A Guide to Philosophy: The Hidayat al-Hikmah of Athiral-Din al-Mufaddal Ibn ‘Umar al-Abhari al-Samarqandi

Author : Syed Ali Tawfik al-Attas

Reviewed By : Ibrahim Özdemir

Book Reviews

As Alparslan Acikgenc underlines in his forward for the book “the history of Islamic philosophy is a rich field of philosophical schools, ideas and doctrines developed throughout the centuries by many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars”. Al-Abhari’s book is just one example of this tradition which is a fruit of interest in recent decades on the histography of Islamic philosophy. Syed Ali Al-Attas Tawfik is aware of this “revival” and he is proposing to shed new lights on a field neglected even by natives, that is Muslims themselves for a long time.

It seems that al-Attas tries to utilize a framework to understand al-Abhari and his philosophy within a system thinking. To achieve his aim, he understands philosophy as “the science which discusses systems and system related inquiry”. Then, it is not difficult see that al-Attas has in his mind the idea of philosophy as a process opening many windows to see the whole within a time frame. It also presupposes that Islam as a religion based on the idea of “burning for knowledge” from early days, which triggered a process that led to the birth and development of philosophy and scientific spirit among Muslims. Then, it is important to remember Franz Rosenthal’s observation that Islamic civilization founded and formed on concept of knowledge (‘ilm). Franz Rosenthal observes in his seminal book Knowledge Triumphant that the Islamic civilization “is essentially characterized by knowledge ('ilm), for 'ilm is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilization its distinctive shape and complexion” (Rosenthal, 1970).

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