How Muslim Philosophy Rose and Its Key Contributors?

The word “philosophy” is derived from Greek language whereas the word “Hikma” has been repeated in Al-Quran and Hadith which is related to “Falsfa” in broader sense. The word “Falsfa also entered in Muslim philosophy through the transcripts of Greek philosophy to Arabic. It’s not easy to define Muslim philosophy but from a wider point of view it can be defined as Philosophy that rose within the culture of Islam and Islamic civilization. The source of Muslim philosophy is the ideas and interpretations from the religion of Islam and Greek philosophy. It is also influenced by Pre Islamic Indian and Persian philosophy.

Nature of Muslim Philosophy:

The nature of muslim philosophy is quite diverse. There is no generally accepted definition and nature of it and various philosophers adjust it according to their own belief. Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims. For example, we can’t say that Muslim philosophy is the one produced by Muslims because non-Muslim philosophers also worked on it and these thoughts were also influenced by Greeks. If we stay that Muslim Philosophy is the one written in Arabic, it would be incorrect because majority of it is written in Persian. Now lastly, if we assume that the philosophy related to conceptual features of Islam should be called Muslim Philosophy then
what about those works in Muslim Philosophy that deal with logic and have no direct correlation with Islam as religion. That’s why its nature is vague.
“Perhaps the best way of specifying the nature of Islamic philosophy is to say that it is the tradition of philosophy which arose out of Islamic culture, with the latter term understood in its widest sense.’’

Influence of Greek Philosophy

Muslim philosophy started progressing from Greek philosophy during Abbasid Caliphate. During this caliphate, Muslim community was ruling a lot of countries like Egypt and Syria which were rich in Greek Culture. Those rulers sought to apply the learning which existed in the empire to their own purposes. The caliph al-Ma’mun founded in Baghdad the bayt al-hikma, the
House of Wisdom, which served as an as a library and centre for the translation of Greek texts into Arabic. The philosophers of that progressed the thoughts of Aristotle. Three speculative thinkers, Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Al-Kindi, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. A lot of translations were firstly made in Persian and then transmission of Indian and Persian literature into Arabic had an influence on the development of Islamic philosophy. That’s how we see the influence of Greek, Indian and Muslim philosophy.

Origin of Muslim Philosophy

Muslim philosophy started from the early years of Islam when the philosophical questions like free will were raised but it progressed during 3rd century of Hijra during the time of Abbasid Caliphate. This era was greatly influenced by Greek philosophy and the interpretations of Quranic verses from Islam. We can say that “Islamic Golden Age” dated between 8th to 12th
century two main approaches appeared:

1. Kalam
2. Falsafa

Kalam

The word Kalam means “Speech” and it’s teaching is called “Ilm al-Kalam”. This philosophy is the rationalist form of Islamic philosophy also known as theology. It is concerned with Islamic theological questions and principles in dialect (debate). The earliest debate of Kalam was between Qadarites who believed in Free will and Jabaraties who believed in the predestination
of all events. Another debate was when pupil of Hasan of Basra, Wasil ibn Ata, left the group when he disagreed with his teacher on whether a Muslim who has committed a major sin invalidates his faith. A new movement, during 12th century, arose in the theological school of Basra, Iraq. This new school was called Mu’tazilite (from i’tazala, to separate oneself). They systematized the radical opinions of preceding sects, particularly those of the Qadarites and
Jabarites.

Falsfa

The literal term “Falsfa means philosophy” which is borrowed from Greek language. This philosophy stemmed from Greek philosophy which studied logic, mathematics and physics mainly. The representatives of Falsfa, from 9th century onwards, were Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes.

“Philosophy (al falsafah) is the knowledge of all existing things qua existents.”

The teachings of Falsfa were based on reason. The philosophers of this approach used the Neoplatonism as the Arabic text was actually translated from Greek philosophy. It rose a conflict between general public and the followers of falsfa. This philosophy came to be seen not so much
as an alternative formulation of religious truths but as a rival and competing system of thought, one which required opposition by Islam.

Famous Muslim Philosophers

Al-Kindi

He was the first self-identified philosopher in the Arabic tradition. He translated works of Aristotle, the Neoplatonists, and Greek mathematicians and scientists into Arabic. Al-Kindi’s philosophical treatises include On First Philosophy, in which he argues that the world is not eternal and that God is a simple One. He also wrote numerous works on other philosophical
topics, especially psychology (On the Intellect) and cosmology.
Al-Kindi wrote in his On First Philosophy,

“Philosophy is the knowledge of the reality of things within people’s possibility, because the philosopher’s end in theoretical knowledge is to gain truth and in practical knowledge to behave in accordance with truth.”

Al-Farabi

He was also one the earliest Islamic intellectuals who was instrumental in transmitting the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle to the Muslim world. He had a considerable influence on the later Islamic philosophers such as Avicenna. He added the distinction between dialectic and sophistry, and insisted that philosophy was the mother of the sciences and dealt with everything that exists.

Ibn e Sina

Among the great sages of Islamic medicine, Ibn Sina is the best known in the West. His great medical treatise, the Canon was the standard textbook on medicine in the Arab world and Europe in the 17th century. He was a philosopher, physician, psychiatrist and poet. Ibn-e-Sina viewed
philosophy as:

“Al-hikmah [which he uses as being the same as philosophy] is the perfection of the human soul
through conceptualization [tasawwur] of things and judgment [tasdiq] of theoretical and practical realities to the measure of human ability.”

Al Ghazali

He is known as one of the great philosophers and theologians of Islam. He wrote on various subjects, including a critique of Neoplatonism, an exposition of legal theory, and a compilation of theological doctrines. He did a fierce attack on the principles of Falsfa in his work “Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers)”, ideas expressed by Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina
but on them personally declaring that such individuals are heretics (kafirs) and not Muslims.

Ibn e Rashd

Ibn Rushd also known as Averroes, was a leading philosopher of the Middle Ages. He defended Falsfa from the criticism of Ibn e Ghazali. He wrote his book “Tahafut al Tahafut (Incoherence of Incoherence)” which is rebuttal of Ghazali’s book. Rushd also wrote other books to counter Ghazali and defend Greek philosophers and their methods. Whereas Ghazali advocated using
mystical methods to look for the hidden knowledge and truth Ibn Rushd believed that this was only possible using objective and demonstrative methods i.e. logic and science.

Islam and Philosophy

Al-Kindi, argued that there is no contradiction between Islam and Philosophy. It only helps us to understand the religion with truth as it is associated with reason. Those who doubt about it or think that both of them are anti parallels need to rethink about their basics. Once philosophy became better established, however, it managed to sever the link with religion altogether, as we can see from al-Farabi onwards. Religion is then taken to represent the route to truth available to the unsophisticated and simple believer; when compared to philosophy it is seen as a version of the truth. The most determined defender of this view is undoubtedly Ibn Rushd with whom this
form of philosophy largely came to an end in the 12th century. Later on the work of these philosophers were studied in detail and other philosophers also contributed to progress Muslim philosophy what it is today. The era of Al-kind, Ibn-Sina, Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sina and Ibn-Rushd along with other philosophers will always be considered the “Golden Age of Muslim
Philosophy.”