elation and in opposition to the hypocrisy (nifaq)
of those who only pretend to be true believers
(for example, Q 3:90–91, 167; 4:60–61). Those
who believe and do good works are promised a
reward in the aFterliFe, while those who do not
believe will be punished.
As Islamic religious thought developed, Mus-
lim theologians and philosophers pursued the
discussion of faith in more depth. Among the
topics they debated, apart from that of faith and
action, were those of differences in degree of faith,
whether faith remains constant or increases and
decreases, and the relation of reason and faith.
The Shia, meanwhile, extended the content of
faith to include belief in the infallibility and moral
perfection of the imams, and, among the Twelve-
Imam Shia, the rise of the messianic Imam mahdi.
They also argued that JUstice was an attribute of
God. Sunnis disagreed and even went so far as to
label such beliefs heretical. In the modern era,
Sunni and Shii religious thinkers have sought
to demonstrate the compatibility of faith and
reason in order to defend Islam against secular
rationalism. At the same time, intensive religious
outreach (daa wa) programs have been directed as
much at enhancing the faith of Muslims as at win-
ning new converts.
See also allah; covenant; kafir; theology;
tWelve-imam shiism.
Further reading: Toshihiko Izutsu, Ethico-Religious
Concepts in the Koran (Montreal: McGill University
Press, 1966); Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the
Quran (Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1980).
fana See baqa and fana.
faqih See fiqh.
faqir See dervish.
Farabi, Abu Nasr al- (ca. 870–950)
prominent Muslim philosopher of the Middle Ages
known for his interpretations of Aristotle and
Neoplatonism
The first systematic thinker in Arab-Islamic phi-
losophy, al-Farabi penned the tradition’s first
political treatise and was the first true logician
in Islamic history. The currents of Peripatetic-
Neoplatonic thought (Peripatetic does not here
denote an exclusively Aristotelian legacy) he
set in motion reverberate in our own time with
Ismaili philosophy and in the renewed interest in
both the Illuminationist tradition (for example,
Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs al-Suhrawardi, d. 1191)
and the School of Isfahan (for example, mUllah
sadra, d. 1640).
As his name suggests, al-Farabi was from the
district of Farab in Transoxiana, being of probable
Turkish or Turkoman origin. Little information is
available on his early life. He worked as a night
watchman in a garden in damascUs before mov-
ing to baghdad. In the turbulence of 10th-century
Baghdad, al-Farabi mastered Arabic, becoming
conversant in a number of other languages as
well. He studied with Christian Aristotelians
of the Syriac tradition, considered among the
greatest logicians of his time. He soon surpassed
these exemplars by virtue of his treatment of the
entire corpus of Aristotelian logic. His educational
regimen included not only the various branches
of philosophy, but took in mathematics, physics,
astronomy, and mUsic. Indeed, in addition to pen-
ning a handful of treatises on music, al-Farabi was
an accomplished musician.
One of the animating purposes of al-Farabi’s
writings on logic was the need to distinguish the
discipline of philosophical logic from the rules (or
logic) of grammar, the former akin to a universal
grammar that provides the rules necessary for
reasoning in any language, while the latter relies
on rules generated by convention and is thus
relative to a particular language. In his view, the
logical and grammatical “sciences” complement
each other. Logic likewise pertains to the artsK 224 fana