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Islamic Philosophers

On Tyranny

AmirAli Maleki looks at tyranny from an Islamic perspective.

Do Islamic philosophers allow tyranny, or do they advocate a free and enlightened society?

To explore this, one might turn to Al-Farabi (870-950 CE), widely regarded as the first truly Muslim philosopher. Al-Farabi argues that power should never impose its views through force. In his work Categories of Science (Iḥṣāʾ al-ʿUlūm), Al-Farabi emphasizes that virtue, which in his view can only be achieved through an ethical and well-ordered society, flourishes when all individuals can collaborate in shaping their collective destiny without coercion. Since politics, for Al-Farabi, in essence, is a matter of companionship and empathy. He asserts that a government must cultivate a spirit of obedience within its people by encouraging participation through voting and other ways of expressing their opinions.

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