Historically, ‘Islamic Thought’ has referred to an intellectual endeavour. Since the origins of Islam in the seventh century, Muslims and non-Muslims alike have demonstrated an intellectual curiosity, albeit with different motivations in its theology, rituals, and normative dimensions. Irrespective of their own cultural or religious predispositions, contemporary academics around the world continue to engage in unearthing and producing discourses on Islam and Islamic civilization. In this article, I provide an analysis of Islamic civilizations that shall discuss how Islamic theology intersected with politics, economics, and culture to construct an Islamic ‘way of living’. I shall proceed by providing a historical overview of the foundation of Islamic civilization, before suggesting a few approaches that may guide how ‘Islamic Thought’ can be understood today.

Terminology

Three terms crucial in this chapter are: ‘Islam’, ‘intellectual’, and ‘tradition’. In this section, I will provide an overview of how these terms have been conventionally understood, along with how these conventional definitions have evolved and given rise to new meanings.

ISLAM

Islam can be broken down into two dimensions: (1) Islam as a religion and (2) Islam as a civilization.

Islam as a Religion

The Islamic perspective regards Islam as the final religion sent by God, to mankind through the last prophet, Muhammad. Islam follows the trajectory of divine revelations to all prophets, from Adam, the first man and first prophet, to Muhammad, the last prophet.