Islamic Philosophy

In Islamic Philosophy, Islam seeks wisdom while pondering about life, universe, ethics and society. It has a tradition of blending reason with faith. Islam has influences of Greek philosophy apart from Indian philosophy and Iranian philosophy. The Islamic philosophy began from the third century of the Hijra. It confirms with Quran and Sunna. Islam is a practical and theoretical model of realism. Much of the knowledge was based on Medicine, astrology, astronomy, mathematics and engineering. Since intellect was at the summit and the world of corruption at the bottom, one is advised to lead an ascetic life. The debatable Islam had some section denying it and others affirming the same. Islam restricts free discussion and investigation. Certain topics and the way these topics are dealt are unique in Islamic school of thinking. Islamic philosophy deals with unity and multiplicity, the relation between God and the world and merges revelation with reason, knowledge with faith and philosophy with religion.

History of Islamic Philosophy

In the history of Islamic Philosophy, the 8^th to 12^th century which is considered as Golden Age of Islam, met two main current of thoughts being Kalam and Falsafa. Kalam deals with Islam theology while Falsafa is based on Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. Aristotle strives to prove the unity of God and the fact that nobody created the world. The human soul is just man’s substantial form. Though soul cannot completely exist without the body, the intellect can be free from the body.

Islam School of thought also found some traces in Jewish thinking. Islamic thought declined in western Islamic countries like Spain and North Africa, but persisted in eastern Islamic countries like India and Iran. Logic was integrated in the Madarasah curriculum and encouraged Persian Islam. Illuminitionist thinking in Islam combined Persian thoughts with Iranian thoughts. It has a lot of influence from Neoplatonism. Transcendent school of Islam thought founded by Mulla Sadra created a transition from essentialism to existentialism which proceeded several years before Western philosophy.

Logic thinking and perception as a source of knowledge was brought by Al Ghazali. Later Ibn Khaldun brought the social philosophy of Islam where theories of social cohesion and social conflict were formulated. Initially the Islamic theological principles were dialectic. In the second Hijra century, a pupil named Wasil Ibn Ata was expelled because his answers did not harmonize with the sunni tradition prevailing at that time. He came out to form a new school called Mutazillite which blended rational theology with scholastic theology.

Questions:

• Which centuries are called as the Golden Age of Islam?
• Who founded the Transcendent school of Islam?