The Golden Age of Islam: Ibn Sina or Abu Ali Sina, another great philosopher after Aristotle

 The Golden Age of Islam covers the period from 750 AD to 1258 AD, covering the period of architecture, religious research, medicine, new thinking, and philosophy. In this episode, Dr. Tony Street will tell us about the great philosopher and influential physician Ibn Sina (or Abu Ali Sina), who was born in the year 980 in Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan. Ibn Sina was a citizen of Persia who surpassed even Aristotle as one of the best philosophers. He still holds a special place among Muslim scholars. The period of nearly 500 years in the "Golden Age of Islam" led to significant political and cultural changes in the Middle East. translation movement, in which texts written in Arabic were translated into Latin. This process began in the late 11th century. Arab philosophers had studied Aristotle and this study came in handy for Latin civilization. In the process of understanding Aristotle from Latin civilization, Ibn Sina was always present through his books, especially during Aristotle's metaphysics. One of Ibn Sina's writings sought to understand the distance between God and His servant. Thomas Aquinas. 

Ibn Sina is frequently mentioned in Aristotle's European Studies. In Arabic, his name is Abu Ali Ibn Sina. He was a great philosopher and well-known physician who wrote books in Arabic during his time. He was born in Bukhara in 980 AD in present-day Central Asia. He traveled extensively in Central Asia and the Persian Empire. They eventually settled in the present-day city of Isfahan, Iran. He died in the year 1037. He was still far from home at the time of his death. How did a Persian citizen in Central Asia, who knew how to speak Arabic, reach Greek philosophy during the 10th century?

The answer lies in a movement to acquire knowledge through translation, which began in the eighth century. The movement aimed to translate books from Greek into Arabic. It was even bigger than the movement to translate from Arabic to Latin in the 12th century.

The capital of this movement of the Abbasid Empire was Baghdad, the newly built capital. It examines the science and philosophy of ancient Greek civilization there is a gap of about two centuries between the arrival of this movement and the emergence of Ibn Sina as a great philosopher. Many famous Arab philosophers preceded him, including Al-Farabi, a great name who died in 950 AD, 30 years before the birth of Ibn Sina. Al-Farabi was highly respected by Ibn Sina. They considered him their second teacher, Aristotle the first, and Al-Farabi the second. Most of the philosophers in Baghdad were associated with the writings of Aristotle. At the same time, philosophers like Al-Farabi continued their personal work, but the real purpose of the 10th century was to translate and review Aristotle's work in Arabic.

Ibn Sina changed all that. By the time he died, he had become a great philosopher, surpassing even Aristotle. This is true, at least to the extent of Muslim philosophers.

The 57 years of Ibn Sina's life are part of an Islamic era that began centuries later when Arab armies had conquered Persian territory and since then the citizens of Persia have made great cultural advances in Islamic civilization. Ibn Sina himself was a citizen of Persia, but he wrote two of his most important writings in Arabic. At the beginning of this period, around the year 950, the Persians took over the cultural leadership of the Arabs. But then in the last years of Ibn Sina, the Turks got this leadership.

Ibn Sina used to tr

avel, it was his custom to go from one city to another. Because they wanted to avoid the approaching Turkish army. Throughout his life, he sought refuge somewhere in the Persian Empire.

He left his home at the age of 20 and walked north from Bukhara to Gargano. He also spent time in today's Iranian cities of Hamedan and Tehran, and eventually settled in Isfahan. It is as if they were afraid to work in a Turkish empire. With this journey, he was able to get rid of the poor states which were surrounded by enemies. The courts of these cities had neither the resources nor the desire to encourage philosophers.

They took refuge in the Al-Buwayh dynasty in the Abbasid Empire, where philosophers were supported in the courts.

We know so much about Ibn Sina because he wrote his autobiography around 1012 AD. And also because one of his students wrote a book about him in which all the information about the years after 1012 till his death is preserved. In his autobiography, Ibn Sina writes that he understood philosophy without a teacher. But he admits that one of Al-Farabi's writings explained metaphysics to him, after which he gave up the idea of ​​giving it. The book repeats that he studied Aristotle's work independently. That is, he did his own research in Baghdad, free from the tradition of teaching and learning. He says he decided to enter the field at the age of 18.

It is this impartiality that enables him to make a philosophical study of many personalities and to make a correct assessment of the claims made in them, even if these claims were made by some great philosopher at that time. Why did Ibn Sina write all this in his autobiography?

This is because they came from an environment where recognized traditions of philosophy did not exist. They were now a place where everyone was educated in Baghdad by their best teachers. As Ibn Sina continued to move eastward, he met educated people in Baghdad. If he felt inferior in front of them, he would think that he had no right to reject the philosophical research of a person educated in Baghdad. Writing biography and asserting one's superiority over educated philosophers in Baghdad are two different things. Arguments against him would have been very difficult to win, but Ibn Sina had won all his battles. We have a letter. Ibn Sina wrote this at a time when he had initially taken refuge under the rule of Al-Buwayh. He wrote this letter to the philosophers of Baghdad and the background of this was that Ibn Sina discussed with a former student of Baghdad on an issue.

In his letter, Ibn Sina asks who taught the educated people in Baghdad these things about the universe and whether they can answer Ibn Sina's questions about it. We do not have the answer to this letter. But the philosophers of Baghdad may have discarded Ibn Sina's letter. He had decided that he would ignore Ibn Sina. But history has proved them wrong.

A few years later, Ibn Sina wanted to buy a book by a Baghdad philosopher so that he could review and critique his findings. By this time he had become famous and people were afraid of him. Let Ibn Sina not buy his book because this philosopher himself was forced to buy all his books so that Ibn Sina could not read this book and criticize it.

Ibn Sina wrote many books but was careless in preserving them. In the year 1020, it was realized that no copy of one of his early writings could be saved. This was his commentary on Aristotle's research. So his students asked him to write an alternative. Ibn Sina forbade it. At the time, he only wanted to write a book on his philosophical ideas. This was an important moment in Islamic history. Many well-known personalities were quoted in Islamic civilization, but this was the moment when everything was about to change.

Aristotle would have been mentioned in Ibn Sina's later writings, but his philosophy and arguments would not have been taken seriously, just for the sake of reference. Now Ibn Sina's writings had become the center for reference in Arabic philosophy or religious literature. He reached a point where people would either agree or disagree with him and add to his words. It would not be wrong to say that he had become an expert in philosophy. What can be said about so many books of Ibn Sina? People who are interested in the history of medicine may be surprised that their services in the field of medicine are rarely mentioned here.

One of his books is that which was included in the curriculum of every medical college in Europe from the 14th century to 1715 in one form or another. His other scientific services are not mentioned here. This is because the value of these services is nothing compared to philosophical writings.

One of his main ideas is the concept of the soul. This argument is often compared to the work of the French philosopher Renے Descartes. Its main idea is: 'I think. That's why I exist. "Much attention has been paid here to their services in metaphysics. They have the idea of ​​'the difference between one's character and one's existence. Even before that, philosophers had spoken on this subject. But no one has made it so extensively the basis of their metaphysics.

For Ibn Sina, the difference between one's goodness and one's existence was the most important issue. "Anything meets its characteristics, like a human, a cat, or a tree," he said. It may be clear what the object is, but it is not clear if it exists. It's the same thing if you understand what it is without deciding on something. "He meant that everything is known by its characteristics. But this thing may have its own separate existence. In making this distinction, Ibn Sina asks what is meant by this thing, what is it, that is, whether its characteristics give it meaning or its existence.

According to him, only things that can be described exist. This sentence is important in its own way. Ibn Sina is one of those philosophers who decides a matter based on the current situation. He believed in cause and effect (meaning cause and effect in English). According to him, since this world was created by God out of necessity, if there was another world, it would be similar to everything in that world. Everything in the world needs something else.

They talk about everything based on its characteristics and its existence. According to him, if there was no major reason behind the creation of the world, it would not exist. If it is proved that there is a reason behind the creation of the world, then it will also be by the philosophy of characteristics and existence. That is, what a thing is its existence. It can also be said, 'What is God? The answer lies in the existence of God.

After Ibn Sina, the knowledge of theology changed, whether it is about the East or the West. As Ibn Sina began to be cited in Europe, so did his work in the East. This argument for the existence of God is told in the seminaries, or as the scholars talk about the virtues of God.

Understand that when a young Christian goes to church and a Muslim goes to a seminary to acquire religious knowledge, he immediately becomes indebted to Ibn Sina.