A Comparison of the Four Schools of Islamic Political Philosophy

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor in Research Center of Islamic Culture and Thought, Qom, Iran

10.22081/jips.2023.75463

Abstract

The present study aims at a systematic comparison of the four schools of the Islamic political philosophy. To explain and recognize the epistemic identity of each of the philosophical schools, we first investigated its methodical and epistemic approach, then its religious nature and its link with monotheistic worldview and Islamic doctrines, which are important in understanding and recognizing the truth and identity of a school of political philosophy, were the focus of attention. The results showed that the methodological issue is the first point of distinction between those four philosophical schools. While the peripatetic school stresses on argumentative method, Suhrawardi’s school accepts argumentation along with the method of illuminative (ishrāqī) intuition. The transcendental philosophy goes further and makes the rational, mystical, illuminative and theological approaches its foundations. And the philosophy of Islamic revolution deepens all abovementioned methodic approaches to employ new concrete and innovative methods. Comparing the four abovementioned schools in their political lines showed their fundamental distinctions in three important issues, i.e. necessity of social life, necessity of politics and policy-making, and necessity of state and government, in a way that persuaded the author to accept the theory of independent political philosophy of Islamic Revolution.

Keywords


  1. Afrough, ‘I. (2012). Inqilāb Islāmī wa Mabānī Bāz-Towlīd Ā Tehran: Surah Mehr Publishing Cooperation. [In Persian]
  2. Aristotle (2011). Siyāsat (7th, Trans, ‘Inayat, H.). Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian]
  3. Avicenna, H. (2019), al-Ishārāt wal-Tanbīhāt fī ‘Ilm l-Ṭabī‘iyya (vol. 3). Qom: Balaghat Publications. [In Persian]
  4. Beheshti, M. (2015). “Falsafa Siyāsī Sheikh Ishrāq” in Islām wa ‘Ulūm Ijtimā‘ī Quarterly, 7(14), pp. 139-156. [In Persian]
  5. Berenjkar, R. (2018). Āshnāʾī bā ‘Ulūm Islāmī, Kalām, Falsafa, ‘Irfā Tehran: SAMT publications. [In Persian]
  6. Farabi, A. (1907a). Fuū al-ikam (ed. al-Khanji, M. A.). Egypt: al-Sa‘ada Publishing House. [In Arabic]
  7. Farabi, A. (1907b). Mā Yanbaqī an Yaqdim Qabl Ta‘llum al-Falsafa (ed. Khanji, M. A.). Egypt: al-Sa‘ada Publishing House. [In Arabic]
  8. Farabi, A. (1931). Isā al-‘Ulūm (ed. Muhammad Amin, ‘I). Egypt: al-Sa‘ada Publishing House. [In Arabic]
  9. Farabi, A. (1992). Al-Tanbīh ‘Alā Sabīl al-Sa‘āda (ed. Al Yasin, J.). Tehran: Hikmat Publications. [In Persian]
  10. Farabi, A. (1982). Taḥṣīl al-Sa‘āda (ed. Al Yasin). Beirut: Dar al-Andalus Publications. [In Arabic]
  11. Farabi, A. (1967). Al-Milla (ed. Mahdi, M.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  12. Farabi, A. (1971). Fuūl Muntazi‘a (ed. Najjar, F. M.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  13. Farabi, A. (1985). Al-Towiʾa (ed. Al-‘Ajam, R.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  14. Farabi, A. (1986a). al-Jadal (ed. Muhammad Amin, ‘I). Egypt: al-Sa‘ada Publishing House.
  15. Farabi, A. (1986b). al-Siyāsa (ed. Qamir, Y.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  16. Farabi, A. (1986c). al-Qiyās al-aghīr ‘Alā arīqat al-Mutakallimīn (ed. al-‘Ajam, R.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  17. Farabi, A. (1990). Al-urūf (ed. Mahdi, M.). Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq Publications.
  18. Khomeini, S. R. (1997a). Tafsīr Surah Ḥamd (3rd). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  19. Khomeini, S. R. (1997b). Sharḥ Chihil Ḥadīth (16th). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  20. Khomeini, S. R. (1997c). Wilāyat Faqīh, Ḥukūmat Islāmī (6th). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  21. Khomeini, S. R. (1999a). aīfayi Imām (vols. 1-22). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  22. Khomeini, S. R. (1999b). Kashf al-Asrā Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  23. Khomeini, S. R. (2000). Kitāb al-Bay‘ (vol. 2). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  24. Khomeini, S. R. (2006). Tanqīḥ al-Uūl (vol. 1), (annotated by Taqavi Ishtehardi). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  25. Khomeini, S. R. (2013a). Al-Makasib al-Muarrama (vol. 2). Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  26. Khomeini, S. R. (2013b). Tarīr al-Wasīla. Tehran: Institute of Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works. [In Persian]
  27. Mohajer, M. (1998). “Fiqh wa Rahbarī dar Andīshayi Siyāsī Fārābī” in Political Sciences, 1(1), pp. 126-147. [In Persian]
  28. Mohajernia, M. (2001). Andīshayi Siyāsī Fārābī. Qom: Bustan Kitab. [In Persian]
  29. Mohajernia, M. (2008). “Rawish Tafakkur Siyāsī Muta‘āliya” in Rawish-Shināsī Siyāsī dar Niām Tamaddunī Islāmī (ed. Firahi, D.). Qom: Research Center of Islamic Culture and Sciences. [In Persian]
  30. Mohajernia, M. (2022). “Rahyāftī Now bi Ḥikmat Siyāsī Inqilāb Islāmī” in Political Sciences, 25(98), pp. 24-50. [In Persian]
  31. Mohajernia, M. (2023). “Naẓariyya Riyāsat Sunnat dar Imtidād Falsafayi Siyāsī Fārābī” in Qabasāt, 28(108), 151-175. [In Persian]
  32. Mohajernia, M. (ready to publish). Falsafayi Siyāsī Inqilāb Islāmī. Tehran: Tanzīl (Vol. 1). Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-ꜥ [In Arabic]
  33. Mulla Sadra (1979). Al-Wāridāt al-Qalbiyya fī Ma‘rifat al-Rubūbiyya (ed. Shafi‘iha, A.). Tehran: Society of Iranian Philosophy. [In Persian]
  34. Mulla Sadra, S. (1975). Al-Mabdaʾ wal-Ma‘ād (ed. Ashtiani, S. J.). Tehran: Royal Society of Iranian Philosophy. [In Persian]
  35. Mulla Sadra, S. (1981a). al-Shawāhid al-Rubūbiyya fil-Manāhij al-Sulūkiyya (2nd). Mashhad: Markaz Nashr. [In Persian]
  36. Mulla Sadra, S. (1981b). Asrār al-Āyāt (ed. Khajavi, M.). Tehran: Islamic Society of Iranian Wisdom and Philosophy. [In Persian]
  37. Mulla Sadra, S. (1983a). Tafsīr Surah Sajda (ed. Rajab-zada, R.). Tehran: Mehrab Publishing Center. [In Persian]
  38. Mulla Sadra, S. (1983b). Tafsīr Surahāyi A‘lā wa Zilzāl (Trans. Rajab-zada, R.). Tehran: Mehrab Publishing Center. [In Persian]
  39. Mulla Sadra, S. (1988). Shar Uūl Kāfī (vol. 2) (ed. Khajavi, M.). Tehran: Institute of Cultural Studies and Researches. [In Persian]
  40. Mulla Sadra, S. (2004). Al-ikmat al-Muta‘āliya (vol. 9). Tehran: Sadra Foundation of Islamic Wisdom. [In Persian]
  41. Sharrouzi, Sh., M. (2006). Rasāʾil al-Shajara al-Ilāhiya (vol. 1). Tehran: Research Institute of Iranian Wisdom and Philosophy. [In Persian]
  42. Shirazi, Q. (2004). Shar ikmat al-Ishrā Tehran: Society of Cultural Works and Masterpieces. [In Persian]
  43. Suhrawardi, Sh. (2018). Si Risāla az Sheikh Ishrāq: al-Alwāḥ al-‘Imādiya, Kalimat al-Tasawwuf, al-Lamaāt (ed. Najafquli, H.). Tehran: Society of Philosophy and Wisdom. [In Persian]
  44. Suhrawardi, Sh. (1993). Majmū‘a Muṣnnafāt Sheikh Ishrāq (vols. 1-3) (ed. Corbin, H.). Tehran: Institute of Cultural Studies and Researches. [In Persian]
  45. Suhrawardi, Sh. (2009). ikmat al-Ishrāq (Akbari, F.). Tehran: ‘Ilm Publications. [In Persian]