Manifestations of Arab Thought in Western Islam

Abstract

Do not believe that the philosophy that has reached us through the writings of Aristotle, Abû Nasr (al-Fârâbî), and the book of Healing (of Ibn Sinâ), will satisfy your longing; neither that any of the Andalusians has written anything adequate on this matter. For the men of superior understanding who lived in Andalusia before the spread of logic and philosophy in that country, devoted their lives to the mathematical sciences…; but could do nothing more…” Ibn Tufayl, Hayy ibn Yaqzân, p. 12.Much remains to be done by way of determining exactly the ways in which Arab thought penetrated Western Islam-I refer both to its sociological extension and the depth of its psycho-cultural effect. The question thus posed is of considerable historical importance, above all if one wishes to cover the whole period from the beginning of the Eighth Century (i.e. the end of the First/beginning of the Second Century of the Hegira), up to the present day. In fact, the spread of Arab thought to the Maghreb, and its penetration in depth, was accelerated again after the reconquest of the politically autonomous areas. This situation lends our research a certain topicality, whence spring both advantages and disadvantages: there is the advantage of historical knowledge not being limited to an erudite accumulation of facts about a past that has no links with any extant community; yet there is the problem that it is hard not to evoke the past in order to justify present ideological ventures.