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

Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition 163
others, such as Ibn Turkah I∑fahån¥ (d. ca. 835/ 1432), who is a major
figure of this period, was an ishråq¥ interpreter of Peripatetic philosophy
and a gnostic of the school of Ibn‘Arab¥. These figures, to whom
we shall turn later in this book, prepared the ground for the grand
synthesis among the four schools of ishråq, mashshå˘, ‘irfån, and kalåm,
which, however, was not achieved until the Safavid period with the
establishment of what has become known as the School of Isfahan.
ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AFTER SUHRAWARDĪ
The later history of Islamic philosophy is much less known than that
of the earlier period. The revival of Avicennan philosophy by Na∑¥r al-
D¥n al-apple¨s¥, the continuation of the school of Illumination, the spread
of the philosophical Sufism of the school of Ibn ‘Arab¥, and the expansion
of philosophical theology, both Sunni and Shi‘ite, mark the centuries
that were to follow. Moreover, gradually these perspectives
became synthesized resulting finally in M¥r Dåmåd, Mullå |adrå, and
the School of Isfahan in the tenth/sixteenth century and its aftermath. 75
The main arena for the development of Islamic philosophy during the
past eight centuries has been primarily Persia with important developments
in Ottoman Turkey and Muslim India. Therefore, rather than
giving a brief description of the later phases of Islamic philosophy
here, we shall devote the rest of the book to a fuller treatment of later
Islamic philosophy primarily in Persia and with some references to
the Ottoman world and Muslim India. However, to treat fully the
latter subjects would require a separate work.
Before turning to this later period, which marks the full flowering
of “prophetic philosophy in Islam,” it is of some interest to turn to the
most enigmatic and misconstrued of the Islamic philosophers, ‘Umar
Khayyåm, whose message as ordinarily understood seems to negate
the very nature of Islamic philosophy as being related to prophecy.
We cannot turn to the later period coming down to our own days
without reexamining the philosophical teachings of the most famous
of all literary figures of Asia in the West, namely Khayyåm, who more
than being a poet was a philosopher and scientist and as we shall see,
much more in line of the main tradition of Islamic philosophy than
being a solitary deviant musing as a skeptic and a hedonist in a world
dominated by the reality of revelation.