Al-Farabi(870-950)

INTRODUCTION:

Abu Nasr Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Tarkhan Al-Farabi was born at Wasij, a
village near Farab, a district of Transoxania. He was one of the greatest philosophers
that the Muslim world had ever produced. He mainly studied in Baghdad and after
gaining considerable proficiency in the Arabic language, he became an ardent pupil of
the Christian savant Abu Bishr Matta bin Younus, quite prominent as translator of a
number of works by Aristotle and other Greek versatile writers.

Being a first Turkish philosopher, he left behind lasting and profound influence upon
the life of succeeding Muslim philosophers. Being a great expositor of Aristotle's
logic, he was aptly called al-mu'alim al thani (the second teacher). According to Ibn-
e-Khaldun, no Muslim thinker ever reached the same position as al-Farabi in
philosophical knowledge. Al-Farabi is the first Muslim philosopher to have left
political writings, either in the form of commentaries or in treaties of his own based
upon Plato.

Al-Farabi's works was preserved from ravages of time contain five on politics as
under:

1. A Summary of Plato's Laws

2. Siyasatu'l -Madaniyah
3. Ara'u ahlil-Madinatu'l-Fadilah
4. Jawami'u's-Siyasat
5. Ijtima atu'-Madaniyah

CONTRIBUTIONS OF AL-FARABI TO ISLAMIC POLITICAL THOUGHT :

"In pure philosophy, Farabi became as famous as any philosopher of Islam, and it is
said that a savant of calibre of Avicenna found himself entirely incapable of
understanding the true bearing of Aristotle's Metaphysics until one day he casually
purchased one of Farabi's works and by its help he was able to grasp their
purport."(Sherwani)

A-Farabi was a renowned philosopher of his age and deeply reverenced in all ages. A-
Earabi's insatiated enthusiasm led him to study philosophy, logic, politics,
mathematics and physics. He left his indelible impact upon the succeeding generations
through his works, which still read, learnt and discussed with great passion and literal
zest. His sincerity, profound moral convictions and his genuine belief in liberty and in
the dignity of human being united with is moderation and humanitarianism made him
the ideal spokesman of his age, which was full of rivalries, corrosions and false
vanities.

It can be very well asserted that al-Farabi was in the truest sense "the parent of all
subsequent Arabic Philosophers". The great Christian scholars, namely Albert the
Great and St.Thomas Aquines acknowledged their indebtedness to al-Farabi in the
development of their own political theories. A-Farabi laid down several rules for
teachers honestly striving to train the young students in philosophy. No scholar should
start the study of philosophy until he gets very well acquainted with natural sciences.
Human nature rises only gradually from the sensuous to the abstract, from the
imperfect to the perfect. Mathematics in particular is very important in training the
mind of a young philosopher, it helps him pass from the sensuous to the intelligible
and further it informs his mind with exact demonstrations. Similarly, the study of
logic as an instrument to distinguish the true from the false should precede the study
of philosophy proper.

A-Farabi voluminously wrote mainly on pure philosophy and there is no doubt that he
had to draw on neo-Platonic ideas current in the Arab world of those days in his
commentaries on Aristotle, Porphyry and Ptolemy. Sherwani says that we might
accept the proposition that he was inspired by Plato, in this setting up of the Ideal
City, but as there is a mass of new material in his political writings not found in Plato
and taken from local sources, it is a matter of importance that such material should be
analyzed and Farabi be given his rightful place on the scene of political
philosophy. Al-Farabi died at the ripe age of nearly eighty years in 950. His name and
works are everlasting and echoed in the corridors of time.

AL-FARABI'S IDEAL HEAD OF STATE :

Every Islamic state is ruled by the ruler, or as later European political scientists would
call him the Sovereign. Plato after developing the matter of the government of his
ideal city in his Republic had made the omnipotent and omniscient philosopher
sovereign who should have no other interest but that of the affairs of state. Al-Farabi
starts from the nature of the workers of leadership and impresses his readers that what
is wanted for the office is the power of making proper deductions.

According to Al-Farebi, his Rais ul Awwal should be such superior man, who, by his
very nature and upbringing, does not submit before any power or instructions of
others. He must have the potentialities to convey his sense, to others for complete
submission. Rosenthal was of the View, "He is the Imam, the first ruler over the ideal
city-state, over the ideal nation and over the Whole inhabited earth. The philosopher-
prophet, in the opinion of Al-Farabi, is alone qualified to help man, a citizen to reach
his true human destiny, where his moral and intellectual perfection Permit him to
perceive God, under the guidance of the divinely revealed Shariat. Those ruled by the
first ruler are the excellent, best and happy citizens."

Al-Farabi contemplatively points out the virtuous qualities of his ideal Head of State,
who Should be competent to control the actions of all in the State and must be in
possession of latest intellect as well as the gained intellect. All such refined and high
qualities including his political and literal calibre make him an Ideal Sovereign for the
overall interest of the society and the nation. He enumerated 12 attributes of an ideal
Sovereign:

1. He must possess persuasion and imagination to attain perfection as well as a

philosopher skilled in the speculative science.
2. He must be physically sound with meticulous understanding.
3. He must have visualization of all that is said.
4. He must have a retentive and sharp memory.
5. He should discuss the matters with least possible arguments and must have
authority to get the work done.
6. He must have power to convey to others exactly according to his wish and he
has profound love of learning and knowledge.
7. He must have perfect capacity for a comprehensive knowledge and prescription
of the theoretical and practical sciences and art, as well as for the virtues
leading to good deeds.
8. He must shun off playfulness and control over anger and passions.
9. Al-Farabi's ideal Rais must have love of truth, persuasion of justice and hatred
of hypocrisy, knavery and duplicity.
10. He must vie for utmost happiness to his subjects and he should do away with
all forces of tyranny and oppressions.
11. He must have power to distribute justice without any effort, fearless in doing
things as he thinks best to be done.
12. He must serve the people of his state from all internal and external dangers. He
must bein possession of considerable wealth, so that he should not prone to
greed and lust.

Al-Farabi fully realizes that these fine qualities cannot be found in one single human
being ,so he says that one without just five or six of these qualities would make a
fairly good leader. If however, even five or six of them are not found in a person, he
would have one who has been brought up under a leader with these qualities, and
would thus seen to prefer some kind of hereditary leadership, with the important
condition that the heir should follow the footsteps of his worthy predecessor. In case
even such a person is not available, it is preferable to-have a council of two or even
five members possessing an aggregate of these qualities provided at least one of them
is a hakim, i.e. one who is able to know the wants of the people and visualize the
needs of the state as a whole.

KINDS OF STATE :

A-Farabi describes the varieties of the states other than the Ideal States and the
remarkable contribution of this philosopher are very much alive and given serious
considerations even today. Al-Farabi divides states into following categories:

1. State of Necessity (Daruriya)

Its inhabitants aim at the necessities of the life, like food, drink, clothing, a place to
live and carnal gratification and they generally help each other in securing these
necessities of life.

2. Vile State (Nadhala)

Its citizens strive for wealth and riches for their own sake, The account in the Siyasa
includes a description of its ruler. Ibn-e--Rushd also succinctly touches upon this
state.

3.Base and Despicable State

Its inhabitants concentrate on the pleasures of the senses, games and other pastimes.
This state is the one in which men help one another to enjoy sensual pleasure such as
games, jokes and pleasantries and this is the enjoyment of the pleasures of eating and
merry-making- This state is the happy and fortunate state with the people of
ignorance, for this state only aims at attaining pleasure after obtaining first the
necessities of life and then abundant wealth to spend.

4. Timocracy (Madina Karama)

It contains a variety of honours. Since the Arabic source of Al- Farabi is lost in the
wealth of legend, we are unable to determine whether this lengthy and diffuse
description goes back to it or represents Al-Farabi's own amplification. The latter
seems to be more correct. The citizens of these honour-loving states assist each other
in gaining glory, fame and honour. The honours fall into two groups. The first is a
personal relationship between one who is worthy to be honoured because of some
virtue in him, and the others who accord him honour and respect because they
recognize him as their superior. The second kind of honour is accorded to men
because of their wealth, or because of they have been victorious, exercise authority or
enjoy other distinctions. This state in the opinion of Al-Farabi is the best of all the
states.

5. Tyranny (Taghallub)

It receives from the aim of its citizens; they cooperate to give victory over others, but
refuse to be vanquished by them. Al-Farabi sets out to distinguish between despotic
states and define tyranny or despotism according to aim, mastery over others and over
their possessions for power's sake, within or externally, by force and conquest or by
persuasion and achieving enslavement. His despotic rule is a mixed one and thus often
resembles timocracy or plutocracy. Ibn-e-Rushd avoids this by following Plato's
description of tyranny and the tyrannical man, and the transition from democracy to
tyranny and of the democratic to the tyrannical man but done to their common source
both Al-Farabi and Ibn-e-Rushd similarly define tyranny as absolute power.

6. Democracy (Madina Jama'iya)

It is marked by the freedom of its inhabitants to do' as they wish. They are all equal
and no body has master over. another. Their governors only govern with the explicit
consent of the governed. Democracy contains good and bad features and it is therefore
not impossible that at some time the most excellent men grow up there, so that
philosophers, orators and poets come into being. It is thus possible to choose from its
elements of the ideal state.

Apart from the aforementioned classification of the states, which seems to be

idealistic, Al-Farabi has a definite place for the trait of political character over other
nations, He initiates reasons for this mastery and says that it is sought by people
owing to its desire for protection, ease or luxury and all that leads to the satisfactions
of these necessities. In this powerful state, they might be able to get all the desire,
There is nothing against human nature for the strong to overpower the weak, so
nations which try to get other nations under their control consider it quite proper to do
so, and it is justice both to control the weak and for the weak to be so controlled, and
the subdued nation should do it for the good of its masters.