The History of Philosophy in Islam

ISLAM ***

THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IN ISLAM

BY Dr. T. J. DE BOER, UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN.

TRANSLATED (with the sanction of the Author) BY EDWARD R. JONES B.D.

LONDON LUZAC & CO., 46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, 1903.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFATORY NOTE.

This edition of Dr. de Boer’s recent work is produced in the hope that it may prove interesting to not a few English readers, and especially that it may be of service to younger students commencing to study the subject which is dealt with in the following pages. The translator has aimed at nothing more than a faithful reproduction of the original. His best thanks are due to the accomplished author, for his kindness in revising the proof-sheets of the version, as it passed through the Press.

E. R. J.

PREFACE.

The following is the first attempt which has been made, since the appearance of Munk’s excellent sketch [1], to present in connected form a History of Philosophy in Islam. This work of mine may therefore be regarded as a fresh initiation,—not a completion of such a task. I could not know of all that had been done by others, in the way of preliminary study in this field; and when I did know of the existence of such material, it was not always accessible to me. As for manuscript assistance, it was only in exceptional cases that this was at my disposal.

Conforming to the conditions which I had to meet, I have in the following account refrained from stating my authorities. But anything which I may have taken over, nearly word for word or without testing it, I have marked in foot-references. For the rest, I deeply regret that I cannot duly indicate at present how much I owe, as regards appreciation of the sources, to men like Dieterici, de Goeje, Goldziher, Houtsma, Aug. Müller, Munk, Nöldeke, Renan, Snouck Hurgronje, van Vloten, and many, many others.

Since the completion of this volume an interesting monograph on Ibn Sina [2] has appeared, which farther extends its survey over the earlier history of Philosophy in Islam. It gives rise to no occasion, however, to alter substantially my conception of the subject.

For all bibliographical details I refer the reader to “die Orientalische Bibliographie”, Brockelmann’s “Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur”, and Ueberweg—Heinze’s “Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie” II3, p. 213 sqq. In the transcription of Arabic names I have been more heedful of tradition and German pronunciation, than of consistency. Be it noted only that z is to be pronounced as a soft s, and th like the corresponding English sound [3]. In the Index of Personal Names, accents signify length.

As far as possible I have confined myself to Islam. On that ground Ibn Gebirol and Maimonides have received only a passing notice, while other Jewish thinkers have been entirely omitted, although, philosophically considered, they belong to the Muslim school. This, however, entails no great loss, for much has been written already about the Jewish philosophers, whereas Muslim thinkers have hitherto been sadly neglected.

Groningen (Netherlands).

T. J. de Boer.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction.

PAGE

1. The Theatre 1–6 1. Ancient Arabia 1 2. The first Caliphs. Medina. The Shiʻites 2 3. The Omayyads. Damascus, Basra and Kufa 3 4. The Abbasids. Bagdad 3 5. Minor States. Fall of the Caliphate 5

2. Oriental Wisdom 6–11 1. Semitic Speculation 6 2. Persian Religion. Zrwanism 8 3. Indian Wisdom 8

3. Greek Science 11–30 1. The Syrians 11 2. The Christian Churches 11 3. Edessa and Nisibis 12 4. Harran 13 5. Gondeshapur 14 6. Syriac Translations 14 7. Philosophy among the Syrians 16 8. Arabic Translations 17 9. The Philosophy of the Translators 19 10. Range of Tradition 21 11. Continuation of Neo-Platonism 22 12. The “Book of the Apple” 24 13. The “Theology of Aristotle” 25 14. Conception of Aristotle 27 15. Philosophy in Islam 28

CHAPTER II.

Philosophy and Arab Knowledge.

1. Grammatical Science 31–35 1. The several Sciences 31 2. The Arabic Language. The Koran 31 3. The Grammarians of Basra and Kufa 32 4. Grammar influenced by Logic. Metrical Studies 33 5. Grammatical Science and Philosophy 35

2. Ethical Teaching 36–41 1. Tradition and Individual Opinion (Sunna, Hadith, Raʼy) 36 2. Analogy (Qiyas). Consensus of the Congregation (Idjma) 37 3. Position and Contents of the Muslim Ethical System (al-Fiqh) 38 4. Ethics and Politics 40

3. Doctrinal Systems 41–64 1. Christian Dogmatic 41 2. The Kalam 42 3. The Mutazilites and their Opponents 43 4. Human and Divine Action 44 5. The Being of God 46 6. Revelation and Reason 48 7. Abu-l-Hudhail 49 8. Nazzam 51 9. Djahiz 53 10. Muammar and Abu Hashim 54 11. Ashari 55 12. The Atomistic Kalam 57 13. Mysticism or Sufism 62

4. Literature and History 65–71 1. Literature 65 2. Abu-l-Atahia. Mutanabbi. Abu-l-Ala. Hariri 65 3. Annalistic. Historical Tradition 67 4. Masudi and Muqaddasi 69

CHAPTER III.

The Pythagorean Philosophy.

1. Natural Philosophy 72–80 1. The Sources 72 2. Mathematical Studies 73 3. Natural Science 75 4. Medicine 76 5. Razi 77 6. The Dahrites 80

2. The Faithful Brethren of Basra 81–96 1. The Karmatites 81 2. The Brethren and their Encyclopaedia 82 3. Eclecticism 84 4. Knowledge 85 5. Mathematics 87 6. Logic 89 7. God and the World 90 8. The Human Soul 92 9. Philosophy of Religion 93 10. Ethics 94 11. Influence of the Encyclopaedia 95

CHAPTER IV.

The Neo-Platonic Aristotelians of The East.

1. Kindi 97–106 1. His Life 97 2. Relation to Theology 99 3. Mathematics 100 4. God; World; Soul 101 5. Doctrine of the Spirit (ʻaql) 102 6. Kindi as an Aristotelian 104 7. The School of Kindi 105

2. Farabi 106–128 1. The Logicians 106 2. Farabi’s Life 107 3. Relation to Plato and Aristotle 108 4. Farabi’s Conception of Philosophy 110 5. His Logic 111 6. His Metaphysics. Being. God 114 7. The Celestial World 115 8. The Terrestrial World 117 9. The Human Soul 118 10. The Spirit in Man 119 11. Farabi’s Ethics 121 12. His Politics 122 13. The Future Life 123 14. General Survey of Farabi’s System 124 15. Effects of his Philosophy. Sidjistani 126

3. Ibn Maskawaih 128–131 1. His Position 128 2. The Nature of the Soul 128 3. The Principles of his Ethics 129

4. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 131–148 1. His Life 131 2. His Work 132 3. Branches of Philosophy. Logic 134 4. Metaphysics and Physics 135 5. Anthropology and Psychology 139 6. The Reason 141 7. Allegorical Representation of the Doctrine of the Reason 143 8. Esoteric Teaching 144 9. Ibn Sina’s Time. Beruni 145 10. Behmenyar 146 11. Survival of Ibn Sina’s Influence 147

5. Ibn al-Haitham (Alhazen) 148–153 1. Scientific Movement turning Westward 148 2. Ibn al-Haitham’s Life and Works 149 3. Perception and Judgment 150 4. Slender effect left by his Teaching 152

CHAPTER V.

The Outcome of Philosophy in The East.

1. Gazali 154–168 1. Dialectic and Mysticism 154 2. Gazali’s Life 155 3. Attitude towards his Time: Hostility to Aristotelianism 158 4. The World as the Production of God’s Free Creative Might 159 5. God and Divine Providence 162 6. Doctrine of the Resurrection 163 7. Gazali’s Theology 164 8. Experience and Revelation 166 9. Estimate of Gazali’s Position and Teaching 168

2. The Epitomists 169–171 1. Position of Philosophy in the East, after Gazali’s Time 169 2. Philosophical Culture 170

CHAPTER VI.

Philosophy in The West.

1. Beginnings 172–175 1. The Age of the Omayyads 172 2. The Eleventh Century 174

2. Ibn Baddja (Avempace) 175–181 1. The Almoravids 175 2. Ibn Baddja’s Life 176 3. The Character of his Works 177 4. His Logic and Metaphysics 177 5. His Opinions regarding Soul and Spirit 178 6. The Individual Man 179

3. Ibn Tofail (Abubacer) 181–187 1. The Almohads 181 2. Ibn Tofail’s Life 182 3. “Hai ibn Yaqzan” 182 4. “Hai” and the Development of Humanity 184 5. “Hai’s” Ethics 185

4. Ibn Roshd (Averroes) 187–199 1. His Life 187 2. Ibn Roshd and Aristotle 188 3. Logic. Attainability of Truth 189 4. The World and God 191 5. Body and Spirit 193 6. Spirit and Spirits 194 7. Estimate of Ibn Roshd as a Thinker 196 8. Summary of his Views on the Relations of Theology, Religion and Philosophy to one another. Practical Philosophy 197

CHAPTER VII.

Conclusion.

1. Ibn Khaldun 200–208 1. The Conditions of his Time 200 2. Ibn Khaldun’s Life 201 3. Philosophy and Worldly Experience 202 4. Philosophy of History. Historical Method 204 5. The Subject of History 205 6. Characterization 206

2. The Arabs and Scholasticism 208–213 1. Political Situation. The Jews 208 2. Palermo and Toledo 209 3. Parisian Averroism in the Thirteenth Century 211

I. INTRODUCTION.

1. The Theatre.

1. In olden time the Arabian desert was, as it is at this day, the roaming-ground of independent Bedouin tribes. With free and healthy minds they contemplated their monotonous world, whose highest charm was the raid, and whose intellectual treasure was the tribal tradition. Neither the achievements of social labour, nor the accomplishments of elegant leisure were known to them. Only on the borders of the desert, in regularly constituted communities, which often had to suffer from the incursions of those Bedouins, a higher degree of civilization had been attained. This was the case in the South, where the ancient kingdom of the Queen of Sheba continued its existence in Christian times under Abyssinian or Persian overlordship. On the West lay Mecca and Medina (Yathrib), by an old caravan route; and Mecca in particular, with its market safe-guarded by a temple, was the centre of a brisk traffic. Lastly on the North, two semi-sovereign States had been formed under Arab princes: towards Persia, the kingdom of the Lakhmids in Hira; and towards Byzantium the dominion of the Gassanids in Syria. In speech and poetry, however, the unity of the Arab nation was set forth to some extent even before Mohammed’s time. The poets were the ‘men of knowledge’ for their people. Their incantations held good as oracles, first of all for their several tribes, but no doubt extending their influence often beyond their own particular septs.

2. Mohammed and his immediate successors, Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman and Ali (622–661) succeeded in inspiring the free sons of the desert, together with the more civilized inhabitants of the coast-lands, with enthusiasm for a joint enterprise. To this circumstance Islam owes its world-position: for Allah showed himself great, and the world was quite small for those who surrendered themselves to him (Muslims). In a short time the whole of Persia was conquered, and the East-Roman empire lost its fairest provinces,—Syria and Egypt.

Medina was the seat of the first Caliphs or representatives of the prophet. Then Mohammed’s brave son-in-law Ali, and Ali’s sons, fell before Moawiya, the able governor of Syria. From that time dates the existence of the party of Ali (Shiʻites), which in the course of diverse vicissitudes,—now reduced to subjection, now in detached places attaining power,—lives on in history, until it finally incorporates itself with the Persian kingdom in definite opposition to Sunnite Islam.

In their struggle against the secular power the Shiʻites availed themselves of every possible weapon,—even of science. Very early there appears among them the sect of the Kaisanites, which ascribes to Ali and his heirs a superhuman secret lore, by the help of which the inner meaning of the Divine revelation first becomes clear, but which demands from its devotees not less faith in, and absolute obedience to, the possessor of such knowledge, than does the letter of the Koran. (Cf. III, 2 § 1).

3. After the victory of Moawiya, who made Damascus the capital of the Muslim empire, the importance of Medina lay mainly in the spiritual province. It had to content itself with fostering, partly under Jewish and Christian influences, a knowledge of the Law and Tradition. In Damascus, on the other hand, the Omayyads (661–750) conducted the secular government. Under their rule the empire spread from the Atlantic to districts beyond the frontiers of India and Turkestan, and from the Indian Ocean to the Caucasus and the very walls of Constantinople. With this development, however, it had reached its farthest extension.

Arabs now assumed everywhere the leading position. They formed a military aristocracy; and the most striking proof of their influence is the fact, that conquered nations with an old and superior civilization accepted the language of their conquerors. Arabic became the language of Church and State, of Poetry and Science. But while the higher offices in the State and the Army were administered by Arabs in preference, the care of the Arts and Sciences fell, first of all, to Non-Arabs and men of mixed blood. In Syria school-instruction was received from Christians. The chief seats of intellectual culture, however, were Basra and Kufa, in which Arabs and Persians, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Magians rubbed shoulders together. There, where trade and industry were thriving, the beginnings of secular science in Islam must be sought for,—beginnings themselves due to Hellenistic-Christian and Persian influences.

4. The Omayyads were succeeded by the Abbasids (750–1258). To obtain the sovereignty, the latter had granted concessions to the Persians, and had utilized religio-political movements. During the first century of their rule (i.e. up to about 860), though only during that period, the greatness of the empire continued to increase, or at least it held its own. In the year 762, Mansur, the second ruler of this house, founded Bagdad as the new capital,—a city which soon outshone Damascus in worldly splendour, and Basra and Kufa in intellectual illumination. Constantinople alone could be compared to it. Poets and scholars, particularly from the North-Eastern provinces, met together in Bagdad at the court of Mansur (754–775), of Harun (786–809), of Mamun (813–833), and others. Several of the Abbasids had a liking for secular culture, whether for its own sake or to adorn their court, and although they may often have failed to recognize the value of artists and learned men, these at any rate could appreciate the material benefits conferred upon them by their patrons.