CNN did a very good article on the contribution of Muslim inventions that helped shape the world we know today.  I have also been playing Assassin Creed 2 on the Xbox 360, and both of these have got me thinking about the major influences that Islam has had specifically on European society, particularly in the Renaissance of the 15th century.

Islam has a surprisingly long history in Europe; for a nearly 800 years there was a major Islamic presence in the Iberian peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal), which at one point pretty much encompassed the whole peninsula as well as some parts of southern France. There was also an Islamic state in Sicily during the 9th – 11th Centuries.

When these areas were recaptured by Christians during the Reconquista in Iberia and the Norman conquest of Sicily, the introduction of many parts of medieval Islamic culture into European society lead to the Renaissance of the 12th century, which paved the way for the Renaissance of the 15th century

So I figured I would look at just three areas and explore how these were influenced by Islam. The preservation of classical texts, the Scientific method and agriculture.

The Preservation of Classical Texts

When the Roman Empire fell, Europe descended into what we now know as the dark ages, an awful lot of science and knowledge from classical antiquity was lost to Europe. As a result of the Islamic conquest of the former territories of the Byzantine Empire, the work of  Aristotle, Galen, and Plato (amongst others) were translated from the crumbling papyrus they were written on. This knowledge was persevered, studied,commentated on and expanded upon. As early as 832, there was a great library of these texts kept in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.

As the Muslims conquered Iberia & Sicily, they brought these writings with them as well, reintroducing the ideas and concepts back into Europe. When they were driven out by the Christians these texts were left behind, and the ideas were translated into Latin and spread over Europe, meaning things like the Hippocratic oath came back into use.

The Scientific Method

In Greek science, a great deal of emphasis was placed upon rationality rather that experimentation however in Islamic science, the reverse was true. This may be down to the emphasis on empirical observation found in the Qur’an and Sunnah, but whatever it was, Islamic scientists combined precise observation, controlled experimentation and careful record keeping. Every A-Level science student will tell you that those things are the key to science as we know it. The use of controlled experiments to determine the correctness of a theory was ground breaking then. This is the same method that has carried on since and is still used all over the world today, from the smallest school science classroom to the most advanced university research labs.

Abū ʿAlī al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham (in Europe we call him Alhazen), wrote the Book of Optics in 1021, and if you read it (and I highly recommended you do, my A-Level physics teacher made me and I am glad she did), you will see the beginning of all modern science. So influential is this book that Alhazen is often called the first scientist and many historians place it up there with Newton’s Principia Mathematica as the two most important scientific works ever.

If you look at Alhazan’s method you will recognise the heading and sections of any modern scientific reports. It basically consisted of the following headings:

1. Observation
2. Statement of problem
3. Formulation of hypothesis
4. Testing of hypothesis using experimentation
5. Analysis of experimental results
6. Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusion
7. Publication of findings

Familiar to any student and/or scientist all over the world!

Using this method, Islamic scientists even developed a theory of evolution by natural selection as far back as the 9th century, while we had to wait until the 19th for Darwin to figure it out!

In regards to science in general, in Europe there is a gap in scientific development of around 1000 years, and it was only due to the works of the Muslims that science was able to develop so quickly in Europe during the Renaissance.

Agriculture

The Muslim conquest of Iberia saw the introduction of some extremely important agricultural innovations, particularly crop rotation, where a different crop in planted in winter and summer, doubling the productivity of a field. Muslims also grew cash crops, crops which are not just for a farmers own subsidence, but are sold for profit. Muslim rulers also took a radically different approach to labour rights and land ownership, rewarding productive farmers, as opposed to the feudal system in Europe in which farmers were practically slaves with little hope of improvising their lot in life.

Until the Islamic rule in Iberia, most crops grown in Europe were wheats. The Muslims brought with them some fantastic crops to grow, including sugar cane, rice, lemons, oranges, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines, bananas, and saffron. All of which we still use today and they are very yummy, except cotton which leaves your mouth kind of dry!

On the technology side, Islamic famers brought us irrigation, industrial milling, fertilizers and windmills. And all of this allowed for the development of towns and cities as fewer people were needed to grow the fod to feed society, so great scientists and artists were able to flourish, would Leonardo Da Vinci, have accomplished so much if he had to work the fields to feed himself?

Conclusion

So there are my thoughts on it, in my opinion we should really be thankful for Islam, without it, who knows what kind of world we would be living in, maybe we would never have gotten out of the dark ages!

Have Fun

Michael

Today Switzerland went to the polls on a referendum proposed by the Swiss People Party (SVP), the poll was a proposal to ban the building of minarets. The result was 57% in favour of this proposal, something which the Swiss government advised against, and now in their words:-

“The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted,”

This is a big thing, Switzerland has for many years been one of the worlds most tolerant governments, but today something changed, Switzerland became a country in which the freedom to express ones religion has been curtailed, just like in France with the headscarf ban.

We Brits might content ourselves by saying that we leave in a highly tolerant society, where churches are happy sitting next to mosques, synagogues and temples, but looking on twitter, and reading the various UK news forums, its quite upsetting how many people here in the UK agree with this ban. No doubt some of tomorrows papers will run articles praising Switzerland for taking a stand against Islamic extremism and Sharia law.

Speaking of Sharia law, what’s the problem, I mean here in the North East we have a Rabbinical court practising Talmudic law. Now its not that the Jewish community has been able to remove itself from the British legal system, they have simply chosen to have a way of dealing with civil matters in a religious court, and in all fairness this takes many case that would otherwise clog up the legal system, and in many cases the decisions are fair, or course both litigants have to be Jewish and both agree to deal with it through the Rabbinical court, and that’s shiny.

And that’s how Sharia courts work here in the UK, but some people here in the UK claim its like the Muslim community here want a parallel legal system, ok some a small minority do,but then again,there is a small minority in this country calling out for the Bible to become the main source of law in this country! And in all fairness when it comes to the religious divorce issue, yes there are some problems in both the Rabbinical Courts and the Sharia Courts, but these are no worse than the troubleshot can become an issue when trying to get an annulment from the Catholic Church!

But this vote further shows how this continent has become so afraid of Islam, that we do silly things like this, we have become so fearful of terrorism that we have put every well-integrated Muslim in the same basket as al-Qaeda fanatics. And I feel that Europe as a continent is losing the right to express our concern at other countries over religious freedom and free speech.

Right now in Iran, seven Baha’is who belong to an informal body known as the Friends (Yaran), a group of people who tried their best to look after the needs of this community, are sitting in the notorious Evin prison, were they have been held for 18 months now on charges of espionage. These charges are ridiculous and trumped up, because the Iranian legal system sees Baha’is as heretics, they are horribly persecuted and many have been executed or have simply been disappeared since the1979 Islamic revolution.

Anyway what’s my point, well almost every Western nation, including the UK, France and Switzerland have all condemned the Iranian government for their flagrant abuse of human rights, and denial of free speech and religious freedom. But are we not doing the same thing to our Islamic communities, I hope not, and I truly hope that somehow this ban is lifted,and sooner rather than later.

God Bless

Michael

On the 29th November, the Swiss will vote in a referendum which proposes to outlaw the constructions of Minarets at Mosques in the country, and it’s a heated battle that really symbolises the rampant Islamophobia present in Western Europe today.

Supporters of this proposed ban claim that the minaret is not required for worship, and is not mentioned in the Qur’an or any other Islamic Holy texts and rather is a symbol of religious-political power claim. Now by that logic, surly the construction of church spires and bell towers should be banned as I don’t recall those being mentioned in the Bible.

Ok so the minaret is not a religious requirement, but it’s a cultural tradition, again, just the same as a church spire or bell tower, and why should be deny the Muslims of Europe the right to erect one.

Now its not like Muslims are running rampant across Europe erecting a 100m high minaret on every spare patch of land and having a call to prayer blaring out at all hours, apparently there are only 4 minarets throughout Switzerland and none of them sound the call to prayer.

One thing that really stands out for me is how the few proposals that there actually have been to construct minarets that have been submitted in Switzerland, is that they are modest in size and appearance. I have read of one fella, Mutalip Karaademi, a man originally from Albania, whom has lived in Switzerland for 28 years. He put forward a proposal to improve their local mosque, located in a former paint factory, now this proposal included a tea-room and a 5m tall, yes that right just 5m, minaret in Langenthal, just outside Berne.

But following an outcry from local far-right politicians, the local government delayed the project, despite a written undertaking to not make the call to prayer. Mr. Karaademi said something that really sums it all up.

“They seem to think we are all criminals or terrorists – that’s like saying all Italians are in the mafia.”

And this seems top be the attitude throughout Europe; in the UK we have a controversy over the plans for the construction of the Abbey Mills Mosque, which is proposed to be erected in Stratford, East London, near the 2012 Olympic park. Now this has been described as the Mega-Mosque, due to one the plans submitted in the design completion being potentially big enough for up to 70,000 people, making it Europe’s largest place of worship. However the trustees decided on a structure that would accommodate 12,000 people.

There has been an awful stink kicked up about this project here in the UK, on online petition against it managed to garner 250,000 signatures, despite the trustees having yet to submit a planning application. Many of the fears are about it being used as a recruiting ground for terrorism due to the financial support of Tablighi Jamaat, an organisation alleged to be the main recruitment are of Al-Qaeda in the UK. Now I don’t know much about Tablighi Jamaat, and I am not going to pretend otherwise, but their website says something very relevant, that they are not responsible for the actions of every individual who has ever attended their mosques or services.

And that’s a very good, point, I am not going to say that there is no such thing as Islamic fundamentalism or Islamic Terrorism, because there is, but lets not hold every Muslim responsible, nor assume that because the terrorists and fundamentalists say that they are Muslims that they represent the entire Islamic faith. That’s like saying that all Germans are Nazis! The fringe elements of a society, culture or organisation do not represent it as a whole, that’s like saying that the BNP or the National Front are representative of white British Society when that’s clearly not the case (thankfully).

In Elswick in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, there is the Malvern Street Mosque, a mosque that has been there since the 1970s, and was even visited by Muhammad Ali in the 1980s. Now a few years ago they decided to build a new mosque next to the old one, which is when its eventually finished will be the biggest in the North of England, it has a large dome and a single minaret. I have family that live just down the road from the mosque and at the time, I remember the locals were furious that the new mosque was going to be built, there were rumors of call to prayers blasting out day and night, of women being forced to wear burqas just to walk past it!

Now that it’s built, all those fears have been proven to be false, it fits in very nicely with the city and is very unobtrusive, and the only real issue is parking which the mosques trustees have worked very hard to address.

I wish that these were isolated incidents but there is a general atmosphere of Islamaphobia throughout Europe which is very upsetting, after all considering that without the cultural and scientific influence of Islam in southern Italy, then the renaissance would never have happened. But the papers print stories and columns that stoke up fear and suspicion of Islam, focusing on the extremes of the Islamic community. British-Iranian comedian (and Baha’i), Omid Djalili tells a very good joke about the Medias fixation of the fringes of Islam. He quotes an imaginary new presenter saying:-

“To get a balanced view of the Middle East, we now go over to Muslim nutter with a hook.”

He likens this to Al-Jazeera interviewing as the sole representative of the Christian west, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, whom he quotes as saying:-

“Well, we believe in death to all darkies, Jews and A-rabs everywhere. We believe in creating a white supremacist state in the middle of Egypt.”

How would that feel, we would be outraged and rightly so, so why is it perfectly acceptable for us to do it the Muslims.

So lets put our differences aside and just get on with our lives, and treat our Muslim neighbors fairly and without prejudice, after all we all want the same thing, to lead our lives, work sleep, eat and generally live a good life.

If, however the continuing trend of demonising Europe’s Muslims continues, then the fringes of Islam may well grow, and young Muslims may become radicalised, and we will have only ourselves to blame. The media kick off when we see images of Muslims burning flags in the streets of Istanbul, but sometimes, mayby we give them good reason to feel angry and marginalised.

So I will leave you with some wise words of Bahá’u'lláh for you to reflect on, and next time you see, hear, read or even feel anything that is distrust, suspision or even hate of Muslims, think of these words. 

“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”

God Bless

Michael