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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Metaphysics according to the westerners are the branch of philosophy responsible for the

study of existence. It is the foundation of a worldview; answer the question that

encompasses everything that exists as well as the nature of existence itself. It says

whether the world is real or merely an illusion, and is a fundamental view of the world

around us1. While in Islamic philosophy, the problem inquired in Islamic metaphysic are

the same as the problems investigated in the study of western metaphysics. Islamic

metaphysics is concerned with finding the truth, the nature of universe, the nature of man

and the purpose of all creation.

The first major work in the history of philosophy to bear the title ―Metaphysics‖ was the

treatise by Aristotle that we have come to know by that name. But Aristotle himself did

not use that title or even describe his field of study as ‗metaphysics‘; the name was

evidently coined by the first century C.E. editor who assembled the treatise we know as

Aristotle's Metaphysics out of various smaller selections of Aristotle's works.2 The term

does not go back to Aristotle; it seems merely to be a title in early edition of his works

meaning ―Appendix to the Physics‖ Aristotle himself describes what we count this head

as ―first Philosophy‖ or ―wisdom‖. There are two tasks he allots to this discipline, which

are the investigations of beings in general, and the investigation of a particular being or

set of beings, namely God or the Gods.3

The Islamic philosophers picked and chose from Aristotle's texts, using him as an

authority when it suited their purposes, and knowing that philosophy was a 'foreign

1 Jeff Landauer, Joseph Rowlands, 2001, Metaphysics, www.importanceofphilosophy.com

2 Cohen, S.Marc, 2000, Aristotle’s Metaphyiscs, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

3 Robert L. Arrington, 2003, The World’s Great Philosophers, Blackwell Publishing Ltd

2

science' in need of an external authority as it lacked an indigenous authority.4 Avicenna‘s

metaphysical system is one of the most comprehensive and detailed in the history of

philosophy. Its ingredients, its conceptual building blocks, so to speak, are largely

Aristotelian.5 Avicenna himself hints at this when in introducing his magnum opus, the

voluminous Sefaʾ (Healing), he writes: ―There is nothing in the books of the ancients but

we have included in this our book. If something is not found in a place where it is

normally found, it would be found in another place where I judge it more fit to be in. I

have added to this what I have apprehended with my thought and attained through my

reflection, particularly in physics, metaphysics and logic‖.6

IbnSina‘s philosophy is an attempt to construct a coherent and comprehensive system that

accords with the religious exigencies of Muslim culture. As such, he may be considered

to be the first major Islamic philosopher. The philosophical space that he articulates for

God as the Necessary Existence lays the foundation for his theories of the soul, intellect

and cosmos. Furthermore, he articulated a development in the philosophical enterprise in

classical Islam away from the apologetic concerns for establishing the relationship

between religion and philosophy towards an attempt to make philosophical sense of key

religious doctrines and even analyze and interpret the Qur‘an.7

Following the initial reception of Hellenistic texts in to Islamic thought, researcher have

found that these academic writings which is particularly underlying on the issues of

Metaphysic and its utilities on Islamic teachings would give us a refreshment on how it is

relevant to discuss some of foreign sciences or to keep in other sources from non-Muslim

environment to be implemented in the circle of Islamic thought, so that we are not just

going to threw out another better understanding which can make our religion go beyond

what we may normally expected it to be happen especially in this kind of field.

4 Kiki Kennedy Day, 1998, Aristotelianism in Islamic Philosophy, Routledge

5 Michael E. Marmura, 1987, Avicenna Metaphysic, Encyclopedia Iranica, http://www.iranicaonline.org

6 Avicenna, translated by Michael E. Marmura, 2004, The Metaphysic of Healing, Bringham Young

University 7 Sajjad H. Rizvi, 2006, Avicenna (c.980-1037), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

http//www/iep.utm.edu

3

1.1 Problem Statement

These studies is set to be done for several interest, first of all, is to examine how

Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysics developed among Muslims and influenced their ways of

thinking. For example, Al-Farabi, he is considered the foremost Aristotelian, and was

indeed known as the second teacher. Some scholars has divided his works into those

which admit Aristotle‘s influence, such as ―Kitab Al-Huruf‖ The Book of Letter, and

more popular work such as ―Kitab Fi Mabadi’ Ara’ Ahl Al-Madina Al-Fadila‖ The Book

of the Principle of the Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City.8

Secondly, these studies are conducted to makes a truth evidence of Aristotle‘s views of

Metaphysics in Islamic philosophy. Thus connected to the second, is to examine how

Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysics could suits the purpose of Muslim philosophers. This is

one of the main features in this work where I would like to take some of any point of

view which may be an important figure to the reader as a ladder to a better understanding

of Islamic philosophy and not to misinterpret any ideologies comes from our Muslim

scholars in this field of study.

1.2 Objective of the Study

The aim of these studies to be conducted firstly is to analyze how Aristotle‘s Metaphysics

could give a wide influence among Muslim Philosophers, secondly how Muslim

Philosophers makes truth evidence of Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysics. In addition,

8 Al-Farabi became an expert in philosophy and logic, and also in music: one of his works is entitled Kitab

al-musiqa al-kabir (The Great Book of Music). However, perhaps the book for which he is best known is

that whose title is abbreviated to al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City), and which is often compared,

misleadingly in view of its Neoplatonic orientation, to Plato's Republic. Other major titles from al-Farabi's

voluminous corpus included the Risalafi'l-'aql (Epistle on the Intellect), Kitab al-huruf (The Book of

Letters).

4

researcher also wanted to examine how Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysic suited the

thinking approaches of Muslim Philosophers with Islamic purposes and nature. Lastly,

these studies will examine the major work of those Muslim philosophers that connoted

Aristotle‘s influences in Metaphysics.

1.3 Research Question

1- How Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysics influence Muslims Philosophers?

2- What does Muslim Philosophers do in conjoining the ideas of Metaphysics in

Islamic thought of Philosophy?

3- How Aristotle‘s Metaphysics suits with the teachings of Islam?

4- What is the major work of Muslim Philosophers that connotes Aristotle‘s

influence in Metaphysics?

1.4 Significance of the Study

These studies serve to makes better improvement for several previous studies that have

been conducted in the field of philosophy studies. This writing also aimed to avoid and

made up better clearance and further explanation on any confusion and negative

perception made by nowadays scholars who accused our previous Muslim philosophers

on receiving any sciences and ideas from non-Muslims thinkers. Researcher intend to

prove that our previous peripatetic philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Ibn-Sina, Al-Farabi

and Ibnu Rushd are not blindly imitating the ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher,

Aristotle, and put it at one‘s pleasured onto the teachings of Islamic philosophy.

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1.5 Literature Review

There are plenty of works regarding the influences of Aristotle‘s Metaphysics on Muslim

Philosophers.

Metaphysics or 'beyond physics' is the study of philosophy examining the true nature of

reality, whether it is visible or not. Metaphysics also studies the concepts of being and

knowing; essence and existence. Many famous philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Al-

Kindi, Al-Farabi and ibn Sina have defined metaphysics and tried to contradict theories of

each other.

In the work, Islam and Metaphysic, by Jaafar Hassan, the writer tried to define God by

comparing the concepts of those ancient philosophers and other philosophers who agreed

with one or the other. For example, According to Aristotle, God must be the first cause or

the first principle of all the substances. Aristotle agrees that theology is an integral part of

metaphysics since God is the principle of being. In his epistle, On the Aims of Aristotle's

Metaphysics, Farabi explains metaphysics as a universal science comprising general

concepts as being, unity, species, accidents etc. From this writings researcher made a

conclusion how our Muslim philosophers could agreed with the ideas of Aristotle in this

field of studies and harmonizing without neglecting our religious views.9

While according to Isaac Husik, ―Averroes on the Metaphysic of Aristotle‖, mentioned

there are plenty of commentaries wrote by Averroes based on Aristotle‘s works, which

are divided into three different type of commentaries, ―Great‖, ―middle‖ and ―brief‖,

commentaries on Aristotle‘s text with detailed discussion, first few words of each

paragraph of Aristotle‘s works and the abandoned of original order with an exposition of

Averroes‘s own method and words.

9 Jaafar Hassan, 2011, Islam and Metaphysics, http//www.islamicinsight.com

6

These connote not only those Muslim philosophers takes Aristotle‘s ideas directly

without any hesitation, but elaborated and suited those ideas they picked using their own

methodology and views.10

Through the writings of Abu Rida, in Rasail Al-Kindi Al-Falsafiyya (vol1) said, when Al-

Kindi tries to make an engagement with Aristotle‘s views on metaphysics he found that

those ideas of Aristotle are quite ambivalent and by presenting Aristotle‘s work as the

culmination of a four-fold division of philosophy into mathematics, logic, physics and

metaphysics, Al-Kindi then made up an opposition views with Aristotle.11

Al-Kindi in his metaphysics, insists on offering a consistent opposition to the Aristotelian

metaphysics, especially the philosophical issue of the eternity of the world. Aristotle

thought the world and its motion and time are eternal; though he himself did not offer

adequate arguments to prove his point. Aristotle thought that infinity could not exist in

actuality; however, he contradicted himself and stated that the actual existent world is

eternal and thus is infinite.

Aristotle‘s first cause is a pure intellect that is self-centered. It has no concern about the

rest of the universe and is busy in intelligizing itself. Then how can everything in this

universe function? How is the first cause controlling this world? These and other

questions are very hard to answer within the Aristotelian scheme. Al-Kindi did not find

Aristotelian metaphysics appealing at all, in spite of the fact that he greatly admired

Aristotle as a man of wisdom. Al-Kindi was a mathematician and Aristotelian cosmology

lacks mathematical foundations and suffers from inconsistency; al-Kindi‘s opposition to

Aristotle‘s metaphysics reflects al-Kindi‘s independent philosophical reasoning and

unique identity. The core emphasis of al-Kindi‘s philosophy is Islamic in essence, and

reflects the teachings of the Qur‘an and the traditions of the Prophet.

10

Isaac Husik, 2002, Averroes and the Metaphysic of Aristotle, The Philosophical Review, Cornell University 11

Abu Rida, 1950, Rasaʼil al-Kindi al-falsafiyya (vol. I), Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi, Cairo

7

In ―Avicenna Metaphysic‖, by Michael E. Marmura, mentioned that Avicenna‘s

metaphysical system is one of the most comprehensive and detailed in the history of

philosophy. Its ingredients, its conceptual building blocks, so to speak, are largely

Aristotelian.12

Avicenna himself hints at this when in introducing his magnum opus, the

voluminous Sefaʾ (Healing).

Avicenna's original adaptation of the Metaphysics can be best appreciated in the

metaphysical sections of his summae of philosophy, which approach Aristotle's work

according to a perspective that combines taxonomy, exegesis and adaptation. In virtue of

their format as a collection of the different branches of philosophy, these works give

metaphysics a specific position in the system of the philosophical disciplines. At the same

time, they provide an explanation of Aristotle's text by incorporating it, according to a

modified formulation and arrangement, into Avicenna's own discourse. Finally, they

enrich the doctrine of the Metaphysics with theories that are taken from other authors and

works within the Aristotelian tradition, or from the fruits of Avicenna's own mind.13

With all these works, researcher found that whenever it came to define particularly on the

subject metaphysic, Aristotle can be said as the most significant figure and reference to

our Muslim philosophers. Being the most influential men, Aristotle bring those Muslim

philosophers to the new evolution in the world of thinking and sciences, make them

happened to carried out the secret of our creator through creation. Although, they are not

completely followed Aristotle in their studies and methodologies and even criticizing it in

order to make it relevance in Islam, indeed, those philosophers make Aristotle as one of

their initial references in understanding this knowledge. Through these writings,

researcher would like to carry out any ideas of Aristotle‘s in regards to Metaphysics use

by those previous Muslim philosophers in finding the truth and how it influenced their

thinking and methods.

12

Michael E. Marmura, 1987, Avicenna Metaphysic, Encyclopedia Iranica, http//www.iranicaonline.org 13

Bertolacci, Amos, edited by Edward N.Zalta, 2013, Arabic and Islamic Metaphysic, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

8

1.6 Theoretical Consideration

The first known work containing the term metaphysics in its title, or at least an ancestor

of that term, was a work belonging to Aristotle. This particular work was distinguished

from his other treatises or other tracts, so it seems, by an editor in the first century CE,

commonly thought to be Andronicus of Rhodes14

. At that time, the work in question was

called "ta meta ta physika", or the stuff after the stuff on physics. The stuff on "physic"

would be contained in Aristotle's treatise known to us as Physics. Thus Aristotle's

Metaphysics seems to have been thought of as a work that comes after, in some sense of

the term Physics. Aristotle's Metaphysics concerns a number of wide-ranging topics about

reality as a whole. Therein, he is concerned among other things, with the nature and

varieties of causation, the nature of substance and property, the existence of an unmoved-

mover, and the nature of possibility and actuality. And, to this day, these are perennial

issues that will be taken up in almost any survey of metaphysics.15

1.7 Research Method

In order to complete these study, researcher used to implement a historical approaches,

which is to study the history of Metaphysics, Aristotle, and several of Muslim

Philosophers who responsible to take Aristotle‘s metaphysics as one of their sources in

studying philosophy in Islam. Besides there are also a critical approaches had been used

14

Andronicus of Rhodes (fl. c. 60 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Rhodes who was also the head (scholarch) of the Peripatetic school. He is most famous for publishing a new edition of the works of Aristotle which forms the basis of the texts which survive today. by Falcon, Andrea, Edward N. Zalta, 2012, Commentators on Aristotle, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford University) 15

Jeremy Kirby, 2008, Aristotle's Metaphysics: Form, Matter and Identity, Continuum International Publishing Group.

9

to examine or analyzing how Muslim Philosophers responds towards the ideas of

Aristotle‘s Metaphysics, views, and what they said about the ideas.

1.8 Scope of the Study

These writings, ―The Influence of Aristotle‘s Metaphysic on Selected Muslim

philosophers‖ would examined thoroughly on Aristotle‘s ideas by using an appropriate

study from our four greatest Muslim philosophers, starting from Al-kindi, Ibn Sina, Al-

Farabi and Ibn Rushd. These four intellectual philosophers chosen by the researcher

based on their contribution towards the development of Islamic sciences, philosophy and

other esoteric knowledge which increased the quality of Muslim civilization.

1.9 Outline and Plan of the Study

These study is going to be done through five division part, the first part are included in

the introduction sections which explain generally the background of the study,

recognizing briefly the term metaphysics from western and Islamic views, the problem

statement, methodology approaches and significance of the study. Overall, the first part

will explain generally how this study should be orderly implemented.

The second part of these studies is to explain the origin of the term Metaphysics, which

are used by Muslim Philosophers in Islamic thought of philosophy, the definition of

metaphysic in details from both westerners and Muslim scholars.

In the third part, researcher will indicate closely the using of Aristotle‘s Metaphysics

among Muslim Philosophers, starting from the very beginning of Al-Kindi‘s ages through

10

the middle age of Avicenna and Al-Farabi until the late period of Ibn Rushd and Ibn

Bajja. This part will also explain how Aristotle‘s Metaphysics influences their thought in

philosophy discussions.

Fourthly, is the part which explains further how Aristotle‘s idea of Metaphysics was

developed in the Muslim worlds by Muslim Philosophers, which, in this part researcher

will expose freely from any sources such as articles and any social networking tools or

any types of books which beneficial in explaining the development of Aristotle‘s

Metaphysics through the Muslim worlds.

Lastly, researcher will make a worthwhile views or an opinions of what had been done

from the study, brief conclusions and requesting any general suggestion for further

studies and development of the studies.

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CHAPTER 2

The Meaning and Understanding of Metaphysics

Before the readers going onto further discussion on Aristotle and Muslim philosophers in

regards to the metaphysics, researcher would explain briefly on the interpretation of

metaphysics. Since, there a wise man said, if particular are to have meaning, there must

be universals, so before researcher explains particular on this topic, firstly, researcher

would like to go on its definition and meaning. In this chapter, researcher would explain

further on the meaning and understanding of Western and Islamic philosophy towards the

ideas of metaphysics.

2.1 Westerns Understanding of Metaphysics

The Metaphysics is considered to be one of the greatest philosophical works. It is

essentially a reconciliation of Plato‘s theory of Forms that Aristotle acquired at the

Academy in Athens, with the view of the world given by common sense and the

observations of the natural sciences. According to Plato, the real nature of things is

eternal and unchangeable. However, the world we observe around us is constantly and

perpetually changing. Aristotle‘s genius was to reconcile these two apparently

contradictory views of the world16

. The result is a synthesis of the naturalism of empirical

science, and the rationalism of Plato, that informed the Western intellectual tradition for

more than a thousand years.17

16

Bertrand Russell, 1945, A History of Western Philosophy, Stratford Press, New York 17

Hugh Lawson Tancred, 1999, Aristotle, The Metaphysic, Penguin Books Ltd

12

By the time Aristotle was writing, the tradition of Greek philosophy was only two

hundred years old. It had begun with the efforts of thinkers in the Greek world to theorize

about the common structure that underlies the changes we observe in the natural world.

Two contrasting theories, those of Heraclitus and Parmenides, were an important

influence on both Plato and Aristotle.

Heraclitus argued that things that appear to be permanent are in fact always gradually

changing. Therefore, though we believe we are surrounded by a world of things that

remain identical through time, this world is really in flux, with no underlying structure or

identity. By contrast, Parmenides argued that we can reach certain conclusions by means

of reason alone, making no use of the senses. What we acquire through the process of

reason is fixed, unchanging and eternal. The world is not made up of a variety of things in

constant flux, but of one single Truth or reality. Plato‘s theory of forms is a synthesis of

these two views. Given, any object that changes is in an imperfect state. Then, the form of

each object we see in this world is an imperfect reflection of the perfect form of the

object. For example, Plato claimed a chair may take many forms, but in the perfect world

there is only one perfect form of chair.

Aristotle encountered the theory of forms when he studied at the Academy, which he

joined at the age of about 18 in the 360s B.C.18

Aristotle soon expanded on the concept of

forms in his Metaphysics. He believed that in every change there is something which

persists through the change, and something else which did not exist before, but comes

into existence as a result of the change.

The word ‗metaphysics‘ is notoriously hard to define. Twentieth-century coinages like

‗meta-language‘ and ‗metaphilosophy‘ encourage the impression that metaphysics is a

study that somehow ―goes beyond‖ physics, a study devoted to matters that transcend the

mundane concerns of Newton and Einstein and Heisenberg. This impression is mistaken.

The word ‗metaphysics‘ is derived from a collective title of the fourteen books by

Aristotle that we currently think of as making up ―Aristotle's Metaphysics.‖ Aristotle 18

Hugh Lawson Tancred, 1999, Aristotle, The Metaphysic, Penguin Books Ltd

13

himself did not know the word. (He had four names for the branch of philosophy that is

the subject-matter of Metaphysics: ‗first philosophy‘, ‗first science‘, ‗wisdom‘, and

‗theology‘.) At least one hundred years after Aristotle's death, an editor of his works (in

all probability, Andronicus of Rhodes) entitled those fourteen books ―Ta meta ta phusika‖

which mean ―the after the physicals‖ or ―the ones after the physical ones‖, the ―physical

ones‖ being the books contained in what we now call Aristotle's Physics. The title was

probably meant to warn students of Aristotle's philosophy that they should attempt

Metaphysics only after they had mastered ―the physical ones,‖ the books about nature or

the natural world—that is to say, about change, for change is the defining feature of the

natural world.

This is the probable meaning of the title because Metaphysics is about things that do not

change. In one place, Aristotle identifies the subject-matter of first philosophy as ―being

as such,‖ and, in another, as ―first causes.‖ It is a nice and vexed question, what the

connection between these two definitions is. Perhaps this is the answer: The unchanging

first causes have nothing but being in common with the mutable things they cause, like us

and the objects of our experience, they are, and there the resemblance ceases.19

The study of what things are real and unreal, of what is ultimately real, also the study of

the basic constituents of the universe. The metaphysician looks for ontological

dependency as one thing depends on another for its existence for example, roundness

depends upon the existence of a ball. (William Hasker)

The study of the most general concepts used in ordinary language and science.

Metaphysics studies concepts, not the things the concepts are about. This is what Science

does. It studies reality, the physical world. Metaphysicians study our language, the way

we talk about reality. This view is neo-Kantian. It is the study of the concepts of the real,

not the real itself. (Rom Harre)

19

Van Inwagen, Peter, edited by Edward N. Zalta, 2012, Metaphysics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http//www.Plato.stanford.edu

14

Metaphysics is the study of existence and things that exist. Concepts are what confer

reality on something. (W.R Carter)

Metaphysics is a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the

fundamental nature of being and the world20

, although the term is not easily defined.

Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest

possible terms21

, what is there? and what is it like?22

Prior to the modern history of science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of

metaphysics known as natural philosophy. The term science itself meant "knowledge" of,

originating from epistemology. The scientific method, however, transformed natural

philosophy into an empirical activity deriving from experiment unlike the rest of

philosophy. By the end of the 18th century, it had begun to be called "science" to

distinguish it from philosophy. Thereafter, metaphysics denoted philosophical enquiry of

a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.23

2.2 Western Notions of God and Cosmos

The ultimate reason of things must lie in a necessary substance, in which the

differentiation of the changes only exists eminently as in their source; and this is what we

call God. .. God alone is the primary Unity, or original simple substance, from which all

monads, created and derived, are produced. (Gottfried Leibniz, 1670)

20

Geisler, Norman L, 1999, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Books 21

Edward N. Zalta, 2012, David Lewis's Metaphysics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University 22

What is it (that is, whatever it is that there is) like? 23

Peter Gay, 1995, The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism Chapter 3, Section II, W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 132-141,

15

Except God no substance can be granted or conceived. .. Everything, I say, is in God, and

all things which are made, are made by the laws of the infinite nature of God, and

necessarily follow from the necessity of his essence. (Benedict de Spinoza, Ethics, 1673)

The metaphysical God, God of philosophers and mystics. This defines God as the Infinite

beyond (and within) all finites realities. It is the Uncaused Cause, Absolute (totally

independent) Beingness, and eternal Mystery. It is a God about whom little can be said

and then only in a carefully qualified way. This God is outside of time and unchanging,

for time is change, beyond all dependency on any other power and therefore unaffected

by anything that a creature does, although this God may have somehow taken into

account from all eternity the acts of all creatures already.

This god is perfect personness, goodness, truth, beauty and unity, though in a way beyond

conception. This God is actively sustaining the universe in existence for some ultimate

divine purposes, but it is hard to say such a God could intervene to do miracles, and it

would be incorrect to say that this God can have changes of mind. It is experienced by the

mystics, they say, and described metaphorically as a light so pure it blinds human

consciousness. It cannot be grasped by mind, imagination, words or images. This is

incompatible only with metaphysical naturalism, which denies any reality to God at all.24

Metaphysical Cosmology is an area of philosophy that deals with our place in the

universe and the nature of reality beyond its physicality, including understanding and

explaining why everything came to be. Metaphysics seeks answers beyond measurable

matter, energy, space, and time and explores the mysteries and meanings of all that exists.

It can include speculation about what type of god might exist. In metaphysics, it often

involves questions of how a god operates and how a god might have created the universe.

Metaphysical Cosmology is the branch of cosmological discussion that deals with

the world as the totality of all phenomena in space and time. Historically, it has had quite

24

Michael Horace Barnes, 2010, Understanding Religion And Science, Introducing the Debate, Continuum International Publishing Group

16

a broad scope, and in many cases was founded in religion. The ancient Greeks did not

draw a distinction between this use and their model for the cosmos. However, in modern

times it addresses questions about the Universe which are beyond the scope of the

physical sciences. While Physical cosmology is the scholarly and academic study that

seeks to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe at

large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order. The subject matter of this field is

studied using scholarly methodology, including the scientific method and reason. It is

studied by scientists, such as astronomers, and theoretical physicists; and

academic philosophers, such as metaphysicians, philosophers of physics,

and philosophers of space and time.

The most suitable example could be taken to make a better understanding is the issue

emerging among the later scientist which is the Big Bang Theory. The Big Bang

Theory is the prevailing scientific theory for the beginning of the universe. The theory

states that all matter in the universe was at one point held together in a very dense, hot

form (composed of elementary particles).

At some point, this condensed matter began to cool, and as the elementary particles clung

together to form protons and neutrons, the mass exploded into smaller objects and the

universe began to expand (and still is expanding today.)

This explosion is estimated to have occurred some fifteen to twenty billion years ago.

Some scientists theorize that the expansion of the universe would eventually slow down

and that the gravity of its matter would eventually cause the universe to collapse on it (the

force of the explosion would run out and would be overtaken by the forces of

gravity, slowly pulling the matter together again).

However, in recent studies, some scientists separately performed tests on the speed of the

expansion of the universe. By looking at the light emitted by supernovas at varying

distances from the earth, they hoped to determine the rate at which the universe's

expansion is slowing. The results: it isn't. Their research showed that the universe was

17

actually speeding up in its expansion, which has led to several speculations. As of yet, no

complete explanation exists.25

Physics and astrophysics have played a central role in shaping the understanding of the

universe through scientific observation and experiment. What is known as physical

cosmology shaped through both mathematics and observation the analysis of the whole

universe. It is generally understood to begin with the Big Bang, followed almost

instantaneously by cosmic inflation – an expansion of space from which the universe is

thought to have emerged 13.798 ± 0.037 billion years ago.26

Metaphysical cosmology has also been described as the placing of man in the universe in

relationship to all other entities. This is exemplified by the observation made by Marcus

Aurelius of a man's place in that relationship: "He who does not know what the world is

does not know where he is, and he who does not know for what purpose the world exists,

does not know who he is, nor what the world is."27

2.3 Metaphysics in Islamic Philosophy

Metaphysics is generally accepted as a branch of philosophy, concerned with the nature

of ultimate reality (Syed Naquib Al-Attas)

Metaphysics strive to define the subject matter. Metaphysics or beyond physics is the

study of philosophy examining the true nature of reality whether it is visible or not.

Metaphysics also studies the concepts of beings and knowing, essence and existence.

25

Philosophy Index, Copyright 2002-2013, Colin Temple. All Rights Reserved, www.philosophy-index.com 26

Planck Collaboration, "Planck 2013 results. XVI Cosmological Parameters, Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics 27

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, edited by George Long, 2005, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus www.gutenberg.net

18

The problems inquired in Islamic Metaphysics are the same as the problems investigated

in the study of western Metaphysics. Islamic Metaphysics is concerned with finding the

truth about the nature of God, the nature of truth, the nature of universe, the nature of man

and the purpose of all creations. The difference between Islamic Metaphysics and

Western Metaphysics is Islamic Metaphysics recognizes the existence of the spiritual or

unseen realities.

Metaphysics is variously designated in Arabic philosophical literature by the expressions

“ma ba’d (fawq, wara’) al-tabi’ah (what is after (above, beyond) nature), al-falsafat al-

ula (first philosophy), ilahiyyat (theology, divinity) or even hikmah (wisdom). All these

terms except the last derive historically from Greek equivalents and their use, in the first

stages of philosophical reflection in Islam, seems to have been dictated by the usage of

the respective Greek sources or model of the Muslim authors more than by their literal

meaning or their correctness.28

Thus, at the beginning of his treatise ―On First Philosophy‖ (fil falsafat al-ula), Al-Kindi

explains that first philosophy is so called because it is the science of the first reality

(haqq) which is the cause of all reality, and knowing a thing requires knowing its cause.

A little further on he mentions the study of the things above nature (fawq al-tabi’ah),

which is immaterial things, the relation between the first cause and immaterial things in

general remaining so far unexplained. What is clear, however, is the contrast between

natural things, which have both matter and motion, and immaterial ones, which have

neither. 29

28

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman, 1996, History of Islamic Philosophy Part 2, Routledge, London and New York 29

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman, 1996, History of Islamic Philosophy Part 2, Routledge, London and New York

19

2.4 Islamic Metaphysical views on the Study of God and Cosmos

The fullest treatment of the problem of determining the exact subject-matters of

Metaphysics is, as expected that of Ibn sina (Avicenna). The term he favors to designate

this discipline is that of “ilahiyyat‖, which is the title of the metaphysical part of his main

philosophical encyclopedia ―al-shifa‖. But he is careful to accommodate the other

traditional denominations of metaphysics and attempts a synthesis of the different views

taken of the matter, showing them to be but different ways of envisaging the same

discipline. Thus theology (ilahiyyat) inquires into the things which are separate form

matter, the first cause of natural beings and the cause of causes and principle of principles

which is God. There is in addition a ―first philosophy‖ which provides the principles of

the other sciences, it is also properly called ―wisdom‖(hikmah), the object of this science

is variously describes as, firstly, the best science of the best object of science, secondly,

the truest and most certain science and thirdly, the knowledge of the first causes of the

universe. But these are merely three different descriptions of the same science.30

Ibn sina (Avicenna) introduces a distinction between a science‘s subject-matter (mawdu‘)

and its object, or goal (matlub). The subject-matter of any one science is taken for granted

(musallam) in that science which merely investigates its modes (ahwal). God is the goal,

not the subject-matter, of this science, and so are the ultimate causes (asbab quswa).

While in Al-Farabi‘s works of god existence and essence, he stated that to deny that

existence is a property is to deny that existence can appear in the description of anything,

and if the description of anything, and if the description is of the nature or essence of

something, then this is to deny, as Farabi does, that existence can be part of the essence of

anything. Here essence and existence are kept logically distinct in the case of god an

30

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman, 1996, History of Islamic Philosophy Part 2, Routledge, London and New York

20

exception is made, and necessary or uncaused existence is precisely what makes god the

being he is and different from all else.31

Metaphysical principles of Islamic cosmology are divided into two, which are the duality

and teleology. Duality discussed on how Islamic thought categorizes the entire cosmos

into two domains: the Unseen Universe (Aalam-ul-Ghaib), which is imperceptible to

mankind in general, has properties unknown to us, and includes Allah

(metaphorically), angels, Paradise, Hell, heavens, and Al-Arsh (the Divine Throne)32

, and

the Observable Universe (Alam-ul-Shahood), perceptible through the five senses

(possibly enhanced by means of instruments). The Qur'an says: "Allah is He, Who is the

only God, the knower of the Unseen and the Observed.33

There is a general consensus among the Muslim Philosophers about the existence of two

realms, which are the material world of nature, of the things subject to generation and

decay, and an immaterial, separate world. One of the main problems of Islamic

philosophy is to determine the kind of relationship linking the two realms together.

Aristotle has admitted the existence of such link in vague and tantalizing allusions, but

apart from the obvious fact that the yearly motion of the sun along the ecliptic, by causing

the seasonal differences, is the source of the life cycle of generation and decay, his view

on the subject remained programmatic.

The basic idea that the heavenly bodies and especially the planets occupy an intermediate

position between the wholly immaterial being, normally identified with God, and the

natural world of generation and decay appears in different guises in all the philosophical

system of classical Islam.

31

Fadlou Sehadi, (1982), Metaphysic In Islamic Philosophy, Caravan Books, Delmar, New York 32

Surah Al-Baqarah, (V.2:3): Al-Ghaib: literally means a thing not seen. But this word includes vast meanings: Belief in Allâh, Angels, Holy Books, Allâh’s Messengers, Day of Resurrection and Al-Qadar (Divine Pre-ordainments). It also includes what Allâh and His Messenger لى ص هللا يه ل لم ع س وinformed about the knowledge of the matters of past, present, and future e.g., news about the creation of the heavens and earth, botanical and zoological life, the news about the nations of the past, and about Paradise and Hell. 33

Surah Al-Hasr,(V.59,22), He is Allah , other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

21

For Al-kindi the only real cause is God who created the world ―ex nihilo‖, all other

causes are so called only metaphorically (bil-majaz). This real cause, or first cause, is also

called ultimate (ba’idah) cause, as opposed to the proximate (qaribah) cause. The

heavenly world, from the moon to the ultimate sphere is entirely devoid of the primary

qualities (hot, cold, moist and dry) as well as of generation and decay which are found

only in the sublunary world composed of the four elements (fire, air, water and earth).

While Al-Farabi begins with a description of the First Cause, or more simply the first, and

it‘s main attributes. The First is the source of all further being.

Every event must have a cause, and each cause must in turn have its own cause, and so

forth. Hence, there must either be an infinite regress of causes or there must be a

starting point or first cause. Al-Kindi rejects the notion of an infinite regress and insists

that there must be a first cause, and the first cause must be God, the only uncaused being.

The world consists of the unity of the unified whereas the Divine Independence resides in

the Unity of the Unique (Ibn Arabi)

The question of the Unity of the Divine Principle and the consequent unicity of Nature is

particularly important in Islam where the idea of Unity (al-Tawhid) overshadows all

others and remains at every level of Islamic civilization the most basic principle upon

which all else depends. But it must not be thought that this goal of finding and displaying

the unicity of nature is dependent upon a particular method to the exclusion of others. The

Muslims used many ways of knowing to formulate sciences based on the idea of the

unicity of nature which is itself derived from the twin source of revelation and intellectual

intuition.34

In the light of a detailed description of the creation of the Universe drawn from the Qur'an

and Sunnah, the purpose of existence is for God to become known, to be discovered by

human beings. Before the creation, Allah was known only to himself, because nothing

34

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 1993, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrine, State University of New York Press Albany

22

existed but He. It was part of his grand design that through created beings the Attributes

of Allah were to be fulfilled.

Allah may be known in two ways: through revelation and by means of reasoning. In the

former case, he has conveyed his presence to humankind by sending messengers.

Individuals also may become aware of Allah's existence through personal revelations,

much as a schoolchild learns from teachers and books. Reasoning may lead to awareness

of God's existence through formal logic, rational arguments, or deductions from the

results of scientific or historical research, according to the individual's interests,

education, and aptitudes. Those who choose to study the Qur'an and Hadith may obtain

further understanding of Allah, his rights, and his judgment of the beings in both the

unseen and observable universes.35

From this chapter, our reader may independently understand, what would comes after the

discussion of this topic and what is the main discussion on metaphysic, digging out

several question and may be an interesting views on what is metaphysics. Generally,

metaphysic is a study of beings and what is there before the beings or what is the cause of

all beings. From this chapter the reader may also know metaphysics from the westerners

and Islamic point of view, how those westerners view in regards to God and cosmos, and

what those Muslims know when it come to the discussion of beings.

35

Surah Al-Baqarah, (V.2:164), “In the creation of the heavens and earth, in the alternation of night and day, in the ships that sail the seas with goods for people, in the water which God sends down from the sky to give life to the earth when it has been barren, scattering all kinds of creatures over it, in the changing of the winds and clouds that run their appointed courses between the sky and earth: there are signs in all these for those who use their minds.”

23

CHAPTER 3

Historical Background on the Coming of Greek’s Metaphysical Ideas into Islamic

Philosophy

Michael Crichton36

used to said, ―if you don‘t know history, then you don‘t know

anything, you are a leaf that doesn‘t know it is a part of a tree‖, while in this chapter,

researcher would not let our readers to be those ―leaf‖, thus, this chapter would elaborate

roughly on the history of metaphysics and its significant figure on Muslim philosophers.

Among the philosophical disciplines transmitted to the Arabic and Islamic world from the

Greeks, metaphysics was of paramount importance, as its pivotal role in the overall

history of the transmission of Greek thought into Arabic makes evident. The beginnings

of Arabic philosophy coincide with the production of the first extensive translation of

Aristotle‘s Metaphysics, within the circle of translators associated with the founder of

Arabic philosophy, Al-Kindi, the so-called ―early or ―classical‖ phase of falsafa ends with

the largest commentary on the Metaphysics available in western philosophy, by Ibn

Rushd. The following ―golden‖ age of Arabic thought continues to be primarily

concerned with metaphysics, turning from the effort of interpreting the intricacies of

Aristotle‘s canonical text towards the process of assimilating the model of metaphysical

science first outlined by Al-Farabi and then implemented by Ibn Sina.

This impression of centrality is confirmed by the large number and great variety of works

pertaining to metaphysics written in Arabic translations of the basic Greek texts, different

kinds of commentaries on the translated material, original works with various degrees of

comprehensiveness and doctrinal depth, all of which provide clear evidence of the

intellectual vivacity and the productive energy of this philosophical area. Such an

intensive reflection on metaphysics leads to what represent the specific Arabic

36

John Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American best-selling author. The Daily Telegraph, November 10, 2008.

24

contribution to the history of this discipline, namely the progressive devising of a new

standard of metaphysics, in which this discipline assumes the form of a comprehensive

and articulated synthesis of the Greek heritage, undergoes a process of epistemological

refinement in terms of definition of scope, coherence of structure, rigorousness of

arguments and ascends to the role of cornerstone of philosophy.37

During the Hellenistic period (323-43 bc), classical Greek philosophy underwent a radical

transformation. From being an essentially Greek product, it developed into a

cosmopolitan and eclectic cultural movement in which Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician38

and

other Near Eastern religious and ethical elements coalesced. This transformation is best

symbolized by the role Alexandria played as the hub of diverse currents of thought

making up the new philosophy.

When the Abbasid Caliphate was founded in Baghdad in 750 ad, the centre of learning

gradually moved to the Abbasid capital, which became in due course the heir of Athens

and Alexandria as the new cultural metropolis of the medieval world. About two centuries

later Cordoba, capital of Muslim Spain, began to vie with Baghdad as the centre of

'ancient learning'. From Cordoba, Greek-Arabic philosophy and science were transmitted

across the Pyrenees to Paris, Bologna and Oxford in the twelfth and the thirteenth

centuries.

The initial reception of Greek-Hellenistic philosophy in the Islamic world was mixed. It

was frowned upon at first as being suspiciously foreign or pagan, and was dismissed by

conservative theologians, legal scholars and grammarians as pernicious or superfluous.

By the middle of the eighth century the picture had changed somewhat, with the

appearance of the rationalist theologians of Islam known as the Mu'tazilites39

, who were

37

Bertolacci, Amos, edited by Edward N.Zalta, 2012, Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 38

Ancient Semitic civilization situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent and centered on the coastline of modern Lebanon 39

Islamic school of theology based on reason and rational thought that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad, both in present-day Iraq, during the 8th–10th centuries. The adherents of the Mu'tazili school are best known for their having asserted that, because of the perfect unity and eternal

25

thoroughly influenced by the methods of discourse or dialectic favored by the Muslim

philosophers. Of those philosophers, the two outstanding figures of the ninth and tenth

centuries were al-Kindi and al-Razi, who hailed Greek philosophy as a form of liberation

from the shackles of dogma or blind imitation (taqlid). For al-Kindi, the goals of

philosophy are perfectly compatible with those of religion, and, for al-Razi, philosophy

was the highest expression of man's intellectual ambitions and the noblest achievement of

that noble people, the Greeks, who were unsurpassed in their quest for wisdom (hikma).40

3.1 The Greek Early Influence on Al-Kindi’s Views of Metaphysics

Abu Yusuf Ya‗qub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi (ca. 800–870 CE) was the first self-identified

philosopher in the Arabic tradition. He worked with a group of translators who rendered

works of Aristotle, the Neoplatonists, and Greek mathematicians and scientists into

Arabic. Al-Kindi's own treatises, many of them epistles addressed to members of the

caliph family, depended heavily on these translations, which included the

famous Theology of Aristotle and Book of Causes, Arabic versions of works by Plotinus

and Proclus. Al-Kindi's own thought was suffused with Neo-Platonism, though his main

authority in philosophical matters was Aristotle. Al-Kindi's philosophical treatises

include On First Philosophy, in which he argues that the world is not eternal and that God

is a simple One.

As one would expect given his prominent role in the translation movement, al-Kindi's

works are suffused with ideas from Greek thought. His philosophical works are indebted

in part to the mathematical and scientific authors translated by his day, for instance

Nicomachus of Gerasa; Euclid influenced his methodology as well as his mathematics

nature of Allah, the Qur'an must therefore have been created, as it could not be co-eternal with God (The, by Abdullah Saeed, 2008, Qurʼan: an introduction page 203) 40

, Majid Fakhry, 1998, Greek Philosophy: Impact on Islamic Philosophy Routledge

26

(cf. Gutas 2004). But the most important influence on his philosophy was from Aristotle,

whose corpus al-Kindi surveys in a treatise called On the Quantity of Aristotle's

Books (Abu Rida 1950, 363–84; also Guidi and Walzer 1940, Cortabarria Beitia 1972,

Jolivet 2004). This work provides a fairly thorough overview of Aristotle's corpus.

His purpose in his book called Metaphysics is to explain things that subsist without matter

and, though they may exist together with what does have matter, are neither connected

nor united to matter; to affirm the oneness of God, the great and exalted, to explain His

beautiful names, and that He is the agent cause of the universe, which perfects [all

things], the God of the universe who governs through His perfect providence and

complete wisdom, while this may not look like an accurate description of

Aristotle's Metaphysics, it is a wholly accurate description of al-Kindi's own conception

of the science of metaphysics. That he conflates metaphysics with theology is clear from

the opening of On First Philosophy, which says that since philosophy in general is the

study of truth, ―first philosophy‖ is ―the knowledge of the first truth who is the cause of

all truth.‖ And indeed Aristotle's Metaphysics is a major influence on this work.41

3.2 The Middle Stages of Aristotle’s Influences on Muslim Philosophers

The Islamic philosophers picked and chose from Aristotle's texts, using him as an

authority when it suited their purposes, and knowing that philosophy was a 'foreign

science' in need of an external authority as it lacked an indigenous authority. While

aspects of Avicennan philosophy continue the Aristotelian tradition in broad terms, Ibn

Sina's ideas about the Necessary Existent and the Possible Existent do not have their

antecedents in Aristotle's philosophy.

41

Adamson, Peter, edited by Edward N. Zalta, 2013, Al-Kindi The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2012 edition)

27

Among the scholars of the Middle Period42

, Al-Farabi is considered the foremost

Aristotelian, and was indeed known as the Second Teacher (Aristotle himself being the

First Teacher). Some scholars have divided his works into those which admit Aristotelian

influence, such as Kitab al-huruf (The Book of Letters), and more popular works, such

as Kitab fi mabadi' ara' ahl al-madina al-fadila (The Book of the Principles of the

Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City)43

, a utopian treatise which espouses

Neoplatonic theories such as emanation, in which everything is said to flow from the One.

His internalization of Aristotle is apparent in his treatment of the four causes in Tahsil al-

sa'ada (The Attainment of Happiness), echoing those found in al-Tabi'a (The Physics).

Here he shows a complete familiarity with the Aristotelian idea of the four causes, but is

equally willing to propound his own interpretation, preferring the word mabadi'(literally,

principles) rather than asbab (causes), which was the translator Ibn Ishaq's choice.

Al-Farabi considered his Kitab al-huruf, which takes its title from the Greek letters which

entitle Aristotle's chapters, to be a commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. While al-

Huruf is inspired by Aristotle's concerns, and deals with many of the same subjects, it

does not slavishly imitate or even follow the order of the Metaphysics. Al-Farabi also

believed in the ultimate harmony of the opinions of Plato and Aristotle, a difficult notion

for many philosophers today to accept.

One might ask why Ibn Sina (Avicenna) would be taken in by a false treatise,

the Theology of Aristotle, when he had such a good command of Aristotelian concepts

that he could quote accurately from memory. In his'Letter to Kiya', Ibn Sina expresses

doubt about the authorship of the Theology of Aristotle, remarking that the text is

'somewhat suspect' (Gutas 1988).

The tone of his discussion indicates that while he included this work with other

Aristotelian treatises, he has by no means concluded it is genuinely an Aristotelian text.

42

The fourth and fifth centuries (tenth and eleventh century’s ad) 43

Kitab fi mabadi' ara' ahl al-madina al-fadila (The Book of the Principles of the Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City)usually known simply as al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City)

28

On the other hand, in the Danashnama-i 'ala'i (The Book of Knowledge for 'Ala'), his

account of metaphysics, Ibn Sina derives a quotation from Aristotle where he claims that

Aristotle describes the First Being as having complete happiness in itself. It is uncertain

to which part of the Metaphysics Ibn Sina is referring, as such a passage does not appear

to exist.

Elsewhere, Ibn Sina claims to quote Aristotle from memory when discussing the theory of

definition for his treatise on Definitions, when he suggests that in the Topics, Aristotle

defines definition as 'a statement indicating the quiddity of a thing'. This is an exact

quotation. It is remarkable that Ibn Sina appears to remember Aristotle's important ideas

word for word after having, he says, read the books only once and thereafter being unable

to refer to them. Given his life as a wanderer, this statement is credible.44

3.3 The Late Period of Aristotle’s Influences Regarding Metaphysics

Unlike the Islamic east, where a Hellenistic tradition of philosophy45

flourished from the

ninth century, philosophy reached al-Andalus later. Ibn Bajja, known as Avempace in

Latin, was one of its first practitioners, active in the early part of the twelfth century. His

heavily Aristotelian commentaries on the logical works of al-Farabi still survive. The

socio-historian Ibn Khaldun ranked him with Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Bajja no doubt

influenced this, the most famous, philosopher of Muslim Spain.

44

Kiki Kennedy-Day, 1998, Aristotelianism In Islamic Philosophy, Routledge, www.muslimphilosophy.com 45

The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic civilization is the period of ancient Greek history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of ancient Rome as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC[1] and the subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt in 30 BC.[2] At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia, experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre,architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration,[3]compared to the brilliance of the Greek Classical era.

29

Ibn Rushd, better known in the West as Averroes, is considered not nearly as influential

in the Islamic world as he was in medieval Europe. Here, either because he lived on the

Western periphery of the Islamic world or because he wrote such extensive commentaries

on Aristotle, he became renowned. Latin translations of Ibn Rushd's texts were available

in Europe within a century of his death. Coming from a family of eminent jurists, Ibn

Rushd had legal as well as philosophical training. He wrote commentaries on a wide

range of Aristotle's works, including his Physics, Metaphysics, and Book of the Soul, On

the Heavens and Posterior Analytics, the last dating from 1170. In both long and

intermediate commentaries as well as short paraphrases, Ibn Rushd tried to analyse the

extent of his Islamic predecessors' deviation from Aristotle. He also exerted himself in

reconciling religion and philosophy in his Fasl al-maqal (Decisive Treatise on the

Harmony of Religion and Philosophy). He discovers a duty to reflect with the intellect on

existing beings and to seek knowledge in the Qur'anic injunction found at Surah 49: 2:

'Consider, you who have vision.'

There is good reason to consider another of Ibn Rushd's works, the Tahafut al-tahafut

(The Incoherence of the Incoherence)46

to be an attack on Neoplatonism and a defence of

true Aristotelianism.47

On the question of the origin of the world, Ibn Rushd promulgated

eternal creation but did not accept emanation. While he wrote the Tahafut primarily as a

rebuttal of al-Ghazali's attack on the philosophers, he also disagreed with Ibn Sina's ideas

about necessity.

Ibn Rushd was also to be the last in the line of Islamic Aristotelians. Throughout the

classical period of Islamic thought, there were always some thinkers who distrusted

46

The Incoherence of the Incoherence by Andalusian Muslim polymath and philosopher Averroes (1126–

1198) is an important Islamic philosophical treatise, in which the author defends the use of Aristotelian

philosophy within Islamic thought.It was written in the style of a dialogue against Al-Ghazali's claims in The

Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahāfut al-Falasifa), which criticized Islamic Neoplatonic thought.

Originally written in Arabic, The Incoherence of the Incoherence was subsequently translated into many

other languages. The book is considered Averroes' landmark; in it, he tries to create harmony

between faith and philosophy

47 Ahmad Jamil,1994, Ibnu Rushd, Monthly Renaissance

30

rationalism and logic, certain that the study of philosophy results in a loss of faith. Al-

Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya are the two best known examples. Al-Ghazali studied

philosophy to be able to rebut it; he suggested that knowledge is inferior to faith, as

knowledge could not overcome doubts. His Tahafut al-falasifa (The Incoherence of the

Philosophers) had a lasting influence. Here al-Ghazali attacked Aristotle and his

followers, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, particularly objecting to the Aristotelian notion of the

eternity of the world, which he found irreconcilable with the Qur'anic description of

God's creation of the world from nothing. Al-Ghazali also saw this as an idea which

limited God in a totally unacceptable manner. Two centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya

wrote al-Radd 'ala al-mantiqiyyin (Against the Logicians) as an attack on the method of

definition and demonstration used by the philosophers who were influenced by Aristotle.

He argued that logic is based on the faculty of human reason, which is necessarily inferior

to divine revelation.

Despite the efforts of Ibn Rushd to rehabilitate philosophy, many scholars believe that

Islamic philosophy never completely recovered from al-Ghazali's massive and brutal

assault on it. In the Latin West, Islamic Aristotelianism was reincarnated as Averroism,

that is, Aristotle's works as taught by Ibn Rushd and translated into Latin. His works also

came to have great influence in Jewish philosophy, and for many years led to a strong

strain of Aristotelianism among Jewish philosophers. Aristotelianism continued to have

an effect on Islamic philosophy through opposition to it from Illuminations philosophy,

and in particular thinkers such as al-Suhrawardi, al-Shahrazuri, Ibn Kammuna and others,

often based in Persia. The latter sought to attack what they took to be the principles of

Aristotelianism, especially its logical and ontological axioms, and produced critiques of

Aristotelian essentialism which are sometimes quite similar to that of William of

Ockham. It is accurate to say, however, that Aristotelianism as a school of philosophy in

the Islamic world found no Muslim successors after the death of Ibn Rushd.48

48

Kiki Kennedy-Day, 1998, Aristotelianism In Islamic Philosophy Routledge

31

There are lots of writings which discussing on Aristotle and his widespread of thought

upon many scholars and ancient philosophers. Through this chapter, researcher has

explains lightly on our Muslim philosophers timeline on expanding Aristotle‘s ideas.

From this chapter, readers may also develop a thorough view on how does those Muslims

philosopher reflecting towards the ideas.

32

CHAPTER 4

The Influences of Aristotle’s Metaphysics in Muslim Philosopher’s Work

Aristotle's work is the only Greek work mentioned in connection with metaphysics in the

Arabic classifications of the sciences. No other Greek metaphysical work was translated

and commented upon in the same continuous, widespread and changeable manner, or

quoted so often and largely in original treatises. Schematically, Arab authors adopted

three main ways of approaching the text of Aristotle's Metaphysics49

, corresponding to

three different literary genres. The first approach, which can be called ―taxonomical‖50

, is

found in classificatory essays whose goal is to outline the content of the Metaphysics and

to clarify its place in the Aristotelian corpus, and to indicate the position of the discipline

of metaphysics in the system of knowledge.

The ―exegetical‖ approach is represented by commentaries that aim at explaining, with

different degrees of literalness and comprehensiveness, the content of the Metaphysics.

The tendency to adaptation, finally, is visible in metaphysical treatises that reformulate

the doctrine of Aristotle's work and are intended as original elaborations, regardless of the

amount of dependence on their Greek model. All main authors who considered

metaphysics approached Aristotle's Metaphysics, in different extents and degrees, from

these various perspectives.

In order to make a distinguishes between Islamic and the Greek idea‘s of metaphysics,

Muslim philosophers also does a good counted from their own perspective, which are

suitable with the teachings of Islam and not simply take Aristotle‘s ideas of metaphysics

blindly. Those philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Ibn sina and Al-Farabi made their own

49

Bertolacci, Amos, edited by Edward N. Zalta, (2012), Arabic and Islamic Metaphysic, Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University 50

Taxonomy: the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of groupings, from the general to the particular, that reflect evolutionary and usually morphological relationships: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. (Merriam Webster’s Desk Dictionary (concise encyclopedia), 1995)

33

perception with Aristotle‘s works and developed those ideas to make it available to

discuss metaphysics on Islam. We should not take at face value the Islamic philosophers'

claims that they were simply following Aristotle. The convention in Islamic philosophy is

to state that one is repeating the wisdom of the past, thus covering over such originality as

may exist. There was a tendency among Islamic philosophers to cite Aristotle as an

authority in order to validate their own claims and ideas.

4.1 The Arabic Translation of Metaphysics

The translation regarding the subject metaphysic continued constantly for three centuries

(ninth to eleventh), with the production of some Arabic version of Aristotle‘s text, some

of which may have relied on the Syrian connection, and the involvement of several

different translators owned by the major schools of Arabic philosophy. These translations

displayed different degrees of inclusiveness (from integral versions of Aristotle's work to

translations of its single books) and literalness (from strict word for word procedures to

styles more akin to paraphrase).

Cumulatively, the Arabic translations of the Metaphysics evidence the intention of

making the entire text of Aristotle's work accessible to Arabic readers, extending the

translation activity from the main bulk of the work towards more peripheral books, like

Alpha Meizon (I)51

and Nu (XIV). Equally clear is the effort to provide an Arabic version

increasingly faithful to the Greek original and more respondent to philosophical clarity,

and a special focus on the repeatedly translated book Lambda (XII)52

. Remarkable is also

the inclusion in the translation activity of the main available Greek commentaries on

51

Alpha Meizon, the well-known beginning of Aristotle’s work (This is the beginning of the Greek Metaphysics: “All men by nature desire to know”, translated by W. D. Ross), by Cecilia Martini Bonadeo, 2011, Greek into Arabic, Philosophical Concepts and Linguistics Bridges University of Pisa 52

Further remarks on beings in general, first principles, and God or gods, This book includes Aristotle's famous description of the unmoved mover, "the most divine of things observed by us", as "the thinking of thinking"

34

the Metaphysics, namely those of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius (less certain

is the case of Syrianus' commentary), whose explanations of book Lambda (and, in the

case of Syrianus, Beta (III)) were translated together with the corresponding books of

Aristotle's work. Since also other Greek works intimately related to

Aristotle's Metaphysics were translated into Arabic, like Theophrastus's On First

Principles, the metaphysical section of Nicholas of Damascus's On the Philosophy of

Aristotle, Alexander of Aphrodisias's On the Principles of the Universe, the De aeternitate

mundi contra Aristotelem and other cosmological writings of Philoponus. The entire

Greek exegetical tradition of the Metaphysics, from Aristotle's first disciples

(Theophrastus) to his last interpreters/reformers (Philoponus), was available to Arabic-

speaking scholars.53

On account of its long duration, the high rank of the scholars it engaged, and the breadth

of its scope this area of the overall translation movement from Greek into Arabic cannot

be reduced to a mere preliminary phase of the Arabic reception of the Metaphysics, but

rather provides a specimen of the main trends that characterized the first centuries of its

history.

4.2 Al-Kindi’s Views on Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Al-Kindi was one of the first Arab thinkers to draw on the heritage of Greek Philosophy.

Al-Kindi became interested in the works of Aristotle and Plato, for example, he

recommended that Aristotle‘s Metaphysics be translated. He initiated the translation of

several works from Greek, including the theology of Aristotle which had an important

influence in Arab thought. Al-Kindi‘s best known treatise is his work on metaphysics, fi

al-falsafah al-ula (in first philosophy). Eventhough Al-Kindi‘s was not agreed with

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Aristotle in some point regarding the problems acquired in the issues of metaphysics,

precisely he was affected by the works of Aristotle which forced him to make up an

argument can be said as one of an important sources used by Muslim philosophers today.

One of the most common phrases associated with Al-Kindi‘s philosophy is creation ex

nihilo. This is a Latin phrase means ―creation out of nothing‖. Al-Kindi believed that God

was the only creator of the universe and that he created it out of nothing, meaning that

nothing else existed before God‘s creation. The reason this is so tied to Al-Kindi is that it

distinguished his views and those of the Arabs from the theories of the Greeks.

Al-Kindi often agreed with Aristotle, but he disagreed when it came to creation. Aristotle

viewed god not as a creator, but a force that turned something with potential into reality.

Aristotle, who often studied astronomy, saw that the planets and stars appeared to be

finite objects. In other words, they were not eternal and infinite. If the creation was not

infinite, then the creator may not be either. It is a sign of Al-Kindi‘s open mindedness that

he was able to strongly challenge Aristotle‘s views on this point, while still respecting

other theories of Aristotle.54

From these views we can see, the argument developed by Al-Kindi throughout the

understanding of Aristotle in regards to the creation of the world, which we can say that

the production of the ex-nihilo theories of Al-Kindi is the reflection on Aristotles views of

the eternity of the world and God‘s creation.

Al-Kindi's best known treatise is the metaphysical study, Fi al-falsafa al-ula (On First

Philosophy). Aristotelian influence can be seen in certain elements, However he is

Aristotelian only up to a point. The point of divergence is reached over the question of the

origin of the world. Aristotle teaches the eternity of the world, Al-Kindi propounds

creation ex nihilo. Al-Kindi differs from the Hellenistic philosophical tradition primarily

in espousing the belief that the world was created ex nihilo. In Aristotelian metaphysics

the Prime Mover set the world in motion, but in the Hellenistic tradition, time and motion

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36

are intrinsically linked. Matter set in motion is eternally existing, since it exists before

motion (and therefore before time). In this system, time is defined as the extension of the

series of movements. Thus time begins with movement. In al-Kindi's system, matter, time

and movement are all finite, with a beginning and a cessation at some future point. Other

subjects that concern al-Kindi can be seen from his titles, including Fi wahdaniya Allah

wa tunahiy jirm al-'alam (On the Unity of God and the Limitation of the Body of the

World), and Fi kammiya kutub Aristutalis wa ma yahtaj ilahi fi tahsil al-falsafa (The

Quantity of the Books of Aristotle and What is Required for the Acquisition of

Philosophy).55

It would appear that al-Kindi considered the study of metaphysics to be primary in his

endeavor to reconstruct Greek thought. His most significant remaining work, On First

Philosophy, assimilates metaphysics or "first philosophy" to theology, the study of "the

First Truth Who is the Cause of every truth." His survey of the works of Aristotle

likewise confirms that the Metaphysics studies God, His names and His status as the First

Cause. A similar conception underlies the Prologue to the Theology of Aristotle, which

claims to "complete the whole of Aristotelian philosophy," and promises a "discussion of

the First Divinity, and that it is the Cause of causes." The Prologue also seems to portray

this project as continuous with that of the Metaphysics. We might suspect, then, that al-

Kindi took Aristotle's aim in the study of Metaphysics as central to his own undertaking,

and indeed as central to an adequate philosophical understanding of God.

4.3 Al-Farabi and the Ideas of Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Al-Farabi was known to the Arabs as the 'Second Master' (after Aristotle), and with good

reason. It is unfortunate that his name has been overshadowed by those of later

philosophers such as Ibn Sina. It should be noted that al-Farabi was an Aristotelian as

55

Kiki Kennedy-Day, 1998, Aristotelianism In Islamic Philosophy, Routledge

37

well as a Neoplatonist, he is said, for example, to have read On the Soul two hundred

times and even the Physics forty times. It should then come as no surprise that he deploys

Aristotelian terminology, and indeed there are areas of his writings that are quite

untouched by Neoplatonism. Furthermore, al-Farabi tried to demonstrate the basic

agreement between Aristotle and Plato on such matters as the creation of the world, the

survival of the soul and reward and punishment in the afterlife.

In his philosophy of Aristotle al-Farabi explains in a few lines that metaphysics (ma ba’d

al-tabi’ah) investigates the existents from a point of view different from that of natural

philosophy. But another passage of the same work afford us a glimpse of his conception

of the relation between the two disciplines, the study of the heavenly bodies essence does

not belong to natural philosophy because the latter deals only with beings falling under

ten categories. But there are beings which fall outside the categories, such as the Active

intellect or the thing which impart their motion to the heavenly bodies. It is thus necessary

to study beings in more comprehensive fashion than that of natural philosophy, and this

more comprehensive study, which represents humanity‘s highest achievement and highest

goal, is metaphysics.56

Through these explanations we might see that al-Farabi‘s emphasized on metaphysics

came from his investigations of Aristotle works, which discussing about the Active

intellect that is the God who does not belong to the study of natural philosophy and

indeed there is metaphysics which are importantly used to study it in more comprehensive

ways rather than the natural philosophy‘s study.

Al-Farabi in his exposition of Aristotle‘s philosophy almost entirely ignored his

metaphysics. It has been suggested, quite plausibly, that this is because Al-Farabi was

dissatisfied with it, particularly with its unsystematic order, and wanted to replace it by a

theory of his own57

56

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman (1996), History of Islamic Philosophy Part 2, Routledge, London and New York 57

Druart (1981), Al-Farabi’s Metaphysics, Encyclopedia of Iranica, http//www.iranicaonline.org

38

Al-Farabi begins with a description of the First Cause, or more simply the First, and its

main attributes. The First is the source of all further beings, it is absolutely perfect, it is

unique (wahid), knowing (alim), wise (hakim), real (haqq) and living (hayy). The

influence of Mu‘tazilite kalam may be detected in these epithets. Like Aristotle‘s God it

thinks itself. It must be noted that Al-Farabi, with the majority of the peripatetic Islamic

philosophers, does not accept the neoplatonic distinction between the intellect and the

One, such a notion of a One above and beyond being and intellection must have been

inconceivable for them.58

The study of Metaphysics by al-Farabi from Aristotle‘s works related to the cosmological

problem and the theory of emanation is not straightly conceivable, however it urge al-

Farabi to contributed a replacement theory which are counted as better form of ideas by

himself to elaborated it in Islamic thought of Philosophy, such development are more

simply to be understood as the First Cause in which it comes to be the sources of all other

further beings, the First Cause mentioned by Al-Farabi in easier word is that a God which

are all-knowing, oneness and living.

Besides more traditional overviews of the works of Aristotle and the place of

the Metaphysics among them (What Ought to be Premised to the Learning of Aristotle's

Philosophy,Ma yanbaghi an yuqaddama qabla taʿallum falsafat Ariṣṭū; Aristotle's

Philosophy and Its Parts, Falsafat Arisṭuṭalis wa-agzaʼ falsafatihi), al-Farabi also

provided taxonomic accounts in which the Metaphysics is related to the system of the

philosophical and Islamic sciences, rather than to the Aristotelian corpus of writings.

In the most important and influential essay of this type, the Enumeration of the

Sciences (Iḥṣaʼ al-ʿulum), he portrays metaphysics as a discipline having a precise

method (demonstration) and an articulated structure, in which a full-fledged ontology (the

study of being qua being) in its different aspects precedes, first, a part dealing with the

foundation of the other sciences and, second, a philosophical theology concerned, among

58

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman, 1996, Metaphysics, Charles Genequand, in History of Islamic Philosophy part2, Routledge, London

39

other things, with Islamic issues such as God's attributes, divine names and actions. In all

these classificatory treatises, the position of the Metaphysics with respect to the other

works of Aristotle, or of metaphysics with respect to the other philosophical disciplines,

is not stable, but varies according to the particular perspective that al-Farabi adopts,

significantly, in some of them metaphysics is presented as the culmination of the entire

system of knowledge, for example, in The Philosophy of Aristotle.59

Al-Farabi finished his early education and spent his childhood in his hometown Turkey.

Later he continued his studies in Bukhara, while continuing his higher education in the

city of Baghdad which is the first time he learned Arabic and Greek. Farabi has a great

desire to learn about the universe and man thus dragging himself to study ancient

philosophy, especially the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. He absorbs the components

present in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, which he then combined those ideas with

the knowledge of the Quran and other sciences in Islam.

4.4 Ibn Sina’s Works of Metaphysics

Avicenna's original adaptation of the Metaphysics can be best appreciated in the

metaphysical sections of his philosophy, which approach Aristotle's work according to a

perspective that combines taxonomy, exegesis and adaptation. In virtue of their format as

a collection of the different branches of philosophy, these works give metaphysics a

specific position in the system of the philosophical disciplines. At the same time, they

provide an explanation of Aristotle's text by incorporating it, according to a modified

formulation and arrangement, into Avicenna's own discourse. Finally, they enrich the

doctrine of the Metaphysics with theories that are taken from other authors and works

within the Aristotelian tradition, or from the fruits of Avicenna's own mind.

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Among Avicenna's theology, the most extensive, influential, and the most dependent

upon Aristotelian sources is the Book of the Healing (Kitāb al-Šifāʼ). The metaphysical

section of The Cure, The Science of Divine Things (Ilāhiyyāt), exhibits two radical

aspects of Avicenna's modification of the Aristotelian Metaphysics. Avicenna changes,

first of all, the ―form‖, which is the scientific profile, of Aristotle's work. Accordingly, he

also modifies its ―content‖, namely the disposition and doctrinal purport of the individual

treatises of the work. The changes regarding the ―form‖ affect four main areas: the

subject-matter of metaphysics, its structure, its method, and its relationship with the other

sciences.60

The content of the Metaphysics, on the other hand, is reworked by means of a different

arrangement of its parts, the integration of Aristotle's thought with subsequent

metaphysical speculation, both Greek and Arabic, and the introduction of some original

doctrines.

In the context of the first aspect of formal revision, Avicenna shows that the subject-

matter of the science of metaphysics corresponds coherently to all the different ways

according to which Aristotle portrays this discipline in the Metaphysics. Thus,

metaphysics is, on the one hand, a study of the First Causes and God, since the First

Causes and God are its ―goal‖. But it is also on the other hand, a study of ―the

existent‖ since ―the existent qua existent‖ is its subject-matter. Finally, metaphysics is a

study of immaterial and motionless things since both the First Causes and God, on the one

hand, and ―the existent qua existent‖, on the other, are realities of this kind. This

harmonization of Aristotle's different points of view is undertaken with the intent of

conforming metaphysics to the epistemological canons of the Posterior Analytics, which

posit the subject-matter as the fundamental element of every science. The other aspects of

the scientific reform of metaphysics introduced by Avicenna are also the result of

applying the epistemological requirements of the Posterior Analytics to this discipline. In

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this way, Avicenna bestows on metaphysics an articulated and coherent structure, a

method that is as apodictic as possible, and a position of eminence with respect to all

other philosophical disciplines.61

4.5 Ibn Rushd’s Commentaries of Aristotle’s Works

Ibn Rushd, better known in the West as Averroes, is considered not nearly as influential

in the Islamic world as he was in medieval Europe. Here, either because he lived on the

Western periphery of the Islamic world or because he wrote such extensive commentaries

on Aristotle, he became renowned. Latin translations of Ibn Rushd's texts were available

in Europe within a century of his death. Coming from a family of eminent jurists, Ibn

Rushd had legal as well as philosophical training. He wrote commentaries on a wide

range of Aristotle's works, including his Physics, Metaphysics, Book of the Soul, On the

Heavens and Posterior Analytics, the last dating from 1170. In both long and intermediate

commentaries as well as short paraphrases, Ibn Rushd tried to analyze the extent of his

Islamic predecessors' deviation from Aristotle. He also exerted himself in reconciling

religion and philosophy in his Fasl al-maqal (Decisive Treatise on the Harmony of

Religion and Philosophy). He discovers a duty to reflect with the intellect on existing

beings and to seek knowledge in the Qur‘anic injunction found at Surah 49: 2: 'Consider,

you who have vision.'62

Metaphysics, for Ibn Rushd, does not simply deal with God or theology; rather it

concerns itself with different classes of being and the analogical idea of being. It is, thus,

a science that distinguishes inferior classes of being from real being. Ibn Rushd, the

61

Bertolacci, Amos, edited by Edward N. Zalta, 2012, Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 62

George F. Hourani, 1976, On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy A translation, with introduction

and notes, of Ibn Rushd’s Kitab fasl al-maqal, with its appendix (Damima) and an extract from Kitab al-

kashf ‘an manahij al-adilla, Messrs. Lucaz & CO. 46 Great Russell Street, London

42

adamant Aristotelian, puts his own slant on Aristotle‘s metaphysics. Ibn Rushd‘s

classification of being begins with accidental substances, which are physical beings, then

moves to being of the soul or mind and finally discusses whether the substance existing

outside the soul, such as the sphere of the fixed stars, is material or immaterial. This

hierarchy, notes Charles Genequand,63

differs from Aristotle‘s hierarchy of material

beings, beings of the soul, mind and unchangeable entities. The first and third categories

of both thinkers are somewhat similar in that they encompass a straight demarcation

between material and immaterial being. Ibn Rushd‘s second class of being, however,

includes both universals and mathematical beings; and as such cannot be the bridge

between physics and metaphysics as it is in Aristotle. Rather, he contended that all

autonomous beings, whether material or not, constitute a single category. This was likely

a response to the more materialistic interpretations of Aristotle, such as that of Alexander

of Aphrodisias, for Ibn Rushd did not see physics and the metaphysical at opposite sides

of the spectrum.64

This encompasses that Ibn Rushd not only followed Aristotle‘s ideas of metaphysics, he

even includes his own opinions to make it suits with Islamic philosophy without strictly

abandoned it blindly. The defense of Aristotle‘s philosophy can also be determined in the

works of Ibn rushd which are against the attack on philosophy by Al-Ghazali and Ibn

Taymiyyah.

Ibn Rushd was also to be the last in the line of Islamic Aristotelians. Throughout the

classical period of Islamic thought, there were always some thinkers who distrusted

rationalism and logic, certain that the study of philosophy results in a loss of faith. Al-

Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya are the two best known examples. Al-Ghazali studied

philosophy to be able to rebut it; he suggested that knowledge is inferior to faith, as

knowledge could not overcome doubts. His tahafut al-falasifa (The Incoherence of The

63

Charles Genequand, likely to be the author of one of the Article, “Metaphysics”, available in “History of Islamic Philosophy”, edited by Seyyed hossein Nasr, Oliver leaman , 1996, Routledge 64

H. Chad Hillier, 2004, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) 1126-1198, Encyclopedia of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Canada

43

Philosophers) had a lasting influence. Here al-Ghazali attacked Aristotle and his

followers, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, particularly objecting to the Aristotelian notion of the

eternity of the world, which he found irreconcilable with the Qur'anic description of

God's creation of the world from nothing. Al-Ghazali also saw this as an idea which

limited God in a totally unacceptable manner. Two centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya

wrote al-Radd 'ala al-mantiqiyyin (Against the Logicians) as an attack on the method of

definition and demonstration used by the philosophers who were influenced by Aristotle.

He argued that logic is based on the faculty of human reason, which is necessarily inferior

to divine revelation.65

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CHAPTER 5

Conclusion and Recommendation

Aristotle used to said ―It is rather the case that we desire something because we believe it

to be good than that we believe a thing to be good because we desire it. It is the thought

that starts things off.‖ From these writings, there are many things researchers believed it

would be good for the others to know something we have never know, or something that

we have no intention to know, either it is because we can‘t afford to know or don‘t want

to know. In these works researchers, had indicated closely how it is relevant when it

comes to take others opinion rather than that just doing or believing something that

couldn‘t afford to open up our mind rationalizing what we are doing.

History has recorded that the birth and development of philosophy is in Greek. The word

philosophy itself is derived from the Greek words, namely, Philo and Sophia. Philo means

love, or in broadest meaning can be interpreted as a deep curiosity, while Sophia means

wisdom or intelligence. So it can be concluded that the study of philosophy is the love of

wisdom which is never satisfied with knowledge and presume that truth should never be

end, so they will keep trying to find the truth.

The birth of philosophy in Greeks could be considered as one of an amazing things

happened in the history of sciences, these can be proved by looking at the history of

Islamic sciences such as mathematics, logics and even researchers main discussion in

these writings which is metaphysics. The beginning of philosophy in the Islamic world

was mixed, it was frowned upon at first as being suspiciously foreign or pagan and was

dismissed by many conservative scholars, but for those philosophers such as Al-Kindi

and Al-Razi that was the beginning for our Muslims to make a liberation from the chains

of dogma or blind imitation (taqlid).

45

From these writings, researchers are trying to show how our Muslim philosophers not just

picked and chose any of Aristotle‘s ideas, kept it without hesitating, claimed that this is

one of our lost Islamic sciences, in fact, those philosophers tried to make those Aristotle‘s

ideas relevant and suitable in the teachings of Islam.

Discovery consist not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes, from these

writings there are many things we could see in terms of academic reasons, there are lot of

perceptions and views we could indicated, but does these writings would be beneficial for

those who still not agreed with the combination of Islamic sciences with the Greeks

wisdoms?

From this study, researcher aimed to imply that there are nothing we can do if we still

sitting in the back looking at what we cannot think about, and believing without

understanding. The aim of our great philosopher is to abundant any blind imitation which

is continuously becomes one of our Muslim‘s weaknesses. After finishing these studies,

researcher would like to suggest or recommended some of any point that researcher

couldn‘t afford to carried out or not suitable in terms of this research title.

Firstly, regarding the original text of Aristotle‘s ideas of metaphysics there are still lot of

significant fill which is not available in these writings. For example, researcher could not

make it happened to understand several text of Muslim philosophers in regards to

Aristotle‘s ideas of Metaphysic such as Kitab Huruf written by Al-Farabi.

Secondly, in terms of originality, researchers hope the next studies would be more

enthusiastic in their words and summary of any treatises, which means, researcher was

having difficulties in terms of carrying out researchers own words or maybe not complete

enough while elaborating any paraphrase and references.

Last but not least, researcher always hope for the next studies to be more independent and

objectively clear, unbiased, and ready to accept and to be aware of any sources for the

development of the studies especially in this kind of field.

46

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