As Europe slept through its dark ages, Islam and its civilization were busy redescribing humanity. Muslims, from the seventh century until their expulsion from Spain in 1503, were civilization: No other existed.
Muslims were the pioneers of almost all fields of science and humanities. Take medicine for example: Ibn Sina's medical book from the 11th century was the standard textbook in European universities until the 19th century. In philosophy, it was the Muslims who translated all of Aristotle's and Plato's works from Greek and passed them onto the Europeans. Ibn Rushd, a Muslim jurist and philosopher of the 12th century, had an underground philosophic society named after him in medieval Paris. Al-Ghazzali of the 10th century, whom Thomas Aquinas and others quote often, was the first critic of Aristotle in modern philosophy; and his skepticism is pronounced in Descartes' works.
Azhar and Qarawayn are amongst the world's first two universities. Ibn Khaldun was the world's first sociologist. Khwarizmi invented algebra. The world's largest library belonged to al-Hakim, a Spanish vizier who had 400,000 texts in his home, while the Christian world's most famous library contained 192 books. Aquinas' Summa Theologica, after a study done by Eugene Myers, is shown to be nothing more than a restatement of al-Farabi's "Al-Jami'" — three centuries before Aquinas. Bacon's "Magnum Opus," is no more than a plagiarized version of Ibn Haytham's "Opticae Thesauru." In Umayyad Islamic cities, Jews, Christians and Muslims all lived in peace — each enforcing their own religious law in their own courts.
Islamic civilization was devoid of anti-Semitism and the Inquisition. It was the Muslims who halted the Mongols in Egypt and Russia. It was Islamic law, which granted women the right to inheritance in 632. It was Islam in the 13th century whose jurisprudence dictated that women be equal witnesses to men in the courts of law. Such was magnificence.
Now, there is misunderstanding. Orientalist attacks upon Islam attempt to portray the faith as dead, or destructive. The media exults in displaying Islam in as negative a light as possible. Human rights issues have plagued many Muslim countries.
The imperial policies of Europeans played a large part in destroying the social and ethical fabric of Muslim societies. However, in today's world, Muslims are working diligently to recreate the mosaic of civilizations they formed so long ago.
It is to make Emory aware of that endeavor that the Muslim Students Association presents its annual Islamic Awareness Week November 6-10. This year's speakers will address issues of Muslim political activism in the U.S: as Muslims, 6 million strong, have become a block vote. An inter-faith panel will explore the relationships Islam has with other faiths. Issues of women's rights and the place of Islam in America will be discussed, along with a discussion on Islam's take on creativity in literature. The week will conclude with worship in the Dobbs University Center.
Attendance by the community is a necessary ingredient for the demonstration of the magnificence of yesterday's Islam, and for the identification of the misunderstandings that plague today's Islam.
We may be very far from seeing tremendous changes in the Islamic world, but we as Americans have to realize that we will, without a doubt, be increasingly surrounded by Muslims. We must come to understand them. We must begin by learning about the way of their prayers, their rituals, their parties, their la, and their history. There is no better way to become aware, than through Islamic Awareness Week November 6-10.
Ameer Shaikh, President of the Muslim Students Association, is a College senior from Mobile, Alabama.
