Muslims Contribution in Knowledge

Rise, Fall and Hope

Alhamdulillah e Rab al A’alameen, I have put in my best and sincere effort to present the truth on the subject.

It is an humble effort to open the door of knowledge for those who have the quest for striving further to learn, contemplate and improve / suggest upon the subject

for the betterment of Muslim Ummah

May Allah SWT forgive me for any errors and omissions due to my weakness – Ameen!

And I will always say “Allah knows best!”

CONTENTS

❖ Historical Perspective

❖ Muslims Golden Era – Masters in Multifarious Fields of Knowledge

❖ Current State – Intellectual Perspective

❖Great Disasters – Fall of Muslims

❖Hope for Muslim Renaissance

HISTORIANS’ PERSPECTIVE

❖ It is generally known to the people that during the medieval period almost 1000 years there was total darkness in the world and suddenly popped out great scholars, scientists, philosophers like: Adam Smith, Copernicus, Newton, Dalton, …Einstein etc., how come??

❖ Was the world in real darkness during that period or before, certainly NOT!!

❖ There were Greeks - enlightened with knowledge, before them were the Egyptians, they learned from the Phoenicians and if we go back, we find Hanging Gardens of Babylonia in Mesopotamian civilization (former Iraq)

It was Europe that was in total darkness!!!

HISTORIAN'S’ PERSPECTIVE

General understanding of masses is that they only know that great centres of learning were only Greece and then Britain full stop!!❑ What about the 1000 years (gap during the medieval) of

Arab-Muslims contribution??

❑ Who was bearing the torch of the knowledge in Western Europe that lead to the commencement of European Renaissance in Italy?

This is how the entire world and upcoming generations was brain-washed to portray the superiority of West (British / Europe)

and down-grade / belittle the contribution of Muslims toward knowledge!!

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

❖ Greek Era – Undoubtedly, the Centre of Knowledge but purely based on Deductive and Inductive Knowledge!

The philosophers like Aristotle used to solve queries in an amazing way like:E.g.❖ How much is 22 ? Not by counting through any combination!

- He use to prove 22 through deductive / inductive logic not by counting!

❖ How many teeth a women has (28)? Not by counting, although he had two wives, he used the logic to prove, that she bears 28 teeth!

HISTORIAN’S PERSPECTIVE❖ How Historian Look at Knowledge Transformation: Will Durant wrote “Heroes of History” and in one of its volume namely, “Our Eastern Past” says: “…when the Western Europe started crusades with an objective of freeing the Church of Nativity (Jerusalem) from the Muslims, people from all around Western Europe participated with religious zeal and fervour. The final war was fought by Richard “The Lion Heart” against Sultan Salah uddin Ayubi. Although we could gain out of that war, as we were defeated by Sultan but what we learn was something astonishing. We found that there are cities where streets are paved and have lamps lit at night, where there is running drinking water, where people take bath with hot water, where there is twelve thousand bed hospital in Baghdad, where there is no city without free education at the University level, while primary education is free by default, where the lights of libraries and laboratories is never switched-off.” He further added that “..during the era when we were engaged in crusades, there was a revolution of knowledge emerging in these (Muslim) areas…”

SURVEY– TOP 10 CITIES IN 1000 CE

❖ According to a study done in Year 2000 by a leading magazine, Top 10 cities in Year 1000 CE [when the estimated world population was around 280 million] 6 out of 10 were Islamic Capitals:

1. CORDOBA - MUSLIMS - ANDULUS (NOW SPAIN)2. KAIFENG – CHINA3. CONSTANTINOPLE – BYZANTIUM (NOW ISTANBUL)4. ANGKOR – CAMBODIA5. KYOTO – JAPAN6. CAIRO – FATIMID - MUSLIMS EGYPT7. BAGHDAD – MUSLIMS8. NEYSHAPUR – MUSLIMS - PERSIA (NOW IRAN)9. AL HASSA – MUSLIMS (NOW IN SAUDI ARABIA)

10. ISFAHAN – MUSLIMS - PERSIA (NOW IRAN)

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE

❖ Centres of Learning and Excellence – Universities in Grenada, Toledo, Cordoba, Baghdad etc.

❖ European Renaissance (14th – 16th CE) could not have been possible without the contribution of Arab Muslims!! ❖For almost four hundred years, Arabic was taught as the primary language for only gaining education (not medium of instruction) across Europe!❖ Common Factor – Tremendous knowledge gain by both civilizations: Arab Muslims (first) and British (after 900 Years) – The Key was translating all possible available books / body of knowledge in their native language i.e. Arabic and English respectively and thereafter moving ahead!

❖ From 8th to 17th CE (900 Years) Muslims were making great achievements and having a profound influence upon people throughout the then known world!

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE

❖ They used to acquire books of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato etc. from the natives by weighing them in “gold”

❖In the time of Abbasi Khalifa the monthly salary of the “translator” was 30,000 dinars (gold coins) ❖Whenever he used to present a translated book before the Khalifa, that book was weighed in “gold” as a reward for the translator!

❖ Arab Muslims translated the maximum available treasure of knowledge (books) of Greeks in Arabic – That was the starting point, as they didn’t have anything in their legacy, except seven stories (saba’ muallaqa) hung outside Bait ullah (K’aba), which were indeed linguistic master pieces of classical Arabic Language (Fusha Arabic – Language of Quran) till day!

Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Muslims Golden Era – How Did Muslims Excelled in Knowledge?

The Arab Muslim religiously followed Quran and Sunnah:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The wise saying (hikmah)

is the lost property of the believer, so wherever he finds it then he has a right to it.” - Tirmidhi

Whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted something tremendously beneficial; but none reflect

except people of insight. [Quran 2:269]

Muslims Golden Era – Empirical Research Design and Methodology: A New Dimension of Pursuing Knowledge

ھ قیاما وقعودا وعلى جنوبھم الذین یذكرون اللـHypothesis – Assumption based on logical argument

Data Collection – Based on Facts

ماوات واألرض رون في خلق الس ویتفكInference – Conclusion on the basis of evidence & reasoning

ذا باطال ـ نا ما خلقت ھ رب

Muslims Golden Era – Empirical Research Design and Methodology: A New Dimension of Pursuing Knowledge

Alhamdulillah, Muslims understood very well that basically there are two types of “Knowledge – Uloom”

✓ Revealed Knowledge – Gained through the Divine Books / Teachings from Allah SWT through His noble Messengers Peace Be Upon Them All

✓ Acquired Knowledge – Gained bit by bit with the passage of time through human observation, scientific process of experimentation and inference.

And these branches of Knowledge should never be segregated, rather they complement each other for advancing intellectually by keeping strong bond with Allah SWT and His Deen and developing

standard of living beneficial to mankind!

Muslims Golden Era – Muslim Contributions toward Development and Advancement in Multifarious Fields of Knowledge

❖ Algebra [From an Arabic word Jabr], Mathematics (Concept of Zero and Numbers, a major jump from Roman numerals), Trigonometry, Calculus

❖ Anaesthesia❖ Botany, Zoology, Veterinary Medicine❖ Cardiology❖ Cartography (Map Making)❖ Chemistry❖ Dermatology❖ Ecology, Embryology, Genetics❖ Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine❖ Geography, Astronomy, Geo-Physics, Aero-Dynamics❖ Gynaecology❖ Medical Ethics, Public Health, Pulmonary Medicine❖ Metallurgy, Engineering❖ Optics, Orthopaedics, Pathology etc.

Muslims Golden Era – Some of the Leading Muslim Scientists and Scholars..

❖ Al Haytham – Centuries prior to Newton, during the 11th Century The Muslim scientist had already determined virtually everything that Newton advanced in this subject.

❖ Al Biruni – The concept of finite nature of matter was discovered (1050 CE) centuries before Antoine Lavoisier in 18th Century and he was the disciple of Muslim chemists.

❖ Ibn Firnas – Invented, constructed and tested a flying machine in the 9th Century, while Roger Bacon learned of flying machines after 500 years and Da Vinci by some 700 years after Ibn Firnas. Ibn Firnas also invented Watch (Clock) and Glass Lens in 9th Century.

❖ Al Kashi -15th Century book, “Key to Mathematics”, was the stimulus for the systemic application of decimals to whole numbers and fractions thereof.

❖ Thabit bin Qurrah and Abu’l Wafa were the pioneers of Algebra in 9th and 10th century respectively.

Muslims Golden Era – Some of the Leading Muslim Scientists and Scholars..

❖ Abul Qasim Al Zahrawi and Ibn Sina – Contributed in 10th century toward medicine and surgery. There books were taught in Europe for hundreds of years.

Muslims Golden Era – Some of Muslims Introduction of Important Devices and Substances to the West

❖ Cotton, Paper❖ Glass Mirrors, Street Lamps❖ Salt, Coloured Glass❖ Silk, Pepper❖ Medicinal Herbs❖ Handkerchief, Deodorant❖ Kerosene, Cotton Clothing❖ Linen, Firearms❖ Cotton Balls❖ Postage Stamps, Book Binding❖ Clocks, Soap,❖ Compasses, Flasks, Surgical Instruments❖ Windmills, Artificial Teeth, Spinning Wheels, Globes, Carpets❖ Eyeglasses, Citrus Fruits❖ Encyclopaedia, Saddles for Horses, Sulphuric Acid for experiments

and list goes on and on …...

Muslims Golden Era – Modern Day Science and Technology is indebted to Muslims!

This transfer of knowledge and developing of science was the basis of European Renaissance and it is the foundation of Modern Day World we live in today!

If we look at history in an objective manner then we see that the torch of Civilization did not start in one particular part of the world but it was shared by people throughout the planet!!

In the same way the ancient Greeks recognized that they got their civilization from ancient Egypt and they got from the Phoenicians, then people should also recognize the fact the comforts we are living in , that the different aspects of science came to us not by magic, but came through transfer of knowledge from Muslims who were living in Al Andulus (Now Spain and Portugal) into rest of Europe!!!

Disaster – Fall of Muslims❖ Fall of Baghdad - 1258

❖Mongols destroyed the entire Khurasan, killing millions of Muslims and ultimately destroying the Khilafat (Musta’sim Billah – Last Abbasi Khilafa)❖The Mongols (Halaku Khan) burnt the city including libraries and threw millions of books (priceless treasure) in River Tigris, which served as a bridge for its soldiers to cross over! - Almost entire Muslims knowledge heritage was destroyed!!

❖ Fall of Granada – 1492❖King Ferdinand defeated the Muslims and took control of Granada (Al Andulus - Spain), last fortress❖The entire Muslims population was either killed, converted to Christianity or expelled and dumped on the seashores of North Africa!❖The great civilization of excellence, centre of learning came to an end!!

Disaster – Fall of Muslims❖ Teqleed / Jamid , closing the doors of Ijtehad and stopped where our Imams and scholars left, for more than 500 years

❖ Later on Muslim scholars focussed and stuck on respective Fiqhi Mazahib and left the “Ijtehad” for understanding, contemplating and subsequently meeting the challenges of modern age. Their priorities were changed, got lost in the historical process and were unable to produce leadership for the Muslim Ummah following Quran, Sunnah and traditions of Khulaf e Rashideen!

❖ On the authority of Thawbaan, the Prophet Muhammad صلی هللا علیہ وسلم said, “ The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating invite others to share their food.” Someone asked, “Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?” He صلی هللا علیہ وسلم replied, “No, you will be numerous at that time: but you will be froth and scum like that carried down by a torrent (of water), and Allah سبحانہ will take the fear of you from the breasts (hearts) of your enemy and cast وتعالیAl-Wahan into your hearts.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah صلی هللا علیہ وسلم, what is al-wahan?” Replied, “Love of the world and dislike of death.” (Abu Dawood)…

Disaster – Fall of Muslims

❖ European Colonization - (Excerpts from the Book: Militant Islam –by Godfrey H Jansen) ❖ For four hundred years five nations attacked the Muslim areas destroyed, looted and colonized them. Those nations were: Britain, Portugal, France, Dutch and Spain❖They used to attack together and sometimes attack each other to get control of Muslim lands❖But when they used to send some Christian Missionary, that was sent from Brussels through consensus!❖After four hundred years of missionary efforts from Morocco to Indonesia, they could convert only 112 Muslims to Christianity!!❖So they had to change the strategy and attack our legacy Education System for past several hundred years at the grass root for achieving their ulterior strategic objectives!

Disaster – Fall of Muslims

❖ Separation of Religious and Secular (Sciences, Philosophy, Arts etc.) Education

❖The first ever Dar ul Uloom (Madarsa was established by the British Rules in Calcutta (British – India) in 1780 - The madrasah or religious education system including Calcutta Madrasah was relegated to side-track the Muslims of Indian Sub-Continent, leading to nowhere!

❖ Getting away from acquiring and increasing knowledge in native / national language ❖ For the last 5000 years of recorded history, no nation has ever progressed / excelled in knowledge and achieved high worldly status, unless they pursued their education and acquired knowledge in their own native language. E.g. Muslim Arabs, British, French, Germans, Japanese etc.

Disaster – Fall of Muslims

Impact of Globalist Agenda!!

To create globalist secular society by manipulating the education system since

childhood to the highest level

Current State – Intellectual Perspective

❖ Totally dependent on Western Education System since kindergarten to University level. No indigenous thinking and preservation of value system!❖ Rather taking dictation from International Agencies / NGOs under the

auspices of UN for carving the curriculum as per their desires – Subhan Allah!!

❖ Unfortunately, we run to seek knowledge from the West, due to our lacking of intellect and body of knowledge and off-course with that knowledge comes brain-washing and indoctrination! – West is the only solution provider for us due to our forsaken!❖ We have abandoned Quran as the foundation for not only the education system but all walks of life! – Quran was meant to be Imam in all spheres of life but we totally ignored it, what a pity and what a shame!!!❖ We have kept one eye closed i.e. internal sight, which requires “Noor / Emaan / Faith”, acquired through sincerely believing and practicing “Revealed Knowledge”, rather just letting one “external eye of Dajjal” to understand the reality of the world today, thus leading to a deceptive way of life, which is destructive for both life here-in and here-after – Allah o Akbar!!!!

Hope for Muslim Renaissance❖ Revert back to take-up AL Quran as the “foundation” for building our systems, such as Education, Politics, Economics & Monetary, Society and Relationships / Dealings (Al Deen). At Least we can jump start with the “Education System” from tomorrow!!!❖ Quranic Education must be imparted without any prejudice of “firqa /

maslik” from Nursery to University Level to develop a true and practicing believer (Momin) of a Muslim society, In Shaa Allah!

❖The Curriculum must include Seerat of our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAWS, Islamic History (without any bias) covering Life History of our Khulafa e Rashideen and Sahaba RA, Imams, Saleheen, Scholars, Scientists, Sufis etc. This will prevent any sort of “inferiority complex toward West” amongst the Muslims since “childhood”.

❖ Learning Arabic language should be made compulsory since primary, so that the students be able to understand Quran in Arabic before they complete their Matric / GCSE!

Hope for Muslim Renaissance❖ Translating of all available body of knowledge in native language must be done on “War Footing” with huge allocation of budgets! We can never be creative other than learning in native / national language!!

❖ Medium of instruction should be in native / national language of the masses

❖ Education should be the top priority of the governments and allocation of budgets should be done accordingly!

❖ Education must be FREE from Nursery to University level !!!

❖ No segregation of “Religious and “Secular” Education, like it used to be during the “Golden Era of Arab Muslims ” – All in one package for All, without any discrimination!

❖ To achieve all the above incrementally, Faithful, God-conscious and Competent leadership is necessary. May Allah grant us such kind of

leadership – Ameen Ya Rab Al A’alameen!

Jazak Allah Khair for your kind attention and patience

May Allah reward you and accept our sincere efforts, only for His sake and

pleasure - Ameen Ya Rab Al Aalameen!

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