Notions of Authority in early Islamic Texts

In his Views of the People of the Virtuous City Al-Farabi develops atheory of Imamate rule and the possibility of ideal community. Through adiscussion of notion of authority and virtue, al-Farabi develops a theory ofImamate that shows a continuity between Platonic thought, the rule of thephilosopher king and Muslim traditions. But more importantly al-Farabi’sthought has been a foundation of political philosophy in the Islamic tradition,especially Shi’i, as it theories the relation between politics and religion whilebeing in continuity with the Greek scholastic tradition. Yet this stands incontrast with later Western rediscovery of Greek philosophy that involves are-reading of these texts to suit timely concerns, crucial to this for example isthe separation between the political and the religious and the equating ofreason with some secular sensitivity. This paper will analyze these notionsthrough a new reading of al-Farabi’s text as well as a few other of hiscontemporary writers and in light of modern political theory.

Keywords:

Al-Farabi , Imamate rule , political philosophy , modern political theory