This was gonna be a forum topic [url=http://www.therevival.co.uk/node/3572]reply to this topic[/url], but I had second thoughts, thought it would be better as a blog.

I have been holding a reply to this topic for a while... but I will put it here now...

Been doing a little reading lately.

Some people suggest that the triumph of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash%27ari]Ashari[/url] school of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalam] islamic philosophy[/url] is to blame for the lack of pondering in the Muslim Community, and maybe even its fall from grace.

Others disagree and point out that the first two centuries afters its domination were times where Muslims made some of the greatest discoveries. This is countered by the argument that the peak had been already reached and these may have built upon earlier greatness.

The reason for this victory? Imam Ghazzali. and his book called something like "[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philosophers]The Incoherence of the Philosophers[/url]".

This book was almost universally accepted and it brought about massive changes within the Muslim community and most people accept it helped shape its very future. There were critics, but they were not well received The scientist Ibn Rushd wrote a counter arguing it stunted science as the book argued that if a lit match was brought near cotton, the cotton would ignite not because of the match but because Allah (swt) wills it so - a good argument which is still respected today - even by non Muslim Philosophers, but it threw observational science out of the window.

The book went well beyond mere theology and and has been massively credited for may things. Some say it brought the Muslim civilisation to it's peak Others say it is the cause for the stunting of Muslim Science and the downfall of Muslim civilisation.

I have not read that book. I want to.

Of course all this is history and there is still a question about the lack of innovation/philosophy today. I would partly like to blame the education system - it is too much about Rote learning and less about understanding.

Even that is not the whole picture - it only applies to those that go to a religious school, not the mass population.

There is also the issue of complacency. It is for me. We know god Exists. We know the meaning of life (The qur'an tells us in a few places that Allah (swt) created man and Jinn to worship and to recognise him (swt)).

Why worry about something if I have no control over it? That is my philosophy in life. It helps because it totally removes stress, but on the other hand it also removes ambition.

(I kept this reply as in the past I have referenced to other sites that I no longer had links to which - from what I can see - made unsubstantiated allegations about Imam Ghazzali. I did not want it to seem like I was hating on the guy.)

I have to say I like wikipedia. It has taught me a lot. To learn all you have to do is go to a page, any page and start reading. when you see something of interest, click it and hey, presto you got more material! It may not be 100% accurate (but it generally is accurate enough - some say more than paid for encyclopaedias such as Britannica) and it may not always be without bias, but it gives a good grounding which can be used to get further knowledge.