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iqbal_soofi
02-27-2007, 07:19 PM
The best period of Muslim history is the one in which Muslims made a lot of developments and progress. They changed the course of history with their scientific inventions. This is the only period which is admired by non-Muslims. Some of the non-Muslim nations followed the example of Muslims from this period and changed the course of history in their favor. We can also changed it in our favor once again only if we learn from this golden period of the Muslim history.
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Philosopher
02-27-2007, 07:31 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by iqbal_soofi
The best period of Muslim history is the one in which Muslims made a lot of developments and progress. They changed the course of history with their scientific inventions. This is the only period which is admired by non-Muslims. Some of the non-Muslim nations followed the example of Muslims from this period and changed the course of history in their favor. We can also changed it in our favor once again only if we learn from this golden period of the Muslim history.
I agree, but it's not gonna happen again.
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iqbal_soofi
02-27-2007, 08:57 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Philosopher
I agree, but it's not gonna happen again.
Also I don't see such thing to happen in the near future. Do somebody know the reason why today Muslims love to be blindfolded with fundamentalism and like to be headed to no other direction but the one which is going towards their graves?
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Philosopher
02-27-2007, 11:06 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by iqbal_soofi
Also I don't see such thing to happen in the near future. Do somebody know the reason why today Muslims love to be blindfolded with fundamentalism and like to be headed to no other direction but the one which is going towards their graves?
It's not their fault. Their county is ruled by corrupt people. Their country if full of poor and uneducated people.
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Akil
02-28-2007, 09:32 AM
Do the math fellas. Islam is 700 years younger than Christianity, so where was Christianity in 1307? Three hundred years after the dark ages, ten years after the crusades, not long after the Papal Inquisition, just before the Spanish inquisition and smack dab in the middle of the Reconquista. Not the most enlightened or nonviolent time for Christianity.
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waji
02-28-2007, 11:07 AM
:sl:

The Islamic World to 1600

The Islamic world also produced many great philosophers in the medieval period, and as in other religions, a rift between philosophy and theology soon developed. The debate largely revolved around the nature and existence of Allah, and the legitimacy of the prophecy. Many Muslim philosophers were influenced by the works of Aristotle and Plato, and struggled to apply the principles of these ancient Greeks to the Islamic world. That is not to say, however, that Islamic philosophy would not have developed without the impetus of Greek thought. Muslim philosophers also took ideas from the Qur'an and Hadith as a starting point for pondering philosophical issues.
At the heart of the debate between philosophy and theology were arguments for faith versus reason. In the event of a conflict between human knowledge and revealed knowledge, the philosophers asked, which should prevail? Muslim philosophers were Muslims first, and philosophers second, however, and their faith in Islam thus led them to recognise that even reason could not be used to fully understand Allah or his knowledge. Still, Al-Farabi and other early Muslim philosophers tried to find rational arguments for the existence of God. Theologians, led by Al-Ghazali, defended religion by pointing out contradictions and limitations to human reason. Ibn Rushd, one of Islam's greatest philosophers, responded to Al-Ghazali's argument by urging philosophers to use reason to reach genuine knowledge of the truth, independent of revelation. He attempted to show how Al-Ghazali's objections to philosophy were based on his misunderstanding of Aristotle's ideas and their effect on Islamic philosophy.
This complex debate between philosophy and theology was a major issue during the medieval period of learning in the Islamic world. However, this period also featured free-flowing ideas between the two sides, who prided themselves on being able to construct an argument for their view, rather than simply proclaiming its truth. Although most philosophers and scientists enjoyed royal patronage during the Abbasid period, some philosophers were punished for their writings by caliphs mindful of crushing what they viewed as any opposition to Islam.
The following eight Muslim scholars are particularly noteworthy for their contributions to learning and knowledge in the medieval Islamic world. Although many were noted for advances in a certain field, they all conducted research and wrote books on a number of different topics, from medicine to philosophy to geography. The eight featured here by no means exhaust the list of notable Islamic scholars; while formidable in their achievements, they represent only a small percentage of all those who helped the medieval Islamic world become the most intellectually advanced region in the world at that time.

Al-Khwarizmi

Abu Ja'far Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was born in Khwarizm, in present-day Uzbekistan. He thrived in Baghdad under the patronage of the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mamun, between 813 and 833, during a so-called "Golden Age" of Islamic science. A celebrated mathematician in his own time, as well as many centuries later, Al-Khwarizmi is best known for introducing the concept of algebra into mathematics. The title of his most famous book, Kitab Al-Jabr wa al-Muqabilah ("The Book of Integration and Equation") in fact provides the origin of the word, algebra. Over the course of his work in mathematics, Al-Khwarizmi introduced the use of Indo-Arabic numerals, which became known as algorithms, a Latin derivative of his name. He also began using the zero as a place-holder, paving the way for the development of the decimal system.
Origin of Arabic Numerals
Al-Khwarizmi' s work had a tremendous influence on mathematics not only in the Islamic world, but in other cultures as well. Several of his books were translated into Latin in the 12th century, and Kitab Al-Jabr wa al-Muqabilah was the principal mathematics textbook in European universities until the 16th century. In addition to his work on mathematics, Al-Khwarizmi also produced tracts on astronomy and geography, many of which were translated into European languages and Chinese. In 830, a team of geographers working under him produced the first map of the known world. Al-Khwarizmi' s scientific accomplishments continue to affect the world today.

Al-Farabi

Abu'l-Nasr Al-Farabi, a Muslim of Persian descent who studied in Baghdad, was considered in his time to be the greatest philosopher since Aristotle. Indeed, in the Islamic world he was known as the "Second Teacher," with Aristotle being the first. He was fluent in several languages, and through his translations of ancient Greek works, he was one of the earliest Islamic philosophers to introduce Greek philosophy to the Islamic world. He wrote on numerous subjects, including logic, sociology, political science, medicine, and music, but his legacy lies in his work in philosophy.
In writing commentaries on the works of the ancient Greeks, Al-Farabi sought to reconcile Aristotelian and Platonian thought with Islamic theology. At the same time, however, he also became the first Islamic philosopher to separate philosophy and theology, influencing scholars of many different religions who followed him. He concluded that human reason, the tool of the philosopher, was superior to revelation, the tool of religion, resulting in the advantage of philosophy over religion. He claimed that philosophy was based on intellectual perception, while religion was based on imagination. He thus attributed impressive characteristics to the philosopher, and advocated the philosopher as the ideal head of state. He blamed political upheavals in the Islamic world to the fact that the state was not run by philosophers, whose superior powers of reason and intellect would result in ideal leadership.
Al-Farabi's work greatly influenced the Islamic philosophers who followed him, particularly Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd. It also sparked what would become an ongoing debate between representatives of philosophy and theology, as Islamic thinkers sought to reconcile disparities between the two fields.

Al-Biruni

Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni, a Persian scholar and scientist, was a contemporary of the great physician Ibn Sina, with whom he is known to have corresponded. With a gift for languages, including Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Arabic, Al-Biruni caught the attention of the Ghaznavid ruler, Mahmud, whose territory included northern India. Mahmud often brought Al-Biruni with him on campaigns to India, where Al-Biruni spent his time studying the language, history, and science of that region. One of his most famous books, Kitab al-Hind ("Book of India") resulted from these travels. It was such a complete study of India that further works on Indian history written under Akbar 600 years later used it as a base.
In addition to his work on culture and history, Al-Biruni was also an accomplished scientist. In the field of astronomy, he pioneered the notion that the speed of light was much greater than the speed of sound, observed solar and lunar eclipses, and accepted the theory that the earth rotated on an axis long before anyone else. In geography, he calculated the correct latitude and longitude of many places, and disputed the European Ptolemaic view that Africa stretched infinitely to the south; Al-Biruni insisted it was surrounded by water. In his work on India, Al-Biruni also advanced the controversial view - later proved correct - that the Indus valley was once a sea basin. He also developed a theory for calculating the qibla - the direction of Mecca from any place - which was necessary for Muslims to know in order to face Mecca when praying. In physics, he accurately determined the densities of 18 precious stones and metals; in botany, he observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8 petals, but never 7 or 9; and he was the first to establish trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Because of his work in such diverse fields, Al-Biruni is considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time.


Ibn Sina

Abu Ali al-Husayn Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina was born in Bukhara in 980. Sometimes known in the West by the Latin name, Avicenna, this Persian physician became the most famous and influential of all the Islamic philosopher- scientists. He earned royal favour for treating the Kings of Bukhara and Hamadan for ailments other physicians could neither diagnose nor cure. His grave is still maintained in Hamadan, where he died in 1037. Though trained as a physician, Ibn Sina made important contributions to philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, and astronomy. His philosophical encyclopedia, Kitab al-Shifa ("Book of Healing") brought Aristotelian and Platonian philosophy together with Islamic theology in dividing the field of knowledge into theoretical knowledge (physics, mathematics, and metaphysics) and practical knowledge (ethics, economics, and politics).
His most enduring legacy, however, was in the field of medicine. His most famous book, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb ("The Canon of Medicine") is still one of the most important medical books ever written, and served as the medical authority throughout Europe for 600 years. Among the Canon's contributions to modern medicine was the recognition that tuberculosis is contagious; diseases can spread through water and soil; and a person's emotional health influences his or her physical health. Ibn Sina was also the first physician to describe meningitis, parts of the eye, and the heart valves, and he found that nerves were responsible for perceived muscle pain. He also contributed to advancements in anatomy, gynecology, and pediatrics. The Canon was translated into Latin in the 12th century, and quickly became the predominant textbook used in European medical schools until the 17th century. It is still used today in Islamic medical schools in Pakistan and India. No other medical book has remained so highly acclaimed for such a long period of time. When the Arabic original was published in Rome in 1593, it became one of the first Arabic books to be produced on the new invention of the printing press. Today, Ibn Sina's portrait hangs in the main hall of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris.

Omar Khayyam

Born Ghiyath al-Din Abul Fatah Umar Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam in 1044 in Nishapur, a Persian city, Omar Khayyam was a well-known mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He spent most of his life in Persian intellectual centres such as Samarkand and Bukhara, and enjoyed the favour of the Seljuk sultans who ruled the region.
Khayyam's best-known scientific contributions were in algebra and astronomy. His classification of algebraic equations was fundamental to the advancement of algebra as a science, for example, just as his work on the theory of parallel lines was important in geometry. In astronomy, Khayyam's greatest legacy is a remarkably accurate solar calendar, which he developed when the Seljuk sultan, Malik-Shah Jalal al-Din, required a new schedule for revenue collection. Khayyam's calendar, called Al-Tarikh-al- Jalali after the sultan, was even more accurate than the Gregorian calendar presently used in most of the world: the Jalali calendar had an error of one day in 3770 years, while the Gregorian had an error of one day in 3330 years. Khayyam measured the length of one year as 365.24219858156 days, which is remarkably accurate. It has since been discovered that the number changes in the 6th decimal place over a person's lifetime. For comparison of Khayyam's accuracy, the length of one year at the end of the 19th century was 365.242196 days, and today it is 365.242190. Although the calendar project was cancelled upon Malik-Shah's death in 1092, the Jalali calendar has survived and is still used in parts of Iran and Afghanistan today.
Khayyam is also a well-known poet. This is the profession by which he is best-known in the West, often at the expense of his scientific achievements. His fame as a poet in the West has only existed since 1839, however, when Edward Fitzgerald published an English translation of Khayyam's Rubaiyat ("Quatrains" ). It has since become a classic of world literature, and is largely responsible for influencing European ideas about Persian poetry and literature. Because he was known as a scientist in his own time, and his poetry did not surface until 200 years after his death, some doubt whether Khayyam indeed wrote the Rubaiyat. After careful analysis, however, most scholars now agree that he is the author, revealing a philosophical side to Khayyam that few of his contemporaries knew.
Khayyam's legacy remains largely in science, however, with his work in geometry so far ahead of its time that it was not used again until Ren� Descartes built upon Khayyam's theories in 17th century France.

Al-Ghazali

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali was born in 1058 in the Persian province of Khurasan. He was educated in Islamic theology at renowned institutions in Nishapur and Baghdad, and became a professor in religion and philosophy at Nizamiyah University in Baghdad - one of the Islamic world's most prominent institutions at that time. In 1095, however, after a period of inner turmoil about his faith, Al-Ghazali left the university, gave up his material possessions, and became a wandering ascetic. He devoted himself to Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam concerned with direct knowledge of God, and travelled to Mecca, Syria, and Jerusalem before returning to Nishapur to write.
Al-Ghazali's works on the relationship between philosophy and religion contributed to an ongoing discussion in the Islamic world on how to reconcile the two fields. In adopting the Aristotelian principals of the humanist ancient Greeks, Islamic philosophers since the 9th century, such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, had come into conflict with theologians who claimed that Aristotelian philosophy contradicted Islamic doctrine. Al-Ghazali staunchly defended religion against attack by philosophers, and in doing so helped bridge the gap between the two streams of thought. Al-Ghazali also sought to reign in what he believed were excessive views within Sufism, to bring it more in line with orthodox Islam. He continued to stress the importance of Sufism as the genuine path to absolute truth, but he sought to redefine its extreme image as disobedient to the basic teachings of Islam.
Al-Ghazali wrote several famous books on these subjects, one of which inspired the philosopher Ibn Rushd to respond with a book of his own, after Al-Ghazali's death. In Tuhafat al-Falasifa ("The Incoherence of the Philosophers" ), Al-Ghazali laid out several arguments as to why philosophy was sometimes heretical to Islam. He particularly objected to arguments made by Greek-influenced philosophers questioning the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, reward and punishment after death, God's knowledge of all things, and the eternity of the world. Al-Ghazali welcomed the fact that philosophers questioned some tenets of the Islamic faith, but he chastised them for not proving their positions. At the same time, Al-Ghazali was careful not to rebuke everything the philosophers had said. He did not reject discoveries of philosopher- scientists in the natural sciences, freely admitting that many important scientific advancements had been made. He also chastised Muslims who rejected every science connected with the philosophers, in the name of defending religion, claiming that such an approach only led the philosophers to conclude that Islam was based on ignorance. Rather, Al-Ghazali advocated accepting valid scientific achievements, while challenging philosophers to prove their objections to Islamic theology. Ibn Rushd, a devoted Aristotelian philosopher and rationalist, responded to Al-Ghazali's book with one of his own, Tuhafut al-Tuhafut ("The Incoherence of the Incoherence" ), in which he reproduced Al-Ghazali's book and commented on its arguments, page by page.
Al-Ghazali is considered one of Islam's greatest theologians. His arguments influenced Jewish and Christian religious scholarship, and it has been suggested that in the 13th century St. Thomas Aquinas used many of Al-Ghazali's themes in arguing for the strengthening of Christianity in the West.


Ibn Rushd


Abu'l Waleed Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Rushd, born in 1126 in Cordoba, then part of Muslim Spain, was one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the 12th century. Known by the Latin name Averroes in the West, Ibn Rushd influenced scholarship in both the Islamic world and Europe for centuries, and is best known in the West for his commentaries on Aristotle's philosophy.
Like many famous scholars before him, Ibn Rushd enjoyed the favour of the royal courts, and spent his time among the ruling class of Marrakesh, Morocco, as well as in the Spanish cities of Seville and Cordoba. Although his views on religion and philosophy occasionally angered his patrons, Ibn Rushd was generally able to continue his study of such a field because of his friendship with the Muslim rulers. He was greatly influenced by Greek philosophy, and he wrote several commentaries on Aristotle's works. He used Greek arguments for rationalism to question several tenets of Islamic theology, earning the criticism of many Muslim religious scholars, such as Al-Ghazali. Despite his vehement defence of philosophy, however, Ibn Rushd was a devoted Muslim who also tried to integrate Plato's political views with the modern Islamic state, to bring Greek thought and Islamic traditions into harmony.
While the Islamic world was split in its support for Ibn Rushd's philosophical work (and with philosophy in general enjoying less support since Al-Ghazali's attack on it), he became very popular in Europe. His commentaries on the work of Aristotle and Plato were translated into Latin, English, German, and Hebrew, and were thereafter always included in any editions of the Greek philosophers' works. The belief that he was more popular in the West than in the Islamic world is also supported by the fact that few of his writings survive in their original Arabic, and many of the ones that do are in Hebrew script. The rest have been preserved only in their Latin or other European vernacular translations.
In addition to his work in philosophy, Ibn Rushd was also an accomplished physician and astronomer. His famous medical book, Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (known as the "Colliget" in Latin) discussed various diagnoses and cures for diseases, as well as their prevention. He was the personal physician to several Almoravid caliphs in Spain and the Maghrib. In astronomy, he wrote tracts on the movement of spheres. Still, Ibn Rushd is best remembered for his philosophy, particularly in Europe, where he influenced scholarship until the 16th century. Many of his books were used in European universities until the 19th century.

Ibn Khaldun



Abd al-Rahman Ibn Muhammad, known as Ibn Khaldun after an ancestor, is considered to be the founder of modern sociology and philosophy of history. Born in Tunis, where his parents later died of the Black Death in 1349, Ibn Khaldun spent most of his life in North Africa and Spain. He led a very political life, working for a number of royal courts in North Africa, where he was also able to observe the political and social dynamics of court life. These observations would later influence his writings on the history of civilisations.
Ibn Khaldun's most famous book is the Muqaddimah ("Introduction" ), which he wrote as the first volume of an intended multi-volume world history. In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun set out his philosophy of history, and his views on how historical material should be analysed and presented. He concluded that civilisations rise and fall, in a cycle, as a result of psychological, economic, environmental, social, as well as political factors. His attention to more than just the political conditions of a civilisation was revolutionary, as he sought to also examine social, religious, and economic factors in explaining world history. He also pioneered the emphasis on relating events to each other through cause and effect, and drawing parallels between past and present, when writing history. He subjected his study of history to objective, scientific analysis, and lamented the clearly biased histories written before him.
After laying out these and other principles in the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun wrote several histories of the Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and Berbers, as well as Muslim and European rulers. He also wrote his autobiography, becoming a leader in that new literary form. His attention to social factors in the rise and fall of civilisations helped to develop the science of social development, known today as sociology. His influence on the fields of sociology and history was tremendous, particularly because his emphasis on reason and rationalism in judging history resulted in a notably non-religious tone to his work.

Conclusion

With a few exceptions, such as the 14th century work of Ibn Khaldun, the Golden Age of Islamic learning ended with the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. As they made their way across Central Asia, the Mongols destroyed Muslim libraries, observatories, hospitals, and universities, culminating in the sack of Baghdad, the Abbasid capital and intellectual centre, in 1258. Many scholars perished in the ensuing mass murders. The following era saw a rise in conservatism, as Muslim leaders tried to preserve what remained of their civilisation. Innovative and original ideas were not welcomed the way they had been before the invasion, and philosophy was the first branch of learning to suffer. The sciences soon followed, and by the 16th century the torch of intellectual development had been passed to Europe. Islamic arts did not suffer the same fate from the Mongol invasion as scholarly pursuits. The Mongols kept artisans they deemed useful, and the invasion also opened the Islamic world to artistic influences from China. As we saw earlier in this chapter, many art forms continued to flourish as the Mongol empires gave way to the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires.
In exploring the history of the Islamic world from its beginnings in the 7th century to the decline of the three Great Empires around 1600, this tutorial examined the major political, military, and cultural events that shaped the first 1000 years of Islamic history. From pre-Islamic Arabia we saw how the Islamic faith began and spread; we saw the Islamicisation of lands stretching from Southeast Asia to Northwest Africa; we saw how the Mongol invasions drastically altered the future of the Islamic world, leading to the rise of three formidable Islamic empires in Turkey, Iran, and India. Finally, we have seen how the Islamic faith influenced a distinct style of art and architecture, and how its adherents led the medieval world in intellectual pursuits. By understanding the origins and early history of this major world religion, we are better equipped to understand the Islamic world in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and especially, the 21st century.

:w:
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Muezzin
02-28-2007, 09:42 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by iqbal_soofi
The best period of Muslim history is the one in which Muslims made a lot of developments and progress. They changed the course of history with their scientific inventions. This is the only period which is admired by non-Muslims. Some of the non-Muslim nations followed the example of Muslims from this period and changed the course of history in their favor. We can also changed it in our favor once again only if we learn from this golden period of the Muslim history.
The way to do this is for all of us to stop whining about things beyond our control and get inventing, enterprising, and getting into politics. We all need to take positive rather than negative action.
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iqbal_soofi
03-01-2007, 02:16 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Philosopher
It's not their fault. Their county is ruled by corrupt people. Their country if full of poor and uneducated people.
It's not the fault of uneducacted Muslims at all. Look at what the educated Muslims talk about these days. They're a total disappointment, so is the future of Muslims as they're our only hope. They're lost in the dark and dead-end streets of fundamentalism. They don't even wish to get of there.
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