Our discussion in this chapter is concerned, however, primarily with the Islamic philosophers' understanding of the definition and meaning of the concept of philosophy and the terms hikmah and falsafah. This understanding includes of course what the Greeks had comprehended by the term philosophia and many of the definitions from Greek sources which were to find their way into Arabic sometimes with only slight modifications. Some of the definitions of Greek origin most common among Islamic philosophers are as follows:

1. Philosophy (al falsafah) is the knowledge of all existing things qua existents (ashya' al-maujuclah bi ma hiya maujudah).
2. Philosophy is knowledge of divine and human matters.
3. Philosophy is taking refuge in death - love of death.
4. Philosophy is becoming God-like to the extent of human ability.
5. It [philosophy] is the art (sind'ah) of arts and the science (ilm) of sciences.
6.   Philosophy is predilection for hikmah.

The Islamic philosophers meditated upon these definitions of falsafah which they inherited from ancient sources and which they identified with the Qur'anic term hikmah, believing the origin of hikmah to be divine. The first of the Islamic philosophers, Abu Ya'qub al-Kindi wrote in his On First Philosophy, "Philosophy is the knowledge of the reality of things within people's possibility, because the philosopher's end in theoretical knowledge is to gain truth and in practical knowledge to behave in accordance with truth." Al-Farabi, while accepting this definition, added the distinction between philosophy based on certainty (al-yaqiniyyah) hence demonstration and philosophy based on opinion (al-,maznunah), hence dialectic and sophistry, and insisted that philosophy was the mother of the sciences and dealt with everything that exists.

Ibn Sina again accepted these earlier definitions but made certain precisions of his own. In his 'Uyun al-hikmah he says "Al-hikmah [which he uses as being the same as philosophy]  is the  perfection  of

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