5. Islamic Philosophy¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter argues that early Islam, far from being obscurantist, was a revolutionary force that catalysed a golden age of rationalist philosophy, science, and culture, while Europe languished in the Dark Ages. The core narrative thrust is that the breakdown of slave society produced a collapse of European culture, but the flame of learning was preserved and advanced in the Islamic world, which then transmitted it back to a barbaric Europe.
The chapter grounds this argument in historical materialism, presenting Islam’s seventh-century rise as a product of Arabia’s transition from primitive communism to class society. Mohammed’s levelling message, exemplified by his speech declaring all Muslims equal, resonated with the downtrodden subjects of the crisis-ridden Eastern Roman and Sassanid empires, who greeted Arab invaders as liberators. Unlike the Gothic invasions of a rural economy, the Arabs conquered rich Roman provinces like Alexandria and Antioch, producing an intellectual awakening. The chapter cites Syed Ameer Ali to show that Ali, the Prophet’s nephew, was already lecturing on philosophy and logic in Medina in the seventh century, forming the nucleus of Baghdad’s later intellectual movement.
Key claims are supported with evidence of Islamic tolerance and scientific advance. The chapter details how the Caliph Ma’mun supported free rationalist debate and the translation of Greek texts. Thinkers like Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Al-Farabi consolidated rationalism and propagated natural science. The conquest of Spain is presented as a turning point: the Arabs abolished feudal privileges, levied a single light tax, and protected Jews and Christians, in stark contrast to the later Spanish Inquisition. The chapter quotes Alvaro of Cordoba’s lament that Christian youths preferred Arabic literature, and W. C. Atkinson on Arab irrigation, paper manufacture, and glass invention. Alfred Hooper is cited to show that Arabs introduced Hindu-Arab numerals and algebra (al-jabr) to Europe, while European mathematics stagnated until the thirteenth century.
The chapter’s most notable polemic is against the “modern fundamentalists” who interpret Islam as narrow fanaticism, and against the myth of European cultural superiority. It directly contrasts Islamic Spain’s enlightened tolerance with the barbarity of the Crusades, quoting Stephen Runciman and Norman Cohn on crusader massacres and cannibalism. The Christian chronicler Father Agapito’s contempt for Arab washing habits is used to illustrate European backwardness. The central theoretical target is the idea that Europe was the exclusive bearer of culture; the chapter inverts this, arguing that for the entire Middle Ages, Europe acted as the grave-digger of Eastern culture while the Islamic world kept the flame alive. The radical rationalism of Averroes (Ibn Rushd) is highlighted: he denied creation ex nihilo, the immortality of the soul, and divine providence, arguing that knowledge comes from sense experience and that scripture should be interpreted allegorically when it conflicts with demonstration. His persecution by both orthodox Muslims and the Catholic Church underscores the threat his materialism posed.