Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Jose Abueva, ed., The Making of the 

Filipino Nation and Republic (Quezon City: University of 

the Philippines Press, 1998); Cesar A. Majul, Muslims in 

the Philippines (Quezon City: University of the Philip-

pines Press, 1973).

philosophy

 

(Arabic: 

falsafa)

Perhaps the best characterization of Islamic philos-

ophy is both generous and vague: it is the tradition 

of philosophy that arose out of classical Islamicate 

culture. One virtue of such a circular definition is 

its capacity to accommodate contesting portraits 

of the philosophical tradition drawn with one eye 

toward illustrating or proving different theories in 

the field of Islamic studies. What is more, most 

definitions of Islamic philosophy will exclude 

recognition of the rational approaches, methods, 

and arguments—hence a philosophical tempera-

ment—found in varying degrees in the Islamic 

sciences, such as dialectical 

theology

 (kalam),