THE ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN IT’S AGE OF GLORY 1-3

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

THE ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN IT’S AGE OF GLORY 

 

Will Durant observes (The Age of Faith, pp. 179-343):

“In the Koran … are rules not only for manners and hygiene, marriage and divorce, and the treatment of children, slaves, and animals, but also for commerce and politics, interest and debts, contracts and wills, industry and finance, crime and punishment, war and peace. Mohammed did not disdain commerce … He threatened hell to lying or cheating merchants; denounced monopolists and speculators who ‘keep back grain to sell at a high rate’; and bade the employer ‘give the laborer his wage before his perspiration dries’. He prohibited the taking or giving of interest (2:275; 3:130). No reformer ever more actively taxed the rich to help the poor. Every will was expected to leave something to the poor; if a man died intestate his natural heirs were directed to give a part of their inheritance to charity (4:8) … he improved the position of woman… 

 

“Mohammed’s ethic transcended the limits of the tribe … Distinction of rank or race, so strong among the tribes, was diminished by similarity of belief. ‘If a negro slave is appointed to rule you, hear and obey him, though his head be like a dried grape’. It was a noble conception that made one people of diverse nations scattered over the continents … Mohammed (taught) … ‘Let there be no violence in religion’. ‘If they embrace Islam they are surely directed; but if they turn their backs, verily to you belongs preaching only’. ‘Give a respite to the disbelievers. Deal you gently with them’ … ‘Kill not the old man who cannot fight, nor young children, nor women’ … ‘Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Allah loveth not aggressors’.  

 

“… the Koran … gave to simple souls the simplest, least mystical, least ritualistic, of all creeds, free from idolatry and sacerdotalism. Its message raised the moral and cultural level of its followers, promoted social order and unity, inculcated hygiene, lessened superstition and cruelty, bettered the condition of slaves, lifted the lowly to dignity & pride, and produced among Moslems (barring the revels of some caliphs) a degree of sobriety and temperance unequaled elsewhere in the white man’s world. It gave men an uncomplaining acceptance of the hardships and limitations of life, and at the same time stimulated them to the most astonishing expansion in history. 

 

“Civilisation is a union of soil and soul—the resources of the earth transformed by the desire and discipline of men … All these were busy in Islam … The orange tree … the Arabs introduced it to Syria, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, and Spain, from which countries it pervaded southern Europe. The cultivation of sugar-cane and the refining of sugar were likewise spread by the Arabs … and were brought by Crusaders to their European states. Cotton was first cultivated in Europe by the Arabs. 

 

“These achievements on lands largely arid were made possible by organized irrigation; here the caliphs made an exception to their principle of leaving the economy to free enterprise; the government directed and financed the maintenance of the greater canals. 

 

“… Under Moslem rule western Asia attained a pitch of industrial and commercial prosperity unmatched by western Europe before the sixteenth century. 

 

“The state left industry and commerce free, and aided it with a relatively stable currency. Ibn Hawqal (c. 975) describes a kind of promissory note … from the Arabic word sakk for this form of credit is derive our word check. Investors shared in financing commercial voyages or caravans … Monopolies were illegal … 

 

“… in general the Moslem seems to have excelled the Christian in commercial morality, fidelity to his word, and loyalty to treaties signed normally, the Moslem was the soul of courtesy, humanity, and tolerance … In general Moslem society was one of excellent manners … 

 

“If we may believe the traditions, Mohammed, unlike most religious reformers, admired and urged the pursuit of knowledge … Education began as soon as the child could speak … At the age of six some slave children, some girls, and nearly all boys except the rich (who had private tutors) entered an elementary school … Tuition was normally free … Elementary education aimed to form character, secondary education to transmit knowledge … Tuition in these colleges was free, and in some cases government or philanthropy paid both the salaries of the professors and the expenses of the students … students would travel from one end of the Moslem world to another to meet the mind of a famous teacher … When a visitor entered a Moslem city he took it for granted that he could hear a scholarly lecture at the principal mosque at almost any hour of the day. 

 

“… The first paper-manufacturing plant in Islam was opened at Baghdad in 794 by al-Fadl, son of Harun’s vizier. The craft was brought by the Arabs to Sicily and Spain, and thence passed into Italy and France … The invention facilitated the making of books wherever it went. Yaqubi tells us that in his time (891) Baghdad had over a hundred booksellers.  

 

“Most mosques had libraries, and some cities had public libraries of considerable content and generous accessibility. About 950 Mosul had a library, established by private philanthropy, where students were supplied with paper as well as books. Ten large catalogues were required to list the volumes in the public library at Rayy. Basra’s library gave stipends to scholars working in it … When Baghdad was destroyed by the Mongols it had thirty-six public libraries. Private libraries were numberless; it was a fashion among the rich to have an ample collection of books … princes like Sahib ibn Abbas in the tenth century might own as many books as could then be found in all the libraries of Europe combined … In a thousand mosques from Cordova to Samarkand scholars were as numerous as pillars, and made the cloisters tremble with their eloquence; the roads for  of the realm were disturbed by innumerable geographers, historians, and theologians seeking knowledge and wisdom … the conquerors showed such tolerance that of the poets, scientists, and philosophers who now made Arabic the most learned and literary tongue in the world only a small minority were of Arab blood. 

 

“… Ibn Qutaiba (828-889) was one of many Moslems, who attempted to write a history of the world … Muhammad al-Nadim produced in 987 an Index of the Sciences (Fihrist al‘ulum), a bibliography of all books in Arabic, original or translated, on any branch of knowledge … we may estimate the wealth of Moslem literature in his time by noting that not one in a thousand of the volumes that he named is known to exist today. 

 

“… Abu-l-Hasan Ali al-Masudi, an Arab of Baghdad, traveled … He gathered his gleanings into a thirty-volume encyclopedia …Al-Masudi surveyed omnivorously the geography, biology, history, customs, religion, science, philosophy, and literature of all lands from China to France … he summarized his views on science, history, and philosophy in a Book of Information, in which he suggested an evolution ‘from mineral to plant, from plant to animal and from animal to man’.

“Algebra … owes its name to the Arabs, who extensively developed this detective science … Al-Khwarizmi contributed effectively to five sciences: he wrote on the Hindu numerals; compiled astronomical tables which, as revised in Moslem Spain, were for centuries standard among astronomers from Cordova to Chang-an; formulated the oldest trigonometrical tables known; collaborated with sixty-nine other scholars in drawing up for al-Mamun a geographical encyclopedia; and in his Calculation of Integration and Equation gave analytical and geometrical solutions of quadratic equations. This work, now lost in its Arabic form, was translated by Gerard of Cremona in the twelfth century, was used as a principal text in European universities until the sixteenth century, and introduced to the West the word algebra (al-jabr—‘restitution’, ‘completion’). Thabit ibn Qurra (826-901) … achieved fame in astronomy and medicine, and became the greatest of Moslem geometers … 

 

“The Caliph al-Mamun engaged a staff of astronomers to make observations and records, to test the findings of Ptolemy, and to study the spots on the sun. Taking for granted the sphericity of the earth, they measured a terrestrial degree by simultaneously taking the position of the sun from both Palmyra and the plain Sinjar; their measurement gave 56²/³ miles—half a mile more than our present calculation; and from their results they estimated the earth’s circumference to approximate 20,000 miles. These astronomers proceeded on completely scientific principles: they accepted nothing as true which was not confirmed by experience or experiment. One of them, Abu’l Farghani, of Transoxiana, wrote (c.860) an astronomical text which remained in authority in Europe and Western Asia for 700 years. Even more renowned was al-Battani; his astronomical observations, continued for forty-one years, were remarkable for their range and accuracy; he determined many astronomical coefficients with remarkable approximation to modern calculations—the precession of the equinoxes at 54.5” a year, and the inclination of the ecliptic at 23º55’. Working under the patronage of the early Buwayhid ruler of Baghdad, Abu’l-Wafa … discovered the third lunar vartiation 600 years before Tycho Brahe. Costly instruments were built for the Moslem astronomers: not only astrolabes and armillary spheres, and known to the Greeks, but quadrants with a radius of thirty feet, and sextants with a radius of eighty. The astrolabe, much improved by the Moslems reached Europe in the tenth century, and was widely used by mariners till the seventeenth. The Arabs designed and constructed it with aesthetic passion, making it at once an instrument of science and a work of art. 

 

“Even more important than the charting of the skies was mapping of the earth … Suleiman al-Tajir —i.e., the merchant —about 840 carried his wares to the Far East; an anonymous author (851) wrote a narrative of Suleiman’s journey; this oldest Arabic account of China antedated Marco Polo’s Travels by 425 years. In the same century Ibn Khordadhbeh wrote a description of India, Ceylon, the East Indies, and China, apparently from direct observation; and Ibn Hawqal described India and Africa. Ahmad al-Yaqubi, of Armenia and Khurasan, wrote in 891 a Book of the Countries, giving a reliable account of Islamic provinces and cities and of many foreign states. Muhammad al-Muqaddasi visited all the lands of Islam except Spain, suffered by countless vicissitudes, and in 985 wrote his Description of the Moslem Empire—the greatest work of Arabic geography before al-Biruni’s India. 

 

“Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973-1048) shows the Moslem scholar at his best. Philosopher, historian, traveler, geographer, linguist, mathematician, astronomer, poet, and physicist—and doing major and original work in all these fields … His first major work (c.1000) was a highly technical treatise — Vestiges of the Past … his attitude was that of the objective scholar, assiduous in research, critical in the scrutiny of traditions and texts (including the Gospels), precise and conscientious in statement, frequently admitting his ignorance, and promising to pursue his inquiries till the truth should emerge. In the preface to the Vestiges he wrote like Francis Bacon: ‘We must clear our minds … from all causes that blind people to the truth—old custom, party spirit, personal rivalry or passion, the desire for influence’ … In 1030 he published his masterpiece, History of India … His interest extended to nearly all the sciences. He gave the best medieval account of the Hindu numerals. He wrote treatises on the astrolable, the planisphere, the armillary sphere; and formulated astronomical tables for Sultan Masud. He took it for granted that the earth is round, noted ‘the attraction of all things towards the centre of the earth’, and remarked that astronomic data can be explained as well by supposing that the earth turns daily on its axis and annually around the sun, as by the reverse hypothesis. He speculated on the possibility that the Indus valley had been once the bottom of a sea. He composed an extensive lapidary, describing a great number of stones and metals from the natural, commercial, and medical points of view. He determined the specific gravity of eighteen precious stones, and laid down the principle that the specific gravity of an object corresponds to the volume of water it displaces. He found a method of calculating, without laborious additions, the result of the repeated doubling of a number … He contributed to geometry the solution of theorems that thereafter bore his name. He composed an encyclopedia of astronomy, a treatise on geography, and an epitome of astronomy, astrology, and mathematics. He explained the workings of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels.

 

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times

BASIC DISTINCTION BETWEEN MYSTICISM AND ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS QUEST

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

CERTAIN POINTS OF BASIC DISTINCTION BETWEEN

MYSTICISM AND ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS QUEST

 

[POPULARLY CALLED TASAWWUF IN MUSLIM HISTORY] 

 

Lexicologically, the word ‘mystical’ has two shades of meaning, viz.: 

(1) ‘relating to mystery’; ‘mysterious’; sacredly obscure’; 

(2) ‘involving a sacred or secret meaning hidden from the eyes of the ordinary person, only revealed to a spiritually-enlightened mind’. 

Similarly, the word ‘mysticism’ carries two shades of meaning, viz.:

(1)                ‘fogginess and unreality of thought (with suggestion of mist)’;    

(2)                ‘the habit or tendency of religious thought and feeling of those who seek direct communion with God or the divine’.^[1]

Refined mysticism, as it has emerged in the civilized religions, conforms to the second shade of meaning. And in this respect some superficial affinity might be discernible between Mysticism and the Islamic Religious Quest. But going deeper we find certain very basic differences which are of immense importance.  

These differences exist in terms of: (1) philosophy; (2) technique, (3) function, (4) outlook; and (5) goal. 

1.       In terms of philosophy: Islam differs with all the systems of Mysticism, either largely or wholly, with regard to the teachings concerning God, the World, and Man; and it is self-evident that those differences cannot but influence the structure of the quest most vitally. 

 

2.       In terms of technique: All the schools of Mysticism employ as their instruments meditation, contemplation, recitation and asceticism; while Islam employs spiritual devotions to God, and spiritual contact with the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him!) and with the spiritual world as such—all that involving recitation of spiritual Truths as one of the instruments—, intellectual grasp of the Value-System of the Islamic Code of Guidance, study of Nature and History, practice of social morality, meditation, contemplation, and periodic seclusion or ‘withdrawal’ (I‘ktikaf). Again, the element of asceticism in Mysticism makes its quest possible for only a select few; while the Islamic principle of the practice of Religion in social life and its scheme of placing the basic elements of Religious Quest in the obligatory religious routine of a Muslim ^[2] makes it possible for every Muslim to undertake it in accordance with his capacity and the availability of opportunity. 

 

3.       In terms of function: The function of Mysticism is the annihilation of the animal self, the development of psychical powers and self-realisation in terms of its specific philosophy. The function of Islamic Religious Quest is spiritual and moral integration and development of the ‘self’ through self-purification, ultimately for reforming the society. 

 

4.       In terms of outlook: In Mysticism, the outlook is pessimistic as regards earthly existence, and hence it is passive in relation to it. In the Islamic Religious Quest, the outlook is optimistic based on faith in the goodness of the Divine Plan under which everything exists and every event occurs; and it is dynamic, because the world and worldly life, handled in accordance with the Divine Guidance, are viewed as means to the attainment of human destiny,—which outlook directs the life of the pursuer of Islamic Religious Quest to multidimensional and virile activity for interference in the process of history. 

The glorious role of genuine Sufīs ^[3] in Muslim history bears historic testimony to this fact. Of all the sections of Muslim society, only they and their disciples have propagated Islam in the world; and it is they who have contributed most in respect of spiritual and moral fervour among Muslims. Also, their heroic struggles in the field of political reform form a very important chapter in the history of Islam. 

 

5.       In terms of goal: The goal of the mystic is personal salvation. The goal of the pursuer of Islamic Religious Quest—of the true Sufi—is personal fulfilment at three levels, viz., in his inner being, in human society, and finally in God. Thus, it becomes his vital obligation to undertake ceaseless struggle for transforming human society in terms of godliness.

 

Before closing this discussion, we may refer to the four terms which have become famous in respect of the ‘Way of classical orthodox     Sūfī     Teachers’—namely:   

• al-Sharī‘ah,      
• al-Tarīqah,               
• al-Ma‘rifah and 
• al-Haqīqah; 

and we may emphasize that all these terms are firmly grounded in the teachings of the Qur’an. 

To begin with: They do not imply four different philosophies or ways of life, but only four stages in the life and experience of a genuine pursuer of Islam.

Thus:

a.     The stage of al-Sharī‘ah relates to the acquisition of knowledge of the Islamic system of Beliefs and the code of Conduct relating to the Path of Islam; and it emerges in response to the primary question: ‘What is Islam?’—or, in other words, ‘What does Islam demand of a human being?’.

The answer to the above question has emerged in the Quran in all its fullness; and it forms a major part of the present book. 

 

b.    The stage of al-Tarīqah refers to the method for persuing Islam, ‘i.e., for travelling on the ‘Path of Islam’ meaningfully and purposefully, rather than formalistically and ritualistically; and it emerges in response to very vital question: ‘How to be a Muslim?’—namely, ‘What is the method of becoming, living and developing as a Muslim in the true sense?’

The Qur’an supplies the method which is enshrined in the verse: “he attains falah who subjects it (i.e., the soul) to tazkiyyah” (91:9). As such, it consist in the pursuit of tazkiyyah—i.e., eradication of the positive and the negative evils that obstruct or keep in abeyance the development of human personality in the spiritual dimension, and consequently in the moral dimension,—thereby ensuring healthy spiritual growth under the impact of Islam—which operates on the wheels of Zikr (‘Remembrance of God’) and Fikr (‘Probe into the mysteries of Creation’) (3:190-191), and which ends in the establishment of falah in one’s personality (i.e., spiritual development in terms of the harmonius and comprehensive actualization of the latent capabilities that relate to the transcendental dimension of the personality) (87:14). This method is employed in strict adherence to the ‘Straight Path’ projected in al-Sharī‘ah. 

 

c.     The stage of al-Ma‘rifah (or, ‘the Realisation’, as opposed to the possession of ‘formal knowledge’) bears references to the fruits of the strenuous labour (Jihad) undertaken in respect of al-Tarīqah.

That stage consist in the progressive realization in one’s Consciousness, through the ‘Light from Allaah’ (39:22), of the Glory of God, the nature and status of the cosmos, and the true function and destiny of the human being (3:191),— in short, of the Truth of Islam and all that it stands for. In other words, it consists in achieving basīrah spoken of in 12:108; thereby rising to the most meritorious  status, with reference to this world’s life, becoming the ‘bearer of witness’ of the Truth of Islam to humanity (2:143). 

 

d.    The stage of al-Haqīqah (or, ‘the Reality’) forms actually the highest level of al-Ma‘rifah.

That stage is said to be attained when the Light that God establishes in His Devotee (‘abd) (39:22) illumines all the dimensions of his Consciousness to an extent that he lives and moves only under the impact of that Light (6:123), and not through his Desire (79:40). At that level of experience, his ego transcends, in terms of its approach to the reality of Existence, the phemenological level of ‘Diversity’ and becomes focussed in the realm of ‘Unity’,—‘Unity’ being the Haqiqah (reality) of Existence. 

 

The above facts may be briefly stated in other words thus: 

The basic function of Islam is to transform the human personality on the basis of Iman bi Allaah (Faith in God). That transformation is, in the very nature of the case, an internal process. As regards al-Sharī‘ah, it is the Law relating to the ‘Straight Path’ of Islam. But that Path, like every path as such, is meant for undertaking a journey to a goal—the goal in its case being God (2:156). Now, travelling voluntarily towards the goal, which Islam emphasises, necessitates: 

(a) travelling with vigilance and personal enthusiasm and pleasure, which alone enables a person to face the hazards and hardships of journey with equanimity and steadfastness; and 

(b) proceeding in the journey meaningfully and consequentially. 

 

It is, however, in the very nature of formal Law, even though it may have divine sanction, that, in respect of transformation of personality, it can, by itself, bring about only superficial results, which do not endure under the strains and stresses of human life. Then, being externally-imposed, it imparts the impression of being a ‘burden’ rather than a ‘pleasure’. Also, the Instinctive Self—which, unless fixed in subjection to the Higher Self, acts normally as the dominating force in human life—always tries to evade the ‘Law’ in numerous ways. Hence, it is necessary that al-Sharī‘ah should be internalised. Namely, it should be assimilated in personal experience as best as possible in every individual case— rather than remaining an imposition ‘from outside’—, any meaningful  transformation of personality being impossible in the latter case. 

Internalisation, in its turn, demands the adoption of a method (al-Tarīqah) and actual meaningful journey (sulūk) in the realm of experience. Then, as the transformation proceeds, the appreciation of the Truths that Islam has taught begins to deepen in terms of personal  realisation (al-Ma‘rifah)—realisation with total Consciousness and not merely rationalistic appreciation through discursive thought, which can never provide unshakeable Iman (Faith), and realisation not only in respect of the physical problems of human life but, more so— and that is important—in respect of the metaphysical problems, which are of the most basic importance in the Islamic scheme of Guidance. That realisation brings the earnest Muslim progressively closer and closer to the understanding of the Reality (al-Haqīqah). That understanding attains in due course a standard level when a Muslim’s Consciousness becomes fixed on Allaah, the Really-Real. 

 

Finally, it may be emphasised that a religion without Religious Quest is like a body without a soul; and, as a modern psychologist has remarked: “A man with a religion purely of the rational type would be in a worse position than the devils.” (Thouless: Psychology of Religion, p. 90).

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[1] Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, section ‘M’.

[2] See: the discussion on “The Integrated Individual” (vol. 1, pp. 179-184).

[3] With the awful degeneration of Muslim society, due to certain historical factors, well-known to students of Islamic history, the understanding as well as the practice of Tasawwuf also has degenerated in more dimensions than one. Also its name has been misused for certain wrong notions and ideas in certain quarters. In spite of that, however, the denial to the Islamic Religious Quest of its rightful place amounts to the very negation of Islam. Also, interpreting Tasawwuf in terms of the forms of Mysticism projected by other religions is a flagrant violation of Truth.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times