ABSTRACT
Despite the political instability of the tenth and eleventh centuries AD, these are considered the most important centuries in Islamic culture. During these two centuries philosophy, theology and mysticism developed their most important doctrines. This chapter sketches the historical and cultural context of the works. It presents a summary of the main political and cultural events of this period and a short description of the problems between the two main religious sects, Shi'a and Sunni. The chapter describes the system of patronage by the viziers and princes of all the scientific scholars and finally gives some details about the main intellectual circles. The events of the tenth and the eleventh centuries were born out of the decline of the ‘Abbasid caliphate at the end of the ninth century.
