1. Ibn al-Haytham (c )
Al-Biruni ( )
‘Umar Khayyam (c )

2. Ibn Sina (Avicenna, )
Applied Aristotelianism to Neoplatonism
Discussed necessary and possible being
Asserted survival of personal soul after death

3. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111)
Maqasid al-Falasifa (Intentions of the
Philosophers) - summary of al-Farabi
and Ibn Sina
Tahafut al-Falasifa (Incoherence of the
Philosophers) - challenges philosophers’:
1. Denial of resurrection of body
2. Claims that the world is eternal
3. Views on cause and effect

4. Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-98)
Retained Aristotelian idea of First Cause/
Unmoved Mover i.e. God
All Intelligences emanating directly from God
World eternal, but not necessarily by itself,
implying creation possible

5. Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-98)
Responded to al-Ghazali in Tahafut al-Tahafut
(Incoherence of the Incoherence)
Suggested that both revelation and philosophy
sources of truth. Resolve conflicts by
reading scripture allegorically
Three types of learners: (1) philosophical
reasoners, (2) theologians using dialectic
and rhetoric, (3) the masses, who are
persuaded by preaching etc.

6. First Cause/ One
nous/Intellect
Neoplatonic
Worldview
Soul

7. 922 Execution of al-Hallaj
1095 Al-Ghazali becomes Sufi
Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (Revivification of the
Religious Sciences)
ribat/khanaqa/zawiya/tekke = Sufi lodge

8. tariqa = Sufi “path”
Suhrawardiyya, from Abu’l-Najib al-Suhrawardi
(d. 1168)
Qadiriyya, from ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani (d. 1165)
Gnosticism
Al-Tirmidhi (d. 932) - al-qutb (pole/axis)
Shihab al-Din Yahya al-Suhrawardi ( )
- God as light and as sole being

9. Ibn al-‘Arabi/Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240)
Left Spain betw and 1201, travelled
widely, then settled in Damascus in 1223
God’s only attribute is existence, but He wants
to be known, so created world, which has
His characteristics and mirrors His
attributes
God reveals His names so that we might know
Him, but knowledge is only partial, so
people and religions see Him differently

10. Jalal al-Din al-Rumi (1207-73)
From Afghanistan, but lived in Konya
Became obsessed with mystic Shams al-Din
in 1244
Rumi’s followers killed Shams al-Din. Rumi
was distraught and became a mystical
poet
Mathnawi/Masnavi

11. Mevlevi Order, a.k.a. Whirling Dervishes,
founded by Sultan Walad ibn al-Rumi