the non-philosopher? Al-Farabi said that the latter could lead a good life only through symbols expressed in prophetic faith: heaven, hell, the last judgment. Different religions employ different symbols to drive home similar truth. Philosophy and the religion of Islam express the same truths in different forms, which correspond to the different levels at which human beings can comprehend it. The enlightened man can live by philosophy alone; those who grasp the truth via symbols but reach a certain level of understanding can be guided by theology;♣ the rest should live by the Shari'a and be governed by a philosopher-king.     

Curiously enough, al-Farabi maintained that Muhammad was the kind of ruler Plato had envisaged and that his ideal state could therefore be created within Islam. However, besides the qualities of Plato's philosopher-king,* the ideal ruler must also possess prophetic vision. Realizing the difficulty of finding all these qualities in a single man, he relaxes the requirement of prophetic vision first, even proposes a small council of men who collectively achieve the list, and then enumerates the qualities that can be sacrificed next♣ until reaching a stage where, with further compromise, 'the city will undoubtedly perish'. He also classified the character of cities based on their proximity to virtue and knowledge. 

Islamic philosophers in al-Farabi's tradition - the faylasufs - while remaining devout Muslims believed rationalism to be the most advanced form of religion, and which in fact, led them to marginalize the role of God, akin to the Unmoved Mover of Aristotle rather than the watchful and judgmental God of revelation. They also elaborated on the major theological issues of the day: the nature of God (unity or plurality of attributes), creation (ex-nihilo vs. emanation from the One), free will (is man responsible for his actions?) and body and soul (material and spiritual attributes of life). However, in case of a conflict between reason and revelation that could not be resolved by creative interpretation, they acquiesced to the ultimate authority of the Qur'an. The faylasufs found nothing problematical about the central role of revelation in political authority, the revelation they themselves could live without; they also tacitly accepted the Islamic injunction to jihad,♣ but the 'holy war' aspect of which was no longer taken seriously in Abbasid times. As in the Christian West until well after the Renaissance, reason and science were not seen as opposed to revelation. They formed a subsidiary system, no doubt with an anxious existence at times, within revelation's overarching framework.

In the last decade of his life when Abbasid power went into sharp decline and Shiite orthodoxy was on the rise, al-Farabi returned to Syria where he died a bachelor at the age of 80. The Hamdani Amir Saif al-Daula, patron of the arts in Aleppo, held him in high esteem, by now a famous writer and scholar with books on logic, metaphysics, ethics, political science, music, medicine and sociology. Al-Farabi, who shunned attention in general, tried to rebuff his favors. Despite his asceticism and modesty, the story goes that he often turned playful showman before his patron and 'exasperated him with his outlandish attire and boorish manners'.♣ The circumstances of his death are reported as follows:♣  

Al-Farabi was journeying from Damascus to Ascalon, and was met by a company of thieves called 'the Lads'. Al-Farabi said to them, 'Take what I have of riding animals, arms and clothing, and let me go'. But they refused and determined to kill him. Seeing that there was no escape, al-Farabi dismounted and fought till he was slain, with his friends. This greatly displeased the Hamdani rulers of Syria who pursued the thieves and crucified them on tree-trunks close by his grave. 

Al-Farabi lived more like a despairing, self-sufficient philosopher than a flamboyant intellectual. Scholars have speculated that he, having concluded that conscious, enduring happiness is in principle outside the grasp of virtually all except a few, and that revelation is irrelevant for happiness, wished to conceal this from the non-philosophers. The idea that revelation is unnecessary, if adopted blindly, could lead people to reject scripture with nothing to supplant it with. The fragile social structure would fall apart. Mindful of the dangers inherent in the masses living without external guidance, he continued to advocate scripture for them. What worried him perhaps was the transformation of Abbasid society into one with large numbers of badly behaving irreverent people, but this will have to remain our conjecture.  

While philosophy in al-Farabi's tradition continued in elite circles it was increasingly undertaken as a private activity - largely by peripatetic medical men dependent on the whims of their patrons. It was pursued with caution and often treated with suspicion. The challenge to Islamic rationalism (and the rational minded Abbasid theologians, the Mu'tazilah ♣) came from two disparate flanks: the Islamic mystics (the older Ibn Sina/Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Arabi, al-Suhrawardi, Mulla Sadra) and the orthodox faithful (traditionalist Sunni ulema, Ibn Hanbal, al-Ashari, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Taymiyah, Abdul Wahhab). The next significant crop of rational philosophers came from Moorish Spain (Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd/Averroës). The changing fortunes of these three viewpoints characterize much of medieval Islamic thought. Let's now turn to Islamic mysticism.