This article covers the conversations between Jewish philosophy and Islamic philosophy, and mutual influence on each other in response to questions and challenges brought into wide circulation through Aristotelianism, Neo-platonism, and the Kalam, focusing especially on the period from 800–1400 CE.
Freedom versus fatalism and the Kalam
A century after the Qur'an was written, numerous religious schisms arose in Islam. Skeptics sought to investigate the doctrines of the Qur'an, which until then had been accepted as divine revelation. The first independent protest was that of the Qadar ("Destiny"), whose partisans affirmed the freedom of the will, in contrast with the Jabarites (jabar, force, constraint), who maintained the traditional belief in fatalism.
Saadia Gaon
One of the most important early Jewish philosophers influenced by Islamic philosophy is Saadia Gaon (892–942). His most important work is Emunoth ve-Deoth (Book of Beliefs and Opinions). In this work Saadia treats of the questions that interested the Motekallamin so deeply—such as the creation of matter, the unity of God, the divine attributes, the soul, etc. — and he criticizes the philosophers severely.
See also
- David ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas
- Early Islamic philosophy
- Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain
- Islamic philosophy
- Islamic-Jewish relations
- Jewish philosophy