Historie islmskch racionalist – Dl II. Ahmad bin Jahj bin al-Murtad (2026)

This second and final volume of the history of Islamic rationalists by the Muslim theologian Ahmad bin Yahya bin al-Murtada continues its account of Islamic rationalists through the generations, reaching approximately the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries of the Christian era, or the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries of the Islamic era. The first volume covered individual figures from the beginnings of Islam to approximately the middle of the ninth century. The book highlights the connection between the Islamic Golden Age, a period of major scientific, economic and cultural flourishing, and the time when the ruling elites of the Islamic world were influenced by Islamic rationalists, or Mu’tazilites. As the rationalists’ influence weakened from generation to generation, the Islamic world declined, while rulers supported by Sunni orthodoxy gradually took power. The book contrasts this with the theology of Islamic rationalists, who reject tyrannical rule as ungodly. It also refers to the author’s work on the conflicts between Islamic rationalism and orthodoxy and to his book Reason, the Createdness of the Quran and Free Will in Islam. This Czech-language edition is described as the first translation of this work from Arabic into another language.