The tenth or eleventh century group of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al Safa) are as well known in the Arab world as Darwin, Marx and Freud in the west. Designed as an introduction to their ideas, this book concentrates on the Brethren's writings, analyzing the impact on them of thinkers such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists. Ian Netton traces the influences of Judaism and Christianity, and controversially this book argues that the Brethren of Purity did not belong to the Ismaili branch of Islam as is generally believed.

The tenth or eleventh century group of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al Safa) are as well known in the Arab world as Darwin, Marx and Freud in the west. Designed as an introduction to their ideas, this book concentrates on the Brethren's writings, analyzing the impact on them of thinkers such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists. Ian Netton traces the influences of Judaism and Christianity, and controversially this book argues that the Brethren of Purity did not belong to the Ismaili branch of Islam as is generally believed.

This book explores, through their Neoplatonism, the philosophies of four cultures: North African, Moorish Spanish, Greek, and Islamic. Originating in North Africa, Neoplatonism became the framework for philosophical reflection in these diverse cultural settings. Neoplatonic themes like emanationism are found in all of them, despite the difficulty of reconciling such philosophical ideas with religious orthodoxy. The wide appeal of Neoplatonism, perhaps, is due to its development of the mystical dimension of Platonism. From this perspective, this volume presents eternally recurring Neoplatonic themes like the monistic vision of the entire universe descending from a single principle, and a potentiality of a mystical ascent-- a return to the origin. In addition, this book investigates the questions of self knowledge, the relation between the universal and the particular soul, and the transformation of spiritual substance into bodily substance in these cultures. These studies offer a rich and varied perspective of these cultures themselves, revealing the spirit of each in its adaptation to Neoplatonism.

The only comprehensive introduction to al-Farabi - the first Islamic philosopher to translate the works of Plato and Aristotle. This new survey from a leading scholar documents the philosopher's life, writings and achievements.

Christian-Muslim Relations, Volume 15, Thematic Essays (600-1600) is a further volume in a general history of relations between the two faiths from the 7th century to the early 20th century. The chapters within it illustrate the range, complexity, and dynamics of interaction between the two faiths during the first thousand years of encounter. All chapters primarily draw upon entries found in volumes 1-7 of Christian-Muslim Relations. They explore tropes of perception, image and judgement that each religious community held in respect to the other through these centuries, and discuss issues and topics that occupied Christians and Muslims in their interaction. The first millennium sets the scene for the modern era and our understandings of contemporary relations and issues. Contributors are Mark Beaumont, Clinton Bennett, David Bertaina, Ulisse Ceceni, David Bryan Cook, Martha Frederiks, Ayşe İçöz, Sandra Keating, James Harry Morris, Nicholas Morton, Gordon Nickel, Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala, Tom Papademetriou, Gabriel Said Reynolds, Christian Sahner, Mark N. Swanson, Mourad Takawi, Luke Yarbrough.

Examines the role of God in medieval Islamic philosophy and theology in a new and exciting way. Renouncing the traditional chronological method of considering Islamic philosophy, Netton uses modern literary modes of criticism derived from structuralism, post-structuralism and semiotics.

The present volume—the first of its kind—deals with takfīr: accusing one ́s opponents of unbelief (kufr). Originating in the first decades of Islam, this practice has been applied intermittently ever since. The nineteen studies included here deal with cases, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world, of individuals or groups that used the instrument of takfīr to brand their opponents—either persons, groups or even institutions—as unbelievers who should be condemned, anathematized or even persecuted. Each case presented is placed in its sociopolitical and religious context. Together the contributions show the multifariousness that has always characterized Islam and the various ways in which Muslims either sought to suppress or to come to terms with this diversity. With contributions by: Roswitha Badry, Sonja Brentjes, Brian J. Didier, Michael Ebstein, Simeon Evstatiev, Ersilia Francesca, Robert Gleave, Steven Judd, István T. Kristó-Nagy, Göran Larsson, Amalia Levanoni, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Hossein Modarressi, Justyna Nedza, Intisar A. Rabb, Sajjad Rizvi, Daniel de Smet, Zoltan Szombathy, Joas Wagemakers.