Islamic Philosophy by Nasr/ An Overview

Islamic Philosophy by Nasr

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 3^rd 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 3^RD 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 3^rd to 5^th 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 5^th to 7^th 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 7^th to 10^th 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 10^th 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