In this week’s article, we will try to get to know and understand Farabi, a very important Turkish-Islamic philosopher whom we have all heard of before, and who we know a little about, who founded Islamic philosophy from different aspects and made great contributions to the systematization of Islamic philosophy. In the series that we started to learn, understand and explain the formation and development of Islamic thought in the historical process, and our Muslim philosophers and scholars who pioneered this development with their works and studies, we started talking about our Muslim Philosophers in our previous article by talking about Kindi, who introduced the concept of philosophy to the Islamic world, was the pioneer of the Peripatetic movement and the first Muslim philosopher.
Farabi’s Life and Personality
The philosopher , whose full name is Abu Nasr Muhammad b. Farabi and known in the West as ‘Alfarabius’ and ‘Abunaser’ , is thought to have been born in 871 or 872 in the city of Farab in Turkestan (the region where Otrar, in today’s Kazakhstan, is located). Although it is known that his father served as a commander in a castle in that region, we have almost no information about his family. Although it is not known for sure who the philosopher received his first religious and literary education from or which schools he attended in his city of birth, Farab, it can be said that he received a quality education when we look at the works he wrote throughout his life and the views he left behind. It is known that the Turkish philosopher served as a judge in this region for a short time, then left this profession and traveled to the cities of the period rich in science and culture in order to study science. During this journey, he first visited cities in his own region such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Balkh and Merv, and then reached Baghdad. Having the opportunity to meet and take lessons from the best scholars of the time in various fields in Baghdad, Farabi rose to prominence in a short time due to his good upbringing from childhood and his determination to learn knowledge, and became one of the leading philosophers of Baghdad at that time. Continuing his studies in Baghdad for about 20 years, the philosopher was forced to go to Damascus (Damascus) due to some unrest that occurred in that city, and after continuing his studies in that region for a short time, he died there in 950.
Farabi’s Philosophical Views
Leaving aside his identity as a philosopher and scholar, Farabi, who was also a Turk, managed to keep his interaction with these cultures only at a scientific level despite being intertwined with Arab and Persian culture throughout his life. According to the information in the sources, he always wore Turkish clothes throughout his life and lived like a Turk. Knowing Arabic, Persian, Greek, Syriac and Sogdian in addition to his own language, Farabi proved that he had a rich cultural background as well as his knowledge by using different words from all of these languages in his works. In contrast to the fame he achieved thanks to his scientific wealth, Farabi, who lived a modest and solitary life, never married and died a bachelor. He rejected the real estate and hospitality offered to him by the rulers who valued knowledge and scholars in the cities he lived in and accepted only enough money to meet his daily needs at a minimum level.
Philosophical Views and Works
In the Islamic world, the philosophical movement that started with Kindi and the Peripatetic movement that he pioneered and laid the first foundations of, added the doctrines of divinity and prophethood that are the basis of Islamic belief and culture, as well as some principles he took from Plato, thus establishing and systematizing Islamic philosophy. Due to the fame he gained for this reason, he began to be known in the Islamic world as the title of “Muallim-i Sani” after the famous Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. He responded to the provocative questions that were asked to him, such as “Who is more knowledgeable, Aristotle or you?” in a manner befitting him by saying, “If I had lived in his time, I would have been one of his most distinguished students,” and showed his respect for this important philosopher whose views he was greatly influenced by. Wanting to be remembered only as a scholar and philosopher, Farabi avoided getting involved in the debates and divisions between the sects that emerged in his time, and made no statements in favor or against any of them.
Al-Fārābī showed his greatest success in the field of logic and produced very important works in this field. He worked on all the works in Aristotle’s ‘Organon’, which is one of the fundamental works in the field of logic, and prepared commentaries and summaries for these works. Al-Fārābī not only explained the works of his predecessors, but also wrote independent works in this field himself and presented a very rich literature to the generations after him.
To Know Farabi;
- Medinetü’l Fazıla (The Virtuous City) – Farabi – Litera Publications (Book)
- Farabi – Yaşar Aydınlı – İSAM Publications (Book)
