The reality of philosophical tales

You must have heard a fixed claim from the logicians, which, if presented in a somewhat literary manner, can be summarized as follows:

When Islam was revealed, it was discovered a while later that Allah Almighty had made a huge mistake (God forbid). The mistake was that although humans were given intellect, the religion was revealed in traditions instead of reasoning. Even if Allah made a mistake, neither the Prophet (PBUH) nor the four caliphs noticed it.

Thus, as soon as the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs ended, Islam was hit by a calamity when Greek philosophers raised such “reasonable” questions that had no answers in the Quran and Hadith. And even if there were answers, the Greeks refused to accept them, saying, “We do not believe in this, so we will not accept it as evidence.” Consequently, Muslims started studying philosophy and logic to silence the Greeks, and eventually, they managed to save Islam with the help of philosophy and logic; otherwise, it would have been a significant mistake on Allah’s part. There is no power and no strength except with Allah.

Interestingly, there are stories of such debates. Each story starts with the phrase:

“There was a debate with a great philosopher…”

Who was the philosopher? What was his name? Where did he come from? When did the debate take place? No details. It always starts with, “There was a great philosopher.” Here are two examples of such debates to illustrate how “reasonable” they were:

The philosopher said, “If Allah exists, why can’t we see Him?” To this, a certain individual replied, “Bring some milk.” When it was brought, he asked the philosopher, “Where is the butter?” The philosopher said, “It is in the milk.” The individual asked, “Show me where it is; why can’t we see it?” Thus, he won the debate, and the philosopher was utterly defeated.

It seems that the philosopher learned from the Muslims that butter exists in milk but is not visible. Before this, he was unaware that when butter is an ingredient in milk, it is not visible. Muslims took up the task of studying Greek philosophy to reveal this fact. Glory be to Allah.

Another similar debate goes like this: A great philosopher asked, “If God exists, which way is He facing?” The entire Islamic world was stunned by this dangerous question. A certain individual came and said, “Bring a lamp.” The lamp was brought, and after lighting it, he pointed to the flame and asked, “Which way is this flame facing?” The philosopher was utterly defeated, and the Islamic world regained its senses.

Forget these stories; let me tell you what the real story behind Greek philosophy is. Before the last Roman invasion, the Greeks transferred their entire historical library of Greek civilization to Persia by sea, entrusting it there. Because it was a common practice in ancient wars to burn the libraries of the conquered.

Muslims were the first warriors in human history who introduced the strategy of benefiting from libraries instead of burning them. Two major libraries of that time are examples: the Greek Library in Persia and the Egyptian Library in Alexandria.

After the conquest of Persia, when the Greek library came into the hands of Muslims, they started translating it. Now, if you have studied Greek civilization in detail, you would know that their concept of God was strange and complex. It was a highly philosophical civilization, so the minds of that level had equally complex concepts of God.

When this material was translated into Arabic and Persian, not only did the minds of Muslims become corrupted, but their beliefs also deteriorated. Consequently, various sects emerged in the realm of beliefs, and they started debating among themselves, even leading to the issuance of fatwas. Thus, the monotheism presented by the Quran began to recede, and philosophical nonsense prevailed.

Now, an interesting point: these modern sachet-packed Ibn Arabi types tell you that when Muslims studied philosophy and logic, they saved the religion from sinking with the help of reasoning. But the truth is that when Ghazali came, he wrote “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” and “The Intentions of the Philosophers,” proving that anyone who adopted these philosophical beliefs was committing blatant disbelief.

According to Ghazali, those Muslims who believed they had saved Islam through philosophy were indeed disbelievers. When asked, “Is Sheikh Bu Ali Sina also a disbeliever?” he replied, “If he was aware of it and still accepted it, then he was also guilty of disbelief.”

Thus, this was the moment when Sunni Muslims almost abandoned philosophy, and it took refuge as a subject within the Shia school of thought. So, those who boast about the philosophy that supposedly saved religion from drowning are unaware that Ghazali proved it to be disbelief, and they don’t even know it.

And when it’s said that “no one had an answer,” consider this question: Is it necessary to answer every question? Does the absence of an answer indicate falsehood and defeat? If so, when Pharaoh asked Moses (AS), “What happened to the previous generations?” Moses (AS) responded according to the Quran, “The knowledge of that is with my Lord,” meaning “I do not know.”

Did the heavens fall on Moses, and was Pharaoh’s divinity proven? Similarly, when the Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the soul, the verse was revealed that mentioned, “It is a matter of my Lord,” but no details were given about the soul. Does the lack of an answer make Islam false?

Similarly, when the Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the Day of Judgment, even Allah refused to answer. Did Islam’s authenticity become questionable due to not revealing the time of the Day of Judgment? Did it affect Islam?

The point is that our philosophers and theologians have been carrying this burden for 1,200 years, claiming that they provided answers to questions Islam didn’t have answers to, as if they knew more than Allah and His Messenger (PBUH). Some questions were not answered by them, but they answered “all” questions and defeated the questioners. May Allah forgive us; there is no god but He, the Living, the Sustainer.