Introduction To Philosophy Of Islam

Islamic philosophy • Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between philosophy (reason) and the religious teachings of Islam (faith).

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The attempt to fuse religion and philosophy is difficult because there are no clear preconditions. Philosophers typically hold that one must accept the possibility of truth from any source and follow the argument wherever it leads. On the other hand, classical religious believers have a set of religious principles that they hold to be unchallengeable fact. Given these divergent goals and views, some hold that one cannot simultaneously be a philosopher and a true adherent of Islam, which is believed to be a revealed religion by its adherents. In this view, all attempts at synthesis ultimately fail. However, others believe that a synthesis between Islam and philosophy is possible.

List of Some Famous Muslim philosophers

• A Muslim philosopher is a person that professes Islam and engaged in the philosophical aspect of Islamic studies.

List of Muslim philosophers • Al-Kindi, Abu-Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (died 259 AH/873 AD) • Al-Razi, Abu-Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (251 AH/865 AD - 313 AH/925 AD) • Al-Farabi, Abu-Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Farabi (255 AH/870 AD - 338 AH/950AD) • Ibn al-Haytham (965 AD - 1039 AD) • Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973 AD – 1048 AD) • Ibn Sina, ‫ ابن سينا‬Abu-Ali al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Sina (369 AH/980 AD - 437 AH/1037 AD) • Al Ghazali, ‫ غزالي‬Abu-Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (449 AH/1058 AD - 504 AH/1111 AD)

List of Muslim philosophers • Ibn Tufail, ‫ ابن طفيل‬Abu-Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Tufail al-Qaysi al-Andalusi • Ibn Rushd, ‫ ابن رشد‬Abu-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (519 AH/1126 AD 593 AH/1198 AD) • Nasir al-Din al-Tusi ‫( خواجه نصيرالدين توسي‬February 18, 1201 – June 26, 1274) • Ibn Khaldun ‫( ابن خلدون‬May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) • Shahab-al-Din Suhrawardi ‫شهاب الدين سهروردي‬ • Ibn Arabi ‫ابن عربي‬ • Sadr al-Din Shirazi (1571 AD – 1640 AD) • Shah Waliullah ‫شاه ولي ال‬ • Allama Muhammad Iqbal • Mohammad Baqir as Sadr ‫السيد محمد باقر الصدر‬ • Allameh Tabatabaei ‫علمه طباطبايی‬

List of Muslim philosophers

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Qutb-al-din Razi Fakhr al-Din Razi Taftazani Jorjani Zakariya Qazwini Simnani Mulana Jalal al-Din Rumi ‫مولنا‬ Mullah Jami Seyyed Hossein Nasr Ruhollah Khomeini Musa al-Sadr

How to ponder on the Philosophy of Islamic Laws? • It is correct for every Muslim to discuss about the philosophy of Islamic laws. It doesn’t mean that every person gives and spreads the logic of Islamic laws according to his own mind because interpretations based on personal whims and fancies are very harmful, dangerous and illogical and in the same way as to force a person to pray without asking any questions. That is why the question arises that What are the limits that we must observe?

The limits of research about the logic behind Islamic laws? Religious commands can be divided into four types: (1) Those orders whose philosophies was clarified to the people at the start of Besat (proclamation of prophethood) and people understood according to their caliber and the information already had and to make the people to follow the orders regularly rules and regulation were made. for example: lying, breach of trust, allegations, murder, stealing, injustice and cheating was prohibited. Justice, cleanliness, honesty, helping the oppressed, hard work, doing good to parents, relatives and neighbor, etc. Any sane person understands the philosophy and purpose of these commands. As and when the knowledge and information of practical life of a man increases he will be able to comprehend the values of the Islamic laws in a better way.

Religious commands (2) Those orders whose wisdom was not understood by the people and

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sometimes even the scholars of those times the Quran expounded their philosophies. For example maybe the people of that time where unaware of the three fold benefits of Fasting (ethical, social and medicinal) and were not knowing about its philosophy. That is why the Holy Quran has pointed towards its ethical effect by saying So that you may guard (against evil). Imam Ja’far Sadiq pointed out its social effect and said: So that the wealthy and the poor live a similar life and the wealthy become familiar with the hunger of the poor and try to help the needy. Holy Prophet (SAW) has said that you should keep fast so that your body becomes healthy (and the unused and waste matter, which is harmful and creates bad odor is expelled.) In this way there are many other commands whose secrets and logic is mentioned by the verses of the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophet (SAW).But it is necessary to remember that benefits and secrets were explained according to the level of intelligence the people and it does not mean that whatever philosophy is being given is limited to that alone. It also does not mean that it is not allowed to contemplate more on it.

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(3) Those laws whose secrets were revealed due to the passage of time and subsequently we could understand the greatness of divine commands. Like the physical, spiritual and social evils of alcoholic drinks. Or the bad effects of uneven distribution of wealth on the society, or the obvious social and economic ills of usury. All these problems are such that the passage of time and scientific developments increased the understanding of man and he was able to understand the wisdom regarding them, which was hitherto unknown to him. But it is necessary to point out that in this method any sort of extremism, going beyond the limits of reason, wrong notions, short sightedness, mistaken insight and more than anything else to consider half baked research to be confirmed fact takes one further away from the truth. Instead of making us cognizant of the secrets and knowledgeable about the logic behind the Islamic laws it takes us to wander on a wrong path. Therefore till science does not have absolute proof about something and it does not become a confirmed fact we must not make it a basis of explaining the logic behind an Islamic law.

Religious commands (4) The last type of laws whose logic was neither explained in the beginning, nor they were explained in the Islamic books and the passage of time has revealed their secrets to us. The number of Rakats (units) of Prayers, the minimum quantity of the items on which Zakat is obligatory, or some rituals of Hajj etc fall into this category. • Should the people of the future try to unveil the secrets of these laws with the help scientific discoveries and advancement of knowledge? • Or they are from those laws whose logic would not be understood by the people in the future also? • We do not know any of these things. We only know that the laws of the fourth category are as deserving of respect and their fulfillment is as important as those of the first three categories. Since the source of all these laws is same and the Last Prophet who has brought these laws to us, and proved to us by irrefutable proofs.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings • There are two important terms in the science of Islamic legal theory that cause people no end of confusion. They are the legislative cause (`illah) for Islamic legal rulings and the wisdom (hikmah) behind those rulings. Scholars of Islamic jurisprudence investigate these two terms at length in many of their writings, usually when discussing juristic analogy (qiyâs) and how legislation can be derived in consideration of the general welfare.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• Technical definition for the “legislative cause” is: “A visible and consistent attribute by which an Islamic legal ruling is known.” for example, the famous ruling that the thief’s hand is to be cut off. This is the prescribed punishment set by Allah for the thief. What is the legislative cause for this ruling? It is theft. Theft fulfills the conditions for a legislative cause that we set forth in our definition above. Theft is an attribute that is visible. People can easily identify it and distinguish it. It is not obscure to anyone. Theft is also an attribute that possesses consistency in its meaning. It can be clearly defined and delineated. It is not a subjective concept that varies from person to person of from place to place. It is also the attribute by which the Islamic ruling is known, meaning that whenever an act of theft takes place, we know that the ruling of cutting the thief’s hand is to be applied.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• As for the wisdom behind an Islamic legal ruling, it can be defined as: “the benefits that are realized or the harm that is prevented by virtue of that ruling being legislated.” Allah prescribed the ruling for us either for the sake of securing for us some benefit or for the sake of protecting us from some harm. Returning to our example of the punishment for theft, we can see that the wisdom behind its legislation is to protect and safeguard people’s property. From this, it should be clear to us that the wisdom behind an Islamic legal ruling is the objective that the ruling is intended to achieve. As for the legislative cause, it is the visible and consistent attribute upon which Allah has established the ruling, so that the ruling exists when its cause is present and the ruling does not exist when its cause is not present.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• The relationship between the wisdom behind a ruling and its legislative cause has a consequence on our ability to know what the wisdom behind a particular ruling is. Our knowledge of Allah’s wisdom behind His ruling is based upon our knowing its legislative cause. If we know and understand the legislative cause for the ruling, we can ascertain the wisdom behind it. If we are unable to discern or understand that cause, we will not be able to know the wisdom behind the ruling.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• Islamic rulings can be divided with respect to their legislative causes into two categories: 1. Rulings whose causes are understandable to the human intellect. These rulings include the prohibition of wine and the legitimacy of judicially administered retribution. It is possible for us to ascertain the wisdom behind such rulings.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• 2. Rulings whose causes are incomprehensible to the human intellect. These rulings still have causes; however our minds cannot fathom them. Scholars refer to such rulings as “rulings of pure devotion”. These include such rulings as the number of units of prayer that we pray in each of our five daily prayers, our kissing the black stone during pilgrimage, and our wiping upon the tops of our socks instead of the bottoms. Since we cannot fathom the causes for such rulings, it is impossible for us to ascertain the wisdom behind them. We are still required to believe in these rulings and accept on faith that they were prescribed for us for some wisdom that is unknown to us.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• In the terminology of Islamic jurisprudence, causes are of two types: 1. Legislative causes that we have already defined. These causes are used by scholars in the exercise of juristic analogy (qiyâs). For example, imbibing wine is prohibited by Islamic Law. The cause for its prohibition is its ability to intoxicate. Whenever this cause is present, the ruling of prohibition will be present as well. For this reason, we can know by way of analogy that all intoxicating drugs are unlawful, and not just wine.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• 2. Final causes: These are the ultimate objectives for which Allah has prescribed a certain rulings. Such causes, in fact, are synonymous with the wisdom behind the rulings. For example, Allah has permitted us to shorten our prayers when we are traveling. The ruling here is that it is permissible for us to shorten our prayers. The legislative cause for this ruling is travel. Whenever we are traveling the ruling applies, and when we are not traveling the ruling does not apply. The final cause – the wisdom – for this ruling is the consideration of the difficulties people face when traveling.

The Wisdom behind Allah’s Rulings and the Legislative Causes for Those Rulings

• Returning to our example of the prohibition of wine, the ruling here is one of prohibition. The legislative cause for this ruling is intoxication, so that whenever something intoxicates it will be prohibited by Islamic Law. The final cause – the wisdom – for this ruling is the preservation of the human mind from what brings it harm and ruination.