God and Humans in Islamic Thought

Abd Al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali

Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781134146758
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Philosophie de la religion

Winner of The Iranian World Prize for the Book of the Year 2007 in the Philosophy and Mysticism category.

This new and original text provides a timely re-examination of Islamic thought, presenting a stark contrast to the more usual conservative view.

The explanation of the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in Islam, is often influenced by the images of God and of human beings which theologians, philosophers and mystics have in mind. The early period of Islam reveals a diversity of interpretations of this relationship. Elkaisy-Friemuth discusses the view of three scholars from the tenth and eleventh century: Abd al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali, which introduce three different approaches of looking at the relationship between God and Humans.

God and Humans in Islamic Thought attempts to shed light on an important side of medieval rational thought in demonstrating its significance in forming the basis of an understanding of the nature of God, the nature of human beings and the construction of different bridges between them.

1 Historical and cultural context

Despite the political instability of the tenth and eleventh centuries AD, these are considered the most important centuries in Islamic culture. During these two centuries philosophy, theology and mysticism developed their most important doctrines. We hear in this period of very famous names, such as al-Fārābī, al-Sijistānī, Ibn ‘Adī, Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥidī and Ibn Sīnā in the philosophical disciplines, and al-Ash‘arī, al-Baqillānī, al-Baghdādā, al-Jubā’ī (father and son) and ‘Abd al-Jabbār in theological studies. Mysticism too was developed through its masters: al-Junayd, al-Ḥallāj, al-Bisṭāmī, al-Muḥāsibī, al-Qushīrī and al-Ghazālī. However, it was the translation movement of the eighth and ninth centuries which caused the great flowering of Arabic culture in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Most of the important Greek, Indian and Persian works had already been translated by the beginning of the tenth century. These had provided the basis on which the works of many ninth-century scholars, such as al-Kindī, al-Naẓẓām, Abū al-Hudhayl al-‘Alāf and Sahl al-Tustārī, were built. The tenth and eleventh centuries, however, show a concentration and a great leap ahead which was probably due to the particular political and social developments of the time. The true importance of the authors who wrote in these two centuries lies in the originality of their works. This chapter, therefore, will sketch the historical and cultural context of the works to be discussed in this book. It is divided into three sections, giving first a summary of the main political and cultural events of this period and a short description of the problems between the two main religious sects, Shī’a and Sunnī. The first section also describes the system of patronage by the viziers and princes of all the scientific scholars and finally gives some details about the main intellectual circles which influenced the main authors to be discussed in this book. The second section concentrates on the biographies of ‘Abd al-Jabbār, Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī, and the third section examines the development of the three main concepts to be discussed in this work: luṭf (divine assistance), ‘ishq (divine love) and fanā’ (annihilation).

Political and cultural development

The events of the tenth and the eleventh centuries were born out of the decline of the ‘Abbasid caliphate at the end of the ninth century. This decline began when Caliph al-Mu‘taṣim, the brother of Caliph al-Ma‘mūn (d. AD 833) and son of Hārūn al-Rashīd (d. AD 809) and a Turkish slave, surrounded himself with a vast number of Turkish bodyguards, who had originally been brought into the army in order to counterbalance the large number of Persian soldiers from Khurāsān. The increasing authority of these bodyguards, who were 4,000 in number, caused such fears in Baghdād that al-Mu‘taṣim felt the need to leave the city and therefore built the beautiful town of Samārrā and made it his seat of government. Both al-Mu‘taṣim (r. AD 833–42) and his son al-Mutawakil (r. AD 847–61) ruled from Samārrā.¹ After the death of al-Mutawakil in AD 861 the power of the Turkish officers increased so greatly that the caliphs lost all their authority. However, the decisive factor which hastened the decline of the ‘Abbasids was the revolt of the Zenj, which lasted from AD 869 to 883. This revolution against the ‘Abbasids was led by slaves who had been transported from East Africa to work underground in the mines of the lower Euphrates – the worst kind of work. After a long and severe struggle to suppress this rebellion, Caliph al-Mu‘taḍud (AD 892–902) restored Baghdād as his capital and the centre of government. The authority of the army leaders, however, continued to grow, and the caliph’s powers gradually shrank, until he controlled mainly religious affairs in his role as the Imām of the state.² A new post was designed, in about AD 930, to give full authority to the holder: the post of Amīr al-Umarā’, the chief prince, which was taken by Mu’nis al-Muẓaffar. This position took power from the caliph and was a remarkable sign of the renewal of princely authority, with a separation of the different provinces from the central government.³ In the west of the empire, the first province to fall away from the hands of the caliphate was Egypt under Ibn Ṭūlūn in AD 868, but the separation actually took place when the Fāṭimid Shī‘a (Ismā‘īlī) claimed a new caliphate in North Africa in AD 909.⁴ This was followed by the declaration of a third caliphate, in AD 929, by the Umayyad ruler ‘Abd al-Raḥman III in Spain.⁵ In eastern Persia, the Ṭāharids and the Ṣaffārids ruled independently as early as AD 820, and finally, the Buyids, who had been ruling the western Persian provinces, took over Baghdād and ruled as the chief princes from AD 945–1055.⁶

Thus, the most important political feature of the tenth and eleventh centuries is the rise of independent kingdoms, which started first in the western regions of the Islamic empire and prompted similar developments in the east, as will be described later. Although this development was the beginning of the end of the ‘Abbasid dynasty, it marks the start of a strong Islamic culture which flourished under the different separated dynasties: in Spain, Qurṭuba became one of the important cultural centres under the Umayyad caliphs, while Cairo also became a famous centre of learning under the Fāṭimid. In the east, Khurāsān, al-Rayy and Shirāz were known for their excellent libraries and famous medical centres under the Sāmānids and Buyids; Nīshāpūr also became a centre for the Sunnī under the Saljūq sultans.

Early political developments in Persia

‘Abd al-Jabbār, Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī are three Persian thinkers who lived in different towns in Persia on the east of the ‘Abbasid Empire during the reign of the Buyid princes and early Saljūq sultans. This region of the ‘Abbasid Empire had been given to Ṭāhir Ibn al-Ḥusayn by al-Ma’mūn (d. AD 833), the great ‘Abbasid caliph and son of Hārūn al-Rashīd, as a reward for his victory over the army of al-Amīn, the former caliph and a brother of al-Ma’mūn (who ruled from AD 809 to 813). Ṭāhir placed the centre of his power in Khurāsān. He established an independent province which extended as far as the borders of India. In the year AD 892 the Sāmānid Ismā‘īl Ibn Aḥmad established a new dynasty in Khurāsān. Ismā‘īl was a grandson of Sāmān, a Zoroastrian noble from Balkh. This Sāmānid dynasty remained in power over the east of Persia until AD 999.⁷

If we turn now to the Buyid dynasty, which ruled the western territories of Persia and for some time (AD 945–105 5) Baghdād also, we find that they probably descended from a noble Daylamite family, as they claimed, and were descendants of Abū Shujā’ Ibn Buhyah or Buyid. The Daylamites lived in the district which extended from Jīlān, Jurjān to ṣabaristān; they never accepted other authorities and were known even not to have adopted any religious traditions until the arrival of the Shī’at Zaydī missionaries. It was Yeḥīa Ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ḥasanī who reached there in about AD 791; he succeeded in spreading Zaydī Shī’ism among the tribes of the mountain dwellers from Jīlān to Ṭabaristān. But it was al-Ḥasan Ibn Zayd who established a Zaydī dynasty in Ṭabaristān from AD 864 to 914.⁸ After the death of the last Zaydī ruler, al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Aṭrush, in AD 917, some of the Daylamite leaders imposed control on the Zaydī region and ruled in their own names. Muradwidge Ibn Zyār fought against all other Daylamī leaders and established the rule of the Zyārīs in Ṭabaristān. The two Daylamite brothers ‘Alī and Ḥasan Ibn Shujā’ Ibn Buyid became known for their power and courage in the army of the Daylamite leader Makān Ibn Kakī, who finally lost his leadership and retired with his army. The two brothers were allowed to join the army of Muradwidge and soon became known for their courage.⁹ After the death of Muradwidge in AD 934, ‘Alī and Ḥasan, with their younger brother Ahmad Ibn Buyid, led an army which consisted of Daylamite and Turkish soldiers and extended their rule over Fars, Kirmān, Ṭabaristān, Rayy and Iṣfahān to the border of the Sāmānid territories of Khurāsān. In AD 955 they signed a peace treaty with the Sāmānids which gave them legitimacy to rule the districts they had conquered, so long as they paid the Sāmānids a tribute.¹⁰

In Baghdād, as mentioned above, the central government had declined and the caliphs had lost their authority as political leaders and were recognized only as head of the imāms, the religious public leaders. And although the ‘Abbasid caliphs in the first ‘Abbasid era did not make much use of the position of vizier, the caliphs of the second era had to accept the new office of Amīr al-Umār’, chief of princes, in order for a weak central government to escape the burden of administration and, in the case of the caliph al Rāḍī (r. AD 934–40), to escape from economic crises.¹¹ The replacement of many caliphs by the chief princes hastened the ‘Abbasid decline and presented the opportunity to the Buyid ruler of Kirmān, Ahmad Ibn Buyid, to attack Baghdād and establish the Buyid dynasty there in AD 945. The Buyids were given the post of Amīr al-Umarā’ and were recognized as the actual rulers of Baghdād. As soon as Ahmad Ibn Buyid became chief of princes and received the title Mu’iz al-Dawla for himself and the titles Rukn al-Dawla and ‘Imād al-Dawla for his brothers Ḥasan and ‘Alī, respectively, he replaced the caliph al-Mustakfī by his cousin al-Muṭī’. The Buyid dynasty remained in Baghdād for about 110 years.¹²

However, Mu‘iz al-Dawla did not attempt to unify the Islamic empire under his family’s leadership nor to spread his power beyond Baghdād and Kirmān. Nevertheless, he considered himself the official head of the ‘Abbasid government and forced the heads of other provinces, such as the Ḥamadānids in Mouṣel, the province of Baṭīḥa and the Arab tribes living in the south of Iraq, to pay him a tax for their being allowed to remain in power.¹³

The Buyids were not experienced in administering such a vast region with different provinces and therefore they needed the advice of good and experienced viziers. The first advice was to keep the office of the ‘Abbasid caliph because, on the one hand, it had great religious significance for the public and, on the other hand, as adherents of Shī‘ism, the Buyids could not rule the Sunnī majority of Baghdād. However, they restricted the authority of the Sunnī caliph to religious affairs.¹⁴ The second problem which Mu‘iz al-Dawla faced was the need to increase his military forces in order to be able to control Iraq and Fars; soon he could not afford to pay his soldiers’ wages. He was advised to revise the tax system of the iqṭā‘, the land given as reward for service of military leaders, and the land owned by the caliph and the princes.¹⁵

Al-Mu’iz had then established the Buyid administration system, which was followed during the whole Buyid rule. The Buyid domain was divided into three districts: the area from al-Rayy to Jibāl was governed by Rukn al-Dawla, Fars was ruled by ‘Imād al-Dawla and the southern part of Kirmān and Khuzistān was under the governance of Mu‘iz al-Dawla. After Mu‘iz al-Dawla’s death, his son Bakhtyār became the new Amīr al-Umarā’ and followed his father’s system of making the rulers of the different provinces in Iraq pay certain taxes to stay in power. In his first years, he had to establish his authority over the Ḥamadānids of Mouṣel and later to fight ‘Umar Ibn Shāhīn, the ruler of al-Baṭīḥa. At the same time, he faced an uprising in his own military forces led by a Turkish officer, Sebkatakin, which caused conflict in Baghdād. The Shī’at population supported Bakhtyār, and the Sunnīs gave their support to Sebkatakin. Bakhtyār asked the help of his cousin ‘Aḍud al-Dawla, the ruler of Fars, after the death of his uncle ‘Imād al-Dawla, but the latter seized the chance of winning Baghdāsd for himself. ‘Aḍud al-Dawla’s father, Rukn al-Dawla, denounced this attack on Bakhtyār and ordered his son to withdraw from Baghdād. However, after the death of Rukn al-Dawla, ‘Aḍud al-Dawla once more attacked Baghdād and ended the regime of Bakhtyār.¹⁶ Mūn’ayyīd al-Dawla and Fakhr al-Dawla,...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• God and Humans inIslamic Thought
• Editors
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Historical and cultural context
• 2 ‘Abd al-Jabbār's view of the relationship with God through divine assistance, lutf
• 3 Relationship with God through knowledge and love, ‘ishq, in the philosophy of Ibn Sīnā
• 4 Relationship with God through self-annihilation, fanā’, according to al-Ghazālī
• 5 Comparison and evaluation
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index