A survey of the Basic Components of Ikhvan-al-Safa's Religious Epistemology

It was in the fourth century AH that a group of scholars called Ikhvan-al-Safa and Khollan-al-Wafa decided to write some brief treatises and send them out anonymously to publicize rational sciences, bring religion and philosophy closer together and make people aware of scientific and religious issues, all with the intention to remove deviations from the Islamic society. At that time, in spite of the numerous political and societal limitations, Moslems were developed scientifically and intellectually in all areas including philosophy and politics. Ikhvan-al-Safa, while sticking to religious thought, represented the Islamic revival and the focus on Hellenic philosophy and metaphysics. Their efforts to study religious issues within a theoretical framework to organize the components of religious epistemology including theology, prophecy, anthropology, knowledge of the soul and ethics are very significant.