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July 29, 2003
Islam: Between Copying & Thinking

Winds of Change.NET's Egyptian correspondent Tarek Heggy offers us a whirlwind tour or Islamic thought - and especially the 2 models of thinking that he sees within Islam. Our guest blogger also asks some hard questions, and says it's time for both the West and Muslims to acknowledge their past failings and their responsibilities.

Islam: Between Copying and Thinking. An excerpt:

"When I compare some of the works of Al-Ghazali (Algazel)... which are distinctly lacking in rationality, with the writings of Ibn Rushd, in which rationality reigns supreme, I am amazed that the battle waged between the exponents of these two distinct schools ten centuries ago should have ended up in a clear victory for Al-Ghazali and a crushing defeat for Ibn Rushd. Nowhere is the difference in the approach of the two men more evident than in their defining works: Al-Ghazali’s "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" and Ibn Rushd’s "The Incoherence of the Incoherence".... Why were Al-Ghazali’s ideas so readily accepted while Ibn Rushd’s were rejected?

I believe the answer to this paradox can be summed up in one word: despotism."

A battle that still has important echoes and consequences today. Gotta love Ibn Rushd's (a.k.a. Averoess) book title, too. That guy would have made a great blogger - reasoned arguments, well expressed, and he already seems to understand the principles of a good Fisking.

Posted By Winds of Change.NET at July 29, 2003 01:32 AM | TrackBack
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