This paper gave a very short and therefore incomplete overview of Islamic classical philosophy. The Islamic context alone – the nuances between different schools of thought – could easily have filled these pages. I have, however, chosen to leave it out as much as possible, as well as the backgrounds of individual thinkers that were discussed above. This is not without reason. My main purpose has been to highlight the development of falsafa, to show how it grew into a worthy discipline of its own. I hope to have made clear that this philosophy was preoccupied by certain questions: the relationship between God and the world; creation versus emanation; (Greek) philosophy; and the relationship between that philosophy and Islam. I chose to emphasize these subjects, because they illustrate to what degree falsafa was intertwined with Greek philosophy and Islam.
In conclusion, we can say that what started with al-Kindī, and went all the way through to Ibn Rushd, is a dialogue about the interplay between Islam and philosophy; an not unsuccessful search for mutual benefits. Islam found in Greek philosophy at times merely an instrument, and at best the way to veritable truths about God and the creation of the world. Greek philosophy found in Islam a way to merge Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic thought, as well as new ideas about life, religion, death, logic and creation to interchange. The philosophers described in this paper have created their own brand of philosophy. When asked to title this particular brand either Arabic or Islamic philosophy, I would be inclined to give my support to the term Islamic, it does more justice to the interaction between Islam and falsafa.
As Adamson and Taylor correctly point out: “It is Arabic philosophy because it is philosophy that begins with the rendering of Greek thought, in all its complexity, into the Arabic language. Note that it is not “Arab” philosophy: few of the figures dealt with here were ethnically Arabs… Rather, philosophy spread with the Arabic language itself throughout the lands of the expanding Islamic empire.”[1] Translation was the start, and it is important to remember these beginnings; however, I do not agree this to be sufficient argument for the designation “Arabic”. As I hope to have shown, even without focusing on the Islamic context, the interaction with Islam is undeniable — even aside of the fact that Islam as a religion has a particularly deep connection to the linguistics of Arabic.
To say where you come from, does not necessarily (fully) cover who you are. Islam is much more than a mere context, even for the Islamic philosophers who did not adhere to the Islamic faith themselves. The region may have been more of a melting pot than a coherent Islamic society at the time, but one could consider that to be an important part of Islamic civilization. The Qur’ān provides for that: in that holy book older religions maintain their privileges, even as they are living among Muslims. There even is a term for it in Arabic: People of the Scripture (′Ahl al-Kitāb), which is used to describe adherents to religions which have received part of the revelations that are important to Islam. Jews, Christians, and even Buddhists are said to be among those people. Moreover, the Islamic prophet Muhammed considered freedom of religion to be a vital necessity for any religion, especially Islam. In the Qur’ān we can read that he told his followers that religion cannot be forced. Thus, arguably the term “Islamic philosophy” is more inclusive for thinkers with varying cultural backgrounds, than the title of “Arabic Philosophy”. Of course, within the development of Islam itself there have been turbulent years which might refute this viewpoint to an extent. One could claim that it is not an essential part of Islamic society, but merely a convention that was maintained only in certain periods. Still, these conditions did prevail during the classical period of falsafa, its starting point.
This is not the only reason for my inclination towards the use of the term “Islamic” to describe the philosophers mentioned above. My second argument is one of more substance. Denying the term “Islamic philosophy” would not do justice to Islam. As mentioned during its first periods Islam, unlike Christianity, was not familiar with the problems of opposition between religion and reason. It allowed for more freedom for criticism; and therefore incorporated falsafa much more than philosophy in the European Christian world ever was during those periods. It has been remarkable to discover the freedom critical Islamic thinkers enjoyed in the Islamic realm, in a period where the European Christians would keep everything closed up tight for that century and those following. When reading the first Islamic thinkers, one will find that the key topics of falsafa are related to, and sometimes even merged with, the interpretation of Islam’s holy book (the Qur’ān) and of the existence and works of God. Most importantly, the texts were translated into Arabic to help thinkers with questions related to Islam. It was for the benefit of Islamic theological thinkers that the translation of work from Greek started, and from there it evolved into an assimilation process.
The title for this philosophy should show not only its beginning, but also its cause and effect. The Islamic Classical Philosophy created unique ideas that were not restricted to language. Proof of this is the later incorporation of the Arabic thoughts by the later Christian thinkers – they took off where there Islamic counterparts left off.
Primary literature:
P. ADAMSON / R. C. TAYLOR (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy,CambridgeUniversity Press 2005.
M. FAKHRY, A History of Islamic Philosophy, Columbia University Press, 2004.
M. LEEZENBERG, Islamitische Filosofie: Een Geschiedenis, Boulaq, Amsterdam 2008.
Secondary literature:
P. ADAMSON, Al-Kindi, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-kindi/
K.A. ALGRA, F.A.J. DE HAAS, J.M. VAN OPHUIJSEN and C.G. STEEL, Griekse en Romeinse Filosofie, Leiden, Vierde uitgave, Augustus 2006.
H. CORBIN, A History of Islamic Philosophy. Trans. L. Sherrard and P. Sherrard, K. Paul, London and New York 1993.
F. GRIFFEL, Al-Ghazali, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-ghazali/
R. JACKSON, Fifty Key Figures in Islam, Routledge, New York, 2006.
O. LEAMAN, An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001.
J. MCGINNIS (Author, Editor), D.C. REISMAN (Editor), Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, Hackett, Indianapolis 2007.