1. INFLUENCE OF
MUSLIM THOUGHT
ON THE WEST
Salman S. Saga
Educ. 113-Education and Development
Dr. Tarhata S. Guiamalon

2. A. Western Thinkers on
the West in General
B. Theological Influence
C. Philosophical Influence

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. However, Christianity first
conceived Islam as competitor and
therefore attacked it directly.

7. 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.)

8. Being rational, natural, and
consistent with human idealism
are additional reasons for the
spread of Islam.

9. Islam does not collect taxes
and duties from defeated
nation if they accepted Islam.
But what countries did Islam
really conquered?

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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 Gearon
Published in History Today Vol. 61 Issue 6 June 2011

14. 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.

15. Western Philosophers
gradually got rid of their
prejudices against Islam due
to cultural and intellectual
influence from the Muslim
West.

16. 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.”

17. •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.

18. •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.

19. •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.

20. A.2. Introduced the
historical sciences
The 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.

21. 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:

22. 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)

23. 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)

24. 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.

25. •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.

26. •Muhammad ibn Zakariyā
Rāzī (Persian: ‫محمد‬ ‫زکریای‬
‫رازی‬ 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.

27. The following Muslim Scholars followed Inductive
method of Al-Razi and Ibn Haitham
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn
Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm
456 AH , an Andalusian
polymath born in Córdoba,
present-day Spain,
emphasized sense-
perception as a nature of
knowledge.

28. Abu Rayhan Al-
Biruni, a Persian
Muslim scholar and
polymath from the
Khwarezm region
(Iran), discover the
reaction of time
through observation
and experiment.

29. Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq
aṣ-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.

30. •Robert Stephen Briffault,
French trained as a
surgeon, but found fame as
a social anthropologist and
in later life as a novelist,
recognized Muslim’s
method of observation and
experiment because most
Jews from Normady to
England enjoyed this
practice at Oxford
University.

31. •In oxford, Roger
Bacon, English
Franciscan philosop
her 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.

32. •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.

33. 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.

34. Galileo was forced to retract
his works.
But Muslim thinkers who
followed Plato, Aristotle, and
Plotinus harmonized faith for
themselves and Europe.

35. 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).

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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)

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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)

43. ''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

44. "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

45. 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.

46. Miguel Asin Palacios
(a Spanish scholar of
Islamic studies and the
Arabic language, and a
Roman Catholic priest)
studied Al-Ghazali’s
works.

47. 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).

48. 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.

49. Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
influences the West in two
ways:
1. through his works;
2. indirectly through Al-
Ghazali’s works
Ibn Sina’s influential work was
AL-HAFS AL-NATQAH (The soul
endowed with gift of speech)

50. 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.

51. 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.

52. 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.

53. 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.

54. AVERROËS :
THE GREAT MUSLIM
PHILOSOPHER
WHO PLANTED THE SEEDS OF
THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE
by Habeeb Salloum

55. Averroes is Ibn Rushd
One of the foremost figures of Arab civilization, he became known
as the 'Prince of Science’ - the master of jurisprudence,
mathematics, medicine and,above all, philosophy.
Ibn Rushd believed that God wastimeless and His
creative effort is continuous.
He theorized thatthe world is continuously
developing on what existed beforeand takingon new
shape.

56. According toIbn Rushd, God created timeas wellas
the world, and He may have created it from all
eternity in as muchas He is Himselfwithoutcause.
On the other hand, IbnRushd believed thatthe
words of God express truthin imaged symbolic
languagethat the non-philosophermajoritycan
understand.

57. Ibn Rushdmaintainedthatthe deepest
truths must be approachedby means of
rational analysisand that philosophycould
lead to the final truth.
He acceptedrevelationand attempted to
harmonize religion with philosophy
withoutsynthesizingthem or obliterating
their differences.

58. He believed that the Qur'an containedthe
highest truthwhile maintainingthat its
words shouldnotbe taken literally.
He argued that asthe milk-sisterof religion,
philosophyconfirmsand does not contradict
the sharî'ah(revelation).