Could Not Answer

of information they acquired from religious books and religious
scholars in a manner as if they were their own views and findings.
The great Islamic savant Imâm-i-Muhammad Ghazâlî ‘rahmatullâhi
’aleyh’ [1]
expounds this fact in detail in his books (Almunqizu
min-ad-dalâl) and (Tahâfut-ul-falâsifa).
The philosophical school founded by Plato lived for seven or
eight centuries together with its tenets. The views of this school of
philosophy extended beyond Italy, having its most dramatic
impact on the Alexandrian school in the third century.] Plato’s
doctrine of three hypostases, along with his other philosophical
views, had made its way into the schools of Alexandria and was
being taught there, when Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ appeared. In fact, even
Philo, a renowned Judaic scholar in Alexandria at that time,
wished to see this doctrine of trinity among the other tenets of the
religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. With this desire he said, “The
Taurah declares that the world was created in six days; it is true.
For the number three is half of six. And the number two is onethird
of six. This number is both masculine and feminine. God
married reason and had a son by reason. This son is the world.”
Philo called the world ‘kelima-i-ilâhiyya (divine word)’, which was
a name he ascribed to angels, too. This was an effect of Platonic
philosophy. [Platonic philosophy, which was later renamed as neo-
Platonism and went on its way, dealt the severest blow on the
Nazarene, or Îsâwî, religion. In other words, the third century of
the Christian era, when neo-Platonism was at the zenith of its
power, was at the same time the period in which Christianity was
the religion of the Roman Empire. Adherents of that philosophy
defiled this religion of tawhîd (unity), which was based on the
existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the prophethood of Îsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’. Later on idolatry, too, was inserted into this
religion. Saint Augustine, who lived in the fourth century of the
Christian era, (354-430), tried to Christianize Plato. Augustine’s
views about God, soul, and the universe, which he proposes in his
book (de Trinite), which he wrote with a view to proving trinity,
are quite identical with Platonic philosophy. Using Plato’s
statement, “Reason, will, and sensation make up a human being,”
as a testimony for proving trinity, he says, “Though the Three
Persons in Trinity seem to be disparate, they make up one God.”
He alleges that Plato and his disciples realized the true God.
Taking Plato’s philosophy of ideas as a fulcrum, he argues that the
[1] Ghazalî passed away in Tûs in 504 [A.D. 1111].
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