The Problem of Revelation in the Philosophy of the Eastern Peripatetic School

Revelation is the primary condition , which form the basis of any heavenly religion. In the 7th century, the Islamic religion, and in its person the divine revelation, brought under its influence not only the region to which the Arabian Peninsula belonged, but also neighboring states, and turned into the dominant religion in the lands of a huge empire called the Caliphate. This new religion carried educational, ethical and fraternal ideas. The dogmas of the Islamic religion ~ 93~ did not stop only at changing the lifestyle of adherents of the religion who believe in it, but also managed to make a revolution in their thoughts and thinking. Islamic religion , in each of her verses, agitating for reading in this way gave a peculiar great assessment of science and enlightenment. The result of this has been that the scholars of the Islamic region have left behind a rich cultural heritage that will benefit the nations of the world.

Thanks to promotion of science , during In a short time , the peoples of the Islamic region began to experience great development in the cultural and educational sphere . Valuable sources, samples of manuscripts, original works were brought and translated to Mecca , Medin , Baghdad, Basr and others , which were considered the central cities of the Caliphate . This was actually a common cultural development, a civilization of peoples. In the Caliphate, which has boundless borders, a work written at one end of the country in a short time was criticized at the other. Muslims who managed to achieve a great leap in all areas, including the scientific field, as a result of acquiring the philosophical works of the Greco-Roman and Greek peoples, translated into the Surian language and their translation into Arabic, very soon got acquainted with the philosophical world. Acquaintance with philosophical topics and the spirit of independence and sovereignty recognized by the peoples in the field of enlightenment spread so widely that Muslims even began to give a philosophical interpretation to their sacred religious books . From Eastern Peripatetics led by Al-Kindi and Farabi , Ibn Sina, Bahmanyar, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Misgaveh, Ibn Khaldun and others were philosophers , who first raised this issue at the level of the problem and, expressing their attitude to it, conducted research work on this issue . Eastern peripatetics tried to find similarities between the essence of religion and philosophy, made efforts to harmonize them. Along with this, they gave a philosophical interpretation of the revelation, including the verses of the Koran, explained the dogmas of Sharia on the basis of philosophical principles. They emphasized that religious prayers , inspired both by the Koran and the heavenly books preceding it , have a symbolic essence , but in fact they instill religious feelings and faith in God.

Of the philosophers of the Islamic cultural region, Farabi was the first to compare revelation and the mind, and in this comparison he especially put forward the primacy of the mind. The philosopher unequivocally noted that both the prophet and the philosopher receive knowledge from the same source [1, p.56]. The philosopher wrote: “Religious truth and philosophical truth are the same things, and both of them feed on the divine light through thinking and imagination” ~ 94~

[2, p. 356] . If, after Farabi , his followers attributed the revelation specifically to the prophet, Farabi's philosophy affirmed the presence of both thinking and imagination in the source of knowledge of the seekers of truth in the same ratio [3, p.32]. A philosopher, thanks to his work and skill, and a prophet , thanks to increased education and, in addition, a choice on the part of God , reunites with this _ source of knowledge . That is , one of the important factors in the formation of a person as a prophet was the compilation of the Divine will. According to Farabi, the mission of both the philosopher and the prophet is to convey faith in God to the people. However, according to the philosopher, the way and method of conveying the prophet and the philosopher to the people are fundamentally different from each other. Farabi explains the difference in the knowledge of the philosopher and the prophet in this way: “If the thoughts of the philosopher are scattered, then the knowledge of the prophet is whole and decisive.”

Being a follower of Farabi and remaining true to his philosophical principles, Ibn Sina, clarifying the essence of both philosophizing and prophecy , emphasizes the difference between their essence from each other. The philosopher, noting that prophecy is based on three principles - clarity and sharpness of mind, high development of the power of imagination and knowledge of the nature of matter and the ability to control it, in this way actually laid the foundation for a new theory in the philosophy of Eastern peripatetism - prophecy, i.e. the theory of “nubuwat” [4, p. 35] . Ibn Sina writes: “The mind of a prophet is a sacred mind and, unlike a philosopher, without needing anything, “receives” a revelation from an active mind. This received knowledge is integral and significant, and while the prophet, unlike the philosopher, accepts knowledge in a shorter time and in large quantities, the philosopher can receive, even can receive in detail, in a scattered form, after completing a long time of preparation! .. Getting them is not convincing in absolute terms” [3, p.55].

The philosopher, marked by heavenly desires, has in mind the concept of "angel" known to us from religion. However, one issue needs to be clarified here. The philosopher identifies revelation with the knowledge acquired by the prophet through his work and “emphasizes” that he received it from an active mind from the kind of heavenly destinies. Thus, in fact, he equally identifies the philosopher and the prophet. However, in order to acquire revelation by a prophet, it is required to go through the stages of intuition, power of imagination and mental knowledge [6, p.109].

Unlike his predecessors, Ibn Rushd, coordinating the issue of revelation with mental principles, turned to rational methods, giving superiority to the mind, considered it correct to explain it by subordinating it to the mind. According to the philosopher, religion and philosophy should be consistent, because their goal and intentions are the same: “If there is a discrepancy between religion and philosophy on some issues, then religious issues should be interpreted.”

During the study, it also became known that, compared with the theoretical views of the Eastern peripatetics, the scholars of Kalam approached the issue from a different prism. Kalam scholars, having subordinated revelation to the mind, emphasized the need, in contrast to the Peripatetics, to give precedence to revelation in matters contrary to the mind. The head of the Kalama school, which opposed the Eastern Peripatetics from a critical position, Gazzali, expressed his attitude towards them, openly admitted that he did not agree with them on a number of issues, and argued that they were in the wrong position in the method of reconciling atheism and religion with philosophy. Ghazzali believed that the principles of revelation and philosophical thinking are completely at odds with each other and that attempting to reconcile them is the wrong method. According to the kalam scholar, philosophers as a result of using this wrong method should be considered to have left religion [7, p. 274] . In his opinion, it is impossible to find evidence of a vision of the eternity of the world, either from revelation or from the mind. Because, this is a very obvious question, that matter, in the absence of a force affecting it, has an immutable, irreversible nature. And the primary cause is Allah. Everything that is material is subject to creation, change, transformation. And for these influential factors, the presence of a will is important. For this reason, Allah is also the willer [7, p.278].

Eastern peripatetics also responded to Gazzali's critical thoughts, accused him of forming a united front of scientists on kalam against philosophy based only on religious logic [8, p.127]. In this matter, Ibn Rushd was especially active, on the work of Gazzali “The Self-Refutation of the Philosophers” (“ تهافت ٱلفلاسفة tahafut al-falasifah ), written in the style of criticism of philosophers, he responded with the work “Self-denial of self-denial” (“ تهافت ١ٱلتهافت ” tahafut at-tahafut ). In this work, touching on the issue of revelation, he severely criticized the position of the scholars of the kalam who wanted to use philosophical methods and principles to support revelation, emphasizing the importance of explaining and interpreting revelation by subordinating not the mind to the revelation, but the revelation to the mind.

It should be noted that the Eastern Peripatetics remained not only in the sphere of influence of the ideas of their Greek predecessors. They, along with the interpretation of the categories, the principles of Greek philosophy in the context of the Islamic religion, also analyzed philosophically , based on revelation , the principles of the Islamic religion, and left behind a rich philosophical heritage, which the East as well as the West can use for centuries. They gave new life to philosophy, enriched it with a new word, a new thought. They formed independent theories, new systems, made countless scientific discoveries and inventions. Thanks to the enlightening spirit of the Islamic religion , the scientists of the Islamic region studied and taught not only religious sciences, but also such world sciences as history, astronomy, logic, philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics . Madrasahs, scientific centers established for this purpose in all parts of the Caliphate , served to educate and educate thousands of non-Arabs. Among these madrasahs, it is worth noting the “Nizamiyye” madrasah, which gave the Islamic world great thinkers, outstanding personalities. It is as a result of such an educational move that scholars who grew up in the Islamic cultural region, along with being philosophers, were also considered experts in the natural sciences. Of these, one can list the names of Ibn Sina, Biruni, Ibn Baj, Ibn Haukal, Nas and Reddin Tusi and dozens of such scientists and thinkers . Even today, their works, without losing their originality, are considered a valuable and irreplaceable heritage for us. But, unfortunately, their number is very small. Because the arbitrariness that began in the Caliphate and the history of the Mongol conquests forced to close this brilliant page [8, p. 135].

As a result of acquaintance with the works of the philosophers of Eastern peripatetism and with their vision of revelation and in-depth study of the topic, the following conclusions were made.

According to the Eastern Peripatetics , revelation , inspiration and dreams, as esoteric knowledge, have an intuitive character and there is a large role of imagination in their achievement , and they are also directly related to the evolutionary level of mental thinking. However, philosophers, even at the evolutionary level of mental thinking, considered the divine source of all three knowledge and in these matters strongly emphasized that the origin of the personality, the divine will, are decisive factors. From this it becomes clear that the Eastern peripatetics, commenting on their philosophical views, tried to largely harmonize religion with philosophy. For example, if Ibn Sina explained the acceptance of the revelation by the prophet, by going through mental cognition at ~ 97~ the evolutionary stage by passing the levels of “mind in the form of power”, “mind in the form of action ”, “acquired mind”, and finally, acquiring knowledge at the stage of “active mind”, in elsewhere gave a completely different interpretation of the issue. Let us pay attention to this sentence of Ibn Sina: “At the moment of receiving the revelation , the mind of the prophet, under the coercion of psychological pressure, turns mental truths and terms into living imaginations and symbols” [10, p. 37]. As you can see, the philosopher in this interpretation , bringing to the fore the important role of the psychological factor, emphasized that the divine will is more important than the will and desire of the individual. However, the philosopher, in his ideas and interpretations, leaned towards religious motives, and could not completely get rid of their influence.

In the research work, the characteristic style of revelation and the methods and ways of its acceptance in society were clarified, the corresponding conclusions were investigated and made . According to philosophers, the language and essence of revelation are closely interconnected with each other and complement each other. From the Eastern Peripatetics Farabi and Ibn Rushd , especially touching on this issue, they emphasized the existence of a difference between the language and ways of expressing revelation and that for this reason there is a need for their “tawil” a, that is, interpretation by philosophers.

One of the questions that arose during the study was the thought of the Eastern Peripatetics that the philosopher and the prophet had the same mission. The Eastern Peripatetics argued that the prophet and the philosopher are trying to find the same truth, i.e. the idea of Allah and the primary being, and the difference between them, lies in the ways and methods they have chosen, the prism of their attitude to the issue. However, in contrast to this position, the mutakallims argued that the prophets, unlike philosophers, did not choose this path themselves, but were themselves elected. Beginning with Al Kindi , all the Eastern peripatetics can be said to have taken the initiative to harmonize religion with philosophy to one degree or another. Of these philosophers, Al-Kindi, Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Khaldun, insisting on this issue, emphasized that agreement is the most correct method of approach for philosophers to revelation . For example, according to al-Kindi, coming from the same prism, a philosopher, looking at questions in a philosophical aspect and analyzing them, should not show adherence to either religion or philosophy . He writes: “The correct word of the Prophet Muhammad and everything that he brought from God can be questioned by the dimensions of the mind and pondered, these dimensions can only be refuted by ignorant people ~ 98~ who deny the mind and defend illiteracy ” [11, p. 287]. According to the philosopher, philosophy , which embraces material and moral values, cannot be viewed with a bad look. The philosopher, addressing those who expect only empirical knowledge from philosophy, treats it as a theoretical expression of practical knowledge and says: “Both religion and philosophy are the sciences of truths” [12, p. 15] or “Both prophets and philosophers are travelers on the road of truth. And the absolute truth is Allah. If the goals are the same, the means used to achieve the goal may be different and should be accepted as normal .” [13, p. 79].

did not oppose religion and philosophy with each other , did not investigate their contradictory properties, on the contrary, tried to harmonize them, even called them the “science of truths” and accepted them in unity.

The case of revelation and its nature , is a moral practice , directly related to the individual . The sending down of revelation is directly connected with the existing way of life of society, political, economic, social and other spheres. For this reason , revelation sent down in some period of time , aims to change the existing structure, the structure of society . By position , occupied by the Eastern Peripatetics on this question, it is this factor that constitutes the purpose of revelation. The prophet, in fulfilling this goal, acts only as an intermediary. If revelation were wholly the product of the prophet's personal thought or imagination, he would not have been able to bring about fundamental changes in the social, economic, political , in a word, all spheres of society. According to the Eastern Peripatetics, the general nature of revelation is able to change not only the way of knowing the one to whom it was sent from above and enrich the bases of his knowledge, information, but also influence the wrong way of life of the people, thinking and abilities, traditions, management system, ethical standards and direct them to other directions .