Islamic Philosophy

Introduction
Islamic philosophy was created many centuries ago.  It lasted from 700's-1400's.  There were many Muslims philosophers and they loved Aristotle.  IP is like Greek philosophy and it was influenced by other traditions. There were several Islamic philosophical schools long ago.  Muslims became less philosophical when they became more dogmatic.

History
IP(Islamic Philosophy)was influenced by Greek, Persian, etc.  Muslims philosophers learned a lot from older civilizations. Jews and Christians translated Greek texts into Syriac and Arabic.  Muslim philosophers founded out about Greek philosophy from this.  Muslims learned about Persian philosophy after they took over Persia.  They learned Hindu and Buddhist philosophy after they conquered India.

Neoplatonism and the Aristotelianism were Greek imports into IP.  Some IPs(Islamic philosophers) believed in emanation, which is a Neoplatonic idea.  IPs learned about logic and metaphysics,  from studying texts written from Aristotle.  Some IPs were more Neoplatonic while others were more Aristotelian.

The Persians were more mystical, so they were more likely to be Sufis.  The Persians had a big impact on Islamic medicine because they had their own medical school.  It is said that the greatest Islamic scholars were Persian.  They had philosophy b4 they were Muslim.

IPs
Al-Kindi was the first Muslim philosopher.  He learned how to speak and write Greek and Syriac.  He improved the translation of the Enneads.  He wrote 270 books on 17 subjects.  He learned a lot from Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism.  He thought philosophy consist of 2 parts.  The theoretical and the practical.  He felt philosophy is the study of the truth.  He believed the creator is the highest truth.  Theology is a part of philosophy, so it seemed.  He believed Allah had no attributes.  He was the first Arab philosopher.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi he wrote over 100 books on 9 subjects!  He was a doctor.  He believed we could discover truth by reason alone.  He thought intuition was false.  The 5 Eternal: Allah, universal soul, first matter, absolute space and time.  Allah has the greatest wisdom and the creator of all.  The soul is eternal.  Matter is composed of atoms.  It has attributes, unlike Allah.  Allah is the soul free of matter.  Space is the container of matter.  Time is both infinite and finite.  All people are born with the potential to be geniuses.  To become one, you must study.  Highly intelligent people study greatly.  People follow religion because of tradition, priests, and/or colorful rituals.  He loved science and knew religion lead people astray. He promoted the golden mean and he understood morally is situational.

Al-Farabi he spoke and wrote Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.  He wrote 70 books!  A lot of them dealt with logic.  Allah is the one above all.  He combined philosophy with religion.

Miskawaih was a historian, poet, and an alchemist.  He wrote 18 books.  3 of his books dealt with ethics. He believed in Allah the same way Neoplatonists saw the creator.  He thought minerals evolved into plants, plants became animals, and animals became human.  This is similar to current day evolutionary theory! Happiness comes from closeness to Allah.

Ibn Sina shared the emanation ideas as the Neoplatonists.  The mind has an effect on matter.  They are 2 different but related substances.  He understood relativism and believed in prophets.  He wrote a lot of commentaries on Aristotle texts.  He was the greatest Islamic philosopher of all time!

Ibn Bajjah was a great polymath.  He believed all matter were based on forms.  Intellect is the most important part of humans.  He used deductive logic to come to conclusions.  Every planet has a soul; humans aren't as instinctive as animals.  He thought religious people were the best people in the world.

Ibn Rushd studied many subjects he was a polymath.  He defended philosophy against theologians.  He knew that philosophy and theology can coexist.  They always had.  Philosophy can lead to the highest truth which is Allah.  He studied the idea of various Islamic cults.  Some were more theological others were more philosophical.  Our behavior is determined by causes within our body-mind and within the environment.  Our will isn't totally free, but we aren't slaves to destiny either.  Allah knows all and humanity's knowledge is finite.  All matter is based on forms.  He promoted science and his scientific ideas caught fire in Europe.

Nasir Al-Din Tusi was a great polymath.  He made an observatory in Baghdad.  It had a library that had more than 400,000 books!  Happiness is the meaning to life.  Anger, fear, and cowardice are poisons of the soul.  Wives should obey their husbands.  The should controls the body.  Allah existence can't be proven because he is beyond thought.  It can only be assumed.  God created the eternal world.  Allah sends prophets to guide people into correct behavior.  Evil is the absence of good.  This idea is so Neoplatonic. Logic helps us better understand the world.

Al-Ghazali was lawyer, theologian, mystic, etc.  He is the main reason why most Muslims are so backward. He was taught Sufism at a young age.  He was a professor at an Islamic school.  Everyone loved him.  He believed Allah should be experienced and not only talked about.  Everyone religion is determined by their parents; sensory perception can be deceiving.  Al -Ghazali knew all of this and much more. He was critical on philosophers, Taclimites, and theologians.  He wasn't critical on mystics because he thought their experiences with Allah were real.  He learned philosophy so he could defeat the philosophers in debates.  He wrote a book about Aristotle philosophy.  It was very thorough.  Then he wrote a book against philosophy. There were 3 kinds of philosophers.  Materialists believed the universe is self-sustaining.  There is no creator. Naturalistic believed in intelligent design and they were scientific.  They didn't believe in the soul.  Theist philosophers were more religious thinking.  They believed in a creator and may have believed in an immortal soul as well.  Al-Ghazali thought philosophers were ruining the lives of the masses.  He destroyed philosophers with his arguments.  He used verses in Quran to support his views.  Ibn Rushd wrote a rebuttal to Al-Ghazali anti-philosophy book.  Al-Ghazali was brilliant!  But his ideas caused Muslims to regress intellectually.  Philosophy helps us think better, so it should never be attacked.  The embrace of his ideas led to the Muslim World to stagnation in science and philosophy, which led to cultural backwardness.  Just imagine how advanced the Muslim World would be if they never embraced Al-Ghazali ideas.  "Revelation replaced investigation."  It was Muslims that gave Europeans the ability to create the modern world.  If they never stagnated they would have created it!

Islamic Schools of Thought

Mu'tazilism: They believed rationalism will lead to truth.  We all have free will.  Unity and justice are very important.  Allah blesses people that pray.

Asharism: It wanted to remove all foreign elements to Islam.  They thought the Mu'tazilites were evil. Everything has the same essence and is created by Allah.  Everything is made out atoms.

Tahawism: Faith is very important.  It is made out of 3 parts.  They are knowledge, belief, and confession.
Maturidism: Knowledge comes from the senses, testimonials, and reason.  They were somewhat rational and somewhat traditional.

Ikhwan al‑Safa: This group was created for the elite.  Its goal was to protect them from religious and philosophical persecution.  They saw the Quran verses as esoteric.  They wanted to create a universal religion that united all people.  They believed in matter, forms, space, time, motion, causality, numbers, being, emanation, Allah, nature, 4 elements, 3 kingdoms, souls, etc.  This was the most philosophical Islamic School of Thought.  They believed in heaven and hell.  The soul is immortal.  

Conclusion
Wow, IP is so cool!  I like its ideas and its eclectism.  You should learn more about.  Holla at me.

References
http://muslimphilosophy.com/hmp/index.html
http://www.fatuma.net/text/Corbin_-_The_History_of_Islamic_Philosophy.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_philosophy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/muqtedar-khan/5-islamic-philosophers-every-muslim-must-read_b_6912014.html
Al-Ghazali
IP
History of IP
Mulsim Philosopher