Medieval Muslim Philosophers and Intercultural Communication

<p>This book examines the works of Medieval Muslim philosophers interested in intercultural encounters and how receptive Islam is to foreign thought to serve as a dialogical model grounded in intercultural communications for Islamic and Arabic education. The philosophers studied in this project were instructors tutors or teachers such as Al-Kindi Al-Farabi Al-Ghazali and Averroes whose philosophical contributions directly or indirectly advanced intercultural learning. </p><p>The book describes and provides examples of how each of these philosophers engaged with intercultural encounters and asks how their philosophies can contribute to infusing intercultural ethics and practices into curriculum theorizing. First it explores selected works of medieval Muslim philosophers from an intercultural perspective to formulate a dialogical paradigm that informs and enriches Muslim education. Second it frames intercultural education as a catalyst to guide Muslim communities’ interactions and identity construction encouraging flexibility tolerance deliberation and plurality. Third it bridges the gap between medieval tradition and modern thought by promoting interdisciplinary connections and redrawing intercultural boundaries outside disciplinary limits. This study demonstrates that the dialogical domain that guides intercultural contact becomes a curriculum-oriented structure with Al-Kindi a tripartite pedagogical model with Al-Fārābī a sojourner experience with Al-Ghazali and a deliberative pedagogy of alternatives with Averroes. Therefore the book speaks to readers interested in the potential of dialogue in education intercultural communication and Islamic thought research. </p><p>Crucially bridging the gap between medieval tradition and modern thought by promoting interdisciplinary connections and redrawing intercultural boundaries outside disciplinary limits it will speak to readers interested in the dialogue between education intercultural communication and Islamic thought. </p><p>.</p>