Humans are the mediators between the heavenly and earthly...

Humans are the mediators between the heavenly and earthly realms and a major channel for divine grace. The human body, furthermore, is perceived as a microcosm of the universe, with specific parts of the body being identified with parts of the zodiac and thus subject to their influences.

The so-called Pure Brethren of Basra ( Ikhwān al-Safā ), in their tenth-century treatises collectively known as the Rasā’il , write that the study of nature offers proof of God: “Know that the perfect manufacturing of an object indicates the existence of a wise and perfect artisan even when he is veiled and inaccessible to sense perception.

He who meditates upon botanical objects will of necessity know that the beings of this reign issue from a perfect artisan.”[^3] For the Ikhwan, who considered themselves Pythagoreans, numbers were an important means of insight into the ordering of nature. In one section of their treatise the Ikhwan present a fictitious court case in which non-human animals complain of their treatment by humans.

Goodman has drawn attention to the similarity of ecological vision evoked in this tenth-century tract with that of contemporary ecologists.[^4] The Ikhwan were a marginal group, however, and their views should not be taken to represent the mainstream Islamic thought of their time. Previous…