Work · Philosophy in the Islamic World
The Decisive Treatise (Fasl al-maqal)
A legal opinion on philosophy: the Qur’an itself commands demonstrative reasoning for those able to pursue it, and where proof and the plain sense of scripture conflict, scripture is to be interpreted.
Introduction
Averroes wrote the treatise around 1179, as a judge (qadi) and in the form of a legal question: is the study of philosophy and logic permitted, forbidden, recommended or obligatory under the religious law? His answer is that verses such as “Reflect, you who have vision” (Qur’an 59:2) make demonstrative reasoning obligatory for those capable of it. Since truth does not contradict truth, a passage of scripture must be interpreted where a demonstrated conclusion conflicts with its apparent sense – but such interpretations belong to the learned and should not be spread among people who are persuaded by rhetoric or dialectic. He also argues that al-Ghazali was wrong to declare the philosophers unbelievers over the eternity of the world and God’s knowledge. The treatise was not translated into Latin in the Middle Ages; Marcus Joseph Müller edited the Arabic text in Munich in 1859, and it has since become a standard text on faith and reason.
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Connections
Responds to
- The Incoherence of the Philosophers1095 · al-Ghazali
More works by Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
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