Religious
Trends
•The conflicting social and political trends showed in divergent patterns of religious development.
•Sufis developed vibrant mysticism, but ulama (religious scholars) became more conservative and suspicious of non-Muslim influences and scientific thought.
•They were suspicious of Greek rationalism and insisted that the Quran was the all-embracing source of knowledge.
•The great theologian al-Ghazali struggled to fuse Greek and Quranic traditions, but often was opposed by orthodox scholars.