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

Study of the History of Islamic Philosophy 113
THEOLOGIANS AGAINST PHILOSOPHERS
From the fifth/eleventh to the seventh/thirteenth century, the domination
of western Asia by Seljuqs led to the eclipse of philosophy in
the eastern lands of Islam. The caliphate, supported by the Seljuqs,
preferred the teaching of kalåm in the madrasahs (Islamic schools) to
philosophy, although kalåm itself, as discussed earlier, developed over
time in a more philosophical form. During this period, the only notable
philosopher in the eastern lands was the Persian poet and mathematician
Omar Khayyam to whom we shall turn later in this book.
The major theologians of this era, such as Ab¨ ¡åmid Mu±ammad al-
Ghazzål¥ (d. 505/1111), Ab¨˘l-Fat± al-Shahrastån¥ (d. 548/1153), and
Fakhr al-D¥n al-Råz¥ (d. 606/1210), wrote treatises against Peripatetic
and, in the case of Ghazzål¥ and Råz¥ also against Ismå‘¥l¥ philosophy,
thereby curtailing philosophical activity in the eastern lands of Islam. 8
The most famous attack against the falåsifah came from the great
Sufi theologian al-Ghazzål¥, who, however, dealt with philosophical
themes himself and even composed treatises on formal logic. In his
autobiography, ål-Munqidh min al-¿alål (The Deliverance from Error),
al-Ghazzål¥ criticized the Peripatetic philosophers severely. Then he
summarized their views in his Maqå„id al-falåsifah (The Purposes of the
Philosophers), which caused the Latin Schoolmen to think of al-
Ghazzål¥ himself as a Peripatetic. Finally, in his Tahåfut al-falåsifah (Incoherence
of the Philosophers), he sought to demolish the views of the
philosophers, accusing them of deviating from Islam in their denial of
the createdness of the world, God’s knowledge of particulars, and
bodily resurrection. Al-Ghazzål¥’s attack had the effect of curtailing
the power of rationalism in Islamic philosophy, but it did not bring
rational philosophy to an end, as some have thought.
The influence of Fakhr al-D¥n al-Råz¥ on the technical discussions
of later Islamic philosophy was even greater than that of al-
Ghazzål¥. Al-Råz¥’s most important attack against Peripatetic
philosophy came in the form of his detailed criticism of Ibn S¥nå’s
Kitåb al-ishåråt in a work entitled Shar÷ al-ishåråt (Commentary upon
the Ishåråt), to which Na∑¥r al-D¥n al-apple¨s¥ (d. 672/1274) was to write
the celebrated response that resuscitated Avicennian philosophy. In
the fourteenth century this central debate was carried further by Qu†b
al-D¥n al-Råz¥ in his al-Mu÷åkamåt (Trials), in which he sought to judge
between the commentaries of Fakhr al-D¥n al-Råz¥ and al-apple¨s¥. Although
going back to Max Horten 9 there has been awareness of the
Råz¥-apple¨s¥ debate, most Western histories of Islamic philosophy and