ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/1037), the central figure of the falsafa tradition, whose synthesis of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic philosophy transformed Islamic thought. Ibn Sīnā's metaphysics begins with the distinction between necessary and possible existence, from which he proves the existence of a single Necessary Existent, identical with God, who is pure intellect, immaterial, simple, and the source of all being through eternal emanation. Creation is a timeless act of divine generosity rather than a temporal event, and all things depend on God for their continual existence. Ibn Sīnā combines rationalism and empiricism, holding that knowledge arises from sense experience and abstraction, yet its perfection requires illumination from the active intellect. Human beings, bridging matter and intellect, are defined by their rational souls, which survive bodily death and attain happiness through knowledge of universals. Miracles and religious experiences are affirmed but explained naturalistically as the effects of perfected souls in harmony with celestial powers, with the result that the miraculous belongs within the same causal order as the natural. Scripture, interpreted allegorically, conveys universal truths suited to varying levels of intellect, and anthropomorphic verses are read metaphorically to preserve divine transcendence. Ibn Sīnā's moral philosophy links virtue to intellectual perfection and sees prophetic law as a rational means to cultivate this end. In natural philosophy, Ibn Sīnā defends hylomorphism, denies atomism and chance, and treats science as the rational investigation of causes grounded in metaphysics. His model unites theology and science within a single, intelligible order sustained by God's necessary existence, offering a vision in which the pursuit of knowledge and the contemplation of the divine are one and the same.
