The Role of Religion in al-Fārābī’s Virtuous City

Abstract

This article aims to show the interaction between philosophy, religion and politics by revealing the role and rank of religion within the hierarchical system of al-Fārābī’s political philosophy.

Religion is considered as the ideology that shapes the mentality of a nation. The life of persons in the community is based on the rules that their first ruler determines for them in order to seek the ultimate true happiness for all individuals in the community. This can be accomplished only if the first ruler and his rule are truly virtuous. Virtuous rulership and virtuous religion should be based on a “certain philosophy”. Errant rulership leads to an ignorant city characterized by false opinions, i.e., false religion or false philosophy, and, therefore, cannot provide true happiness for the people.

The exact and accurate definition which al-Fārābī gives to Milla (religion) shows that he does not restrict this concept to Islam. He is not against a multiplicity of religions as long as they represent and contain an essential philosophical truth. Al-Fārābī’s openness towards the validity of other religions may resolve the tensions between different sects or religions within the same community and makes his political thought of special importance and relevance to our times.

Al-Fārābī dreams about a utopian city but is aware of the fact that most regimes are deficient and ignorant. This is reflected by his criticism of errant rulers and authorities who frighten people by the use of religion for their own benefits.

There is a controversy among scholars about the kind and degree of al-Fārābī’s commitment to Shī‘ism. This study refers to a personal prayer by al-Fārābī known as “Magnificent Invocation" (Du‘ā’‘azīm) that was ignored by previous researchers, in order to suggest a resolution to this controversy. This Du‘ā’ provides evidence for al-Fārābī’s tendency to synthesize the Neo-Platonic emanation theory with some version of Sufism. Obviously such attitude differs from Sunnī Islam and cannot be accepted in traditional Islamic circles, yet it is compatible with the Shī‘ite Ismā‘īliyya.