ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the debate that medieval European thought owed to both Muslim and Jewish intellectual traditions that prospered in the medieval Islamic Caliphate. Unlike their Christian neighbors, Muslims and Jews maintained access to ancient philosophical texts, especially works by Plato and Aristotle, and, as a result, developed vibrant intellectual traditions that, when translated into Latin, essentially educated thirteenth-century Europe. Among other thinkers considered are Abu Nasr Mohammed ibn al-Farabi (ca. 872–950/1), Abu Hamid Mohammed ibn Mohammed at-Tusi al-Ghazali (1056/7–1111), Moses ben Maimon (1135/8–1204), Abu I-Walid Mohammed ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (1126–1198), and Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdillah ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sina (980–1037).
