It's important to note that many ideas and quotes have transcended cultural and religious boundaries over time. Here are ten quotes from Islamic scholars that have found resonance in the West, either through direct borrowing or through similar expressions of wisdom:
1. **Al-Ghazali**: "Knowledge without action is wastefulness and action without knowledge is foolishness."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Knowledge without application is meaningless."
2. **Ibn Sina (Avicenna)**: "The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein
3. **Rumi**: "What you seek is seeking you."
- Similar Western sentiment: "What you seek is seeking you." - Attributed to Rumi, widely quoted in the West.
4. **Ibn Khaldun**: "The past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another."
- Similar Western sentiment: "History repeats itself."
5. **Al-Farabi**: "A person does not become wise by chance."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Wisdom doesn’t happen by accident."
6. **Al-Kindi**: "We ought not to be ashamed of appreciating the truth and of acquiring it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Wisdom is not the monopoly of any one culture."
7. **Al-Biruni**: "The only way to know the true shape of the Earth is to travel around it."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain
8. **Ibn Rushd (Averroes)**: "Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. This is the equation."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." - Yoda, Star Wars
9. **Al-Razi**: "Doubt is the key to knowledge."
- Similar Western sentiment: "Doubt is the beginning of wisdom."
10. **Al-Ma’arri**: "The world holds two classes of men – intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence."
- Similar Western sentiment: Often paraphrased in various forms in Western thought.
These quotes reflect the deep intellectual tradition within Islamic scholarship and how these ideas have been appreciated and echoed in Western thought.