Islam and the English Enlightenment

The long medieval centuries witnessed the absolute iron fists of the church and its monarchical abusive powers. The Catholic Church, the only religious power during this time, became the largest landowner, employer and powerhouse of Europe.

Such was the socio-political situation which led many Christian reformers of the sixteenth century such as Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin to look inward as well as outward to identify Christian problems and their possible remedies. Islam from the outset had claimed to have come as a rectifier of Christian excesses and a reformer of its historical overindulgences.

Muslims had a long history of anti-Christian polemics culminating century’s long tradition of anti-trinitarianism and biblical criticism. Islamic tradition was also rife with theories and conceptual frameworks for heterodoxy, interfaith and intra-faith toleration.

Ottoman and Mughal empires of the 16th and 17th Centuries were a practical witness to the effectiveness of these concepts.

This remarkable book is an in-depth study into how Islam shaped and enlightened traditional European ideologies which led to reform and revolution across the continent, and how these ideologies would go on to influence the Founding Fathers of America.