What is Philosophy? It is Allowed in Islam?

So far, we have briefly examined the credal tenets and principles of different religions and have explained what we thought about them. Now, what about the religion of Islam? First of all, is it permissible to philosophize in Islam?

Philosophy is the name of the results discovered by men after they have examined and researched certain subjects using their own wisdom, logic and experimentation. In short, it means: “Looking for the origin of everything and finding out the reason for its coming into existence.” Philosophy means “Philosophia” (love of knowledge) in the Greek language, and it is based on the fundamentals of thinking deeply, searching, comparing, and examining. It is necessary for those who deal with philosophy to have deep knowledge in science as well as in psychology. However, no matter how much knowledge a person may have, he can be in error with his own thoughts, or, at the end of his experiments, his conclusion may be wrong, too. That is why the conclusions drawn by means of philosophy cannot be guaranteed There are two kinds of ayâts (verses) in the Qur’ân al-kerim.

The meaning of some âyats (verses) are very clear. These are called “muhkam âyats” (solid âyats). The meaning of some âyats cannot be understood easily. They need to be explained. These âyats are called “muteshâbih âyats” (parabolic âyats). The hadîths, the words of the Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), are divided into two parts, namely, the solid ones and the parabolic ones. The necessity for interpreting them gave rise to the establishment of the science called “Ijtihâd” in the religion of Islam. Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) too, performed ijtihâd himself. Those ijtihâds performed by our Prophet and his Sahabî (companions [radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihim ajmain]) are the main sources of Islamic knowledge. When new Muslims asked about what would happen to the things they had deemed to be sacred before and what Islam thought about them, Islamic scholars had to answer their questions. The answers to the questions concerning credal tenets formed a branch of Islamic knowledge called Kalâm. The scholars of “Kalâm” had to prove logically why their previous religions were wrong. These scholars (rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ) strove very hard to solve these matters. A lot of facts plus the very valuable knowledge of “logic” came into existence. On the other hand, it was necessary to tell the new Muslims these facts about Allah: He is one, ever-living; He has not fathered anyone, nor was He fathered. This had to be done in such a way as could be easily understood. The scholars of Kalâm were very successful in their efforts. However, Islamic scientists helped them in this holy task. For example, Yaqûb Ibn Ishaq al-Kindî, a scholar of logic and astronomy, studied for years to keep the idolaters Sabi’î and Vasan’a, who deem the stars sacred, away from their wrong belief. At last, he proved that their belief was wrong by showing them many proofs. Sad to say, however, he himself was influenced by the ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers and joined the group called “Mu’tazila.” He
died in Baghdad in 260 (873).

During the era of Hârûn Rashîd, the fifth Abbâsid Khalîfa, an institution called “Dârulhikma” was founded in Baghdad. This institution was a large translation centre. Not only in Baghdad, but also in Damascus, Harrâm, and Antiochia (Antakya) were such centers of science founded. In these offices the works written in Greek and Latin were translated as well as the books written in the Indian and Persian languages. In fact, the real Renaissance (returning to ancient valuable works) started first in the city of Baghdad. For the first time, the works of Plato, Porphyrios, Aristotle were translated into the Arabic language. These works were examined carefully by Islamic scholars (rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ). They concluded that some of the opinions of the Greek and Latin philosophers were correct, but most of them were defective. They were contrary to “Muhkam âyats, hadîths, logic and wisdom.” It was discovered that they were ignorant of most scientific and religious facts, and that they made the most mistakes in the areas which could not be understood through wisdom. Real Islamic scholars, for example Imâm-i Ghazâlî and Imâm-i Rabbânî (rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ) saw that these philosophers did not believe in the most important fundamentals related to faith; consequently, Muslim scholars reported in detail the wrong beliefs that they held and which caused them to be disbelievers. There is detailed information on this matter in a book called Al-munkizu Aniddalâlwritten by Imâm-i Ghazâlî. While Islamic scholars were explaining the “mutashâbih” âyats (verses) and hadîths, they followed (depended) only on ijtihâds given by the Prophet Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and his Sahâba (companions). They rejected the ancient philosophers’ opinions that were contrary to Islam; thereby they protected Islam from being corrupted as Christianity had been. But, ignorant religious men gave themselves up to such philosophers thinking that their every word was true. Thus, a corrupt creed was formed in Islam called “Mu’tazila.” Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) revealed that seventy-two corrupt creeds would appear in Islam. Some philosophers, inspired by Greek, Indian, Persian and Latin philosophies, such as Ibni Sînâ, Fârâbî, Ibni Tufayl, Ibni Rushd, and Ibni Bâce appeared. They deviated in some matters from the true way of the Qur’ân alkerîm. Ibni Khaldun divided Islamic knowledge into two parts, namely, “Ulûm-i Nakliyya” [Tafsîr, qirâat, hadîth, Fiqh, Farâiz, Kalâm, Tasavvuf] and Ulûm-i akliyya [Logic, Physics, Nature, Chemistry, Maths, Geometry, Measurement, Munâzara, Astronomy]. The first group is called “Religious Knowledge.” A few of the branches in the second group, which can be understood by experimentation, are called “Scientific knowledge.”

Imâm-i Muhammad Ghazâlî (rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ) struggled against the ancient Greeks. He examined Greek philosophy and rejected those ideas he did not agree with. The philosophy which was mixed with Islamic beliefs during the era of Hârûn Rashid (rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ) had been the guide for some philosophers, such as Montesquieu and Spinoza. They openly confessed that they were under the influence of Fârâbî, whose philosophy was called “Farabius.” Imâm-i Ghazâlî (rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ) struggled against members of the Dai faction of the Shiite sect, which was the first of the seventy-two deviated sects to appear. According to the philosophy of the Dâî’s, the Qur’ân al-kerîm has two aspects, namely, the inner aspect (bâtinî [invisible]) and the outer aspect (zâhirî [visible]). They called themselves “the batinî group.” Imâm-i Ghazâlî (rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ) easily disproved their philosophy. After they had been defeated, they deviated from Islam more and more by giving false meanings to the âyats (verses) and Hadîth-i sherîfs whose meanings were not clear. At last, they became“Mulhids” (heretics). Futhermore, since they were also politically active, they became intolerable and a great nuisance for the “Ahl-i Sunnat” Muslims (the true Muslims).

The Shiites mixed the Islamic religion with a new philosophy and claimed themselves to be followers of Hadrat Alî (’radiyAllâhu ’anh). Afterwards different branches of Shiism appeared. A group called Khawârij claimed themselves to be the followers of Hadrat Alî, but later they became his enemy. According to their philosophy “A Muslim who commits a grave sin becomes a disbeliever.” That is why they claim that Hadrat Alî and Hadrat Muawiya (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ anhumâ) are kâfirun (disbelievers). Later, a new belief appeared contradicting this idea. They depended only on their logic and said, “Man cannot make a judgement in this world about a Muslim who commits a grave sin, such as killing another Muslim. A judgement concerning them will be given in the hereafter by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Because of this, this group of people are neither Muslim nor kafir (disbeliever).” The followers of this new philosophy were called“Mu’tazila”. Another philosophy springing from Shiism appeared with the name “Gâliya,” which means “exaggerators.” They claim that Paradise and Hell are on the earth. They are completely kâfîrûn (disbelievers). No relation is there between them and the religion of Islam.