List of Muslim philosophers

Muslim philosophers both profess Islam and engage in a style of philosophy situated within the structure of the Arabic language and Islam, though not necessarily concerned with religious issues.[1] The sayings of the companions of Muhammad contained little philosophical discussion.[lower-alpha 1][3] In the eighth century, extensive contact with the Byzantine Empire led to a drive to translate philosophical works of Ancient Greek Philosophy (especially the texts of Aristotle) into Arabic.[3][4]

The ninth-century Al-Kindi is considered the founder of Islamic peripatetic philosophy (800-1200).[4] The tenth century philosopher al-Farabi contributed significantly to the introduction of Greek and Roman philosophical works into Muslim philosophical discourse and established many of the themes that would occupy Islamic philosophy for the next centuries; in his broad-ranging work, his work on logic stands out particularly.[4] In the eleventh century, Ibn Sina, one of the greatest Muslim philosophers ever,[4] developed his own unique school of philosophy known as Avicennism which had strong Aristotelian and Neoplatonist roots. Al-Ghazali, a famous Muslim philosopher and theologian, took the approach to resolving apparent contradictions between reason and revelation.[5] He understood the importance of philosophy and developed a complex response that rejected and condemned some of its teachings, while it also allowed him to accept and apply others.[5] It was al-Ghazali’s acceptance of demonstration (apodeixis) that led to a much more refined and precise discourse on epistemology and a flowering of Aristotelian logic and metaphysics in Muslim theological circles.[5] Averroes, the last notable Muslim peripatetic philosopher, defended the use of Aristotelian philosophy against this charge; his extensive works include noteworthy commentaries on Aristotle.[2][3] In the twelfth century, the philosophy of illumination was founded by Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi. Although philosophy in its traditional Aristotelian form fell out of favor in much of the Arab world after the twelfth century, forms of mystical philosophy became more prominent.[1]

After Averroes, a vivid peripatetic philosophical school persisted in the eastern Muslim world during the Safavid Empire which scholars have termed as the School of Isfahan. It was founded by the Shia philosopher Mir Damad and developed further by Mulla Sadra and others.[2]

Name	Image	Origin	Period CE	School of Sect	Philosophy
Al-Kindi		Iraq	801–873	Muʿtazila	He was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and was considered as the "father of Arabic philosophy".[6][7][8] He was famous for promotion of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy in the Muslim world.[9] One of his main concerns was to show the compatibility of philosophy and speculative theology. However, he would prefer the revelation to reason, for he believed it guaranteed matters of faith that reason could not uncover.[9]
Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi		Persia	854–925	Muʿtazila	There are contradictory views about his faith. Some, such as ibn Abi Osayba, knew him as believer, but some, like Abu Hatam and Biruni, knew him as unbeliever. A philosopher whose theory of the soul, explained in The Metaphysics, was derived from Islam in which he explained how the soul finds its way to salvation and freedom.[10] In his Philosophical Biography, al-Razi defended his philosophical lifestyle, emphasizing that, rather than being self-indulgent, man should utilize his intellect, and apply justice in his life. His defense against his critics is also a book entitled Al Syrat al Falsafiah (The Philosophical Approach).[10][11] He was also an early chemist.[12]
Al-Farabi		Persia	872–951	Muʿtazila	Al-Farabi along with Ibn Sina and Averroes have been recognized as Peripatetics or rationalists among Muslims.[13][14][15] He tried to gather the ideas of Plato and Aristotle in his book "The gathering of the ideas of the two philosophers".[16] He was known as "the second master" of philosophy (Aristotle being the first), and his work was dedicated to both reviving and reinventing the Alexandrian philosophical thought, to which his teacher, Yuhanna bin Haylan belonged.[17]
Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani			?-971		Inspired by neoplatonism, "his cosmology and metaphysics develop a concept of God as the one beyond both being and non-being."[18] Intellect which is the first being created by God, he believes, does not disintegrate, and the purpose of the religion is to "reorient the soul toward its true higher self and ultimately to return to its original state."[18][19][20][21]
Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri			?-992		While opposing the kind of philosophy which is regarded as independent of revelation, he sought to find areas of agreement between different Islamic sects.[22][23] Chapter 1 and 7 of his book al-I'lam bi manaqib al-Islam (An Exposition on the Merits of Islam) has been translated into English under the titles The Quiddity of Knowledge and the Appurtenances of its Species[24] and The Excellences of Islam in Relation to Royal Authority.[25] His other book Kitab al-amad 'ala'l-abad (On the Afterlife)[26] also has an English translation.
Ebn Meskavayh			932–1030		A Neoplatonist who wrote the first major Islamic work on philosophical ethics, entitled Tahdhib al-akhlaq (Refinement of Morals), he distinguished between personal ethics and the public realm, and contrasted the redemptive nature of reason with the luring trait of nature.[27]
Al-Maʿarri			973–1058		A pessimistic freethinker, he attacked dogmas of religion.[28] His Unnecessary Necessity (Luzūm mā lam yalzam) shows how he saw the business of living. His other work The Epistle of Forgiveness (Risālat al-ghufrān) depicts his visiting with the Arab poets of the pagan period, in paradise and because of the aspect of conversing with the deceased in paradise, the Resalat Al-Ghufran has been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante[29] which came hundreds of years after.
Avicenna		Persia	980–1037		Regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age,[30] his distinction between existence and essence his theory of the nature of the soul in particular, influenced the medieval Europe. His psychology and theory of knowledge influenced William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and Albertus Magnus, while his metaphysics was influential on the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.[31]
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani			996–1021		His major work the Rahat al-aql (Peace of Mind) explains how to attain the eternal life of the mind and reason, in a changing world. Al-Aqwal al-dhahabiya, (refuting al-Razi's argument against the necessity of revelation) and Kitab al-riyad (about the early Isma'ili cosmology) are among his other works.[32]
Nasir Khusraw			1004–1088		His Knowledge and Liberation consist of a series of 30 questions and answers about main issues of his time, from the creation of the world to the human free will and culpability after death.[33] Rawshana-i-nama (Book of Enlightenment), and the Sa'datnama (Book of Felicity) are also among his works.
Al-Ghazali		Persia (Iran)	1058–1111	Sufi/Ashari	His main work The Incoherence of the Philosophers made a turn in Islamic epistemology. His encounter with skepticism made him believe that all causative events are not product of material conjunctions but are due to the Will of God. Later on, in the next century, Averroes's rebuttal of al-Ghazali's Incoherence became known as The Incoherence of the Incoherence.[34]
Avempace			1095–1138		His main philosophical idea is that the human soul could become one with the Divine through a hierarchy starting with sensing of the forms (containing less and less matter) to the impression of Active Intellect. His most important philosophical work is Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid (The Regime of the Solitary).[35]
Ibn Tufail			1105–1185		His work Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, is known as The Improvement of Human Reason in English and is a philosophical and allegorical novel which tells the story of a feral child named Hayy who is raised by a gazelle and is living alone without contact with other human beings. This work is continuing Avicenna's version of the story and is considered as a response to al-Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers, which had criticized Avicenna's philosophy.[36]
Averroes		Spain (Andalusia)	1126–1198		Being described as "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe",[37][38] He was known by the nickname the Commentator for his precious commentaries on Aristotle's works. His main work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence in which he defended philosophy against al-Ghazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers. His other works were the Fasl al-Maqal and the Kitab al-Kashf.[37][38]
Afdal al-Din Kashani			?-1213		He was involved in explaining the salvific power of self-awareness.[39] That is: "To know oneself is to know the everlasting reality that is consciousness, and to know it is to be it."[39] His ontology is interconnected with his epistemology, as he believes a full actualization of the potentialities of the world is only possible through self-knowledge.[39]
Najmuddin Kubra			1145–1220		As the founder of the Kubrawiyya Sufi order,[40] he is regarded as a pioneer of the Sufism. His books are discussing dreams and visionary experience, among which is a Sufi commentary on the Quran.[41]
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi			1149–1209	Ashari	His major work Tafsir-e Kabir included many philosophical thoughts, among which was the self-sufficiency of the intellect. He believed that proofs based on tradition hadith could never lead to certainty but only to presumption. Al-Razi's rationalism "holds an important place in the debate in the Islamic tradition on the harmonization of reason and revelation."[42]
Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi			1155–1191	Sufi	As the founder of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic mysticism, The "light" in his "Philosophy of Illumination" is a divine source of knowledge which has significantly affected Islamic philosophy and esoteric knowledge.[43][44]
Ibn Arabi		Spain (Andalusia)	1165–1240	Sufi	He was an Arab Andalusian Sufi mystic whose work Fusus al-Hikam (The Ringstones of Wisdom) can be described as a summary of his mystical beliefs concerning the role of different prophets in divine revelation.[45][46][47]
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi			1201–1274		As a supporter of Avicennian logic he was described by Ibn Khaldun as the greatest of the later Persian scholars.[48] Corresponding with Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, the son-in-law of Ibn al-'Arabi, he thought mysticism, as disseminated by Sufi principles of his time, was not appealing to his mind so he wrote his own book of philosophical Sufism entitled Awsaf al-Ashraf (The Attributes of the Illustrious).
Rumi		Turkey	1207–1273	Sufi	Described as the "most popular poet in America",[49] he was an evolutionary thinker, in that he believed that all matter after devolution from the divine Ego experience an evolutionary cycle by which it return to the same divine Ego,[50] which is due to an innate motive which he calls love. Rumi's major work is the Maṭnawīye Ma'nawī (Spiritual Couplets) regarded by some Sufis as the Persian-language Qur'an.[51] His other work, Fihi Ma Fihi (In It What's in It), includes seventy-one talks given on various occasions to his disciples.[52]
Ibn al-Nafis			1213–1288		His Al-Risalah al-Kamiliyyah fil Siera al-Nabawiyyah orTheologus Autodidactus is said to be the first theological novel in which he attempted to prove that the human mind is able to deduce the truths of the world through reasoning.[53] He described this book as a defense of "the system of Islam and the Muslims' doctrines on the missions of prophets, the religious laws, the resurrection of the body, and the transitoriness of the world".[54]
Qotb al-Din Shirazi		Iran	1217–1311		He was a Sufi from Shiraz who was famous for his commentary on Hikmat al-ishraq of Suhrawardi. His major work is the Durrat al-taj li-ghurratt al-Dubaj (Pearly Crown) which is an Encyclopedic work on philosophy including philosophical views on natural sciences, theology, logic, public affairs, ethnics, mystiicsm, astronomy, mathematics, arithmetic and music.[55]
Ibn Sabin			1236–1269		He was a Sufi philosopher, the last philosopher of the Andalus, and was known for his replies to questions from Frederick II, the ruler of Sicily. His school is a mixture of philosophical and Gnostic thoughts.[56]
Sayyid Haydar Amuli			1319–1385		As the main commentator of the Ibn Arabi's mystic philosophy and the representative of Persian Imamah theosophy, he believes that the Imams who were gifted with mystical knowledge were not just guides to the Shia Sufis. He was both a critic of Shia whose religion was confined to legalistic system and Sufis who denied certain regulations issued from the Imams.[57]
Taftazani			1322–1390		Al-Taftazani's treatises, even the commentaries, are "standard books" for students of Islamic theology. His papers have been called a "compendium of the various views regarding the great doctrines of Islam".[58]
Ibn Khaldun			1332–1406	Ashari	He is known for his The Muqaddimah which Arnold J. Toynbee called it "a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind."[59] Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition of government, "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history of political theory.[60] His theory of social conflict contrasts the sedentary life of city dwellers with the migratory life of nomadic people, which would result in conquering the cities by the desert warriors.[61]
Abdul Karim Jili			1366–1424	Sufi	Jili was the primary systematizer and commentator of Ibn Arabi's works. His Universal Man explains Ibn Arabi’s teachings on reality and human perfection, which is among the masterpieces of Sufi literature.[62][63] Jili thought of the Absolute Being as a Self, which later on influenced Allama Iqbal.[64]
Jami			1414–1492	Sufi	His Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) includes seven stories, among which Salaman and Absal tells the story of a sensual attraction of a prince for his wet-nurse,[65] through which Jami uses figurative symbols to depict the key stages of the Sufi path such as repentance.[66][67] The mystical and philosophical explanations of the nature of divine mercy, is also among his works.[68]
Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī			1547–1621		Regarded as a leading scholar and mujaddid of the seventeenth century,[39] he worked on tafsir, hadith, grammar and fiqh (jurisprudence).[39] In his work Resāla fi’l-waḥda al-wojūdīya (Exposition of the concept of "Unity of Existences"), he states that the Sufis are the true believers, "calls for an unbiased assessment of their utterances, and refers to his own mystical experiences."[39][69]
Mir Damad			?-1631		Professing in the Neoplatonizing Islamic Peripatetic traditions of Avicenna and Suhrawardi, he was the main figure (together with his student Mulla Sadra), of the cultural revival of Iran. He was also the central founder of the School of Isfahan, and is regarded as the Third Teacher (mu'alim al-thalith) after Aristotle and al-Farabi.[70] Taqwim al-Iman (Calendars of Faith), Kitab Qabasat al-Ilahiyah (Book of the Divine Embers of Fiery Kindling), Kitab al-Jadhawat (Book of Spiritual Attractions) and Sirat al-Mustaqim (The Straight Path) are among his 134 works.[71]
Mir Fendereski			1562–1640		He was trained in the works of Avicenna, and Mulla Sadra studied under him.[72] His main workal-Resāla al-ṣenāʿiya, is an examination of the arts and professions in perfect society, and combines a number of genres and subject areas such as political and ethical thought and metaphysics.[73]
Mulla Sadra		Iran	1571–1641	Shia	According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is the most important influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years.[74][75] He is regarded as the master of Ishraqi school of Philosophy who combined the many areas of the Islamic Golden Age philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy. He brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created "a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy.[76] He also created for the first time a "distinctly Muslim school of Hikmah based especially upon the inspired doctrines which form the very basis of Shiism," especially what contained in the Nahj al-Balagha.[77]
Qazi Sa’id Qumi			1633–1692		He was the pupil of Rajab Ali Tabrizi, Muhsen Feyz and Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji, and wrote comments on the Theology attributed to Aristotle, a work which Muslim philosophers have always continued to read. His commentaries on al-Tawhid by al-Shaykh al-Saduq is also famous.[78]
Shah Waliullah		India	1703–1762		He attempted to reexamine Islamic theology in the view of modern changes. His main work The Conclusive Argument of God is about Muslim theology and is still frequently referred to by new Islamic circles. Al-Budur al-bazighah (The Full Moons Rising in Splendor) is another work of him in which he explains the basis of faith in view of rational and traditional arguments.[79][80]
Syed Ameer Ali		India	1849-1928	Modernist	Sir Syed Ameer Ali was a British-Indian scholar achieving order of the star of India. He was one of the leading Islamic scholars India who tried to bring modernity in Islam.[81] Instead of revolting against British Empire, he tried to popularize modern education such as learning English language. Two of his most famous books are - The Spirit of Islam and Short History Of The Saracens[82] .
Muhammad Iqbal		(British India) Pakistan	1877–1938	Modernist/ Sufi	Other than being an eminent poet, he is recognized as the "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times".[83] He wrote two books on the topic of The Development of Metaphysics in Persia and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam[84] In which he revealed his thoughts regarding Islamic Sufism explaining that it trigger the searching soul to a superior understanding of life.[84] God, the meaning of prayer, human spirit and Muslim culture are among the other issues discussed in his works.[84]
Seyed Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei			1892–1981		He is famous for Tafsir al-Mizan, the Quranic exegesis. His philosophy is centered on the sociological treatment of human problems.[85] In his later years he would often hold study meetings with Henry Corbin and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in which the classical texts of divine knowledge and gnosis along with what Nasr calls comparative gnosis were discussed. Shi'a Islam, The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism (Persian: Usul-i-falsafeh va ravesh-i-ri'alism‎) and Dialogues with Professor Corbin (Persian: Mushabat ba Ustad Kurban‎) are among his works.[85]
Ghulam Ahmed Perwez		Pakistan	1903-1985	Modernist/ Quranist	He was a famous theologian from Pakistan inspired by Allama Iqbal.[86] Being a protege of Allama Iqbal his main focus was to separate between "Deen" and "Madhab". According to him Islam was revelated as Deen which's main purpose was to create a successful and happy society.[87] He rejected the idea of a state being ruled by Islamic scholars, although he also criticized western secularism.[88] He firmly believed that Islam isn't based on blind faith but rational thinking. His most famous book is "Islam: A Challenge to Religion".
Abul A'la Maududi		Pakistan	1903–1979		His major work is The Meaning of the Qur'an in which he explains that The Quran is not a book of abstract ideas, but a Book which contains a message which causes a movement.[89] Islam, he believes, is not a 'religion' in the sense this word is usually comprehended, but a system encompassing all areas of living.[90] In his book Islamic Way of Life, he largely expanded on this view.
Henry Corbin		France	1903–1978		He was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris where he encountered Louis Massignon, and it was he who introduced Corbin to the writings of Suhrawardi whose work affected the course of Corbin's life.[91] In his History of Islamic Philosophy, he refuted the view that philosophy among the Muslims came to an end after Averroes, showed rather that a vivid philosophical activity persisted in the eastern Muslim world – especially Iran.[91]
Abdel Rahman Badawi			1917–2002		He adopted existentialism since he wrote his Existentialist Time in 1943. His version of existentialism, according to his own description, differs from Heidegger's and other existentialists in that it gives preference to action rather than thought. in his later work,Humanism And Existentialism In Arab Thought, however, he tried to root his ideas in his own culture.[92][93]
Morteza Motahhari			1919–1979		Considered among the important influences on the ideologies of the Islamic Republic,[94] he started from the Hawza of Qom. Then he taught philosophy in the University of Tehran for 22 years. Between 1965 and 1973, however, he gave regular lectures at the Hosseiniye Ershad in Northern Tehran, most of which have been turned into books on Islam, Iran, and historical topics.[95]
Mohammad-Taqi Ja'fari			1923–1998		He wrote many books on variety of fields, the most prominent of which are his 15-volume Interpretation and Criticism of Rumi's Masnavi, and his unfinished, 27-volume Translation and Interpretation of the Nahj al-Balagha. These works shows his ideas in fields like anthropology, sociology, moral ethics, philosophy and mysticism.
Mohammed Arkoun			1928–2010		He wrote on Islam and modernity trying to rethink the role of Islam in the contemporary world.[96] In his book Rethinking Islam: Common Questions, Uncommon Answers he offers his responses to several questions for those who are concerned about the identity crisis which left many Muslims estranged from both modernity and tradition. The Unthought In Contemporary Islamic Thought is also among his works.[96][97]
Israr Ahmed			1932–2010		He is the author of Islamic Renaissance: The Real Task Ahead in which he explains the theoretical idea of the Caliphate system, arguing that it would only be possible by reviving Iman and faith among the Muslims in general and intelligentsia in particular. This would, he argues, fill the existing gap between new sciences, and Islamic divine knowledge.[98]
Ali Shariati		Iran	1933–1977	Modernist	Ali Shariati Mazinani (Persian: علی شریعتی مزینانی, 23 November 1933 – 18 June 1977) was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century[3] and has been called the "ideologue of the Iranian Revolution", although his ideas ended up not forming the basis of the Islamic Republic
Abdollah Javadi-Amoli			1933–		His works are dedicated to Islamic philosophy and especially Mulla Sadra's transcendent philosophy.[76] Tafsir Tasnim is his exegesis of the Quran in which he follows Tabatabaei's Tafsir al-Mizan, in that he tries to interpret a verse based on other verses.[99] His other work As-Saareh-e-Khelqat is a discussion about the philosophy of faith and evidence of the existence of God.
Hossein Nasr		Iran	1933–	Sufi/Shia	He Is a prominent scholar of comparative religion, a lifelong student of Frithjof Schuon, whose works devoted to Islamic esoterism and Sufism. Author of over fifty books and five hundred articles (a number of which can be found in the journal Studies in Comparative Religion), He is highly respected both in the West and the Islamic world.[100] The Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present is among his works in which he states that the sayings of Shia Imams played a major role in the development of later Islamic philosophy specially the works of Mulla Sadra.[101]
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm		Turkey	1934–2016		He was working on Immanuel Kant, though, later in his life, he put greater emphasis on the Islamic world and its relationship to the West. He was also a supporter of human rights, intellectual freedom and free speech.[102]
Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi			1934–		He is an Islamic Faqih who has also studied works of Avicenna and Mulla Sadra. He supports Islamic philosophy and in particular Mulla Sadra's transcendent philosophy. His book Philosophical Instructions: An Introduction to Contemporary Islamic Philosophy is translated into English.[103]
Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr			1935–1980		He was an Iraqi Shia philosopher and founder of the Islamic Dawa Party. His Falsafatuna (Our Philosophy) is a collection of basic ideas concerning the world, and his way of considering it. These concepts are divided into two researches: The theory of knowledge, and the philosophical notion of the world.[104]
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri		Morocco	1935–2010		His work Democracy, Human Rights and Law in Islamic Thought while shows the distinctive nationality of the Arabs, reject the philosophical discussion which have tried to ignore its democratic deficits. Working in the tradition of Avincenna and Averroes, he emphasizes that concepts such as democracy and law cannot rely on old traditions, nor could be import, but should be created by today's Arabs themselves.[105] The Formation of Arab Reason: Text, Tradition and the Construction of Modernity in the Arab World is also among his works.
Abdolkarim Soroush			1945–		Being interested in the philosophy of religion and the philosophical system of Rumi, his book the evolution and devolution of religious knowledge argues that "a religion (such as Islam) may be divine and unchanging, but our understanding of religion remains in a continuous flux and a totally human endeavor."[106][107]
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi		Pakistan	1951-	Modernist	Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is a Pakistani theologian. He is regarded as one of the contemporary modernists of Islamic world.[108] Like Parwez he also promotes rationalism and secular thought with deen.[109] Ghamidi is also popular for his moderate fatwas. Ghamidi also holds the view of democracy being compatible with Islam.[110]
Gary Legenhausen			1953–		Islam and Religious Pluralism is among his works in which he advocates "non-reductive religious pluralism".[111] In his paper "The Relationship between Philosophy and Theology in the Postmodern Age" he is trying to examine whether philosophy can agree with theology.[112]
Mostafa Malekian			1956–		He is working on Rationality and Spirituality in which he is trying to make Islam and reasoning compatible. His major work A Way to Freedom is about spirituality and wisdom.[113]
Tariq Ramadan		Switzerland/ France	1962–	Modernist	Working mainly on Islamic theology and the place of Muslims in the West,[114] he believes that western Muslims must think up a "Western Islam" in accordance to their own social circumstances.[115]