The Golden Age of Islam

“By the Twelfth Century, under the impact of Saracen culture in Spain and Italy, Arabic had largely superseded Latin as the dominant learned language of continental Western Europe.” Thomas Cleary, Introduction to “Living a Good Life” in Volume 3 of “Classics of Strategy and Counsel”, Shambhala Publications, Inc. 2000.

It is a simple fact, well known to historians that for a period of several centuries Islam was the most advanced culture in the West. During this period, Islam was more tolerant of different religious beliefs than Europeans were. Islam was more open to the science and philosophy of other civilizations than Europe was. Islam encouraged open minded debate and discussion among its learned men. Islam was more “Western” in the values it maintained while in its Golden Age than other areas around it.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that when a Civilization is great it does pretty much the same things that other Civilizations do when they are great. It should come as no surprise to anyone that when Islam was great it was practicing the values of the “Western” world; tolerance, free speech, open scientific enquiry, etc. One expects that there will be certain similarities between things which are similar. There must be certain things which mark Great periods in Civilization. These things appear to be tolerance, open mindedness, freedom of speech, and other things which allow freedom of thought and the development of new ideas.

During this period the emphasis of Islamic practice was on the more tolerant elements of the teachings in the Koran. Hadith suggesting that scholarship was more sacred than fighting and requiring open discussion and an eagerness to learn from other cultures were emphasized. Hadith maintaining the need for tolerance and justice to non-Muslims were emphasized. This typified the Golden Age of Islam.

The fundamentalists of Islam today emphasize the absolute opposite of these values. Similar men brought the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization to a close. They began to censor and execute the scientists and scholars of Islam unless these learned men mindlessly repeated what they were told to say. The fundamentalists of Islam then were the enemies of Islamic Civilization and they destroyed it through their fanaticism. They remain the enemies of Islamic Civilization today and will never allow a Muslim country to become a leader in thought, science, and philosophy for such leadership requires freedom of thought and speech.

They cannot allow such things for such men will question their evil and misguided interpretation of the Koran.