Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: I thank the contributors for their thoughtful remarks.It is encouraging to have careful readings of my book by distinguished scholars.Their comments are perfect companion pieces that shed light on different aspects of my book and help other readers identify some of its major aspects.Andrew March correctly writes that one of the objectives of the book is to show that "Strauss has valuable insights and methods and should not be categorically ignored and erased from scholarly debate" (531).For him, I would be successful in this project if I show that "Strauss's basic positions [are] original and add something to our appreciation of medieval Islamic political philosophers" (531).There are certainly original ideas in Strauss's writings but Strauss repeatedly claimed that his most important task is to recover what has been forgotten rather than to be an original thinker.He did not claim that he was the first to discover esoteric writing but only that he wanted to remind contemporary scholars of what he believed to have been well known to previous generations: that not all writers are forthcoming in their writings and that some of the thinkers who seem to have subscribed to the opinions common among their contemporaries were in fact dissidents who communicated heterodox ideas between the lines to avoid persecution.March claims that Strauss's practice of esoteric reading does not add to the knowledge we can obtain through nonesoteric reading of Alfarabi's writings.Which is Alfarabi's teaching that March believes is accessible also through a nonesoteric reading of his works?Heretical views including denial of the supernatural character of prophecy-the dogma considered one of the principles of Islamic faith without believing in which one cannot be considered a Muslim.And yet, March claims, "this heretical view is presented explicitly and exoterically" (533) in Alfarabi's writings.March's claim puts me in an uncomfortable position: On the one hand, I completely agree that Alfarabi subscribed to the thesis that March attributes to him.On the other hand, March's comment requires me to make the case that Alfarabi did everything to look like an orthodox Muslim.Fortunately, the idea of Alfarabi as a faithful Muslim is so predominant in the scholarship that I can excuse myself from performing this task.Nonetheless, the evidence marshaled by March provides me with a good opportunity to showcase the importance of esotericism.Alfarabi provides us
Source: The Review of Politics
Author: Rasoul Namazi
Institution: Duke Kunshan University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,450
OpenAlex ID: W4406246748
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