Chapter 1
The Context
The history of Islamic thought begins with Muḥammad’s religious, ethical, and political views, which were grounded on the prophetic revelation he reportedly received from 610 to 632 CE. And after Muḥammad’s death, his followers continued to discuss the meaning of the prophetic revelation found in the Qurʾān. The first debates within the Islamic context were primarily focused on practical social and political matters. However, discussions of theoretical matters, often what the term ‘philosophy’ connotes, became more intense with the emergence and crystallization of prominent religious movements and schools, especially during the transition from the Umayyad to the ʿAbbāsid periods (750 CE). A few years later, with the rise of the ʿAbbāsids, a new translation movement of antique texts drove the subsequent spread of scientific and systematic philosophical ideas throughout the empire, which had a great impact on the development of Islamic thought. This volume focuses on this classical period of Islamic intellectual history, usually identified with the ʿAbbāsid period (750–1258 CE). Islam’s first substantial contact with Greek philosophy occurred at the beginning of this period. This book explains in some detail the development of Islamic philosophical ideas after encountering Greek philosophical texts. Beginning in the 9th century, Islamic thinkers assimilated, adapted, and transformed philosophical Greek ideas, re-contextualizing concepts and arguments according to their own tradition, cultural environment, and intellectual interests, giving rise to what we now commonly call ‘Islamic philosophy’.
By ‘Islamic philosophy’, I mean a series of theoretical concerns and the configuration of a worldview that arose within Islamic lands and within an Islamic cultural environment. This does not mean that Islamic philosophers raised problems that were of interest exclusively to Muslims. They were engaged with philosophical problems per se. The cultural and religious environment in which they produced their ideas, however, was a major factor that shaped their philosophical views. In their thought, we can observe a close connection between philosophy and religion. Yet they did not form a single, monolithic school of thought. Moreover, ‘philosophy’ in a broad sense was developed by, of course, philosophers themselves, but also theologians and jurists. The philosophers, in particular, were not necessarily committed to defending the various versions of Islam held by the juridical and theological schools. Unlike the medieval Christian tradition, in which theologians were also philosophers, in the classical Islamic tradition most philosophers thought of themselves as philosophers, not as theologians. Some theologians, in turn, were suspicious of philosophy, although in many cases they assimilated philosophical ideas, giving rise to what we might consider a philosophical theology (kalām). Throughout this volume, readers will see that philosophers and theologians were constantly discussing and debating different problems in which both disciplines intersect.
In fact, in the 8th century, before any significant Islamic encounter with Greek philosophy, there were already juridical and theological discussions that influenced the early assimilation of Greek philosophy by Islamic scholars. Muslims already had their own jurisprudence (fiqh), their own theology (kalām), and their own doctrinal teachings. To understand the motivations of these first religious movements, it is essential to consider the early years of Islam. What follows provides a panoramic view of the origins of Islam, the pre-ʿAbbāsid caliphates, and the instauration of the ʿAbbāsids. The amount of scholarly literature dedicated to the origins and development of Islam, as well as to the life of the prophet Muḥammad, is enormous and endless. The approach here will not be exhaustive. My intention is simply to provide the most important information and events, to help the reader understand the framework in which Islamic philosophy (falsafa) flourished, giving rise to new insights and new approaches to theoretical discussions within the Islamic world.
Importantly, the history in this chapter serves as a precursor to the later emergence of different religious movements and schools, as well as the impetus for the translation of philosophical texts from Greek into Persian and Syriac during the pre-ʿAbbāsid period, and from Greek, Persian, and Syriac into Arabic during the ʿAbbāsid period. After reviewing the origins of Islam and the underlying political tensions that characterized the first caliphates, even during the Umayyad period, the first Islamic intellectual movements will be introduced. Greek philosophers who migrated to Persia and Eastern Christians who lived in Islamic lands translated relevant philosophical texts into the Islamic context. And thus, the sociopolitical and cultural environment during the ʿAbbāsid period contributed to the development of theology and philosophy.
1. The Origins of Islam
The story is well-known: around the year 610 CE, when Muḥammad (b. 570 CE) was about 40 years old, he retired to pray in a cave on Mount Hira, close to Mecca. As the story goes, he heard the voice of the archangel Gabriel, who assigned him the task of prophethood (nubuwwa). After this revelation, the Prophet Muḥammad began to preach among the citizens of Mecca. His teachings initially only convinced a few people in the region—mainly his family and closest friends, among them his cousin ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Abū Bakr, and Uthmān ibn ʿAffān (a member of the prominent clan of the Umayyads). These were the first Muslims, that is, the first followers of Islam, ‘those who submit to God’. Muḥammad endorsed monotheism, fomented deeper communal responsibilities, and called upon the society of Mecca to accept a new mindset in which the one God commands ritual prayer (ṣalāt), giving alms (zakāt) to the poor, and promoting social justice in a context in which most of the wealth was concentrated within a few groups, especially the tribe of the Quraysh, to which Muḥammad himself belonged.
The inhabitants of Mecca were uncomfortable with Muḥammad’s teachings. Around 616 CE, the city grew hostile toward Muḥammad, mainly because he rejected the pagan gods of his fellow citizens and promoted the worship of a single God in the tradition of Abraham (Bowering 2015a: 157–160). Tensions between Muslims and the Quraysh continually worsened. In 619 CE, Muḥammad’s uncle Abū Lahab turned against him, convincing the inhabitants of Mecca to stop trading with the Muslims (Watt 2000: 39). In the same year, Muḥammad lost the protection of his closest relatives. His wife Khadijah—a rich merchant who, at age 40, had married the 25-year-old Muḥammad—passed away, as did his uncle and protector Abū Ṭālib. After two years of aggression between Muḥammad and the inhabitants of Mecca, Muḥammad decided to leave the city. In 622 CE, he moved to Yathrib, located 250 miles north of Mecca. This episode, known in Islamic history as the hijrah (emigration), marks the beginning of the Muslim era.
In Yathrib, later renamed Medina (the ‘city’), local tribes and Jewish communities were in conflict. The first political act o...
