IBN MISKAWAIH , muslim philosopher thinker

1. IBN
Miskawayh
SARA ANAM

2. BIOGRAPHY:
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yaqub, surnamed
Miskawaih…
BORN, 320 A.H ( 932 A.D ) Rey, Ziyarid Iran
His views on ethics are very famous and
important. Like so many other intellectuals of his
time, Ibn Miskawayh studied philosophy and
history as means of investigating Truth “al-
Haq”…….
INTEREST…Theology, philosophy, history,
ethics, chemistry n poetry….

3. Con…..
 Known as FATHER of Islamic Ethics and third teacher…
 His effect on Islamic philosophy is mainly concerned with
ethical issues…

4. BOOKS…
 1: Al Fawz Al Asghar ( The smaller the win )
 2: Tajarib Al umam ( experiences of nations )
 3: Tahdib Al Akhlaq (Refinement of character )

5. EVOLUTION…
In his book "Al Fauz Al Asghar" (The Smallest
Achievement)..
he wrote that, “Every animal really originates
from a non animal, for the seminal fluid isn’t itself
an animal.
This fluid is made of blood and blood of food and
food of plants and plants of elements and
elements of the simple atoms and these latter of
' form' and 'matter'
Ibn Miskawayh attributed the processes of both
creation and evolution to Allah the Creator……..

6. EVOLUTION
 God first created matter and invested it with energy for
development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of
vapour which assumed the shape of water in due time.
The next stage of development was mineral life.
Different kinds of stones developed in course of time.
Their highest form is being mirjan (coral).
 It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a
tree. After mineral life involves vegetation. The
evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which
bears the qualities of an animal.
 This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders.
It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it
dies when the head is cut off….

7. EVOLUTION
 The date-palm is therefore considered the highest
among the trees and resembles the lowest among
animals. Then is born the lowest of animal.
 It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of
Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is
precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-
Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved
into a lower kind of a barbarian man.
 He then became a superior human being. Man
becomes a saint, a prophet. He evolves into a higher
stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to
angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from
Him and everything returns to Him.”

8. EVOLUTION
 Arabic manuscripts of the al-Fawz al-Asghar were
available in European universities by the 19th
century.
 This work is believed to have been studied by Charles
Darwin, who was a student of Arabic, and it is thought
to have had an influence on his inception of Darwinism.

9. ETHICAL WRITINGSS….
 He said that soul is not an accident. It is immortal
and independent substance that controls the
body…..
 The soul distinguishes us from animals, from other
human beings and from things, and it uses the body
and the parts of the body to attempt to come into
contact with more spiritual realms of being…..
 The soul cannot be an accident (or property of the
body) because it has the power to distinguish
between accidents and essential concepts and is
not limited to awareness of accidental things by the
sense…....

10. Con…..
 Ethics is a technique and method through applying
which in one’s soul, some dispositions are created that
only good deeds are issued form such a soul…..
Ethics is of the noblest sciences; for the nobility of
each science is dependent upon its subject, and the
subject of ethics is human’s spirit, that is the noblest of
creatures and subjects….
Man can purify himself in the light of the obstacles of
perfection by spiritual struggle with one’s carnal
desires and save himself from real loss, that is, his
own loss….

11. Con….
 In the light of moral teachings a human being refrains
from badness and atrocity, and achieves virtue and
happiness to the extent that he or she becomes the
companion of the pure and angels, and accept divine
bounty….
 A deep disposition is a soul related state that causes
the issuance of an action from a person without
thinking and speculation…..
 Miskawayh divides this disposition into two kinds;
natural disposition springs from man’s nature and
temper, as some people are naturally such that
become angry or excited because a minor event……..

12.  These people are naturally coward, excitant, and tough.
Ordinary disposition is created in the soul because of
habit repetition. …….
 This might in the beginning be with thinking and difficulty,
but it gradually becomes a deep disposition through
repetition . Miskawayh believes that one’s morality
changes because of education and admonishment.
 This change is sometimes rapid and sometimes
slow……..

13. VIRTUES AND VICES
 Human soul has three different faculties:
 A faculty related to distinguishing and thinking in the
truth of the affaires, which is called intellectual (rational
faculty) and its instrument in body is the brain….
 The second faculty is related to anger, fear,
fearlessness and hegemonism, etc. Which is called
irascible faculty, and its instrument in one’s body is the
heart..
 The third faculty which is related to lust and one’s
desire to food, residence, marriage and other sensory
pleasures are called appetitive, and its instrument in the
body is liver.

14. Con…..
The soul has three faculties: rational, coura-
geous, and appetitive, and correspondingly three
virtues: wisdom, courage, and temperance.
By the harmony of these three virtues, we have a
fourth one, namely, justice.

15. Con…
Miskawaih determined seven species of
wisdom…acuteness of intelligence, quickness
of intellect, clearness of understanding, facility of
acquirement, precision of discrimination,
retention, and recollection……
Eleven species of courage.. magnanimity,
collectedness, loftiness of purpose, firmness,
coolness, stateliness, boldness, endurance,
condescension, zeal, and mercy…

16. Con……
Nineteen species of justice, friendship, union,
faithfulness, compassion, brotherhood,
recompense, good partnership, fair-dealing,
cordiality, submission, resignation, devotion to
God, forgetting of enmity, abstention from
speaking ill of others, discussing the character
of the just, ignoring the account of the unjust,
and abstention from trusting the ignoble, the
mischief-monger, and the flatterer.

17. Human nature and its original state:
 Miskawaih discusses the question of human nature and its
original state:
 whether it is born good or bad. He states the opinion of the
early Greeks who say that nature can never be changed, but
rejects it….
 Then he takes up the view of the Stoics who think that men
are created good but become bad by their inclination to bad
appetites and by keeping bad company. ….
 There is also a third opinion that men are created bad and
they become good only by education. Galen rejects the last two
views and says that men are of three kinds: some are good by
nature, others are bad by nature, and a third class is
intermediate between the two….

18. Con…
 According to ibn Miskawayh:
 The supreme goal of ethics, to achieve ultimate
happiness..
 Man is a civic being by nature, sociable by nature..
 Every man need others people by nature: needs the aids
of others..
 Happiness can be attained through companionship,
cooperation, and association with others..
 Human society is one of the basic conditions of reaching
supreme happiness….

19. Con…..
 According to Miskawayh:
 There are two levels of human happiness
 1: The lower level of happiness;
 Happiness related to physical goods
 2: The higher level of happiness;
 Happiness that related to spiritual goods
 The accomplishment of human happiness can be
achieved through, the accomplishment of human
perfection..

20. Con….
 Human perfection can be attained with two conditions
which are being social and rational..
 There are two aspects of human perfection
 1: THEORETICAL PERFECTION
 Acquire knowledge and science
 2: PRACTICAL PERFECTION
 Perfection in all kinds of action and governance..
 Combination of both aspects of perfection leads to the
accomplishment of happiness.
 The final aim, PRACTICAL LIFE

21. Con……
Miskawaih, gives a classification of
happiness, This classification com-
prises…..
(1) health,
(2) wealth,
(3) fame and honor,
(4) success, and
(5) good thinking.

22. TWO TYPE OF CHARACTER….
 1: Naturally inborn character , a natural temperament..
 2: Character that is formed through custom and
training….

23. Con…….
Based on his observation, ibn miskawayh
rejected the view that described character as
unalterable since it is completely determine by
NATURE…
He believed that , Character is formed and
shaped sooner or later through education and
learning and through association with good and
virtuous people…

24. Character is formed through…
 1: Instruction, knowledge..
 2: Socialization
 3: Habituation of religion, Islamic law and good
manners..
 4: Reinforcement by rewards , admonishment/warning..
 5:Refinement of the soul by a habituation to a rough
life…
 6: Discipline of the soul, for example , trained for self
resolution, patience, moderation and discipline…
 7: prevention from frivolous and love poetry and bad
companions…

25. Methods of training the boy’s soul
 For Miskawayh, psychological aspects are most
important:
 1: Praise is considered one of the most important of
these means and methods suggested..
 2: Encouragement to rise above the desire for food and
fine clothing..
 3: He should be trained to admire generous
characteristics..
 4: He should be warned of punishment, and made to
fear blame for any evil deeds he may demonstrate…

26. Students with loneliness
According to him, as we are social being,
therefore counselor needs to help the student
out from the loneliness through socialize.
Counselor may help the student to achieve
happiness by:
1: write gratitude journal.
2: involve in physical goods like sports..
3: increase spiritual goods like performing
sunnah prayers…

27. REJECTION OF DOCTRINE
 Miskawaih discusses different doctrines and concludes
by saying that we should reject the doctrine according
to which happiness can come only after death and
affirm that it is possible also in this world.
 No happiness is possible except by searching for the
good in this world and the world to come.
 But as a true religious man he gives preference to the
next world.
 Here are two kinds of happiness, one according to this
world, the other according to the next, but no one can
have the second without passing through the first.

28. FRIENDSHIP and LOVE
 He speak about friendship and love, . A striking
passage in this part is about two kinds of love:
 (a) love of man for God,
 (b) love of disciple for master.
 The first is too high to be attained by mortal beings,
and is reserved only for a few.

29. Con…..
 the second kind of love, Miskawaih draws a parallel
between the son's love for his parents and the
disciple's love for his master, and says that the latter is
nobler and more generous, because masters educate
our souls and by their guidance we obtain real
happiness.
 The master is a “spiritual father and a human lord;
his goodness for the disciple is divine goodness,
because he brings him up on virtues, feeds him
with high wisdom, and conducts him to everlasting
life in eternal blessing”.

30. FRIENDSHIP
 Friendship, in general, is most sacred and useful to all
human beings. He who betrays it is more wicked than a
counterfeiter of coins.
 A good man is a friend to himself and other people are
also friends to him; he has no enemy except the
bad……
 The happy man is he who gains friends and tries his
best to be of use to them…..

31. Con….
 Miskawaih quotes Aristotle saying that man is in need
of friends in good as well as in bad circumstances.
Even a king is in need of friends because he cannot
know his people's needs except through sincere
friends, especially because they supply him information
and help in execution of his orders.
 Man should do his best to please his friends and to be
always on good terms with them without hypocrisy and
flattery.

32. Con……
 He regards affection (mahabbah) as an inborn capacity
for associating with mankind In general,
 The object of animal love is pleasure and that of the
spiritual love is virtue or goodness.
 The former is condemnable, the latter praiseworthy.
 He makes a specific mention of the love of man for
God, of disciple for teacher, and of son for his parents
in a graded series,..
 He says affection is a natural source of unity, so that
justice is not required where affection reigns supreme.
Affection, thus, is the sovereign; justice is the
vicegerent.

33. “On Knowing One's Own Defects.”
 Miskawaih contends it by saying that there does not exist a
friend who can find for you your defects, and that an enemy
is more useful in this respect than a friend because he is
more aware of your vices and would have no hesitation in
revealing them to you.
 In the end, Miskawaih speaks of remedies for the diseases
of the soul. He enumerates the most important diseases -
anger, vanity, contentiousness, treason, cowardice,
vainglory, fear and sadness…………….!!!
THE END…‫پایان‬