Intellectual Property in Andalusia - Case Study Example

Intellectual Property of Islamic civilization in Andalusia Once considered as the centre of learning and a catalyst in bringinh the renaissance period in Europe, the civilization of Al-Andalusia has left its marks in the European culture in the form of cultural and intellectual imprints. Muslim Spain was under Andalusia was once the melting pot of various cultures, transactional point of trade and intellectuals of Europe and Middle East countries. Its capital Cordoba attracted scholars, scientists, merchants, and poets of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Inevitably, it became the cradle of learning and knowledge. Cordoba attracted Intellectual giants like Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), Al-Khwarizmi (Algorizm) and Al-Razi (Razes) to name a few, were all Muslims educated in Al-Andalus. In the 700 years that they have been in Europe, the Muslims of Al-Andalus produced a great civilisation that was far ahead and more advance than the rest of Europe at that time. Many tribes, religions and races coexisted in al-Andalus, each contributing to the intellectual prosperity of Andalusia. Literacy in Islamic Iberia was far more widespread than any other country of the West. Today also, unlike other muslim inhabitants of elsewhere , the southern Spain which was known as Muslim Spain is far ahead and distinct in education and thinking. The properity and peace of Andalusi is marked by intellectual advancement specially in field of education and translation works.In the 10th century, the city of Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries, the largest of which had up to 600,000 books. In comparison, the largest library in Christian Europe at the time had no more than 400 manuscripts, while the University of Paris library still had only 2,000 books later in the 14th century. In addition, as many as 60,000 treatises, poems, polemics and compilations were published each year in Al-Andalus. In comparison, modern Spain published 46,330 books per year as of 1996. The historian Said Al-Andalusi wrote that Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III had collected libraries of books and granted patronage to scholars of medicine and "ancient sciences". Later, al-Mustansir (Al-Hakam II) went yet further, building a university and libraries in Córdoba. Córdoba became one of the worlds leading centres of medicine and philosophical debate. “The subjects covered by the texts included medicine, astrology, astronomy pharmacology, psychology, physiology, zoology, biology, botany, mineralogy, optics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, music, meteorology, geography, mechanics, hydrostatics, navigation and history.” (Burke, 1985, p. 42) Among numerous scholars of Aldusia included Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, whose masterwork was the philosophical treatise "Tree of Wisdom". An outstanding scholar in astronomy and astrology was Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti (died 1008), an intrepid traveller who journeyed all over the Islamic world and beyond, and who kept in touch with the Brethren of Purity. Indeed, it is said to have been he who brought the 51 "Epistles of the Brethren of Purity" to al-Andalus and who added the compendium to this work, although it is quite possible that it was added later by another scholar of the name al-Majriti. Another book attributed to al-Majriti is the Ghayat al-Hakim "The Aim of the Sage", a book which explored a synthesis of Platonism with Hermetic philosophy. Its use of incantations led the book to be widely dismissed in later years, although the Sufi communities kept studies of it. A prominent follower of al-Majriti was the philosopher and geometer Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani. A follower of his in turn was the great Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sayigh, usually known in the Arab world as Ibn Bajjah, "Avempace" The Andalusian philosopher Averroes (1126–1198) is considered the father of secular thought in Europe and possibly the most important among them. He was the founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, and his works and commentaries had an impact on the rise of secular thought in Western Europe.[42] He also developed the concept of "existence precedes essence". Another influential Andalusian philosopher who had a significant influence on modern philosophy was Ibn Tufail. His philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus in 1671, developed the themes of empiricism, tabula rasa, nature versus nurture,] condition of possibility, materialism, and Molyneuxs Problem. European scholars and writers influenced by this novel include John Locke Gottfried Leibniz, Melchisédech Thévenot, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens,] George Keith, Robert Barclay, the Quakers and Samuel Hartlib. Translation of works of other scholars belonging to different countries and religion seems to be the most prolific academic activity. This also helped in facilitating in transferring and preserving the scholarly knowledge of this period. Contributing to the growth of European science was the major search by European scholars for new learning which they could only find among Muslims, especially in Islamic Spain and Sicily. These scholars translated new scientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin. One of the most productive translators in Spain was Gerard of Cremona, who translated 87 books from Arabic to Latin, including Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmīs On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflahs Elementa astronomica,[79] al-Kindis On Optics, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānīs On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions, al-Farabis On the Classification of the Sciences,] the chemical and medical works of Razi, the works of Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq and the works of Arzachel, Jabir ibn Aflah, the Banū Mūsā, Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam, Abu al-Qasim, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the Book of Optics During the end of the first millennium, Cordova was the intellectual well from which European humanity came to drink. Students from France and England traveled there to sit at the feet of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, to learn philosophy, science and medicine (Digest, 1973, p. 622). In the great library of Cordova alone, there were some 600,000 manuscripts (Burke, 1978, p. 122). The translations continued as each Muslim haven fell to the Christians.  In 1492, the same year Columbus discovered the New World, Granada, the last Muslim enclave, was taken.  Captors of the knowledge were not keepers of its wisdom.  Sadly, all Jews and Muslims that would not abandon their beliefs were either killed or exiled (Grolier, History of Spain).  Thus ended an epoch of tolerance and all that would remain of the Muslims would be their books. It’s fascinating to realize just how much Europe learned from the Muslim texts and even greater to see how much that knowledge has endured.  Because of the flood of knowledge, the first Universities started to appear.  College and University degrees were developed (Burke, 1985, p. 48).  Directly from the Muslims came the numerals we use today.  Even the concept of Zero (a Muslim word) came from the translations (Castillo & Bond, 1987, p. 27).  It’s also fair to say that renaissance architectural concepts came from the Muslim libraries.  Mathematics and architecture explained in the Muslim texts along with Muslim works on optics led to the perspective paintings of the renaissance period (Burke, 1985 p. 72).  The first lawyers began their craft using the new translated knowledge as their guide.  Even the food utensils we use today come from the Cordova kitchen! (Burke, 1985 p. 44) All of these examples show just some of the ways Europe transformed from the Muslims. Enormous scholarly writings and innovative thoughts and ideas originating from Andalusian intellectuals brought forth unconsciously the need to save original works from pirating. Andalusia was also the transient point of traders of all across the world particularly of North Africa and Middle East. Obviously, these traders were harbingers of spreading ideas to different countries. Along with traders, floating scholars and scholars of different countries accompanied and some of them settled in Andalusia. Islamic law addresses the need for intellectual rights. The need to preserve the knowledge of original scholars including Prophet Mohammad and his disciples arose from consistent and time to time the translations of Shariat laws and Quran to disseminate sacred knowledge to non Islamic countries. The pious specialists on the sacred law were heId in respect both by the public and the rulers, and they owed their authority to their single-minded concern with the ideal of a life according to the tenets of Islam. They stood outside the political structure of the Arab kingdom of the Umayyads, and their main function was to give cautelary advice on the correct way of acting to those of their co-religionists who asked for it; in other words, they were the first muftis in Islam. Islamic law has preserved much of this cautelary character over the centuries; it is dominant in the teaching of Malik in Medina in the second/eighth century, and it recurs in strength in the medieval hiyal, or legal devices. The pious specialists often had occasion to criticize the acts and regulations of the government, just as they had to declare undesirable many popular practices, but they were not in political opposition to the Umayyads and to the established Islamic state; on the contrary, the whole of the Umayyad period was, at a certain distance, viewed as part of the good old time; this idealizing of things past was the first manifestation in Islam of a tendency which, a few decades later, was to lead to one of the most thorough and most successful of literary fictions. The attitude of the pious specialists to the Umayyad government anticipates the attitude of the religious scholars of Islam to any Islamic government. As the groups of pious specialists grew in numbers and in cohesion, they developed, in the first decades of the second/eighth century, into what may be called the ancient schools of law, a term which implies neither any dehnite organization, nor a strict uniformity of doctrine within each school, nor any formal teaching, nor even the existence of a body of law in the usual meaning of the term. Their members continued to be private individuals, singled out from the great mass of the Muslims by their special interest, the resultant reverence of the people, and the recognition as kindred spirits which they themselves accorded to one another. It can be said that the division of the Muslims into two classes, the elite and the vulgar, dates from the emergence of the ancient schools of law. The more important ancient schools of which we have knowledge are those of Kufa and of Basra in Iraq, of Medina and of Mecca in the Hijaz, and of Syria. The differences between them were caused, in the first place, by geographical factors, such as local variations in social conditions, customary law, and practice, but they were not based on any noticeable disagreement on principles and methods. On principle, the ancient schools were inclined to disturb the practice as little as possible; because of the nature of our documentation, this can be particularly clearly observed in the case of the Medinese and of the Syrians. Islam & Intellectual Property Islam respects both private and public ownership. It does not allow any violation against people’s rights, whether material or intellectual. Therefore, it does not allow that the efforts of others be taken away from them or be used without their consent. In order to explain this problem we should first ask ourselves why authors, tape producers and computer programmers register their copyrights. The fact is that some unscrupulous people are always ready to make pirated copies of these and sell them at a profit of which they give no share to the author. What someone has produced after putting a great deal of effort is thus used to bring financial gains to others who do not even bother to ask his permission. When a person knowingly buys a pirate copy, then he is aiding such people whose piracy is certainly prohibited in Islam. To be an accessory to piracy is also censurable. The reality of intellectual property consists of two elements: One of them is sensed and tangible such as a trademark and a book. The second is sensed but not tangible such as a scientific theory and an idea of an invention stored in the brain of a scientist. Thoughts are not subject to ownership. However any idea originates from mans mind, hence his mind is the initial home for any particular thought from the perspective of reality. Thus he can ignore it or dispense it seeking a material value. However, once dispensed it is haram to copyright it as this is an invalid contract, or patent it as this is not subject to ownership according to the Shariah and patents are an exclusive monopoly given to the patent holder and monopolies are haram. On the other hand trademarks are sensed, tangible, and have a material value because it is a component of the trade. Therefore, it is allowed for the individual to own it and the state is obliged to protect this right of the individual. He will be able to freely dispose of it, and others will be prevented from infringing upon this rights. So what is the Islamic perspective towards Intellectual property? Islam recognizes that man has needs & instincts which need satisfying. Hence within our context, it is mans biological needs and survival instinct that are under scrutiny i.e. mans need to eat, and his survival, which requires him to own certain amenities to ensure survival & a respectable life. On this subject matter, Islam distinguished between mans needs/instincts, and the means of satisfaction. As with many modern issues, diverging views are to be found in Islamic scholars related to Intellectual rights mentioned in scared books .In times past, ideas developed slowly and moved from one place to the next at a snails pace. Effectively, merchants could protect their livelihoods and capitalize on new ideas and methods for a good amount of time before seeing those ideas used by competitors in the market. Islams concept of private property In Islamic thought, individuals are entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labor. People dont go to work so that the value of that effort is automatically given up to others. That value -given through wages/salary or through ownership - is transferred/spent according to the discretion of the agent giving his effort. No one can appropriate that value or that ownership. In fact defending ones property has been equated with defending honor in Islamic thought. In a hadith narrated in Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Thabit we read, "The Messenger of Allah (s) observed, He who dies in protecting his property is a martyr." It is such an important concept that the Prophet of Islam (s) chose to mention it in his Farewell Sermon at the occasion of his Last Pilgrimage. The Prophet said, "Verily your blood, your property are as sacred and inviolable as the sacredness of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this town of yours." Giving credit where credit is due Islams emphasis on giving due credit for knowledge is well known. Centuries before printing became known the world over, Muslims developed systems of transmitting knowledge that became the precursors for modern teaching methodologies. Acknowledging the source of information, or the chain of transmitters through which information was handed down through the generations, is the method Muslims cultures An allied method was the system of teaching texts in the seminaries of Muslim lands. As early as 750 CE, any copy of a book had to be authorized by the original author who personally taught the book to his students who were thereby authorized to narrate and transmit that text and to hold a copy. This authorization was in the form of an "Ijazah" or certificate of permission. These certificates were examined meticulously before knowledge was taken from someone other than the books original author have inherited in the form of the system of Hadith preservation and authentication. The Isnad, or chain of transmission, creates a meticulous picture of the knowledge path taken by a text as well as if and when there were any gaps or weaknesses. . In Andalusia too the notion of ownership was derived from Traditional Islamic scholars that limited the definition of property to only those assets which were tangible and experienced by one of the five senses. It is interesting to note here that one of these five senses is the ability to hear and curious that ideas are therefore not held to be in the domain of the tangible by many traditional scholars. Being a hub of traderds and comerical people, the whole idea of ownership in Andalusia and alike Islamic countires was largely based on of trust and faith. Teachings of Islam like not to steel was impibed and embedded in the value systems of Islamic culture which was translated to the concept of ownership. Hence, if the pure ideas of Ibn Sina and similar scholars continued to flourish without any manipulation, it was largely due to those values rooted in Islam related to ownership and respect to innovative ideas. Reference 1. J. Schacht. "Law and Justice" from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. II, pt. VIII/chpt. 4, beginning with pg. 539. Chapter 4: LAW AND JUSTICE 2. SPAINS ISLAMIC LEGACY: A GLIMPSE FROM A MUSLIMS TRAVELOGUE by Dr. S.M. Ghazanfar 3. http://www.dinarstandard.com/management/IPinIslam020306.htm 4.Harvard Law Review, VolXXX, Feb 1917, No.4 5. Ulicl Ralph Burke, ‘History of Spain from Earliest times to thedeath of Ferdinanad the Catholic’ 6. Understanding Islamic law: from classical to contemporary, by Hisham M. Ramadan, Read More