Prophecy in Fârâbî and revelation in deism: (A comparison interms of informational value)

This study aims to compare deism's approach to revelation with al-Fârâbi's understanding of prophethood, one of the most important Islamic philosophers. Deism sees God's communication with human beings through a prophet as sometimes impossible and sometimes unnecessary. Since God's intervention in the world is seen as an event that took place only in the first creation, the sending of revelation to a chosen person in a certain period of history and the fact that this revelation contains binding principles for ages to come are not accepted by deist thinkers. For this reason, Christianity in particular and all religions of revelation in general have been heavily criticised by deists. Al-Fârâbi, on the other hand, developed a new doctrine of prophethood regarding the possibility and necessity of divine revelation between God and man. As a result of his design of the first president and his rational explanations of human communication with the active intellect, a possible method of communication between God and human beings is possible, and such communication is even considered necessary for virtuous societies. As a result of this comparison between al-Fârâbi and deism on the axis of revelation, the necessity and possibility of divine revelation, which deists regard as unnecessary and invalid, for the virtuous society and ideal city designed by al-Fârâbi, distinguishes this thesis from other studies. In the first part of our study, the new understanding of religion expressed by deism with the concept of natural religion is discussed. In addition, the objections of deists to the necessity and validity of a divine revelation as accepted in the heavenly religions are mentioned. In the second part, the arguments developed by deist thinkers against divine revelation are compared with al-Farabi's philosophy and his doctrine of prophethood. In the conclusion, it is concluded that deist thinkers and al-Fârâbi approach the concept of revelation from different perspectives, although there are some similar points.