A Critical Analysis of Muhammad Iqbal's Perspective Concerning Islamic Philosophy

Muhammad Iqbal, one of the most concerned contemporary Muslim thinkers of the subcontinent and influential on various schools of thought, has had different ideas and his ideas are better known as “Philosophy of Self”. The present study seeks to analyze his attitude concerning Islamic philosophy with an analytical-critical method. [Problem and Method of Research] Examining his prose and poetry, we came to the conclusion that Iqbal never explained the nature of Islamic philosophy, but when he speaks of Islamic philosophy, he either discusses reason or knowledge or points to philosophical personalities and on the other hand, Iqbal has presented different conceptions of Islamic philosophy and philosophy at different periods of his life, finally, Iqbal thinks that Islamic philosophy has been influenced Hellenism. He considers the philosophical tradition in the Islamic world to be in the best way to reach midway the truth. This attitude is confronted with serious objections such as lack of logical definition of Islamic philosophy, lack of attention to how philosophy entered the Islamic world and Farabi's legacy, lack of attention to useful and positive aspects of philosophy in Islam, irrational and sometimes dangerous preference of rival philosophical movements over philosophy, regarding all Islamic philosophers same regards Greek philosophy and so on.