Abu Nasr Mohammad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Tarkhan Ibn Uzalagh Al Farabi (AD870-950), a Muslim of Persian descent who was born in the city of Farab in the Khorasan province of today’s Iran, studied in Baghdad with Christian scholars, including the cleric Yuhannah Ibn Haylan, Yahya Ibn Adi and Abu Ishaq Ebrahim Al Baghdadi. Early biographies are scant and contradictory (some claiming Turkish origins), though it is generally accepted that he was a polyglot and moved to Damascus and Aleppo in Syria, travelled to Egypt for a period of time, before returning to Damascus where he died in 950. Importantly, he was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the greatest philosopher since Aristotle, and his commentaries on Aristotle’s “Metaphysics” helped such luminaries as Ibn Sina understand the Greek masterpiece. Indeed, he became known as the “Second Teacher” throughout the Islamic world — next to Aristotle, better known as a student of Plato, a teacher of Alexander the Great, and the man who probably shook human civilisation.

Unlike Aristotle, however, Al Farabi was well versed in several languages, and through translations of ancient Greek classics, he became one of the earliest Muslim philosophers to introduce Greek philosophy to the Islamic world. He wrote profusely on numerous subjects, including logic, sociology, political science, medicine and music, but his true legacy was his key works in philosophy.

Neoplatonism

Al Farabi was an Aristotelian but also a Neoplatonist, even if his commentaries were peppered with Aristotelian terminology. Still, he demonstrated the existence of a basic agreement between Aristotle and Plato on such critical “matters as the creation of the world, the survival of the soul and reward and punishment in the afterlife”. Towards that end, in his “conception of God, essence and existence fuse[d] absolutely with no possible separation between the two”. Nevertheless, he did not mince views when he spoke in absolute terms that God had no partner, was indivisible and indefinable. These were clear Neoplatonic interpretations that unsettled purists over the years.

For Al Farabi, the Divine was what he termed as “the First”. Since logic would dictate that a first must be followed by a second, he thus struggled with what could possibly be a “Second Being”, followed by a “Third”, “Fourth”, and so on, until he reached the “Tenth Intellect” that was the philosopher. Such an intellect constituted the real bridge between the heavenly and terrestrial worlds, he argued. In Farabian metaphysics, therefore, “the concept of Neoplatonic emanation replaced that of Quranic creation ex nihilo”. Furthermore, for our philosopher, God did not act directly, but empowered man to rely on his intellect to accomplish his goals for happiness and relevance. To be sure, God exercised an indirect “responsibility” for everything, although Al Farabi asked the Lord to grant him (the philosopher) wisdom and humility as well as to deliver him from misfortune, all of which were compatible with traditional Muslim teachings.

Political philosophy

In writing commentaries on the works of the ancient Greeks, Al Farabi reconciled Aristotelian and Platonic thoughts with Islamic theology while simultaneously attempting to separate philosophy from theology. In fact, his work stood in direct contrast to that of Al Kindi, who considered the subject of metaphysics to be God, while “Al Farabi believed that it was concerned primarily with being qua being (that is, being in of itself)”. Even if Al Kindi’s view was the prevalent Muslim misconception of Greek philosophy at the time, Al Farabi proposed a much clearer interpretation, which was why Ibn Sina acknowledged that he only understood Aristotle’s “Metaphysics” properly after he read Al Farabi’s commentaries.

In his best known work, the “Mabadi’ Ara’ Ahl Al Madinah Al Fadilah” (The Virtuous City, which was translated by Richard Walzer in his “Al Farabi on the Perfect State”), Al Farabi addresses in flawless Platonic fashion all of the qualities necessary for the ruler to exercise his full authority. To rule well, Al Farabi reasoned, a sovereign ought to rule by virtue, be so disposed and exhibit correct attitudes. Naturally, virtue alone was not sufficient, as the ruler was required to learn how to command attention and be an excellent orator. He would need to be able to physically endure the burden of authority, learn to listen and excel in his preparations, love learning, cherish truth and apply it across the board and, perhaps, as important as any of the other qualifications, distance himself from material temptations. As several writers emphasised, Plato identified these requirements in his philosopher-king paradigm, while others, such as Ibn Zafar Al Siqilli (1104-1170) perfected the classification by insisting on belief in God above all else.

Much like Plato in his unique “Republic”, Al Farabi emphasised both the theoretical as well as practical aspects of philosophy and concluded that those who did not apply erudition to practical pursuits were “futile philosophers”. In an ideal society, in which everyone was driven towards “true happiness”, it behoved the philosopher, Al Farabi articulated, to heal as much as to enlighten. It was a philosopher’s duty, he maintained, to help create a “virtuous” society by forging a system where justice existed for all.

Naturally, Al Farabi realised that such a society was rare and required specific historical circumstances to become reality, which led him to identify three types of societies that could aspire towards such goals. In fact, he posited that an ideal virtuous society was one in which citizens wholeheartedly embraced the pursuit of happiness (sa‘ada), in contrast to different types of corrupt societies where ignorance (al jahiliyyah), miscalculations and wickedness dominated.

He masterfully argued that ignorant societies failed to grasp the purpose of human existence. They erroneously replaced the pursuit of happiness with ephemeral wealth, Al Farabi wrote, along with immediate sensual gratification or, perhaps, the quest for raw power, all of which could only be secured through greed and violence. As several contemporary philosophers highlighted, capitalist societies fell into this category since, presumably, most neglected the guiding principles of justice and true democratisation. Such ignorance (al jahiliyyah) was what the philosopher-king was invited to reject, rectify and, whenever possible, trade for true justice and happiness for all. Yet, to actually embark on sorely needed corrections to ensure justice and happiness, it behoved the prince to be aware of his miscalculations and wickedness, even if these identified his all-too-human characteristics. Errant societies existed, Al Farabi reasoned, because their leaders deceived and misguided their subjects. Wicked ones flourished due to a comprehensive abandonment of a leader’s duties towards their people.

Beyond such categorisations, what distinguished Al Farabi was his revolutionary step that hovered around a fundamental conclusion — that human reason, the fundamental tool of the philosopher, was indeed superior to revelation, which was the tool of religion. Of course, besides being deeply controversial, this philosophical perception raised far more questions than provided reliable answers, even if they influenced Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars who studied his writings.

Henry Corbin, for example, believed that Al Farabi did not intend to outline a political programme. Rather, he proposed an alternative outlook, namely that Al Farabi intended his classification to be nothing more than “prophetic philosophy”. Since such views were rejected in Sunni Islam, Corbin concluded that Al Farabi was a crypto-Shiite — yet another source of controversy. Unlike Corbin, Charles Butterworth contended that Al Farabi seldom wrote of a prophet-legislator, and infrequently addressed revelation. Rather, Butterworth advanced, Al Farabi discussed the roles of rulers and statesmen.

Irrespective of whether Al Farabi wished to expound a political doctrine or simply introduce an ethical discussion, it was amply clear that he asserted that human societies ought to strive for happiness, since establishing truly virtuous entities were beyond their innate capabilities. Still, there was no denying that he reasoned and recognised an advantage to philosophy over religion because, he claimed, philosophy was based on intellectual perception while religion was based on faith. Consequently, Al Farabi attributed impressive characteristics to the philosopher and advocated the thinker as the ideal head of state even if few ever followed his model. In his lifetime, Al Farabi argued that political upheavals throughout the Muslim world was due to paucity of philosophers in high office, whose superior powers of reasoning and intellect, he insisted, were necessary ingredients for good leadership.

Musicology

Although Al Farabi was best known for his philosophical analyses, he also wrote an interesting book on music, “Kitab Al Musiqah” (The Book of Music), which described “the theory of Persian music of his day”. Revealingly, the author presented various philosophical principles about music and highlighted its cosmic qualities, along with its influences — themes that were also dealt with in another treatise, “Meanings of the Intellect”, in which he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.

Legacy to the Arab and Muslim worlds

Al Farabi’s contributions greatly influenced Muslim philosophers who succeeded him, particularly Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd, and sparked what became an ongoing debate between proponents of philosophy and those who asserted superiority of theology. Muslim thinkers grappled with fundamental differences as many attempted to reconcile disparities between the two, with little success to date.

The “Second Master” was such a towering figure that even Thomas Aquinas may well have indirectly derived his “essence-existence doctrine” from him through the Latinised Ibn Sina. Unlike Al Farabi, who did not write his own autobiography, Ibn Sina acknowledged in his own words that in matters of production, hierarchy and Neoplatonic intellectual contributions, he owed much to his predecessor. Remarkably, Al Farabi influenced other thinkers as well, including Yahya Ibn Adi — a Christian Monophysite who “held that there was a real link between reason, ethics and politics” — as well as Abu Sulaiman Al Sijistani, who became known as Al Sijistani Al Mantiqi (The Logician), because of his devotion to Platonic/Farabian logic. There were many others, including Abul Hassan Mohammad Ibn Yousuf Al Amiri, and Abu Hayyan Al Tawhidi, two leading philosophers who expounded on logic and ethics, as well as Ibn Miskawayh, Al Mas’udi, Ibn Rushd (Averroës), Maimonides and Ibn Khaldun.

Contemporary philosophers relied on Al Farabi’s numerous studies and several of his books were translated into Latin. Known as Alfarabius and Avennasar in the West, elements of Al Farabi’s philosophy remained valid long after his death, especially his emphasis on the importance of mathematics and the sciences, the reliance on experimental methods, the integration of knowledge across subject areas, as well as the importance of values. Although infrequently read in the 21st century, his contributions to the development of Arab and Muslim intellectual life were undeniable, and despite being eclipsed by far more rigid interpretations, his visions proved to be largely correct.

List of works

Among Al Farabi’s vast corpus, the following were particularly important:

“Mabadi’ Ara’ Ahl Al Madinah Al Fadilah” (The Virtuous City), in Richard Walzer, “Al Farabi on the Perfect State”, Oxford: Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1985.

“Al Alfaz Al Musta‘mala fil-Mantiq” (Terms Used in Logic), Muhsin Mahdi (ed.), Beirut: Dar Al Machriq, 1968.

“Tahsil Al Sa‘ada” (Reaching Happiness), Ja‘afar Al Yasin (ed.), Beirut: Dar Al Andalus, 1983.

“Al Tanbih ila Sabil Al Sa‘ada” (Guidance on the Path to Happiness), Ja‘afar Al Yasin (ed.), Beirut: Dar Al Manahil, 1987.

“Al Jam‘ bayna Ra’yay l-Hakimayn” (Harmony in the Doctrines of the Two Philosophers), Albert Nasri Nadir (ed.), Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1968.

“Al Siyasah Al Madaniyyah” (The Policies of the City), Fawzi Al Najjar (ed.), Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1964.

“Falsafat Aristutalis” (Aristotle’s Philosophy), Muhsin Mahdi (ed.), Beirut: Dar Majallar Al Chi‘r, 1971.

“Falsafat Aflatun” (Plato’s Philosophy), ‘Abd Al Rahman Badawi (ed.), in “Kitab Aflatun fi l-Islam”, Beirut: Dar Al Andalus, 1982.

“Kitab Al Millah” (On Religion), Muhsin Mahdi (ed.), Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1968.

Selected readings

Much has been written on Al Farabi over the years and the following are but a small sample:

Muhammad ‘Abid Al Jabiri, “Takwin Al ‘Aql Al ‘Arabi” (Formation of the Arab Intellect), Beirut: Markaz Dirasat Al Wahdah Al ‘Arabiyyah, 1989.

Ja‘afar Al Yasin, “Faylasufan Ra’idan: Al Kindi wal-Farabi” (Two Early Philosophers: Al Kindi and Al Farabi), Beirut: Dar Al Andalus, 1983.

Henri Corbin, “Histoire de la philosophie islamique, tome I: Des origines jusqu’à la mort d’Averroès” (1198) [History of Islamic Philosophy, Vol. I: From the Beginnings to the Death of Averroës], Paris: Gallimard, 1964.

Miriam Galston, “Politics and Excellence: The Political Philosophy of Alfarabi”, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990.

Ian Richard Netton, “Al Farabi and His School”, Arabic Thought and Culture Series, London and New York: Routledge, 1992.

Dr Joseph A. Kéchichian is an author, most recently of, “Legal and Political Reforms in Sa‘udi Arabia” (London: Routledge, 2013).

This article is the twelfth of a series on Muslim thinkers who greatly influenced Arab societies across the centuries.