Muhammad al-ghazali. What was Knowledge in the Medieval Islamic Period?

Transcription

1 Muhammad al-ghazali What was Knowledge in the Medieval Islamic Period?

2 Four Types of Knowledge I. Falsafa/ Philosophers II. Theology/ Mutakallimun III. Sufis- Sufism IV. İsmailism/Batınis (talim)

3 Before the Islamic Empires

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5 House of Wisdom (Bayt al-hikma) Established by Abbasid Caliph al-ma mun ( ) Hunayn b. Ishaq, Place of non-arabs

6 Al-Mas udi, Abbasid chronicler During the time of the ancient Greeks, and for a little while during the Roman empire, the philosophical sciences kept on growing and developing, and scholars and philosophers were respected and honored. They developed their theories on natural science- on the body, the intellect, the soul- and on the quadrivium, i.e. on atithmetike- the science of numbers, on geometrike- the science of surfaces, on astronomia, the science of stars, and on musike- the science of the harmonious composition of melodies. The sciences continued to be in great demand and intensely cultivated until the religion of Christianity appeared among the Byzantines; they then effaced the signs of philosophy, eliminated its traces, destroyed its paths, and they changed and corrupted what the ancient Greeks had set forth in clear expositions.

7 Ibn Ridwan (d.1068, court physician) Al-Ma mun revived (the teaching of medicine) by favoring the most excellent of men. If not for that revival, all the sciences of the ancients, including medicine, logic and philosophy, would have been forgotten, just as they are forgotten today in the lands in which they were most specifically cultivated, I mean Rome, Athens, the Byzantine provinces, in many other lands.

8 Greek Learning Quadrivium (The Four Sciences) Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy Medicine: Universal Laws, Galen (2 nd Century)

9 The Buyids, and the Dissolution of the Abbasid Empire

10 The Seljuk Empire

11 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS- MADRASAS Early Islam: Smaller Study Circles Anyone with the financial means (who is free and of legal age) can establish a madrasa Madrasa is a complex of buildings that have a variety of functions: Madrasa curriculum centers on legal studies and auxiliary sciences

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13 Nizamülmülk Vizier of Alp Arslan and Melik Shah Founder of the Nizamiyya madrasas: Baghdad, Nishapur, Herat, Belh, İsfahan Ghazali taught at the Baghdad Nizamiyya in

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15 Four Types of Knowledge I. Falsafa/ Philosophers II. Theology/ Mutakallimun III. Sufis- Sufism IV. İsmailism/Batınis (talim)

16 35. The sum of what we regard as the authentic philosophy of Aristotle, as transmitted by al-farabi and Ibn Sina, can be reduced to three parts: a part which must be branded as unbelief; a part which must be stigmatized as innovation; and a part which not be repudiated at all.

17 If we believe that revelation is the only source, then how do we understand the situation of ppl born in a far away island? Fitra- we should believe that there is something inherent So it must be possible to know the purpose of the universe- but how?? Philosophers- A. Materialists B. Naturalists C. Theists-

18 Avicenna (d.1037)

19 Averroes (d. 1198)

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21 The Rise of Sufism as a Field of Knowledge Purifying the heart for God s revelations and visions The charisma of the saints are in reality the first stages passed through by the prophets.

22 Drunken Sufis