The Rationality of Prophethood and Revelation in thePhilosophy of al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā

Abstract

Revelation and prophethood are among the most important topics in the history of thought because they are the foundation of the divine religions. In the changing socio-cultural climate, revelation and prophethood, which were explained by the classical mutakaddimun scholars of kalam with al-nusus, required explanations and proofs based on intellect, the common language of humanity. Accordingly, al-Fārābī and Avicenna, who considered religion and philosophy as different manifestations of the same truth, examined prophethood and revelation as an inevitable consequence of their philosophical systems, both epistemologically and in political philosophy, in a very consistent manner and naturally tried to respond to this need. This article will provide a background by focusing on the formation of philosophical thought in Islam, and then examine both philosophers' views on revelation and prophethood in light of the interrelationship between the active intellect, al-nafs, and the faculty of imagination. In the thought of al-Fārābī and Avicenna, as a result of the Sudūr theory, the dependence of the perfection of al-nafs on divine grace and the active intellect is imperative. Building their epistemology on ontic grounds, they presented knowledge as a state of ittiṣal overflowing from the divine source of knowledge. In this regard, they privileged rationality over mystical or transcendental sources (al-nusus) in explaining revelation and thus prophethood. In particular, the examination of the faculties of al-nafs within the mental process is quite rational. However, in doing so, they positioned the potential of the human intellect in a limited and passive state. Similar to the efforts of the mutakaddimun scholars of kalam to place the intellect under the command of al-nusus, the intellect is limited in its ability to receive the knowledge transmitted by the active intellect and God. The soul is only partially free in the process of preparing to receive this knowledge. Otherwise, it is passive and needy. Therefore, the need for divine grace has given a mystical veneer to the rational explanation of revelation and prophethood. Likewise, the concepts that emerged in line with this philosophical thought continued to be used from al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) to Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) and from Ibn al-Arabī (d. 1240) to Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406).