Fakhry discusses Islamic thought and its effect on the cultural aspects of Muslim life. In the final chapters, he examines the rise of pan-Islamism and the many currents it has generated in the last two centuries, including secularism and fundamentalism, which are still pitted against each other throughout the Muslim world.

A History of Islamic Philosophy by Majid Fakhry is the first comprehensive survey of Islamic philosophy from the seventh century to the present. It traces the development of Islamic philosophy and its impact on various aspects of Muslim cultural life. The book shows how, as the Islamic world began to confront foreign cultures, scholastic theology, known in Arabic as Kalam, arose as a direct byproduct of interaction with Greek philosophy and Christian theology. Mysticism (Arabic Sufism), in both its extravagant form, as conditioned by Hindu thought, or its indigenous moderate form, is discussed at length.

The book examines the rise of pan-Islamism in modern times and the many currents it has generated, including secularism and fundamentalism, which are still pitted against each other throughout the Muslim world. It also considers the way in which Islamic philosophy assimilated and expanded the Greek philosophical legacy, which eventually found its way to Western Europe after centuries of near-total oblivion.

This third revised edition, which includes masterful translations of texts never before available in English, has been updated and expanded to reflect current events and recent Islamic scholarship.