Islam: A Universal and Scientific Religion - Term Paper Example

                                                   Islam: a universal and scientific religion Islam is a divine religions practiced by Muslims all over the world irrespective of their cultural, racial or ethnic backgrounds. From the advent of Islam after revelation to Muhammad as prophet in 6th century, Islamic civilization saw its apex and demise as one of the most dominant civilizations of the world. General characteristic of Islamic civilization are considered to be universal, truth based and scientific most importantly. This paper attempts to explore the idea that Islam is a scientific religion and Islamic civilization has always been open to knowledge and scientific understanding. Islamic civilization flourished in most remarkable manner during 900 and 1200.At its peak, Islamic civilization was considered to be the most magnificent and innovative in world. China being major competitor had strong economic and intellectual associations with it. Innovative ideology and culture made Islam a world religion. Moreover, trade provided the base for diverse exposure and opportunity for expansion of Islamic civilization. Economics was central to Islamic culture as Quran exhorts to “honor the honest merchant,” (qtd. in Adler and Randall 199) that refer to the respect for trade and manufacturing in Islamic understanding. Same idea is rejected by Mahayana (Buddhists) and some Hindu casts (Adler and Randall 199). Islam became the major successor of ancient Greek science in medieval ages. From 800 to 1300 CE, Islamic civilization was positioned as a world leader in every field of science. Absolute level of scientific activity is crucial as Muslim scientists in four centuries after Muhammad’s death were similar to the number of scientists after Thales in same time period. Muslim scientists established the world’s first international scientific community in true sense which is extended from Iberia to Central Asia. Irrespective of its role and scholarly importance, Islamic civilization’s scientific aspects are ignored as a passage that passively transmitted ancient Greek science to European Middle Ages. However, it is ahistorical to consider history of Islamic science only as a part or link to European science. Islamic science should be studied in its own terms and should be considered universal, not just Eastern or Western (McClellan and Harold 105). Major criticism under discussion is presented by Edis, as he attributes Islam as non-scientific religion which is not inherently open to science or scientific research. Despite counting the contributions of Islam and Muslim scientists in the domain of knowledge particularly science, the paper explores the relationship of Islamic civilization and science in past. Real importance of Islamic contribution to science should be analyzed by considering the attitudinal transformation of humanity after the Revelation in 6th century. Before Islam, human attitude was of fear, adoration or devotion towards nature. Worshiping harmful or benefiting nature was common. The world owes the basic change in human thought and perception to Islam. Muslims used reason to search one God’s signs and drew meaning and understanding from human evolution and development. This pioneering role in scientific understanding brought the revolution that transformed the world forever. The development of mathematical formulas for calculating location of sun and phases of moon, Zakah (welfare tax), or inherited shares for family, every contribution led to the major development of domains like calculus and trigonometry (Siddiqui 56). Historians can’t deny the fact that Islamic civilization is the lost link between Greek and modern European science, however, this fact is frequently dismissed that Islamic civilization has huge influence on west. Muslim eagerness for knowledge can be realized by the fact that oldest university in world is eleven hundred years old, Islamic University of Fez, Morocco. Famous as Qarawiyyin, the university is oldest and still functioning. Islamic tradition of learning and knowledge has great influence on West. Muslims, Christians and Jews spent hundreds of peaceful years in Spain together. Islamic works were translated into Latin by intermediary Jew scholars who understand Arabic during 11th century mostly in Toledo. These translations influenced Greek thought on huge scale and through Greeks, it reached western schools of learning, as a result, western thought began to develop and prospered. We can think of the extent to which European emulated Islamic education system that its impressions are still present in European educational system, such as, the concept of chair in university is used in Arabic “kursi” that is presented to teacher for sitting in Madrasah(the higher school of learning).During high middle ages, Islamic culture has such strong impression over European civilization that there was not even single field of knowledge that is not influenced by Islam to some extent, such as, literature and architecture. However, besides being the roots of western civilization, Islam was not only forgotten after the advent of Renaissance but also opposed. Despite the long term intellectual relationship with Islam, west entirely ignored its own medieval past on the basis of religious opposition (“The Religion of Islam”). Islamic civilization is living and dynamic one as it not only influenced other civilizations but also has influences from other civilization and their knowledge. By early seventh century A.D., the world saw the advent of a transforming religion, Islam. From Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D., within the same century, Islam had spread in all of Middle East, North Africa, and Spain and its spread still occupies the central belt of globe that is spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This region has been the home of several civilizations throughout history before Islam. Islamic civilization came in close contact with different forms of sciences these civilizations had established. Muslims absorbed and made these sciences compatible with the spirit of their own perceptions and cultural values (Nasr). Islamic revelation is primordial in its very nature. The idea of Islam as the expression of truth was central to all revelation that allowed Islam to assimilate different ideas which may seem to be different but are interconnected. The claim is particularly true when it comes to the sciences of nature. Most of ancient cosmological sciences, such as, Greek, Persian, Chaldean, Chinese and Indian were inspired by expressing the unity of nature, therefore, worked in compliance with Islamic ideology. While assimilating the dominant features of surrounding civilizations, Islam incorporated some elements from not only Greeks, Chaldeans, Persian and Indians but also from Chinese when we consider alchemy. Muslims made these sciences into a new corpus which flourished over centuries, integrated into basic Islamic structure that is the derivation of Revelation, these sciences became the constituent of Islamic civilization. From Transoxiana to Andalusia, region of Islamic medieval civilization became a network of spiritual universe within hundred years of Prophet’s death. Greek civilization has been its huge source in sciences, particularly while dealing with Nature. In first century B.C., Alexandria was not only known as centre of Greek science and philosophy but also a merging point of ancient Egyptian influences, Hellenism and Oriental that gave birth to Hermeticism and Neoplatonism (Nasr). Beside these dominant areas, Islam has links with abstruse dimension of Greek sciences, such as, the association of community of Sabaeans of Harran with Pythagorean school of thought. The roots of this community are attached with Prophet Idns, who is mentioned as the Enoch in Old Testament. Prophet Idns is considered to be the founder of sciences of the heavens and philosophy in Islamic world. Sabaeans were outstanding in their knowledge of mathematics, astrology, astronomy. Moreover, many features of their doctrines resembled to those of Pythagoreans. It is considered that they were the people who identified the link between Hermetic Tradition and some features of Islamic esoteric philosophies. According to Nasr, to some extent Persian sciences, and to a great extent, Indian science has strong bearing on the growth of science in Islamic civilization which is not recognized to the factual level. In mathematics, astronomy, zoology, anthropology and some elements of alchemy, we can observe the dominance of Indian and Persian traditions, such as, Nasr states, “[it]can be seen in the Epistles(Rasail) of the Brethren of Purity(Ikhwan al-Safa) and the translations of Ibn Muqaffa’.”Nasr further emphasizes that we should remember that word “magic” and Magi are related because Jews acquired the knowledge of alchemy and number science from Magi during their enslavement in Babylon. Chinese science influenced Muslims, particularly in alchemy. Moreover, other prominent Chinese influences appeared in art and technology after Mongol attack. While discussing methodology, not substance of science, Leif Stenberg studies International Institute of Islamic Thought with reference to knowledge/authority relationship, similar to Boroujerdi, he not only rejects Islam as a source of scientific knowledge but also contends that the idea of Islamizing science would support the “reconstruction and reproduction of the dichotomy between the West and the Muslims”(p.107 qtd. in Cosar).For Stenberg ,it is an effort to reestablish the scientific authority by religious scholars which finally extends to allocating metaphysical aspects to science(pp.108-109 qtd in. Cosar).Furthermore, Stenberg rejects Muslim scholars who strive to reach an authentic and unitary approach towards universality of Islam not only as a source of ethical and moral learning, but also scientific knowledge. Just like today, late medieval and Renaissance thinkers considered Islam like other religions and attributed it as irrational and superstitious, however, they acknowledged scientific and philosophical contributions of Islam. This understanding changed the attitude towards Islamic representation in Europe and contributed to Orientalism and Islamic study on official level for two centuries (Kalin 151).The paper discusses Islamic civilization and its openness towards other civilizations and their scientific knowledge .Irrespective of contemporary Islamic society and its relationship with science, in order to preserve the truthful account of history of science, we need to understand Islam and its contributions for science. It is high time to forget differences and consider science as an asset for humanity rather than particular religion or civilization. Work Cited Adler J. Philip and Randall L. Pouwels. World Civilizations.5th ed.Boston, MA: Clark Baxter, 2008.Print. Cosar, Simten.”Re-Thinking Globalization over Self/Other Dialectic.”Rev. of Globalization and the Muslim World: Culture, Religion, and Modernity, by Birgit Schaebler and Leif Stenberg.H-Gender-MidEast, H-Net Reviews April, 2005.Web. Edis, Taner.An illusion of harmony: science and religion in Islam. Michigan: Prometheus Books, 2007.Print. Kalin, Ibrahim. “Roots of Misconception: Euro-American Perceptions of Islam Before and After September 11.”Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition.Ed.Lumbard, E.B. Joseph.Indiana: World Wilson, Inc., 2009.151.Print. McClellan, James Edward and Harold Dorn.Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction.2nd ed.Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.Print. Nasr, H.Seyyed. “Science and Civilization in Islam.”Fordham.edu.New American Library, New York, 1968.Web.8 November.2010. Siddiqui, A.Dilnawaz.Muslim contributions to World Civilization.UK: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2005.Print. “The Religion of Islam.”Templemount.org.Islamic Affairs Department, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, n.d.Web.9 November.2010. Read More