THE POLITICAL and LEGAL THOUGHT OF CLASSICAL ISLAM

AL FARABI, AL GHAZALI

While looking at history of political and legal thought of Islam we have to mention two basic pillars of it. The first and most important is Muhammad. The second one is absence of Aristotle's Politics translation, which led to dominance of Platonism in all works of most important Islamic thinkers.

MUHAMMAD

Islamic law and culture cannot be discussed outside of monotheistic religion – Islam. Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (570-632), to whom the true faith was revealed, was not only a religion leader but also political one. He built the foundations of the Arab nation and state. Rules of Arabic society dictated social solidarity and personal freedom.

Koran is the sacred book of Islam, reviled by God through the mouth of his Prophet. It is the basic source of Islamic law – Sharia. It regulates every aspect of political, private and religious life of believers. Not long after Muhammad’s death two law schools formed – Sunni and Shitte. One of most interesting aspects of Islamic law is that it is still personal, not territorial law system – Muslim is obligated to obey it no matter where he is.

The law of nature is connected with monotheistic understanding of God (Allah). The pyramid of philosophical thought has got only Allah on top of it, everything and everyone have their beginning in God. The rules of universe come from its nature, from the way it was created. Human being can get to know the rules, but only he restraint his passions. If he does not, they will eclipse the true knowledge. Prophets, as the chosen ones, are the ones to expose to simple people what is hidden from their minds. Prophets talk about natural law, which is expressed in Koran.

The state in Islamic world is theocratic. Its duty is to inculcate Islam and to collect alms. Alms is 10% and it is expressed in Koran as the part of social solidarity. The highest power lies in the hands of the Caliph.

AL FARABI
(Alpharabius)

Al Farabi, called “the Second Teacher” (as the successor of “the First Teacher” – Aristotle) was the scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. His family came from Turkey. In his works he gave interest to music, philosophy, medicine and politics. Majority of his philosophical thought was based on Aristotle, his political philosophy is based mostly on Plato. His work is said to be synthesis of Islamic, Neoplatonic and Aristotelian thought.

He claimed the purpose of human life is to achieve happiness and that human beings can get it only through cooperation in society . The ideal society is directed to realization of “true happiness”. A virtuous society cooperates to gain happiness through goodness. Al Farabi compares it to the healthy human body. As the different parts of body have different tasks so do people in this state. Just like Plato he talks about perfect society in which society understand the ruler and care about science. In Al-Madina al faila the perfect ruler is an absolute one, his qualities are enumerated and almost the same as Plato’s king – philosopher. He should know the truth and show it to the ruled ones.

He created a division of societies:

• Perfect: big (all humanity), medium (one society), small (one state)

• Imperfect – cities, districts, streets, homes/families

Highest good and happiness can be achieved before all through state. In this perfect state there should be hierarchy, on top of which there will be a ruler. He would be a wise leader, know religion, science and philosophy. As the best of people in the society he knows Sharia and in his actions he is always guided by the welfare of the state. His extraordinary intellect, morals and physics would be natural. Mahomet was a leader like this. If all these features appear in more than one person – than this people become leaders of a perfect state.

Al Farabi says that nations vary by two things: natural aspects and language.

Al Farabi talks about three main kinds of vicious societies:

• Ignorant – the one that failed to comprehend the purpose of human existence and have supplanted the pursuit of happiness for another goal (like wealth, power). Democratic societies are ignorant too, because they lack guiding principle.

• Wicked and errant – they did understand the true human end, but they have failed to follow it. Wicked because they have abandoned it and errant because the society leaders have deceived and misguided them.

Democratic state in Al Farabis opinion is a place where every citizen is free and equal, there is no one above the others. There are people who rule, but they do so, because the ruled ones agreed for it. Al Farabi says that all the aspirations and ways of life gather in democratic state. That is why outstanding people can appear there – philosophers, speakers and poets. Democratic state, as the vicious one, is a place where good and evil occur most often. The bigger and stronger it gets – more good and evil there are. People from other vicious societies admire it and want to settle there. In its “good” aspect democratic state can be partly the same as the perfect state.

AL GHAZALI

(Algazel)

Al Ghazali was born in 1055, died in 1111. His interests focused on theology, philosophy, law, politics and Islamic mysticism (Sufism). He claimed that human recognition can be only through ecstasy, not through sensory or mental cognition. His philosophical concepts were similar to Plato’s. As an ethicist he claimed that mystic morality is a selfless devotion to God. He created Islamic moral theory in which theologian is the “head” of the society, philosopher is “the mind”, Sufism is “the heart” and Sharia is “the arm”. According to him caliphate is necessary to protect Islam, Arabic society and political rights. The foundation of state of God is Sharia. He said that caliph should be a true Muslim and show it to the society, he should wage jihad and have the knowledge of Shariah and wisdom of law. He also should surround himself with good experts and ministers of administration and religion. The Islamic state should be prepare true Muslim to afterlife.

Al Ghazali’s Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) was one of the turning points in Islamic philosophy. It shown a conflict between kalam (speculative theology) and falsafa (philosophy). The book is a critic of imitators and poor followers of ancient Greek authors such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Al Ghazalis disagreed only with the philosophy that disagreed with principles of religion. He rejected twenty philosophical doctrines based on works of Aristotle, Plato, Al Farabi and Ibn Sina. Algazel said that the only foundation of society and state should be religion.

Till now Al Ghazali is considered to be second great pillar of Islam – just after Mohammed.