Analysis of Farabi’s the Conceptions of Millah and Philosophy

After the arrival of philosophy in the Islamic world, Muslim thinkers adopted different positions on the relation between philosophy and religion. Some of them abandoned philosophy and despised it, some preferred philosophy to religion, yet Al-Farabi established a new philosophical system which gathered philosophy and religion together and denied their opposition. He analyzed the concepts of philosophy and millah to clarify the relation between philosophy and religion .In his view, millah and philosophy are not different; rather, they are synonymous. But he considered rightful only the religion that its founder and his followers pursue otherworldly happiness. For Farabi, philosophy is prior to religion and the true religion is based on the demonstrative philosophy. Having inquired the concepts of millah and philosophy, he concludes that the religious truth and the philosophical truth, despite their formal difference, are objectively one and the same truth. This view made possible for philosophy and Islamic principles to be compatible and in harmony. Beyond doubt, Farabi was the first thinker who established a new philosophical system on the basis of this harmony and his successors pursued his project and completed it.