The Islamic empires that gave Europe its Renaissance

Mesbah UDDIN

It is quite rare these days to hear anything good about Muslims from the Anglo-American news media. There are, however, some exceptions in the West and Dr. Richard Bulliet, Professor of History Columbia University, New York is one of them. He narrated the scenarios that elevated the Muslims as the Torch Bearers during those Dark Ages of Europe and helped them achieve their Renaissance.

Roman civilization begins around 250 BC and ends around 500 AD. But the Renaissance starts about 1,300 AD - a difference of 800 years. This is referred to as the European Period of Darkness by the contemporary historians. While no progress may have happened in the Western World during those days because of religious dogmatism, but did the rest of the world take a recess too for 800 years? The answer is ‘surely not'.

Dr. Richard Bulliet

Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid

During the Dark Ages of Europe, the Islamic civilization created a superdome for innovative science and technology. Muslim countries of that time helped wipe out the cavity of darkness in Europe. In recognition of this Professor Bulliet commented “if it had not been for the Muslims, we might have never had Renaissance at all.”

Newness and novelty

The inception of Islam took place in the 7th Century in a small city known as Meccah. Islam was not a new faith but its message was filled with newness and novelty. It had more congruity than conflict with other monotheism. It didn't have any plan to change Christianity or Judaism; rather it had its building block on the cognizance of the Judeo-Christian Prophet hood. Islam had an unbending theme of abolishing social injustice. Within a short while, the message of Islam traversed throughout the whole Arab Peninsula, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Persia and North Africa, Spain and all the way to Indian subcontinent. Even the far-reaching China felt the inviting rhythm of Islam.

At the beginning, Islamic people were simple-minded desert dwellers. They however, had indomitable desire to adopt other's virtue and enrich their own knowledge, technology and means of life. That's why the footsteps of Islamic people could be traced to Greece, Italy, Persia, India, and all the way to the doors of China. During those days of Islam, Islamic civilization was free from religious constrictions. The people of Islamic domain represented a conglomerate that possessed honorable positions in all aspects of civilized societies even though they differed in race, religion and country of origin.

One of the greatest times of Islamic achievements can be traced to the time of Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid. His empire had the imprint of Hebrew physician, Greek philosopher, Turkish soldier and many more. The stories about Aladdin and his magic-lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, Alibaba and Forty Thieves and many other folk-tales were not based on the Arabs alone. But all of them had the flavours of the Arabs. People during the prevalence of Islamic civilization, spoke in Turkish, Hebrew, Persian and Greek but even then their official language was Arabic.

An exclusive artistic design that is known to us as Arabesque is pivoted on skilful presentation of Arabic letters. Thousands of scientific names in English today have Arabic roots. In general if we notice ‘al’ at the beginning of a word, chances are that it originates from Arabic.

For instance alcove is derived from al-qubbah, almanac is from al-manaakh, algebra from al-Jabr, alcohol from al-kuhul and alkali from al-qili. The counting process of algorithm is named after al-Khwerazmi. He was a renounced mathematician and a notable advisor to Harun-ar-Rashid. Al-kimia was a chemist and his name could be traced to alchemy. The Muslim chemists tried hard to enhance the longevity of the livings. Their efforts eventually paved the way to modern chemistry.

Medical treatment

Even in the field of surgery, the Muslims of the medieval times contributed a lot. Here Professor Bullet had wholehearted praise for them. He wrote “they also made great strides in saving life and healing the sick. They invented many new medical instruments and made important breakthroughs in optics and surgery. Islamic medicines were much more advanced than anything going on in Europe.”

There was, in the 9th Century, a famous Muslim physician named Ar-Razi (to the West he is known as Razi). His research, in the field of medical treatment, still occupies an influential place. Ibn Sina of Bukhara is known as Avicenna in Europe. During the 10th Century he wrote a medical encyclopedia and named it as the Canon of Medicine. It was then unrivalled in the medical history. The prevalence of the Canon of medicine was indispensable in Europe throughout the 17th Century. It was the Muslim physicians that introduced the concept of pharmacy and hospital for the first time in medical history.

From the 7th to the 12th Century, the people of the Islamic countries showed enormous excellence in literature, science, trade and commerce. But right at the door of science there was mathematics and mathematics needs digits and numbers. In this context Professor Bulliet, with a heartfelt thank recognized and said “this is where the medieval Muslims made a contribution that benefits each of us every day”. The counting method that existed prior to Muslim's decimal system was known as Roman method. Its application was a nightmare even to the experts - let alone ordinary people.

To eliminate this counting hardship, the mathematicians of the Muslim empire imported a new system from India and improvised it with the introduction of zero. The system contains nine numerals and one zero and the value of each numeral is dependent on its place value. Thus if we write 1, its value is one, but when we write 11, then from the left the value of the first 1 is ten and the second 1 is one, and the combined value is eleven. Thus when we place a “0” after 1 the value is ten. In modern science, this is known as the decimal system. Here too, Professor Bulliet gave enormous credits to the Muslim. He picked up a year and made a remark “thanks to the Muslims we no longer have to write MCMLXXXIV and instead we write 1984”. The credit for the decimal system of numbers is, in general, given to the Arabs. Here Professor Bulliet was cautious and explained “although strictly speaking, they are Indian numerals, but hadn't it been the mathematicians of the Islamic Empire, they might never have reached the Western World”.

Paper, though indispensable as a carrier of knowledge to the civilized world, was not invented in Europe - rather in China. But throughout the world the making of paper bears the hallmark of the Muslims. Right from the 8th to the 11th Century, the paper making technology reached all the way from Samarqand to Spain. Besides new invention, the Muslims reinvented others’ invention and made them accessible over time to sustain continuity.

European Renaissance

Let us now come to the eras of European Renaissance. All that we know about Greek philosophy, literature and science are intricately tied to European Renaissance. The Europeans, after 800 years of intellectual darkness didn't have a chance to read about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Hypocrites and other Greek notables in their original composition in Greek. Rather they read them in Arabic. The Catholic Christianity believed these Greeks literary treasures as the works of the pagans and consequently had them destroyed.

There was a time when the Muslim Caliphs patronized the translation of all the famous Greek literature in Arabic, especially by Caliph Abdullah-al-Mamun (son of Harun ar-Rashid). In 830, he established the House of Wisdom, a centre for Greek translation work. This effort saved the Greek literary antiquities from vanishing away from the surface of the earth. In the 10th and 11th Century, the knowledge-thirsty Europeans flocked into Islamic cities.

Their learning centers were Cordoba, Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo which were the places that were the centers of higher learning.

There were also the cities where the Greek classics got translated from Arabic to Latin. These cities were not just for the Europeans to study Greek literature alone, rather they housed Chinese, Indian, Persian, Hebrew and other scholars. The collective efforts of these scholars helped restore most of the Greek classics that exist today.

In those early days of higher learning, the students used to sit around the chairs of the teacher. Some scholars are of the opinion that this position of the chair and students, eventually turned into departmental identification of the faculties such as ‘Chair of Philosophy, Chair of History’ and so on.

Some scholars are also of the opinion that the academic gown worn during convocation has impeccable Islamic imprint. Thinking rationally, it would be obvious that other than established traditions, acquired from the oldest university of the world, there could be no reason to wear a costume on the convocation day, which should look like an Arab Sheikh. History tells us that Al-Azhar in Cairo is the first and the oldest university of the world. It was built as a formal university in 970 AD.

While the West takes pride for their nuclear and mechanical advancement today, but do they realize who gave them the initial stepping stone to stand on? Who gave them the torch to search through the caves of the Dark Ages? Weren't they the Muslims of middle ages across the Mediterranean Sea? Didn't they keep the torch of civilization kindled up for eight hundred years before the West got rejuvenated?

Sayings of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani

1. Consider the feeling that rules your heart, for then you will understand what you are worth. 2. The greatest happiness is not being dominated by happiness. 3. Our enemies are our greatest moral teachers, because they thrust our faults in our faces. 4. It is dangerous for a human being to be too self-confident. 5. The purpose of education is not to make a machine, but to make the human being.

6. Do you wish to be the master of a good servant, with whom you will be satisfied? If so, you must perform service for yourself. 7. You must keep your judgment clear of the mists of vain conceit. 8. Compared to the pleasure given by granting pardon, the pleasure given by exacting revenge is very faint indeed. 9. You must be such an ardent lover of truthfulness that every statement you make assumes the quality of a solemn oath. 10. When your soul is bored you must work.

11. Our strength is much greater than our will. In order to conceal this shortcoming, whenever we cannot perform a task, we say, “It is not possible...”. 12. The human being is not in control of his feelings, but he is in control of his movements.13. We have been created to rely on one another. If a stone is removed from a wall, as if to demonstrate the risk of that wall's collapsing, and if one of us withdraws, we are left face to face with the danger if its collapse.14. The remedy from poverty is not to bear grudges against the rich. 15. Do not trust a person who does not trust himself.

16. The human being obtains some of his misfortunes by failing to attend to his own comfort.17. You must not do anything while you are angry. Would the sail be hoisted in the storm? 18. When a person’s authority is great, his effort and his caution must also be great.19. To be a great man is easier than being a good man. 20. Are you not fond of life? If not, you must not waste your time, because life is a garment made from the cloth of time.

21. The display of fame most often suppresses the voice of conscience. 22. Blood is washed with water, not blood. 23. Happiness does not exist in a place where justice does not exist.24. Your most real enemies are the greed, the envy and the jealousy that live in your heart. These are the soldiers of the instigating self (an-nafs al-ammara). 25. For others it is justice, while for us it is compassion.

26. The fly does not enter the mouth that is shut. 27. We have not invented courtesy in order to show off the goodness that does not exist in ourselves. 28. Success is a letter delivered by three mailmen. These mailmen are competence, endeavor and good fortune. 29. To reach and pass by the goal is the same as not reaching it. 30. Nothing can kill the power of the lower self, but everything serves to enhance it.

31. Those who make fun of you, those who try to get rid of you, they are the people whose applause you most often seek to obtain. 32. The thoughts of women are constant. From this point of view, the clever person does not shun the company of women. 33. Cowardice is the one thing that cannot be repaired by any means. 34. To live without commotion provides consolation for an unsuccessful life. 35. Hope is the money given on loan by happiness. 36. A man who has no confidence in himself can accomplish nothing. 37. Smiling is the shield of the bashful. 38. The best of men is the person who is most beneficial to others. 39. That which joins minds together is telling the truth. Lying serves no purpose other than seperation. 40. Conscience is the best of the books of morality, so we must always make reference to it. 41. If we do not stick to the path that He has shown, the worship of Allah is no more than an empty word. 42. The success of a human being is measured by the effort he has exerted in order to achieve that success. 43. Only great spirits experience the triumph of success. 44. Trying to discover the faults of other people amounts to making no effort to deal with those in one. 45. People who miss the opportunity are many, but there is no one whom opportunity misses.

46. When someone rises high, he raises all spirits and this world too. 47. Good fortune is dependent on doing good work. 48. If you claim to have understood a reality, you must only do so after putting that reality into practice in your own life. 49. The best means of taking revenge on a man is not to resemble that man. 50. A heart that does not believe is like a cage that has no bird inside it.

51. So long as your heart does not support what is on your tongue, you cannot take a step toward the Lord of Truth. 52. Oh my Lord! Enter the house of our heart without the slightest hesitation, because there is nothing in it whatsoever apart from the pain of separation from You. 53. When you have committed a sin, you must not lose hope of Allah's mercy. You must use the water of repentance to wash away the dirt of sin that has been smeared upon you. 54. The sun of those who were before us (before Islam) has set. Our sun will remain forever in the highest places of the sky, and it will never set. 55. The whole of your aspiration and Endeavour must not be for simple things like eating, drinking, clothing and marriage. That is because these are not the goal, but only the means by which to arrive at the goal.

56. Four things are the basic means by which the heart is improved and set in proper order: a) paying very careful attention to every morsel that is eaten, b) setting time aside for worship, c) protecting the charismatic marvel (by keeping it hidden and trying not to broadcast it around), d) refraining from things that keep the human being at a distance from Allah.

57. While eating lawful food is a radiant light, eating unlawful food is a suffocating darkness. It kills the heart, whereas the lawful morsel brings the heart to life. 58. You must not take conceited pride in any deed, because deeds are measured on the basis of their final seal (their ultimate condition). 59. While on the ocean of this world you must be vigilant. You must be extremely sensitive, because many people are drowned and lost in that ocean.

(Extracted from The Summary of Religious Knowledge and Pearls of the Heart by Sheikh ‘Abd- Al-Qadir al-Jilani)

Blessings may never come back

Aisha (radi Allahu anha) narrated that the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) entered upon her one day and saw a small piece of bread on the floor, so he picked it up and wiped it, then told her: “O Aishah, treat the blessings of Allah with respect, for when it departs from a household it may never come back to them.” (Ibn Abi-Dunya)

Seeing a small piece of bread on the floor made the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) warn Aishah regarding being ungrateful to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). What would he have said were he to see how plates full of food are thrown away in dustbins?

Parents take their children to others’ houses, put food on their plates and say nothing to them when they remorselessly leave it to be thrown away. These are the very same people who you will undoubtedly see complain about not having enough.

Vengeance of Allah

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Drink no intoxicant, for truly, it is at the head of all filthy actions; and beware of sinning; for truly, with sin alights the vengeance of Allah.” (Ahmed)

“Many social evils start with the use of liquor. Never serve, nor let anyone bring alcohol to your house. One family recently became a victim of this evil. The woman told me that her husband never used to drink although many of his friends did. One night at a party at their house, his friends got him to drink as well and after consuming a large quantity, her husband and two of his friends dozed off in the drawing room.

At about three in the morning she woke up to prepare milk for her three year old son, when one of her husband’s friends (who was drunk) made an attempt to attack her – but she got away. When her husband woke up, the friend narrated a completely different story to him and from that day on the trust and hence peace between husband and wife began to diminish.

He also began to regularly indulge in alcohol.” (Together Forever by Faiez H. Seyal)

When everything in our life seems to be going wrong, we wonder why Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) doesn’t listen to our duas any more. Did you stop to think about what sins you are committing that have brought Allah’s wrath upon you and made your prayers ineffective?

Sarandib - an ethnological study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka

Sarandib, an Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka by Asiff Hussein, now in its third expanded edition, is by far the most comprehensive work on Sri Lankan Muslim society.

Written in a lucid style, Sarandib is the culmination of much research, inquiry and field studies on the society and culture of the country’s major Muslim groups, the Moors, Malays, Memons and Muslims of Indian origin who though of different ethnic origins, share the common faith of Islam. The work is multi-disciplinary in scope and contains detailed information on aspects like ethnic origins, language, settlements, customs and traditions, dress and ornamentation, culinary fare, medical remedies, names and titles, occupations, social organization, ceremonial observances and religious and folk beliefs.

Hussein has painstakingly gathered information from diverse sources which involved a number of field visits and interviews, particularly with elderly folk who still preserve memories of their former lifestyle and traditions, some of which no longer exist. He has also undertaken an extensive survey of old records such as the Dutch tombos preserved at the National Archives and other institutions which relate to the social and economic life of local Muslims centuries ago.

Thanks to his efforts, much valuable information about the past social, cultural and economic life of the country's Muslims which would have otherwise been lost, have been preserved for posterity. His study should go a long way in helping to preserve the colourful cultural life and rich heritage of Sri Lanka’s Muslims. Indeed, this is a book every Sri Lankan Muslim home should have. The work is illustrated with over 100 photographs including some very rare photographs. The book is available at Vijitha Yapa, Barefoot, Odel, Makeens, Islamic Book House and the Center for Islamic Studies.

The author Asiff Hussein is a freelance writer and author of a number of publications. He is also the Founding Editor of Islamic Finance Today, a magazine exclusively dedicated to the promotion of ethical interest-free banking and finance.