Religion and philosophy have been viewed to be opposite in nature. The reality of this difference is found in the beliefs and ideas shared by these two ideologies.
Practitioners of religion have always seen philosophy as something against their beliefs, tenets and ideologies.
This is mostly based on the fact that religion focus more on faith and dogma while philosophy focus more on reason and logic.
During the medieval era, philosophy and religion dominated the scope of discourse. The era was marked with arguments for the existent of God by theologians as against the views by some philosophers that such is an illusion.
Many theologians like St Thomas Aquinas, ST Augustine of Hippo and many others tried to focus on the idea that God exist and that He created everything in the universe.
Philosophers used their arguments against them by looking at the incoherence found in their arguments.
Muslim philosophers like Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) were critical of the argument for the existence of God. They mostly used Greek text to reject the claim that there is a God.
Their arguments were refuted by Hamid Al-Ghazali who accused them of heresy. For him, these scholars committed fallacies. He charged them with 17 of such and addressed them in his 20-page article titled Tahafut al-Falasifa - The Incoherence of the Philosophers.
Religion has always been the link between man and God. It's through it that man communicate with the Supreme Being.
Philosophy on the other hand, focus on how man can think independently. Unlike religion that preaches dogma over reason, philosophy do away with anything dogma. In fact, dogmatism is regarded as fallacies (error in reasoning).
While this dichotomy exist between these two, it is obvious they are like a polar concept. They are opposite and should not be expected to reconcile.
However, while a philosopher can be religious, a religious individual can also be a philosopher.
What we ought to do is draw the line between the two. In the academy, my lecturer back then who is a professor taught us in class that nothing create itself. Truly, it is the law of logic.
Everything is created, nothing create itself. But in the case of God, He is self existence. This means He cause or brings Himself into existence.
This is something my lecturer reject in class. He said even God did not create Himself.
But this is a staunch believer of Islam with a black dot on his forehead to show he prays very well.
This is an instance of the line we need to draw. He teaches philosophy the way it should be taught but he is a religious person outside philosophy.
Similarly, a religious individual can preach by employing the tool of philosophy which is argument with clarity to drive home his point. This way, it would be like you are teaching them while you are actually preaching and they would have no choice than to jot down your points and be happy with themselves for not missing such lesson.
So while there appears to be a dichotomy, it can be used to our advantage. It should be noted that religion and philosophy are independent and have no confusion in them. It is man who creates this dichotomy.
What do you think about philosophers?