This coincided with the intercultural encounter between...

This coincided with the intercultural encounter between Muslims and other nations particularly those which represented the most important centers of earlier civilizations prior to be incorporated within the Islamic civilizational orbit. These cultures were introduced into the controversy. The Abbasid Caliphate witnessed arousing passion for philosophy among the ruling elite and Muslim scholars. Philosophy, besides that, continued as a business for non Muslims.

For Muslims it was meant to be employed in the intra-and-inter religious dialogue and debate. The above developments ushered in the translation movement which aimed to introduce those cultures particularly the Greek philosophy into Arabic. The beginning was with the Syriac decoctions of philosophy then the Aristotelian texts and commentaries.

The translation movement continued to pick up momentum through the 9th century and by the 830s a circle of translators were closely coordinated around Al Kindi (d. 870) who produced a short overview of the whole Organon and members of his circle produced an epitome of and commentary on the Categories; an epitome of On Interpretation; a version of the Sophisticated Fallacies; and probably an early translation of the Rhetoric. The great Syriac Christian translators Hunayn ibn Ishâq (d.