Westerners have genuinely acknowledged the contribution of Muslims to science and philosophy, writes Dr. Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi with a special reference to Bertnard Russel.Russell in his famous History of Western Philosophy has openly acknowledged the epoch making contribution of Islam and Muslim civilisation to science, philosophy, economy, art, poetry and medicine. He says for example:
“Arabs and Berbers together invaded Spain, where they were helped by the Jews, whom the Visigoths had severely persecuted.”
Talking about the logic behind Islamic teachings Russell appreciates Islam in comparison to Christian dogmatics when he maintains:
“The religion of the Prophet (SAW) was a simple monotheism, uncomplicated by the elaborate theology of rite Trinity and the Incarnation. The Prophet (SAW) made no claim to be divine, nor did his followers make such a claim on his behalf. He revived the Jewish prohibition of graven images, and forbade the use of wine. It was the duty of the faithful to conquer as much of the world as possible for Islam, but there was to be no persecution of Christians, Jews, or Zoroastrians-the "people of the Book," as the Koran calls them, i.e., those who followed the teaching of a Scripture.”
While paying rich tributes to the bloodless revolution brought by Islam he maintains that Islam brought order in the anarchical environment of world at large:
“As they had acquired their empire without much severe fighting, there had been little destruction, and the civil administration was kept on almost unchanged. Both in Persia and in the Byzantine Empire, the civil government had been highly organized.”
While describing Harun Rashid’s greatness and grandeur he says:
“Harun-al-Rashid (d. 809), who was a contemporary of Charlemagne and the Empress Irene and is known to everyone in legendary form through the Arabian Nights. His court was a brilliant centre of luxury, poetry, and learning; his revenue was enormous; his empire stretched from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Indus. His will was absolute; he was habitually accompanied by the executioner, who performed his office at a nod from the caliph. Commerce was greatly developed, the more so as the caliphate occupied a central position between East and West.”
While enumerating the economics contribution of the Muslims he praises the status Islam bestows on the business profession:
“Not only did the possession of enormous wealth create a demand for costly articles, such as silks from China and furs from Northern Europe, but trade was promoted by certain special conditions, such as the vast extent of the Muslim empire, the spread of Arabic as a world-language, and the exalted status assigned to the merchant in the Muslim system of ethics; it was remembered that the Prophet (SAW) himself had been a merchant and had commended trading during the pilgrimage to Makkah."
This commerce, like military cohesion, depended on the great roads which the Arabs inherited from Romans and Persians, and which they, unlike the Northern conquerors, did not allow to fall into disrepair. Gradually, however, the empire broke up into fractions--Spain, Persia, North Africa, and Egypt successively split off and acquired complete or almost complete independence.”One of the best features of the Arab economy was agriculture, particularly the skilful use of irrigation, which they learnt from living where water is scarce. To this day Spanish agriculture profits by Arab irrigation works.”
Evaluating the scientific and philosophical achievements of the Muslims Russell considers them more inclined to the realism of Aristotle than the idealism of Plato:
“The distinctive culture of the Muslim world, though it began in Syria, soon came to flourish most in the Eastern and Western extremities, Persia and Spain. The Syrians, at the time of the conquest, were admirers of Aristotle, whom Nestorians preferred to Plato, the philosopher favoured by Catholics. The Arabs first acquired their knowledge of Greek philosophy from the Syrians, and thus, from the beginning, they thought Aristotle more important than Plato. Nevertheless, their Aristotle wore a Neoplatonic dress. Kindi (d. ca. 873), the first to write philosophy in Arabic, and the only philosopher of note who was himself an Arab, translated parts of the Enneads of Plotinus, and published his translation under the title The Theology of Aristotle. This introduced great confusion into Arabic ideas of Aristotle, from which it took Arabic philosophy centuries to recover.”
Arabs did not remain confined to Greek sciences only but even benefited from the Indian sciences as well . Russell endorses this universalistic aptitude of early Muslims to knowledge as follows:
“Meanwhile, in Persia, Muslims came in contact with India. It was from Sanskrit writings that they acquired, during the eighth century, their first knowledge of astronomy. About 830, Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarazmi, a translator of mathematical and astronomical books from the Sanskrit, published a book which was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, under the title Algoritmi de numero Indorum. It was from this book that the West first learnt of what we call "Arabic" numerals, which ought to be called "Indian." The same author wrote a book on algebra which was used in the West as a text. book until the sixteenth century.”
Islam transformed Persian civilisation and thus paved the way for greatest intellectual mystical and artistic fervour:
“Persian civilization remained both intellectually and artistically admirable until the invasion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, from which it never recovered. Omar Khayyam, the only man known to me who was both a poet and a mathematician, reformed the calendar in 1079. His best friend, oddly enough, was the founder of the sect of the Assassins, the "Old Man of the Mountain" of legendary fame. The Persians were great poets: Firdousi (ca. 941), author of the Shahnama, is said by those who have read him to be the equal of Homer. They were also remarkable as mystics, which other Mohammedans were not. The Sufi sect, which still exists, allowed itself great latitude in the mystical and allegorical interpretation of orthodox dogma; it was more or less Neoplatonic”.
So for as the philosophy of Muslims was concerned that was holistic in approach and had combined natural sciences with great philosophical ideals :
“Arabic philosophers, in general, are encyclopedic: they are interested in alchemy, astrology, astronomy, and zoology, as much as in what we should call philosophy. Two Mohammedan philosophers, one of Persia, one of Spain, demand special notice; they are Avicenna and Averroes. Of these the former is the more famous among Mohammedans, the latter among Christians.
Avicenna (Ibn Sina) ( 980-1037) spent his life in the sort of places that one used to think only exist in poetry. He was born in the province of Bokhara; at the age of twenty-four he went to Khiva--"lone Khiva in the waste"--then to Khorassan--"the lone Chorasmian shore." For a while he taught medicine and philosophy at Ispahan; then he settled at Teheran. He was even more famous in medicine than in philosophy, though he added little to Galen. From the twelfth to the seventeenth century, he was used in Europe as a guide to medicine. ..........He was suspect to the orthodox, but was befriended
by princes on account of his medical skill. At times he got into trouble owing to the hostility of Turkish mercenaries; sometimes he was in hiding, sometimes in prison. He was the author of an encyclopaedia, almost unknown to the East because of the hostility of theologians, but influential in the West through Latin translations. His psychology has an empirical tendency. His philosophy is nearer to Aristotle, and less Neoplatonic, than that of his Muslim predecessors. Like the Christian scholastics later, he is occupied with the problem of universals . Plato said they were anterior to things. Aristotle has two views, one when he is thinking, and the other when he is combating Plato. This makes him ideal material for the commentator. Avicenna invented a formula, which was repeated by Averroes and Albertus Magnus: "Thought brings about the generality in forms."
Both Muslims and the west need to heed the above descriptions of glorious past of Muslims.
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