“Philosophy” ( Falsafa), As It Is an Alter- Native Term for “Islamic Though

Introduction

It is difficult to define Islamic “philosophy” ( falsafa), as it is an alter- native term for “Islamic thought”, a complex of ideas related to what the member of the Islamic society within the context of its Islamic culture and shaped by its religion1 considered as desirable knowledge and “wisdom” (hikmạ ). This explanation follows the etymology of the Greek term filosofía “love of wisdom”. It includes only a part of the truth, insofar as philosophy is also the result of the curiosity of man, who seeks to know new things. Philosophy as a complex of theoretical insights and practical experiences is, however, also the result of the encounter of persons with differing views and experiences; moreover, it is the result of the dialogue between differing societies and cultures. Philosophy and philosophers thus become participants in a dialogue between different cultures and centuries; philosophers mediate between the knowledge of the past and the present, between the cultures of the past and the present, between one nation and the other. Therefore, we cannot talk about the encounter of Islamic philosophy with European thought, without discussing its preceding encounter with Greek thought. Greek ideas found their way into Islamic thought and became assimilated within the frame of the Qurʾānic world-view of Islam. Scholastic philosophers of the European Middle Ages found Islamic philosophical thought attractive for their own Christian theol- ogy, in a similar way as Muslim theologians recurred to logical argu- ments and thoughts of the Greeks, following the model of hellenized Syriac speaking Christians. The selection from Greek ideas on both sides, the Muslim and the medieval Christian culture, was determined by the specific demands of both; each culture selected what seemed to be somehow familiar and agreeable; each culture created its own picture of the other. The resulting mirror-picture is philosophy and

1 cf. the discussion by Rémi Brague, Wie islamisch ist die islamische Philosophie?— In: Wissen über Grenzen, pp. 165–178; French version in L’Orient chrétien dans l’empire musulman. Hommage au professeur Gérard Troupeau. Ed. G. Gobillot. Paris 2005, pp. 119–141 and in Brague, Au moyen du Moyen Âge. Philosophes médiévales en chrétienté, judaisme et islam. Chatou 2006, pp. 77–94. 2 introduction the interpretations of philosophers, who contribute to philosophy by their way of understanding and also misunderstanding. They are participants of a dialogue, which in the case of Islamic philosophy gives us the chance, to investigate the conditions of inspiration, reception, assimilation and reorientation of philosophical thought between antiquity and European Middle Ages. It will become clear, that Latin scholasticism is not a mirror-picture of Islamic philosophy, just as little as Greek philosophy, their common inspirative source, is uncritically taken over. The Greek philosophical tradition common to Islam and Medieval European scholasticism requires a discussion of the way in which Greek thoughts passed to the Arabs, before we discuss the impact of Islamic philosophers on European scholastics. Only such a discussion will reveal the new orientation of Greek thoughts in Islam and its specific impact on medieval European thought. However, before we look at Islamic philosophical thought, we should examine the Islamic background that became a fertile soil for the reception of Greek philosophical and scientific thought.

We start with a chapter on the Qurʾānic background of rationalism in early Islam. After this chapter we continue with a chapter onthe appraisal of individuality in early Islam, as precondition of the development of a new rational world-view in the 8th/9th century. This rational world-view and the following period of translations from Greek into Arabic facilitated the assimilation of Greek thought during the development of an essentially Islamic world-view, which was shaped by Qurʾān, Qurʾānic eschatology and the Islamic concept of revelation. This Islamic world-view became known in medieval Europe through Latin translations. Its influence challenged Europeans to critical reflexions. Appropriation and critical distance became elements of a thought process, which became manifest in an exemplary manner in Islamic thought between antiquity and Middle Ages and created an impressive picture of Islamic thinking. This can be informative for our present view of Islamic culture and can help to avoid still existing prejudices and misconceptions. Islamic philosophy is the most beautiful example of a multicultural dialogue. Its richness of ideas can be understood as an indication of plurality as mirrored in the manyfold shapings of Islam during its his- tory. This implies to a certain extent a plurality of values, which should