Islamic Institutions: Excerpt From: ‘Islamic History and Culture’, Vol. II, S.M. Shahid, Publishers Emporium, Lahore, 1992, Pages 274-276. The Muslim State of Spain had cultivated a great Civilisation and a high degree of Culture. Its well planned Cities and well organized Public Works including the well laid out Streets, parks, Schools, Colleges, and Hospitals made it a Model State in the West whose phenomenal Cultural, Industrial, and Social Progress was viewed with wonder by the Christian visitor. The Moors had introduced beneficial Irrigation Systems and new Crops in Spain. The high class Fabrics manufactured in their Textile Factories were used in the Royal Houses of Europe. Cordova, the Capital of Moorish Spain was the most cultured City of Europe. With its 113,000 houses, 12 Suburbs, seventy big Libraries, and numerous Colleges, Mosques, Palaces, Parks, and Gardens, it had acquired International reputation. With its well-illuminated streets, Cordova provided a striking contrast to the European Cities and according to John William Draper, “Seven hundred years after this, there was not so much as one Public Lamp in London…… In Paris, centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day, stepped up to his ankles in mud”. When the Student of the University of Oxford abhorred Baths as Heathen Custom, the Moors enjoyed baths in Luxurious establishments. Whenever the Christian Rulers of European States needed an Artist, Physician, or Technical hand, they applied to the Cordova Government. “The fame of Muslim Capital penetrated as far as the distant Germany where a Saxon nun (Hrosvitha) styled it as “The Jewel of World”. The great Social and Cultural progress of Cordova inspired awe and admiration in the hearts of European travellers”. The Muslims of Spain had taken long strides in almost all Branches of Knowledge and had evolved an Educational System which embraced all Sciences and Arts. A large number of Educational Institutions had sprung up in the four Corners of the State including in Cordova, Toledo, and Seville, where learned Teachers imparted Lessons in the Sciences and Arts. These Islamic Institutions of Muslim Spain and Sicily were the Cradle of Modern European Civilisation and the Training ground of person like Roger Bacon and Gerbert Aurillec who ultimately paved the way for the Renaissance of Mediaeval Europe. The Christian Students enjoyed absolute Religious Tolerance and complete Social Freedom in Muslim Spain, which attracted large number of Christian Students from all Parts of Europe, who after completing their studies in Moorish Schools went back to their native Places and taught new Theories to astonished people. “From all parts of Europe”, says Robert Briffault, “numerous students betook themselves to the great Arab Seats of Learning in the search of Light which only there was to be found. Alvaro, a Cordovan Bishop, writes in 9th century A.D. ‘All the young Christian who distinguished themselves by their talent, know the Language and Literature of the Arabs, read and study passionately the Arab books, gather at great expense great Libraries of these, and everywhere proclaim with loud voice how admirable is that Literature”. The celebrated Gerbert of Aurillec who studied in Moorish School, brought from Spain some rudiments of Astronomy and Mathematics, and taught his astonished Peoples from terrestrial and celestial globes. His great knowledge which in the word of William of Malmesbury was ‘Stolen from the Saracen’, had made him as Pope Sylvester II. The Jews, who soon mastered the Saracenic Sciences and Arts, carried the Muslim Theology and Philosophy to Arts, carried the Muslim Theology and Philosophy to the distant Benedictine Monasteries and the Metropolitan House of Monte Cassino. According to Alvaro, the Bishop of Cordova in the 9th century A.D., a large number of Christians studied Muslim Theology and Philosophy. Peter the Hermit, the Abbot of Cluny’, lamented that, during his stay in Spain, he had seen troops of Students from Germany, France, England, flocking to the Moorish seats of learning’. In spite of the strict restrictions imposed by the Orthodox Christian Missionaries on the diffusion of Islamic Learning in Europe, it penetrated as far as distant Germany and far off England. Frederick II, the Emperor of Italy and Sicily was accused of being a Muslim due to his patronage and love of Islamic learnings. Muslim Sicily did not lag behind in the cultivation including the founding of big Institutions for teaching Sciences and Arts. Even after the fall of the Muslim State, the Norman kings of Sicily continued to patronize Muslim learnings, for which they were condemned by the Pope. Gradually, the Arabic Sciences and Arts made their way into Europe, which led to the opening of any number of Institutions in France, Germany, and even in England where Arabian Sciences were taught by Teachers who had learnt them in Muslim Spain and Sicily. Montpellier in the 14th century A.D., was the Principal Centre for the teaching of Arabian Medicine and Astronomy in France. “By the close of the 13th century, writes Philip K. Hitti, “Arabic Science and Philosophy had been transmitted to Europe, and Spain’s Work as an Intermediary was done. The Intellectual Avenue leading from the portals of Toledo through the Pyrenees wound its way through Provence and the Alpine passes into Lorraine, Germany, and Central Europe as well as across the Channel into England”. It was in Marseilles, a French port on the Mediterranean that in 1140 A.D. Raymond prepared Planetary Tables based on those of Toledo. The famous Abbey of Cluny in southern France which housed a number of Spanish monks in the 12th century A.D. became an important centre for the diffusion of Arabian Knowledge. As early as the 10th century A.D. Arabian Sciences were introduced in Lorraine, which after two centuries, grew into an important Region for Scientific Study. Cities like Liege, Cologne, and Gorze provided the most congenial atmosphere for the growth of Arabian knowledge. “From Lorraine, it radiated into other parts of Germany and was transported into Norman England by men born or educated in Lorraine. Embassies between German Kings in the North and Muslim Rulers in Spain were frequent and intellectually fruitful. As early as 953 A.D., Otto the Great, King of the Germans, sent as an envoy a Lotharingian monk, John by name, who resided in Cordova for nearly years, probably learned Arabic and brought back with him Scientific Manuscripts. Thus, did Spanish Arabic learning permeate all Western Europe. The translated works of Arab Scientists in Botany, Zoology, Physics, and Alchemy were taught in European Universities specially those of Northern Italy and France. Jews, after Muslims, were the great exponents of Arab learning and founded Schools along Spanish Lines at Bari, Salerno, Tarentum, and other places. Bartholo Ceuse had named 4,000 Jewish Scholars scattered all over Southern and Western Europe who had imbibed Arab Civilisation and Culture and were well versed in Arabian learning. According to the Right Honourable Lecky, the author Rationalism in Europe, “Jewish genius contributed very largely to that bright, but transient Civilisation which radiated from Toledo and Cordova and exercised so salutary an influence upon the belief of Europe”. The educated Jews, whose medium of Education in Spain was Arabic, took a leading part in the Translation of Arabic Works into Hebrew and other European languages. The Jewish teachers disseminated Arabian Medicine and other Sciences in the Medical Schools of Salerno and other European countries. The Jews who enjoyed complete tolerance in Muslim Spain took a lively interest in the development and popularization of Arabian learning both during and after the Moorish regime. They were scattered all over Europe after the Almohadeen conquest and became the Ambassadors of Arabian Culture wherever they went. French and German monks including Hildegard and Hrosvitha, the Literary Nuns of the Thuringian Convent, learnt Arabian Sciences from them. The wandering Jews founded numerous Schools such as those of Kimhic and Ben Esra of Norbonne, where the diffusion of Arabian learning was carried on through Translation and Teaching. A large number of these Jews accompanied William of Normandy to England where they established the first English School of Science at Oxford, in which Arabian Sciences were freely taught. It was in this School that Roger Bacon learnt Arabic Sciences from Jewish teachers. Contributed By: Ghulam Nabi Mubtakir, Author: Afghan History and Culture Books on the Internet and on Amazon
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 13:26:32 +0000
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