Revisiting Al-Farabi's Legacy Engaging with the Culture of Political Islam

Al-Farabi, one of the greatest medieval philosophers, has been made famous in modem political theory by Leo Strauss, an important modem political philosopher who appropriated him but upheld certain views that traditional religious consciousness of Muslims finds deeply disturbing. Through Ibn Sina and Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who form vital links in Al-Farabi's reception bythe West, Al-Farabihasbeenasignificantthinkerin the development of medieval philosophy. His deep affinities if not influence on some important Western philosophers have recently been noticed or emphasized. However, it is strange that in the modem Muslim history, he has not received much attention or its major thinkers have largely ignored him. His political philosophy hardly generated the debate or significantly influenced modem political thought in Islam. Even the perennialists in the Islamic world haven't extensively written of him, at least till few years ago. The question of appropriating or revisiting his legacy by modem Islam remains only tangentially touched so far despite a flurry of books and scholars now focusing on Al-Farabi. What he did for the world of Islam is still hardly recognized despite some good work of Al-Farabi scholars. What he meant to Maimonides, the greatest Jewish philosopher, he hasn't meant to Muslim thinkers and what he means to Leo Strauss in the twentieth century he has not meant to most political philosophers and arguably has been gloriously misunderstood as an elitist who wrote in codes and needs to be read too esoterically. We need to approach and rediscover Al-Farabi for the modem world or both political Islam and secular democracy are going to destroy it. Paren's point that "Although the Islamic world was incapable for whatever reasons of assimilating Al- Farabi's profound rationalism in the medieval period, it may stand to benefit from his instmction now" (Parens, 2006: 4) is what this paper would attempt to substantiate by clarifying certain notions that have been informing modemist and modem Muslim sensibility to facilitate better reception of his work. We begin by exploring the concept and role of philosophy that was central to ancients and medieval - and in Al-Farabi - forgetfulness of which seems to be crucially responsible for problematique of what goes by the name of political Islam today. We then proceed to approach the question of relation between faith and philosophy or Athens and Jerusalem /Medina and ask how to articulate prophetic viewpoint to an audience wedded to rationalist or empiricist epistemology. The twin challenges of fundamentalist and desacralizing secularism vying for space in politics would then be addressed by engaging with what could be delineated as Al-Farabi's critique of the idea of what goes by the name of political Islam.What is Philosophy for Al-Farabi?Accustomed to modem notions regarding philosophy as conceptual or linguistic analysis or problem solving enterprise or that raises questions and synthesizes knowledge of other domains it looks extremely anachronistic to assert little noticed functional definition of philosophy as preparation for death that Al-Farabi upholds with his master, Plato's Socrates. I wish to understand this claim in its proper setting in ancient traditional cultures to make sense of Socratic claim and ground his arguments in cross disciplinary fashion.Philosophy for ancients and Plato whom Al-Farabi takes as a model of a philosopher or more precisely a sage as the former term evokes in modem times is not a mere theoretical rational inquiry but a realization, intellection or noetic vision that transcends subject-object duality and demands something like ethical discipline. For perennialists and other advocates of traditional philosophy (that encompasses Indian, Chinese, Far Eastern, Islamic, Judeo-Christian and widom traditions of primitives) philosophy in the primordial sense of the term prepares one for death and assimilation to God as Plato said and is not a rational logical abstract discipline only and is allied to gnosis, a way of life or realization of the good. …