ABSTRACT
Scholarship has traditionally been global. The thinking of Confucius, Aristotle, Ibn Khaldun, Maimonides, Erasmus, Galileo Galilei, Goethe, Rousseau, and many others are a universal heritage. Contrary to the Romantics’ invention of antiquity, Greek high culture had its roots in Africa, particularly ancient Egypt. It was Arab and Muslim scholars in the Middle East who made Europeans aware of the heritage of Greek and Roman scholarship. Al Farabi, the tenth-century Muslim polymath, was well-versed in several languages and extensively translated Greek texts. He was known as the ‘second master’, the first being Aristotle, and his original elaborations marked a major advance in philosophical and theological thinking. He was a major influence on Thomas Aquinas. Another figure who strongly influenced Aquinas was Ibn Rushd, the twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher who produced extensive commentaries on Greek philosophical treatises, especially Aristotle’s. His commentaries were translated into Hebrew and Latin which, along with his ideas, became formative in the development of Renaissance thought. It is often said that:
the new humanity that blossomed in the Renaissance had its origin in these words uttered by Averroes: O men! I do not say that the knowledge which you call divine science is false; what I am saying is that I have knowledge of human science.
(cited in Corbin, 2001, p. 250)