“Never before to my knowledge has the cross-fertilisation of Western and Islamic ideas been so encyclopedically documented as it is here. In reading Islam and the English Enlightenment, you will never see the relationship between Islam and the West in the same way again.” 
ROBERT F. SHEDI NGER Professor of Religion, Luther College 
“Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah’s Islam and the English Enlightenment is one of the most profoundly enlightening books I have read in years. Dr. Shah compellingly demonstrates that the thinkers of English Enlightenment were undeniably indebted to Islamic sciences and thought, and that the foundational principles of rationalist thought, scientific inquiry and religious toleration were deeply anchored in the Islamic tradition.” 
KHALED ABOU EL FADL 
Omar & Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law “This is a book that anyone interested in stepping outside a Eurocentric view of the rise of the West and of the modern age must read.” 
MICHAEL A. GILLESPIE 
Professor of Political Science & Philosophy, Duke University “Dr. Shah convincingly demonstrates the central role that Islam played in shaping the values and ideas of the Enlightenment reformers such as John Locke and Isaac Newton who had helped to produce the modern world.” 
GERALD MACLEAN Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter

Islam and The English Enlightenment

Religion & Spirituality

Ali Shah, Zulfiqar

Islam

Claritas Books

St. Thomas Aquinas, the most known medieval philosophical theologian; the stal- wart of scholasticism; the Doctor of Church; and one of the most influential figures in West- ern Christianity, was greatly influenced by Muslim synthetic thought. 
The gulf between reason and revelation, faith and philosophy or Jesus and Aristotle were wider in Christianity than in Islam. Aquinas bridged that gap with the help of Mus- lim philosophical thought. This work highlights Aquinas’ intersections with the great Muslim philosophers and their impact upon his personality. Aquinas widely quoted Muslim philosophers and theolo- gians, including Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, al-Ghazali and al-Razi and acted upon their wis- dom in many ways. 
In the estimation of E. Renan, ”St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroes.” The likes of A. M. Giochon, David Burrell and John Wippel among others asserted that Aquinas and his teacher Albert the Great were highly indebted to Ibn Sina. 
Giochon noted that, “Avicenna was not only a source from which they all drew liberally, but one of the principal formative influences on their thought.” He read Latin translations of their works and incorporated many of their ideas, thoughts and arguments into his project. 
Aquinas’ upbringing in Southern Italy and his geographical and intellectual affinity with Islamic civilisation played a significant role in his intellectual development. His thirteenth century Christendom was fully engaged with Muslims on multiple levels. His greater family was involved with the neighboring Muslims of Lucera and Apulia and in the army of Frederick II. 
Medieval Christianity’s transition from the Dark Ages was facilitated by Aquinas’ philosophical theology, which was also shaped by the translation of philosophical and scientific manuscripts from Arabic to Latin. 
Aquinas was what he became partly due to these interfaith interactions, which are laid bare for the first time in this revelatory new book.

St. Thomas Aquinas and Muslim Thought

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Books by Ali Shah, Zulfiqar

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ali Shah, Zulfiqar. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Islam and The English Enlightenment

St. Thomas Aquinas and Muslim Thought