Do you think that the glorious past of the Muslim ummah in the field of education was without any compromise with the Islamic beliefs and values?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد الله و الصلاة والسلام على رسول و على آله وصحبه أجمعين أما بعد
When we as Muslims speak of the ‘glorious scientific past’ of the Muslims we carefully try to forget that this so called glorious past didn’t come about in the times of the Khulafa Ar-Rashidoon and it hardly did show up in the times of the Umayyad Caliphate. It began during the Abbasid period (750 CE | 132 AH), that is almost 120 years or so after the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
This should also remind us that with the Abbasid period began the downward spiral of the political unity of the Muslims, and with regards to the religious creedal unity, it deteriorated further from what began since the turmoil of the murder of Uthman bin Affan (Radiallahuanhu), the third amongst the Khulafa Ar-Rashidoon.
The Abbasid Caliphs patronised and introduced to the Muslim Ummah science, math and philosophy from the ancient Greek texts.
“(Abbasid) Caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun directly encouraged a translation movement, a formal translation of scholarly works from Greek into Arabic. The Abbasid rulers wanted to make Greek texts, such as Aristotle’s works, available to the Arab world. Their goal was to translate as many of these famous works as possible in order to have a comprehensive library of knowledge and to preserve the philosophies and scholarship of Greece. The Abbasids aimed to have philosophy, science, and medicine texts translated. In addition to Arab Muslim scholars, Syrian Christians translated Syriac texts into Arabic as well.”*
(From *https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/cross-cultural-diffusion-of-knowledge/a/the-golden-age-of-islam)
So with this knowledge of science and math, Greek philosophy and reasoning entered the minds of the Muslim intellectuals. Which lead to many Muslims seeking out the knowledge of ‘Greek Philosophy and Logic’ which focusses more on seeking out logical answers and questioning anything that contradicts general logic. There were a host of intellectuals with Muslim names who started rejecting matters of ‘Al-Ghaib’ (the unseen) and many sects sprang up which rejected what appeared ‘illogical’ to them (ex. The Jahmiyyah and the Mutazilah).
Many famed ‘scientists’ of our ‘glorious scientific past’ were hardly Muslim anymore and a few of them were called disbelievers by the scholars of Creed(Aqeedah).
Let me give some examples of famed Muslim scientists who went on to speak heresy, these may be from or after the Abbasid knowledge renaissance period.
(#1) Avicenna, or Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), known and praised in Muslim circles for his contribution to medicine, astronomy and chemistry was severely criticised by the Muslim scholars for his heretical views.
(Imam)Ibn Hajr quotes an early Shaafi’ee scholar, Ibn Abid-Damm al-Hamawee, as saying:
All the scholars have agreed that Ibn Sina held that the universe was infinite and there would be no physical resurrection, while he did not reject (the concept of) a spiritual resurrection, and that he is reported to have said that Allaah does not know every detailed piece of knowledge, rather He knows things in general.
Thus, the scholars of his time and those after him whose statements are relied upon in all matters have spoken decisively about his disbelief and the disbelief of Aboo Nasr al-Farabi as well, due to their positions on these matters in contradiction to the beliefs of the Muslims. [Lisaan al-Meezaan (2/293)]*
(*Read the article The Reality of Ibn Sina on https://www.bakkah.net/en/the-reality-of-ibn-sina-avicenna-famous-scientist-and-philosopher.htm)
(#2) And then we have Abul Waleed Muhammad bin Ahmad [1128-1198 CE], popularly called Avverhoes or Ibn Rushd, who was known for his contributions to ‘The Islamic Golden Era’. As summarized by the Annals of Saudi Medicine*:
‘Ibn Rushd was a true polymath, with knowledge, expertise and genuine contributions to philosophy, islamic law (jurisprudence), medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics and geography. Not surprisingly, he became known as the “Prince of Science”.’End quote.
(*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074522/)
On a question on the very ‘Averrhoes’, Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saleh Al Munajjid replied* (*https://islamqa.info/en/answers/130484/some-criticisms-of-the-belief-of-ibn-rushd-averroes) that- “Hence Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote at length refuting the views of Ibn Rushd in this book and explaining that esoteric interpretation of Islamic texts is flawed. These discussions appear in his two significant books, Bayaan Talbees al-Jahamiyyah and Dar’u Ta‘aarud al-‘Aql wa’n-Naql.” End quote.
From the Fatwa above we realize that Averrhoes or Ibn Rush, was a believer in Aristotlean principles and tried to interpret Islam according to them. And that lead to him having strange and deviant beliefs, and thus he was refuted by the classical scholars.
(#3) A third example I would like to give is that of Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, ‘Farabi contributed considerably to science, philosophy, logic, sociology, medicine, mathematics and music. His major contributions were in philosophy, logic and sociology and for which he stands out as an Encyclopedist.’End Quote from famousscientists.org.
He too wasn’t free from the diseases which were faces by the philosophers and Muslim scientists above.
“Ibn Katheer, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said about him: ‘Abu Nasr Al-Faraabi, the Turkish philosopher was the most knowledgeable person about Music and he was very proficient in philosophy. Ibn Seenah learned from Al-Faraabi’s books of philosophy. Al-Faraabi used to hold the view that it is only our souls that will be resurrected and not our bodies. Moreover, not all the souls will be resurrected (in his view) but only those who are knowledgeable. His methodology differed from the methodology of the Muslims and that of other philosophers from his predecessors. If he died on this, then may the curse of Allaah be on him. He died in Damascus according to the statement of Ibn Al-Atheer. Ibn Al-‘Asaakir did not mention Al-Faraabi in his book entitled ”The Biography” because the latter was evil and disgraceful, Allaah Knows best.’
When Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, spoke about some philosophers, he said about him: ‘….The philosophers took knowledge from their second teacher Abu Nasr Al-Faraabi…He was upon the methodology of his predecessors [i.e other philosophers] in disbelieving in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, His Prophets and the Last Day.’
‘*End Quote.
(*https://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/PrintFatwa.php?lang=E&Id=92329)
Sadly most of the people of scientific knowledge of that era were diseased with Aristotelian principals and other corrupt philosophies. A brief reading of Talbees-Iblees of Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi shows us how these scholars of science and philosophy tore into the beliefs of the Ummah like termites and weakened them from the inside.
Islam can be upheld only by returning to The Quran and The Sunnah, though we do not disagree that science has an important role to play. What is being aimed here is to convey that science and Muslim scientists needs to be on guard against being overwhelmed by scientific principles contrary to the Islamic scriptures. Wallahu Alam.
-Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna
22nd Ramadan 1440
Added later:
Muslims will succeed only if they adhere to The Quran and The Sunnah like the Sahaba did in beliefs and in actions. We will not succeed if we try out or attempt at other ways to rejuvenate the Ummah.
Saheehus-Seerah 