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    Livingston 1992 S. Magia Islámica Med.

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    Science and the Occult in the Thinking of Ihn Qayyim al-Jawziyya John W, Livingston Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 4, (Oct. - Dec., 1992), pp. 598-610. Stable URL: htipslinks jstor.orgsici?sici~G003-0279%28 1992 10%2F 12%29 1 12%3A4%ICSG8RIASATOIDRIE2.0. CO%SBLLZ Journal of the American Oriental Society is curently published by American Oriental Society. ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of [STOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hntp: eww jstor org/aboutiterms.htenl. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in par, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not dowsload an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the [STOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding ay further use ofthis work. Publisher contact information may be abtained at por jstor.orgounnalsfaos en Bach copy of any part ofa JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, ISTOR isan independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding ISTOR, please contact suppon @jstor-org. hup:svwo jstor orgy Mon Dee 11 11:36:24 2006 SCIENCE AND THE OCCULT IN THE THINKING OF IBN QAYYIM AL-JAWZIYYA, Foun W. Lavinastow ‘Wantias Parrenson Couuece of New Jeasey ‘The Haba theologian thn Qayyiin al-Jawiyya (1292-1349) was one of the most prolif: de- Fenders of tadtona religions propriety inthe Arabic-speaking lands of (sarado. In face of the apparently ineresing popularity of the ceva science whch fe pexceved tae undermining the shart wadiions of Ulam he devoted a arg section of his hock, Mit Drala, to aspen Ing these pseudo-scences, particulary alchemy, atralogy. and angury. The weightest par of his sate is directed against stclogy, chen af ce acelt, hich he elses on tees level: (1) a6 the historical hy examples of important [samic dytats whose cout aswologers advised thers C0 2c 18 accordance wit a haoscope tht in de event wrned au 1 be wrora (3) on the techielogical by argumenes of eslceauthorietive sient tal the tls of observation and tables of plavesary Positions filed to meet the exactitude required by x possible science of asvology; (3) and on the scientifie, revealing the aebivary conventions snd contaditions of the principles underlying asuology is arguments, adduced from scientists themselves, call for hoth science and eliion to be pu riled of me ect. A knowledge ofthe +ha7 seteneas sharpens te mind for dke seudy of ae eat fal scicrce, preseried from the curse of metaphysics Reminiscent m form aed substance of a-Ghazral’ refutation of lami gnoetetsm, Tha sL-Qayyim’s retusanon of the occult evens a esd, depth nd Mlexibsty of mid equal to his arnus predecessor 1. netmoouerion Ive FouRreenti cexTURY, & RORULAR RELIEF 10 the ‘occult was seen hy some to endanger the religious ba sis of Islamic society. During the previous cenuies, ‘especially the tenth and eleventh, the great challenge the Sunni umina had been Ismail gnosticism and po litical revolution. The intellectual reaetion to this had ‘come with alGhazzlll (4. TIL a0.) whose literary ‘output reinvigorated the community, A centuky and a half tote, Tsma‘Mh poitieal extremism came to an end with the Mongol invasion and desteuction of the Nizict sountain fortress at Alama The internal challenge af ‘occultsm, aising from the ashes af the old, as it were, ‘was seen (0 be as dangerous to society, 2s intellectually comuptive and religiously perverse, a8 had been Is small Pythagorean gnosticism in its dey. Though it ‘caricd with ito aemies at secret societies plotting the politcal demise of Suni Islam, the new teat did boring along with it @ cosme system that was under- stood by at least one leading defender of Surai rel ious purty fo be anathema to the absoluce power and luniy of Gad that was the bedrock of Sunt thealogy. ‘This was the Hanbat jurist and theologian Ton Qayyim al-Jawayya, who, inspired by his famous teacher and 598 fellow Hanbali Ibn Teymiyya, devoted hirnslf to the ‘cause of Sunni purity and Uadition by waging a Ufe- Jong war against innovation and religious deviation Ton al-Qayyimm’s auack against what he saw 25 the ne vieious papalarty of this threat 19 religion and civili- zation is found in his book, Mifah Dar al-Sa“Bde, a laege section of whick is devoted to disproving the oc- ‘ult sciences. [tig a sharp and comprehensive auack, with arguments taken from every quarter, including "The general studies on the life ané about of Thm a Queyim ne Abd al SAzie Shara al-Din, the Qayytre al Lewyya, ‘gruhy wa Minus Cairo, 1965, ph 196 Ahmad Mahie Mahinid al-Bagacl. thu Qagyim ai-dawawya ‘min Rehabs attiniyya (Alesana, 977), which esse Lally follows the rs: work the a Qayyin’s Mifth Dar al-Sa‘ada ua Monshir Wiayos aft ca dda hasbeen published in dtfetetedi- tions. The ove followed here 1 that of ihe Azhar Library Pees, ected by Mayo Hasan Rabi'a (Caro, 1938), There i a record Cairo edinian, uncated, ané a Riyadh tion Sahich ie a duplication of this The atack on antalogy sed guy «8 four a0 pages 562-$90 jn the 1939 editen and 125-280 (vol. LU) i he ether editions Leuncstow: Science and the Occult in the Thinking of Ibn Qayyim al-Javwziyya 599 ‘even the mathematics, astronomy, physics and logic that his Forerunner al-Ghazzali had warned Muslims 0 shun (hough not to reject out-of-band as thar wauld make of Islam 2 religion of ignorance), lest their faith be seduced and corrupted by thele belief in satura scientists, mathematicians, and astronomers whose logical proofs and mathematical precision could be snaces far the uncritical and half edveated.? ‘The occult, or rather a large part of it, ed in al ‘Ghazzali’s day been temperately couched in the sys temic restraints of an esoteric Ismaili casmalogy that made of the universe a mactocatmic being in which the great heavens and micracasmic man on earth found sympathetic resonanee as one. Man and the casmos, science and religion, the physical world and the spiri ‘ual were paradigmatically one, as, for exemple, in sh chemy whete transmutation fom base metal ta pure ‘old stood as a metaphor of purifying che soul to reach higher states of consciousness, This theasophical inte aration of mathematics, natural philosophy and gnostic speculation appealed 9 an intellectual elite eager to see manifestations of the unifying principle wherever they looked ia the universe, 2s put forth ia the popular treatises of the Thhwan al-Saft, or Brethren of Bunty When the theasophical cestaints imposed by sedi ‘cosmologists upon the relationships bindiog msn, soul, astral bodies, number, physical and spiritual trensmuta- tion, and the like became a thing of the past with the movernent itself the occu sciences—slways practiced in Islamic society to one degree of another a¢ part of Hellenistic legacy—grew over the centuries, The ‘occult sciences eventualy tak the place in public no- tice that the treatises af the Tkhwan had eariee enjoyed, and subsequently turned the old chreat to religious pu: rity, the Sulam at-awa?il ot seiences of the Grecks, a8 science and philosophy were ealled, into anally in the defense of religion. Iba al-Qayyim's reliance on argue ‘ments drawn from the exacl sciences and natural phi lasophy, curious defenses considering the theological conceptions of the Hanball taditonist is @ measure af hhow threatening he perceived the popularity of the a¢- cult sciences co be, Curious, because the metaphysical principles of natural philosophy that gave unity cathe brancties of philosophy—cause and effect, causal chains detersining effects over and above Gac's power 9 See Richacl Joseph McCarthy, 8. Freedom and Fu mani: An Amotared Translation of al Ghosat's Moni min aLDalil and Qoher Relevant Works of a-Ghazali (Bos ‘1, 1980), 71-815 fer an carer, less eigarous easlation, see W Moctgomery Watt The Faith and Practice of l-Ghotat ondaa, 1983), 27-43, (o change at will the customary modes of nacure’s oper: ations, and, unavoidably, the conundrum of free will from below versus decertinism fram above dhat came fon the coatals of causality —would appear to compeo- sive God's absolute pawer and eternally predetermined wil. Here Thx al-Qayyimm argued as tortously as had St. Augustine and Ibn Rushd before him, Dante erounc: his time and Erasmus after, each weiter working both ‘ends of an implicit conteacictian taward the middle that could be reconciled only upon the bedrock of un- questioning faith In taking up the deferse of religion against tho expanding inctcsions of the occult, Iba Qayyim al- Jawziyya became one of the most forceful and persua- sive spokesmen to wield the pen in service of eligious and seientifie purity. In a reversal of the Islami alist tradition informed by the Hanbali juris’s great Muslim predecessors, al-Kindi (d. 890), bi (4. 950), tbs Sing (4. 1038), Ibn TuZayl (4. 1185) and Tha Rushd (4. 1198), who had all defended philosophy and ihe non-Arab sciences by refecring to seriptuee, thn al-Qayyim employed science to defend 4 zeligion cleansed of alien accretions, ard in arguing his casei cidentally defended a putified rational science and logic free of tearsmutational alchemy, astrology and augury dhat he saw 2s baving displaced «rue science, ‘The creative period in Islatic science extended into Ibn al-Qayyim’s time and beyond. But the position of the great scientists of earlier centuries ia Islamdom, bback when royal patronage of an Abbasid, Samanid, or Fatimid court offered generous support ta science, had in Mamiak-culed Arabic-speaking lands given way 10 practitioners af the aceult; patonage of the philosoph Teal and exact sciences was not an outstanding fearue fn the courtly culture of the Busit or Babri sultans, and ‘en pursuing the scientific tradition were then forced to make a living as best they caulé. Casting harascopes was an attractive option. Even in the brightest years of Scientific creativity many of che greatest astronomers in Islamdom had given some support to astrology in thac they believed the formation of heavenly bodies influ- fenced the formation of clemental traits shaping bursan character. With the general public offering a market of buyers ready to pay for and believe almast anything hat was well dressed in logical structure and scientific Jargon, and that offered the hope of gain ox security in 4 (omulluous period, the occult prospered. This fb el Qayyim steove to redress as the most pernicious enemy ‘of erueceligion. Born in Marnlak Damascus in 1292, thn al-Qayyim spoke for the literate Arabie-eading Sunoi umma at a time when Islamdom was emerging, from of under- ‘oing a series of threatening blows—dhe Crusades, the 600 Jowmal of the American Oriental Society 112.4 (1992) Mongol destruction of Baghdad and the Abbasid Cal phate, Mamluk political temoil tat was concomitant With the continuing lass of isternatianal transport trade 0 the Venetians, inflationary periods during which Syrians ané Egyptians were reparted 10 have eacen dogs and dankeys in the stzeets, periodic visitations of ‘he Black Plague when people dropped like fies, end a cervifying earthquake that so shook Mt. Mugayiam in CCaico chat the people in distant Damascus thought thee yawns aingisama, Judgment Day, bad come* Ta this Could be added the continuing Joss of Islamic lends to (he Spanish conquistadors, an unmitigated catastrophe for thn Khaldon, writing less than a generation after bq al-Qayyie. These disasters formed in large part the psychological background to the perceived general ‘malaise besetting Islam in the fourteenth century. Asin later Hellenistic times, and pechaps our awa, people facing political and economic decline, social insecucit and a threatening hast of impending cisasters found refuge in the occult. The “ulema”, with Thn al-Qayyim ‘aking 2 leading pasition, saw the aceulic sciences a8 so many pantheistic demons eating away at Isarn's spitiual innards, where God's undivided omnipotence Was parceled out to stars and birds, ard elemental na~ lure "was charged with a wansmutational potency that appeared to be self-sustained, Far from being a radical Hanball fandamentalis, Ibn al-Qayyim was a jurist and theologian who possessed a competent knowledge of Science and philosophy, in addition to an inclination toward mysticism.* In this, 09, his career as defender fof Sunsi purty against an inner threat of intellectual perversion parallels that of al-Ghazzal’s, What follows isan analytical view of the Hanbali theologian’s ar- ‘guments against that perversion as expressed in his Miftdh Dar al-Sa°ade® Most offensive co religion was the claim astrologers and augurers made in segard ca their ability to foresee Tha Dyas, Bada af Zuhar f Wagak al-Duhar (Caio, 1960), (23; ab Ragan, 1 Sis Wreenvalume Madar} al-Saukin, a comrentaty 09 SL-Ansie’s Mandala Séirin, 6 cansiered by soe Senos ff the subject a Hanbalt masterpiece of Sut Meratre. See Hone Laoust, "Le Hanbalisme sous Fes Mamlouks Bsbide Revue des études istamiques B® (\960) 1-TL, 68 pp 65-68 Tn ae caer ancl U reviewed ba al-Qayyim's ac iments against alchemy: “Ibo Qayyim ab-lawziyyah: A Four reoath Cextury Defease Agzinst Astrological Divinaion and Alehemiea! Transmutatin." JAOS 91 (1971): 96-102 events. AS Th al-Qayyim saw it, the oceultsts were laying claim to God's omeiscience, Astrologers were the main culprits. They presomed to constrain human and physical mature to act in aecordance with the prescriptions of their science, which implicitly claimed tan ordered cosmic system governing, or at Jeast in- uencing, the human level of action.” Human events being patterned on heavenly constructions, were 0 the trained astrologers as predictable as planetary posi- tions. A man of cue religion muse accepe chat anly God knows the future. Hence, for all ts logical structures, complex mathematical madels and intricate meshing af human chacacter and stellar graphics, astrology is but 2 awed ar riven with cantadiction ard inconsistency. an art devoid of demonstrable principles whether em picieal of intitive, a path to enor and disbeliet: “A science is true when it has suppavting proofs based ul- imately on sense experience and constraints imposed by the rational miod. Astrology is based on nathing but ignorance. conjecture and opinion. It has nothing of scuth. Is practitioners merely follow a tradition absent of all proof and verfication."* From the many examples of gullibility he adéuces ¢@ Giseredit astrology, he tas in mind the more naive, sim plistic forms of the art. Two contestants asking twa a5- trologers a the same time and place co cast horoscopes predicting which of the ewe will win, Ton al-Qayyim 7 The al Qayyim explains the acai of asuotogy as mo0e ‘eism reverting, Bock co polytheism, The creators ofthe at were Sahe@lans, an idolavous skar-worshipping paeple wo, cxginting ie Mesopotamian Hare, believed all good ard evil came (rom the tx stars and planets. Theve poi steisic ar wotshippers were caginlly Jews, followers of Abraham, ot they split of ta for 2 set of whee oan. A second poly theistic sect split from Jidsism 10 warship the graves of prophets. These were from Noahs peaple Saapah, 469. He refers co (be abHlaytbawe (4. 1080) who he claims a seiten an the fallacies of astrolag) a source fear which he, loa a. Qayyiy, fer clams io have pained uch of his krowlesge ofthe at of asteology. Ibn al-Qayyim opens 10 be conftsed tere since the bie-bbliogrephic Surees make mo mertien af the a Hayam kaviag om: posed such 2 work. Ibn -Haytbam wtete a teatise ening Piolo, al Shade “ala Baramyas, tut this isa stiigue e lated t9 Polemy’s Spars, Planetory Hypotheses, and Op Hes, wot of Ris Tetrabibiar in which Prolemy defends che belief that human and earthly Ife are subject co plavecary infucnees veyond the sus sed mon. thn a-Qayyion was wave of Peolemy’s iatetest in tology and it might have been this that caused the confusion, ahough thm a-Qayyim es not ef to Me a- Hatha’ a-Si; Livmastow: Science and the Occult In the Thinking of Ibn Qayyim al-Javwsiyya oo claims, would produce identical horoscopes for each ‘contestant, making bath of themn at onee either winners tr losers, an absurdity. He does imply, thaugh, that it is mot quite al chat simple, for there are various kinds fof horoscopes that could be used to determine the outcome of such an event. He discusses four: che horoscope of birth (al af-asl), time (28° al-wagy change (21K al-tahwil}, and the ascending zodiacal Sign (al? bur] af-imiha?)> The horoscope of tie, 0 is, the horoscope made far the mament of the event (accuring 2a certaiq time and place), would have t0 be supplemented by ather haroscopes, quite complicating the affair ‘Aware that this example has far from demolished the supporting foundations of astrology, te then produces ‘others drawn from famaus episodes in history to dem- fonsirale the contradictory natuce of the art that would resume to forecast history, The caliph ‘Ali, warned by astrologers before the hate of Siffin that he would be efeated because the moon was n Scorpio, put is trust in God rather than che stars and was victorious, though be later succumbed to trickery and treachery.” Thiety years later, the rebel Mukhtar (4, 687) was warmed by bis ateologers that the horoscope predicted defeat if bis 7,000 troops fought “Ubayé Allah Ten Ziyad's £0,000, but again the stars praved wrong when Mukhisr’s gen. ‘eral defeated Ibu Zayed at Nisibin. The caliph Mukti (902-8), having been repestedly defeated by the Qae- ‘mations and the resinant of his empire about to vanish, was warned by the court astrologers that if he leunched arother campaign he would be defeated ard his dynasty Terminated; bue this (oo as proved wrong, as had been the horoscope cast by Mansi's astcologers at the founding of Baghdad chat claimed ro caliph would die in the mew city, which held true unc Ma"mbn (813— 33) killed Amin (809-13) in it, The caliphs Wathiq (842-47), Mulawakkil (813-61), Mu‘tadid (892-902), “Muktafi and Nasir (4. 1225), also died in ie! Further” mote, Fitimid asalogers advised Jawhar (0 lay the foundetians of the capital city in newly conquered Egypt on the day che star al-Qahica ascended, 2 day deemed (0 be highly propitious and 4 sign that the dynasty would last forever the only change being that Arabic would give wap to Persian as the clficial La suage of Faypt, and then the two languages would al- temate in periods of ascendancy. Again the astrologers were seen to be bars. The caliph at Hekim bi-Amr * einen, 969. "8 Majeh, 889, e ° ana 974 mapa, 486 Allah's (4. 1021) madness was owing tothe Iying deceit and chicanery of Fajimid cour astrologers, especially fone named Fike whe seized control of the superstitious caliph’s mind and had him actin an aimless, fickle, anc contradictory way. It was under Fikt’s contol that al Hakim meaninglessly changed the laws from day 10 day, but in the end al-Hakim cumed against him and had Fike executed. ‘The examples go on, as though each one would convey astrology deeper into oblivion, AS for its race tiioners, “their hands should be severed from theit arms and cheir Iying tongues tom by the roots from ‘heir mouths to keep them from trading on the gullbil- ity of the unma.” Strong words indeed. Judging by Ibn al-Qayvim's examples, i¢ would seem the rulert were dependent more on astrologers than on the “ulema? it their search for divine support. This Was nothing new, Since Umayyad times astrologers had had a place in the ruling courts af Muslim éynasts. tha. al-Qayyien’s rage would appeat co be directed more to the growing influence of astrology on sacial levels below the ruling ‘one, Astrology was winning the hearts and minds of the umma whose religious propriety Was traditionally formed and guarded by the “ulema”, The “ulema? were boeing upstaged by charlatans, kafirs wha presumed 10 know God's will from the slacry heavens eather than tom Que'in, hadith and che moral standard of Islam #8 expressed through the centuries in buman example and pious lierary warks. Men learned in religion had safe. guarded the umma fom the twin-headed serpent af eviation and innovation. Asttologets wich thei stars Were intruding into the sacred rezle of prophecy, and by extension, the sphere of human activity wherein should predomigate the authority of the “ulema”, As- twologers were in truth presuming. prophethood for themselves by claiming (o interpret the stars as govern ing or influencing human affairs, taking, no account of God's will 25 the one and only direct and imerediate cause ofall events human and natural. They were false propbets, readers of a false seripture sexibbled across the heavens by starry constellations and planets wan dering around the zodiac. Astrologers lod men astra they were heretics, enemies of Islam, liars takiog money that should have been going to charity But then there was the problem of famous men af ce- ligious reputation who believed in the oceult, ar who ‘were reported ta have believed in it. Such was the ease ‘of the greatest jusisconsule in all Islam, the Imm al Shaft, about whose belief in astrology there were some outrageous stories going around. Iba al-Qayyim ah, 7 602 Journal ofthe American Oriental Society 112.4 (1992) refutes the stories by showing age of them 10 be patently false. According 10 this story, the Imam al-Shafi', when intecrogated by Hirt al-Rashid (786~ 809) and’ asked what he knew about astronosy and medicine, replied he knew what the Greeks, Persians and Arabs had writen in their books, implying, he knew Petsian and Greek, which he didn’. According to the story he aso claimed to know the science of medi- cine that che Arabs and Persians had systomatized fram Indian and Greek sources, when in fact, says Ibn Qayyim, he ha but a smattering of medical knowledge and that from Arab sources, such as the old Arab di tum warning people to refrain from eating boiled eggs and eggplant at night, and drioking crushed violets «0 fend off plague. tb al-Cayyim infers chat since this story is manifestly false, s0 ate the ones about his be. lief in astrology. One must be critical of all stares as socialing men of religion with asrology.'* I, Ratan AND cine Tn al-Qayyim turns his atack on astrology fram the soathsaying aspect to the cwo fundamental aspects of astronomy upon which astrology is based, namely asad and chkdm. The frst bas do with equipment, techniques of heavenly observation, and tables of ob- served planetary positions, the ztj. The second has to do with the chearetical principles of planetary motion. He deals with them in that order, The heatt of observa- tional astronomy isthe 2) which astrologers rely on ia casting horoscopes. Zijs, hawever, differ significantly in the values they give to planetary positions. How ‘would ane know which of the many tables ta trust? Iba al-Qayyien asserts that the ane composed for the Fi: timad caliph al-Hakim was far moze accurate than the fone that had been made two-and-a-half centuries ext lier foe the caliph Mansur (776). The later 2 of the Spanish astronomer al-Zargali (1230), who deviated ‘rom the theory and principles of the ealier observers to develop his own, differed as much from the earlier two as they differed from each other Ibn al-Qayyim compares astrologers who base their {ith on those dhree tables to Christian theologians who base thes an the dactcine of the Trinity. Astealogers, ‘with all their different ways of reading the heavens, are fo different than untutored Christians wo dispute che lunuty 2nd tity of God by saying the answer is withthe Dries, the priest saying the answer is with che monsi {nor (majean) who passes ion Co the patriarch, and he tothe bishop, and he, finelly, co the pope, who says the © san, 564-66, answer is with the 318 cardinals who assembled during Constantine's time ard formulated the Teiity, 2 doce trine just a5 contradictory, polytheistie, anti-religious, and ignarant of God's oneness a8 are the astrologers and their false doctrines about the influence-bearing stars that split God into many mare than three, in that sense, the Christians with their triple-headed divinity are ess Worse off with respect 10 God than the asccalogers ven a8 superior an astronomer and scientist as Abu Rayhis al-Bicuni'® (4. 1050), whose failing weakness was (0 write a book on the art, Tafhim al-Najar,!® could be seduced, though he had the good sense e cxt- icize other astrologers. AI-Birenl's ease highlights the angers of astology, (or even great minds could be en snared, and for Thi al-Qayyim, al-Bictat was ove of the best. He praises him as a great scientist wha pro duced innumerable valuable works in astronomy and miathematies, including an excellent :4j the Qanan al- Masa, samed after the Ghaznavid ruler. It shoule be noted here that even brillianc seiontists subscribed ta some belief in astrology. It seemed reasonable to be- lieve that just as the eyelie patterns of che Luminaties determined the years and seasons and shaped the chat acter of nature, $0 too was human eharactee ta some degree abstractly influenced by those patterns. For all his reservations concerning a great scientist who could write a text on astrology, Tbn al-Qay yim laments the ‘passing af the days when men like al-Birtini were hold- ing the line berween ttue scieace and false. Sometime uring the three centuries between al-Bicani’s death and his own time, as the Hanbalt cheologian saw it, (ue selence had given way (0 false. “Astronomy (0 our day is dead,” he complained, quite as, ironically, al BixGni io his (when Islamic science was, owing in reat part to his own prodigious output, at its apogee) bad claimed there was uo real science being done any rote, the Greeks had cone i al, what came after was inconsequential and continued to be so. What al hhad meant was that when it came 10 the underlying ‘nciples and structure of science and philosophy the Gresks were like gods, their works the Qur?sns ‘of natural and astral knowledge, an attitude of scien Aifc idolatry shared as well by Ih Rush and many other leading scientis-philosophers ia Islamdom. On "5 The tent, 486, has Bayeatifor Biro "© kie of Taf sel Sino Taji Rar Wright 10 English (with Arabic ent) as Te Boot af seraction In the Ae of Atrology (London, 194). ALBIS pore te have heaped ciicule on tology a a pueudorscence: see ES. Kennedy, “ale” Dictionary of Sefentife Biography “eH York, 1970), 2°56 Lavwostons Science and the Oceult in the Thinking of lim Qayvim al-Jawziyya 3 he other hand, what Hb al-Qayyim meant was that the charlatans had elaimed the corpse of science and, in the suise of their own false, self-serving, fortune telling ceraftiness, pretended ic was still alive and working. But they knew nothing of real astronomy.”” There was sill, however, one good astronomer free ‘of the occult taint. This was Abi ‘Ali Tsa ibn ‘AI ibn “Iss, He wrote a treatise revealing astralogy’s contra dictions and errors which Ibn al-Qayyim cites exten- sively io his own alcack on its underlying principles, for ahkdm, reproducing, as he claims, Abo ‘AN “Isis arguments verbatim. * The following is « paraphrase of the moce interesting. arguments. One, in particular, of Aristotelian and Hellenistic origins and a traditional ruainstay in the works of Muslie anthropological cos- mology, delineates the effective limits that the heavens have in their influence on eaetly nature, [estates sien ply tha che stars indeed do have an effect on the world ff living things. The «wo luminaries, sun and moon, have a physieal and temperamental effect. The sun {s the principal agent here. The inclination of the ecliptic to the heavenly sphere’ axis of rotation produces the ‘our seasons, which in urn produces regional climates, By shaping climate, certain physical characteristics and, in a most general way, human character are influ ‘enced. That is the result ofthe way God organized the earth through His angels. The earth is divided into seven climes, defined by latitude. In places of slight or extcome latiide, the climace deviates accordingly from the moderate, The moderate isthe ideal. Moderate el mate erakes for moderation in life, nature, and charac- ter. Dar al-lslam prevails in che regions enjoying mederate climate where t is nat toa cold nor too hat making Muslims by aature the ideal of moderation, the rue by which other peoples and cultures are measured, Mapai, 487. Woo alQayyio’s pessioses made isn a5 oor a judge concerning science in his day as sl-Bian's cid sn His Pore Mongol Pelemsic seform stronomy at the Maragha observatory of Nagie al-Din a-Tost sd his siden, (Qutb abDin ashi (a. (311), was going song in fon a CQayyinv's day, ard i was in hs Gay and his ety, Dawstscus, that ce of the leading asvonomers of therefor mavemen, ff hac wha it cam be called, was heen and had is exeer “Al sb thee al Stir, wh died in (375. See D. King, Dicuonary af Selene Biagraphy,12°187-64; ond Heicich Suter, Die Markemaiker und Astronomen der Arar und ihre Werke, abhandlungen 2ue Geschichle dex matbemaechen ‘Wissenschaften £0 (Leipz, 1900), 168, "S span, 487A have no: found this ame An any ofthe bo-hiliogeaphiealseuees aia, 303 bath physically and temperamentally. The mast tem- perate people are chose living in the temperate zone, Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Persians, Khorssanis, Indi- ans, Chinese.” Solar latitude in patt affects winds, hotness, wetness, dryness, coldness, and environmental condivions in general. But these conditions are not the result of a simple process whereby che sun is active and the earth passive, Climatic conditions at¢ alsa in part caused by the earth iself in its multiple resetions with the sun “The earth has a solar absorptive and reflective capacity contibuting (0 climate formation, which in turn ioflu- ences the size of plants, animals, and people. Climate, as a product of a solar-terestrial interaction, deter ‘mines the kind of flora and fauna found in a vegion, fand influences strength and weckness af character. ‘Climes in regions above and below the temperate lat tudinal 20ne tend coward extremes of heat and dryness ‘or cold and wetness, producing human dispositions and skin colors that are respectively weak and black, or weak and yellow, such as are found among Nubiens, Ethiopians and Negroes inthe southern region, Franks, ‘Turks and Slavs in the northern. In he zone near the ‘equator, the drying effect of the hat sun produces weakness of charscter and mind, while Slavs, Turks and Franks to the far north have in addition to weak dispositions and pallid complexions, blond hav blue eyes, and fat bodies.*! The heavenly influence of ex treme cliesate, a product of the sun's position relative 10 the earth, also affects the plant life of those regions ‘This is as far as heavenly influences go. There i¢ rotting ia the stars that can in truth be read as signal ling, 2 propitious of inauspicious day for doing some. thing, whatever ic may fe, and God explicitly stated this in the Queaa when He said no one in the heavens and earth knows the unseen (at-ghayb) but God. There. are also inaumerable internal contradictions that make the astrologers art a hopeless muddle. As- twologets atuibute colors tothe planets. The colors im pare the four humors. Venus is supposed to be white and yellow, white indicating phlegm which is cold and ‘wet, yellow indicating heat, And so they g0 om with all the planets, but the colors they give them are all ‘wrong, Some astrologers claim that certain signs of the zodiac exert their influence on the maucer of living ‘things, ather signs on the form of living things. Some ah 501 witab, 502. 2 apa. 48, 8 ainah, 98 * mina, 500, 04. Journal of the American Oriensal Society 112.4 (1992) astrologers claim that some signs of the 2ndiae impart physical properties in their influences and accordingly consider the twelve constellations as being het, cold, Wet, or dry. Bach sign is assigned a distinct set of qual- ities, in which sense, 25 some claim, the stars exert at influence on the essence of living things. Others cla the influence ta be on their accidental nacue.” Others yet intrude sex into the heavens, claiming the sun to be 2 siga of fatherhood, hence male, the maon a sign of motherhood, hence female, with Venus, Saturn and Mars being male. Other stars are considered male or female, depending on whether they ace east and ahead ‘of the sun or west and behind the sun. ‘The zodiac is likewise divided, the hot sign being ‘male, the cold female, with some signe partaking of both, being hermaphrodiic, such as Mercury. "And for ‘his stupidity they claim Aristotle as their supreme au- thority." “Buc if heaven is of ane essence, a8 Aristo- tle and the philosophers claim, how can heaven be divided into regions of various influences, wether for ‘mal or material, whether hot, cold, we or dry, whether male, female a both? How can ane essence have oppo- site effects, something Aristate says is impossible?” Aristtle also wrote in his Kicab al-Sama® al-Tabi‘t tat there 1s no way C9 know for sure what the scars might indicate.* ton al-Qayyiey (rather, bis authority “AU Tn “Ist) claims to have gone to the authoritative sources for this, magala eight of Adistotk’s Kab af. Hlayawan, which discusses the causes of sex io living things, and itis aot the stars that induce male or female properties in the foetus. At this juncture the text goes into a long. discourse fon Presocratic and Aristotelian theories on sex: that it is che warmness or coldness af the womb that influ: ‘ences sex an the foetus; that tis the amount and heat of sperm in the man, che more and the hower producing wale offspring, less and colder female; that itis the side of the body the sperm comes from, right produc: ing male, left female; that ifthe wind is blowing fram the north the foetus will be male, if from the souch it will be female, because southern winds carey more moisture and heat and thus cook the foetus in the womis core quickly.” fom al-Cayyim scafts at these ideas but credits them as being atleast rational in com parison tothe stars as a factor in detecesining Sex: "AL though their statements are moce intelligent chan the aan #89. & mgr, S16 naan 494-98, 2% Mina, S16 > whan 65. astrologers they ae nonetheless wrong, Ici God's wil thar detercines sex as we know by sense, ceavon and prophecy." True philosophers laugh at the fanciful sexual ideas of these astrologers. They alsa laugh ar their contention that & planetary tad influences the colees people make 10 enter one industrial at o a other. The relationship becween earer choice and pl tary pasitions ig an idea Ibn al-Qayyien hough bis, Source, ‘At ibn “sa)atibutes to Polemy * According to thie idea, the three necessary virtues related 10 the Industial arts, knowledge, tools, and sill of hand, come respectively under the ia uence of Mercury Mars, aod Venus, cach of which have heen assigned qualities of che four humors, hot, cold, wet, and dy. A ersom’s career choice depends on the ioduence of the humors. These in tee depend om the position of the thnee planets at the time of the person's horoscope Since people excel in the industal ars and crate whose horoscopes der Tom the ones pseribed, the concept is rabbis.” In fac, the whole of astrology’s physical cosmology is one contradictory mudéle, one big rubbish heep ‘One of the best examples of this isthe theory that re lates the four humors and gualities co the fxed and wandering stars, The moon is said 10 catty the power of moisture because itis nearest co the eath and re ives the vapors rising ft from earth: arth produces water vapor, sun heat. Therefore Saturn caries the poser of enkdness and dryness because of is distance from sun and earth, and Mars the power of burning dryness because ofits reddish hue offre and neantess to the sun, the sphere carrying Mars being just below the sphete of the sin. What are intelligent people 10 think of such absurdity? Earthly vapors csing tthe Ia nat sphere? Do extraterestial vapors have the power (0 rise so immense a distance when on earth they rise fo further than clouds rise? Ace the highee star, then, influenced by the lower scars, if ittuenees like vapors can rise from sphere 10 sphere to sphere, nd can thee conditions then be altered as result ofa reaction from ie7H the moon receives earchly vapors sally Feom the earth, then it mus: every day inerease in moisture, fr ver taking up vapors into sect And if this isso, then how can one deny that che bad infuences of Mars or 3 aah 486, 3 ates. 916. Here ton -Qayyien maintains tat Peslemy wae more devoted to serology than ssronomy, tough fifteen ages later he hag Prlemy claising tha the eccuacy of ob servatiooal equipmmen did mat meet the peeisioneequted (0 chat eae horoscopes, * with 98 Livinesvaw: Selence and the Occult in she Thinking of thn Qayyim al-Jowziyva 0s Samm do not continually grow i ke manner, each dey becoming greater than the one before, with the auspicious par of the planet's influence being over ‘whelmed by the bad? Or vice-versa? The truth is, the fone effect af the mom in relation (© water is the ebb and flow of the seas {jazr al-bikar wa maddaha). The flow accurs as the moon, growing distant from the sun, ‘waxes until itis full the ebb then hegins as the moon stars Co wane and continues until che moon vanishes Ebb and flow occur every day and night, the water level ising as the moon rises «9 mid heavens, then re- ‘ceding as the moan hegins its descent, while the waters ‘of the seas belaw the westesn harizon begin their tidal flow, since the moan appears there ss rising fram the feast, Wind and waves usually accompany the tidal flow, then subside with the ebb tide.® The moan also thas an effect on animal milk snd stomach illoess, 25 ‘well as animal brains and the color of bird eggs. Sleep ing under an open moon weakens a man, inducing hesdaches and colds because of the moisture associ ated with the moon, and alters the taste of meat left ue. eavered, since meat, like sh, rapidly spoils in moonlight. There is 2 relationship between planting ‘crops sn the moon, as chere is with the sun, bat that is a far as astral influences 20. As for those who helieve that ic daesn'—the astrologers who believe in the stars, and the philosophers who believe in metaphysics such as al-Pardbi and Ibn Sind—lec them be killed, for they corrupt the uma and destroy rligion’™* Ironically, Ibn al-Qayyim cancludes this section of his argument against astrology by producing an array ‘of negating statements avuibuted 1¢ leading Muslim thinkers who in any other context would be sworn ene- mies of the Hanbl! jurist, those very men upon whom he called dawn God's curses, al-Fara, Ton Sina, and metaphysicians of thee il; in fighting a perceived evil ‘one is allowed the privilege of employing the devil ‘The arguments here are of a general nature: Thabit Tb ‘Qurra’s that astrologers diflered toa much among them- selves for there 10 be a viable astrology; al-Péesb's that the contradictions in astrology were overwhelming: ‘and fbn Sina’s. coming at the end of his Kitab at- Shifa, that it was not 2 real science. The mame of Ab Hlayyan cl-Tawbidl is also adduced to claim the same. Real scientists held that the stars were too many and their motions too complex for an account to be made of them. Their lack of regularity, their complex motions that were 2 cambinatian af several motions including diurnal, precession, letieudinal and longinadinal, etre ® mia, 505, 2% ipa, 507 grade, non-uniform (speeding up and slowing down), ‘demanded an accounting that was beyond the range of human ability. Buc that did not stap some from striving far accuracy. To get as exact a horoscope as passible, 2 Sssanian king would ring a bell the moment his sperm was released in the womb s0 that the cau astcaloget could make a heavenly reading at the very instant of conception, if conception there later proved to be.®* 1 ECUPSE THEORY Because of the sua’s life sustaining nature, eclipses and eclipse theory formed, and still do, an importane pat of astronomy and astrology. Jn the cosmie drama of celestial motion, che blocking of the sun's Light was seen a¢ a threat ta life, Darkness in general isa fearfal thing, tooted in primeval instinet. A sudden darkening of the sun's sister luminary, the moon, was considered ‘equally theectening. Accordingly, Tbn al-Cayyim deals at leagth with eclipse phenomena and theary. To the soaiheayers, a darkening of the luminaries signalled a heavenly foreboding of curmoit, death, and disaster There were popular legends that found their way even {inca the hadidh about eclipses ™ When. the Prophet's son Torahim died, Muhammad is reported to have said hat the sum and moon are ro divine signs, 4yatan min Aydt Alla’? To the Quran the Huminaties are sefetted ta a5 such, signs of God's power and majesty, but fonetheless interpretable as signs in themselves as de- livered by the Almighty. No astrologer wrate oF out wardly claimed chat the lights of heaven operated independently of God. No mumher of staries collected in the hadith about Muhammad's denial of astral influ: ence could deter the popular mind from the seductive power of che stars, and no power of the heavens was riore theeateningly visible than an eclipse Eclipses, Ibn al-Qayyim says, are God's sigas 10 fingheen people inta worshipping Elim. They are wara- ing signs not to go astray, a quick preview of God's power, and at the same time signs whose occurrences are mathematically determinable, like any of the pat tered movements in the heaven.” The cause of a solar cclipse (usa?) is the Tunar interposition between the sun and our line of heavenly directed vision, since the moon, when we see it, is receiving it light fram the san and is got luminescent in self, and since its caxrying sphere (Weferent) Is sieuared beneath that of the sum 3 ata 517 3 wah, 519-26 % apa 558-59, 3 aga, 830. 608 Journal ofthe American Oriental Saciety 112.4 (1992) “When che moon is in line with one af the (wo poines aL-Rars or al-Dhanab, at near to them (points demar cated by stars where che arbits of sun and moon inter sect), and is in conjunction with the sun ahave it, ic blocks the sun's light, and in that sense it cannot be ‘considered a crue block” fon al-Qayyim then proceeds to give a lesson in Puolemaic optics: “The rays of vst go from the viewers ght che vi ible bject i the form af a eae, the head of whieh i be point af vision (viewer's eye, the base of whieh i the wsile nbject. Uwe iveet cur sight ta the sun ee ing occultation, the cone of radial vision ceackes firs the moon If we image it passes through itt the sun, the sun's Body falls in the wile ofthe cone. 1F the moon doesn lock au ll ofthe sm, the sam fs ary ouside he eoale rays and oly a paisleaipse ‘curs, This it when the visible objec 1s Blocked tan ‘extent Hes chan Malthe combined dlameersf book ‘Sum ad eb00n 40 chat when the blocked object equals half te combines diameters he dis of te meer. jus coincides withthe cone f rays (a its base) and does not exuse atta eclipse. Nor does te solar eclipse last lon. Having dealt with eclipses and partial eclipses as scen from various pans of the earth, Ibo alQayyim. ives 4 cin expasiion on parallax theory. Ths i, followed by an explanation ofthe relative sizes of sun and moon and the valles of changing distances be- tween them. He then elucidates the mystenes of the lunar elipse Glaszf), lunar llusinaton, andthe re= lated optical theory. This is done in detail, but without supplying, aumerical values Tar planctary wotions, planetary sizes, orbitat or interplanacary distances, oF Sthout touching on the computational methads of spherical trigonometry developed by Muslim astrano- mets and mathematicians during the previous cents ties. However, when many pages later he isa ast done Sipping away the dark foreboding mystcrcs of solar and tuner accultation enshrouding the simple workings of nature, which self-interested charlatans have used to play on the wondrous feas and superstiions of the i focant and haltignoranl, the reader should have mo doube about the pure, dry, mechanical operations of ccliptes, patil or total No will e daub that the a thor kaows something, at last the theory if wot the related mathemates, of basic Ptolematc astronomy and ‘optics. Eclipses were still wonetheless toe feared, for ‘ey were signs of God's hand over man, always ready to crush him for bis waywardness. Knowledge of as- tronomy_ and eelipse theory, Thp al-Qayyim argues, does 101 1 the Heavens and it oeculations ofthe purposive power, but rather deepens faith, adding feat, submission, and humility to the awe, respect, and ua: derstanding that perceives the intelligence in the divine mind thar crested such 2 wondrous system? Ibn al-Qayyim concludes hs demolition of the oc. cult with a short section against the at of anguey ayn), which he claims to be as bad as astrology. The practice would appear (0 have been at least as popular ais astrology, if for no other reason than it was 4 cheaper way ta peer through the window to the un- known, The art goes far back into history. oue of the earliest references to it coming in Book Il of the Odys- sey where the marta combat of «wa eagles is taken 48 2 portent of Odysseus” homecoming and the bloody vengeance he will tke oa the suitors, The anigin af (bis soathsaying art lies in bied lore. The Arabic word fori preserves the sense af its erigins. Hallserthes, the Aiviner of Ithaca, "knew mote of bied-lore and sooth saying than any man of his generation.” In Rome, a Celigious official. snterpreted omens derived from the Agar, singing, and feeding of birds, the appearance of he entails of sacrificial vieims, le. and advised pon the course of public business im accordance with them. Moo al-Qayyim feared the practice was making far itself a comparable place in Islamdom and argued fiercely against it, his arguments paralleling those he levelled against astrological divination In disproving the occult sesences Tan sl-Qeyyim ad- duced arguments where he found them, directly or in- itecty, from mathematicians, astronomers, and from philosophers whose reputations were based as much on their metaphysics as their natural philosophy. He ac cepted the legitimacy of natural science up to the point ‘twas supported by demonstrations of physical proof and rational argument, the later of course depending ‘an what he regarded as cational." The point of depar- ture benween philosophers and practitioners of the ex- fet sciences on one hand, and learned men whose priorities resided in religion and the holy law, om the ‘other, was merely one of emphasis. While for the lat ter, Haw and religion were ia themselves ultimate put suits, followers ofthe non-religious sciences, the “uid ‘a-awat, claimed thatthe purpose of the sharta and religion was o strengthen and complete the powers of the soul in intelligence and aetion in order to prepare the soul forthe next world. These rationalists believed mina, 350-99, gap, 303 Livinosro: Science and the Occult in she Thinking of Ibn Qayyime atlawziyya «or that they cauld reach an understanding of che nature of the next world through the power of their rational mind, unaided by scripture. For the philosopher and rturalist, the study of holy law exercises the mind, therehy shacpening the moral character, honing it 19 ‘rasp scientific and moral wisdom. [a other words, the law and its study provide a set of limits, conditions, and regulations that serve to polish and (ren the soul so i can attain its fll intellectual gotential, Th this, sense the law's purpose is pragmati, to exercise man's mind for the higher purpase (as understood by the tonalists) of more profoundly understanding the divine ‘and patueal worlds. Ibn al-Qayyien has turned he phi losapher scientist's traditional pro sua vita argument half-cecle on theic behalf. Rather than science being a path to deeper religious understanding, the study and practice of religion and its abiding aw become an ‘exercise tall for the mind to gratp the stueture end iercelated processes of the natural world. Religion prepares che philosopher for his trade, as ic were. Philosophers such as al-Parabi and Iba Sina, [be al ‘Qayyim continues, have made a union (jam®) herween the shara and philosophy neither one subordinated co the ather, hut one complementing the other ia that they ‘each in their own universe of discourse present facets of a tanscendent reality. Where one would appear to ‘contradict the other C15 only in appearance, the canse- ‘quence of a shortcoming in language and expression— al-Ghaz7al's very argument in explaining the trouble ysis often fall into when foolishly attempting co give words to the ineffable—and 2 misunderstanding ‘owing to the layered depth of meaning in scripture, which is often expressed in poetic metaphor and alle- sory. Wher carrect logic failed to square the scriptural icele, allegorical interpretation of seripture would ci cle the square of reason, One wonders haw favorably Tn al-Qayyim would have received Ibn Ruste’ Fash ‘al Magal and Tahafut al Tahafur had they made the journey east to the heatlard of Islamdom as they had forth ta Latin Christendom. As it was, the grand debate ‘arried on by al-Kindi,al-Farabi, Ibn Sind, al-Ghazzali, Ton Tufayl, and Ibo Rushd was, when contiaued by Ton al-Qayyim into the fourteenth century, regretably smissing not just a key ffak in the chain, but the most logically cogent and precisely argued of all tke phila- ophieal appeals co the harmony chat united the cin realities and their respective teuths * Curousy, thn a Qayyieo writes that when he Mongols ‘iedy took Damascus in 1260, the governor Mug, sat ‘evced by Nasir alin al TWsi (4. 1275), wantes #9 bave fbn Sins al Tondvbarwe'-tokavar take the place of the Quis, ‘The proper place of the exact and philosophical sciences excluding, ofcourse, setaphsies, which had no legitimate place —was one step below eligious Teacing, There was stil, noneticless, « danger in de- voting onesel to the sciences, and here Ton al-Qayyirn reiterates al-Ghazzali's caveat that those who study science and philosophy often arogancly cegard chem selves as especially gifted people whose sharp cinds perceive the cosmie pater that are a euch in ehem- selves, natural as well a5 divine in that through the coseic pattems 18 revealed the mind of the Creator at work. They thus regard themselves above those versed {athe eligious sciences, gifted wen of mathematics and physies whose minds have made them independent of Prophecy, religion and divine law, all of which ace “eh necessities that if they did not exist men would bbe savages living like animals; but in thee arrogance they (ee philosophers) are ignorant of his" ‘With the religious sciences in their legitimate place a the head of learning, and by educating the people ia proper science, tha is, by raising their over level oF understanding, the ozcult sciences wil lose popataity Fis argument here again parallels a-Ghazzit's in is Mungidh ‘Toe common people do noc kaow char @ man may bea raster in mathematics and be the moe! ignorant eres cure in Gods creation with expect medicine, aston omy and logic. He might be 8 leader in medicine ard he mot ignorant person in dhe world ka eather and astoramy. He may be advanced ia geometry and not kaow a thing in medicine. These aforementioned sciences approximate each other (44 ational ane religious sciences), ad the dcance between thes and ie propbecle sciences that come fom Gi 8 greater ling i be the Quran of de elite, whereas the rel ‘Quein was forthe common masses. Ion al-Qayyite goes 00 co wrte ofthe eligo-pilosepbies debate cred on by Ihe Siva, al-Shafrastnt (4. U1S0> and Nasic al-Din. Muhanad -Shahvastan's ftle book Mapa al Flas, refwieg Ibe ‘Sea's arguments concerning the eternity of the wo, the ab suidcy of erat ex mule, Hodament Day. God's kaedge ‘of universal but eo patculats and His no: causing all evens icy, was im cur refaied by Nasie aeDin in Ms Lager ‘work, Mayéri®at-Masin, 2 dcate parallel co tht caried bby al Ghazzal’s Tahar t-Falanfaand Ton Rushe's Taha al-Fahafut In born eases, the pit of deparare was the ‘Gough of In Sies. ALOhszzil's manumemal Tohaf ie & ‘meh more vigorous ane comprehensive vefutton chan Stab asin desert * aninat 885, 608 Journal of the American Oriensal Society 112.4 (1992) thar the distance between any (a (of the ratoeal si ‘enees). And 30 man i isx maser these sciences but knows nothing ahour what che progheis brought and nothing about the Islamic siences, sch 2 man is Te 4 bind man and indeed mote tan Bing wh te- spect the eligions sciences ® ‘The man who knows the religions sciences will be safeguarded froes the threatening pitfalls ofthe rational sciences, namely, arrogance in presuming he knows mare than he actually does and being led into error, when by his limited knowledge he makes judgments swhase proper place belongs in the sphere of religion ‘The man who knows the rational sciences will he safe warded fron the falsity of the occult In ather words, a ‘an versed in the religious sciences is well protected against the snares of false knowledge. As for a man versed first in the rational sciences, co tura around the verse tn, Goethe's famous poem, Jet hin leara the eeli- gious as well! ‘One cannot proceed logically fcom the mathematical and rational 9 the divine sciences, Iba a-Qayyim can tinues. The first concerns sevondary intelligible ob- Jsets, Knowledge of which derives fram thought and expetience. The second is leamned directly from God's angels. Though there is ruth in both sciences, the teuths are different and boundaries should always be kept clear. Hence itis good for one to know both. Re- ligion and its law guides the naturalist im his quest for couch ard keeps him from error. Nor should the mea of religion arrogantly reject natural philosophy. A proper knowledge af science can deepen faith. Rejection of the sciences that arc based on sense, proof, and mathe matics would be an act of irresponsible ignorance, an {insult to Islam, Religious rejection must be made criti cally and intelligently." Another danger, and here ‘once again thn al-Qayyim appears to have taken his lead from aI-Ghazzal. is that scientists who know one seience may think they know them all, when in fact they aze ignorant of che laxgest part af the “human sciences” —mathemasics, asttoaomy, physics, logic, ‘medicine—and in theit arrogance and ignorance they reject the ast important science of all, that of God and revelation, and become “people of error” (ah! al- dala), believing eserely what theit cational thought leads them co. Worse, inngcent people more ignorant than these scientists may fall inta the trap of believing that because the scientists know ane thing well, they © Witah, S536, See nore 3 forthe location of te sae angumen: ia alGhazzBt's werk aa 556 know all things, and 50 follow thems into error. The h- man sciences ate legitimate only when they take theit proper place, the religious sciences being at the head By educating people in the human sciences, the occult pseudo-sciences, evi in themselves, will be uprooted, ‘As Ibn al-Quyvin perceived it the danger 10 religion and society that earlier thealogians had seen in. 5c ence, back in the heyday of royal patronage when the natural stiences along with their philosophical sisters had flourished, had passed with the fading of the exact sciences! golden age. But then, in the wake of lsmiTt “alm that had risen ta haune the religious establishment ‘of the Sunni wna during Abbasid decline and then fallen under, isc, the Sunni reaction embodied by the writings of al-Ghazaili and the nigdmiyya-madrasa system of Nieum al-Mulk, ard finally, under che haoves of Mongol poaies, the specter of the occult had risen, superstitious offspring of legitimate science and Jsma‘Ul spiritual alchemy. Io the shadow of this aew ‘threat, tbn al-Qayyin could maintain thatthe practtio- ners of true science and philosophy fell under the rmaral and legal aegis of religion; this implied that there could be no contradiction between natural phi losophy and prophecy on the physical, organic, and as conomical levels of existence. On the human level, prophecy provides the science of morals and proper be. havior which guides man to civilization, fullness af life, and finally heaven. Proghecy gives man keowl ‘edge of good and evil. Without it, man exists in 2 kind fof Hobbesian state of nawre, brutal, bloody, savage. “For this reasan, if the sun of prophecy were eclipsed in the universe and not a single wace rersained of it, the sky would split, the stars seater, the sun implage and the moon darken, for nothing exists in the universe without the workiags of prophecy.” Science and philosophy on the other hand have ao oral content. Spiritually, they are empty shells. The ‘ational intelleet has no power of moral judgment, of Gistingoishing between mozally cewardiog sets (tha: ‘wab) ané those that are unishable (gdb). The intel lect, however, does have an snate intelligence, ealled fra, whose proverance can be said (0 be moral in that itis able co distinguish between good and evil, For the ‘physician-philosopher al-Razt (d. 925) some four cea- ‘oes before Ihn al-ayyim, this fra, 2 power of the raonal mind, was wha: eadowed man with the power “Far this, see the excellent aicle by 1. Goideter, “Stele lung der ea islamischen Orthodox 2u der ansen Wissen salen,” Abhandlongen der Akademie der Wissenschaften erin, 914-18) © sitios, 458 Liviveston: Science and the Occult in the Thinking of lon Qayyim at-Jaweiva a9 ‘of prophecy, @ potential actualized by a rare few. For Ton al-Qayyim, all animals have fara, man, at the head fof the animal kingdom, has primary fitra, which God ives prophets to deliver His laws. However, once the Drophers enunciate the. divine laws, man does not ies- mediately recognize the wisdom in them as though they had been hovering in the shadows of firra same- where at the far edge of the mind waiting for the zentle (ug af light or flutter of prophetic wings. Quice the apposite. “An Arab, being asked how ic was he Knew Mubammad was a propher, replied that when something was prescribed by the Prophet or Quen the ‘mind said Ok, how I wish it were proscribed!” This 1 to say thatthe intellects inclinations are cantradic- ary to revelation. tho al-Qayyim leaves the reader hhanging as to whether primary févais an innate faculey ‘that is a8 well applicable to natural principles as iti ta ‘moral Iaw.*® Tha al-Qayyim concludes this part af his book on science, philosophy and the occult with a statement on the maderate stance Sunni Islam has taken regarding the great questions debated by philosophers and theo- Jogians over the centuries, particularly the issues of fre will, determinism, nd cause and effect OF all pro- phetic religions, he begins, che (ruths of Islam are the ‘easiest for the mind to grasp because of ther simplicity and reasonableness. This is besause Islam is 2 religion ‘of moderation, a middle way avoiding all exiremes in lifes well asin principle and dogma." The turman ex- ‘emplfication ofthis isthe charactee of Muhammad, 25 measured against the characters of earlier prophets, particularly Moses ard Christ, whose prophecies Mu- ‘vamumad was seat co complete, For just as the holy laws of Islae stand in rational moderation between the extremes af Judzism and Christianity on the divine level, so too on the human level does the person af Muhammad ¢and the Muslin: perception of hem cake a middle ground between Moses and Christ. Muslims go ‘ng further than to venerate their prophet: they do not claim him anything but human, honoring him 25 4 ‘model man of the highest ideals, whereas the Jews per seeute and kill their prophets and the Christians wor- ship ches as a divinity, ania, 452 # sata, 453-85, © pan, $90 ‘On the mundane level, Islam's rational moderation, for golden mean of aothing in excess, is expressed. in the laws related to cating. and drinking. While Jews deny themselves the good things ofthis life as punish: ment for the evil they feel themselves constantly prone (a, and Christians allow themselves co eat and drink freely, even of filthy things such as meat of the pig, ‘Muslims ae allowed the clean and prohibited the un- clean. Islanr's rational moderatian, compared (othe ex. (eemes of the atber 10 monotheisms, makes it 2 calea ‘uiding valley hetween two mountains lost in error and excess. Unlike its sisters in the Abrahamic adi tion, Islam avoids radical exteemities: “Foe Gad cre- ated the (Islamic) community as a middle way among ll. ehe gates of religion.” Islam's moderation is manifested in the way Muslims understand the conundrum of determinism and free will. true Muslim adheres neither to the Jabariyyak {@ school of determinism) ror the Qadariyyah (3 schoo! of fre will). “He stands between them, believing in his free will yet at the same time knowing he is vader Goat's will and thus powerless to do what God has not willed, for otherwise the Almighty’s power would be

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