INFLUENCE OF MUSLIM THOUGHT

ON THE WEST

Salman S. SagaEduc. 113-Education and Development

Dr. Tarhata S. Guiamalon

A. Western Thinkers on the West in General

B. Theological Influence

C. Philosophical Influence

A. Western Thinkers on the West in General

1. Initiated in the West the humanistic approach

2. Introduced the historical sciences

3. The Scientific Method

4. Helped the Western scholastic in harmonizing

philosophy with faith

5. Stimulated Western Mysticism

6. Laid foundations of Italian Renaissance and

molded the modern European thought down to

the time of Immanuel Kant.

A.1. Initiated in the West the humanistic approach

Muslims were the first humanist

They revealed to the west that

outside the prevailing Catholic

Church, it was not all darkness and

barbarism but untold wealth of

knowledge.

Humanism spread to Western Europe

through the Muslim and Non-Muslim in

Spain.

Islam is originated from Monotheism. It

conceived idolatry as its real enemy. The

Qur’an accepts Christianity and Jewish

religion as divine religion, and therefore it did

not instigate any struggle against them.

However, Christianity first

conceived Islam as competitor and

therefore attacked it directly.

The verse LAKUM DIN—KUM-WA

LI-YA DIN (You have your own religion

and I have mine) means that Islam has

no obligatory doctrination but religious

tolerance. But Christianity always

indoctrinates to spread its teaching.

IKRA HA FI AL-DIN (Religion is not to

be forced to anyone.)

Being rational, natural, and

consistent with human idealism

are additional reasons for the

spread of Islam.

Islam does not collect taxes

and duties from defeated

nation if they accepted Islam.

But what countries did Islam

really conquered?

During the 17th Century, the

Arabs invaded North Africa

three times, bringing not just a

new religion but a language and

custom that were alien to the

natives Berber tribes of the

Sahara and Mediterranean

hinterland.

When Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam,

died in 632 the new religion had already

gathered a number of impressive victories

on the battlefield.

The armies of Islam quickly and

easily conquered the Arabian

peninsula before moving on to take

the homelands of their various

neighbours.

Marching out of Arabia in 639 they

entered non-Arab Egypt; 43 years

later they reached the shores of

the Atlantic;

and in 711 they invaded

Spain. In just 70 years they

had subdued the whole of

North Africa, instituting a new

order.

This conquest, from the Nile to the

Atlantic, was more complete than

anything achieved by previous invaders

and the changes it wrought proved

permanent.

Source: By Eamonn GearonPublished in History Today Vol. 61 Issue 6 June 2011

The translation of Qur’an into Latin

(by Peter de Clumy in 551-1156)

allowed St. Thomas Aquinas to

attack Islam and even suggested to

the Pope to morally crusade against

Islam but it became the foundation of

the Missionary Movement.

Western Philosophers

gradually got rid of their

prejudices against Islam due

to cultural and intellectual

influence from the Muslim

West.

Immanuel Kant praised Islam.

“Islam distinguishes itself with

pride and courage for it

propagates faith not by miracles

but by conquest. The spirit of Islam is

indicated not in conformity without will but in

voluntary adherence to the will of God.”

•Auguste Comte(was a French philosopher and a founder of the discipline of sociology) considered Islam to be the most advanced phase in theological stage.

•Thomas Carlyle (Scottish

Philosopher, writer, essayist,

historian, and teacher)

designates Islam as a very

superior faith and thinks that

Muhammad (PBUH) is the

hero of the prophets.

•Friedrich Nietzsche

(German Philosopher,

cultural critic, poet and

composer) severely

attacks Christianity in all

his works particularly in his

Anti-Christ book but he did

never include Islam in his

adverse judgment but he

even mentioned it with

praise.

A.2. Introduced the

historical sciencesThe large part of the Qur’an

refers to the past and takes the

mind of the reader to the rise

and fall of nations in the days

gone by. It lays special

emphasis on history as well as

on nature as source of

knowledge.

HERODOTUS – was a

Greek historian who was

born in Halicarnassus,

Caria (modern day Bodrum,

Turkey), and the world’s

first historian.

Prominent Muslim

historians after Herodotus

to develop historical sense

are as follow:

Muhammad Ibn Jarir Al-

Tabari (a prominent and

influential Persian scholar,

historian and exegete of

the Qur’an from Tabaristan,

modern Iran)

Ab Al-Hasan Ali Ibn Al

Husayn Ibn Ali Al-Masudi

(Arab historian and

geographer often referred

to as the Herodotus of the

Arab Wikipedian)

Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan

(also known as Geber, was a

prominent Iranian Polymath, a

chemist, astronomer and

astrologer, engineer,

geographer, philosopher,

physicist and pharmacist)

Abu Zayd Abdur Rahman

Bin Muhammad bin

Khaldun Al Hadrami

(Historian and sociologist)

A.3. The Scientific Method

Muhammad bin Zacaria

Al-Razi and Ibn

Haytham were Muslim

thinkers who used

inductive method of their

scientific investigation in

different fields. Ibn

Haytham was the father

of optics and the

describer of vision theory.

•Ibn al-Haytham,

Latinized as Alhazen, in

full, Abū ʿAlī al-

Ḥasan ibn al-

Haytham (born c. 965,

Basra, Iraq—died c. 1040,

Cairo, Egypt),

mathematician and

astronomer who made

significant contributions to

the principles of optics and

the use of scientific

experiments.

•Muhammad ibn ZakariyāRāzī (Persian: محمد زکریایرازی Mohammad-e Zakariā-ye Rāzi, also known by his Latinized name Rhazes or Rasis) (854 CE – 925 CE), was a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher and important figure in the history of medicine.

The following Muslim Scholars followed Inductive

method of Al-Razi and Ibn Haitham

Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibnAḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm456 AH , an Andalusianpolymath born in Córdoba, present-day Spain, emphasized sense-perception as a nature of knowledge.

Abu Rayhan Al-

Biruni, a Persian

Muslim scholar and

polymath from the

Khwarezm region

(Iran), discover the

reaction of time

through observation

and experiment.

Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāqaṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī, known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", an Iraqi Muslim Arab philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician and musician, used the formula that sensation is a response of the organism proportionate to the stimulus.

•Robert Stephen Briffault,French trained as asurgeon, but found fame asa social anthropologist andin later life as a novelist,recognized Muslim’smethod of observation andexperiment because mostJews from Normady toEngland enjoyed thispractice at OxfordUniversity.

•In oxford, Roger Bacon, English Franciscan philosopher and educational leader, learned Arabic and Arabic Science and he declared that knowledge in Arabic and Arabic Science were the only way to true knowledge.

•Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world.

•The knowledge of Greek on astronomy and mathematics were clear importation from the Arabs.

4. Helped the Western scholastic in

harmonizing philosophy with faith

During the 9th and 15th century in the West,

Philosophy was regarded as antagonistic to

religion.

The teaching of Aristotelianism and

Averroism were banned.

Bruno was burnt.

Kepler (German mathematician, astronomer,

and astrologer, and known for Kepler's laws

of planetary motion) was persecuted.

Galileo was forced to retract

his works.

But Muslim thinkers who

followed Plato, Aristotle, and

Plotinus harmonized faith for

themselves and Europe.

5. Stimulated Western

Mysticism

Western Mysticism was much

influenced by Mysticism of Islam.

Dante, a writer, wrote a book entitled

“Divine Comedy”, a spiritual journey

which theme is borrowed from the

Islam. The story talked about

ascension to heaven (mi-raj).

Hell, as described by Dante, is

the same as that of Ibn Arabis.

The Hell is funnel-shape with

several storey in spiral stairs. The

weight of punishment of sinners

increases.

The first floor is described as

OCEAN OF FIRE (the same with

Arabis) which shores are various

fire tombs of thieves, murderers,

plunders, despots, and gluttons.

Severe thirsty for the drunkard.

6. Laid foundations of Italian Renaissance and

molded the modern European thought down to

the time of Immanuel Kant.

•THEOLOGICAL

INFLUENCE

Al-Ghazali influenced the

West in his theological

and philosophical stand.

Theology

1. al-Munqidh min al-dalal (Rescuer

from Error)

2. Hujjat al-Haq (Proof of the Truth)

3. al-Iqtisad fil-i`tiqad (Median in Belief)

4. al-maqsad al-asna fi sharah asma'

Allahu al-husna (The best means in

explaining Allah's Beautiful Names)

5. Jawahir al-Qur'an wa

duraruh (Jewels of the Qur'an and its

Pearls)

6. Fayasl al-tafriqa bayn al-Islam

wa-l-zandaqa (The Criterion of

Distinction between Islam and

Clandestine Unbelief)

7. Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche for

Lights, a commentary on

the Verse of Light)

8. Tafsir al-yaqut al-ta'wil

1. Maqasid al falasifa (Aims of Philosophers)

[written in the beginning of his life, in favour of

philosophy and presenting the basic theories in

Philosophy, mostly influenced by Avicenna's

works]

2. Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the

Philosophers), [in this book he refutes the Greek

Philosophy aiming at Avicenna and Al-Farabi;

and of which Ibn Rushd wrote his famous

refutation Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence of

the Incoherence)]

Philosophy

3. Miyar al-Ilm fi fan al-

Mantiq (Criterion of Knowledge

in the Art of Logic)

4. Mihak al-Nazar fi al

mantiq (Touchstone of

Reasoning in Logic)

5. al-Qistas al-mustaqim (The Correct

Balance)

''A highly useful introduction to the life and thought of one of the most important theologians, not only of the Islamic world, but of the world as a whole...'' -Oliver Leaman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Kentucky

"There can be no doubt that al-Ghazali’s works would be among the first to attract the attention of these European scholars" (page 220). Then she emphasizes, "The greatest of these Christian writers who was influenced by al-Ghazali was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who made a study of the Arabic writers and admitted his indebtedness to them, having studied at the University of Naples where the

Al-Ghazali also played a very major role in

integrating Sufism with Shariah. He was also the first to

present a formal description of Sufism in his works. His

works also strengthened the status of Sunni

Islam against other schools. The Batinite (Ismailism)

had emerged in Persian territories and were gaining

more and more power during al-Ghazali's period,

as Nizam al-Mulk was assassinated by the members of

Ismailis. Al-Ghazali strongly rejected their ideology and

wrote several books on criticism of Baatinyas which

significantly weakened their status.

Miguel Asin Palacios

(a Spanish scholar of

Islamic studies and the

Arabic language, and a

Roman Catholic priest)

studied Al-Ghazali’s

works.

Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abo

Al Faraj), (1226 – 30 July

1286) was

a catholicos (bishop) of

the Syriac Orthodox

Church in the 13th century.

He is noted for his works

addressing philosophy,

poetry, language, history, and

theology. He copied many

chapters of Al-Ghazali’s book

– Revivification of Religion

(Ihya).

St. Thomas Aquinas , Italian

Dominican friar and Catholic

priest and an immensely

influential philosopher and

theologian in the tradition of

scholasticism, was influenced

by Al-Ghazali in the existence of

God, divine knowledge, divine

simplicity, divine names, and

divine tributes, miracles as a

testimony to the truth of

prophecies and resurrection of

the dead.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

influences the West in two

ways:1. through his works;2. indirectly through Al-

Ghazali’s worksIbn Sina’s influential work was AL-HAFS AL-NATQAH (The soul endowed with gift of speech)

MUSLIM PHILOSOPHICAL

INFLUENCE

The transmission of Muslim though

to the medieval West happened when

many of the scholars from the West

went to Muslim countries and made

personal studies. Constantine of Africa

and Adelhard learned through

translation from Arabic to Latin.

Ab Bakr Zacaria Al-Razi’s

(founder of the Philosophy of

Nature of Islam) works

became the point of reference

and an important step in the

transmission of Muslim

Philosophy to the West

because of its translation into

Latin.

Al-Ghazali and Rene Descartes(French

Philosopher) have the same conclusion

on themselves.

“I will therefore I am.” – Al-Ghazali

“I think therefore I am.” – Descartes

•Al-Ghazali believes that NOT THOUGHT BUT WILL IS THE FUNDAMENTAL REALITY.

Baruch Spinoza, a

Dutch philosopher,

was deeply

influenced by Al-

Farabi. He accepted

Al-Farabi’s and Ibn

Sina’s idea that those

cosmic are proof of

God’s existence.

AVERROËS :

THE GREAT MUSLIM

PHILOSOPHER

WHO PLANTED THE SEEDS OF

THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE

by Habeeb Salloum

Averroes is Ibn Rushd

One of the foremost figures of Arab civilization, he became knownas the 'Prince of Science’ - the master of jurisprudence,mathematics, medicine and, above all, philosophy.

Ibn Rushd believed that God was timeless and His

creative effort is continuous.

He theorized that the world is continuously developing on what existed before and taking on new shape.

According to Ibn Rushd, God created time as well as the world, and He may have created it from all eternity in as much as He is Himself without cause.

On the other hand, Ibn Rushd believed that the words of God express truth in imaged symbolic language that the non-philosopher majority can understand.

Ibn Rushd maintained that the deepest truths must be approached by means of rational analysis and that philosophy could lead to the final truth.

He accepted revelation and attempted to harmonize religion with philosophy without synthesizing them or obliterating their differences.

He believed that the Qur'an contained the highest truth while maintaining that its words should not be taken literally.

He argued that as the milk-sister of religion, philosophy confirms and does not contradict the sharî'ah (revelation).