Three spiritual and intellectual leaders
who lived from the 10th to 13th century,
Ibn Sina, a philosopher, Al-Ghazali, a
scholar and mystic,
and Ibn Taymiyya, a reformer.
 Ibn
Sina: Vision of the Cosmos
 Al-Ghazali: Quest for certainty
 Ibn Taymiyya: True obedience to God
IBN SINA: outline of his theory
Essence (what-ness) / Existence (that-ness,
found-ness)
Existence of anything may be:
 Impossible: Self-contradictory, e.g. round
square
 Possible (contingent): may exist or may not,
most things, e.g. houses, unicorns
 Necessary: cannot not exist, existence is part
of essence, must be one, must be source of
everything
Diagram of the Cosmos
Necessary Existent produces 1st intelligence by
its activity of thinking
1st intelligence
 produces 2nd intelligence by reflecting on
N.E.
 produces soul of 1st sphere by reflecting on
itself as necessary (because N.E. and its
activity of thinking are necessary)
 produces body of 1st sphere by reflecting on
itself as contingent (dependent on N.E.)
2nd intelligence produces 3rd intelligence,
and soul and body of second sphere in the
same ways
 and so on to 9th intelligence.
Necessary Existent
= God
First intelligence
Soul of 1st sphere
Body of 1st sphere
Sphere of spheres
2nd intelligence
Soul of 2nd sphere
Body of 2nd sphere
Fixed stars
3rd intelligence
Soul of 3rd sphere
Body of 3rd sphere
Saturn
4th intelligence
Soul of 4th sphere
Body of 4th sphere
Jupiter
5th intelligence
Soul of 5th sphere
Body of 5th sphere
Mars
6th intelligence
Soul of 6th sphere
Body of 6th sphere
Sun
7th intelligence
Soul of 7th sphere
Body of 7th sphere
Venus
8th intelligence
Soul of 8th sphere
Body of 8th sphere
Mercury
9th intelligence
Soul of 9th sphere
Body of 9th sphere
Moon
10th intelligence =
Active intellect =
Gabriel
Sublunar world (earth) of change: intellect(s), soul(s), bod(ies)
Above the sphere of the moon: indestructible,
harmonious: the “music of the spheres
Below the sphere of the moon: change, decay,
discord
Ptolmaic universe has been compared to a
golden apple, rotten at the core.
 We live in the core
 How to get out, transcend our situation?
Ibn Sina’s Sublunar World: Biology/Psychology
Active Intellect (=10th intelligence)
 Too far from the source of being to produce
just one intellect, soul, body
 Produces: Prime matter (hule, huyula)

Evolves into 4 elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire
 Produces
soul(s): depending on the balance
of the elements these become:



Mineral spirit – for minerals
Vegetative soul – for plants
Animal soul – for animals
 Produces
humans

Rational soul or intellect for
Intellect can come into contact with the higher
intellects
Ibn Sina’s Biology/Psycology

Vegetative Soul




Nutritive faculty
Faculty of growth
Reproductive faculty
Animal Soul

Faculty of motion



Faculty of desire,
 Lust (libido)
 Anger
Faculty of locomotion
Cognitive faculty


Exterior senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.
Internal senses
 Common sense,
 Representative, depicting
 Imagination (depicting what is not present)
 Apprehension (recognizing potential good or harm)
 Memory (retention)
Ibn Sina’s Psycology and Spiritual Faculties
Rational (Human) Soul
 Practical Intelligence: crafts, ethics
 Theoretical Intelligence
Material intelligence (potential) [niche]
 Intelligence in habitu (actual at first level)[glass]
 Intelligence in actu (more fully developed) [lamp]
 Acquired intelligence (direct vision from AI)[light
upon light] 


discursive[olive tree]
intuition [whose oil would almost glow . . .]
The words in brackets refer to Ibn Sina’s
interpretation of Qur’an 24:35
The highest goal of the human soul is, through
development of the intellect, to come into
"conjunction" with the Active Intellect and
become a replica of the intelligible world, thus
achieving the perfection proper to it as a citizen
of that world.
Most people can receive intellectual knowledge
from the Active Intellect only after exercising
themselves on the data of perception (e.g.
polishing a mirror).
A prophet’s intellect is such that he does not need
external instruction but has direct contact with
the Active Intellect and intuits everything at a
stroke. The Active Intelligence deposits the
forms of all things, past, present and future in
his soul.
Al-Ghazali’s Quest for Certainty
 Al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl (That which delivers
from error), a “structured” autobiography
Shattering the glass of taqlīd
 No longer accept cultural views uncritically
 Aware of different doctrines and religions
 Intellectual crisis
 Seeks certain knowledge such that “no doubt
clings to it and no possibility of error or
deception accompanies it”.
 Reason
and observation show that sense
perception may lead one astray (e.g. sun
seems small but reason shows it to be large)
 Perhaps something else will show the reason
can lead one astray
 Perhaps this is the “state” Sufis claim.
 God re-establishes al-Ghazali’s faith in
necessary truths of reason
Categories of Seekers after Truth
 Theologians (mutakallimūn)
 Isma‘ilis (bāṭinīs)
 Philosophers
 Sufis
Theologians
 Do not go back to first principles; usually
argue from opponents premises
 Good for those whose need goes only so far
as refuting certain errors
 Dangerous for those not concerned with
these errors (most people)
 Not adequate for al-Ghazali
Philosophers
 Claim to build their position from first principles
 Parts of philosophy are valid: mathematics,
logic, physical sciences
 Politics and ethics are borrowed from prophets,
Sufis and others
 In metaphysics/theology they often err: most
seriously
no resurrection of the body
 God does not know particulars
 Universe is eternal


Danger of Philosophy: The errors of the
philosophers may lead some to reject what is
true and the truths of philosophers may lead
some to accept what is false.
Isma‘ilis
 There is a need for an infallible instructor
 The imām claimed by Isma‘ilis is not
adequate


Has not ended disputes
Is not usually available
 The


true imām is Muhammad
Gives certainty on basics
Ijtihād for other things
Sufis
 Must practice, have their experience (dhawq,
“taste”)
By now, firm belief in God, prophets, last day.
Moral Crisis – Breakdown
 His present life is attached to worldly fame
 Cannot bring himself to abandon it
 Breakdown
 Leaves Baghdad
 Engages in ascetic and spiritual practices,
occasionally experiences ecstasy
Sufi path
 Sufis achieve nearness to God, visions, fanā’,
not union
 Highest Sufi experiences are at the beginning
of prophecy



Lesser experiences provide analogy to prophecy
Those who accompany the Sufis may gain
certainty from their experiences
Dreams are also analogous to prophecy
 In
these ways one can by convinced of the
existence and nature of prophecy
 Prophecy is the stage beyond intellect
 Once one knows what prophecy is, one can
be convinced that Muhammad is in the level
of prophets
Does he achieve the certainty he sought?
 Sought certain knowledge such that “no
doubt clings to it and no possibility of error
or deception accompanies it”.
 One experiences a sample of prophecy in the
first stages of the Sufi path and by it attains
a kind of direct experience commensurate
with his progress, and by analogy with this he
arrives at a belief in what he has not yet
experienced. This is enough for faith in the
principle of prophecy. [Seems to be alGhazali’s situation.]
Esoteric al-Ghazali?
In the Ihyā ‘Ulūm al-Dīn
He speaks of the “science of mystical
revelation” (‘Ilm al-mukāshafa), which is not
committed to writing.
Mishkāt al-Anwār (Niche for Lights)
 cosmology and psychology is very similar to
that of Ibn Sina
 after arguing that the apparent union of the
mystic with God is not real, he says that
beyond this are mysteries of which we may
not speak
Mizan al-‘Amal (Balance scale of action):
Mentions three views on future life:
1) ordinary believers accept future life in
physical sense taking the images of the
Qur'an literally.
2) Philosophers deny real physical pleasures
but accept that they happen in imagination,
but the subjective experience is as strong
and the external reality is not necessary.
3) Sufis and more recent philosophers deny
even the imaginative physical experience;
the real pleasures are much higher, but are
symbolized by physical pleasures for the
masses. It is ignoble to serve God to gain
Paradise or avoid Hell, and those whose goal
is truly God seek something higher.
Ibn Taymiyya
Concerned for a strict but flexible obedience
to Qur’an and Sunna
 Particularly concerned about bid‘a
 Ijmā‘ might not be relevant to later
circumstances
 Ijtihād necessary, go back to the sources
The goal is obedience to God, not knowledge:

“Abu Hamid [al-Ghazali] . . . teaches that the
goal of all action is only knowledge, which is also
the essence of the philosophers' teaching . . .
[this] is worse than the beliefs of the idolatrous
Arabs, let alone of Jews and Christians.”
Theological Points
 Attributes of God


Literalist? Reported to say, “God descends to the
sky over our world just as I am descending”, as
he stepped down one step of the minbar.
Affirm attributes without tashbīh (making them
like human attributes) or ta‘ṭīl (emptying them
of content)
 Qadar


Should help one bear up under hardship
Should not excuse sin or tyranny
Government:
 Siyāsa shar‘iyya (government according to
the Sharī‘a
 Fatwa against Mongols for not following
Sharī‘a
 Advice to his own rulers, sometimes
followed, sometimes got him in trouble
Sufism:
 Initiated into the Qadiri ṭarīqa
 Ilhām sometimes acceptable as a subordinate
guide to ijtihād
 True fanā’ is identification of one’s will with
God’s will
 Rejected waḥdat al-wujūd

Ultimately destroys the distinction between right
and wrong
 Criticized
veneration of Sufi saints and relics,
visitation of tombs, dramatic actions such as
glass-eating, firewalking


Denied Husayn’s head is in Cairo
Destroyed a relic attributed to the Prophet