Editing Islamic philosophy (section)

====Transmutation of species====
[[Al-Dinawari]] (828–896), considered the founder of [[Muslim Agricultural Revolution|Arabic botany]] for his ''Book of Plants'', discussed [[plant evolution]] from its birth to its death, describing the phases of [[plant growth]] and the production of flowers and fruit.<ref name=Fahd-815>{{citation |last=Fahd |first=Toufic |title=Botany and agriculture |pages=815 |postscript=.}}, in {{Harvp|Morelon|Rashed|1996}}</ref>

[[Ibn Miskawayh]]'s ''al-Fawz al-Asghar'' and the [[Brethren of Purity]]'s ''[[Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity]]'' (''The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa'') developed theories on evolution that possibly had an influence on [[Charles Darwin]] and his inception of [[Darwinism]], but has at one time been criticized as overenthusiastic.<ref name=Muqaddimah-Footnotes>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_05Footnote.htm Footnote 27a] to Chapter 6, Part 5 in {{citation |last=Khaldūn |first=Ibn |others=Franz Rosenthal (trans.) |title=The Muqaddimah |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|[These books] state that God first created [[matter]] and invested it with [[energy]] for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of [[vapour]] which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was [[mineral]] life. Different kinds of [[Rock (geology)|stone]]s developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan ([[coral]]). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves [[vegetation]]. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the [[Date Palm|date-palm]]. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an [[ape]]. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the ''Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa''. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a [[barbarian]] man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a [[saint]], a [[prophet]]. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an [[angel]]. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him.<ref name=Hamidullah>[[Muhammad Hamidullah]] and Afzal Iqbal (1993), ''The Emergence of Islam: Lectures on the Development of Islamic World-view, Intellectual Tradition and Polity'', pp. 143–44. Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad.</ref>}}

English translations of the ''Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity'' were available from 1812,<ref>"Ikhwan as-Safa and their Rasa'il: A Critical Review of a Century and a Half of Research", by A. L. Tibawi, as published in volume 2 of ''The Islamic Quarterly'' in 1955; pp. 28–46</ref> while [[Arabic language|Arabic]] [[manuscript]]s of the ''al-Fawz al-Asghar'' and ''The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa'' were also available at the [[University of Cambridge]] by the 19th century. These works likely had an influence on 19th-century evolutionists, and possibly [[Charles Darwin]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

In the 14th century, [[Ibn Khaldun]] further developed the evolutionary ideas found in the ''Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity''. The following statements from his 1377 work, the ''[[Muqaddimah]]'', express evolutionary ideas:

{{Blockquote|We explained there that the whole of existence in (all) its simple and composite worlds is arranged in a natural order of ascent and descent, so that everything constitutes an uninterrupted continuum. The essences at the end of each particular stage of the worlds are by nature prepared to be transformed into the essence adjacent to them, either above or below them. This is the case with the simple material elements; it is the case with palms and vines, (which constitute) the last stage of plants, in their relation to snails and shellfish, (which constitute) the (lowest) stage of animals. It is also the case with monkeys, creatures combining in themselves cleverness and perception, in their relation to man, the being who has the ability to think and to reflect. The preparedness (for transformation) that exists on either side, at each stage of the worlds, is meant when (we speak about) their connection.<ref>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_05.htm ''Muqaddimah'', Chapter 6, Part 5]</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|Plants do not have the same fineness and power that animals have. Therefore, the sages rarely turned to them. Animals are the last and final stage of the three permutations. Minerals turn into plants, and plants into animals, but animals cannot turn into anything finer than themselves.<ref>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_29.htm ''Muqaddimah'', Chapter 6, Part 29]</ref>}}

Numerous other Islamic scholars and scientists, including the polymaths [[Ibn al-Haytham]] and [[Al-Khazini]], discussed and developed these ideas. Translated into Latin, these works began to appear in the West after the [[Renaissance]] and may have influenced [[Western philosophy]] and science.