Islamic philosophy: Past, present and future

Chapter 8, “Islamic Philosophy: Past, present, and Future”, is dedicated to a critical assessment of the present state of Islamic philosophy. However, since such a study requires some knowledge of past developments of philosophical thought among Muslims, the chapter briefly, though critically, deals with the emergence and subsequent phases of change in the views of Muslim philosophers from ninth century onward. This historical survey also touches upon the role played by other Muslim scholars such as theologians, mystics and jurists, in shaping Islamic philosophy. The last section of the chapter, deals, but not in great detail, with one or two possible scenarios for the future of Islamic philosophy. This chapter utilizes Popper’s conjecture to the case of Islamic philosophy which emerged, partly as a response to the possibilities latent in the Quran and in the elaborations made by the Prophet and some great Muslim personalities such as the Prophet’s son-in-law, Ali, of the Divine message. It focuses on the influence of the Greek rational culture on the fate of the nascent Islamic philosophy. Islamic philosophy, and on a larger scale Islamic culture, both greatly benefitted from their ‘discussions’ and ‘dialogues’ with other cultures and other frameworks especially the more rational ones. Islamic philosophy, which emerged in an intellectually hostile environment in which the theologians, the mystics and the jurists were against it, also tended to pay more and more attention to theological and mystical issues and took a cautious approach towards the fiqh. The advocates of the orthodox reading of Islam would only endorse the application of reason strictly within the limits of religion alone.