Al-Farabi

Biography & Contributions

▪ Abu Nasir Muhammad bin Muhammad Tarkhan bin uzlaq Al-Farabi

▪ Transoxia, Turki

▪ Early education in Farab, Kazakhstan, then further his studies in Baghdad

▪ Qanaah – does not love and interest on worldy things; focus on seeking knowledge

▪ Die at the year of 950M (339H)

▪ Famous Islamic scholar

▪ Philosophy, logic, physics, chemistry, metaphysic, politic, music, medicine, history

▪ Great expert musician – create gambus, music note

▪ Express his knowledge and work in the form of writing and books:▪ Al-musiqa (music)

▪ Ara ahl Al-Madina Al-Fadila (sociology)

▪ Fusus al-Hikam (philosophy)

▪ Ethics, metaphysics, medicine

▪ Islamic philosopher – influenced by philosophy of Yunani (Aristotle and Plato)

▪ Classified as “Neoplanonist”: combine philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

▪ Study and investigate more on philosophy and theory by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle: to produce a well-arranged knowledge of logic (mantik) in Arabic

▪ Simplify knowledge of logic:▪ Idea (takhayyul)

▪ Prove (thubut)

▪ In medicine, stated that heart is more important than brain

▪ Heart provide warmth to the body meanwhile brain only control the warmth according to the body needed

▪ Combine theories by Plato and Aristotle with theology and explain that philosophy and Islam exist in harmony

▪ Among the Islamic scholar, known as second Aristotle

▪ Knowledge is everything and scholar should be placed in high hierarchy in the government – same with Confucius

AL-FARABI

The arguments on the existence of God and cosmology.

▪ Al-Farabi does not make a distinction between the knowledge of

God and the will of God.

▪ The absolutely knowledge of God is the very source of existence.

▪ There is no will to control or initiate the coming into existence.

▪ The existence of the world follows necessarily from the absolute

knowledge of the divine.

The becoming of Intellect

The becoming of the Celestial

bodies

The becoming of the Sublunary

System

Conflicts:

1. The eternity of the world.

2. The denial of resurrection.

3. Did not consider the concept of the will of God.

“ the absolute knowledge of God id the very source of existence, thus there is no will to control or to initiate the coming into existence.”

- The existence of the world follows necessarily from the absolute knowledge of the Divine.