"WHO TEACHETH BY THE PEN"
A Study of Islamic Social Thought
Emory L. Warrick, Sr.
A Paper for
Sociology 621
Early Social Thought
Prof. John Drinan Kelley
Fall Quarter 1971
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Table of Contents * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2
Historical Background * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3
Muhammad * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 4
The Caliphate * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 6
Al-Islam * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *10
Muslim Secular Thought * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *13
Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *16
Appendix * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *17
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the book of GENESIS in the Christian OLD TESTAMENT (and in the
Judiac TORAH) we find the story of the Patriarch Abraham.
According to this story Abraham was the progenitor of all semitic
peoples. When Abraham and his wife Sarah became aged, and it
appeared that Sarah was barren, Sarah prevailed upon Abraham to
impregnate their maid Hagar so that the line might survive.
Hagar was duly impregnated by Abraham, and in the fulness of time
was delivered of a son named Ishmael. Sarah later became gravid
and was herself delivered of a son who was named Isaac. Sarah
then prevailed upon Abraham to transport Hagar, and his son
Ishmael, into the wilderness and to abandon them, which the story
indicates was done.
Isaac was reputed to be the progenitor of all Jews, while Ishmael
(who survived) was reputed to be the progenitor of all other
semites except the Edomites. Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob
(whose name became Israel after he had wrestled the angel
Gabriel). Their mother was Rebecca who had borne them as twins
with Esau being the first-born. Rebecca favored Jacob and
through skulduggery and deception secured for Jacob the Blessings
and Rights belonging to Esau by right of Primogeniture. The
Edomites descended from Esau and were the only semites who seemed
able to relate to both Jews and Arabs (i.e., the descendents of
both Issac and Ishmael). The Lebanese apparently are a melding
of the Edomites and the ancient Phoenicians.
In the Judiac tradition the Diety was worshipped in the guise of
Elohim and el Shaddai (among others) until in the Mosaic
tradition came the religious insight culminating in the Jewish
monotheism whose worship was directed to Yahweh. Among the Arabs
this insight was not to develop for millenia. In the Arab line
of descent religion developed into an idolatrous polytheism. By
the latter half of the Sixth Century A. D. the place to which all
Arabia made religious pilgrimage was the Kaa'bah, a temple at
Mecca. The guardians of this temple were the Tribe of Qureysh.
The Meccans claimed descent from Abraham through Ishmael and
tradition held that the Kaa'bah had been built by Abraham for the
worship of the One God.
The Kaa'bah was stilled called the House of Allah, but the chief
objects of worship were a number of Idols called Intercessors and
the Daughters of Allah. Mecca was not an agricultural community.
Mecca's chief sources of income arose from its position on the
caravan routes. The tourist and pilgrimage trade based upon the
Kaa'bah and the theological doctrines associated with it served
to make the Kaa'bah an economic stimulus. All this served also
to make the Meccans very conservative with regard to any changes.
Proper economic influences can foster extreme religious
conservatism.
MUHAMMAD
In the year 570 A. D. there was born to Abdullah of the tribe of
Qureysh, the family of Hashim, the son of Abdul Muttalib, a son
named Muhammad. Abdullah died prior to the birth of his son, and
the mother of Muhammad died when he was six. The boy came under
the guardianship of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, and upon the
death of Abdul he came under the guardianship of his uncle Abu
Talib. At 12 (c.582 A D) he travelled north to Syria in the
company of Abu Talib in a merchant caravan. He earned the name
Al-Amin (i.e., trustworthy) in Mecca and was apparently quite
respected. At age 25 (c. 595 A D) he made this journey again in
the service of Khadijah, a wealthy widow in her early forties.
Her aged servant who accompanied Muhammad on the long caravan
made such an enthusiastic report of his services that Khadijah
subsequently married Muhammad. She thereby conferred upon him
her wealth and rank among the notables of Mecca. During the
twenty- six years of their marriage he remained monogamous and
faithful to her, but married other wives after her death. There
had grown up at Mecca a small group known as Hunafa (i.e., those
who turn away) who were dissidents from the prevalent idolatry.
They could be termed agnostics because each sought truth in the
illumination of his own inner consciousness. Muhammad was a
Hanif.
Muhammad formed the habit of making a month-long retreat each
year during the month of Ramadan. He took his family along on
these retreats and went usually to a hill named Hira in the
desert near Mecca. It was here where, at age forty and near the
end of this month of meditation, that he was possessed of his
first vison or revelation. It was his impression that he was
asleep, or in a trance, when he was aroused by a loud and
terrible Voice. The Voice said:
"'Read!'
He said: 'I cannot read!'
The Voice again said: 'Read!'
He said: 'I cannot read!'
A third time the Voice, more terrible, commanded: 'Read!'
He said: 'What can I read?'
The Voice said: 'Read: In the Name of the Lord Who
Createth.
Createth man from a clot.
Read: And it is thy Lord the Most Bountiful
Who teacheth by the pen,
Teacheth man that which he knew not!'"
This quote is from the Surah XCVI, and is here used to indicate
the strength of the impetus from the very begionning of Islam -
from the first Revelation - toward study and learning.
In the Islamic tradition the Lord did teach most bounteously by
the pen. It must be remembered that Muhammad was illiterate.
Because of the insistence of the Angel that he read these
Scriptures are know as Al Qur'an (i.e., The Koran), literally
"The Reading" of an illiterate. The vision of Muhammad was of
the Archangel Gabriel, in human likeness, in the sky above the
horizon. We are told that this experience was most distressing
to him because as a Hanif what passed for mysticism in his
society was anathema to him. He confided his distress to
Khadijah who tried as best she could to reassure him.
History pictures Muhammad throughout his life as a quiet, humble
man of massive insight and intelligence. Feeling thus singled
out from all mankind to be the receptacle of Revelation, which he
must preach, apparently was an absolutely appalling experience.
After much soul-searching he became convinced that his experience
was indeed a valid one and he undertook to preach the Word. His
first convert was Khadijah. His second convert was Ali, his
first cousin whom he had adopted and who was destined to become
his son-in-law through marriage to Fatima, the daughter of
Muhammad and Khadijah. His third convert was his freed slave
Zeyd, and his old friend Abu Bakr was his fourth convert.
For a while things went well, but as he spread his gospel he
generated antagonism and persecution soon forced him to flee
Mecca with his converts. A group of pilgrims from Yathrib - an
oasis city 250 miles north of Mecca and 650 miles SSE of Damascus
- came into contact with Muhammad about this time. The Aus and
the Khazraj tribes were disputants for primacy in Yathrib and the
situation was complicated by the presence of three Jewish tribes
of contentious disposition. The need was felt for a
disinterested arbitrator and the group was much taken with
Muhammad, and so the Islamic group (i.e., those who submit to
God) settled in Yathrib - which became Al-Madinah, or Medina.
This flight to Medina was the "Hegira" which began on 20 June 622
and ended on 24 September that same year. At Medina Muhammad
proved himself to be an able administrator, and the Surahs of
that period assume a socio- political character as opposed to the
devotional character of the Meccan Surahs.
The Meccans forced him into fighting. His forces won the Battle
of Badr (623), lost the Battle of Mt. Uhud (losing much face
thereby), and won the War of the Trench (627). Arab battle
tactics were simply hit and run. Muhammad with his gift of
insight conceived the plan of trenching completely around Medina.
When the Arabs got to the trench they knew not what to do and so
they sat down and waited; they got bored, the weather got bad,
and they just left. This was the turning point for Al-Islam.
In combining astute administration with devout religious practice
Muhammad established the pattern for the Caliphate. The
Caliphate as an institution endured for nearly five hundred years
during which a truly great empire was created. Muhammad made no
claim to divinity; one who worships Allah and follows the Koran
is not a Mohammedan. One who submits fully to the One God is
Islamic. On 8 June 632 Muhammad died in Medina and Abu Bakr was
elected Caliph (i.e., successor). The Caliphate had begun and
the course of human history was forever changed.
THE CALIPHATE
When Muhammad died he left no instructions for the governing of
the Muslim community. Predictably various parties began to form,
among the most active of which was the Kjazraj clan of Medina.
Among the Meccan companions taking part in these deliberations
were Omar and Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr came to be elected successor to
The Prophet, taking the title of Caliph. This form of government
was, in essence, a theocracy; the Caliph was the true ruler,
being both the spiritual leader and the political administrator.
In theory all Islam should be united under one Supreme Caliph.
Upon his election as Caliph Abu Bakr was faced with revolt. Some
of his opposition collapsed in the face of his firmness, but the
Nejd tribes had to be suppressed. Khalid ibn al-Walid completed
this task, secured the Arabian Peninsula, and began to move
against Iraq. At the same time Amr ibn al-As moved against
Palestine and the trans-Jordan. Khalid defeated the Greeks at
Ajnadain. With the reign of Abu Bakr (632-634) the empire was
begun.
Upon the death of Abu Bakr the new Caliph Omar (634-644) was
elected without opposition and extended the conquests to Iraq,
Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Khalid conquered Damascus, lost it, and
conquered it again. He then proceeded to subjugate all of Syria.
In 639 the Omayyad Mu'awiya was appointed governor of all Syria.
There were continuous attacks from the Greeks and Persians. Omar
was stabbed to death by a workman in the mosque at Medina, but by
the time of his death Iraq and Egypt were beginning to be secure.
Upon the death of Omar the aging Othman (644-656) was elected
Caliph. Omar had been successful in keeping control of the
conquests, armies, and empire. Othman was weak and not so
gifted. The conquests continued from their own momentum, and he
did organize Syrian and Egyptian fleets. Othman was finally
killed in a mutiny and rebellion and Ali (656-661) became the
last elected Caliph. Ali was first cousin, adopted son, and
son-in-law to the Prophet and this was to cause much trouble in
Islam.
Ali held out for five years in a rapidly worsening situation, but
was finally assassinated in 661 by Omayyads seeking revenge for
the murder of Othman. Ali was seen by his descendents, because
of his closeness to The Prophet, as being Immaculate and
Infallible, and his descendents became the Shi'ites. The
Shi'ites and the Sunnites, therefore, divided at the beginning of
the Omayyad Caliphate with the Sunnis being the largest and
dominant group throughout Islamic history. The new Caliph was
the first of the Omayyad Caliphs and established the dynastic
principle of succession. This was Mu'awiya (660-680) who had
been governor of Syria, and he moved the Capital from Medina to
Damascus. The next truly noteworthy Caliph was Abd al-Malik
(685-705).
Until 696 Abd al-Malik was kept totally occupied by the
restoration of order to Syria and the rest of the empire. A
strong General emerged during this period - al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf -
who was made governor of Iraq. When the empire was fairly
settled down Abd al-Malik began expanding in Africa and reached
Tunis. He also reorganized the Imperial administration and
established a navy. He established a regular postal service
which helped immensely in the centralization of power. He
established Islamic coinage and reorganized the financial
administration, putting it into Muslim hands to be conducted in
Arabic.
Abd al-Malik was succeeded upon his death by his son al-Walid I.
Building upon his father's foundations al-Walid (705-715) had a
brilliant reign. Control was established over all Asia Minor and
Armenia. Tangier was taken in 708 by Musa ibn Nusair, who made
his freed slave Jabal Tarik governor of Tangier. In 711 Jabal
Tarik (for whom Gibraltar is named) defeated the Visigoth King
Roderick and overran Spain. Al-Hajjaj had by this time
thoroughly subdued Iraq and moved on to a great deal of further
conquest.
Concurrently there was intensive agricultural development. Much
of this was in Iraq under the direction of al-Hajjaj where canals
were constructed, marshes drained, and much land reclaimed for
arable usage. The Church of St. John the Baptist was converted
to a mosque at Damascus while the Dome of the Rock was completed
at Jerusalem. Four sons of Abd al-Malik became Caliph; after al-
Walid I came Suleiman, Yazid II, and Hisham. Sulieman (715-717)
was a hedonist who through his hatred and persecution of al-
Hajjaj lost the momentum of conquest. Omar II (717-720) was
universally respected for piety and sanctity.
Omar II established the rights of all Muslims, encouraging mass
conversions. He sent Samh to Spain as the new governor with
orders to distribute Spanish land among the troops. Yazid II
(720- 724), the third of the sons, suffered a violent outburst
from the Yemenites which was the beginning of the end for the
Omayyads. The fourth son Hisham (724-743) was a puritan who
founded the bureaucratic system of which the Abbasids made such
good use after they won the civil war. The Syrians were the
omnipotent support of the empire, and he kept factional
contentions within bounds. Marwan II (744-750) was defeated by
Khurasanian forces and his adherents slaughtered by the Abbasids,
who were able to accomplish this by means of alliance with the
Shi'ites.
One of the few who escaped was Abd al-Rahman, the grandson of
Hisham who fled to Africa and thence to Spain where he founded
the Omayyad Dynasty at Cordoba. With the advent of the Abbasid
Caliphs the power of the caliphate was based upon the provinces
of Iraq and Khurasan where there was maximum mingling of Arabic
and Persian influences. This favored the development of a common
Muslim civilization without Arabic predominance. Mu'awiya had
moved the capital from Medina to Damascus and the empire had been
dominated by Syria under the Omayyads. The first Abbasid Caliph,
Abu 'l-Abbas (750-754), faced the same problem faced by virtually
all revolutionary regimes - that of the consolidation of power.
Upon his death his brother took power under the title of al-
Mansur (754-775).
Al-Mansur could not dislodge the Omayyads from Spain but he did
put down revolts by the Muslimiya, the Hashimiya, and the
Shi'ites. He founded the new capital at Baghdad and reorganized
the administration, introducing the Wazir (i.e.,the visier, who
was a combination private secretary and prime minister) and the
diwans (i.e., divans, or ministries of the government). His
successor al-Madhi (775-785) expanded and improved the
administrative services. The prosperity of his regime formed the
base for the impressive development of intellectual and cultural
pursuits which followed. The next Caliph was al-Hadi (785-786)
who was followed by his brother al-Rashid (786-809). The tutor
of al-Rashid was Yahya ibn Khalid whom al-Rashid made visier with
full powers.
Under Yahya and his son Fadl the Abbasid empire reached its
apogee of power and prosperity. After al-Amin (809-813) was
slain in a civil war with his brother al-Ma'mun, al-Ma'mun (813-
833) assumed power but remained at Merv. The civil war had
fragmented the empire and there was turbulence until 819. At
that time al-Ma'mun removed the capital again to Baghdad. There
he extended his patronage to science and literature, going to the
extent of founding a kind of Academy where Greek works on
mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and medicine were translated.
He extended official patronage to the Mu'tazilite school of
theology.
Al-Ma'mun was succeeded by his brother al-Mu'tasim (833-842) who
moved the capital to Samarra and finally whipped the Greeks and
his own rebels. Al-Mu'tasim also made an innovation which was
fatally to weaken the Abbasid Caliphate; he introduced regiments
of Turkish slaves into the army as light cavalry and armed them
with sword, lance, and bow. They were very effective. The
successor to al-Mu'tasim, al-Wathik (842-847), lost control of
the Turks and his successor, al-Mutawakkil (847-861), spent his
entire reign trying to regain power from the Turkish generals.
Al- Mutawakkil foolishly divided the empire among his three sons,
the oldest of which finally joined the Turkish generals and
murdered his father. The Turkish generals were the real powers
during the next four Caliphates, lasting until 870 when al-
Mu'tamid (870- 892), another son of al-Mutawakkil, took power.
The brother of al-Mu'tamid, al-Muwaffat, was the real power and
began slowly to retrieve the situation. The government was moved
back to Baghdad. The Shi'ites were beginning to agitate again,
and the Caliphate came to an end as a viable institution with
the reign of al-Muktadir (908-932). There would henceforth be an
Imamate with spiritual responsibilities and held by the Abbasids
who would still hold the title of Caliph, and a Sultanate wherein
resided true political power - the most notable of these being
the Seljuk Dynasty. Concurrent with the Abbasid Caliphate was
the Omayyad Dynasty in Spain. Abd al-Rahman (755-788) had
established the dynasty after escaping the Abbasid purge and
finally arriving in Spain.
Abd al-Rahman established centralized power, basing it upon an
Imperial Guard of Berbers and European slaves (Slavonians).
After Hisham I (788-796) came al-Hakam I (796-822) who affirmed
Omayyad power and laid the foundations for the material and
literary culture developed under his son Abd al-Rahman II (822-
852). Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) was the primus inter pares of
the dynasty. He lifted the kingdom to its apogee of culture,
power, and magnificance. Cordoba was now a metropolis which
enjoyed an immense reputation in Europe. He mastered ibn Hafsun
in 917 and in the following decade he united Moorish Spain.
Abd al-Rahman III even collected tribute from Christian Princes.
This period of magnificance continued through the reign of al-
Hakam II (961-976). The successor to al-Hakam II, Hisham II
(976- 1013), was weak and allowed the rise of the Military
Dictator ibn abi 'Amir (981-1002). Ibn abi 'Amir was followed by
Abd al-Malik al-Muzzakar (1002-1008). The last Omayyad Prince
was dethroned in 1031. A Republic was declared.
AL-ISLAM
Al-Islam (which translates as "Those having peace with God) is
the community of Muslims (which translates as "He who fully
submits). Islam is, therefore, a total way of life. We have
already noted (cf. Caliphate) that there is no division for the
Muslim between religion and politics - or any other institution.
Ideally a Muslim is a Muslim in every facet of his life. A
Muslim is not a Mohammedan (cf. Koran: xxvii) for Muhammad was
simply the Prophet of Allah. Muhammad was last in a long line of
Prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, and Jesus.
Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians were protected people in the
Muslim empire. Christians cannot generally make such a claim of
tolerance for people of differing beliefs. The Muslim creed has
five (5) articles of faith (Rahman: 663):
(1) The Muslim is required to believe in Allah, the One God;
(2) The Muslim is required to believe in angels;
(3) The Muslim must believe in the revealed books;
(4) The Muslim must believe in the Prophets (including
Muhammad); and
(5) The Muslim must believe in the Day of Judgement.
There are in addition five (5) obligatory duties for the Muslim
(Columbia Encyclopaedia: 979):
(1) As a profession of faith one must at least once during
one's lifetime say forthrightly, with full faith
and understanding: "There is no god but God (Allah)
and Muhammad is His Prophet.";
(2) One must pray the five (5) mandatory daily prayers; while
facing toward the Kaa'bah at Mecca, the direction
being determined by the Imam, one must kneel and
pray at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, dusk, and within
two (2) hours after sunset.
(3) One must pay the Zakat tax and the sadaqat; the word
"zakat" means purification and the payment of the
Zakat tax cleanses/legitimizes one's possessions;
the tax varies by categories (i.e., 10% for grains
or fruits watered by rains, 5% for irrigated crops,
2.5% for money); in this theocracy the state will
collect this tithe whose payment is a religious
duty (Koran: 42); the sadaqat (i.e., charity
contribution) should voluntarily be given in
addition.
(4) One must keep Ramadan; from dawn to dusk during this
month one is prohibited from partaking of food,
drink, or sexual gratification; Ramadan was the
month set aside by The Prophet for his annual
retreat to Mt. Hira and during Ramadan the first
revelation occurred.
(5) One must at least once during one's life, should Allah
permit, make a pilgrimage to Mecca to the Kaa'bah
toward which one faces to pray.
There are more than four hundred fifty million (450,000,000)
Muslims; Islam is the principle religion of much of Asia.
Muslims are found in the Phillipines, the Provinces of Kansu and
Shensi in China, Asiatic U. S. S. R., India, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan, as well as in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Egypt,
Sudan, Tunisia, Libya, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, and the Arab
States and Emirates (Columbia Encyclopaedia; 979). The
pilgrimage is a prime uniting factor for world-wide Islam. This
pilgrimage is made only during one month of the year. The
experience of meeting strangers from over the entire world on the
same mission gives one a tremendous sensation of solidarity, as
well as the effect of participating with all in the same ritual
observance. One approaches Mecca between the 7th and 10th day of
Dhu 'l-Hijja.
At a point six (6) miles from the city one says the proper
prayers and changes to two seamless, white garments. One visits
the sacred mosque (the Kaa'bah) and while there kisses the Black
Stone. One then makes seven (7) circumambulations of the
Kaa'bah, 3 of which are made running while 4 are made slowly.
One visits the sacred stone, and afterward ascends Mt. Safa and
runs between the peaks of Mt. Safa and Mt. Marwa seven (7) times
as did Hagar while hunting water for the infant Ishmael. After a
visit to Mt. Arafat where one hears a sermon the night is spent
at Muzdalifa; there forty two (42) stones are selected to be
thrown at the 3 pillars of Mina. A sacrifice is made on the last
day of Irham in commemoration of the provision of the ram by
Allah as a substitute for the sacrifice of Ishmael.
The total way of life of Islam is exemplified in its application
by the Shari'a (i.e., path to the watering place). In Islam this
path includes both the doctrinal belief and the practice (i.e.,
the law - the fiqh). There are four (4) foundations of the
formulation of the Shari'a (Rahman: 664):
(1) THE KORAN, the revealed truth of God;
(2) the Sunna (way) of The Prophet as recorded in the Hadith
(i.e., the tradition, which are collections of
anecdotes and apocraphae concerning The Prophet); there
are two very carefully complied collections, and the
other 4 proceed on what might be characterized as a "it
might have been" basis (Columbia Encyclopaedia: 979);
the best collections are Kitab al-Jami' al-Sahih by
al-Bukhari (d.870), and Sahih by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj
(d.875); the other 4 less reliable collections are Kitab
al-Sunan by abu Dawud (817-886), Jami' al- Sahih by
al-Tirmidhi (d.892), Kitab al-Sunan by al- Nasa'i (830-
915), and Kitab al-Sunan by ibn Maja (824-886).
(3) the Ijma, which can be summarized by three quotations
from The Prophet: 1) "Conversion by the sword is no
conversion"; 2) "My community will never agree in an
error", and 3) "The difference in opinion in my community
is a Divine mercy" (Columbia Encyclopaedia: 980).; Islam
does not distinguish between faith and works for both
are indispensible and both are mutually supplementary.
(4) the qiyas (i.e., analogical reasoning) which is the
basis of interpretation and original thought (i.e.,
Ijtihad) in Islam.
Ijtihad has come to mean in modern usage a democratic institution
as opposed to traditional authority. The earlier form of
reasoning with respect to Shari'a interpretaion was the ra'y,
based upon personal thought and opinion. Even though there were
strong pressures toward orthodoxy - and fear of original thought
(Ijtihad) - in the early days of Islam there were nonetheless
still rebels like ibn Tiamiya whose ideas were the foundation of
the puritanical Wahabi movement.
There are in addition four sciences of the Shari'a. They are:
(1) the Hadith, the prophetic tradition;
(2) the Tafsir, the Koranic exegesis;
(3) the Kalam, the theology; and
(4) the Fiqh, the law.
The Hadith (i.e., prophetic tradition) and the Tafsir (i.e., the
Koranic exegesis) provide materials for the Kalem (i.e., the
theology) and the Fiqh (i.e., the law). The Fiqh, which
originally meant an understanding of the full range of faith, now
applies to the law alone (Rahman: 665). There are four schools
of the law, which are:
(1) the Hanafite, prevalent in Muslim Asia, whose founder
was Abu Hanifa;
(2) the Malikite, prevalent in western and northern Africa,
arising from Malik ben Aras (d.795);
(3) the Shafi'ite, a rite in Egypt, east Africa, the Middle
East, and the East Indies, arising from
Ash Shafi'i (d.820); and finally
(4) the Hanbalite, founded by Ahmed Ibn Hanbal.
The Hanbalite rite is not widely accepted and is the narrowest
and most literalistic of the schools. Ibn Khaldun was the
Supreme Qaid (i.e., Chief Judge) of the Malikite rite when he was
in Cairo, and yet the Chief Judge had the Fiqh (i.e., the law)
religiously interpreted for him by the Mufti - again the
pervasiveness of the religious.
MUSLIM SECULAR THOUGHT
In the very first revelation the emphasis was on literacy - and
the Lord "Who Teacheth by the Pen". It is not surprising to find
then that education has occupied a fundamental place in Muslim
life, the more so since it is supported by the Hadith and THE
KORAN. However, the actual development of the system of
education was bifurcated. The upper and lower levels did not
mesh, and there was no steady channeling of able students from
the primary to the upper level. There is evidence of school
education in the first century of Islam and we find mention of
the "majlis" (i.e., a hall for teaching). As in so many facets
of Islam in their first century al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf played a part
here too (Rahman: 668).
Instruction was mainly in the traditions and in training for
integrity and moral character - with some reading, writing, and
arithmetic. Technical subjects were taught by the guilds which
became very powerful as time passed. Apprenticeship was used.
The Sufis later started orders throughout the empire which
included academics along with the spiritual exercises. With an
eye toward "Jihad" (i.e., Holy War) there was even some military
training. The crowning glory of Islam, though, was its
university system.
The great period of Muslim thought came in that period embraced
by The Ninth and The Eleventh Centuries. There were great
universities at Baghdad, Bukhara, Cairo, Alexandria, Cordoba,
Damascus, and Seville, to name a few (Columbia Encyclopaedia:
980). Some metropolii had more than one. The Abbasid Caliph al-
Ma'mun (813-833) had founded a quasi-Greek academy at Baghdad
(Gibb: 650). Nizam al-Mulk, the great visier to the Seljuk
Sultan Alp Arslan had founded Nizamiya at Baghdad in 1067
(Rahman: 668). Mirjan ibn Abdullah, governor of Baghdad,
founded another college there in 1358 (Oates; 1035).
In the Fifth Century some of Plato and most of Aristotle was
translated from the Greek to Persian, Syriac, and Armenian
(Fuller: 286ff.). In the Eighth Century these translations
passed on to the main Muslim Caliphate at Baghdad where al-Ma'mun
was shortly to establish his academy. From Baghdad the
translations moved to Spain where Abd al-Rahman II and Abd al-
Rahman III in their reigns provided the invigorating
encouragement and the political serenity necessary to the growth
of a literary culture. By this time Baghdad had produced the
poet Firdausi (d.935). Already one of the major Arabic
philosophers, al-Kindi (c.790-870), had been moving actively
through the reigns of al- Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim. Al-Kindi said
that one ought to recognize truth and welcome it from whatever
quarter it may come (Walzer: 190).
Al-Kindi maintained that natural and revealed philosophy reach
the same truth, but he subordinated reason and philosophy to
revelation and prophecy. He resembled the neo-Platonists. Al-
Kindi was followed by al-Farabi (c.870-950) who subordinated
religion to philosophy. Al-Farabi had an awareness of the
political philosophy of Plato which was not exhibited by al-
Kindi. Al-Farabi seems to have been the first Arabic thinker to
introduce the Aristotelian "active intellect" as a metaphysical
catalyst between "First Cause" and human intellect. The physical
world is to be understood along Aristotelian lines.
Avicenna (ibn Sin; 930-1026) was not Iraqi but was Persian and
never stayed in Baghdad as did al-Kindi and al-Farabi. For
Avicenna philosophy was the only way to the understanding of
Islam. He was a philosopher and a medical doctor. Avicenna read
THE METAPHYSICS of Aristotle forty (40) times until he chanced
upon an essay by al-Farabi that resolved the difficulty.
Avicenna divided philosophy into two regions of six parts.
Economics, ethics, and politics are practical; physics,
mathematics, and theology are both pure and applied.
At this time there came one of the greatest of the Arabic poets
who was at the same time the only great Arabic poet who was not a
Sufi - Omar Khayyam (1050 - 1123). Omar was contemporary with
the Battle of Hastings which provides an excellent contrast for
the comparison of the level of Muslim and Christian cultures.
Nizam al-Mulk, who was the great visier of the Seljuk Sultan Alp
Arslan, wrote for posterity his WASIYAT (i.e., TESTAMENT) in
which he told of being schoolmates with Omar Khayyam and Hasan
ben Sabbah. They made a pact that should one of them succeed
then that successful person would share with the other two.
Surely enough, when Nizam became Wasir he was approached by Hasan
and Omar. Hasan wanted political preferment and received it -
but tried a coup and was ousted.
Hasan fell in with the Persian group of the Isma'ili sect of the
Shi'ites which through his nefarious influence became the
Assassins - his name lives in infamy in western languages even
today. It is not certain whether the name derived from "Hasan"
or from the hashish they used habitually, but they illustrate the
disturbing effect of the Shi'ites - and particularly the Isma'ili
Shi'ites of Persia - in the course of Muslim history (fitzGerald:
xxvff.). Nizam tells that Omar asked simply for a secure corner
in the courtyard where he could pursue his studies. This he was
granted along with a comfortable income which enabled his
becoming not only a great Persian poet but also a world-renowned
scholar as well in algebra and astronomy. Omar was one of the
eight scholars who devised the Jalali calendar. Contemporary
with Omar was al- Ghazzali (1058-1111) whose THE INCOHERENCE OF
PHILOSOPHERS is credited with sending Arabic philosophy into its
decline and ineffectuality.
Al-Ghazzali was a Sufi (i.e., mystic) and denied any validity to
natural theology or philosophy, reestablishing the primacy of
religion and prophetic inspiration. His mysticism proved to be
more in harmony with the spirit of Islam than the rationality of
the philosophers - which was essentially Greek in spirit rather
than Arabic. Al-Ghazzali was on the staff of Nizamiya (Rahman:
668) and was therefore in Baghdad. Spain was an empire away and
Spanish Arabic philosophy was just coming to fruition
contemporaneously with al-Ghazzali, as represented by Avempace
(d.1138), ibn Tufail (d.1185), and most of all Averroes (ibn
Rushd; 1126-1198). Averroes was another combination philosopher
and doctor of medicine. His scrupulous and scholarly
commentaries on Aristotle would seem to have had very little
impact on Arabic thought, but a great many of them were
translated almost immediately into Hebrew and Latin and passed
from Moorish Spain to pre-Renaissance Europe.
We are told (Fuller: 286ff.) that during the Twelfth Century
Christian thinkers were introduced to Aristotle (i.e., ETHICS;
METAPHYSICS; PHYSICS; psychology) largely through Latin
translations of Arabic translations of Aristotle and commentaries
on his work. These came from translators of Arabic at Toledo,
and from the courts of Manfred and of Frederick II in Sicily as
well as from other sources. Averroes tried to posit two kinds of
truth - the reason of philosophy and the faith of theology - and
succeeded no better than did Aquinas. When one pauses to reflect
upon the implications of the centuries of Islamic civilization
for social thought and the influence of Islam upon the course of
history - and particularly that of Western Civilization - one is
struck by the openness of Islamic civilization in comparison with
other societies. The First Revelation is a sermon on the need
for literacy. There is no Surah on creation so there is no
Cosmology to defend at all costs.
Revelations seem to have come when they were needed and to have
had very practical import. Where the Christian tradition was
saddled with a three-tiered geocentric Cosmology in combination
with exposure to the strain of inductive Idealism from Greek
thought without its correlative corrective of deductive
empiricism, the Islamic tradition had the vector of deductive
empiricism without inductive Idealism. The Christian tradition
produced much better theologians and philosophers than did Islam,
but Islam produced mathematics and science - as well as some of
the best poets in the world. Because of the educated upper-class
resulting from the Koranic and Hadith emphasis upon literacy and
education the Muslims were better governed than almost anyone
else at the time - certainly better than the Christians. The
Muslims protected Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. No other
contemporary civilization even tolerated dissenters, to say
nothing of protecting them.
The thought occurs of Ying and Yang. Inductive Idealism leads to
sterile speculation without reference in reality. Deductive
empiricism leads to myopic vision and lack of "transferability".
As Kant pointed out: "Concepts without percepts are empty;
percepts without concepts are blind." The fusion of the two
traditions probably triggered the Renaissance and Industrial
Revolution - just as capitalism and trade hinged upon the
introduction of the concept of ZERO, and science awaited the
introduction of arabic numerals permitting tabular longitudinal
and latitudinal scientific observations. One wonders: WHAT IF
THERE HAD BEEN A THIRD FAMILY LIKE THE OMAYYADS AND THE ABBASIDS?
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Anderson, J. N. D.
1968 "Islamic Law" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.12.
Arberry, A. J., (ed.).
1963 SELECTED POEMS OF HAFIZ (Tehran, Iran: Y. Jamshidi
pur)
Bammate, Nadjmoud-Dine
1968 "Mohammed" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.15.
Bridgewater, William, and Elizabeth J. Sherwood (eds.).
1956 "Islam" THE COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPAEDIA (Morningside
Heights, New York: Columbia University Press)
Farnum, G. C., (ed.)
1960 "Mohammedanism" GROLIER ENCYCLOPAEDIA v.14.
fitzGerald, Edward (tr.)
1937 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM (Garden City, New York:
Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.).
Fuller, B. A. G.
1945 A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (New York: Henry Holt & Co.).
Gibb, Sir H. A. R.
1968 "Caliphate" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.4.
Humphrey, Edward (ed.).
1960 THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE vs.1; 3; 5; 4; 7; 9; 13; 14; 15.
MacDonald, Duncan Black
1968 "Imam" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BTITANNICA v.11.
Oates, Edward E. D. M.
1968 "Baghdad" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.2.
Pickthall, Mohammed Marmaduke (tr.).
1956 THE GLORIOUS KORAN (New York: New American Library).
Rahman, Fazl'Ur.
1968 "Islam" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.12.
Walzer, Richard R.
1968 "Arabic Philosophy" ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA v.2.
A P P E N D I X
THE CALIPHATE
632 - 634 Abu Bakr
634 - 644 Omar
644 - 656 Othman (Omayyad)
656 - 661 Ali
Omayyad Caliphs
660 - 680 Mu'awiya
680 - 683 Yazid I
683 Mu'awiya II
684 - 685 Marwan I
685 - 705 Abd al-Malik
705 - 715 al-Walid I
715 - 717 Suleiman
717 - 720 Omar II
720 - 724 Yazid II
724 - 743 Hisham
743 - 744 al-Walid II
744 Yazid III
744 - 750 Marwan II
Abbasid Caliphs Omayyad Dynasty (Spain)
750 - 754 Abu l'Abbas 755 - 788 Abd al-Rahman
754 - 775 al-Mansur
775 - 785 al-Madhi
785 - 786 al-Hadi
786 - 809 al-Rashid 788 - 796 Hisham I
809 - 813 al-Amin 796 - 822 al-Hakam I
813 - 833 al-Ma'mun 822 - 852 Abd al-Rahman II
833 - 842 al-Mu'tasim
842 - 847 al-Wathik
847 - 861 al-Mutawakkil 852 - 886 Mohammed I
861 al-Muntasir
862 - 866 al-Musta'in
866 - 869 al-Mu'tazz
869 - 870 al-Mutadi
870 - 892 al-Mu'tamid 886 - 912 Abdallah
892 - 902 al-Mu'tadid
902 - 908 al-Muktafi
908 - 932 al-Muktadir - 935 Firdausi 912 - 961 Abd al-Rahman III
961 - 976 al-Hakam II
EFFECTIVE END OF 930 -1026 Avicenna 976 -1013 Hisham II
CALIPHATE - THE 1050 -1123 Omar Khayyam
IMAMATE HENCEFORTH 1058 -1111 al-Ghazzali
-1138 Avempace
-1185 ibn Tufail
1126 -1198 Averroes (ibn Rushd)
1200-1280 Albertus Magnus -1291 Sadi (poet)
1225-1274 Thomas Aquinas
1320 - Hafiz
