The document discusses the life and works of Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, a 10th century Islamic philosopher. It summarizes that he was born in central Asia, studied under Christian teachers, and later rejected those teachings in favor of studying Plato and Aristotle directly. The rest of the document discusses Al-Farabi's work on establishing a foundation for Islamic political philosophy and his views on topics like virtue, philosophy's relationship to religion and divine law, and similarities between Islam and Plato's conception of an ideal regime.

1. 06/26/151
Book: Al-Farabi & the Foundation
of Islamic Political Philosophy
Author: Muhsin Mahdi
Publisher: Chicago University Press
Date: 2001

2. 06/26/152
Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, ca. 870-950
 Not much is known about his life. Probably
born in central Asia, he later moved to
Baghdad, where he made his name
 Among his teachers were Nestorian
christians
 He studied the works of neo-platonic
teachers of the Athenian & Alexandrian
schools

3. 06/26/153
Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, ca. 870-950
 He came to reject the teaching of both the
pagan & christian neo-platonic traditions,
returning to the works of Plato & Aristotle
themselves
 Al-Farabi refers to Plato & Aristotle as the
two primary sources of philosophic
investigation (pp.2-3)

4. 06/26/154
Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, ca. 870-950
 Travelled in syria, and died in syria
 Considered the “greatest political
philosopher of the period” although his
fame was “partially eclipsed by his two
great successors (Ibn Sina & Ibn Rushd,
known in the west as Avicenna &
Averroes)”

5. 06/26/155
In the period in which he lived, there was a “new
religious-political order” (p.1), brought about by the
growth of the christian and islamic civilisations.
These civilisations “challenged the tradition of Greek
philosophy to investigate & make intelligible a
religious-political order based upon prophecy,
revelation & the divine law. Al- Farabi … can be said
to have been the first major philosopher to take up
this challenge.” (p.1)
Historical context

6. 06/26/156
Part One: The political orientation
of Islamic Philosophy
 “Islamic philosophy shared the ancient
view that man is a special kind of being;
That his ability to reason … is the activity
that marks him as different from other
animals” (p.16)
 This is a philosophic view; This difference
(between man & animals) is regarded as a
radical one (p.16)

7. 06/26/157
Philosophy & the Divine Law
(pp.17-18)
Muhsin Mahdi refers to the character of the muslim
community:
 “The entire muslim community throughout the
centuries… (its) gratitude for revelation & the
divine law; Commitment to… exemplary deeds &
sayings of the prophet (SAW); Adherence to
(his) way of life … as the correct way … to which
(the Ummah) must return”
 “Progress consists in … returning to origins …”

8. 06/26/158
Philosophy & the Divine Law
(pp.17-18)
Muhsin Mahdi (?) concludes that:
 “The demands of Islamic philosophy & Islamic
divine law did not agree in every respect”
 “… Both (Islamic philosophy & divine law) call on
man to reach for something higher than himself”
 “The emphasis on man’s duty is the over-
arching principle of political & social life … as
seen by both the philosophers & the divine law”

9. 06/26/159
“Virtuous Cities” (pp.18-27)
 “Virtue is at their centre; … in contrast to the
tyrannical city, whose end is not the common
good of the ruler & the ruled but the private good
only of the ruler”
 “The chief virtue is justice … (it) is obedience to
the law …”
 “… Islamic Philosophy refused to accept that the
divine law forbids - …, it argued that it demands
– free inquiry”

10. 06/26/1510
Chapter Two – Philosophy &
Political Thought (p.29)
 Plato asked: do you attribute your laws to
‘a god or some human being’?
 “When al-Farabi recognised that Plato’s
‘laws’ asked questions pertinent to divine
laws - … philosophy turned to politics, &
political philosophy emerged in the Islamic
community”

11. 06/26/1511
Chapter Two – Philosophy &
Political Thought (p.37)
 Muhsin Mahdi considers the necessity of
keeping an open mind: “… regarding extent to
which … religious tradition facilitated …
philosophers like al-Farabi to understand the
intention of Plato’s ‘republic’ & ‘laws’”
 “… We tend to assume … the religious tradition
… is … in some sense (the intention of
philosophers … through activities as political
philosophers) … the fundamental and
determining one”

12. 06/26/1512
Chapter Two – Philosophy &
Political Thought (p.62)
 There “… have always been philosophers who
think they can pursue wisdom as private men
regardless of the quality of public life”
 “al-Farabi was aware of tension between … the
pursuit of public and private salvation”
 “But he … chose to explore this tension …(&)
brought to … fore, philosophy’s philanthropic
spirit & philosopher’s devotion to true welfare of
his community”

13. 06/26/1513
Part Two: The Virtuous City
Ch.4 – Science, philosophy & religion (p.83)
 Al-Farabi’s political science (also called political
philosophy) “… explains that some of them
(ends) are true happiness, while others are
presumed to be happiness but they are not”
 “… True happiness cannot possibly be of this
life, but of another life after this, which is the life
to come; While that which is presumed to be
happiness … consists of … wealth, honour,
pleasures, when these are made the only ends
in this life”

14. 06/26/1514
Political philosophy & religion
(p.97)
 What is religion?
 “Religion is opinions & actions,
determined & limited by certain conditions,
prescribed for a community by their
supreme ruler, who seeks to achieve by
their practising them a definite goal with
respect to them or by means of them”
(43.3 – 4)

15. 06/26/1515
Ch. 6 - The virtuous city
 “There are a number of striking resemblances
between many of the … fundamental features of
Islam & the good regime envisaged by classical
political philosophers in general, & by Plato in
the ‘Laws’ in particular”
 “Both are opposed to the view that mind or soul
is derivative from body …& to the timorous piety
that condemns humans to despair … of ever
understanding the rational meaning of the
beliefs they are called upon to accept or of the
activities they … perform”

16. 06/26/1516
War & the limitations of Law (p.139)
 “… the ruler has to use force &
compulsion with those who, out of nature
or habit, cannot be educated or
persuaded to obey the law
spontaneously”