Farooq Ahmad Bakloo
The Muslims are affiliated with the brutality and hatred by the fabricated propaganda designed by the anti- Islamic cells in the world. Therefore, in this way, the new generation of the Muslims are through the eye of suspicion because of their religious adherence. Different stories and misconceptions were twisted against the Islam. It is deplorable that in contemporary universities, especially in the subjects of humanities, less attention are given to the great Muslim philosophers and are significantly absent in the syllabus. In this write-up, the author will highlight the copiousness of the Muslim philosophers and their contribution to Political Science. Master Science called by its father, Aristotle. When we study political science, we learn the insights about the philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Russia, Hobbes, Locke, Machiavelli, and T.H. Green as a western political thought. Along with we study the middle political thought of Thomas Aquinas a Christian philosopher. It is regrettable there is no name of the Islamic political philosophers in the entire syllabus expect very few like Maulana Maududi the founder of the ‘Jamati –e- Islami. Sir Muhammad Iqbal the famous poet and philosopher his renowned book the ‘Reconstruction of the Islamic thought.” On the other, hand Sir Syed Ahmad Khan the promoter of English language and the founder of the famous Aligarh Muslim University. The critical philosophers who have appeared during the period of Andalusia now in Spain at that time there was dark age in Europe and was beneath the powerful papacy. At that time if a person speaks about science, he/she was executed by the church. Hence, it was the Islam and the noble Book the Quran that frequently command its readers that look into the creation of the universe and open your eyes. The Abbasids period was the golden period for the generation of knowledge by Muslim scholars. During this period, the Muslims shed light on all the subjects and develop the notions that provide the food for modern science and technology in Europe and become the pathway of resentence movement.
AL FARABI (872 -950) : Al Farabi born on 872 and died 950 who is named as the another Aristotle and was inspired by the political philosophy of Plato and his student Aristotle. He was one of the prominent thinkers of his times. According to credible sources, this intellectual has written five treaties on the subject of politics these treatises areas:
• Summary of Plato’s Laws,
• Siyasat – al- Madaniyah,
• Are- ahl al- Madinah Fazilah,
• Jawami – al Sisyasat
and Ijtimnat – al- Manaiziyah. This guy Al – Farabi presented his concept of virtuous society in his Siyasat – al- Madaniyah, in which he described the notion of his ideal state. Farabi, in his ideal state, laid extreme consideration on happiness, the morality of the residents. Furthermore, Farabi recommended that his ideal state should be ruled by the wise men who are good in their moral character with intellect acumen. Also for the establishment of virtuous society, Al Farabi stated that the role of the philosophers are very critical as these philosophers had to the role of the doctor to cure the different alignments coming in the way of a virtuous society. The main book that is focused on politics is Madinah Fazilah.
Ibn Rushd (1126 -1198): Ibn Rushd ( 1126-1198) According to the sources the full name of the Ibn Rushd was Abu –l- Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd. Ibn Rushd was born in Cordoba and was one of the renowned Muslim philosophers of his times. Rushd was influenced by the philosophy of the Arostoltle, which results Rushd has written multiple numbers of commentaries on the works of the Arostotle. Besides this, he has written books on the subjects of Islamic theology, Medicine Jurisprudence and laws. Prof. M.M.Sharaf writes about the Ibn Rushd in his book Muslim Thought its origin and achievements 2007) that by the middle of the thirteenth century almost all the works of Rushd were translated from Arabic into Hebrew and latai by a man called Michal Scottus. Prof. M.M.Sharaf further describes that in 1214 Frederick II then the emperor of the Rome became the massive favour of the Muslim Thought and especially the thought of Ibn Rushd. As far the political thought of the Ibn Rushd is concered this man ibn Rusid describes his political notions while writing a commentary on the Plataos book the Repbulabic. According to the Ibn Rusid his ideal state, there should be the Islamic law( Rosental 2017). Fakhry Majid 2001 states in his book Averroes his life and works the qualities of the king, which are described by the Ibn Rashid these areas:
• The ruler should be the devotee of knowledge
• The ruler should have an excellent memory
• Education enthusiast
• Beloved of truth
• Dislike for hedonistic pleasures
• Scorn for wealth
• Generosity
• Determination
• Stead fatness
• Persuasiveness
• Capacity to light immediately on the middle term
The author further describes that two methods are advocated by the Ibn Rusid to teach the citizens are persuasion and coercion. Regarding the rights of the women, Ibn Rasid says that there should be a share of women in the administration of the state. According to the Rushid sinking, the public role of women is fatal to the progress of the state.
The reason is that these Muslim Majority countries did not pay much heed to modern science and technology. These Countries remain busy to highlight their cultural and personality cults instead of the Massage of the teachings of holy Quran and authentic Sunnah.
Nizamul Mulk (1018 -1092):Abu Ali Hasan Ibn Ali Ibn Ishaq famously remembered as Nizamul Mulk born in 1018 and died in 1092. According to the Muslim sources that he was known for the progress of higher education which results, he was one of the initiators of higher education institutions in the cities of Baghdad, Isfahan, Nishapur, Mosul, Basra and Herat. On the subject of politics, he has written the book called Siyasatuama, which is written in Persian and constitutes 50 chapters on the different aspects of the polity. The book was considered one of the gems on the subject of politics in the medieval period. The book shed light on the themes of kingship, Judiciary Espionage, ambassadorship. The book further has chapters on the functions and qualifications of all officers all classes according to the Josef w. Meri 2005) this work of Nazamul Mulk has been compared to Machiavelli famous book the prince as in this work the Mulk used the historical approach to describe the ideas for the active rule and the role of Government in the Islamic society. According to the Aladashvili Besik 2017) One of the critical aspects which are highlighted in the book is the system of scrutiny spy system to obtain the secret information which later on would be helpful for the security purpose.
Al Mawaradi (972-1058): Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib famous known Al Mawaradi born on 972 and died in 1058. He was another esteemed personality during the period of Abbasid Caliph. He has written four treatises on the subjects of politics these areas
• Al- Ahkam Us – Sultaniyah ( Laws regarding ruler ship)
• Adab – al-Wazirir (Ethics of the Ministers.
• Sayasat –ul – Mulik (King Politics
• Tahsil –Un- Nasr- wat – Tajil –us-Zafar ( Facilitating the conquest and hastening victory.
Out of these above-mentioned treaties, some were translated in other languages like Al – Ahkam Us – Sultaniyah and Adab al – wazir
Abu Hamid Al- Ghazali (1058-1111 AD) : Imam Ghazali is one of the respected figures in the Islamic world he was the head of the Nizamiyyah collage of Baghdad from 1092 to 1096 C.E. later on the quiet the institute and wanders many places to fulfil the spiritual knowledge. The main books in which he describes his ideas are
• Ihya al Ulum
• Manqidh Min Dalal
• Tibr al – al amain
• Fatihah al- Illum
• Kimiya – I- Saadah
• Iqtisad fi al Etihad
• Kitab al- Wajiz
Ibn Khaldun (1332 -1406): Abu Zayd Abdur Rahman bin Muhammad Bin Khaldun Al – Hadrami was one of the intellectual gems of his times; he also has influenced a lot of philosophers and is called the Machiavelli because of his realistic approach. His works primarily on the subject on Sociology, economics, history and philosophy are reflected from his famous book Muqaddimah. His concept of rising and decaying of societies became very popular for this he introduced the term assabiyah. According to him, those groups or countries that have a strong sense of Assabiyah are intended to be the strong rule (Ahmad Shadab 2011). According to Ibn Khaldun, the sovereign exists for the welfare of the people. Hence, the strong ruler acts a thread that maintains the social order healthy and protects the society from breaking. Ibn Khaldun also warns the misuse of absolute power. To Ibn Khaldun, the state was an essential of human society to control injustice within the society, but the state means force, thus itself an injustice. All societies must have a state governing them to establish a society.
Conclusion : The medieval period of the Muslims is considered as the golden period as, during this period, various Muslim scholars have emerged who later on made a tremendous contribution in the multiple branches of the knowledge. These Muslim scholars translate the books of the Greeks into Arabic and add new approaches in their notions. These books of the Muslim Scholars then translated by the European scholars and yielded benefits by these remarkable ideas of Arabs.However, in the current period lot of negativity are associated with the Muslim community and tagged them with different radical groups to spread the notions of Islamic Phobia. Muslims are unable to respond to the propaganda that is broadening by some anti-Islamic agencies to defame Islam. Nowadays, the Muslim Majority countries are very backward interims of education, health facilities, research as compared to the west. The reason is that these Muslim Majority countries did not pay much heed to modern science and technology. These Countries remain busy to highlight their cultural and personality cults instead of the Massage of the teachings of holy Quran and authentic Sunnah. One more irony is that the new generation is not aware of the great philosophers and their contribution to streams of knowledge. There is a need to go back to engage with these great Muslim philosophers and add the notions to the spring of knowledge.
(The author is a Research scholar at the Department of Political Science Kumaun University Nainital Uttarakhand. Views are his own) [email protected]