celt islam
11-12-2005, 10:32 PM
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi.
The Truth is from your Lord, so be not at all in doubt (Qur’an 2:147)
Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi, also known as the Mu’alim Thani (Second Teacher) of the East, was born in 870 AD in Farab, a city now almost non-existent, in mid Turkey. Once this city was the birthplace of several internationally famous intellectuals and philosophers of the Muslim world. The great Timur-I-leng (Tamerlane) breathed his last in this city.
Despite his prolonged stay in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, etc. he never changed his Turkish dress nor did he forsake his nickname, Farabi at-Turki, by which he was known. The Amir of Aleppo, Hamdani Sayfu’d-dawla, made him a member of his inner court when he found him an expert in eighty-nine languages, and a great scholar in Muslim fiqh, in philosophy, science, medicine, and even in poetry and music.
He was a man of short stature. He studied and spent his boyhood in Farab and then left for Bukhara where he accepted the post of Qadi. But his thirst for knowledge drove him on and made him give up to post of Qadi. He ended up in Baghdad, then the center of learning of the world. here he, at first, studied the Arabic language and then Greek. Then he studied Aristotle’s philosophy and logic under the guidance of a famous philosopher Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus. It is said that he prepared seventy volumes of notebooks to jot down the sum and substance of philosophy. He then studied Arabic grammar under the famous grammarian and linguist Abu Bakr ibn Saraj. Then he studied, under the guidance of several great scholars, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, medicine and astronomy. But despite his profound scholarship in several subjects, he excelled particularly in philosophy, and he remained immortal for his contribution to this subject.
He stayed in Baghdad for more than forty years (from 901-942 AD) and during this long period he studied devotedly Aristotle’s logic and philosophy and wrote a few original books on philosophy. During his stay in Baghdad six khalifs followed one after the other in quick succession and these changes in the khalifate and the chaos which resulted from them made life miserable for a man otherwise given to peace. Eventually he left Baghdad and stayed in Turkestan for some time. At this time, under the orders of ‘Ali Sam’an, the local Amir, he wrote his famous book at-Ta’lim ath’Thani. It is to be noted that in the intellectual circles of the East, Aristotle is regarded as the father of philosophy and al-Farabi as the second father, or the mu’alim thani.
Al-Farabi then left for Syria and then for Egypt. But he soon returned to Syria and settled down in Aleppo. Meanwhile in 954 AD Amir Sayfu’d-Dawla defeated and drove out the ruler of Syria and himself settled in Aleppo.
Al-Farabi, one day approached Amir Sayfu’d-Dawla as an ordinary musafir, but the Amir having come to know of his great scholarship and contribution to learning, received him in his court with great honor. He at once gave him a very high position in the court but the peace loving and knowledge-thirsty al-Farabi asked for nothing but a four dirham state grant and a solitary room to enable him to devote himself to his studies and research, which was granted. He dedicated himself peacefully to his studies thereafter.
In 950 AD Amir Syafu’d-dawla made and expedition to Damascus and took al-Farabi with him. But the eighty year old al-Farabi with his fragile body could not withstand the fatigues of this expedition and died soon after he reached Damascus. Amir Syafu’d-dawla himself attended his janaza (funeral) and buried him in Damascus in the vicinity of the Bab as-Saghir near the grave of Amir Mu’awiya, the Companion of the Prophet and founder of the Umayyad dynasty. People from all walks of life even now visit his grave to pay their homage to this great drinker from the fountain of knowledge.
Al-Farabi wrote more than one hundred books in Arabic on philosophy, science, medicine, music, etc., but only a dozen or so books are still available in the libraries of the world. His books have been translated into different languages of both the East and West. His name is honorably remembered along with the greatest philosophers of the world. Among the Muslim philosophers his name is uppermost, followed by Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd.
But he differed from Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd in not involving himself in politics. Love for knowledge was the driving force of his life. His observations on Aristotle and Plato were remarkable. It is due to him that all other philosophers after him were able to recognise them. He is the first Muslim writer of encyclopedic knowledge and the father of mantiq (Islamic logic). He is the man who gave correct and practical demonstration of syllogism with examples, and he is the one who introduced several modes of deductive method.
He transformed Aristotle’s Divine duality into one God and he searched for Truth itself and succeeding in finding it through his high philosophy and mysticism. Based on his findings, a group of later philosophers known as the Ikhwan as-Safa and people like Ibn Sina, Nasru’d-din at-Tusi, As-Sulami, Imam al-Ghazzali, etc. perfected tasawwuf, or mysticism, in Islam. While analyzing philosophy in the light of Islam he made extensive use of words like ‘revelation’, tasbih, risalat, Heaven, Hell, ‘Arsh, Kursi, Taqdir, Taqlid, etc. In this field, he is the father of Islamic philosophy vis-ŕ-vis religion. In his opinion, prophecy is the greatest spiritual and ethical achievement and not the result of any birthright. And thus for him the position of philosophy is above a prophecy. For this he was bitterly criticized by the ‘ulama’ class, particularly by the Shaykh al-Islam, Imam Ibn Taymiyya. Ibn Taymiyya issued a fatwa banning the study of philosophy.
Al-Farabi was the first to study society, and he is, in this respect the forerunner of Ibn Khaldun, another great historian and social scientist. Some people of the West regard Al-Farabi as the originator of Rousseau’s Social Contract, and others make him the ancestor of the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, with regard to his theory of Rational Morality.
In political thought, Al-Farabi is considered to be the father of the Arabs in political science. Al-Farabi studied extensively Plato’s Republic and The Laws, and gave a new analytical explanation to political science. His formula is quite different from that of Plato. A thousand years ago it was he who gave the world the idea of ruling the world under one government. His five original books on political science are still available. They are: (1) Siyasatu’l-Madaniyya (2) Arawal Ahlil (3) Madinatu’l Fadila (4) Jawami’ as-Siyasa and (5) Ijtima’ Madania.
In short, he presented some rare original ideas to political science, which have still not been realized. He held that if someone embodying all the qualities is not available, then the state should be governed jointly by a group of rulers of particular qualities. This theory presaged the present system of having council of ministers to run the administration.
His greatest book, Ihsa al-‘Ulum, on philosophy had a tremendous influence on the philosophers of the world. Many philosophers have written criticisms of this book as well. His other important book, Fusus al-Hikma, is equally popular among the philosophers.
His profound scholarship in the field of medicine, although recognized by all, did not leave us any proof that, like his disciple, Ibn Sina, he practiced medicine. His book on medicine, Al-Madinat al-Fadila is a popular book.
He also wrote books on music. His Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir is a well-known book on music. He is said to have invented a musical instrument whose name, according to several music experts, was Qanun.
Al-Farabi died about a thousand years ago, but his following words of advice are remarkable:
As the success of a tree lies in its fruits, so the success of morality lies in finding real peace, and the ultimate result of a constant moral life is perfect and genuine peace.
The Truth is from your Lord, so be not at all in doubt (Qur’an 2:147)
Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi, also known as the Mu’alim Thani (Second Teacher) of the East, was born in 870 AD in Farab, a city now almost non-existent, in mid Turkey. Once this city was the birthplace of several internationally famous intellectuals and philosophers of the Muslim world. The great Timur-I-leng (Tamerlane) breathed his last in this city.
Despite his prolonged stay in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, etc. he never changed his Turkish dress nor did he forsake his nickname, Farabi at-Turki, by which he was known. The Amir of Aleppo, Hamdani Sayfu’d-dawla, made him a member of his inner court when he found him an expert in eighty-nine languages, and a great scholar in Muslim fiqh, in philosophy, science, medicine, and even in poetry and music.
He was a man of short stature. He studied and spent his boyhood in Farab and then left for Bukhara where he accepted the post of Qadi. But his thirst for knowledge drove him on and made him give up to post of Qadi. He ended up in Baghdad, then the center of learning of the world. here he, at first, studied the Arabic language and then Greek. Then he studied Aristotle’s philosophy and logic under the guidance of a famous philosopher Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus. It is said that he prepared seventy volumes of notebooks to jot down the sum and substance of philosophy. He then studied Arabic grammar under the famous grammarian and linguist Abu Bakr ibn Saraj. Then he studied, under the guidance of several great scholars, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, medicine and astronomy. But despite his profound scholarship in several subjects, he excelled particularly in philosophy, and he remained immortal for his contribution to this subject.
He stayed in Baghdad for more than forty years (from 901-942 AD) and during this long period he studied devotedly Aristotle’s logic and philosophy and wrote a few original books on philosophy. During his stay in Baghdad six khalifs followed one after the other in quick succession and these changes in the khalifate and the chaos which resulted from them made life miserable for a man otherwise given to peace. Eventually he left Baghdad and stayed in Turkestan for some time. At this time, under the orders of ‘Ali Sam’an, the local Amir, he wrote his famous book at-Ta’lim ath’Thani. It is to be noted that in the intellectual circles of the East, Aristotle is regarded as the father of philosophy and al-Farabi as the second father, or the mu’alim thani.
Al-Farabi then left for Syria and then for Egypt. But he soon returned to Syria and settled down in Aleppo. Meanwhile in 954 AD Amir Sayfu’d-Dawla defeated and drove out the ruler of Syria and himself settled in Aleppo.
Al-Farabi, one day approached Amir Sayfu’d-Dawla as an ordinary musafir, but the Amir having come to know of his great scholarship and contribution to learning, received him in his court with great honor. He at once gave him a very high position in the court but the peace loving and knowledge-thirsty al-Farabi asked for nothing but a four dirham state grant and a solitary room to enable him to devote himself to his studies and research, which was granted. He dedicated himself peacefully to his studies thereafter.
In 950 AD Amir Syafu’d-dawla made and expedition to Damascus and took al-Farabi with him. But the eighty year old al-Farabi with his fragile body could not withstand the fatigues of this expedition and died soon after he reached Damascus. Amir Syafu’d-dawla himself attended his janaza (funeral) and buried him in Damascus in the vicinity of the Bab as-Saghir near the grave of Amir Mu’awiya, the Companion of the Prophet and founder of the Umayyad dynasty. People from all walks of life even now visit his grave to pay their homage to this great drinker from the fountain of knowledge.
Al-Farabi wrote more than one hundred books in Arabic on philosophy, science, medicine, music, etc., but only a dozen or so books are still available in the libraries of the world. His books have been translated into different languages of both the East and West. His name is honorably remembered along with the greatest philosophers of the world. Among the Muslim philosophers his name is uppermost, followed by Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd.
But he differed from Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd in not involving himself in politics. Love for knowledge was the driving force of his life. His observations on Aristotle and Plato were remarkable. It is due to him that all other philosophers after him were able to recognise them. He is the first Muslim writer of encyclopedic knowledge and the father of mantiq (Islamic logic). He is the man who gave correct and practical demonstration of syllogism with examples, and he is the one who introduced several modes of deductive method.
He transformed Aristotle’s Divine duality into one God and he searched for Truth itself and succeeding in finding it through his high philosophy and mysticism. Based on his findings, a group of later philosophers known as the Ikhwan as-Safa and people like Ibn Sina, Nasru’d-din at-Tusi, As-Sulami, Imam al-Ghazzali, etc. perfected tasawwuf, or mysticism, in Islam. While analyzing philosophy in the light of Islam he made extensive use of words like ‘revelation’, tasbih, risalat, Heaven, Hell, ‘Arsh, Kursi, Taqdir, Taqlid, etc. In this field, he is the father of Islamic philosophy vis-ŕ-vis religion. In his opinion, prophecy is the greatest spiritual and ethical achievement and not the result of any birthright. And thus for him the position of philosophy is above a prophecy. For this he was bitterly criticized by the ‘ulama’ class, particularly by the Shaykh al-Islam, Imam Ibn Taymiyya. Ibn Taymiyya issued a fatwa banning the study of philosophy.
Al-Farabi was the first to study society, and he is, in this respect the forerunner of Ibn Khaldun, another great historian and social scientist. Some people of the West regard Al-Farabi as the originator of Rousseau’s Social Contract, and others make him the ancestor of the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, with regard to his theory of Rational Morality.
In political thought, Al-Farabi is considered to be the father of the Arabs in political science. Al-Farabi studied extensively Plato’s Republic and The Laws, and gave a new analytical explanation to political science. His formula is quite different from that of Plato. A thousand years ago it was he who gave the world the idea of ruling the world under one government. His five original books on political science are still available. They are: (1) Siyasatu’l-Madaniyya (2) Arawal Ahlil (3) Madinatu’l Fadila (4) Jawami’ as-Siyasa and (5) Ijtima’ Madania.
In short, he presented some rare original ideas to political science, which have still not been realized. He held that if someone embodying all the qualities is not available, then the state should be governed jointly by a group of rulers of particular qualities. This theory presaged the present system of having council of ministers to run the administration.
His greatest book, Ihsa al-‘Ulum, on philosophy had a tremendous influence on the philosophers of the world. Many philosophers have written criticisms of this book as well. His other important book, Fusus al-Hikma, is equally popular among the philosophers.
His profound scholarship in the field of medicine, although recognized by all, did not leave us any proof that, like his disciple, Ibn Sina, he practiced medicine. His book on medicine, Al-Madinat al-Fadila is a popular book.
He also wrote books on music. His Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir is a well-known book on music. He is said to have invented a musical instrument whose name, according to several music experts, was Qanun.
Al-Farabi died about a thousand years ago, but his following words of advice are remarkable:
As the success of a tree lies in its fruits, so the success of morality lies in finding real peace, and the ultimate result of a constant moral life is perfect and genuine peace.