Boosting
the Quality of Life
Boosting
the economy and raising the standards of living is yet
another Islamic catalyst that motivated Muslims to excel
and prosper.
In
the Holy Qur'an, for example we see chapters named after
what constitutes the nerves of the economy of Arabia at
that time, such as cattle and ore industries.
For
example, Chapter three is entitled "the Cattle"
or as the Grand Mufti of Syria, Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro stated:
"The Cattle Industry;" and Chapter eighty is
entitled "The Steel," or "Ore and Mining."
Islam did not only foster the principles of building a
better economy, but also stood fast in demoting idleness
and poverty.
Horse
Show
Advising
his followers to improve their standards of living and
businesses, Prophet Muhammad said: "Poverty
is as bad as disbelieving in God."
This
philosophy enticed Muslims to pursue and invent ways that
would raise their standards of living. Free trade, competition
in quality, urban development and the utilization of unused
land were only few of the pursuits that Muslims put to
practice.
The
Muslims were the pioneers of sciences and arts during
medieval times and formed the necessary link between the
ancients and the moderns.
Their
light of learning dispelled the gloom that had enveloped
Europe. Moorish Spain was the main source from which the
scientific knowledge of the Muslims and their great achievements
were transmitted to France, Germany and England.
Calligraphy
The
Spanish universities of Cordoba, Seville and Granada were
thronged with Christian and Jewish students who learnt
science from the Muslim scientists and who then popularized
them in their native lands.
Another
source for the transmission of Muslim scientific knowledge
was Sicily, where during the reign of Muslim kings and
even afterwards a large number of scientific works were
translated from Arabic into Latin.
The
most prominent translators who translated Muslims works
from Arabic into European languages were Gerard of Cremona,
Adelard of Bath, Roger Bacon and Robert Chester.
al-Damiri
Manuscript
Writing
in his celebrated work Moors in Spain Stanley Lane Poole
says, "For nearly eight centuries under the Mohammadan
rulers, Spain set out to all Europe a shining example
of a civilized and enlightened State--Arts, literature
and science prospered as they prospered nowhere in Europe.
Students flocked from France, Germany and England to drink
from the fountain of learning which flowed down in the
cities of Moors.
The
surgeons and doctors of Andalusia were in the vanguard
of science; women were encouraged to serious study and
the lady doctor was not always unknown among the people
of Cordova.
Mathematics,
astronomy and botany, history, philosophy and jurisprudence,
were to be mastered in Spain, and Spain alone.
The
practical work of the field, the scientific methods of
irrigation, the arts of fortification and shipbuilding,
of the highest and most elaborate products of the loom,
the gravel and the hammer, the potter's wheel and mason's
trowel, were brought to perfection by the Spanish Moors.
Whatever makes a kingdom great and prosperous, whatever
tends to refinement and civilization was found in Muslim
Spain."
The
students flocked to Spanish cities from all parts of Europe
to be infused with the light of learning which lit up
Moorish Spain.
Another
western historian writes, "The light of these universities
shone far beyond the Muslim world, and drew students to
them from east and west.
At
Cordoba in particular there were a number of Christian
students, and the influence of Arab philosophy coming
by way of Spain upon universities of Paris, Oxford and
North Italy and upon western Europe thought generally,
was very considerable indeed.
The
book copying industry flourished at Alexandria, Damascus,
Cairo and Baghdad and about the year 970, there were 27
free schools open in Cordoba for the education of the
poor."
Such
were the great achievements of Muslims in the field of
science which paved the way for the growth of modern sciences.
These
trends started from the time of Prophet Muhammad and continued
into the 17th century.
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