Al-Farabi, creation ex nihilo, and the cosmological doctrine of K. al-Jam' and Jawabat.

• Author: Janos, Damien

The two works Kitab al-Jam' bayna ra'yay al-hakimayn (henceforth Jam') and Jawabat 'an masa' it su'ila 'anha (henceforth Jawabat) are attributed to al-Farabi (d. 338/950) in the Arabic tradition. (1) Among the bio-bibliographers, Ibn al-Qifti refers to the former work under the slightly different title Kitab fi ittifaq ara' Aristutalis wa-Aflatun, although he says nothing about the latter work. Ibn Abi Usaybi'a may be referring to Jam' when he lists a Kalam fi ittifaq ara Abuqrat [sic] wa-Aflatun, and he explicitly mentions Jawabat. (2)

Modern scholars, however, have questioned the authorship of these works on stylistic and especially doctrinal grounds. In his book entitles Al-Farabi and Aristotelian Syllogistics, published in 1994, Joep Lameer rejects the authenticity of Jam' and Jawabat and presents an array of arguments to defend his claim. He concludes that Jam' is completely spurious, but that Jawabat, although not composed by al-Farabi himself, may preserve some original doctrinal material from his works, especially in the field of logic. Surprisingly, he does not discuss the cosmological content of these two treatises. In the appendix to an article on al-Farabi published in 2008, Marwan Rashed endorses Lameer's criticisms and furthermore argues that Jam' and Jawabat develop a cosmology that is irreconcilable with the one found in al-Farabi's other works. Rashed develops these arguments at length with regard to Jam' in a recent article. Elaborating on Lamcer's comments, Rashed holds that these two treatises should not be attributed to al-Farabi, although Jam' may have been composed by one of his students, perhaps Yahya ibn 'Adi or more likely Ibrahim ibn 'Adi. (3)

The status of these two texts is thus presently uncertain. Although they deal with numerous themes dear to al-Farabi, such as ethics, cosmology, and logic, they also diverge in many ways from his other works. Nowhere is this tension more explicit than in the cosmology they defend, which contrasts starkly with the eternalist model developed in al-Farabi's so-called emanationist treatises, Political Regime and Principles of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City.

My aim in this article is threefold. First, I provide an overview of the main features of the cosmology developed in Jam' and in question nine of Jawabat, with an emphasis on the issue of creation. It is certainly odd that to this day, and except for Rashed's recent article, no systematic analysis of these texts has been conducted. This is unfortunate, because on the one hand they contain interesting cosmological theories, while on the other it is clear that the problem of their authorship cannot be solved unless their content is closely examined. Second, I identify the Greek and Arabic sources that underlie these accounts, a necessary step if one wants to understand their synthetic nature and contextualize them accurately within the philosophical and theological traditions to which they belong. Third, I return to the question of authorship at the end of the paper and propose two different hypotheses.

The cosmology of Jam' (sections 53-63) is organized and informed by the same intention that runs through the entire work, namely, to reconcile and harmonize the views of Aristotle and Plato. It is therefore not surprising that Jam' follows many ancient and medieval interpretations of Aristotle's philosophy in defining the Aristotelian Prime Mover as an efficient cause. (4) But Jam' goes further: it attributes to Aristotle a theory of the world's creation similar to the one that can be found in Timaeus and develops the concept of a Demiurge or Creator-God. God is described as the "originator" (mubdi'), the "artisan" (sani'), and the "creator" (bari') of the world. The author states on behalf of Aristotle that the heavens were created through "absolute creation" (ibda'), "all at once" (daf'atan wahidatan), and "not over a period of time" (bi-la zaman), (5) and he defines time as the number of celestial motion. Time did not precede the world in existence, but rather it was created together with the heavenly sphere and resulted from it. (6) In another passage, the author explains that all the corporeal (jismaniyya) and spiritual (ruhaniyya) entities were "produced through the absolute creation of the Creator." (7) In addition to being created, the author of Jam' clearly asserts that the world will come to an end. He writes: "Whatever comes from a thing will inevitably corrupt (yafsudu) and return to that thing"; and also: "The world ('alam) is created out of nothing and will thus revert to nothing." (8)

Moreover, Jam' ascribes to Aristotle's belief in the creation of prime matter using the authority of the pseudonymous Theology of Aristotle for support. The crucial passage is the following: "It is made clear [in Theology of Aristotle] that the Creator created matter (al-hayula) absolutely and from nothing, and that it was made corporeal and organized by God and by His will." (9) The specific use of the verb abda'a ("he created absolutely") and the expression la 'an shay' ("not from a thing" or ex nihilo) signify that the existence of matter per se (that is, prime matter) is essentially dependent on God's absolute creative act. Matter therefore is not eternal and did not exist before the creation of the world, but was created together with the world. This idea is important to the author, for he accuses other religious groups (the Jews and Mazdeans, among others) of upholding the eternity of matter and of construing creation merely as a reordering of this eternal matter. (10)

It should be noted that the concept of divine will is stressed throughout the cosmological account of Jam'. The author describes God as the "ruler" or "organizer" (mudabbir) of the world and states that "He is ignorant not even of a grain of mustard seed," which is an obvious reference to verses from the Qur'anic suras "The Prophets" (21:47) and "Luqman" (31:16). In addition, one reads that "not one part of the world escapes His providence ('inaya)" and that "the universal providence encompasses the particulars." (11) Finally, in his account of matter, the author specifies that matter was created and made corporcal "through God's will" ('an iradatihi). (12) According to Jam', then, creation occurs through God's will and God has knowledge of all particular things. (13)

The treatise Jawabat holds a similar position on the question of the creation of the world and matter. In question nine of this exposition, the author explains that the entire world is composed of form (sura) and matter (madda), and that it was created "all at once and not over a period of time" (fa-kawnuhu kana daf'atan bi-la zaman), in spite of the fact that the beings it contains were created in time (fi zaman). In addition, the author clearly states that the world as a whole will undergo corruption (fasad) and that this passing away too will not be a temporal event. Unlike Jam', however, question nine of Jawabat develops an argument, or rather a proto-argument, to explain why the world is generated and destroyed. The gist of it is that since the world is composed (murakkab) of form and matter, it will undergo dissolution (tahlil or inhilal), because every composition undergoes dissolution. This argument and its corresponding terminology are nowhere to be found in Jam'.

Now, as M. Rashed notes in this article "Al-Farabi's Lost Treatise On Changing Beings," the similarities between Jam' and Jawabat on the question of creation are striking. (14) The brief overview given above suffices to show that the creationist view developed in Jawabat mirrors the one conveyed in Jam'. Not only the ideas but the terms as well are the same. Both texts describe God's creation as "absolute creation" (ibda') and state that the world's creation occurs "all at once" (daf'atan) and "not over a period of time" (bi-la zaman). They also argue that the world will undergo "corruption" (fasad) and thus that its future existence is temporally finite. The doctrinal and terminological parallels between these two texts suggest that one account may have been modeled on the other, and thus that when it comes to cosmology, they should be seen as forming a single unit. At the same time, however, the basic cosmological picture that emerges from these texts is very different from the one found in al-Farabi's later cosmological treatises. (15)

Having outlined the main features of these accounts, I now want to identify and analyze some of their underlying sources. One source that has obviously been consulted by the author of Jam' is Timaeus. The author's claims that God makes matter corporeal and organizes it, that time came into existence together with the world, and that time is measured by the motions of the heavens, are elements that may have been taken from this Platonic dialogue. For example, at 38B, Timaeus says that "time came to be together with the universe," which echoes the statement in Jam' that time results from the creation of the heavens. In spite of these parallels, there are nevertheless major differences between Jam' and Timaeus. While the Demiurge of Timaeus fashions the universe out of a pre-existing substance and takes the realm of ideas or forms as a model, the Creator of Jam' creates the world ex nihilo and in an absolute manner. Moreover, whereas Timaeus upholds the eternity a parte post of the material universe and the immortality of the celestial gods, Jam' stresses the future destruction of the world.

In spite of these divergences, which are conspicuous to a modern reader, there is much evidence in Jam' that suggests that the author interpreted Plato differently on these two issues and in a way that enabled him to use Plato's authority to reinforce his own creationist position. This appears clearly when the author claims that Plato was among the sages who developed "proofs" (hujaj) showing that the world was created ex nihilo and that it...