Methods of Spreading Mashhūrāt according to Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā

Considering the central role of mashhūrāt (generally accepted beliefs) in creating unity among the members of societies and moving them towards happiness or misfortune, this paper has searched for various methods of spreading mashhūrāt in the works of Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā. Despite the fact that these two philosophers did not explicitly speak of such methods, it is possible to infer some of them from their works based on the criterion Fārābī has mentioned for motivating people to perform actions. One group of these methods is related to the field of education, which includes imaginative and persuasive methods, and the other group is related to the field of discipline, which includes persuasive and emotional sayings. Other types include imagination and its effects, resemblance to other generally accepted beliefs, soul’s faculties, law and shariī‘a (divine law), learning from childhood, rhetoric, dialectics, and habits. The conclusion is that the methods found in both philosophers’ works are complementary to each other, and that the methods of spreading mashhūrāt are the accompaniments of the factors of mashhūrāt, and that most people accept and follow mashhūrāt which have been spread by these methods, yet some are reluctant to accept.