History

Islam entered a world that was currently highly civilized, a world where Babylonian, Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Achaemenian and Sasanian accomplishments in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and engineering were already great.

The Arabs, nevertheless, were quick to grasp the value of this knowing. Had not a hadith of the Prophet recommended, "Seek knowing, even as far as China"? The early caliphs purchased the translation into Arabic of Greek, Syriac, Sanskrit and Persian writing and handbooks. Their successors later on invited concepts and methods from India, China and, after the Crusades, from Europe. Islam postured no conflict between learning and religious beliefs.

Muslim thinkers, however, did not simply follow the concepts of their intellectual forebears. They likewise transformed them to conform with the Koran and to integrate them into the Islamic world view: that all understanding is sacred, and that all knowing leads ultimately to the knowledge of God. In the view of Islam, for that reason, science might not be separated from theology, philosophy and literature on the one hand, or from technology and society on the other.

In the West, Islam's contribution to knowing is frequently viewed as simply the bridge by which the knowing of the old world crossed into medieval and Renaissance Europe. And definitely it served in that ability also. The long-lost works of Aristotle and other classical authors initially reached the West in translations from the Arabic. European scholars registered in the Islamic university of Cordoba to study the sciences in Arabic. The Muslim physicians Avicenna and ar-Razi were the last authorities for European medication for more than 500 years (See Aramco World, Jan.-Feb., 1969).

Islamic scholars and researchers– a lot of them polymaths– made initial contributions too, especially in the fields of mathematics and astronomy. In mathematics they brought India's number system to new heights, developed algebra– al-jabr in Arabic– and trigonometry into independent disciplines and combined Euclidean geometry with Indian ideas to produce a synthesis that exceptionally influenced Islamic architecture and design.

Islam and Technology

The framework of Islamic idea represents an extensive view of life and deep space. A Muslim is therefore used to obtain both religious and worldly knowledge. In fact, Islam advocated understanding at a time when the entire world was swallowed up in lack of knowledge. In a matter of years the early generation of Muslims ended up being a found out and refined people, for Islam had actually awakened in them the professors of intellect. Those early Muslims understood from the teachings of their religious beliefs that beneficial understanding is essential for the benefit of the self and of humankind. For this reason, they pursued it to such a degree that they went beyond other countries in development and productivity and carried the torch of civilization for lots of centuries. Read More >>>