ABSTRACT
Fálsafa is an Arabic word for the Greek philosofia —“love of wisdom.” It is a rational discipline that seeks to establish general natural laws governing the universe by means of empirical observation and inductive analysis of results obtained thereby. Once these general laws have been established, all particulars could be construed by the correct application of logical reasoning. 1 Basing oneself on this principle, one can argue that, ideally, fálsafa was supposed to give its practitioners a sure, even unmistakable understanding of the true nature of the universe and its functioning.
