Civilisation has always been of interest. I have had a strange attraction towards Plato since early school days when we were briefly taught about the contributions of Post-Socratic philosophers and scientists. Although, today I feel that this brief introduction lacked in informing me about the Islamic Golden Age, an era we wrongfully bypass as the “Dark Age”, for then Europe was in a situation similar to ours today. Perhaps we are too busy defining the Two Nation Theory and writing our beloved country a history in our books that we forget to inform much of the general public about our Avicennas and al-Farabis.

A few years ago, I and my nephew would indulge ourselves in a game of numbers. We would count which Muslim scientist from the Islamic Golden Age mastered the most amount of subjects. It was a fascinating game even if it was only taking a cursory look at the lives of these iconic polymaths. These men of genius came up with ideas that later developed into whole fields of science.

In the words of the Oxford History of Islam, “Such is the importance of al-Khwarizmi’s (ca. 780–850) Kitab al-Jabrwal-Muqabala (The book of compulsion and comparison), which introduced the term al-jabr (algebra). Despite its lack of sophistication in comparison to later works of Arabic algebra, this treatise was the indispensable prerequisite for advanced future research in the field.” 

From the first anthropologist to pioneering the sciences of Pharmacy, of Optics, and of Chemistry, Muslim polymaths reigned supreme in so many fields that even a mention of these will probably require an introductory book. We not only had philosophers but philosopher-kings like Mamunibn Harun al-Rashid. I, for one, was intrigued that not only petrol but the idea of the first aerial flight, the glider, came from a Muslim, Abbas ibn Firnas, contrary to what I had heard most of my childhood. Yet that intrigue came with mixed feelings of pride and sorrow.

Human progress falls in doubt when one sees the contrast between these men of genius who led their society to unsurpassed heights almost a thousand years ago and those who are goading the Islamic Civilisation to ruins today. Islam was still divided into its many sectarian divisions at the height of its cultural, social, and political power. Yet it did not hamper progress.

Arab polymaths reigned supreme in intellectual discourse and influence while the Ummayads and Ottoman Empires helped spread the dominance of Islamic culture and civilisation till Spain in the West and till Kashghar to the East. But, that was the glorious past, where do we stand today?

In the middle of nowhere, deaf, dumb and blind as the heirs of a great civilisation plunged into complete darkness. We are raped into silence by defenders of faith, murdered by religious zealots, and flogged in public by puritans. Whether there is a light at the end of the tunnel or a dead end of degeneration for our society as a whole, I cannot say, but should we preach hatred and not strive to come out of a dismal economic, social, political, religious and cultural situation, history is bound to repeat itself in a ruthless fashion.

No society is perfect; however, no matter how many generations have followed the same steps. With the birth of a civilisation in the words of Alexis de Tocqueville that befit contemporary Islamic World “humanity achieves for itself both perfection and brutalisation, that civilisation produces its wonders, and that civilised man becomes again almost a savage.”

So, one might wonder, why does it come full circle? From sacrificing a man on the altar of gods, to burning alive a woman with her dead husband, so that she might serve him in the afterworld – society and civilisation has been, since ages, a dusky and obscure path to nonexistence.

With the advent of the Islam infanticide, trade of women and incestuous practices came to an end, trade, economics, inheritance laws, education, war – every aspect of life was touched by the Divine decree; a civilisation in its true sense started to shape and eventually prevailed for centuries to come, reaching its apogee in what we refer to as the Islamic Golden Age. Nevertheless, today that civilisation stands decadent; on its obscure path to nonexistence. I pray that would not be the case.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.