Al-Farabi’s Outlook on Religion
Doskozhanova Aizhan
PhD Student in Philosophy,
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
1. General description of religion
Before considering to
the analysis of Abu Nasr al-Farabi’s relation to religion, it is important to
define what religion is, in general.
A religion is
a set of beliefs that is held by a group of people.
The beliefs are about
the world and the people in it, about how they came into being, and what their
purpose is. These beliefs are often linked to supernatural beings such
as God, a number of gods or spirits.
They may also be linked
to an idea such as a path that the spirit of each person should take towards
goodness, truth and duty. This is called spirituality. Each religion has
different ideas about these things.
Each religion also has
a “moral code” which is a set of beliefs about how humans should act. Each
religion usually has their own type of “devotions” when people worship or pray.
They often have rituals (special things that are always done in the same
way) for certain times of the year or certain times of a person’s life.
Other words are “faith”
and “belief system”. Altogether, followers of religion can be known as religionists.
Some people follow more than one religion at a time.
The largest religions
are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism. Smaller religions are Taoism,
Sikhism, Judaism, etc. There are many other religions. People
who do not believe in any gods are called atheists. People who say that
they are not sure whether they believe or not are usually
called agnostics.
In many religions, one
of the main beliefs is that there is a “deity” (or god) who is a great
creator spirit.
In many religions,
there is just one deity that the people believe in. In other religions,
there are many deities who have different roles in
the universe.
In many religions,
there are other types of spirits. These may
include angels, devils and other such things which can be both
good and bad.
Another main belief is
that humans have “soul” or spirit which lives on after their body has died. The
person's spirit is on a journey through life that continues after
death. Most religions believe that what a person does during their
lifetime will affect what happens to their spirit in the afterlife.
Many religions teach
that a good person’s spirit can reach a special place of peace and happiness
such as Heaven or Nirvana, and that a bad person’s spirit can travel to a place
of pain and suffering such as Hell.
Still other religions believe
in reincarnation – that instead of going either to Heaven or Hell, spirits
of the dead return to earth in a new body. “Morals” are the way a human behaves
to other humans. Most religions make rules about human morals. The rules of how
people should act to each other are different in different religions.
For some religions,
following a “path” of goodness, truth and duty is very important. This is
called Tao in China. In the teachings of Judaism, people
were told to “love your neighbour as yourself”. In the teachings of Jesus,
people were told to think of every single person as their “neighbour” and treat
them with love.
Not every religion
teaches people to be kind to all other people. In some religions, people
believed that they could please a god by killing or sacrificing another
person. Symbols are used to remind people of their religious beliefs. They
are also used or worn as a sign to other people that the person belongs to a
particular religion.
A symbol might be
something that is drawn or written, it might be a piece of clothing or
jewellery, it might be a sign that a person makes with their body, or it might
be a building or monument.
2. Al-Farabi on the methods of
religion and philosophy
In time of Al-Farabi,
religious disputes are usually conducted on the fundamental principles of
Islam, in which the uncertainty brought to big number of different
interpretations and different points of view.
On the one hand, the various theological schools come as opponents of
Islamic religious traditionalism, but do not break off their relationship with
Islam.
On the other hand, philosophers also acted as opponents, basing on
classical models of philosophizing. But often the position of the philosophers
was that they often bypass the debate between representatives of religions and
their opponents.
Some philosophers have
recognized the priority of religious knowledge over philosophical one (like
Al-Kindi). Others openly criticized the prophets as the deceivers (like Abu
Bakr al-Razi). One more group has tried to find positive aspects in religious
knowledge.
We can include Abu Nasr
al-Farabi to the third group of philosophers-opponents. His position in
relation to religion can be called neutral, since he was able to see in
religion “an important political art”, which can be used for moral and legal
peoples’ relations in society.
To indicate the term of
“religion” Al-Farabi takes the word Millah, but in the Arabic language there is
a different word – “din”. Both terms are widely used in the Quran, but mostly
uses the term “din” in different meanings: “custom”, “reward”, “court”,
“religion”. As a general concept “din” is applied to Islam, Judaism, Christianity,
and the pagan beliefs.
Unlike the term “din”,
the term “millah” has a special meaning and translated from Arabic as
“religious community”, associating with “Ummah” (Islamic community). Using the
term “millah” Abu Nasr wanted to emphasize that he considers religion in the
context of a “civic science”, which is part of his “Classification of the
sciences.” However, in the part “Civil Science” Al-Farabi avoids religion,
studying only Islamic law (fiqh) and dogmatic theology (‘ilm al-kalam). “Fiqh
of actions includes civil law and, consequently, Fiqh is one of the parts of
civil science and included in practical philosophy. Fiqh of actions covers parts
of the whole which is part of the theoretical philosophy or abstraction of
things, also included in theoretical philosophy. Consequently, Fiqh is a part
of theoretical philosophy and is [part of] a theoretical science.” [1, p.38].
Al-Farabi devoted to
religion the only treatise “On Religion”. However, the content of the treatise
is reduced to the problem of social and political coexistence of the people. In
his treatise, so-called “virtuous religion” plays the role of “helper” of
philosophy in “achieving the goal that is the ultimate happiness.”
Al-Farabi wrote that if
the cities do not have a common religion, unifying attitudes, beliefs and
actions of citizens, it is impossible to achieve real happiness. Such an
attitude toward religion was determined by the fact that people (who cannot
think philosophically) needed the rules existed in the form of simple and clear
laws sent from above.
Relying on ‘the view of
ancestors’, Al-Farabi defines religion as an imitation to philosophy. According
to him, philosophy predates religion in time. As Majid Fakhry mentions “In
point of time, he observes, the rise of religion (millah), ‘humanly speaking’,
is subsequent to the rise of philosophy.” [2, p.12]. Both religion and philosophy are close to each other, since they are
covering the same subjects and make final principles for the existing things,
as well as they explain reaching the maximum happiness as the ultimate goal of
human existence. However, if a philosophy gives credible evidence, a religion
gives belief. Religion and philosophy lead humans to the truth, but via
different approaches: religion addresses the wide, uneducated public, whereas
philosophy addresses the selected few. That is why in some cases rulers of
cities could use religion as their instrument of getting their own interests. “A
second kind is represented by those, who follow some aims of the ignorant city
such as honour and wealth or some pleasure or else. They realize that the laws
of the excellent city are in their way and hence turn against the views of the
excellent city and try to reject them all as false, whether they are symbols of
truth or a part of truth itself with which they have become acquainted.” [3, p.283].Generally, Al-Farabi associates the concept of
‘virtuous city’ with the concept of ‘virtuous religion’; this moment is the
most extensively analyzed in his treatise The Attitude of Philosophy to
Religion.
The first thesis of his
treatise Al-Farabi defines religion as an opinion and the actions established
by the first ruler for all inhabitants. He writes, “Religion is a standpoint
and actions predefined by the conditions which the First Leader has prescribed
for all of mankind.” Then he mentions that the virtuous ruler’s government “has
to do the Revelation which descend from Allah”.
Even if Al-Farabi does
not identify the divine mind called the Active Intellect with God, exactly revelation
determines activity and views of virtuous society. So, according to Al-Farabi,
the virtuous religion is akin philosophy. However, in Al-Farabi’s view,
religion and philosophy do not conflict, if only philosophy is properly
understood. All this leads to complete formation of civil sciences that
includes religion as social instrument. Putting religion into dependence on the
philosophy Al-Farabi states that the leading position in the field of
theoretical knowledge belongs to philosophy. Philosophy is not
“handmaiden/servant for theology,” and in terms of al-Farabi, philosophy is
essentially primary than religion. So, religion is the only figurative and
symbolic expression of philosophy.
References:
1. Abu Nasr Al-Farabi. The Attitude of Philosophy to Religion. // Almaty, Abai Club Intl – 2014. – 112 p.
2. Majid Fakhry. Al-Fārābī, Founder of Islamic
Neoplatonism. His Life, Works and Influence. One world Publications. Oxford.
England. 2002. – 168 p.
3. Richard Walzer. On
the Perfect State // Great Books of
the Islamic World Inc. – 1998. – 571 p.
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