Selected texts from Islamic philosophy

In their pre-Islamic era, the Arabs did not have philosophy in the precise sense that this term indicates. This is because this nation was almost completely isolated from the general trend of human thought in its various manifestations, whether philosophical or scientific. It is not true, as a group of philosophical historians claim, that the Arabs were not naturally inclined to theoretical research. Some of these people have confirmed that philosophy is a Greek or Western production, and that the Semitic, or Eastern, mentality in general is far from in-depth research and diving behind the general facts and theories that are considered the first material in philosophical research. But this claim is not consistent with what the history of philosophy has established and what the mind accepts. Human thinking is the same everywhere, and it moves from one civilization to another, and takes shape in different ways. It is recognized that the Greeks created their philosophical doctrines on the basis of many elements that they took from the eastern peoples, including the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and others.