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ut finally he went to Damascus, where he died 950 A.D.
Ibn Sina, better known as Avicenna, a man of Persian origin, was a Philosopher of great note, but of him it is said that in spite of the concessions he made to the religious ideas of his age, he could not find favour for his opinions, which ill accord with the principles of Islám. He was born near Bukhárá, in the year 980 A.D. For a while he taught medicine and philosophy in Ispahán.
Ibn Badja, (Avempace) was one of the most celebrated Muslim Philosophers of Spain. He was born at Saragossa towards the end of the eleventh century. He is distinguished for having opposed the mystical tendencies of the teaching of Al-Ghazzálí, and for maintaining that speculative science alone was capable of leading man to a true conception of his own proper nature. He was violently attacked by the orthodox divines who declared that all philosophical teaching was "a calamity for religion and an affliction to those who were in the good way."
Al-Ghazzálí was born A.D. 1059 in Khorásán. He was a famous Muslim divine. He adopted scholastic methods. For a while he was President of the Nizámiah College at Baghdád. He travelled much, and wrote many books to prove the superiority of Islám over all other religions and over philosophy. The first result of his wide and extensive study of the writings of the philosophers, and of the heretics was that he fell into a state of scepticism with regard to religion and philosophy. From this he emerged into Súfíism, in {184} which his restless spirit found satisfaction. On Súfíism, however, he exercised no very notable influence; but the scepticism which he still retained as regards philosophy rendered him a very formidable opponent to those who were trying to bring Islám into accord with philosophic theories. His works, "Tendency of Philosophers," and "Destruction of the Philosophers" had an immense infl