Is Aristotle a Prophet

I have been asked a question regarding Aristotle and his Prophethood. You, too, can ask via the Contact Us form on the blog. 

Question:

I remember once hearing that one of the Masoomeen (peace be upon the all) had referred to one of the Greek philosophers as a Prophet of God, who used to invite people to God using reason - I don't remember exactly who but I think it was Aristotle.

Can you give me a reference for this Hadith (if it exists and you know about it)? Sorry for giving you the trouble. If you can, please give a grading as well.

Answer:

Aristotle in Arabic is referred to in two ways, one as أرسطو and another way as أرسطوطاليس.

When looking through the Shī`ah ḥadīth corpus, you do NOT find a hadeeth referring to Aristotle as a Prophet or a Waṣī / Walī. When you look through the Sunnī books you ALSO do NOT find any ḥadīth that refers to Aristotle as a Prophet.

One the other hand, the great companion of the sixth and seventh Imāms (عليهم السلام), Hishām bin al-Ḥakam, has authored a book called Kitāb al-Radd `Ala Aristotle fī al-Tawhīd (Book on Refutating Aristotle on Tawhīd - كتاب الرد على أرسطاطاليس في التوحيد). Both al-Najāshī and al-Ṭūsī have mentioned this as one of the books that Hishām has authored. Unfortunately, this book is not extant, but if Aristotle was a Prophet, how and why would Hishām refute him, especially on the major belief of Tawhīd?

I have found two shaadh (odd) sources that are attributed to Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) regarding Aristotle.

“It has been mentioned in the books of the people of haqq (truth)”:
أنا أرسطوطاليس هذه الأمة
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: "I am the Aristotle of this Ummah"

Analysis of ḥadīth:

There is no source given to this particular ḥadīth, which isn’t found in any of the Sunni and Shī`ah books. The only thing said before this ḥadīth is ذكر في كتب أهل الحق (It has been mentioned in the books of the people of truth). This doesn’t mean much.

The other source is found in Muhammad al-Daylami's book Mahbūb al-Qulūb, pg. 14:

يروى أن عمرو ابن العاص قدم من الإسكندرية على النبي فسأله عما رأى؟ قال : رأيت قوما يتطلسون ويجتمعون حلقا، ويذكرون رجلا يقال له أرسطو طاليس لعنه الله! فقال له النبي: مه يا عمرو!، إن أرسطو طاليس كان نبيا فجهله قومه

It is narrated that `Amr bin al-`Āṣ came from Alexandria to the Prophet and he (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) asked him (`Amr) about what he saw? He (`Amr bin al-`Āṣ) said: ‘I saw a group of people would gather in a halaqa, and they would mention a man, they called him Aristotle, may Allāh curse him. Then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said to him (`Amr): ‘O `Amr, Aristotle is a Prophet, but his people were ignorant of him!’

Analysis of ḥadīth:

There are many things wrong with this ḥadīth.

1.)    There is no sanad (chain of narrators) to this ḥadīth, and the book that this has been mentioned is a book that isn’t accepted by either Sunnī or the Shī`ah.

2.)   The primary narrator `Amr bin al-`Āṣ, is a narrator who would not be authentic per the Shī`ah science of ḥadīth because of his stance after the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) death.

3.)   `Amr bin al-`Āṣ has never been mentioned to step foot in Alexandria until after the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) death, making this ḥadīth impossible.

Unfortunately, you have Shī`ah scholars such as Kamāl al-Haydarī in his first dars (lesson) on al-Mantiq (Logic) where he mentions this ḥadīth to prove or praise Aristotle. Kamāl al-Haydarī also says that Imām al-Sādiq (عليه السلام) “praises” Aristotle in Tawhīd al-Mufaḍḍal.

Putting aside the authenticity of Tawhīd al-Mufaḍḍal, which is not authentic. When reading the statement from Imām al-Ṣādiq (عليه السلام) where he mentioned Aristotle, you will see that this is in no way praising Aristotle.

و قد كان أرسطاطاليس رد عليهم فقال إن الذي يكون بالعرض و الاتفاق إنما هو شي‏ء يأتي في الفرط مرة لأعراض تعرض للطبيعة فتزيلها عن سبيلها و ليس بمنزلة الأمور الطبيعية الجارية على شكل واحد جريا دائما متتابعا

"Aristotle refuted them by saying: ‘That which comes into being by accident and chance is something that comes one time due to certain factors in nature making something unusual and not like the natural matters that happen in one form continually and successively."

Source:

1.     Al-Mufaḍḍal bin `Umar, Tawhīd al-Mufaḍḍal, (Qum: Maktabah al-Dāwirī, 3^rd ed., 1376 AH), Fourth Session, pg. 180

As you can see, this statement does not praise Aristotle at all. Imām al-Ṣādiq (عليه السلام) only mentioned the view of Aristotle. This is equivalent to Shī`ah scholars mentioned the view of Sunnī scholars, that does not mean that they are praising that scholar.

There is NOT a ḥadīth from the Ahlul Bayt (عليهم السلام) where they praise any of the Greek philosophers. I believe, the reason why you see some scholars try to make Aristotle or any other Greek philosopher a Prophet is because of the fact that it is mentioned in ḥadīth that there are 124,000 prophets, only 25 of them are mentioned in the Qur’ān. Some scholars seeing the big discrepancy of Prophets that are not mentioned, they try to put names to some of them. This is of course pure dhann (speculation).


And Allah Knows Best.

_____________________

Nader Zaveri
Jamadi’ al-Awwal 16, 1433
April 7, 2012