Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

110 Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History
Most of al-Kind¥’s immediate students were more significant as
scientists than as philosophers, and his real successor on the philosophical
scene was not among them. Yet their philosophical views,
especially those of Ab¨ appleayyib al-Sarakhs¥, deserve to be closely studied
and integrated into general histories of the Peripatetic school. As
for al-Kind¥’s real successor, this title must be given to Ab¨ Na∑r al-
Fåråb¥ (d. 339/950), who hailed from Khurasan in Central Asia. Many
consider al-Fåråb¥ to be the real founder of Islamic Peripatetic philosophy,
and it was he more than al-Kind¥ who formulated the Arabic
philosophical language and wrote about the relation between the Arabic
language and the expression of Aristotelian logic. He commented on
Aristotle’s Organon and is the father of formal logic in the Islamic
world. He furthermore sought to synthesize the political philosophy
of Plato and Islamic political thought in his masterpiece Kitåb årå˘ ahl
al-mad¥nat al-få¿ilah (The Book of the Opinions of the Citizens of the
Virtuous City), and is considered to be the founder of Islamic political
philosophy. Al-Fåråb¥ also wrote of the harmony between the views of
Plato and Aristotle, as well as on these philosophers individually and
on various metaphysical and epistemological questions. He is, moreover,
the first Islamic philosopher to systematize the emanation scheme
(fay¿) of the ten intellects from the One, for which Peripatetic philosophy
is known.
After al-Fåråb¥ , Khurasan gradually became the major center of
philosophical activity, but throughout the fourth/tenth century
Baghdad continued as an important center, following the earlier activities
of al-Kind¥. In the second half of the tenth century, however, the
philosophical scene in Baghdad turned mostly to the study of logic
under the guidance of Ab¨ Sulaymån al-Sijistån¥, who was also known
as al-Man†iq¥ (the Logician). Meanwhile Ab¨˘l ¡asan al-‘≈mir¥ from
Khurasan was developing the Fåråbian teachings further and adding a
new chapter of his own to Islamic philosophy by attempting to incorporate
certain pre-Islamic Iranian ideas into his political philosophy.
Early Peripatetic philosophy reached its peak soon after al-‘≈mir¥
with another Persian philosopher, Ab¨ ‘Al¥ al-¡usayn ibn ‘Abd Allåh
ibn S¥nå (369–428/980–1037), usually known as Ibn S¥nå (Avicenna).
Often considered the greatest Islamic philosopher, Ibn S¥nå created a
vast synthesis of Peripatetic thought in his Kitåb al-shifå˘ (The Book of
Healing), which dominated many dimensions of Islamic thought for
centuries. His ontological distinction between wuj¶b (necessity) and
imkån (contingency) 3 became central to Islamic thought and also deeply
influenced Jewish and Christian philosophy and theology, as did his
integration of the study of the three kingdoms within the scheme of