Summary of "An Islamic History of Europe" documentary
This “An Islamic History of Europe” documentary; produced by BBC, hosted by Rageh Omaar, highlights on the influences brought by Muslims to Europe countries. It also emphasizes on the effects of the Islamic civilizations towards Europe. In this documentary, the presenter visited some countries known as Medieval Muslime Europe, which are Spain, Sicily and France, where he could be exposed to the real story of Europe in the past, when its civilization was strongly influenced by Islamic learning. Generally, those who have not seen this documentary would have no idea that Islamic learning did leave such a gigantic impact on the Western world, not only in Arts, but also in Science and Philosophy fields, and that Islamic rule in Europe had made quite a number of achievements in such a short period. It has always been said that European history is much more related to or is fully originated from Greece and Rome. However the reality is that it did receive such a big influence from Islamic civilization. The video starts with the exposition to the time where emirs and caliphs dominated Spain and Sicily. It is also shown that Islamic scholarship had been looked forward to by many scholars of Europe. This proves that Europe owed too much to Islam for its contribution in many fields such as science and culture during the era of European Renaissance. Rageh Omaar had also visited a city of Spain, named Cordoba. From the visit, he managed to discover that Cordoba was once ruled by Muslims. Rageh also managed to be exposed to the moment (13th century of Paris) where Cristian scholars were wronged by the Church for applying logic in their doctrines. It is believed that it all started due to the writings of Ibnu al-Rushd, a philosopher of Cordoba, who based his writings on Aristotle’s regarding truth and revelation. Back in Spain, Rageh got to see the impressive royal palaces of the Alhambra, Granada. Apart from that, he also got to see the proofs of the knowledge contributed by Muslims such as in Mathematics, Poetry and Architecture. Unfortunately, after a period of time, Muslims had lost their kingdom to Ferdinand and Isabella, the first monarchs of Europe. After spending some time discovering other contributions of Muslims in Spain, Rageh returned back to where he started the journey. The documentary was ended by his visit at the local cemetery of Tarifa, where he found the tombs of unknown people, believed as the modern North African immigrants. In a nutshell, this journey is all about the “Golden Age’, where Muslims knowledge, originated from the East was developed and shared in the West.
Brief History of Islam in Europe by Adnan Oktar
Harun Yahya, an Islamic writer had mentioned in his online article that many historians and sociologists assert today that Islam was the leading cause of Europe's movement from the darkness of its Middle Ages to the brilliance of its Renaissance. At a time when Europe was backward in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and many other fields, Muslims possessed a vast treasure of knowledge and great possibilities of development. It can be seen that this statement may conclude as well as strengthen what Rageh Omaar had discovered in his Islamic journey. He had also included that Europeans were first realize of the power of Muslims when the caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab took control Jurusalem. Due to that event, Europeans started to be aware that Islam was widely spreading. They then began to fight against Muslims to gain Jurusalem back. As a result of that, Europeans had made contact with the Muslim world, and indirectly lead to the rebirth of Europe which was once dwelled in darkness, conflicts, and war. Europeans then encountered that Islamic world was not only prosperous and civilized, but was also advanced in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, as well as their social lives. Europeans also found that there were some values that were not available in European world at that time, and they learnt that these values; such as pluralism, tolerance, etc. were the reasons behind Muslims’ high morality, with strong belief upon their religion.
Muslims’ Contributions to the World
In this new era, Islam is rarely seen as the leading source of enlightenment. It is to be aware of that during Middle Ages, it was Islam that had caused Europe to reborn. As Muslims, it is our responsibility to always appreciate every single contribution Islam had made towards European civilization. A few centuries after the Hijrah, Muslim scholars started to obtain treatises from Greek and then began their study translation works. Muslim scholars made critical analysis and corrections towards Greek science and philosophy. That was when the Golden Age of Islam initially began. The Golden Age which lasted for over two centuries is where we can find about Muslims’ contributions in many fields.Medical Science Among all fields where Muslim scholars had contributed in, Medical Science is one of the most outstanding ones. Under this field, several important names could be highlighted. The first one is Al-Razi. His greatest achievement of in the realm of medical science is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of medicine ever written by a medical man, which runs into 20 volumes. Al-Razi has also contributed to gynecology, obstetrics, ophthalmology and has written valuable treatise on the treatment of some common diseases in the East. He was also an eminent surgeon and is the inventor of 'Seton' in surgery. Next is Abu Ali Al-Husain-al-Sina. He was one of the greatest intellectuals of the Islamic world. His gigantic work; AlQanun-Fil-Tib is a medical encyclopedia dealing with 760 drugs, as well as with general medicine, simple drugs, and diseases affecting all parts of the body. Besides, Ali Ibn Isa of Baghdad has written an excellent treatise on ophthalmology, a branch of medicine dealing with eye diseases. It was considered the authoritative work on eye diseases in Europe till the middle of the 18th century.
Scientific Inventions
Among significant Muslim scholars to be highlighted on is Abul Hasan, who is distinguished as the inventor of the Telescope. Another invention made by Muslim scholar was the first watch. It was created by Kutbi, a renowned watch-maker of his time (Abbasid reign). At that time a watch was considered a novel thing and an object of wonder in Europe. Other than that, Mir Fatehullah Khan is known as the inventor of gun and gunpowder. The presumption that gunpowder was first made by the Chinese does not stand the test of historical research. Next, Ibn Firnas is credited with making glass from stones. He even had constructed his home as a sort of planetarium where one could see stars, clouds and even lightning.
Music
A wrong impression has been created in the minds of our educated class that Islam forbids all pursuits of fine arts. The fact is that Muslim scholars have patronized and actively participated in the propagation of fine arts. For instance, Al-Kindi is one of the greatest Arab theorists, who has written about a dozen treatises on music. His works contain a notation for the determination of pitch. Al-Khwarizmi, the greatest mathematician of the Islamic world is the author of the Key of sciences in which he discussed the theory of music.
Bibliography
Ahmad, H. (1997, April). Muslim Contributions to Science, Philosophy, and the Arts. Retrieved May 22, 2011, from Islam the Eternal Path to Peace: http://www.jannah.org/articles/contrib.html
Gupta, M. (2008, July 15). An Islamic History of Europe – Rageh Omaar. Retrieved 23 05, 2011, from Corporate Social Negligence!: http://tushizap.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/an-islamic-history-of-europe/
Muslim Contribution to the World. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2011, from http://salems2.tripod.com/muslim_contribution_to_the_world.html
Oktar, A. (n.d.). Europe and Islam. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from Harun Yahya - An Invitation To The Truth: http://www.riseofislam.com/europe_and_islam_02.html
p/s: off to Sandakan on this coming Wednesday morning. Preparations for Discipline and 'Ibadah Bureau are almost complete. Alhamdulillah, may Allah bless.
Do pray for our safe journey, InsyaAllah :)
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