Eulogising Past Glories
By Mir Adnan Aziz • Nov 2nd, 2008 • Category: Politics • 9 Comments •
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Socrates thought they were the voice of conscience. Iroquois Indians saw them as commands to be followed. Voltaire said they resulted from overeating. Freud defined them as repressed thoughts. Author Robert G. Allen wrote: “The future you see is the future you get”, whereas James Allen said “Dreamers are saviours of the world”. This is how, what we call Dreams, have been described over time.
Dreams, essentially a phenomenon affiliated with sleep, become an idea when awake. Civilization has advanced on the wings of imagination and innovation. Throughout history, the most advanced nations earned their status by harnessing the intellectual capital and creative potential of the populace. They used this ability to think, imagine and innovate hence creating better societal lives.
Ideas are the building blocks of spiritual, social, economic and political reality. The quality of life in a society is a manifestation of its prevailing ideas. The British science fiction writer H.G. Wells asserted: “Human history is in essence the history of ideas”. Plato conceptualized a world of ideas of which material reality was a manifestation. We can trace a line of ideas from antiquity to our present day civilization.
The great Athenian philosopher Socrates mentored Plato who in turn mentored Aristotle. The ideas of Hippocrates shaped the practice of medicine, Freud influenced the field of psychology while those of Karl Marx spawned communism.
Every invention and advancement of human civilization, from penicillin to the microchip, sprung from an idea. This is why the Wright brothers flew and Archimedes rushed out of his bath tub yelling Eureka. Benjamin Franklin tied a key to his kite string, whereas an apple falling on Newton’s head gave us the first law of motion. Henry Ford’s dream of a car for the multitudes transformed the automobile history. Thus in many ways dreams and ideas have and will continue to shape the world.
Tragically the Muslim world of today, a slumberland, is bereft of these dreams whereas once it was at its apogee being the guiding light for all of civilization. The Scottish Orientalist, William Montgomery Watt, points out in his book “The Glory That Was Islam”: “When Christian Europe began to show an interest in the discoveries of its ‘Saracen’ enemies in around 1100 AD, Arab science and philosophy was at its zenith. Europe had to learn everything that there was to be learned from the Arabs, without whom European science and European philosophy would never have been able to develop as they did”.
The Muslim contribution to civilisation spanned literature (al Biruni, Jahiz, Ibn Qutayba) calligraphy (Ibn Muqla) poetry (Umar Khayam) art and sciences like architecture, astronomy, mathematics (Al Khawarizmi), medicine (Ibn Cenna) physics, chemistry and philosophy (Al Kindi, Al Ghazali, Ibn Rushd).
Apart from numerous ground-breaking inventions and theories, these contributions had a more profound dimension. The golden age of Muslim science and philosophy, unlike today, was one of contacts and exchanges between cultures. It was an era of spontaneous borrowings and two-way influence.
The 11th-century Iraqi scientist Ibn al-Haytham, known as Alhozen, developed the concept of human vision. Before that the eye was seen merely as an ‘optical instrument’. Alhozen’s detailed description of ocular anatomy formed the basis for theory of image formation. Ibn al-Nafis, a 13th-century Syrian physician, described the blood movement in the human body. This was a phenomenal break-through in understanding human anatomy and physiology.
Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi, a physician from 10th century Muslim Spain, wrote a book that described surgical procedures and gave detailed illustrations of the necessary surgical instruments. Many of these were devised by him. With this detailed illustrative work, surgery became integrated into scientific medicine instead of being a practice left to cuppers and barbers.
Arab advancement and forays in navigation, from the Astrolabe and the Compass to the fast sailing ship known as the Caravel, facilitated and made possible the arrival of Europeans in the New World. For 700 years the Arabs ruled Spain and Portugal, the two powers that held a virtual monopoly on exploration in the New World.
Michael Hamilton Morgan’s “Lost History; the Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists”, delivers a missing link to the story of an inter-connected world. This is the achievements of Muslim civilization and its influence on the world.
Today we, a dreamless society, have helped the world consciously forget the contributions of an entire civilization. Solomon was reflecting upon just such a society when he wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The retrogression of our moral and societal values, decline in intellectual productivity and infrastructural decay can be attributed to an absolute dearth of vision.
Islam was once applied in a way to support creativity and tolerance along with diversity of positive thought and behaviour both in societal and individual lives. Mamun ur Rasheed summed it up aptly when he said: “Reason and faith can be the same. By fully opening the mind and unleashing human creativity, many wonders, including peace are possible”.
For years, we in the Islamic world have been content in eulogizing past glories while lamenting about our present predicaments. It is time now to craft solutions to the issues of life that are confronting us.
The ways and means for a better and brighter tomorrow are for those who dream and work to see those dreams come true. It is they and only them who will possess the empires of the future.
By Mir Adnan Aziz
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A well written post. Really enjoyed it!
what a master piece of work,excellent post
Extremely enlightening. Great work
Great Post & Excellent Work ..
Sure, it is very well written summary of the human civilization and the briefest reminder of our achievements as humans and how we got so far.
The only point that I wish clarified is; where our role in it is. Are we not just the beneficiary of all these developments or should we identify ourselves as contributory force in it. I guess what I am trying to find out if merely by accepting Islam as our religion we may claim an ownership to the achievements and contributions of our coreligionists? Does accepting a religion automatically erases the history of a civilization of a people? I fail to identify myself with, say, Syrian or Iraq or Egypt, Iran, Turkey or for that matter the “The golden age of Muslim science and philosophy”. It is history of different people from different regions, who, also were Muslims as they believed Islam in their regions and times.
Any attempt to confuse our history or our civilization with any other people is, for me, a falsification of history, our history. We, the people of Pakistan, have our own civilization and our own history. Yes, as Islam came here and we accepted it, and we came in contact with its diversified armies and learnt few or many things from their multi-cultured background, which must have enriched us as people. However, we remained and are part and continuation of our own civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, which has been there and thrived, for many thousands of years. Pakistan and western India are part of this civilization. It was the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. It covered an area the size of western Europe. The Indus Valley civilization was the largest of the four ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China; but at the same time the least is known about it. It is due to the Indus script has not yet been deciphered.
What went Wrong?
Yes; one can’t take a flight beyond imaginations; our imagination develops our thoughts and helps set our dreams and goals.
In Muslim World, after the Fall of Ottoman Empire and in the face of a humiliating retreat from Europe as well as subjugation of Muslims at the hands of crusaders during Word War I even at home; this was literally taken as a wrath of God. Subjugated, destitute; people were tended to go down in a state of wide spread guilt and grief. Some how few Islamic movements emerging from Egypt and Jordan exploited the situation and rather than rescuing the Ummah and giving them the hope for future; [Idhar doobay; uther nicklay,] they emphasized the entire ummah to go into self repentance; with an endeavour of leaving the world altogether as mortal, use less phenomena and took the ummah into a hibernation. Where as after World War II, this World around us has progressed in leaps and bounds but Muslim Ummah is still found in slumber land.
This Ummah is in dire need of a Visionary and a Saviour.
Mr Khokar, I wish to see your comments or ideas on my comments / thought above, especially the second paragraph in my comments. Will you, please, let me hear what you might have to say here?
dear Aftab Aslam and Friends,
Present day land of Pakistan has always stayed as the ‘Gate way’ to the fertile lands of subcontinents the hub of civilizations, ever flourishing and nurtured with it rivers flowing down its length irrigating its vast plans, delivering the serene of life and peace and plenty. The land was known as land full of miracles and mysteries.
This has always attracted the other nations from the west to come here and extricate the spoils and riches of this land. Persians and Turks located near by have long been extorting taxes especially from Indus valley; later came the Aryan and Alexander known as Alexander the great from Europe. European had the knack of being artisan, ship building and the craze to carry out excursion abroad. Alexander came with his great armies to conquer this part of world. He came in from Swat side Pir Sir (pass)and entered Gandharan city of Taxila. Taxila was the seat of knowledge and learning of Vedic Hindus and Buddhists; where the docile King of Ambi of Taxila fearing the mass destruction to his land and people at the hands of invading armies submitted to Alexander. Alexnder carved the way for many more adventurers to come and after him the Mongols , Mahmood of Ghazna and Moguls all came down the Hindukush Mountains as well as from the seas and finally terminating at British Raj.
All the intrusions and invasion have been with the views to come rule this land extricate the benefits; Rob the people what all they possess and leave them depleted.
As I say the Roses, the beautiful of these flower on its display and its splendour all lies in growing of thorns on its route s of approach of its assailant on its stems that may harm it. No throne; no splendour and no colours and fragrance in roses. India’s docile contended people have rarely been travelling beyond their own environ that this land always gave them plenty to live by. But they failed to defend themselves; they were always subjugated by the intruders. They lost their richesand were always left depleted. It resulted in diminishing of all their society values and knowledge and what all was there in their civilizations. Ultimately it was robed and it diminished.
No miracles happen in slavery and subjugation.
*Lahoo mangti hey Zameen e wattan
Aftab S Alam:
I do not know why I always write your name as Aftab Aslam? Sorry. I think I need some more Badaams to eat or… its Roza (fasting) of 15-16 hours a day.
Regards