Islam and civilization
What constitutes Islam? The question assumes extraordinary significance in view of the daily news stories with war, insurgency,human misery and violence around the world with active involvement of Islamic groups or countries. It is not surprising that many of us believe that the cultures of Islamic countries are backward and Islam as the last revealed religion in the world is conservative and often as violent and extremist.
Against this background, it has never been more timely to explore the extent to which western cultural and scientific thought is indebted to the the works of Arab and Islamic thinkers a thousand years ago.
Maybe, it is one of the drawbacks of Euro-centric education system in which the contributions of non-European and particularly Arab and Islamic world are systematically pushed to the margin or totally obliterated.
By the way the Indian contribution to science is Zero( Pun intended).
We all are familiar with Aristotle and his contributions in various branches of human knowledge. But how many of us know about Avicena? I am sure very few. In fact I came across this name in a historical fiction by Ken Follet(The Pillars Of The Earth). Since than I have dug as much information as possible about this polymath. Avicena was born in 980 AD and is famous as the greatest physician of the middle ages.His canon of medicine remained as standard medical text across Europe till 17th Century. But his fame does not end there. He is one of the greatest Islamic philosophers and his treaties on philosophy still stands as a pinnacle of medieval philosophy.
Another Islamic Polymath was Abu Rayhan al-Biruni. He was a philosopher,mathematician and astronomer and is considered as the father of Geology and Anthropology. Yet he is hardly known here.
The word Algebra is also Islamic in origin. However, I fail to recall the name of the mathematician and his book after which the name came into being.
We all remember Copernicus for his helio- centric model of our solar system. But it was Ibn al-Shatir( Ibn Qurra) who conceived the idea of a helio-centric model about three centuries before Copernicus. But tragically no science textbook or book on the history of science has ever mentioned him.
We are reliably informed that Newton is the father of Optics. But in fact Newton has always mounted the Giant who lived 700 hundred years before him. He is the Iraqi Ibn al-Haytham and is famous for his treaties on the refraction and composition of light and they are considered as seminal on the subject.
Another Iraqi Al-Jahith developed rudimentary theory of natural selection much before Darwin. That was in 9th century. His book entitled 'Book Of Animals 'speculates on how environmental factors can affect the characteristics of species forcing them for adaptation and thereby passing on those traits to future generations.
Bagdad was a seat of learning of Islamic world. It has no parallel. The city was created by the Caliph Ma'mun who was known for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But we can roll out the names harem-keeping Caliphs whose indulgence in carnal pleasure became synonymous with the whole Islamic culture.
Many argue that novel as a narrative form began in the Arab world. To my mind Shahrzad is the greatest story teller( Arabian Nights). Her character is shrouded with the elements of fiction though. Recently when I finished reading 'Akhenaten' by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, I kept marveling at the art of his story telling. The novel reinforces the idea of Einstein that when there are many observers,there is bound to be many observations. Elite academics talk about Delilo's book 'The White Noise'. They will do well to read 'Akhenaten' which is much more postmodern than 'The White Noise'.
The list will go on.
When I see bearded men with piercing eyes wearing shorter-than-normal pajama and longer-than-normal kurta(never happen to be the articles of faith), happy with abandon in issuing fatwas, I pity them.
With equal passion I laugh at them who, wearing the dress in vogue, decry Islam as the most backward of all religions.
I wish they both had revisited the glorious age of Islamic culture and civilization.
I hope my wish is being fulfilled.
What constitutes Islam? The question assumes extraordinary significance in view of the daily news stories with war, insurgency,human misery and violence around the world with active involvement of Islamic groups or countries. It is not surprising that many of us believe that the cultures of Islamic countries are backward and Islam as the last revealed religion in the world is conservative and often as violent and extremist.
Against this background, it has never been more timely to explore the extent to which western cultural and scientific thought is indebted to the the works of Arab and Islamic thinkers a thousand years ago.
Maybe, it is one of the drawbacks of Euro-centric education system in which the contributions of non-European and particularly Arab and Islamic world are systematically pushed to the margin or totally obliterated.
By the way the Indian contribution to science is Zero( Pun intended).
We all are familiar with Aristotle and his contributions in various branches of human knowledge. But how many of us know about Avicena? I am sure very few. In fact I came across this name in a historical fiction by Ken Follet(The Pillars Of The Earth). Since than I have dug as much information as possible about this polymath. Avicena was born in 980 AD and is famous as the greatest physician of the middle ages.His canon of medicine remained as standard medical text across Europe till 17th Century. But his fame does not end there. He is one of the greatest Islamic philosophers and his treaties on philosophy still stands as a pinnacle of medieval philosophy.
Another Islamic Polymath was Abu Rayhan al-Biruni. He was a philosopher,mathematician and astronomer and is considered as the father of Geology and Anthropology. Yet he is hardly known here.
The word Algebra is also Islamic in origin. However, I fail to recall the name of the mathematician and his book after which the name came into being.
We all remember Copernicus for his helio- centric model of our solar system. But it was Ibn al-Shatir( Ibn Qurra) who conceived the idea of a helio-centric model about three centuries before Copernicus. But tragically no science textbook or book on the history of science has ever mentioned him.
We are reliably informed that Newton is the father of Optics. But in fact Newton has always mounted the Giant who lived 700 hundred years before him. He is the Iraqi Ibn al-Haytham and is famous for his treaties on the refraction and composition of light and they are considered as seminal on the subject.
Another Iraqi Al-Jahith developed rudimentary theory of natural selection much before Darwin. That was in 9th century. His book entitled 'Book Of Animals 'speculates on how environmental factors can affect the characteristics of species forcing them for adaptation and thereby passing on those traits to future generations.
Bagdad was a seat of learning of Islamic world. It has no parallel. The city was created by the Caliph Ma'mun who was known for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But we can roll out the names harem-keeping Caliphs whose indulgence in carnal pleasure became synonymous with the whole Islamic culture.
Many argue that novel as a narrative form began in the Arab world. To my mind Shahrzad is the greatest story teller( Arabian Nights). Her character is shrouded with the elements of fiction though. Recently when I finished reading 'Akhenaten' by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, I kept marveling at the art of his story telling. The novel reinforces the idea of Einstein that when there are many observers,there is bound to be many observations. Elite academics talk about Delilo's book 'The White Noise'. They will do well to read 'Akhenaten' which is much more postmodern than 'The White Noise'.
The list will go on.
When I see bearded men with piercing eyes wearing shorter-than-normal pajama and longer-than-normal kurta(never happen to be the articles of faith), happy with abandon in issuing fatwas, I pity them.
With equal passion I laugh at them who, wearing the dress in vogue, decry Islam as the most backward of all religions.
I wish they both had revisited the glorious age of Islamic culture and civilization.
I hope my wish is being fulfilled.
