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The article focuses on the crucial concepts in the philosophies of minds including sensation, recollection, and intellection in the works of philosophers Ibn Sînâ and Rene Descartes. It states that both believed in the incorporeality of the soul or mind of human being. Details on the concepts of Sînâ and Descartes on the faculty of imagination and its distinction with the power of intellect are also presented. It also shows the importance and the richness of the Islamic philosophy, and its contribution to the central issues in the western philosophy. The critical analysis of the two philosophers are also discussed.

This article introduces Malek Bennabi (1905-73), an Algerian Islamist philosopher who is little known in the Anglophone world. Bennabi's principle ideas, in particular his reconciliation of Algerian nationalism and Islamism, are briefly discussed. Then the article assesses his long-term impact on Algerian Islamism, most particularly within the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) and its Ja'zara grouping. Through interviews with onetime FIS members, both senior figures and lower level activists, the author reveals the extensive influence of Bennabi on the group, from personal contact with its future leaders at Algiers University as well as his published works. The author concludes that the army's justification of the 1991 coup, that if the FIS won it would cancel future democratic elections, seriously misrepresented the nature of the organisation, the roots of which lay in Bennabi's Islamist nationalism rather than the pan-Islamism of the Muslim Brotherood. In tacitly accepting this justification, western governments may have allowed a chance for the development of genuinely liberal governance, compatible within an Islamist framework, to be extinguished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the textual connections between two narratives: Ibn ufayl's (581/1185–6) Risalat ayy ibn Yaqan and a brief history of religions present in two works – the General Estoria and the Stenario – produced in the Castilian court of king Alfonso X (1221–1284). Both literary narratives deal with the intersection of philosophy and metaphysics. First, Alfonso X's cultural renaissance is contextualized. Under Arabic influence, Alfonso's collaborators created a cultural synthesis that was denounced by his son Sancho in the 1290s. Second, we compare Ibn ufayl's and Alfonso X's narratives. Ibn ufayl's model was probably adapted to justify a cultural programme that blended Christianity and Pagan inheritance. Unfortunately, there is no physical evidence to prove that Alfonso's circle was familiar with Ibn ufayl's work. Nevertheless, the analysis of a common genre – following A.W. Hughes's theory – allows us to contend that Alfonso X reproduced this type of text within a Christian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]