FROM THE ISLAMIC
MULTICULTURAL CIVILIZATION
O
ne of the greatest achievements of Islam during its golden age (the ninth to thirteenth centuries) was uniting the great economic regions of the Mediterranean basin and Asia, and creating a peaceful setting for the mingling of people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The political stability achieved by powerful Muslim rulers secured the major international roads, which in turn allowed an incredible volume of trade throughout the Islamic Empire. Along with agriculture and industry, trade (both regional and international) was a major source of income for the Islamic state. Trade brought material prosperity, especially to urban areas, and as is always the case, allowed for a free flow of ideas and information that helped knowledge flourish. Trade brought an opportunity for culturally diverse peoples to meet and exchange ideas and discuss religion, art, science, and all kinds of topics relevant to everyday life.Some of the conquered peoples of the Islamic Empire had inher-ited rich and sophisticated cultures and civilizations from their ancestors. The new empire, therefore, became a conglomeration of Semitic, Hellenistic (Greek), Spanish, Iranian, and Indian cultures; it was truly multinational in nature. The knowledge acquired from all these contacts became the backbone of Islamic civilization in the Middle Ages.
Besides political stability, trade, and material prosperity, there were other factors that also contributed to the advancement of Islamic science, technology, art, architecture, jurisprudence, and philosophy. These included an inherent thirst for knowledge within the Islamic worldview, Muslim rulers’ encouragement and patronage, and a wealth of information available through access to the rich heritage of ancient civilizations.
Both the Qur’an and the Prophet stressed the value of knowl-edge and education. The Qur’an calls believers to look at the universe as an open book and to study its patterns. This religious instruction made Muslim scholars particularly interested in natural science, and they left a substantial record of their obser-vations (Q. 20:114). Muhammad also constantly emphasized the
value of education and the search for knowledge. He is known for statements such as: “Searching for knowledge is a religious duty of any Muslim man and Muslim woman”; “Seek knowledge from cradle to grave”; “Seek knowledge even if it will take you to China” (China being considered the farthest place from Arabia in his time); and “The reward for studying is the same as the reward for fasting and the reward for teaching is the same as the reward for prayers.” Encouragement from religious sources and authorities had a great impact on Muslims’ determination on striving for knowledge.
Many Muslim rulers, both out of piety and self-desire, promoted knowledge during their reigns by building educational institutions and helping promising scholars through generous grants and scholarships. Major rulers made supporting scientists and engineers a priority. The rulers of smaller states later adopted this policy as well. Financial assistance was given to scientists to allow them to devote all their time to study and research.
Scientists who worked for established educational institutions were paid a regular salary and granted pensions. Some caliphs, such as al-Mu‘tadid (d. 902), set aside places for scholars to teach and live within their own palaces.
There was a wealth of knowledge left from Greek, Persian, and other earlier sophisticated civilizations that was ready to be tapped. There was a large body of literature in Syriac, Greek, Latin, Persian, and Sanskrit languages, which could be useful to scholars. For example, because of Egypt’s pre-Islamic contact with Greece, Egypt had become a conduit for the development and spread of Greek culture through the Mediterranean region.
Trade relations with Greece gave Egyptian scientists knowledge of Greek science and philosophy. So, when Egypt became part of the Islamic Empire in 641, Muslims, too, began to utilize Greek-developed science and philosophy.
The great heritage of knowledge available in science, technol-ogy, the humanities, and government administration was drawn into the emerging Islamic civilization. There was, for instance, a large body of literature available in the Pahlawi language of
Persia dealing with the art of government, office administration, and royal etiquette. Some of the best indirect advice to rulers came from a Persian book of literature called Kalilah wa Dimnah, a brilliant work that communicates its message to the reader thorough moralistic fables of animal life in a way that might remind modern readers of George Orwell’s celebrated book Animal Farm.
There was also available technical literature tied to various fields, ranging from military tactics to agriculture and irrigation.
Perhaps the most useful knowledge available was in the disci-plines of medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, which were brought to scholars through the Jundishapur educational center, a sophisticated facility in southern Persia that included large and impressive libraries.
Greek culture had perhaps the greatest impact on the devel-opment of Islamic civilization, particularly in the field of philosophy. Islamic culture followed the Greek emphasis on reason, logic, and the laws of nature. Muslim intellectuals wanted to understand concepts such as God and revelation through reason. They wanted to equip themselves with reason-able arguments to help them prove the absolute oneness of God and the concept of transcendence that was so important to them, as well as to argue against any anthropomorphism presented by other religions.
They wanted to know if the attributes of God outlined in the Qur’an actually identify God as a being with a body like that of a human or are such descriptions merely metaphorical? Was the concept of the Trinity in Christianity a form of polytheism or it was another legitimate metaphorical way of understanding God? Was the Qur’an (the last revelation of God, as Muslims perceived it) eternal or created? Did God predetermine the destinies of human beings or could people change the direction of their own fate? If God is truly compassionate about his favorite creature, the human being, then why did he create Satan to tempt humans?
Influenced by Greek thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle, some Muslim intellectuals devoted their whole careers to writing about the interaction between faith and reason. Some Muslim scholars found the relationship between humans and God as dictated by Islamic law and explained by the ‘ulama (learned men) too rigid, too formal, and too impersonal for their taste. On the other hand, they did not want to rationalize God or follow him based on blind faith; rather, they wanted to experience God within their hearts. The people who followed this line of reasoning became known as Sufis.