18.
ISLÁM AND THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT
BY ROBERT L. GULICK, JR.
THE most amazing revolution ever initiated by a Prophet of God was that of Muḥammad. A single verse from the Tongue of Muḥammad was endowed with greater potency than all the laws against gambling and drunkenness enacted in these United States during the past 166 years of our national existence. I refer to Súrah 5:92 of the Qur’án: “Strong drink and games of chance and images and divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan’s handiwork.” His appeal was the reverse of that of the politician who panders to the prejudices and weaknesses and illegitimate desires of his supporters. Muḥammad, without friends or money, induced the people to abandon the baubles of this world for the heavenly pearl of great price. They dispensed with idols, alcohol, and gambling, and the curse of unbounded polygamy and infanticide was effaced from Arabia. These tremendous changes, realized in very few decades, were the external evidences of internal spiritual transformation. Muḥammad warned, “Ye will not attain unto piety until ye spend of that which ye love” (Súrah 3:6). Muḥammad instilled a noble spirit of sacrifice and a sublimation of personal desire foreign to the “best laid schemes o’ mice and men” for, as Carl G. Jung has observed, "you find that the most convincing things man can invent are cheap and ready made, and never able to convince him against his personal desires and fears.”1
Before showing how Muḥammad advanced the cause of enlightenment, it might be of interest to inquire concerning His reception by the men of learning of the day.
The worldly wise, cloaked in intellectual arrogance, have ever been impervious to the fragrances wafted by the Divine Messengers.
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1Carl G. Jung, Psychology and Religion, p. 94.
The following passages have been revealed by the pen of Baha’u’llah:2
"Consider the Dispensation of Jesus Christ. Behold, how all the learned men of that generation, though eagerly anticipating the coming of the Promised One, have nevertheless denied Him. Both Annas, the most learned among the divines of His day, and Caiaphas, the high priest, denounced Him and pronounced the sentence of His death.
“In like manner, when Muḥammad, the Prophet of God—may all men be a sacrifice unto Him—appeared, the learned men of Mecca and Medina arose, in the early days of His Revelation, against Him and rejected His Message, while they who were destitute of all learning recognized and embraced His Faith. Ponder a while. Consider how Balál, the Ethiopian, unlettered though he was, ascended into the heaven of faith and certitude, whilst ‘Abdu’lláh Ubayy, a leader among the learned, maliciously strove to oppose Him. Behold, how a mere shepherd was so carried away by the ecstacy of the words of God that he was able to gain admittance into the habitation of his Best-Beloved, and was united to Him Who is the Lord of Mankind, whilst they who prided themselves on their knowledge and wisdom strayed far from His path and remained deprived of His grace. For this He hath written: ‘He that is exalted among you shall be abased, and he that is abased shall be exalted’.”
The hostility of the so-called learned makes Muḥammad’s friendly attitude toward learning the more astonishing. The Qur’án declares (Súrah 2:272):
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2Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 83-4.
- He to whom wisdom is given
- hath had much good given him.
- But none will bear it in mind,
- except the wise of heart.
The first command given the Prophet in His very first revelation was “Read!” Muḥammad protested that He knew not how to read. We do not know whether Muḥammad ever learned to read and write, but there is not an iota of evidence to prove that a single verse in the Qur’án was inspired through reading. The Qur’án contains this beautiful prayer for knowledge (Súrah 20:113): "And say, O Lord! Increase me in knowledge.”
The statement in the Qur’án concerning the incomplete state of existing knowledge —”You have received only a minute quantity of knowledge” (Súrah 17:87)—could well have been pondered by the cocksure materialistic scientists of the nineteenth century.
I have freely translated into English some of the ḥadíth on knowledge collected by Bukhárí and rendered into French by MM. Houdas and Marçais. Muḥammad is reported to have said, “The learned are the heirs of the prophets who have transmitted knowledge to them as an inheritance. He who has chosen learning has taken a goodly portion and for him who seeks wisdom God will pave a path unto Paradise.”1 “It is incumbent upon the beloved of the Lord to acquire knowledge of religion; knowledge is acquired only through study.”2 The Prophet gives this interesting bit of advice in the field of educational psychology, "Render the way easy and not difficult. Announce agreeable things and do not startle your auditor.”3 “There are only two persons that one is permitted to envy: the one to whom God has given wealth and who has the greatness of soul to spend his means for the cause of truth, and the one to whom God has given wisdom and who bestows it upon men.”4 Of great importance to the history of education was this injunction of Muḥammad: “Let the poor and the rich be equal before you in the acquisition of
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1El-Bokhari, Les Traditions Islamiques, v. III, p. 39.
2, 3Ibid., p. 40.
4Ibid., p. 44.
knowledge.”5 This command led to the establishment of many scholarships at Cairo, Damascus, and elsewhere.
The Biháru’l-Anvár and other commonly accepted collections of traditions attribute the following passage to Muḥammad:6
”Acquire knowledge, because he who acquires it in the way of the Lord performs an act of piety; who speaks of it, praises the Lord; who seeks it, adores God; who dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and who imparts it to its fitting objects, performs an act of devotion to God. Knowledge enables its possessor to distinguish what is forbidden from what is not; it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when bereft of friends; it serves as an armour against our enemies. With knowledge, the servant of God rises to the heights of goodness and to a noble position, associates with sovereigns in this world, and attains to the perfection of happiness in the next.”
According to the Misbah ush-Shariyet, the Prophet enjoined: "Seek ye learning even unto China.” Amír ‘Alí cites the following ḥadith from the Jámaa u'l-Akhbár and other comparatively reliable sources:7
“He who leaves his home in search of knowledge, walks in the path of God. He who travels in search of knowledge, to him God shows the way to Paradise. One hour’s meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer. To listen to the instructions of science and learning for one hour is more meritorious than attending the funerals of a thousand martyrs,—more meritorious than standing up in prayer for a thousand nights. . . . To the student who goes forth in quest of knowledge, God will allot a high place in the mansions of bliss; every step he takes is blessed, and every lesson he receives has its reward. . . . The seeker of knowledge will be greeted in Heaven with a welcome from the angels. . . . To listen to the words of the learned, and to instil into the heart the lessons of science, is better than religious exercises, . . .
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5Khalil Totah, The Contributions of the Arabs to Education, p. 44.
6Amír ‘Alí, The Spirit of Islam, p. 331.
7Amír ‘Alí, The Spirit of Islam, p. 332-3.
Temple Model Exhibit Conducted at Thorsted Floral Co., Oakland, Calif.
better than emancipating a hundred slaves. . . . Him who favors learning and the learned, God will favor in the next world. . . . He who honors the learned honors me.”
Prof. Stephen quotes these words from Muḥammad:1
“He dieth not who takes to learning. The worst of men is a bad learned man, and a good learned man is the best.”
The Islamic Review (January, 1917) gives these ideas of Muḥammad on education:2—
“The desire of knowledge is a divine commandment for every Muslim. Seek ye knowledge from the cradle to the grave.
"Excessive knowledge is better than excessive praying. . . . It is better to teach knowledge one hour in the night than to pray the whole night. One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshippers. . . . the superiority of a learned man over an ignorant worshipper is like that of a full moon over all the stars.
“The knowledge from which no benefit is derived is like a treasure from which no charity is bestowed in the way of the Lord.
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1N. Stephen, “Muḥammad and Learning.” Islamic Review, 5:44-7.
2Islamic Review, 5:48, January, 1917.
“Who are the learned? Those who practice what they know.”
These statements must not be construed as idle and insignificant platitudes for they have really produced outstanding results. Muḥammad discouraged vain speculation: the strength of Islamic science was its devotion to practical matters rather than to the vague notions of the Byzantine Greeks. The Companions of the Prophet followed his precepts by studying when they were advanced in age.
After defeating their persecutors at Badr, the Muslims took a number of captives. The prisoners were well treated and given the best food; the poor went free without payment of ransom, but the rest were charged "what the traffic could bear.” The remarkable feature was that those who could read and write were required to teach ten children each in lieu of paying a ransom of 4,000 Dirhams each. Muḥammad ‘Alí concludes, “To forego a big sum of 4,000 Dirhams ransom money per head and accept the teaching of reading and writing instead, furnishes an ample testimony to the value which learning had in the eyes of the Prophet.”3
We learn from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:4
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3Muḥammad ‘Alí, Muḥammad the Prophet, p. 216.
4 Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 121.
Temple Model on Display at Meyers, Florist, New Haven, Conn.
"‘Alí, the son-in-law of Muḥammad, said: ‘That which is in conformity with Science is also in ”conformity with Religion.’ ”
‘Alí and Ibn ‘Abbás, the latter a cousin of the Apostle, gave public lectures on poetry, grammar, history, and mathematics. The status of ‘Alí as a scholar and patron of learning is of especial importance for Muḥammad clearly indicated that after His passing the faithful should turn to ‘Alí.
Unfortunately, many people still believe the old canard which attributes to the Muslims the destruction of the library at Alexandria. A certain amount of damage had been done in street-fighting, but the deliberate destruction of this invaluable library occurred in the year 389 A. D. on the order of Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, long before the birth of Muḥammad (August 570 A. D.?). Meyerhof adds, ". . . It is certain that the last remnants of the philosophical school of Alexandria were not destroyed by the Arabs, but transferred, eighty years after the Arab conquest, to Antioch.”1
The attitude of official Christianity toward
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1M. Meyerhof, ”On the Transmission of Greek and Indian Science to the Arabs,” Islamic Culture, 11:21.
learning has at times been far from favorable. The Crusaders "destroyed the splendid library of Tripoli without compunction; they reduced to ashes many of the glorious centres of Saracenic culture and arts.”2 Diercks charges that the “Christian religion, wherever it went, checked mental progress and development and suppressed the already existing culture.”3 He goes on to assert that the one principle followed by Gregory “the Great” was: “Ignorance is the mother of piety.” Acting on this theory Gregory “not only committed to the flames all the mathematical stories of Rome, but also burned the precious Palatine Library which was founded by the Emperor Augustus. He destroyed the greater part of the writings of Livy; he forbade the study of the classics; he maimed and mutilated the remains of the ancient days.”4 Ferdinand and Isabella destroyed all the Muslim works they could find.
In the New World, Bishop Zumarraga made a bonfire of the priceless Aztec and pre-Aztec records of the library at Texcoco; only 23 Aztec manuscripts survive.
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2Amír ‘Alí, op. cit., p. 351.
3Gustav Diercks, “Europe’s Debt to Islám,” Islamic Review, 16:218 (Je 1928).
4Ibid., 16:144 (May, 1928).
Not to be outdone, Father Landa burned the Maya library in Yucatan, so that only three Mayan books remain to us. Stuart Chase comments:1
"The burning of the library at Alexandria was a minor calamity compared to the devout labors of Landa and Zumarraga. Duplicate material was available in other parts of the Greek world for much which the flames consumed at the mouth of the Nile. In Mexico the slate was wiped clean; the careful records are gone forever.”
While the bloody Albigensian war raged in Europe (1012—1022), free-thinking Ma’arri, without risk of persecution, wrote such lines as these:2
“Nothing endures, everything is doomed to perish, even Islám itself. Moses taught and passed away. Christ succeeded him. Then came Muḥammad with his five daily prayers. A new faith will come later, supplanting, outshining this. Humanity is thus hounded to death between yesterday and today.”
Ma’arri did not look upon the course of events as obscene repetition or believe in the cliché which affirms that history repeats itself. In my opinion, the words which follow reveal a realistic attitude which surpasses in objectivity the religious traditionalism of his time and the cynical materialism of the nineteenth century:3
“On and on flows the stream of time ever bringing something new. . . . The past never returns; the course of events, old in its texture, is ever new in its coloring and fashion.”
The picture of the Muslim with the Qur’án in one hand and a sword in the other is overdrawn beyond recognition. The wars of Muḥammad were defensive in nature; had they not been waged, the Muslims would have perished with what dire results for the future of civilization one can only imagine. Muḥammad counseled his followers, "Fight in the way of Alláh against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Alláh loveth not aggressors.”
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1Stuart Chase, Mexico, p. 48-9.
2S. Khúdá Búkhsh, “Ibn Kháldún and His History of Islamic Civilization,” Islamic Culture, 4:596.
3Ibid., 4:597.
(Súrah 2:186.) Diercks renders this verdict:4
“That wars against non-Muslims were religious and for the sake of religion, and were undertaken by Muslims for the oppression of other religions, is not only, generally speaking, out of the question, but also even in special cases it would be very difficult to prove that material and political reasons were not the real causes of those wars.”
Muḥammad revealed in the Qur’án (Súrah 2:257) this commandment:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion.” And again (Súrah 10:99): "But if thy Lord had pleased, verily all who are in the earth would have believed together. What! Wilt thou compel men to become believers?” Certain it is that the Jews and Christians in the East preferred Muslim to Roman rule. Wismar, inclined to be parsimonious in his concessions to Islám, writes:5
“When the Muslim army reached the Valley of the Jordan and Abu ’Ubaidah pitched his tent at Fihl, the Christians of the country informed the Arabs that they preferred them to the Byzantines, although the latter were Christians. The people of Ḥims closed the gates of their city against the army of Heraclius, declaring that they preferred Muslim justice and government to Byzantine oppression. The Jews of this city swore by the Thorah to sacrifice their lives in the attempt to keep the Emperor from gaining possession of it. Other cities acted similarly and eloquently declared their abhorrence of Byzantine misrule and their approval of Muslim supremacy. On the defeat of the imperial forces at Yarmuk the cities opened their gates and received the victors with wild demonstrations of joy. Nor were they disappointed in their expectations of greater security under Muslim rule. In the early days of Islám Jews and such Christians as did not accept the imperial theology were better off under the Muslim caliph than under the Christian Emperor.”
Bartold, an impartial investigator, states that “the Mussulmans never indulged in the persecution of those who believed in
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4Gustav Diercks, op. cit., 17:191 (May, 1929).
5A. L. Wismar, A Study in Tolerance, p. 104-5.
another religion as the Christians did in Spain.”1
Particularly instructive are the provisions of ’Umar’s treaty with Jerusalem:2
"This treaty comprehends all Christian subjects, priests, monks, and nuns. This treaty grants them security and protection wherever they may be. . . . A similar external protection shall be granted to their churches, houses, and to their places of pilgrimage, as well as to those who visit these places: the Georgians, Abyssinians, Jacobites, Nestorians, and all those who acknowledge the Prophet Jesus. All these deserve consideration because they had heretofore been honored with a document of the Prophet Muḥammad, at the end whereof he affixed his seal, and in which he has emphatically ordered us to be beneficent and to grant them security. . . . On their entry into the church of the Holy Sepulchre and on their entire pilgrimage no kind of tax shall be exacted from them.”
At the time of the Crusades, if we are to believe the testimony of a Russian historian of the Church, “the clergy and the masses desired the return of the Muḥammadan yoke rather than the continuation of the power of the Latins.”3 Townsend gives this rare picture of Islám:4
“Under Muḥammad . . . there sprang up ex necessitate rei a form of democratic equality more absolute than any the world has elsewhere.”
Briffault traces the genesis of the scientific method and spirit of inquiry to the Arabs:5
"It is highly probable that but for the Arabs modern European civilization would never have arisen at all; it is absolutely certain that but for them, it would not have assumed that character which has enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution. For although there is not a single aspect of human growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in
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1V. V. Bartold, Mussulman Culture, p. 18.
2Gustav Diercks, op cit., 17:375 (October, 1929). Vide Oath of Muḥammad in Appendix.
3V. V. Bartold, op. cit., p. 22.
4Meredith Townsend, Mahommed, p. 50.
5Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, p. 190-1.
the genesis of that power which constitutes the paramount distinctive force of the modern world and the supreme source of its victory—natural science and the scientific spirit. . . . What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs.”
Stanwood Cobb states in similar vein:6
”Islám, impinging culturally upon adjacent Christian countries, was the virtual creator of the Renaissance in Europe.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stressed the importance of intellectual enlightenment:7
“The light of the intellect is the highest light that exists, for it is born of the Light Divine.
“The light of the intellect enables us to understand and realize all that exists, but it is only the Divine Light that can give us sight for the invisible things, and which enables us to see Truths that will only be visible to the world thousands of years hence. . . .
"It is of this Light Muḥammad is speaking when he says, ‘Alláh is the light of the Heavens, and of the Earth’.” (Súrah 24:35.)
The Master describes the work of Muḥammad:8
“He educated and unified these barbarous tribes, put an end to their shedding of blood. Through his education they reached such a degree of civilization that they subdued and governed continents and nations. . . . How much Islám served and furthered the cause of science!”
He further indicates the extent of Muḥammad’s influences:9
“When the light of Muḥammad dawned, the darkness of ignorance was dispelled from the deserts of Arabia. In a short period of time those barbarous peoples attained a superlative degree of civilization which with
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6Stanwood Cobb, “Islám’s Contribution to World Culture,” World Order, 6:202 (September, 1940).
7Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 62.
8‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, v. II, p. 340-1.
9Ibid., p. 362.
Baghdád as its center extended as far westward as Spain and afterward influenced the greater part of Europe.”
Muḥammad, although unlettered, gave to the Arabs their first book to be written down and copied, the Qur’án. This book became perhaps the most studied book in the world and the one on which centered the beginnings of the greater Arabic culture. As Moore tersely and aptly remarks, “A people whose religion is revealed to them in a book must make provision for the study and interpretation of that book.”1 Gibb shows its literary significance:2
”The influence of the Koran on the development of Arabic literature has been incalculable. Though for several decades at least there was no other prose work written in Arabic and it exercised little immediate influence on the poets, it was to the studies connected with the Koran that the majority of branches of Arabic literature owed their origin.”
Amír ‘Alí describes Caliph al-Ma’mún’s appreciation of learning:3
“He was not ignorant that they are the elect of God, his best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational faculties, . . . that the teachers of wisdom are the true luminaries and legislators of the world.”
Amír ‘Alí adds a note on the methods employed at Baghdád:4
“Marching from the known to the unknown, the school of Baghdád rendered to itself an exact account of the phenomena for the purpose of rising from the effect to the cause, accepting only what had been demonstrated by experience; such were the principles taught by the (Muslim) masters.”
Khúdá Búkhsh contributes this amusing story of the Muslim addiction to books:5
"Even in the first century of the Hegira we find learned men scolded by their wives for possessing great numbers of books and one was actually killed by the fall of a pile
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1Earnest Carroll Moore, The Story of Instruction, p. 279.
2H. A. R. Gibb, Arabic Literature, p. 26.
3, 4Amír ‘Alí, op. cit., p. 343.
5S. Khúdá Búkhsh, “The Educational System of the Muslims in the Middle Ages,” Islamic Culture, 3:453 (July, 1927).
of folios which he had heaped around him while sitting on the floor. It was deemed a matter of pride to possess a large collection of books, and not merely savants but even statesmen gloried in their collection. A Buwayiid Wazir never travelled without carrying with him thirty camel-loads of books.”
Baghdád and Córdoba were in many respects more advanced than the leading cities of Christendom from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. The baths of Córdoba, street lights, and various other comforts and conveniences, surely taught lessons for the amelioration of European conditions.
Córdoba merits further attention:6
”Córdoba in the tenth century was the most civilized city in Europe, the wonder and admiration of the world, a Vienna among the Balkan states. Travellers from the north heard with something like fear of the city which contained 70 libraries and 900 public baths; yet whenever the rulers of Leon, Navarre or Barcelona needed such things as a surgeon, an architect, a dressmaker or a singing-master, it was to Córdoba that they applied.”
Rosenthal concludes:7
“In Muslim days Córdoba was the centre of European civilization and one of the greatest seats of learning in the world. After the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, however, Córdoba sank to the level of a provincial town. Yet her wonderful mosque is a superb legacy of the days when Córdoba was the capital of the Arab empire in Spain.”
I feel constrained to remark that the conversion of the mosque into a cathedral in 1238 was an aesthetic crime. The Bahá’í Temple on the shores of Lake Michigan somewhat resembles this mosque which is acclaimed by some authorities as the oldest institution of learning in Europe.
A fascinating figure in the history of Europe and one significant in the drama of the spread of Muslim influence is Frederick II. In the following passage he testifies that the Muslims established a more logical succession than had the Christians:8
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6Sir Thomas W. Arnold, The Legacy of Islám, p. 9.
7 E. Rosenthal, "Traces of Arabic Influence in Spain," Islamic Culture, 11:336 (July, 1937).
8Ernest Kantorowicz, Frederick the Second, p. 192.
"He was discussing the Khalifate with Fakhru’d Din. The Amír explained to the Emperor how the Khalifate of the Abbasids could be tracked back in unbroken line to al Abbás, the uncle of the Prophet, and thus still remained in the family of the Founder. ‘That is excellent,’ said Frederick, ‘far superior to the arrangement of those fools, the Christians. They choose as their spiritual head any fellow they will, without the smallest relationship to the Messiah, and they make him the Messiah’s representative. That Pope there has no claim to such a position, whereas your Khalif is the descendant of Muḥammad’s uncle’.”
The manner in which Islám made possible the advancement of geographical investigation is explained in a manuscript of the great geographer, al-Bírúní. This report is dated September 21, 1025, and sheds much light on the superior research methods of the Muslims:1
“Most of the data of the Geography (of Ptolemy) concerning the longitude and latitude of points on the Earth have really been adopted only on the ground of rumors which had come from far-off districts. . . . Anyhow, the ground on which these data rest is mere report; indeed those lands were very difficult of access in the past owing to the national divisions (at-tubayan al-milli), for national division is the greatest obstacle to travel in countries. We see, for example, some peoples who think—as do the Jews—to come nearer to God through treacherous attacks on folk of other nationalities. Or they take foreigners as slaves, as do the Romans, and that is the lesser evil. Or travellers, because they are foreigners, are turned back, held in every kind of suspicion and they are thus brought to a very dangerous and unpleasant plight.
"But now (the circumstances are quite different). Islam has already penetrated from the eastern countries of the Earth to the western; it spreads westward to Spain (Andalus), eastward to the borderland of China and to the middle of India, southward to Abyssinia and the countries of Zanj (i.e., South Africa, the Malay Archipelago
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1Ahmet Zeki Validi, ”Islám and the Science of Geography,” Islamic Culture, 8:517-8 (October, 1934).
and Java), northward to the countries of the Turks and Slavs. Thus the different peoples (al-uman al-mukhtalifah) are brought together in mutual understanding (ulfat), which only God’s own Art can bring to pass. . . .
“To obtain information concerning places of the Earth has now become incomparably easier and safer (than it was before). Now we find a crowd of places, which in the (Ptolemaic) "Geography” are indicated as lying to the east of other places, actually situated to the west of the others named, and vice versa.”
This quotation disproves the widespread belief that the Arabs accepted uncritically whatever came down to them from the Greeks.
“I know nothing,” says Von Kremer, “which brings home to us a picture of the Muslim zeal for truth more clearly and emphatically than an account of the travels of the last great Arab geographer—Yaqút-i-Hamwi. The Mongol menace, which was to destroy the throne of the Abbasids and the old Baghdád, begins its steady forward course, but does not in the slightest degree interfere with the quiet work of our author in the libraries of Merv. In his flight he saves the greatest portion of his gathered materials, and though hardly at leisure or in peace, he sets to work to complete his task before he embarks on his last journey, —never to return.”2
The stability of social institutions and the atmosphere of freedom of inquiry were powerful forces in building of Islamic civilization. In addition to laying the foundation upon which the future culture rested, Islám was directly responsible for developments in specific fields.
For instance, the incentives for Muslim historical writing were the desire to establish the authenticity of ḥadíth, to determine who were the descendants of Muḥammad, and to celebrate Muslim conquests and heroes. Muslim historians dated their materials and events far more precisely than most Christian writers. As a group compared with their Christian contemporaries, the Muslims were characterized by independent
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2S. Khúdá Búkhsh, op. cit., v. II. p. 47.
judgment, relative impartiality, and a better grasp of chronological methods.1 Ibn Kháldún completely outdistanced any Christian historian of the Middle Ages in his fundamental grasp of the principles of human and cultural development. He declared that empires, like individuals, have a life of their own during which they grow, mature, and then decay, few adapting to changing environments.
Islám emphasized the constant watchfulness of God Who, according to the Qur’án, is nearer to man than his jugular vein. The basis of Muslim law was equality before God and good faith. Muḥammad said, "The white man is not above the black nor the black above the yellow; all men are equal before their Maker.” Good faith is elevated above personal fealty and becomes a universal ethical conception. Islám substituted for the blood tie, which was the political and social foundation of the Arab tribe, the community of faith. “He who adopted Islám had to forget all connections, even his own kith and kin, unless they were his companions in the faith.2 The Apostle was also a legal reformer:3
“The Prophet laid down an important rule of law and court procedure: the burden of proof lies on the claimant, and the defendant who declines to admit the claim must deny simply an oath.”
De Santillana sums up our debt to Islamic law:4
”Among our positive acquisitions from Arab law, there are legal institutions such as limited partnership (qirad), and certain technicalities of commercial law. But even omitting these, there is no doubt that the high ethical standard of certain parts of Arab law acted favorably on the development of our modern concepts; and herein lies its enduring merit.”
During His farewell pilgrimage a decade after the Hijrah, Muḥammad decreed that life, property and honor, the three elementary
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1Vide H. E. Barnes, A History of Historical Writing, p. 94.
2Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 285.
3”Muḥammad Ḥamidu’lláh, "Administration of Justice in Early Islam,” Islamic Culture, 11:168 (April, 1937).
4Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 310.
rights of every man, must be respected.5
“Jábir” stated more lucidly and explicitly the importance of experimental research than any other chemist of his century. He described improved methods for evaporation, filtration, sublimation, melting, distillation, and crystallization and he described the preparation of such chemical substances as cinnabar (sulphide of mercury) and arsenious oxide. “His influence can be traced throughout the whole historic course of European alchemy and chemistry.”6
The Rutbatu’l Hakim, apparently written in the early part of the eleventh century (probably not by al-Majrítí), emphasizes practical empiricism and describes an experiment conducted by the author:7
"I took natural quivering mercury, free from impurity, and placed it in a glass vessel shaped like an egg. This I put inside another vessel like a cooking-pot and set the whole apparatus over an extremely gentle fire. The outer pot was then in such a degree of heat that I could beat my hand upon it. I heated the apparatus day and night for 4 days, after which I opened it. I found that the mercury (the original weight of which was ¼lb.) had been completely converted into a red powder, soft to the touch, the weight remaining as it was originally.”
This is an early and accurate observation of the oxidation of mercury,—an experiment which, in the hands of Lavoisier, led to epoch-making developments in the eighteenth century.
Draper remarks rather sharply on the contrast in the attitude toward medical and biological science displayed by medieval Islám and Christianity:8
“Muḥammadanism had all along been the patron of physical science; paganizing Christianity not only repudiated it, but exhibited towards it sentiments of contemptuous disdain and hatred. Hence physicians were viewed by the church with dislike, and
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5Muḥammad Ḥamidu’lláh, op. cit., 11:170 (April, 1937.
6Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 327.
7E. J. Holmyard, “Maslama al-Majarítí and the Rutbatu’l Hakim,” Isis, 6:302.
8John W. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, vol. II, p. 121-2.
regarded as atheists by the people, who held firmly to the lessons they had been taught that cures must be wrought by relics of martyrs and bones of saints, by prayers and intercessions, and that each region of the body was under some spiritual charge—the first joint of the right thumb being in the care of God the Father, the second under that of the blessed Virgin, and so on of other parts. For each disease there was a saint.”
It remained for the Muslims to teach the Christians cleanliness. Soap itself was invented by a Muslim, ‘Abdu’lláh Bunay.1
The Pilgrimage to Mecca figured in an important way in the progress of biological science:2
“The pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the duty of every Muslim, favored the spread of science, since it compelled students from India and Spain, from Asia Minor and Africa, to pass through many lands where they could visit mosques and academies and have intercourse with prominent scholars.”
It is reported, for instance, that a physician at Cadiz installed in the parks of the governor a garden where he cultivated rare medicinal plants brought back from his travels.
Ibn al—Bayṭár, author of the greatest Arabic book on botany of the age (Collection of Simple Drugs), collected plants and drugs on the Mediterranean littoral from Spain to Syria, described more than 1,400 medicinal drugs, and compared them with the records of over 150 authors preceding him. Ibn al-Ṣúrí botanized in the country around Damascus, carefully observing plants at different stages of growth. Al-Gháfiqí of Córdoba traveled widely in Spain and Africa to collect samples "and he described them with greater precision than had ever been done before.”3 "By far the most important herbalistic tradition in almost every respect was the Arabic or Muslim one.”4
Sarton praises the accounts of the Muslim pilgrims:5
————————
1‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mysterious Forces of Civilization, p. 117.
2Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 337.
3George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, v. II, p. 51.
4Ibid.
5Ibid, p. 35.
"The Arabic narratives of Muslim pilgrims are far superior to the Christian ones and their scientific value is greater. For example, the Latin relations are truly childish as compared with the one wherein Ibn Jubair of Valencia described his first journey to the Near East 1183—1185. We have also for the same period an elaborate guide book by the Persian ‘Alí al-Harawí; then about a century later, the itineraries of another Valencian, Muḥammad al-‘Abdarí and of the Moroccan, Muḥammad ibn Rushaid. These Muslim travelers were many-sided men who took pains to obtain information of various kinds and to meet famous scholars.”
The greatest of the medieval doctors was Ar—Rází (Rhazes, d. c. 930) who served for a time as physician-in-chief at the great hospital of Baghdád.
He introduced the use of minoratives and is said to have invented the seton and discovered the nerve of the larynx. His treatise on Small-pox and Measles gave the first clear account extant of these diseases. One of the truly great scholars of the Islamic world was ‘Alí al-Ḥusayn ibn Síná (980-1037), known to the west as Avicenna. He concentrated the legacy of Greek medical knowledge with the addition of the Arabic contribution in his gigantic Canon of Medicine (al-Qánún fi’ṭ-Ṭibb), the "culmination and masterpiece of Arabic systematization.”
The Canon was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the twelfth century and in the last thirty years of the fifteenth century, it was issued fifteen times in Latin and once in Hebrew. From the time of its translation by Gerard to the seventeenth century it was the guide of medical study in European universities, continuing in use at Montpellier and Louvain until 1650. Ibn Síná recognized the importance of the emotions in healing and resorted to a form of psycho-diagnosis. When a person suffered from a mental or other disease caused by separation from a loved one, he would discover the name and address of the beloved in this manner:6
“The device whereby this may be effected is that many names should be mentioned and
————————
6E. G. Browne, Arabian Medicine, p. 86.
repeated while the finger is retained on the pulse, and when it becomes very irregular and almost ceases, one should then repeat the process.”
Draper, Baas, and many other scholars have emphasized in no uncertain terms that while the Christians were kneeling before images and ragged relics in the hope of being cured, the Muslims had licensed physicians and pharmacists and hospitals. Even barber shops were subject to inspection and travelling hospitals were known in the eleventh century. The inhuman treatment of the insane in Europe requires no comment but few students realize that the Muslims founded a lunatic asylum at Cairo in 1304, at least a century earlier than any similar European institution on record.1
The Kitábu’l-Malikí of al-Majúsí (d. 982) contributed to medical knowledge a “rudimentary conception of the capillary system.”2 Ibn an-Nafís (d. 1288) was the first of the precursors of William Harvey. Three centuries before Michael Servetus (victim of Calvinist fury), he propounded this theory of the pulmonary circulation:3
"The blood, after having been refined, must rise in the arterious vein to the lung in order to expand in its volume and to be mixed with air so that its finest part may be clarified and may reach the venous artery in which it is transmitted to the left cavity of the heart.”
Thábit ibn Qurrá (b. 826) was the first to use sines in mathematics and he was the translator (into Arabic) of seven of the eight books of the conic sections of Apollonius, in this way preserving three that are now lost in the original text. Bartold states that the first knowledge of trigonometrical functions in Europe was derived from al-Battání.4 Ulugbek, grandson of Timur and ruler of the Mongolian Empire 1409—1449, erected the Madrasah at Bukhara on which was inscribed: STRIVING FOR KNOWLEDGE IS THE DUTY OF EVERY MALE AND FEMALE MUSSULMAN.5 He built an observatory for
————————
1S. H. Leeder, “The Debt of Civilization to the Arabs,” Islamic Review, 4:70.
2E. G. Browne, op. cit., p. 124.
3Max Meyerhof, “Ibn an-Nafís and His Theory of the Lesser Circulation,” Isis, 23:116 (June, 1935).
4V. V. Bartold, op. cit., p. 50.
5V. V. Bartold, op. cit., p. 127.
scientists from Persia and their pupils. Truly a scholar on the throne, it was in his name that the astronomical tables and catalogue of the stars representing the last word in the astronomy of the Middle Ages were compiled and published. The glory of Muslim science was also resplendent in the field of optics:6
“Here the mathematical ability of an Alhazen and a Kamal al—Din outshone that of Euclid and Ptolemy.”
‘Umar Khayyám deserves mention for his mathematical treatises:7
“His Algebra is a book of the first rank and one which represents a much more advanced state of this science than that we see among the Greeks.”
Sarton pays tribute to ‘Umar’s calendar:8
“The eleventh century approached its end with an astounding achievement: the Ta’rikh Jalali of ‘Umar Khayyám (1079) which was probably more accurate than our Gregorian calendar.”
In addition to their valuable contributions made by observations, the Muslims preserved in translation a number of Greek works, the originals of which have been lost, including: the Spherics of Menelaus, the Mechanics of Hero of Alexandria, the Pneumatics of Philo of Byzantium, a short book on the balance attributed to Euclid and a work on the clepsydra ascribed to Archimedes.9
It would require volumes to summarize the contributions of Islamic civilization to the cultural progress of mankind. In these pages, I have drawn attention to but a few of the better known and attested gifts of Islám to the western world. Of equal importance is our debt for paper, textiles, carpets, sugar cane, maize and rice, lemons and melons, apricots, new colors and dyes, drugs and spices, works of art, coffee, candy, mattresses, and the numerous other articles brought by Muslim traders. The following passage sums up Europe’s debt to Islám in the minor arts:10
”Ever since the beginnings of Islám, Western piety, learning, commerce, and curiosity
————————
6Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 345.
7Ibid., p. 392.
8George Sarton, op. cit., p. 28.
9Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 376.
10Sir Thomas W. Arnold, op. cit., p. 150—1.
have found each something to its taste in the products of Muslim skill; but in knowledge of their technical excellence and their beauty master craftsmen such as Odericus of Rome, Who in 1286 wrought Islamic patterns upon the inlaid marble pavement of the Presbytery of Westminster Abbey, and William Morris, who wove another into his velvet in 1884, together with a host of others before, since, and between them, have time and again refreshed Western art from a fund which has been to us rather an annuity than a legacy.”
Baron Carra de Vaux, unimpeachable authority on Islamic men of science, summarizes the functions of Muslim research workers:1
"When at the Renaissance the spirit of man was once again filled with the zeal for knowledge and stimulated by the spark of genius, if it was able to set promptly to work, to produce and to invent, it was because the Arabs had preserved and perfected various branches of knowledge, kept the spirit of research alive and eager and maintained it pliant and ready for future discoveries.”
Meyerhof renders in similar judgment:2
“Looking back we may say that Islamic medicine and science reflected the light of the Hellenic sun, when its day had fled, and that they shone like a moon, illuminating the darkest night of the European Middle Ages; that some bright stars lent their own light, and that moon and stars alike faded at the dawn of a new day—the Renaissance. Since they had their share in the direction and introduction of that great movement, it may reasonably be claimed that they are with us yet.”
Muḥammad commanded his followers to adopt material progress from others and he emphasized the importance of good works rather than theological disputations.
“Why wrangle over that which you know not?” queried the Prophet. ”Try to excel in good deeds; when you return to God, He will inform you about that in which you have disagreed.” The Qur’án (Súrah 23:98, 41:34) enjoins the faithful
————————
1Ibid., p. 377.
2Ibid., p. 354.
to "Repel evil with that which is better.” Muḥammad indicates that leaden individuals will not automatically form a golden society when He says “Alláh changeth not the condition of folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts” (Súrah 13:12). Deeds are extolled above words in these selections from the Qur’án:
“And each one hath a goal toward which he turneth; so vie with one another in good works. . . . Alláh loseth not the wages of the kindly (Súrah 12:90). Hast thou observed him who believeth religion? That is he who repelleth the orphan, and urgeth not the feeding of the needy.” (Súrah 107:1-3.)
Few scholars have ventured to explain the decadence of Islamic civilization. Although some of the factors are obscure, certain others are quite definite. The sacking of Baghdád, center of Islamic culture, by the Mongols and the suppression of Moorish learning by the Christians surely contributed their ignoble share to the destructive processes. Economic aspects of the disintegration include the shifting of trade routes to the Cape of Good Hope and the lack of resources essential for industry in Islamic countries. But there was a deeper illness and it has been diagnosed by Bahá’u’lláh:3
“In its primitive days, whilst they still adhered to the precepts associated with the name of their Prophet, the Lord of mankind, their career was marked by an unbroken chain of victories and triumphs. As they gradually strayed from the path of their Ideal Leader and Master, as they turned away from the Light of God and corrupted the principles of His Divine unity, and as they increasingly centered their attention upon them who were only the revealers of the potency of His Word, their power was turned into weakness, their glory into shame, their courage into fear.”
The brothers of Jesus and the companions of the Prophet Muḥammad in this day are those who have joined hands with all humanity in one common faith under the standard of Bahá’u’lláh and it is their responsibility to lay the foundation for the new world order of truth, freedom, and justice.
3Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 69.
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Cobb, Stanwood. "Islám’s Contribution to World Culture.” World Order 6: 193-203.
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Dozy, R. Spanish lslám: A History of the Moslems in Spain. Translated with a biographical introduction and notes by
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APPENDIX—OATH OF MUḤAMMAD TO THE CHRISTIANS
This Oath was issued by the Prophet Muḥammad to the Christian Monks of Saint Catherine at Mt. Sinai and was written by the hand of ‘Alí, the first Imám, on the third day of Muharram 2 A. H.:
“This is a letter which was issued by Muḥammad, Ibn ‘Abdu’lláh, the Messenger, the Prophet, the Faithful, who is sent to all the people as a trust on the part of God to all His creatures, that they may have no plea against God hereafter. Verily God is the Mighty, the Wise. This letter is directed to the embracers of Islám, as a Covenant given to the followers of the Nazarene in the East and West, the far and the near, the Arabs and foreigners, the known and the unknown.
“This letter contains the oath given unto them, and he who disobeys that which is therein, will be considered a violator and a transgressor to that whereunto he is commanded. He will be regarded as one who has corrupted the oath of God, disbelieved His Covenant, rejected His Authority, despised His Religion, and made himself deserving of His Curse, whether he is a Sultan or any other believer of Islám.
”Whenever monks, devotees and pilgrims gather together, whether in a mountain or valley, or den, or frequented place, or plain, or church, or in houses of worship, verily we are back of them and shall protect them, and their properties and their morals, by Myself, by My friends and by My assistants, for they are of My subjects and under My protection.
“I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but that which pleases them—they must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religious order, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells.
“No one is allowed to plunder their pilgrims, or destroy or despoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islám. And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the oath of God, and, in truth, disobeyed His Messenger.
“Poll-taxes should not be put upon their judges, monks, and those whose occupation is the worship of God; nor is any other thing to be exacted from them, whether it be a fine, a tax or any unjust claim. Verily I shall keep their compact, wherever they may be, in the sea or on the land, in the East or West, in the North or South, for they are under My protection and the testament of 'My safety, against all things which they abhor.
"No taxes or tithes should be received from those who devote themselves to the worship of God in the mountains, or from those who cultivate the Holy Lands. No one has the right to interfere with their affairs, or bring any action against them—Verily this is for any besides and not for them; rather, during the harvests, they should be given a Kadah for each Ardab of wheat (about five bushels and a half) as provision for them, and no one has the right to say to them this is too much, or ask them to pay any tax.
“As to those who possess properties, the wealthy and merchants, the poll-tax to be taken from them must not exceed twelve Dirhams a head per year (i. e., about 45 cents).
“They shall not be imposed upon by any
[Page 855]
one to undertake a journey, or to be forced
to go to wars or to carry arms; for the
Muslims have to fight for them. Do not
dispute or argue with them, but deal
according to the verse recorded in the Qur’án,
to wit: ‘Dispute not, unless in kindly
manner, with the people of the Book.’ Thus they
will live favored and protected from
everything which may offend them by the
Summoners to Islám, wherever they may
be and in any place they may dwell.
"Should any Christian woman be married to a Mussulman, such marriage must not take place except after her consent, and she must not be prevented from going to her church for prayer. Their churches must be honored and they must not be withheld from building churches or repairing convents.
”They must not be forced to carry arms or stones; but the Muslims must protect them and defend them against others. It is positively incumbent upon every one of the Islamic nation not to contradict or disobey this oath until the Day of Resurrection and the end of the world.”
