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On the
al-Ghazali's influnce on the study of Philosophy in the Muslim after al-Ghazali
(preleminary version)
Prolouge:
There is a contention
that al-Ghazali has single handedly dealt a death blow to the study of
philosophy in the Muslim world and by extention all sciences. The logic
being that since he wrote his work Tahafut al-falasifah the book
having dealt a death blow to philosophy from which it never recovered
and Muslims were turned off to the study of philosophy that it simply
disappeared in the Muslim world. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) is usually held up
as the last of the great Muslim philosophers who had made a heroic
attempt but alas it was too late as philosophy would never rise in the
Muslim world.
This elsewhere (in any
other tradition) would be laughed at however stranger things have been
said about this tradition.
what follows is a list
what we deem as evidence (ad nasum) that Muslims continued to
study philosophy after al-Ghazali. There are some shining stars that not
only worked on philosophy but many of the other sciences as well. Those
considering to blame the decline of Science in Muslim world are adviced
to look elsewhere.
For example here is a
list of some of the philosophers who studied philosophy after the death
of Ghazali:
- Ibn Bajja (1077-1139)
- Tadbir al-mutwahid (Rule of the solitary)
- Risala al-wada' (Farewell treatiste)
- Ittisal al-`aql bi al-insan (Union of the
intellect with Man)
- Kitab al-Nafs (on the soul)
- Commentary on Aristotle's Physics (ed. P.
Lettinck, Leiden, 1994)
-
Shahrastani (1087-1153):
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Ibn Tufayl (1110-1185)
wrote Hayy bin Yaqzan.
-
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
(1126-1198). See our website on him.
-
Fakhraddin al-Razi
(1149-1209) (PDF)
- Book on Ethics an
English translation of Kitab al-nafs wa'l-ruh wa sharh
quwahuma (pdf).
- Wrote many many books on Philosophy including
muhsal afakar al-mutaqadimin wal-mutakharin
- al-mutalib al-'alyiah min al-ilm al-ilyahi.
- and many many others see A. Shihadeh, Leiden,
2006. pp. 7-11. for a listing.
- Haci Pasha (1339-1424) wrote on Medicine and
theology.
- athir al-din al-Abhari (1200-1246).
- Kitab Hidaya al-Hikmah (Guide to Philosophy)
- Isaghuji fi'l mantiq (Introduction to Logic)
trans. by T. Novarinsis Rome, 1625 and E. Calverly, Princeton, 1933.
- Tanzil al-afkar (on Logic)
- Kitab al-Mahsul (metaphysics)
- Kashaf al-haqa'iq (fi tahrir al-daqa'iq)
(Unveiling of metaphysical Realities)
- Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi (1207-74) considered a
chief expositer of Ibn `Arabi's philosophy
-
Ibn Taymiyah. (1263-1328).
wrote many critisim of philosophy including one of Aristotlian
logic.
-
Ibn Khaldun(1332-1406).
wrote in the introduction to his history a review of all branches of
knowledge in his time. He was quite aware and knowledgeable on the
philosophical debates.
- Nasir al-Din al-Tusi - wrote commentaries on Ibn
Sina's works and his own indpendent works.
- Hocazade - Wrote a book titled tahafut
which was a reworking of the issues that Ghazali mentioned in his
tahafut.
- Ala' al-din al-Tusi - Wrote a book titled
tahafut which was a reworking of the issues that Ghazali
mentioned in his tahafut.
- Nur al-din al-Raniri (d. 1658)
- Mulla Sadra. (1571-1640) - Wrote philosophical
works and is considered the founder of the Ishraqi school of
theosophy.
- Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1641-1731) - followed
Ibn `Arabi philosophy.
- Al-Hadiqat al-nadiya
- Wujud al-Haqq (On True Being)
- Sharh jawahir al-nusus
- Books on Hanfi fiqh and on Dream interperetation.
- Mehmet Raghib Pasha (1699-1763) - Accomplished
statemen, poet and scholar
- Safinat al-raghib wa dafinat al-matalib (history
of knowledge)
- Tahqiq al-Tawfia
- Said Nursi (1877-1960) enough said!
Books:
-
Averroes,
1930, Averroès Tahafot at-Tahafot, M. Bouyges (ed.),
Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique.
-
Averroes.
1954, Averroes' Tahafut al-tahafut (The
Incoherence of the Incoherence), S. van den Bergh (trans.), 2
vols., London: Luzac.(link) Ibn Rushd's
answer
to some of al-Ghazali's concerns in the tahafut.
-
Tahafut
of Hocazade (a book by an Ottoman scholar (Mustafa b. Khalil
Khawaja zadae Barswae) on the issue of philosophers in the tahafut of Ghazali. (Arabic PDF.)
- Tahafut of Alaaddin al-Tusi. (yet
another book by an Ottoman scholar edited by Rida Sa`ada (Beirut:
al-Dar al-Alimyah, 1983). Arabic. (pdf)
- The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr
al-Din al-Razi, Ayman Shihadeh, Brill: Leiden, 2006 (ISBN: 9004149910)
Articles:
- Michot, Y. "Al-Nukat wa-l-faw`id: An Important Summa
of Avicenian Falsafa", in Peter Adamson, ed., Classical Arabic
Philosophy: Sources and Reception, Warburg Institue, London 2007,
pp. 90-123. (pdf)
- FROM AL-GHAZALI TO AL-RAZI: 6TH/12TH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS IN MUSLIM
PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY BY AYMAN SHIHADEH, Arabic Sciences and
Philosophy, (2005) 15:141-179 (PDF)
- Michot, Y. “A Mamluk Theologian’s
Commentary on Avicenna’s Risla Adhawiyya: Being a Translation of
a Part of the Dar' al-ta'rud of Ibn Taymiyya with Introduction,
Annotation, and Appendices” Part I, Journal of Islamic Studies,
2003 14:2 pp.149-203 and Part II , Journal of Islamic Studies,
2003 14:3 pp. 309-363 (PDF).
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