Islam - Avicenna, Teachings, Philosophy

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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam">Islam</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/Islam">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref69137"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69137">The foundations of Islam</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69138"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69138">The legacy of Muhammad</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69139"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69139">Sources of Islamic doctrinal and social views</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69140"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an">Doctrines of the Qurʾān</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69141"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69141">God</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69142"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69142">The universe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69143"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69143">Humanity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69144"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69144">Satan, sin, and repentance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69145"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69145">Prophecy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69146"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things">Eschatology (doctrine of last things)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69147"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69147">Social service</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69148"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69148">Fundamental practices and institutions of Islam</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69149" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69149">The five pillars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69150"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69150">The <em>shahādah</em>, or profession of faith</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69151"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer">Prayer</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69152"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69152">The <em>zakāt</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69153"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69153">Fasting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69154"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69154">The hajj</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69155" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69155">Sacred places and days</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69156"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69156">Shrines of Sufi saints</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69157"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69157">The mosque</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69158"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69158">Holy days</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref69159"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought">Islamic thought</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69160"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69160">Origins, nature, and significance of Islamic theology</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69161"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69161">Early developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69162"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69162">The Hellenistic legacy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69163"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism">Theology and sectarianism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69164"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism#ref69164">The Khārijites</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism#ref69165">The Muʿtazilah</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69166" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism">Sunnism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69167">The way of the majority</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69168">Tolerance of diversity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69169">Influence of al-Ashʿarī and al-Māturīdī</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69170" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism">Shiʿism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69171"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69171">Ismāʿīlīs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69172">Related sects</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69174" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69174">Other groups</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref302602"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref302602">Sufism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69175"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69175">The Aḥmadiyyah</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy">Islamic philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69178" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69178">The Eastern philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69179"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69179">Background and scope of philosophical interest in Islam</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69180">Relation to the Muʿtazilah and interpretation of theological issues</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69181"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69181">The teachings of al-Kindī</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69182">The teachings of Abū Bakr al-Rāzī</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi">The teachings of al-Fārābī</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69184">Political philosophy and the study of religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69185"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69185">Interpretation of Plato and Aristotle</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69186"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69186">The analogy of religion and philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69187">Impact on Ismāʿīlī theology</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna">The teachings of Avicenna</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69189">The “Oriental Philosophy”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69190"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69190">Distinction between essence and existence and the doctrine of creation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69191">The immortality of individual souls</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69192">Philosophy, religion, and mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69193" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers">The Western philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69194">Background and characteristics of the Western Muslim philosophical tradition</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69195">The teachings of Ibn Bājjah</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69196">Theoretical science and intuitive knowledge</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69197"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69197">Unconcern of philosophy with reform</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69198"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69198">The teachings of Ibn Ṭufayl</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69199">The philosopher as a solitary individual</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69200">Concern for reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69201"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69201">The hidden secret of Avicenna’s “Oriental Philosophy”</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes">The teachings of Averroës</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69203"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69203">Philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69204"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69204">The divine law</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69205">Theology</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69206">The new wisdom: synthesis of philosophy and mysticism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69207" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69207">Philosophy, traditionalism, and the new wisdom</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69208"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69208">Philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69209">Traditionalism and the new wisdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69210">Characteristic features of the new wisdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Critiques-of-Aristotle-in-Islamic-theology">Critiques of Aristotle in Islamic theology</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li 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link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69237">Muhammad</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69238">Other Qurʾānic figures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69239">Mystics and other later figures</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69240">Mythologization of secular tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69241"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69241">Tales and beliefs about numbers and letters</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69242">Illustration of myth and legend</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69243">Significance and modern interpretations</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Islam">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/images-videos">Images & Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative 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Mahdi</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic, Harvard University. Author of <i>Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Muhsin S. Mahdi</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Fazlur-Rahman/2400" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Fazlur Rahman</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of Islāmic Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1969–88. Author of <i>Islam </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Fazlur Rahman</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-25T00:00:00CST" >Nov 25, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm 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(AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="3"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="4" id="ref69188"> <section data-level="5" id="ref69189"><h2 class="h5">The “Oriental Philosophy”</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Even more indicative of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Farabi" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">al-Fārābī’s</a> success is the fact that his writings helped produce a philosopher of the stature of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Avicenna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Avicenna</a> (flourished 10th–11th centuries), whose versatility, imagination, inventiveness, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="prudence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prudence" data-type="MW">prudence</a> shaped philosophy into a powerful force that gradually penetrated Islamic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">theology</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">mysticism</a> and Persian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">poetry</a> in Eastern Islam and gave them universality and theoretical depth. His own personal philosophic views, he said, were those of the ancient sages of Greece (including the genuine views of Plato and Aristotle), which he had set forth in the “Oriental Philosophy,” a book that has not survived and probably was not written or meant to be written. They were not identical with the common Peripatetic (Aristotelian) doctrines and were to be distinguished from the learning of his contemporaries, the Christian “Aristotelians” of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Baghdad" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Baghdad</a>, which he attacked as <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="vulgar" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/vulgar" data-type="EB">vulgar</a>, distorted, and falsified. His most voluminous writing, <em><span id="ref299044"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kitab-al-shifa" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Kitāb al-shifāʾ</a></em> (“The Book of Healing”), was meant to accommodate the doctrines of other philosophers as well as hint at his own personal views, which are elaborated elsewhere in more imaginative and allegorical forms.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="5" id="ref69190"><h2 class="h5">Distinction between essence and existence and the doctrine of creation</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Avicenna had learned from certain hints in al-Fārābī that the exoteric teachings of Plato regarding the forms, creation, and the immortality of individual souls were closer to revealed doctrines than the genuine views of Aristotle, that the doctrines of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plotinus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Plotinus</a> and later Neoplatonic commentators were useful in harmonizing Aristotle’s views with revealed doctrines, and that philosophy must <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="accommodate" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/accommodate" data-type="EB">accommodate</a> itself to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">divine</a> law on the issue of creation and of reward and punishment in the hereafter, which presupposes some form of individual immortality. Following al-Fārābī’s lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of <span id="ref665679"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Being" class="md-crosslink ">being</a>, in which he distinguished between <span id="ref665681"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/essence-philosophy" class="md-crosslink ">essence</a> and <span id="ref665677"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/existence" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">existence</a>. He argued that the fact of existence cannot be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect. The universe consists of a <span id="ref299048"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Chain-of-Being" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chain of actual beings</a>, each giving existence to the one below it and responsible for the existence of the rest of the chain below. Because an actual <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="infinite" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infinite" data-type="MW">infinite</a> is deemed impossible by Avicenna, this chain as a whole must terminate in a being that is wholly simple and one, whose essence is its very existence, and therefore is self-sufficient and not in need of something else to give it existence. Because its existence is not <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="contingent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contingent" data-type="MW">contingent</a> on or necessitated by something else but is necessary and eternal in itself, it satisfies the condition of being the necessitating cause of the entire chain that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constitutes" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutes" data-type="MW">constitutes</a> the eternal world of contingent existing things.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">All creation is necessarily and eternally dependent upon God. It consists of the intelligences, souls, and bodies of the heavenly spheres, each of which is eternal, and the sublunary sphere, which is also eternal, undergoing a perpetual process of generation and corruption, of the succession of form over matter, very much in the manner described by Aristotle.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="5" id="ref69191"><h2 class="h5">The <span id="ref299049"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/immortality" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">immortality</a> of individual souls</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">There is, however, a significant exception to this general rule: the human rational <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/soul-religion-and-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">soul</a>. One can affirm the existence of one’s soul from direct <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consciousness" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness" data-type="MW">consciousness</a> of one’s self (what one means by “I”), and one can imagine this happening even in the absence of external objects and bodily organs. This proves, according to Avicenna, that the soul is indivisible, immaterial, and incorruptible substance, not imprinted in matter, but created with the body, which it uses as an instrument. Unlike other immaterial substances (the intelligences and souls of the spheres), it is not pre-eternal but is generated, or made to exist, at the same time as the individual body, which can receive it, is formed. The <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a>, shape, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disposition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disposition" data-type="MW">disposition</a> of its body and the soul’s success or failure in managing and controlling it, the formation of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral" data-type="MW">moral</a> habits, and the acquisition of knowledge all contribute to its individuality and difference from other souls. Though the body is not resurrected after its corruption, the soul survives and retains all the individual characteristics, perfections or imperfections, that it achieved in its earthly existence and in this sense is rewarded or punished for its past deeds. Avicenna’s claim that he has presented a philosophic proof for the immortality of generated (“created”) individual souls no doubt <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="constitutes" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/constitutes" data-type="EB">constitutes</a> the high point of his effort to harmonize philosophy and religious beliefs.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="5" id="ref69192"><h2 class="h5">Philosophy, religion, and mysticism</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Having accounted for the more difficult issues of creation and the immortality of individual souls, Avicenna proceeded to explain the faculty of prophetic knowledge (the “sacred” intellect), <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/revelation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">revelation</a> (imaginative representation meant to convince the multitude and improve their earthly life), miracles, and the legal and institutional arrangements (acts of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/worship" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">worship</a> and the regulation of personal and public life) through which the divine law achieves its end. Avicenna’s explanation of almost every aspect of Islam is pursued on the basis of extensive <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="exegesis" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exegesis" data-type="MW">exegesis</a> of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quran" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Qurʾān</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hadith" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Hadith</a>. The primary function of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> is to assure the happiness of the many. This practical aim of religion (which Avicenna saw in the perspective of Aristotle’s practical science) enabled him to appreciate the political and moral functions of divine revelation and account for its form and content. Revealed religion, however, has a subsidiary function also—that of indicating to the few the need to pursue the kind of life and knowledge appropriate to rare individuals endowed with special gifts. These individuals must be dominated by the love of God to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="facilitate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilitate" data-type="MW">facilitate</a> the achievement of the highest knowledge. In many places Avicenna appears to identify these individuals with the mystics. The identification of the philosopher as a kind of mystic conveyed a new image of the philosopher as a member of the religious <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a> who is distinguished from his coreligionists by his otherworldliness, dedicated to the inner truth of religion, and consumed by the love of God.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Avicenna’s allegorical and mystical writings are usually called “<a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="esoteric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/esoteric" data-type="MW">esoteric</a>” in the sense that they contain his personal views cast in an imaginative, symbolic form. The esoteric works must, then, be interpreted. Their interpretation must move away from the explicit doctrines contained in “exoteric” works such as the <em>Shifāʾ</em> and recover “the unmixed and uncorrupted truth” set forth in the “Oriental Philosophy”—the existence of which, as noted above, is spurious. This dilemma has made interpretation both difficult and rewarding for Muslim philosophers and modern scholars alike.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span></section></section></section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":11,"pagesTotal":20,"pageId":295507,"pageLength":1117,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":11,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Islam - Avicenna, Teachings, Philosophy | Britannica