Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan
Al-Farabi is one of the “greatest” philosophers of the world who has “universal” message of rationality, logic, human wisdom, knowledge and last but not least diversification of expertise.
Ours is the age of globalization and Al Farabi’s philosophy supports new means of survival which is based on “universality”, “internationalism” and “togetherness”. Ours is the age of settling disputes with conflict resolution and Al Farabi teachings promotes “peaceful persuasion” of collective happiness through dialogue, diplomacy and development. Thus his teachings are still relevant.
During his whole life he disseminated true roots of humanity which is the replica of today’s globalized humanistic principles. He coined that “Mankind” has direct correlation with superior “Intelligence Existence” i.e. God the real creator of this universe. Thus beauty of universe attaches to total submission to Intelligence Existence, services to humanity (world) and sacrifices to struggling people (populaces). Simply Al Farabi is the true proponent of these golden principles of humanity.
Moreover, serious problems of modern world pertaining to cultural dominance (White Man Supremacy) and universal equality, national identifications/entities (Nationalism) and liberalized politicization, one man rule and democratization, multiculturalism/interfaith harmony and perpetual ethnic cleansing and genocides, national economic protectionism and free trade apparatus, poverty and prosperity, contradiction and cooperation and last but not least good governance and corruption all may be easily solved and resolved through the teachings of Al- Farabi. Thus the concept of New Kazakhstan is the resultant and extension of his noble concept of “Virtuous City” which is corruption, cartel and crony free.
His eternal work of “Virtuous City” is based on equality, social justice, rule of the law, socio-economic prosperity, fair-play, morality, modesty and moderation. It outlines salient features of an ideal state and governance system thus it “pioneered” the concept of good governance and most recently held referendum vividly reflects visionary leadership of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in this regard.
It pinpoints true essence of a people’s friendly administration based on decentralization of the government, direct link to people and last but not least, direct coordination. Thus the massive drive of rigorous politicization and democratization under the concept of New Kazakhstan is the “logical conclusion” of Al Farabi splendid work of Virtuous City.
Virtuous City also speaks about certain characterization of a ruler which should not be cruel, arrogant, ill-mannered and uncivilized rather he must have spirits of unconditional kindness, compassion, accommodation and love for the welling of his common people. Thus Al Farabi laid foundation of the concepts of provision and protection of “human rights” in the world.
Secularism, socialism and systemization have become mantra of modern democracies in the world. On his part, he had been advocating the need of increasing democratic reforms, creation of a legal, secular state and approval of harmony in society. So New Kazakhstan has now become “guarantor” and “custodian” of Al Farabi’s teachings.
In this connection, crux of his diversified and dynamic political philosophy especially his teachings on politics, freedom, true happiness, and the need to develop mutual trust the state and people, charity and assistance among the people, persuasion to science, intellectual and moral perfection of man and society are the bases of modern state, human survival, secrete of rapid development of societies, wellbeing of communities, and last but not least productive channels. So New Kazakhstan’s journey towards greater socio-economic prosperity and people’s friendly statehood is derived from Al- Farabi’s “divine” philosophies.
It seems that modern qualitative human development concept is also derived from Al-Farabi’s vision of a pious man and true leader. His concept of political leadership, justice, equality, preserving peace, preventing war and condemnation of wars are the causes of formation of a civilized society, global governance system and indoctrination of disciplines of international relations, diplomacy and dialogue. Thus political philosophy and ideas of the thinker can be a valuable source for the education of the younger generation.
Furthermore, his teachings, ideas and books helped save the world from catastrophe through the centuries. He always talked about collectiveness, joint efforts, unity, harmony and dignity of self. Thus he became beacon of hope for marginalized people and communities alike. His philosophies remained savior to the world and called people to raise their self and global awareness.
Al-Farabi is one of the largest representatives of the medieval philosophy of the East. He started a kind of positive, productive and participatory dialogue between the cultures of the East and West and showed people the essence of an integral and conflict-free worldview. Thus he established the concepts of subjectivity and objectivity in cross-culture communications and promoted respect for intellectual curiosity and difference of opinion. Al-Farabi is rightfully called the Second Teacher.
Critical analysis reveals that works of Plato and Aristotle was transferred to Middle Ages because of Al-Farabi’s commentaries on the treatises of ancient Greek philosophers. The way of thinking and analysis of the ancient treatises of Al-Farabi influenced the greatest thinkers of the Middle East such as Avicenna and Maimonides.
He spoke about the harmony of consciousness, about the unity of everything that makes up this world and more and more, younger generations should study his philosophies for achieving peace, harmony and stability in the world.
To conclude, the name of Al-Farabi appears in history with an enviable frequency. It is generally difficult to imagine the philosophy of modern times without Al-Farabi. Thus his services to intellectualism are immense.
He is a personalized figure having both spiritual and scientific expertise. The whole world accepts this thanks to his treatises, that cover the widest range of scientific topics and is rightfully called the encyclopedic collection.
Obviously, universality of his scientific heritage, which originated in ancient Greek philosophy, inspired European thinkers such as, for example, the philosopher, theologian and teacher canonized by the Catholic Church, Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the 13th century.
Al-Farabi was sure that, despite serious differences in the views of representatives of different religions, peoples and intellectuals currents, that people are united by their desire for happiness, truth and knowledge.
Undoubtedly, he succeeded to create a very modern and interesting intellectual synthesis of Muslim, Christian and pre-Christian worldviews through science, managed to create a promising and productive philosophical model. Thus he championed the concept of interfaith harmony, tolerance, and civilizational dialogue.
Al-Farabi’s wrote about happiness, an ideal state, metaphysics, music, astronomy, mathematics, and the methodology of science. Al-Farabi’s metaphysics helps us understand the scale of his worldview. Thus he was the man of diversification, dynamism, determination and enlightening modernization.
He borrowed the metaphysics of cause-and-effect relationships from Aristotle, the emanational cosmology from the Neoplatonists, and astronomical concept from Ptolemy and created a picture of the world where everything in the world originates from the single source the First Cause, or God, whose essence is impossible to know by using reason.
He promoted the spirits of humanity, transparency, openness and tolerance which made him a true global thinker. His works have been translated into many languages of the world and have become the basis for a deep and comprehensive understanding of life.
Al-Farabi did not call for a dialogue of cultures however he created universal intellectual standards based on a non-partisan, non-confessional, non-national philosophy that has absorbed the experience of many peoples. His philosophy does not belittle any religion or a single person.
He was a staunch promoter of social organisation based on collaboration and cooperation rather than conflicts based on ethnic or sectarian issues.
In this age of extremism and the so-called clash of civilizations the philosophies of Al-Farabi is the way forward. Thus New Kazakhstan vividly reflects true spirits of Al-Farabi which are integrated, future oriented and people’s friendly.
Universality of his philosophies greatly inspired to Ibn Sina, Al-Biruni, Al Mahari, Ibn-Budge, Ibn Tufeylya, Ibn Rushd, who followed Al-Farabi and rightly maintained the need for a rationalist, or philosophical orientation towards the universe, state, society and manhood. He tried to remove philosophical complexity/overlapping and psychological barriers in terms of religious dogma and mysticism, of humanism and enlightenment. Thus he promoted the concepts of brotherhood and justice which he termed as the moral principle of society.
Al-Farabi’s “Virtuous City” developed the idea of the necessity of moral fortitude person under any circumstances. Throughout the middle ages the works of Al-Farabi enjoyed great popularity in Western Europe and undoubtedly contributed to the development of Renaissance humanism and also provided vital imputes of New Kazakhstan.
(The author is Director:
The Center for South Asia & International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad Regional Expert: Kazakhstan & CIS)