Fakhry discusses Islamic thought and its effect on the cultural aspects of Muslim life. In the final chapters, he examines the rise of pan-Islamism and the many currents it has generated in the last two centuries, including secularism and fundamentalism, which are still pitted against each other throughout the Muslim world.

The Legacy of Greece, Alexandria, and the Orient I.The Near Eastern Scene in the Seventh Century II.The Translations of Philosophical Texts III.Pre-Socratics, Peripatetics, and Stoics IV.Neo-Platonic Elements: The Apocryphal Theologia Aristotelis and the Liber de Causis V.Persian and Indian Influences Early Political and Religious Tensions I.The Religio-Political Factions II.The Rise of Islamic Scholasticism (Kal?m) Beginnings of Systematic Philosophical Writing in the Ninth Century I.The First Systematic Philosophical Writer in Islam: Al-Kind? II.The Rise of Naturalism and the Challenge to Islamic Dogma: Ibn Al-R?z? III.The Progress of Free Thought and Religious Heterodoxy The Further Development of Islamic Neo-Platonism I.Al-F?r?b? II.Ibn S?n? Neo-Pythagoreanism and the Popularization of the Philosophical Sciences I.Philosophy, the Handmaid of Politics II.The Mathematico-Philosophical Presuppositions of the Brethren III.The Cosmology and Metaphysics of the Brethren IV.The Psychology and the Epistemology of the Brethren V.Conclusion The Diffusion of Philosophical Culture in the Tenth Century I.Ab? Hayy?n Al-Tauh?d? II.Miskawayh III.Yahia b. 'Ad? The Interaction of Philosophy and Dogma I.The Eclipse of Theological Rationalism II.The Ash'arite School and the Formulation of the Occasionalist Metaphysics of Atoms and Accidents III.The Systematic Refutation of Neo-Platonism: Al-Ghaz?l? The Rise and Development of Islamic Mysticism (S?fism) I.Ascetic Origins II.Pantheistic Tendencies: Al-Bast?m? (or Al-Bist?m?) III.Synthesis and Systematization -Al-Ghaz?l? and Ibn 'Arab? IV.R?m?, Supreme Mystical Poet V.S?fi Orders: S?sim Today The Arab-Spanish Interlude and the Revival of Peripateticism I.Beginnings of Philosophical Speculation in Muslim Spain: Ibn Masarrah Al-Majr?t?, and Ibn B?jjah II.Ibn Tufayl and the Natural Progression of the Mind Toward Truth III.Ibn Rushd and the Defense of Aristotelianism Post-Avicennian Developments: Illumination and the Reaction against Peripateticisim I.Al-Suhraward? II.The Subsequent Development of Illuminationism: Sadr Al-D?n Al Sh?r?z? (Mulla Sadr?) and His Successors III.The Continuity of the Ishr?q? Tradition in Persia Theological Reaction and Reconstruction I.Literalism and Neo-Hanbalism: Ibn Hazm, Ibn Taymiyah, and Muhammad B. 'Abdul-Wahh?b II.Moderation and Decline: F. D. Al-R?z?, N. D. Al-Nsaf?,Al- ?j?, Al-Jurj?n?, and Al-B?jur? III.Reaction and Reconstruction: Ibn Khald?n Modernist Trends I.The Emergence of the Modernist Spirit: J. D. Al-Afgh?n? and Muhammad 'Abdu II.Islamic Philosophy in India and Southeast Asia III.Modernism in India: Sayyid Ahmad Kh?n, Ameer Ali, and Muhammad Iqb?l Contemporary Trends I.Liberalism, Secularism, and Fundamentalism II.Existentialism, Positivism, and Marxism III.Postmodernism and Hermeneutics