The so called ‘Islamic Golden Age’ was all about the success of some Muslim-born freethinkers during the period of liberal freethinking Caliphs of Abbasid dynasty. The seventh Abbasid caliph, al-Ma'mun (813-833), was even a greater patron of education and science than Harun al-Rashid. He took considerable pains to obtain Greek manuscripts and even sent a mission to the Byzantine Emperor Leon the Armenian (8l3 to 890) for that purpose. He ordered the translation of these manuscripts. He organized at Baghdad a sort of scientific academy called the House of Wisdom (Bayt Al-Hilkma), which included a library and an observatory. He encouraged scholars from all kinds (various religions), and an enormous amount of scientific work was done under his patronage. This was the most ambitious undertaking of its kind since the foundation of the Alexandrian Museum (q. v. first half of third century B. C.).

Al-Ma'mun 'Abdallah al-Ma'mun' was born in Baghdad in 786, and he died near Tarsus in 833. Al-Ma'mun was the seventh and greatest 'Abbasid caliph (813-833). His mother and wife were Persians, which explains his Persian and 'Alid proclivities. He was an ardent Mu'tazil, tried to enforce his views by means of violence. He wrote four long letters to explain the Qur'an was created, and he cruelly punished those who dared entertain different views (e.g., Ibn Hannibal). He thus combined in a remarkable way free thought and intolerance. While persecuting those who objected to Mu'tazilism, Jews and Christians were very welcome at his court.

Now, we shall examine the life history of some very famous luminaries of the Islamic “Golden Age” to evaluate historical truth whether these Muslim-born freethinkers were true believers of Islam or any other religion per se. We shall also examine whether the core teachings of religion Islam had anyway influenced or contributed (as erroneously believed by most Islamists) to the success of medieval Muslim scientists. Let us find out about the religious fervor (if there was any) of some of the most famous ancient so called Islamic scientists and thinkers:

Al-Razi or Rhazes (865-925): Al-Razi was the preeminent physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar of his time. has been described as the father of pediatrics. He was also a pioneer of ophthalmology. Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā al-Razi, known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian physician, philosopher, alchemist and chemist, and scholar. According to al-Biruni he was born in Ray, present-day Iran the year 865 AD and died there in 925 AD. He was “undoubtedly the greatest physician of the Islamic world and one of the great physicians of all time”. Edward Granville Browne considers him as "probably the greatest and most original of all the physicians, and one of the most prolific as an author" and Chaucer referred to him as one of the fifteen great sources of knowledge. Al-Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to the fields of Medicine, alchemy, and philosophy, recorded in over 184 books and articles in various fields of science.Numerous“firsts” in medical research, clinical care, and chemistry are attributed to him, including being the first to differentiate smallpox from measles, and the discovery of numerous compounds and chemicals including kerosene, among others. Razi was the first to realize that fever is a natural defense mechanism, the body's way of fighting disease and was the first physician ever to write articles on allergy and immunology. He was the first to produce acids such as sulfuric acid., the first to introduce the use of alcohol (Arabic Al-Kuhl) for medical purposes and the first to use opium for anaesthesia. He was also a pioneer of ophthalmology. Razi is considered the "father of pediatrics" for writing "The Diseases of Children", the first book to deal with pediatrics as an independent field of medicine. He was well-versed in Greek and Indian Medical knowledge and added substantially to them from his own observations. He is the author of the monumental encyclopedia "al Hawi" — known in Europe also as The Large Comprehensive or Continens Liber-, on which he worked for fifteen years. Because of this book alone, many scholars consider Razi the greatest medical doctor of the Middle Ages. Now, let us read what al-Razi thought about religions in general. On ReligionAl-Razi wrote three books dealing with religion: (1) The Prophet's Fraudulent Tricks, (2) The Stratagems of Those Who Claim to Be Prophets (Arabic حيل المتنبيين), and (3) On the Refutation of Revealed Religions (Arabic مخارق الانبياء). He offered harsh criticism concerning religions, in particular those religions that claim to have been revealed by prophetic experiences. About Prophetsal-Razi wrote: The prophets—these billy goats with long beard—cannot claim any intellectual or spiritual superiority. These billy goats pretend to come with a message from God, all the while exhausting themselves in spouting their lies, and imposing on the masses blind obedience to the "words of the master." The miracles of the prophets are impostures, based on trickery, or the stories regarding them are lies. The falseness of what all the prophets say is evident in the fact that they contradict one another: one affirms what the other denies, and yet each claims to be the sole depository of the truth; thus the New Testament contradicts the Torah, the Koran the New Testament. As for the Koran, it is but an assorted mixture of ‘absurd and inconsistent fables,’ which has ridiculously been judged inimitable, when, in fact, its language, style, and its much-vaunted ‘eloquence’ are far from being faultless. According to Albert Hourani, “he laid emphasis on reason as the sole guide, and dismissed revelation a false and religion a dangerous.” About God’s messenger, al-Razi continued: On what ground do you deem it necessary that God should single out certain individuals [by giving them prophecy], that he should set them up above other people, that he should appoint them to be the people’s guides, and make people dependent upon them? Al-Razi argued that, It would be illogical for God to reveal himself only to a selected few. God should not set some individuals over others, and there should be between them neither rivalry nor disagreement which would bring them to perdition. Concerning the link between violence and religion, Al-Razi expressed that God must have known, considering the many disagreements between different religions, that "there would be a universal disaster and they would perish in the mutual hostilities and fighting. Indeed, many people have perished in this way, as we can see. He was also critical of the lack of interest among religious adherents in the rational and analysis of their beliefs, and the violent reaction which takes its place: If the people of this religion are asked about the proof for the soundness of their religion, they flare up, get angry and spill the blood of whoever confronts them with this question. They forbid rational speculation, strive to kill their adversaries. This is why truth became thoroughly silenced and concealed. Al-name of so-and-so.. Razi believed that common people had originally been duped into belief by religious authority figures and by the status quo. He believed that these authority figures were able to continually deceive the common people "as a result of [religious people] being long accustomed to their religious denomination, as days passed and it became a habit. Because they were deluded by the beards of the goats, who sit in ranks in their councils, straining their throats in recounting lies, senseless myths and "so-and-so told us in the name of so-and-so.." He believed that the existence of a large variety of religions was, in itself, evidence that they were all man made, saying, Jesus claimed that he is the son of God, while Moses claimed that He (God) had no son, and Muhammad claimed that he [Jesus] was created like the rest of humanity." and "Mani and Zoroaster contradicted Moses, Jesus and Muhammad regarding the Eternal One, the coming into being of the world, and the reasons for the [existence] of good and evil. In relation to the Hebrew's God asking of sacrifices, he said that "This sounds like the words of the needy rather than of the Laudable Self-sufficient one.” Asked if a philosopher can follow a prophetically revealed religion, al-Razi frankly replies: How can anyone think philosophically while listening to old wives' tales founded on contradictions, which obdurate ignorance, and dogmatism? Gentility of character, friendliness and purity of mind, are found in those who are capable of thinking profoundly on abstruse matters and scientific minutiae. About Quran, al-Razi said: You claim that the evidentiary miracle is present and available, namely, the Koran. You say: "Whoever denies it, let him produce a similar one." Indeed, we shall produce a thousand similar, from the works of rhetoricians, eloquent speakers and valiant poets, which are more appropriately phrased and state the issues more succinctly. They convey the meaning better and their rhymed prose is in better meter. ... By God what you say astonishes us! You are talking about a work which recounts ancient myths, and which at the same time is full of contradictions and does not contain any useful information or explanation. Then you say: “Produce something like it?! Custom, tradition, and intellectual laziness lead men to follow their religious leaders blindly. Religions have been the sole cause of the bloody wars that have ravaged mankind. Religions have also been resolutely hostile to philosophical speculation and to scientific research. The so-called holy scriptures are worthless and have done more harm than good, whereas the writings of the ancients like Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, and Hippocrates have rendered much greater service to humanity. About religious devotees al-Razi wrote: The people who gather round the religious leaders are either feeble-minded, or they are women and adolescents (suggestible). Religion stifles truth and fosters enmity. If a book in itself constitutes a demonstration that it is true revelation, the treatises of geometry, astronomy, medicine and logic can justify such a claim much better than the Quran. His views on religion in general and Islam in particular earned him public condemnation for blasphemy. Al-Razi’s hostility towards the Islamic creed even angered some of the prominent thinkers of the Islamic world with liberal leaning, including Alberuni. Only bits and pieces of his refutation of revealed religion are left in a refutation of his book by an Ismaili author. From this, it is clear that the greatest mind of the Islamic golden age was not sympathetic towards Islam at all. Almost all of Al-Razi’s philosophical books were destroyed by the revival force of back to Islamic darkness.

Ibn Sina or Avicenna (973-1037): Ibn Sina was a great philosopher and physician whose philosophical writings greatly influenced scholasticism, and whose medical work "Qanun" was the greatest single influence on medieval medicine. The Uzbek born great philosopher, physician and scientist Abu Ali Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in the West. His major contribution to medical science was his famous book "al-Qanun fi al-Tibb", known as the "Canon of Medicine" in the West. The Qanun fi al-Tibb is an immense encyclopedia of medicine extending over a million words. It surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources. Due to its systematic approach, formal perfection as well as its intrinsic value, the Qanun superseded Razi's Hawi, Ali Ibn Abbas's Maliki, and even the works of Galen, and remained "supreme for six centuries". This book was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world until the 18th century. Ibn Sina has often been referred to as the "father of modern medicine".

His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age. Avicenna's philosophy was based on a combination of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. Contrary to orthodox Islamic thought, Avicenna denied personal immortality, God's interest in individuals, and the creation of the world in time. He was holding philosophy superior to theology. In his commentary on theology, he dealt with God, creation, and angels etc. and many of his views on them stood in clear contradiction with their conception in the Islamic theology. He rejected the central Islamic doctrine of resurrection of the dead in flesh and blood. Ibn-Sina had also thoroughly rejected religions, including Islam, as lies. However, as Ibn Sina himself hailed from Khurasan, one cannot dismiss the possible influences of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism on his philosophy. Because of his views, Avicenna became the main target of an attack on such philosophy by the Islamic philosopher al-Ghazali and was even called “apostate”.

Al-Ma'arri, (973-1057): Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri was a blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer. He was a controversial rationalist of his time, attacking the dogmas of religion and rejecting the claim that Islam possessed any monopoly on truth. "Lucretius of the East" , The greatest Syrian philosopher poet, skeptic and freethinker known as Al-Ma’arri was born in Syria and became blind at the age of five. Al-Ma’arri despised religions in general and Islam in particular. In condemnation of religions in general, he wrote his poetic verses: “Religion are noxious weeds and fable invented by the ancients, worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses.” Hanifs (Muslims) are stumbling, Christians all astray

Jews wildered, Magians far on error's way.

We mortals are composed of two great schools

Enlightened knaves or else religious fools. So, too, the creeds of man: the one prevails

Until the other comes; and this one fails

When that one triumphs; ay, the lonesome world

Will always want the latest fairytales. Among the crumbling ruins of the creeds

The Scout upon his camel played his reeds

And called out to his people -- "Let us hence!

The pasture here is full of noxious weeds. Ma’arri’s contempt of all religions and their prophets were expressed as: “Do not suppose the statements of the prophets to be true. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The "sacred books" are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce.” The Prophets, too, among us come to teach,

Are one with those who from the pulpit preach;

They pray, and slay, and pass away, and yet

Our ills are as the pebbles on the beach. Mohammed or Messiah! Hear thou me,

The truth entire nor here nor there can be;

How should our God who made the sun and the moon

Give all his light to One, I cannot see. Al-Ma’arri further states that the so-called sacred rites and creed are deceptive invention of dishonest and greedy men: Oh fools, awake! The rites a sacred hold

Are but a cheat contrived by men of old

Who lusted after wealth and gained their lust

And died in baseness – and their law is dust. Al-Ma'arri attacks many of the dogmas of Islam, particularly the Pilgrimage, which he calls "a heathen's journey": Fortune is (so strangely) allotted, that rocks are visited

(by pilgrims) and touched with hands and lips,

Like the Holy Rock (at Jerusalem) or the two Angles of Quraysh,

howbeit all of them are stones that once were kicked. Al-Ma’arri calls the sacred books out and out fiction and forgery and regards “reason” as the only means of uncovering the truth: They recite their sacred books, although the fact informs me

that these are a fiction from first to last.

O reason, Thou (alone) speakest the truth

Then perish the fools who forged the religious traditions or interpreted them! Here al-Ma'arri, while admiring the Indian more than the Muslim, and the Indian custom of cremation, still insists that death is not such a terrible thing, it is only a falling asleep. In his collection of poems known as the Luzumiyyat, al-Ma'arri clearly prefers this practice of cremation to the Muslim one of burial. The holy fights by Moslem heroes fought,

The saintly works by Christian hermits wrought

And those of Jewry or of Sabian creed --

Their valour reaches not the Indian's deed

Whom zeal and awe religiously inspire

To cast his body on the flaming pyre.

Yet is man's death a long, long sleep of lead

And all his life a waking. O'er our dead

The prayers are chanted, hopeless farewells taken;

And there we lie, never to stir again.

Shall I so fear in mother earth to rest?

How soft a cradle is thy mother's breast!

When once the viewless spirit from me is gone,

By rains unfreshed let my bones rot on!

Omar Khayyam (1048-1122): Omar Khayyám was a Persian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and Islamic theology. Omar Khayyám was one of the greatest mathematicians, astronomers, and poets of Iran whose Ruba’iyat (quatrains) are translated into most of the languages of the world and who has earned a universal recognition by everyone. He was an epicurean philosopher, a rationalist skeptic and freethinker and follower of Greek philosophy, and scornful of religion and in particular of Islam. His views on Islam were in sheer contradiction with its fundamental precepts. He objected to the notion that every particular event and phenomenon was the result of the intervention of Allah. He did not believe in resurrection, Judgment Day or rewards and punishments in an alleged afterlife. Instead he was a naturalist and maintained all phenomena of observed on earth were guided by the laws of nature. The following poem from his famous Rubayyat, will clearly highlight his mindset about his love of freethinking rational Greek philosophy against blind-faith theological Islamic doctrines: If Madrasahs of those drunks

Became the educational institutes

Of teaching philosophy of

Epicures, Plato and Aristotle;

If Abode and Mazars of Peer and Dervish

Is turned into research institutes,

If men instead of following blind faith of religion

Should have cultivated ethics,

If the abode of worships were turned into

Centers of learning of all academic activities,

If instead of studying religion, men

Would have devoted to develop mathematics - algebra,

If logic of science would have occupied the place of

Sufism, faith and superstition,

Religion that divides human beings

Would have replaced by humanism…

Then world would have turned into haven,

The world on other side then would have extinguished

The world would then become full of

Love-affection-freedom-joy,

And there is no doubt about it. Edward Fitzgerald sums up the delightful nature of Omar Khayyam and his philosophy thus: “...Omar’s Epicurean Audacity of thought and Speech caused him to be regarded askance in his own time and country. He is said to have been especially hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose practice he ridiculed, and whose faith amounts to little more than his own, when strips of the Mysticism and formal recognition of Islamism under which Omar would not hide.” Khayyam did not believe in any other world except this one. He was more concerned to enjoy the simple pleasures of life than confused world of the unknown. He was an agnostic par excellence “preferring rather to soothe the soul through the senses into acquiescence with things as he saw them, than to perplex it with vain disquietude after what they might be.” Here are some examples Omar’s quatrains translated by Fitzgerald Some for the Glories of This World; and some

Sigh for the Prophet’s Paradise to come;

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go

Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!



Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d

Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust

Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn

Are scatter’d, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.



Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky

I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry:

‘Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup

Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.

Ibn Rushd (1126-1198): Ibn Rushd was an Andalusian polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics. His school of philosophy is known as Averroism. He was condemned for heresy by the Christian, the Jewish and the Islamic orthodoxy. Averroism was as influential as was Marxism in the 19th century. Ibn Rushd worked as a mediator between the Arabic and the Western world by commenting and interpreting Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato, making them accessible to Arabic culture. He considered Aristotle as ‘the Prefect Man’. He wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle and earned the epithet of "The Commentator" . “He expounded the Quran in Aristotelian terms. In many of his works, he also tried to mediate between philosophy and religion. This great mind born in Andalusia , present-day Spain was an important philosopher and scientist, known in the Western world as Averroes . His influence on European thought tends to be forgotten by Arabs and Europeans alike. But in the 13th and 14th centurywas as influential as was Marxism in the 19th century. Ibn Rushd worked as a mediator between the Arabic and the Western world by commenting and interpreting Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato, making them accessible to Arabic culture. He considered Aristotle as ‘the Prefect Man’. He wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle and earned the epithet of. “He expounded the Quran in Aristotelian terms. In many of his works, he also tried to mediate between philosophy and religion. Religious leaders did not always praise his works; he was condemned for heresy by the Christian, the Jewish and the Islamic orthodoxy and his works were frequently banished and burnt. Ibn Rushd fell out of favor with the Caliph due to the opposition that theologians had raised against his writings. He was accused of heresy, interrogated and banned to Lucena, close to Cordova. At the same time, the Caliph ordered the books of the philosopher to be burnt, with the exception of his works on Medicine, Arithmetic and Elementary Astronomy (around 1195). Somewhat later the Caliph revoked the banishment and called Ibn Rushd back to Marrakesh. The works of Ibn Rushd also aroused admiration in Europe, even among those theologians who saw a danger for religious faith in his writings. In the 13th century, Ibn Rushd was condemned by bishops from Paris, Oxford and Canterbury for reasons similar to those that had caused his condemnation by the orthodox Muslims in Spain. Abu Yaqub, the Caliph of Morocco, called him to his capital and appointed him as his physician in place of Ibn Tufail. His son Yaqub al-Mansur retained him for some time but soon Ibn Rushd's views on theology and philosophy drew the Caliph's wrath. All his books, barring strictly scientific ones, were burnt and he was banished to Lucena. However, as a result of intervention of several leading scholars he was forgiven after about four years and recalled to Morocco in 1198; but he died towards the end of the same year. Ibn Rushd was a liberal, an exponent of liberation of women and regarded “much of the poverty and distress of the times arises from the fact that women are kept like “domestic animals” or house plants for purposes of gratification”, of a very questionable character besides, instead of being allowed to take part in the production of material and intellectual wealth, and in the preservation of the same.

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780-850): Al-Khwarizmi was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. In Renaissance Europe, he was considered the original inventor of algebra. house of wisdom (established by Caliph al-Mamun) in Baghdad. He was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and geographer. Some of his contributions were based on earlier Persian and Babylonian Astronomy, Indian numerals, and the Greek sources. Al-Khwarizmi was born in Khwarizm (now Khiva) in Uzbekistan. He worked most of his life as a scholar in the(established by Caliph al-Mamun) in Baghdad. He was a Persian. Some of his contributions were based on earlier Persian and Babylonian Astronomy, Indian numerals, and the Greek sources. His "Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing" was the first book on the systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. Consequently he was considered "father of algebra" , a title he shares with Diophantus. Latin translations of his Arithmetic, on the Indian numerals, introduced the decimal positional number system to the Western world in the 12th century. He revised and updated Ptolemy’s Geography as well as writing several works on astronomy and astrology. His contributions not only made a great impact on mathematics, but on language as well. Most of the positional base 10 numeral systems in the world have originated from India which first developed the concept of positional numerology. The Indian numeral system is commonly referred to the West as Hindu-Arabic numeral system, since it reached Europe through the Arabs. History of Algebra: The Chinese, the Persians, and the people of India used algebra thousands of years ago. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks contributed to the early development of algebra. Al-Khwarizmi a teacher in the mathematical school in Baghdad, collected and improved the advances in algebra of previous Hindu and Arab scholars. His works included the translation of Greek and Sanskrit scientific manuscript. Some words reflect the importance of al-Khwarizmi's contributions to mathematics. "Algebra" is derived from al-jabr, one of the two operations he used to solve quadratic equations. Algorism and algorithm stem from Algoritmi, the Latin form of his name. His name is also the origin of (Spanish) guarismo and of (Portuguese) algarismo, both meaning digit. According to the historian al-Tabari, al-khwarizmi was an adherent of the old Zoroastrian religion. Others considered him as orthodox Muslim. Nevertheless, Al-Khwarizmi never indicated that he was influenced by religiosity or he received any scientific theory out of Koran or hadiths.

Al-Biruni (973-1048): Al-Biruni was a scholar and polymath of the 11th century. He is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. Alberonius in Latin) was a Persian-born Muslim polymaths. He was a scientist and physicist, an anthropologist, an astronomer, an astrologer, an encyclopedist, a historian, a geographer, a geologist, a mathematician, philosopher, teacher, and a traveller. He was conversant in Chorasmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Turkic, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and became the most important interpreter of Indian science to the Islamic world. He is given the titles the "founder of Indology" and the "first anthropologist" . He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustdadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography. Born in Khwarezm, Khorasan (now Uzbekistan) Abū al-Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, (widely known as Al-Biruni orin Latin) was a Persian-born Muslim polymaths. He was a scientist and physicist, an anthropologist, an astronomer, an astrologer, an encyclopedist, a historian, a geographer, a geologist, a mathematician, philosopher, teacher, and a traveller. He was conversant in Chorasmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Turkic, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and became the most important interpreter of Indian science to the Islamic world. He is given the titles theand the. He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustdadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as thefor his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography. In Islamic theology, al-Beruni assigned to the Qur’an a separate and autonomous realm of its own and held that the Qur’an does not interferes in the business of science nor does it infringe on the realm of science.

Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (c. 801–873): Al-Kindi was an Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. He was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy in the Muslim world. one of the twelve greatest minds of the Middle Ages. Al-Kindi was born in Kufa (modern Iraq) a Muslim Arab polymath. He was a philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, chemist, mathematician, musician, physician and physicist who was well known for his utmost interest in Greek philosophy. He was the first prominent philosopher of the Islamic world and was a member of the former Christian Arab tribe of Al-Kinda and was the only pure blooded Arab philosopher. The Italian Renaissance scholar Geralomo Cardano (1501–1575) considered him Al-Kindi became a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, and a number of Abbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into the Arabic language. This contact with "the philosophy of the ancients" (as Greek philosophy was often referred to by Muslim scholars) had a profound effect on his intellectual development, and lead him to write a number of original treatises of his own on a range of subjects ranging from metaphysics and ethics to mathematics and philosophy and pharmacology. In the field of mathematics, al-Kindi played an important role in introducing Indian numerals to the Islamic and Christian world. His own thought was largely influenced by the Neo-Platonic philosophy of Proclus, Plotinus and John Philoponus, amongst others, although he does appear to have borrowed ideas from other Hellenistic schools as well. Earlier experts had suggested that he was influenced by the Mutazilite school of theology, because of the mutual concern both he and they demonstrated for maintaining the pure unity (tawhid) of God. However, such agreements are now considered incidental, as further study has shown that they disagreed on a number of equally important topics. Al-Kindi is regarded as the "father of Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy in the Muslim world. During his life, al-Kindi was fortunate enough to enjoy the patronage of the pro-Mutazilite Caliphs al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim, which meant he could carry out his philosophical speculations with relative ease. This would change significantly towards the end of his life when al-Mutawakkil supported the more orthodox Asharite school, and initiated persecution of various unorthodox schools of thought, including the philosophers. He also engaged in disputations with the Mutazilites, whom he attacked for their belief in atoms. But the real role of al-Kindi in the conflict between philosophers and theologians would be to prepare the ground for debate. His works, says Deborah Black, contained all the seeds of future controversy that would be fully realized in al-Ghazali's "Incoherence of the Philosophers".

Al-Farabi (870-950): Al-Farabi was a renowned scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also a cosmologist, logician, and musician. He was known among medieval Muslim intellectuals as "The Second Teacher", that is, the successor to Aristotle, "The First Teacher". Alpharabius), the Kazakh thinker, was the greatest scientists and philosophers of the Islamic world. Among the scholars of the Middle Period - (tenth and eleventh centuries ad) al-Farabi was considered the foremost Aristotelian, and was indeed known as the "Second Teacher" (Aristotle himself being the First Teacher). He made notable contributions to the fields of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, sociology and music. He was inspired by the Platonism and Neo-Platonism and was a great exponent of the Aristotelian school of philosophy. He wrote rich commentaries on Aristotle and like al-Razi, he considered reason superior to revelation and advocated for the relegation of prophecy to philosophy. According to him as quoted by Nicholson, “…reason should govern and control the life of man. He definitely did not believe in the inherent doctrines of the Islamic creed and wished it could be reformed guided by philosophy. He was also a major political scientist and may rightly be acclaimed as one of the greatest of Islamic philosophers of all time. While his name tends to be overshadowed by that of Ibn Sina, it is worth bearing in mind that the latter was less original than the former. Al-Farabi (known in the west as), the Kazakh thinker, was. Among the scholars of the Middle Period - (tenth and eleventh centuries ad) al-Farabi was considered the foremost Aristotelian, and was indeed known as the(Aristotle himself being the First Teacher). He made notable contributions to the fields of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, sociology and music. He was inspired by the Platonism and Neo-Platonism and was a great exponent of the Aristotelian school of philosophy. He wrote rich commentaries on Aristotle and like al-Razi, he consideredand advocated for. According to him as quoted by Nicholson, “…reason should govern and control the life of man. He definitely. He was also a major political scientist and may rightly be acclaimed as. While his name tends to be overshadowed by that of Ibn Sina, it is worth bearing in mind that the latter was less original than the former.

Jabir or Geber (721-815): Geber was a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geographer, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician. He has been referred to as the "father of Arab chemistry" by Europeans. Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān, was a prominent Islamic alchemist, pharmacist, philosopher, astronomer, and physicist. He has also been referred to as the "father of Arab chemistry" by Europeans. The historian of chemistry Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier. His ethnic background is not clear; although most sources state he was an Arab, some describe him as Persian. Jabir was born in Tus, Khorasan, in Iran, which was at the time ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq) during the Umayyad Caliphate. Geber , aka, was a prominent Islamic alchemist, pharmacist, philosopher, astronomer, and physicist. He has also been referred to as theby Europeans. The historian of chemistry Erick John Holmyard gives credit to Jābir for developing alchemy into an experimental science and he writes that Jābir's importance to the history of chemistry is equal to that ofand. His ethnic background is not clear; although most sources state he was an Arab, some describe him as Persian. Jabir was born in Tus, Khorasan, in Iran, which was at the time ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq) during the Umayyad Caliphate. Jabir is mostly known for his contributions to chemistry. He emphasised systematic experimentation, and did much to free alchemy from superstition and turn it into a science. He is credited with the invention of many types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment, and with the discovery and description of many now-commonplace chemical substances and processes - such as the hydrochloric and nitric acids, distillation, and crystallization ­ that have become the foundation of today's chemistry and chemical engineering. Jabir's alchemical investigations were theoretically grounded in an elaborate numerology related to Pythagorean and Neoplatonic systems. In his writings, Jabir pays tribute to Egyptian and Greek alchemists Hermes Trismegistus, Agathodaimon, Pythagoras, and Socrates. His books strongly influenced the medieval European alchemists and justified their search for the philosopher's stone. In spite of his leanings toward mysticism (he was considered a Sufi) and superstition, he more clearly recognised and proclaimed the importance of experimentation. Jabir became an alchemist at the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote the Kitab al-Zuhra ("The Book of Venus", on "the noble art of alchemy"). In the middle Ages, Jabir's treatises on chemistry were translated into Latin and became standard texts for European alchemists.

Abu Al-Qasim or Abulcasis (936-1013): Abulcasis, was an Arab physician who lived in Al-Andalus. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has been described by many as the father of modern surgery. Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi (known in the west as Medical Encyclopedia called Al-Tasrif, which is composed of thirty volumes covering different aspects of medical science. He is considered the "father of modern surgery" and as the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World whose comprehensive medical texts, combining Arab medicine and Greco-Roman teachings, shaped both Islamic and European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance. His greatest contribution to history is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices. According to Dr. Cambell (History of Arab Medicine), his principles of medical science surpassed those of Galen in the European medical curriculum. (known in the west as Abulcasis ) was an Andalusian Muslim Physician born in 936 A.D. in Zahra in the neighborhood of Cordova, Al-Andalus , present-day Spain. He became one of the most renowned surgeons of the Muslim era and was a court physician to the Andalusian caliph Al-Hakam II. After a long medical career, rich with significant original contribution, he died in 1013 A.D. He is best known for his early and original breakthroughs in surgery as well as for his famouscalled, which is composed of thirty volumes covering different aspects of medical science. He is considered theand as the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World whose comprehensive medical texts, combining Arab medicine and Greco-Roman teachings, shaped both Islamic and European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance. His greatest contribution to history is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices. According to Dr. Cambell (History of Arab Medicine),