COMMENTS ON ISLAMIC PHILISOPHY by NASR
PART I
This post is
first in a series of posts regarding Islamic Philosophy. It is basically my
synopsis of the first seven chapters of Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s “Islamic
Philosophy from its Origin to the Present”
Growing up,
and even now while getting old, when I hear about thought leaders in Islam, it
is a short list. Either one thinks of the scholars of the four schools of jurisprudence,
fiqh, like Abu Hunifa, Malik, Shafi and Ahmed bin Hambal; or we are told
of the Sufis, poets or otherwise, their different Sufi orders, their founders
and followers, throughout the length and breadth of Islamic World, from Seville
to Baghdad to Bukhara to Ajmer and beyond. On a more cerebral level, one hears
of Mu’tazila, Aasharites, Ghazali, Ibne
Taymiyyah, Ibn Arabi and Ibn Rushd. At
times one hears about a quotation of Sina or Razi. Then sometimes the mention of Rumi and Razi
in Iqbal’s poetry. I heard all these names but never had the chance to read them
or about them.
This inadequate
knowledge base leads to confusion at times. For example, until recently I did
not realize that the physician Razi, (Zakaria Razi) after whom the Razi Hall, a
residence hall in Nishtar Medical College is named, is a different person that
the Razi (Fakhruddin Razi). Although both were Persian physicians and
philosophers, they were three centuries apart and their thought processes were
even further divergent.
Often all
these names and their disciplines are mixed up and hard to sort them oud and
give some order.
Nasr’s book helped me bridge that gap. It is
published by State University of New York Press in 2006. For those who know the
son more than the father, he is father of Vali Nasr.
What I write
here is my interpretation of some of the chapters of it and in no way, it claims
the intended opinion of the author. To those well read into it, it may all
sound very naïve and elementary. My apologies for that in advance.
There is a
lot of redundancy in the book and same topics and individuals are discussed
multiple times through different angles. I, for my own sake, have tried to reorganize
my notes to simplify it for me. What follows is derived from the first half of
the book. That is where the gist of the subject is discussed in essence. The
later half of the book is basically a catalogue of names for the various
centuries in the later half of Islamic history. It does not go deep in the
philosophical issues and is thus more of a compilation of history.
ISLAMIC PHILISOPHY, AN OVERVIEW
Basically,
it is neither theology, nor mysticism. It is the third discipline.
There are
theologians in the first place. Names we learnt most are theologians; the four fiqh
orders, Ilme usul, their founders and prominent followers. Later there were
more differences. Both Mu’tazila and Aashari are part of this line,
collectively called Kalaam, ( ilm e kalam) and persons are called
mutakalemeen. Although Mu’tazila were more ‘rational’ amongst the two in
thinking but the main emphasis was on the theology, ie on how to practice the
religion and the elements of faith.
Then there
were mystics, Sufis, all those famous names who sought the inner dimension and
a path to the Divine.
And then, there
is a third line of order, the thinkers, hukuma, and philosophers of
Islam. We, at least I, NEVER learnt about them while growing up. We learnt about
some of them in passing, but mostly for their other contributions, to science
and medicine, and not to the field of philosophy.
Yes, at some
level, many of them may not be strictly boxed in as either philosophers,
theologians or sufis. Many a time, they crossed the boundaries and were larger
than what one discipline could define them.
According to
Nasr, although the general concept of philosophy includes sufism, kalaam,
usul and some of other Islamic sciences as well, over all they lie outside
the boundary of falsafah or hikmat in Islam.
THREE
PHASES OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY:
One can
divide the Islamic Philosophy historically into three phases. First is
Peripatetic, Aristotelian or Ma’shai, followed by Illuminationist or Isharqi
and then the “transcendent theosophy”.
First
phase: The
first one, Peripatetic is the one mostly based on reason and intellect. Also called Hikmate
Bahsia, Argumentative or Discursive philosophy. It had an early and a late period. The first one in this series is Yaqoob al
Kindi, in the 3rd Hijri, followed by Farabi and then Abu
Ali Sina, both in the fourth century hijri.
Kindi’s main concern was discovery of truth, wherever it may be found
and one should not be ashamed of it. Farabi is considered as the Second
Teacher, mualam e sani, Aristotle being the First Teacher.
Sina is the
ultimate philosopher in Islam, and his influence on later thinkers is more
than anyone else. He elaborated the growth of reason from a basic
intelligence of bil quwwat, and gradually with increasing intellect,
it moves to habitual intelligence, bil malaka, to actual
intellect bil fa’l and then finally to acquired intelligence mustafaz.
Above all stands Divine Active Intellect aql al fa’al which
illuminates the mind.
Sina, thus,
made more of a distinction between the reason and intellect., which has
an inner dimension and opened the road to the next phase of Islamic philosophy
the Illuminationist.
Ibne
Rushd, Zakariah Razi and
Tusi can be included in this group as philosophers of Later Peripatetic
period.
Second
phase: The
Illuminationist, ishraqi,
also called Hikmate Zoqia, Intuitive or ‘tasted’ philosophy, is what
makes more of a connection between the intellect and the inner self. It
emphasizes that one cannot reach the truth though intellect and reason
unless one tastes it, ie there has to be a spiritual element in it. Its
main proponent was Shahabudin Yahya bin Habash Suhurwardi (nothing to do
with the Sufi order of the same name). He integrated Platonic, Neoplatonic
philosophy and ancient Persian wisdom esp Mazdaean angelology and Avicennian
philosophy with gnosis. He was executed in Aleppo at a young age of 37.
It was
during this phase in history that his contemporary, Ibne Arabi
introduced the concept of Wahdat al wujood, although the actual term was
first used by Ibne Sabin, another Andalusian. Ibne Arabi focused on Divine
Essence Al zaat and theophany, tajalli
Third
Phase: The third
phase is the Transcendent theosophy, alhikmat al muta’aliya,
championed by Mulla Sidra. This is the state of Ifran, gnosis. And it is
as close to Sufi mysticism as philosophy can be. His three principles of metaphysics are
described later in a subsequent part
OPPOSITION
TO ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY FROM WITHIN ISLAM:
The main
opposition to the field of philosophy came from three quarters, the
theologians. Mutakalimeen, the Aasharites, and the sufis.
FIRST:
Theologians, the
followers of Kalaam , thought that falsafa is outside the domain of
Islamic sphere where the main emphasis should be to preserve the transmitted
sciences on the exoteric level. They refused to be concerned with the
intellectual or the esoteric dimension of Islam. Most prominent example is Ibn
Taymiyyah in Sunnis and Mullah Baqir in Shias.
SECOND: Most of the Asharites and some of
Mutazilla were opposed to the falsafa. This interplay, which was
heightened by Ghazzali ended up changing both falsafa and kalaam.
Much of the later kalam was itself influenced by Falsafa.
THIRD: Opposition by the Sufis is more
complicated. One line of mysticism is a step ladder approach, and this
path helps man reach divine through rationalization and istadlaal. Practitioners of this path like ibne Arabi
were themselves considered philosophers, Plato of the day. Etc. The other
line calls for a complete breakup with ratiocination of reason to reach the
divine, Examples being Rumi and Sanai.
With time
the philosophy or Hikmat receded into background but by that time it had
deeply influenced various aspects of Islamic life, creating an atmosphere of
rational thought which influenced fields as diverse as grammar, rhetoric,
collection of hadith, organizing economic activity in bazaar to
mathematics and geometry and architecture.
At one time
during Saljuqs in Persia, the Nizamuddin School declared all subjects of falsafa
to be banned in the curriculum and only kalaam to be studied.
FIVE PERIODS
OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FALSAFA AND KALAAM
First. In the early peripatetic period, the
3RD HijrI. It was a period of Falsafa vs Mu’tazila. There were
differences but some element of mutual respect. Esp Al Kindi.
Second was from 3rd to 5th
Hijri, where the dominant kalam school was Asharite and there was a fierce
difference culminating with the accent of Ghazali on the scene and his
denunciation of falsafah. This is the time most studied in the West.
Third is the time from 5th to 7th
century Hijri, where both converged somewhat. Although during this
time, which included Ghazali and later Fakhruddin Razi, there was still a
fierce opposition of both but by the end of this time, kalam became more
philosophical and falsafa delved more into the subjects of prophecy and
Divine Will, topics of interest to kalam
This was the
time of rise of Seljuks in Persia, who favored the kalaam approach over hikmat
and falsafa. Only philosopher of note in in that time is Omer Khayyam
Fourth, from 7th to 10th
hijri is the time of illuminationist philosophy, ishraqi, and there were
more convergence. Many of the individuals can be classified as both
philosophers and mutakalimeen.
Fifth is from 10th to modern
times where one may see more convergence, esp in Shia kalam which is
quite philosophical. In Sunni world, esp in India the hikmat e ilahiya
flourished, examples being Shah Waliullah of Delhi and Ali Ashraf Thanwi
Overall, the
philosophers always thought that although topics covered by kalam are important,
the tools mukatalemeen utilize are inadequate. According to Mulla
Sidra, one of the foremost philosophers of the last period, they do not have
purity of thought and heart, and they are after worldly glory.
NEXT:Islamic Philosophy 101
