I have just finished reading a little lovely book called "Introduction to Islam" by Ziauddin Sardar and Z. Abbas Malik. Do not panic, oh Westerner readers!, the book does not intend to be the first step towards the conversion of the infidel. Z.Sardar is a writer, critic and broadcaster living in London, and he is the author of a great deal of books in Science and Technology in Islam and other related subjects ( http://www.counterpoint-online.org/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=533 )
Is really impressive the clarity of the explanations and level of insight achieved in this "for-children" looking like book. It guides the reader through a fascinating travel from the times of Muhammad to present day, showing a great deal of balanced criticism to certain aspects western and islamic worlds alike. This is a must read for any person that wants to understand a bit better the world we are living in, and particularly it is a very objective presentation of Islam, unlike many of the deformed visions presented daily to us in mass media. Much of the material contained in the book i knew it already, specially related with science and technology in the knowledge-based Muslim societies of early days of Islam. Others i simply did not know them. Nevertheless the author does a very good compilation of a few things that the West learned from the Muslim world. Note i have taken the liberty of rearranging the items into a more logical order, rephrasing some and adding others:
- How to argue: philosophical and intellectual methods
- Classic Greek philosophy: Plato, Aristotle and others
- Arabic numerals and the zero (from india)
- Algebra, trigonometry and spherical geometry (taken from the greeks and greatly developed in Islamic countries)
- The scientific method (mathematical abstractions and empirical method)
- Basic set of astronomical facts and laws
- Laboratory tools: test tubes, flasks, etc...
- Hospitals, surgery tools and the basic canons of medicine (Avicena or Ibn Sina)
- Bibliographics tools: Catalogues, bibliographies, dictionaries, thesauri and encyclopedias
- Organization and administration of libraries
- University system: From the two oldest universities in the world University of Al Karaouine (Fez, Morocco) and Al-Azhar University (Cairo, Egypt) established as early as the IX century. Note that in the antiquity there was other learning centres (Plato´s Academy in Athina, Greece) but they are not considered Universities for their different structure.
- Paper Manufacture (paper was invented by TS´ai Lun in 105 A.D, and "stolen" by the Arabs in 751 A.D)
- Publishing companies and bookshops
- Hydrology, advanced methods of irrigation and other agricultural technology
- Navigation, compass and astrolabe (the first analogue computer)
- Cartography, the first world map and travel books
Well, what to say? Just to point out that what we called Renaissance and the scientific revolution could have (Obviously!) never happened without all this advances introduced to us by Muslim people. Actually many of the works that we in the west believe "original" from our scientists were actually inspired or directed copied or plagiarised from some of the works in the aforementioned fields of study. The list is truly impressive and i recommend some further research for the curious mind.
The author mention: "some things that the west failed to learn from muslims (and which muslims themselves have forgotten)":
- Knowledge and values can not be separated
- The importance of holistic thought and action
- Environmental husbandry: The islam establishes protected zones, Haram and Hima, were developments were forbidden for the conservation of the environment)
- Animal rights...yes the first animal right statement was formulated by Ibn abd as-Salam in the XIII century)
- Multiculturalism: Al-Andalus, the place where i come from, was the first and the only truly multireligious and multicultural society in history; Muslim Bosnia and Malasia are contemporary examples.
And these are just the most prominent examples, there are many others...Islam is not a culture of violence, barbarism and ignorance, actually history tell us just the opposite. Nevertheless theres violence, barbarism and ignorance in all places and times regardless of the religion.
As a farewell note a quotation from Muhammad: "Go in quest of knowledge even to China"
Is really impressive the clarity of the explanations and level of insight achieved in this "for-children" looking like book. It guides the reader through a fascinating travel from the times of Muhammad to present day, showing a great deal of balanced criticism to certain aspects western and islamic worlds alike. This is a must read for any person that wants to understand a bit better the world we are living in, and particularly it is a very objective presentation of Islam, unlike many of the deformed visions presented daily to us in mass media. Much of the material contained in the book i knew it already, specially related with science and technology in the knowledge-based Muslim societies of early days of Islam. Others i simply did not know them. Nevertheless the author does a very good compilation of a few things that the West learned from the Muslim world. Note i have taken the liberty of rearranging the items into a more logical order, rephrasing some and adding others:
- How to argue: philosophical and intellectual methods
- Classic Greek philosophy: Plato, Aristotle and others
- Arabic numerals and the zero (from india)
- Algebra, trigonometry and spherical geometry (taken from the greeks and greatly developed in Islamic countries)
- The scientific method (mathematical abstractions and empirical method)
- Basic set of astronomical facts and laws
- Laboratory tools: test tubes, flasks, etc...
- Hospitals, surgery tools and the basic canons of medicine (Avicena or Ibn Sina)
- Bibliographics tools: Catalogues, bibliographies, dictionaries, thesauri and encyclopedias
- Organization and administration of libraries
- University system: From the two oldest universities in the world University of Al Karaouine (Fez, Morocco) and Al-Azhar University (Cairo, Egypt) established as early as the IX century. Note that in the antiquity there was other learning centres (Plato´s Academy in Athina, Greece) but they are not considered Universities for their different structure.
- Paper Manufacture (paper was invented by TS´ai Lun in 105 A.D, and "stolen" by the Arabs in 751 A.D)
- Publishing companies and bookshops
- Hydrology, advanced methods of irrigation and other agricultural technology
- Navigation, compass and astrolabe (the first analogue computer)
- Cartography, the first world map and travel books
Well, what to say? Just to point out that what we called Renaissance and the scientific revolution could have (Obviously!) never happened without all this advances introduced to us by Muslim people. Actually many of the works that we in the west believe "original" from our scientists were actually inspired or directed copied or plagiarised from some of the works in the aforementioned fields of study. The list is truly impressive and i recommend some further research for the curious mind.
The author mention: "some things that the west failed to learn from muslims (and which muslims themselves have forgotten)":
- Knowledge and values can not be separated
- The importance of holistic thought and action
- Environmental husbandry: The islam establishes protected zones, Haram and Hima, were developments were forbidden for the conservation of the environment)
- Animal rights...yes the first animal right statement was formulated by Ibn abd as-Salam in the XIII century)
- Multiculturalism: Al-Andalus, the place where i come from, was the first and the only truly multireligious and multicultural society in history; Muslim Bosnia and Malasia are contemporary examples.
And these are just the most prominent examples, there are many others...Islam is not a culture of violence, barbarism and ignorance, actually history tell us just the opposite. Nevertheless theres violence, barbarism and ignorance in all places and times regardless of the religion.
As a farewell note a quotation from Muhammad: "Go in quest of knowledge even to China"
3 comments:
Islam is not just a religion, it's way to find out other way than the law of the jungle: a law of the humans.
hi nono..i read ur last article and i think it's a good thing that u get rid of the effect of the mass media which gives a wrong impression about islam and to start to evaluate it through ur notices as u r livivng in egypt now..but u shouldn't depend on the arabic books as it is not fair also. ur new friend marco(picasso5510)
Thanks for the comment marco. I am very aware that some arabic books can be as biased as some westerners. But this book in particular shows a very balanced view, that is exactly why i reviewed it ;)
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