RECONCILING ISLAM AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE VIRTUOUS CITY: REREADING AL-FARABI'S AL-MADINAH AL-FADILAH WITHIN 10TH-CENTURY ISLAMIC THOUGHT

In his tenth-century work, al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah, the Muslim philosopher Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī posits a solution to the internecine hostilities between Muslim intellectual communities which occurred as a result of conflicting positions on the relationship between revelation and reason, religion and philosophy. In this work al-Fārābī demonstrates that both religion and philosophy are derived from, and dependent upon, divine revelation from Allah to the Prophet. Modern scholars of al-Fārābī interpret his work differently, reading him as an enemy of religion who subordinates Islam to philosophy. In this thesis, after establishing al-Fārābī within the historical and ideological context of tenth-century Islamic thought I analyze al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah in light of a commentary on the text by Richard Walzer, who is among those scholars who read al-Fārābī as an enemy of Islam who merely reproduces Greek philosophy in Arabic. Contrasting the original Arabic text with Walzer’s English translation and commentary I apply readings of several of al-Fārābī’s other works as an interpretive lens, through which the correct reading of al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah is made clear. I further analyze the text in light of Islamic Scripture, by which I demonstrate that the foundation on which al-Fārābī’s cosmology is founded has precedence within the Qur’ān. Working in the tenth century al-Fārābī sought to reconcile the conflicting views of his fellow Muslims, in order to bring peace to the community, the Muslim Ummah. Al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah should be regarded as his crowning achievement in these efforts.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Nigro, Justin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Blankinship, Khalid Yahya

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Limberis, Vasiliki, 1954-

• Islamic studies
• Philosophy
• History
• Active intellect
• Al-farabi
• First cause
• Islamic philosophy
• Prophecy
• Revelation

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/2018

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/2018