In spite of their precarious standing, the faylasuf achieved an array of remarkable intellectual breakthroughs. However, the writings of al-Ghazali (ca. 1058–1111), commonly viewed as the most influential Muslim philosopher in history, spelled the beginning of the end for the faylasuf tradition. Al-Ghazali's philosophical works became the mainstay of the Ash'arite school in their battle against the Mu'tazilites, who never really recovered from his attack. But al-Ghazali reserved his greatest vitriol for the faylasuf, in an assault that came primarily through a book called The Incoherence of
...more
