Muslim world.
 Important to Islamic philosophers is the concept of Prophethood, namely God selecting messengers and endowing them through prophecy (communication from God, either directly or through Angels) with enlightenment and truth. This was a concept that would have to be explained philosophically. It would be al-Farabi who would formulate such a concept in Hellenistic terms. To al-Farabi, he would equate two sources of knowledge namely revelation and philosophy as the two roads to enlightenment and truth.
 Al-Farabi had accomplished much in all the major fields of philosophy including metaphysics, logic, music theory, ethics and politics. Not only did he make a brave attempt to reconcile philosophy with Islamic doctrine, he also attempted to reconcile philosophy with it self, namely a work on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle (available online c.f. al-Farabi). He was also an accomplished musician of great renown.
 Soon thereafter, a hodgepodge work called the epistles of the brethren of purity “Rasil Ikhwan al-Safa”. (ca. 946-1055) This work is a mix of philosophy (Pythagorean speculations), theology (Jewish, Christian, Persian, Hindu, and Islamic elements), mysticism, math, music theory, and astrology. Prof. Hitti, in his history of the Arabs says of the group “...they evidently aimed to overthrow [Abbasid rule] by undermining the popular intellectual system and religious beliefs.” p. 373. It is important to note they were aligned with the Fatimid rule.
 The third most important figure in philosophy is Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980-1037) [He lived in Northern Iran/FSSR]. He wrote on a wide variety of sciences, medicine being his most valuable contribution. He also wrote on all branches of philosophy. He is also credited with popularizing philosophy for the elite. There are many legends that surround not only his life but there are many books that are attributed to him that he did not write according to scholarly accounts. Still he wrote extensively on philosophy ranging from short works to encyclopedic length works, namely his famed al-Shifa (lit. healing ) that runs in 12 volumes (2 volumes available online c.f. Avicenna). Outside of philosophy his is famous for his medical encyclopedia, al-qanun fi-al-tibb (Canon of Medicine -available online in original Arabic(1593 ed.), from which the English term 'canon' comes from.
 Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) is an important figure in the history of Islamic thought. He was a a scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence and theologian by training who delved into philosophy out of necessity. He was also a gifted writer with keen knack for clarifying terse subjects. He claimed three things with regard to philosophy in the Muslim world at his time. The first claim is that some of the teachings of philosophy run against the teachings of Islam to the point that they cannot be rationally reconciled. Second, these teachings are also contradictory to the teachings of philosophy it self, hence they are incoherent at best and otherwise destructive. These teachings run counter to philosophy and its stated goals of being coherent, logical and consistent. Thirdly, some of the teachings of philosophy are useful to Islam, namely logic, math, astronomy, physics, etc.
 To prove his point al-Ghazali did two things first of all he wrote a summary (titled Maqasid al-falasifah (Aims of the philosophers) of philosophical teachings concentrating on metaphysics and logic. This summary proved useful and with the missing introduction and closing remarks would earn him the title of “the expositor of Avicennain philosophy” in the west. His stated goal is that in order to be able to refute philosophy one had to be competent in it. This he did, much to the dismay of his compatriots who claimed that you have done the philosophers task by simplifying their teachings for the layperson. Ibn Rushd would vent his anger on him years later for doing this as well. How could he bring to the masses the literature of the elite that has been hidden by complex terminology and vague statements that only the ‘select’ were understand af