Al Farabi’s Political Thoughts and It’s Relevance at Present Time

Introduction
Though according to the earliest thinkers of Islam, “Philosophy” is a foreign form of knowledge
that has nothing to do with Islam; but it did not take that long to gain a different idea about this
particular branch. Later on during the 10th century it was the Islamic philosophers that
dominated philosophy.

Al-Farabi (870-950) is the first and the most influential figure among the earlier Islamic
Philosophers. Even some treat him as the “second teacher” after Aristotle. Infect he was the one
who eradicated the confusion regarding Philosophy and Islam. And let the window of philosophy
for the 10 Th century Islamic scholars.

According to him Islamic thoughts are not contradictory with that of Greek philosophy rather
interlinked…Where Greek philosophy strived for a philosopher king; Islam on the other hand
has got prophet. Law according to Greek is the creation of man, but Islam looked for the god’s
order through the leadership of prophet”. [1]

His interpretation and positive thinking removed the negative attitudes regarding European and
ancient Greek branch of knowledge and later on, there emerged many scholars who helped to
create Islamic civilization. So, he can be treated as the forefront of Islamic renaissance.

Contribution of Al-Farabi:

Like most of the Muslim philosophers he worked mainly on political philosophy. This is
identical with the Muslim philosophers that they were very much enthusiast with Muslim
philosophy. May be at that time politics was the basic concern for the huge Muslim territory. So,
it is no wonder that they found Plato’s “Republic” more interesting than Aristotle’s “historia
Animalia”.

But it is also true that during 9th century there developed an intellectual society that worked on
various branches of knowledge. But it is almost impossible to find another figure like Farabi
during his time with such a diversified knowledge. He had remarkable in political philosophy but
also made notable contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, and history.

But as said earlier he will be remembered most for his notable contribution political philosophy.
He wrote a commentary on Aristotle's work, and one of his most notable works is Al-Medina al-
Fadila where he theorized an ideal state as in Plato's The Republic.[2] Al-Farabi represented
religion as a symbolic rendering of truth, and, like Plato, saw it as the duty of the philosopher to
provide guidance to the state.

Idea regarding Society, State and Nation:

He started with individual level by giving an attention on individual just soul. This attempt is
quite similar with Plato’s earlier assumption about just soul and just society. But he did so with
more sophisticated way. The powers of the soul are arranged in a hierarchy: one power comes
after another and is related to the preceding one as matter to form. Each of them has a specific
function to perform with respect to the body and to the rational power that coordinates the
operation of the others.

Because of the rational power man is the most perfect being in the sublunary world since he can
acquire knowledge and thereby approach and unite with the active intellect.

Like Plato he tried to interlink the relation between individual soul and society. The core of al-
Farabi’s political philosophy is his concept of happiness which he takes from Greek philosophy.
Man’s goal is to acquire happiness. Since what is intended by man’s existence is that he attains
supreme happiness, he—in order to achieve it—needs to know what happiness is, make it his
end, and hold it before his eyes. Then, after that, he needs to know the things he ought to do to
attain happiness, and then do these actions. In order to reach these goals, he must learn the
virtues, which al-Farabi identifies with knowledge. Al-Farabi's psychological view of humanity
was that an isolated individual cannot achieve perfection by himself, but requires the aid of many
other individuals. So, here comes the necessity human society. Al-Farabi presents the perfect
society as one in which people cooperates in striving for happiness. By focusing on society he
developed a conception of a nation which According to him “the political or civic society is a
part of the nation and nation is the combination of cities.” He also agreed with the fact it’s not
possible for most man to comprehend the things that ultimately lead towards happiness. So, it’s
the duty of the ruler of the city to lead them towards the right direction of happiness. Also a ruler
should stand strong against the elements or those who tries to dismantle the effort of the nation
or city to be a virtuous one.

What is most astonishing about his ideal is that; he tried to establish or represent a universal
idea of a virtuous city. He actually agreed with the fact that it’s not possible for the whole world
or for every city to achieve happiness based on the same principle or following the others. As
different cities have different realities and hence require different form of attitude. For example –
he said “there may be a number of virtuous nations and virtuous cities whose religions are
different, even though they all pursue the very same kind of happiness”. Such a different and
innovative universal idea of ideal nation is quite remarkable thinking considering that period.

So a perfect city which he named as ‘virtuous’ city is the one which leads her citizens to ultimate
happiness. In order to know what actually the perfect city is one got to know the characteristics
of perfect city. But Al-Farabi tried to fiend the characteristics of virtuous city though a logical
way. He did not looked through the characteristics of a virtuous city rather he tried to find the
things which creates the impediments for achieving happiness in the cities and classified these
characteristics in a systematic way. By doing so, he actually tried to fiend the ideal form of city.

According to him “The virtuous city is opposite of (A) the ignorant city, (B) the immoral city (C)
the erring city (D) then there are weeds in the virtuous city.” This classification is based motives
of co-operation among the citizens of the city. So there arise question why he found the weeds in
a perfect city. May be, he was well aware of the fact that it’s irrational to find a city with perfect
in real sense with each and every citizens happy. Rather, he tried to find the general motivation
of the citizens of the city.

Relevance with Present World:

As said earlier; Al-Farabi was one of the earlier Muslim philosophers. As he was a philosopher
of the 10th century and the realities had changed with the sphere of time; so, it’s obvious that
many of his ideas are no more relevant with present day’s world. But again many of his ideas are
very much relevant even with present condition and even at present time many of his ideas can
be treated as modern one. The reason is that he was far more advanced than his age.
His idea about society and nation is still a relevant one. He mentioned the elements that
distinguish from one nation to another as a complex one. This is absolutely right. Still now states
are finding it difficult hard to find a concrete solution on this issue. That is the reason why the
‘idea of Nation” and “Nationality” still a matter of high debate.

His assumption that most of the people of a state fail to understand the actual meaning of
happiness is another issue. Even in today’s world the necessity of an influential and eloquent
leader can’t be overlooked. People often fail to understand the reality and therefore take
irrational decisions. This is also applicable with present world and many political thinkers have
agreed with this notion. As a result there emerges the idea of elitism. For example on the
question of foreign policy it is often seen that people fail to understand the reality. As Walter
Lippmann has said “public is too poorly informed and too emotional”. So, it’s important or the
citizens of the society to follow the ranks and order in order to maintain happiness. Which was
one the basic arguments of Al-Farabi in order to maintain happiness. He suggested the important
role of a supreme ruler in order to take the nation into the right direction of happiness. And the
role of an efficient role can never be overlooked even at present day. Even in democracy we see
the role of government as a vastly important element in order to maintain stability and happiness.
He also talked about the necessity of fighting evil .That means the ability of the ruler to eradicate
those elements that creates obstacles on the way of happiness. This is still the issue of almost
every nation state.

Farabi’s attempt to give a universal form of happiness or virtuous city is still successfully
applicable with present time. It’s the ultimate goal of every nation to ensure happiness of her
citizen’s. It’s an idea that doesn’t differ with the change of religion. Every religion teaches us the
way of harmony, peace and happiness. But people often become unhappy sometimes
unintentionally or sometimes using religion as a tainted way. But there are sates of city with
different religion that are striving for achieving happiness. Though they are of different identity
and carries different assumption about the idea of happiness but they all have the same goal that
is to achieve happiness. The ideology or thought has much similarity with modern days
“Secularism”.

Farabi’s classification of various cities is bit confusing and often overlapping. But still of looked
through carefully we can see that the characteristics that he raised while describing the
characteristics of various cities are still found among various countries character or national
character.

For example- For example Dubai can be an example of “Vile” or “Base city”. It is regarded as
the dreamland by those who devote themselves for the sake of luxury. It’s the place that provides
highest possible opportunity of luxury. But again this can never be an ideal form of city. The city
that provides shelter the top mafia dons of the world Doud Ibrahim can’t demonstrate as a just
one.

Conclusion:

In conclusion it can be said that Al-Farabi was one of the most influential philosophers of the
10th century. He was one of the very few philosophers of the medieval period who represented
philosophical thoughts through logic. Though he was a follower of Plato; but he sketched his
philosophical thoughts with a distinct outlook. He was very moderate and advance. Many of his
philosophical idea are still relevant even in our time.

Reference

1. Yahya Armanjani “The history of middle-East” Cambridge university

press, 1981, p.p-301

2. Rest of the part was based on Chris Brown, Terry Nardin and Nicholas
Rangier, “International Relations in political Thoughts” Cambridge
University press 2002