History of Islamic Thought: Difference between revisions

==Early Developments==

===Legal Schools===

===Sufism===

==The rise of Islamic Philosophy==

===The Translation Movement===

The first stage of this process was the translation into [[Arabic]] of Greek philosophical and scientific works that had been preserved by Eastern Christians in Mesopatamia, Syria and Egypt. The translators were mostly Nestorian and Jacobite Christians, working in the two hundred years following the early Abbasid period (c. 750). The most important translator of this group was the Syriac-speaking Christian Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (809-873), known to the Latins as ''Joannitius''. The texts were first translated into Syriac, then into Arabic. Despite this process, the translations were generally accurate, aiming for a literal reading rather than elegance.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://philpapers.org/rec/HYMPIT|title= Philosophy in the Middle Ages|publisher= Indianapolis: Hackett|author= Hyman, J. and Walsh, J.J.|date= 1973|isbn=9781603842082|page=204|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref>   

===Golden Age Islamic Philosophy===

In the 9th century CE both Sunni and Shi'a scholars saw a threat from a number of rationalist philosophers with dismissive views towards prophecy and theology in comparison to thought and reason. Their tendancy was labelled ''zandaqa'', a general term at that time for heresy or freethinkers. Such figures included Abu Bakr al-Razi (d. 935 CE), who cast prophetic miracles as fraudulent tricks and their teachings as contradicting each other, and al-Ma'arri (d. 973 CE), who mocked those who preferred Greek philosophy and Islamic theology over common sense and critical thought. Others found a middle ground, such as al-Farabi (d. 930 CE) who taught that demonstrative logic provided certain knowledge, while prophets provided symbols of truth and moved the imagination of the audience. Following the Neo-Platonists, al-Farabi viewed existence as flowing out from God, accessible to the human intellect. His greatest admirer was Ibn Sina (d. 1037 CE), known in Europe as Avicenna, who developed his own school of thought which reconciled Islamic theology with Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. Ibn Sina was most famous for his "proof" of God through the concepts of a necessary being and possible beings which must have causes. These and some of his other arguments were later criticised by Fakr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1210 CE). Under Ibn Sina's influence, Muslim philosophers came to focus less on defending scripture and more on fundamental philosophical questions.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', 91-100, 132</ref>

From the 10th century CE, Ismaelis followed by Fatimid philosophers developed neo-Platonist ideas of existence. A range of theologically radical groups arose particularly among Ismailis, including the Druze with a new scripture. Al-Ghazali saw them as polically threatening and sought to refute them, dividing Shias into those who were in error but still Muslim, and those in the other groups who were disbelievers. A branch of the Ismailis have lasted into the present time.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', pp. 102-110</ref>

Around this time Rumi (d. 1273 CE) achieved lasting renown even to this day as a Sufi mystic poet whose most widely read work was a metaphor for the spiritual quest whereby God is found in the heart of the believer, and the relationship between them characterised by love ('ishq). At the same time he urged his followers to follow the sunna and to see the inner reality of the law, which was like enjoying true health. Not least through various Sufi orders or brotherhoods, Sufism diffused into all areas of Islamic intellectual and ritual life.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', pp. 126-130</ref>

In the 16th century concerns began to be voiced that under the Ottomans Muslims were falling behind Europe on a secular level, while scholars saw this as a symptom of spiritual malaise, including the Mufti's attempts to show that the secular customary law was in harmony with Islamic law. Islamic revivalists in the 18th century tried to eradicate all forms of innovation and sin, some turning to Ibn Taymiyyah for inspiration. One such figure was Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792), who saw signs of polytheism everywhere. He deplored the reverence towards Sufi ascetics and the scholars, while the Shi'a were particularly to blame for the sinlessness attributed to the twelve Imams. He believed that they all must be fought as apostates if they refused to return to Islam. Al-Wahhab made a pact with al-Sa'ud, recognising his political authority in Arabia in exchange for the latter supporting the implementation of his interpretation of Islam. The watching Ottomans were alarmed at their success together and labelled them ''Kharijites'', after an early Islamic extremist sect, also coining the term ''Wahhabism''.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', pp. 163-167</ref>

19th century revivalists were confronted with the calamity of European expansion, and with their intellectual and scientific advances. Muslim weakness vis-a-vis the West would define Islamic thought through to the modern age. Modernists reacted by embracing Western scientific and intellectual achievements, reinterpreting Islam in light of them. The rationality of Islam, as they saw it, had been neglected in favour of legalism and mysticism. Some took practical steps, translating European books and set up schools. Others diagnosed the problem in Muslims having turned their backs on economic and political sciences. Both sets of modernists sought to make their ideas acceptable by pointing out that modern European civilisation had borrowed from an earlier Muslim intellectual inheritance.

In opposition to Khan stood Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1897), who travelled the Muslim world advocating a pan-Islamic identity by which Muslim strength could be regained. He thought this would follow from Islam being the religion of rationality and the most intellectual religion. Some of his disciples, most notably Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905), advocated fresh, rationalist interpretations of the Quran without regard to centuries of later tradition, including a higher status for women, and a flexible approach to legal issues for the sake of regaining Muslim strength. Rashid Rida (d. 1935) was a disciple of 'Abduh, but was fervently anti-Western, hostile to Shi'ism and other heresies, and took a stricter line on issues like the status of women. His teacher's modernist vision of Islam as a religion of reason was merged in Rida's thought into a new movement, Salafism. Rida would later come to praise the Wahhabists of Arabia, fellow revivers of Ibn Taymiyyah's teachings.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', pp. 180-192</ref>

In the Indian sub-continent Mawdudi (d. 1979) too advocated Islamism, drawing on the Khalifat movement and founding his own Jama'at-i Islami movement. He saw the need for divine government with strict rules on gender segregation, limited freedoms for non-Muslims and the death penalty for apostasy. He extended the term ''jahiliyya'' (the pre-Islamic age of ignorance) to the present day, applying it to Sufis, Shi'a and modern secular ideologies. He wanted a total revolutionary break from the medieval Islamic past and its society.  

Meanwhile, in 1940s Egypt Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966), was enraged by Imperialism, Zionism and poverty in Egyptian, and felt repelled after visting America by what he saw as the moral and spiritual bankrupcy of the West. He turned to Islamism, and blamed Imperialism, West-pleasing scholars, Western orientalists, communists, and in his view behind them all, the Jews. Drawn to the Muslim brotherhood as the best defence against "Crusaders", and inspired by Mawdudi, Qutb wrote from prison a commentary on the Quran, interpreting it in a revolutionary and political way. He took up a starkly dualistic vision of Islam and jahiliyya, with even so-called Muslim societies sunk in the latter. Secular slogans must be abandoned and an Islamic vanguard established, a solution that would require violent jihad, including to overthrow the Egyptian state. For this, he was executed by the Egyptian ruler Nasser.<ref>Fitzroy Morrisey, ''A short History of Islamic Thought'', pp. 198-202</ref>

==Contemporary Islam==

==See Also==

==References==

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[[Category:Philosophy]]