Stage 6.
The Fatamid Caliphs claimed descent from
the Prophet's daughter, Fatima, and by a line of hidden Imams, from Ismail, the
7th Imam. But when the Caliph al-Mustansir died, the Egyptian and Yemenese Ismailis,
Mustalis recognized his son,
al-Mustali, and those of Iran
and Syria,
Nizaris, recognized the older son,
Nizar as Imam. The Egyptian Ismailis were wiped out by Sultan Saladin. The
Yemenese Ismailis, Nizaris, who continue to exist, believe that Mustali's
grandson would return as the Mahdi. The Nizaris gave rise to such cults as the
Assassins and remained in power until deposed by the Mongols and Mamlukes. Other sects which derive from
the Nizaris are the one headed by the Aga Khan, the Druze who formed a separate
religion and regard the Imams as incarnations of the godhead, the Yazdis, the
Nusayris, and the Bahais who also formed separate religions.
Comments:- We see how rationalism or free thought leads
to ever increasing differences of opinion, schisms and conflicts. This is
because each is driven by local historical conditions, has different sectarian
motives, is based on different selected parts of knowledge and also includes
inventions and fantasies.
The Mutazilahs,
though persecuted, survived and mounted an attack on a new school of Theology,
the Ashari. Al-Ashari (AD. 873 -
936), formerly a Mutazilah, noticed that the Mutazilah doctrine caused
inaction, and made a public declaration denouncing their doctrines. He,
accepted the Traditionalist view, but did not give up Theology. Instead, by
giving Theology a rational basis, he incorporated it into Orthodox Islam. In
his view Faith comes from the heart where Allah placed it, not through reason.
Good and evil cannot, therefore, be known through reason. We cannot make
assumptions about Allah, that He has a rational purpose that we can understand,
and then try to find it. We have to accept what Allah says. Justice is what
Allah commands not what conforms to human ideas of rationality or fairness.
Though he tried to mediate between the Mutazilah and the Traditionalists, ibn
Hanbal rejected his views.
Comment:- The Quran confirms that Faith is certainly a matter of the heart and not reason (7:179,
8:24, 10:101, 22:46). It is also true that human rational faculties have been
corrupted by desires, wishful thinking, fantasies, fixations and so on. But it
should be possible, given true faith and an appropriate discipline to purify
reason and discern truth because the Quran does instruct us to ponder and think.
(24:1, 2:219, 12:2 etc.)
Stage 7.
Yaqub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi (AD. ?-870), known as the
first Philosopher of the Arabs, had some knowledge of Greek and Indian
Philosophy, and his thinking was influenced by them. His main concern was the
relationship between the corporeal sense objects, which were always changing
and the permanent forms, which could not be seen, such as the laws and
processes of nature. But they could be known only through sense data, they
could be understood through mathematics and logic. But he also admitted that
there was a third kind of knowledge, that given directly to the prophets by
revelations. There were, therefore, three levels or aspects to reality and
knowledge.
Comment:- This idea seems to be rationally
sound and is also compatible with the Quran. We have Ilm-ul-Yaqin - (102:5),
Ayn-ul-Yaqin - (102:7) and Haq-ul-Yaqin - (69:51)
Abu Bakr ar-Razi (865-932), who also knew some
Greek and Indian Philosophy, recognized 5 ultimately eternal principles -
Allah, Soul, Prime Matter, Absolute Space and Absolute Time. Creation was the
result of the craving of the soul for matter. God, in His mercy decided to
satisfy this desire by allowing the soul to experience the limitation and
suffering which unification with matter brings, realize its mistake and repent,
and then to show it the way of deliverance. He insisted that because this
applied to all men they were equally able to know the truth and did not require
any kind of authority over them, including political or religious ones. He
rejected the idea of special revelation.
Comment:- This doctrine appears to borrow from some
versions of Buddhism. The Quran does not recognize anything co-eternal with
Allah. To speak of five original independent principles multiplies the problem
of origins by five and makes consistency impossible. There is no explanation
why the soul should crave matter and how these five principles are connected. Such
a connection would create a system greater than Allah. The idea that all human
beings were equally capable of knowing the truth may refer to their
potentialities but certainly not to actualities. But it is views that appealed
to many and justified revolt against authority especially tyrannies. The idea
persists to this day and theoretically underpins Western Democracy.
Al-Farabi (878-950) was one of the greatest and most
influential of Islamic Philosophers who affected all later Muslim, Jewish and
Christian thinkers. He revived Philosophy, which had disappeared elsewhere in
the world, and showed how it could be applied to solve the Theological problems
which were worrying Muslims. His greatest contribution was the distinction
between Theoretical Philosophy and Law. Law, he understood as having a function
with the ordering of a community by defining the opinions and rules of actions
which will ensure that peace and happiness will be attained in this world and
the next. Since this concerns value judgments, it was quite different from
considering the truth content of a system. The previous philosophers had made
no such distinction and thought that Logic, Physics, Mathematics, Metaphysics,
Politics and Ethics belonged to the same category and could all be studied by
the same methods. Having made the distinction his work fell into two
corresponding parts.
Firstly, he was
able to discuss how the community should be ordered without infringing on the
Sciences. He constructed a Political Theology that allowed reformation of the
society as well as encouraging scientific inquiry and philosophy. He regarded
the Prophet-Lawgiver in the same light as Plato’s Philosopher-king and rejected
al-Kindi’s view that Prophets and Philosophers have different independent ways
to truth, and ar-Rizi’s view that Philosophy is the only way to knowledge. A
man could combine the function of prophet, philosopher and lawgiver. But the
faculties required were not the same though equally valid. He also rejected
Neo-platonism, which taught that the function of Philosophy was to liberate the
soul. Instead, it was the duty of those who had achieved enlightenment to
return to ordinary life and make themselves understood to the people and to
guide them. There should, therefore, be a period of education and development
followed by social application.
Secondly, he
acquired and elucidated much greater knowledge of the sciences and a philosophy
of his time than former thinkers had done, and was universally regarded as the
greatest Philosopher after Aristotle. In particular he made an examination of
all the forms of Logical arguments and the foundations and assumptions
underlying the sciences. He laid the foundations upon which all later thinkers
could build more securely.
Comment:- There is certainly a logical and functional
distinction between facts and values since one requires perception and the
other action. But they are connected at a level higher than thinking, namely
living, which require both thought and action. At this unitary level Values
derive from Facts and Facts from Values. Desires and goals are part of life and
actions depend on it, do benefit or harm and create facts. It can also be
pointed out that one could make a distinction between three, not two categories
- between values, meanings and facts; and also between inspiration, reasoning
and experience, the third being concerned with the practical. It is then
possible to make a distinction between the spiritual aspect of life, the social
and the scientific. One could also divide the periods of life into three -
development, application and teaching and that these periods could coincide and
could even be mutually helpful. The acts of application and teaching could aid
development, which can aid teaching and application. These functions could
co-exist in each person and also be distributed between different people. There
could be different degrees and levels such that each person according to his
achievements would be a pupil of those above him and a teacher for those below
while at the same time fulfilling the practical professional function.
Stage 8.
Ibn Sena (Avicenna 980-1037), was the most influential
Philosopher-Scientist-Administrator of Islam. He studied Logic, Metaphysics,
Islamic Law, Medicine, and became accomplished in all the sciences and arts of
the time while still young, profiting from the greatest sages of the time and
the Libraries of his patron the Samanid Ruler in Persia. But his life was
disturbed by the turmoil of the times. The Samanids were overthrown by the
Turk, Mahmud of Ghazna, and other Persian dynasties were trying to gain their
independence from the Abassid Caliphs of Baghdad. Avicenna took to a period of
wandering and finally settled in Hamadan
where the ruler Shams ad-Dawlah made him into the Court Physician and then
Vizier. Later he moved to Isfahan.
He continued his studies and wrote “The Book of Healing” (probably the largest
book ever written by one man, an encyclopaedia of theology, metaphysics, logic,
the natural sciences, psychology, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and music)
and “Canon of Medicine” (the most famous books in the History of Medicine).
These affected Western thinking and Medicine until quite recently. His thinking
was influenced by Aristotle and Neo-platonism, which he elaborated and adapted.
He distinguishes
between Essence (what a thing is) and Existence (that a thing exists), and
between matter and form. Existence could not be inferred from Essence, and form
and matter could not interact and account for the events in the Universe. There
must be a Cause outside the Universe. He finds that in Allah the two coincide -
Allah is Necessary Existence, which gives existence to all other essences and
unites form with matter. As a result of Allah’s self-knowledge there is a
gradual emanation and multiplication of beings. However, man is aware of the
existence of his own soul from direct consciousness when he speaks of “I”. This
must, therefore, be indivisible, immaterial and unchanging, hence immortal. It
is generated at the same time as the body, but owing to its experiences, the
knowledge it gains, the thoughts, actions and the moral habits it forms, it grows
and becomes an independent entity after the death of the body. Punishment and
reward, therefore, refers to this development, bad or good. The primary
function of religion was to assure the happiness of the people, and this
justifies all aspects of the Shariah, the ethical and legal, the political, the
economic, and the cultural. The second function of religion was to show, the
few with special aptitudes, the need to pursue a life of virtue and knowledge
based on love of Allah so that they can also lead the development of the rest
of the community. The Mystic Saint would be the teacher and leader, though not
necessarily in the formal or official sense. Ibn Sena also produced a number of
allegorical and mystical works, which are regarded as Esoteric, addressed to
this group. He introduced Greek mystical Theosophy into Islam. This system
later affected Christian thinking such as that of St. Augustine and the Franciscan school.
Comment:- The theory of emanation is not an Islamic one.
The Quran tells us that Allah created all things by His Will, Command or Word
out of Nothing. Ibn Sena does not merely state that Allah created all things,
but tells us how He did so. Another way of putting it is to say that when the
Knower looks upon himself as an object, the Known, then Knowledge is produced.
Knowledge is the process of experiencing owing to the interaction between the
other two. We get a trinity of Knower, Knowledge and Known, a relativity that
derives from the Absolute One. All things may be said to be items in this
knowledge, created by the interaction. They are actualization of inherent
potentialities. This presupposes the existence of both consciousness and the
object, which in the case of Allah, who has nothing outside Himself, are one
and the same. Living, which is an interaction between the individual and the
rest of Reality is a process of self-construction. But the Quran does not say
that the physically dead are spiritually alive in paradise or hell, except in
the case of the martyrs. What it tells us is that they will be resurrected,
then judged and sent to paradise or hell.
Stage 9.
Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) was a great reformer of Islam. He
combined the three streams in Islam, the Traditional (orthodox or
institutional), philosophical Theology and Mysticism. He did so by making Greek
Philosophical methods of thinking and Islamic Sufism acceptable to the main
stream Traditional Islam through critical removal of heretical and inconsistent
elements. He attacked Avicenna and others for introducing Greek speculative
ideas into Islamic Theology, but accepted his scientific ideas. He thought that
mystical experience was superior to Theology. Theology could never lead to
certainty but was an important tool with which to combat heresies. He also
thought that philosophy (all sciences and logic were included in this term)
were good modes of thinking in the natural sciences such as Physics and
Mathematics, as well as in Law, Ethics and Politics. He showed how the pious
religious life could lead to the higher stages of Sufi experiences where alone
certainty could be achieved. As a well-known scholar, he had been invited by
Nizam ul-Mulk, vizier to the Seljuq Sultans, to become chief professor at the Nizamiah College
in Baghdad,
where his lectures were well attended. But he underwent a mystic experience,
which caused him to abandon his lucrative and honoured post, give away his
wealth, and take up a mystic semi-monastic life where he was joined by many
disciples. His teacher was the Sufi, al-Juwayni. But he was eventually persuaded
to return to the Nizamiya
College on the grounds
that the Muslims were promised that in every century a reformer of Islam would
appear and that this was he. His greatest books which not only influenced Islam
but later also Europe were “The Revival of Religious Sciences”, “Niche for
Lights”, “Incoherence of the Philosophers”, and a number of books on
Jurisprudence and Theology.
Comment:- Al-Ghazali tried to restore Islam to its
original pristine state by reuniting the three aspects of Islam, the Mystic,
Philosophic and Legal, which, we have seen had become separated in the early
days of Islam after the four Caliphs. This disintegration had caused the
conflict between sects, each of which was only able to comprehend and emphasize
a limited part of Islam. Unfortunately, though Ghazali had many followers,
there do not appear to have been a sufficient number of able men to prevent the
further deterioration of Islam.
Stage 10.
Ibn Bajjah (?-1138), reinterpreted al-Farabi’s political
philosophy. Seeing the wide spread moral corruption in the cities he concluded
that the individual can only order his own life, shunning the company of the
profane, pursuing the sciences and achieving contact with the Active
Intelligence (derived from Allah who was beyond it). The multitude, he thought
as did Plato, live as if in a dark cave with little light, seeing only shadows.
Religion had been revealed so that man may adjust to this darkness, but the
philosopher must seek the light of the intellectual sun. To do this he must
leave the cave. But he can do so only through Science, though the goal lies
beyond it. He is not, therefore, interested in Politics nor in the environment
nor in the social application of science. Philosophy has a purely psychological
function and is above religion.
Ibn-Tufayl (?-1185) further elaborated ibn-Bajjah’s
philosophy. To illustrate it he wrote a story “Alive son of the Awake”. A
solitary hero grows up on a desert island, learns about all things in his
environment, then proceeds to learn about the rest of the natural universe and
finally achieves a state of Fana (self-annihilation in the Divine). But,
because he knows nothing about other human beings, his wisdom is incomplete. He
meets another person on a neighbouring island, one who had abandoned society in
order to devote himself to meditation and worship. But he cannot at first
recognize or communicate with him. Gradually he learns that this person had
learnt his religion from a Prophet and that the teaching agreed with what he
had himself learnt through observation and reason. However, he does not
understand why the teachings were given in an allegorical form and why this
religion requires that so much time and effort should be spent on worldly
pursuits. So, because of his compassion for men, he persuades this person to
take him back to Society in order that he can teach and lead them to
enlightenment. This involves him in all kinds of disputation,
misunderstandings, cynicism and conflicts with people of limited minds. He
learns that there is a limit beyond which the masses cannot be taken without
confusion and distress. Now he understands the wisdom of why religion was given
in that particular form. His education is complete and he apologizes to the
people for the harm he has done, confessing that they were right in what they
were doing, and returns to his solitary life. Religion, in other words, being
for the masses, must be presented at the level of their understanding. The
Philosopher or Mystic must return to the cave he has left, and learn about it
lest his actions become harmful to them. The two forms of life, the spiritual
and worldly, cannot be mixed and cannot be separated. That is why the great
Spiritual leaders withdraw from the world for a period and then return. This
return is known as Baqa.
Comment:- Though all this is in the main true, this
teaching can be criticized on the following grounds:- (1) What Ibn Bajjah calls
Philosophy is not what is normally recognized as such, but really refers to
mysticism which should be regarded as one of three aspects of religion. It is
true, however, that the word “religion” is normally used for the lower
institutional form. (2) It does not distinguish between different levels in the
quality of human beings. They are not just divisible into two distinct types.
If he had recognized several levels then he could also have seen how each
higher level could communicate with and influence the next lower level. (3) It
also ignores the evolution or development of man. If everything were to be left
as it is by the intelligentsia there would be no progress. It is entirely
possible to create a social hierarchy between which there is mobility. Those at
each higher level teach those at the second level below them so as to bring
them up a stage higher to the intermediate level. It is doubtful that man left
to his own devices without the guidance of Prophets and Saints could achieve
enlightenment. Human beings learn from the experiences and knowledge that has
accumulated over the centuries within the culture of humanity. However, it is
also true that they have been conditioned into errors, fantasies and distorted
modes of motivation and behaviour by their societies and those who have the
fortune of being protected from these influences have a greater likelihood of
objective perception and development.
Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (1149-1209), made a study of
Avicenna’s work and that of the anti-Aristotelian Mutazilah, and though he
professed Asharism, it was a modified form of it. He separated clearly those
ideas in Theology which reason could deal with and those that were accessible
only through revelation. This allowed later scholars to deal freely with the
former without the danger of being accused of heresy through philosophical
speculation.
Comment:- This may have influenced the later division
of knowledge and function into the religious and the secular, things into
spiritual and physical, and reality into Mind and Matter.
Stage 11.
Ibn Rushd (Averroes 1126-1198), a younger friend of ibn
Tufayl, a Spanish Arab, was born in Cordoba where he became the Chief Judge and
personal physician to two Caliphs. He was well versed in the Quran, Hadith and Fiqh (Law), Islamic theology, Greek
Philosophy and Medicine. He integrated Islamic traditions and Aristotelian
Philosophy. This synthesis influenced Islamic as well as Jewish and Christian
theology. His system was meant to be valid legally, theologically as well as
philosophically. At the request of Caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub he produced summaries
and clarifying commentaries on most of the works of Aristotle and on Plato’s
Republic. His books also include “General Medicine”, “Decisive Treatise on the
Agreement between Religious Law and Philosophy”, “Examination of the Methods of
Proof Concerning the Doctrines of Religion”, “The Incoherence of Incoherence”.
All these defend the philosophical study of Religion against Theology and are
an answer to Ghazali. He thought that Aristotle was the embodiment of the
perfection of man and that Philosophy (reason), was superior to Revealed
Religion (not to Revelation), the latter being meant for the simpler minds. He
admired the Ideal
Republic ruled by
philosopher-kings as described by Plato but thought that the Islamic Shariah
was a far superior Law which should replace that described by Plato, and the philosopher
kings by the Imams. He accepted Aristotle’s division of Philosophy into the
Theoretical (Physics and Metaphysics) and the Practical (Ethics and Politics),
and regarded the Shariah as a perfect union of these where the Theoretical is
presented as the perception of Allah and the Practical is the Law (Fiqh). He
wrote:- “The Religious Laws conform to truth and impart a knowledge of those
actions by which the happiness of the whole creation is guaranteed.” Religion
was the whole and only truth and applied to all three classes of people - the
mystic, the philosopher (the Intelligentsia) and the masses. Happiness is the
aim of all politics and ethics in this and the next life, and this involves
understanding Allah and His creation, which is the aim of Physics and
Metaphysics. Averroes distinguishes between degrees of happiness and sees the
Shariah as the only system that provides for the happiness of all. He attacks
Plato for ignoring this aim. The Philosopher must choose the best Religion,
which was Hebrewism in the time of Moses, Christianity in the time of Jesus,
and Islam in the time of Muhammad. The Perfect State
is, therefore, a Platonic one in which the Shariah is applied and headed by a
capable and righteous Imam. This existed in the time of the first four
righteous Caliphs and then deteriorated both politically and ideologically, in
a way similar to that shown by Plato.
The aim of
Philosophy was to establish the true inner meaning of religious beliefs. But
only the philosopher employing the rules of logic was capable, competent and
obliged to interpret the prophetically revealed Law (Shariah) and not the
Theologian (when regarded as one who clung to dogmas without understanding). But
this inner meaning must not be given to the masses because this would be
corrupted and falsified by their limited understanding. They can only be given
stories and allegories, which they must accept. He applied the three forms of Aristotelian
arguments - demonstrative, dialectical and persuasive (rhetorical and poetical)
- for the benefit of the philosophers, theologians and the masses respectively.
However, he admits that the Shariah contains some teachings that are beyond
human understanding but must, nevertheless, be accepted by all believers as
revealed truths.
He failed,
however, to reinstate Philosophy because the replacement of the Almoravid
rulers by the Berber dynasty of Almohads in Spain changed the political
situation and caused practical considerations (military, political and
economic) to become more important. The Caliph Abu Yusuf, being engaged in a
Holy War against Christian Spain, required the support of the Theologians and
was forced to dismiss Ibn Rashd, though he later reinstated him.
Comment:- As he does not distinguish between levels of
consciousness or understanding and seems to be unaware of the possibility of
increasing consciousness, he, assumes that there is an absolute distinction
between revelation and reason. Therefore, reason becomes for him the highest
goal for man. The consequence of this is that he considers the Philosopher not
bound to accept anything that contradicts logical demonstration. He justifies
this by the fact that Muslims are bound by the Ijma (consensus) of the learned. Thus, he rejects the idea of
creation out of nothing because Aristotle has demonstrated that matter is
Eternal. He also rejects anthropomorphism as metaphorical. The difficulties
involved in the question of whether Allah knows only Universal Processes or/and
also Particular things is solved by saying that Allah’s knowledge is different
from that of man. All this involves self-contradiction on his part. However,
Aql, often translated as Reason, has a wider and more sublime meaning than
Reason hen it is identified with Logical thinking. Logic is after all only one of
the products of Reason. It would be better to think of it as Intelligence.
Although it is perfectly true that the Prophet is reported to have said, “Speak
to every man according to his understanding”, a principle which he applied, he
came to educate the people and raise them to a higher level of understanding.
This does not seem to be the attitude of Ibn Rushd. There is, however, no trace
of the Neo-platonic, un-Islamic theory of Emanation in his Philosophy.