Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 19
ISLAMIC SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT. HE ISLAMIC POINT OF VIEW can be presented from two different perspectives: first by analysing ☐ second by attempting to directly assess the the work of various Muslim thinkers, and. Quranic stance in the light of the Sunnah which comprises both verbal instructions as well as the practice of the Holy. Prophets. The authenticity of the former's understanding of. Islam becomes more and more dubious with the passage of time. It is so because they are inclined to turn progressively more dogmatic in their inferences which may not always be rational and justified. Otherwise what they call Islamic is of course initially based on their study of the fundamentals of. Islam. Those who draw their inferences from the Quran and the Sunnah can only be treated as a separate category if they strictly adhere to the principle of rationality. Such an analytical study of the major issues will be made later in this book. Presently, we turn our attention to the former and discuss the thought processes of early Muslim scholars, sages and philosophers in the era that led to the formation of many different schools of Islamic thought. Two distinctive influences were at play during the early period of Islamic history: 1) The most powerful and predominant was the influence of the Quran and the Sunnah, which had revolutionized the concept of knowledge and broadened the horizon of study and investigation to unsurpassed dimensions. 2) A growing interest in Greek philosophy and sciences, as well as the study of classical philosophy of. India, Persia and China, had also a role to play in the 19