萬物合一的時代！WE ARE ONE！

By Christine Su

Throughout history, each divine messenger’s appearance on Earth has brought with it a set of spiritual principles. These principles have led to spiritual advancement, which in turn has driven material prosperity, achieving a dual ascent of both spiritual and material achievements in civilization. The rise of these globally influential religions with documented histories often gives birth to a golden age.

According to Baidu, a Chinese online encyclopedia, the “Islamic Golden Age,” also known as the “Islamic Renaissance,” traditionally refers to a span of 500 years between the 8th and 13th centuries. Some recent academic research extends this period up to the 15th century. During this time, the Islamic world saw a flourishing of artists, engineers, scholars, poets, philosophers, geographers, and merchants. Building upon traditional scholarship, this era promoted the development of arts, agriculture, economy, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, science, sociology, and technology, while also implementing reforms and innovations in these areas. Writer Howard Turner stated, “Muslim artists, scientists, and labours worked together to create a unique culture that directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent.”

Islam was founded in the year 622 AD, and its founder Muhammad ascended in 632 AD. It was only about 30 years after his passing that Islam began to rapidly expand. A hundred years later, it reached a golden age that lasted for 500 years. One prominent feature of this golden age was the emergence of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) in Baghdad.

The House of Wisdom, established in 762 AD, had its historical backdrop in the conquests of vast territories across Europe, Asia, and Africa by Islamic believers. The conquerors found themselves as a minority ruling class within culturally diverse populations. With an increasing thirst for knowledge from various cultures, the rulers adopted a more tolerant policy toward the diverse cultures and faiths of the ruled, abandoning the previous “convert or die” approach.

The establishment of the House of Wisdom was primarily attributed to the Abbasid dynasty’s caliph, Harun al-Rashid (786-809 AD). He funded and invited Greek philosophers, Roman doctors, Persian astronomers, and Indian mathematicians from the three continents to come to Baghdad and translate the knowledge of various civilizations, including Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian, into Arabic and Persian. Numerous Jewish and Christian scholars were also hired to translate religious texts. Additionally, captives from China by Muslims helped to introduce paper-making techniques, allowing the preservation and dissemination of knowledge written within the House of Wisdom.

The various academic books written on these papers made the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, during the mid-9th century, the most comprehensive library in the world. At that time, with a population of one million people, Baghdad replaced Mecca to become the heart of the Islamic Empire. Prominent scholars from the Middle East and experts from around the world gathered there. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture, or skin color, they engaged in collaborative work and discussions within the House of Wisdom, using languages like Greek, Italian, Indian, and Persian. This atmosphere transformed Baghdad into the most splendid and cosmopolitan international metropolis of that era.

The local mosques were also esteemed centres of learning. Thousands of students and teachers from all corners of the nation would gather at any time, sitting on the ground to receive knowledge. This scene undoubtedly represented an unprecedented era of human flourishing.

During that time, the literacy rate in the Middle East was the highest of the medieval era. People held scholars and knowledge in high regard, and they were eager to acquire new knowledge. At the peak of this period, one could witness the sight of a hundred camels laden with hand-copied manuscripts being brought back from Persia to Baghdad. Scholars of the time could receive gold equivalent to the weight of the books they wrote as a reward for completing substantial treatises. The exchange of cultures and sciences across the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa led to the spread of Islam as a global religion. The expansion of the Islamic Empire’s rule over various ethnic groups also contributed to the establishment of a new global (world) order to some extent.

This era of cultural, economic, and scientific prosperity, often referred to as the “Golden Age,” directly influenced the subsequent Renaissance movement in the European continent across the Mediterranean. This movement catalyzed the Enlightenment era following a dark period in European history. The House of Wisdom served as the foundation for an Arabic translation movement that began in the 7th century. Through translation, discussion, debate, research, documentation, and innovation, various forms of knowledge were explored and developed. This encompassed fields such as mathematics, geometry, metaphysics, astronomy, geography, geology, logic, philosophy, theology, medicine, and more. It also gave rise to a group of scholars and scientists whose names are still remembered in history including:

• Mathematicians like Al-Khwarizmi and Al-Kindi, inspired by Indian numeral symbols and the concept of zero, led the Arab world to invent decimal numbers. Their works, once introduced to Europe, not only surpassed earlier abacus methods but also paved the way for the development of algebra. (Britannica)
• Al-Khwarizmi, often referred to as the “Father of Algebra,” established true algebraic concepts in his work “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.” (China National Geography)

Algebra itself is derived from the Arabic word “al-jabr,” which means “restoration” or “reunion of broken parts,” and it was originally an Arabic term before being adopted into English.

• In cryptography, Al-Kindi is recognized as its pioneer.
• In the field of medicine, Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) is hailed as the “Medical Encyclopaedia.” He authored a comprehensive medical encyclopedia titled “Al-Tasrif,” comprising 30 volumes and covering 300 diseases and treatments. This work was used as a medical textbook in Islamic and European universities for around 500 years.
• The first known ophthalmologist was also an Arab scholar. Ibn al-Haytham, in the 10th century, wrote “Book of Optics,” which influenced Western optics studies, particularly those of Kepler and Newton. (China National Geography)
• The founder of the “Science of Lights” theory in optics was Suhrabardi. (China National Geography)
• Astrology – The central high point of the House of Wisdom served as an astronomical observatory for intensive observations and research in astronomy. Astronomy thrived at the House of Wisdom, where the central observatory facilitated intensive celestial observations. In fact, around two-thirds of today’s celestial bodies still bear Arabic names due to this rich history of astronomical contribution.
• Thabit Ibn Qurra is considered the father of statistics;
• Al-Jazari is celebrated as the pioneer of hydraulic engineering.
• Al-Biruni is recognized as the father of geodesy, contributing greatly to the field of accurate measurement and mapping of the Earth’s surface.

All these scholars and scientists listed above, whose achievements span various fields, were instrumental in shaping the Golden Age of Islamic civilization and its remarkable contributions to global knowledge and progress.

• According to the information on the website of the China Islamic Association, China has benefited from the historical records of Islamic civilization as follows:
• Starting from the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Muslim ancestors began exchanging knowledge in the field of Sino-Arab medicine. Chinese Muslims once brought back 16 volumes of medical works translated by the Arab physician Razi from the ancient Greek physician Galen. During the Song Dynasty, a large number of pharmacy and medicinal materials were introduced to China. The Yuan Dynasty was a period when Islamic medicine was synthesized and summarized in theory, representing a golden age of integration and exchange between traditional Chinese medicine and Islamic medicine.
• Chemist – Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) was the discoverer of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. He revised Aristotle’s theory of metal composition. His alchemical writings were considered classics by later European chemists. Many chemical terms currently used in Europe have their origins in Arabic.

In the year 1267, Chinese astronomers, represented by the prominent Hui (回)Muslim astronomer Jamal al-Din, established an observatory in Beijing. They brought back a large number of “Huihui 回回books” and Arab astronomical instruments from the Western Regions for study. Continuously absorbing Arab astronomical instruments and conducting hands-on experiments, they created many innovative Chinese astronomical instruments such as equatorial armillary instruments, azimuth armillary instruments, inclined astrolabes, equatorial astrolabes, celestial globes, terrestrial globes, and observation instruments. These were used to observe celestial phenomena, track day and night times, and determine seasons.

• Astrology – “Jiu Zhi Li” is the first contribution of Muslim visitors to the Tang Dynasty to Chinese calendrical calculations.

In the year 961 AD, Ma Yize, an ancestor of the Hui Muslim Ma family from Anhui, who was an astronomer, was invited by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty to come to China from the Western Regions. He was tasked with devising a new calendar system. He introduced the calculation methods of the positions of the twelve zodiacal constellations and the dates of the Sun’s entry into these constellations from Arabic astrology into Chinese astronomy. In April of 963 AD, he completed the “Yingtian Calendar《应天历》” which consisted of six volumes: Calendar Principles, Calculation Principles, Determination of Stars During the Five Watches of the Night, Determination of Sunrise and Sunset Times, and Determination of the Length of Shadows. This work marked the first systematic introduction of Arab calendrical methods into Chinese astronomy.

Unfortunately, this symbol of the unparalleled humanistic and scientific study center of the Islamic Golden Age in the Middle Ages met with misfortune. In the year 1258, it was set ablaze by invading Mongol forces. It is said that the books thrown into the Tigris River by the Mongols turned the brown waters completely black due to the ink on the pages. This event represents an irreparable knowledge catastrophe in the history of human civilization.

The kings of the Abbasid dynasty also fell victim to the Mongol onslaught, as their households were plundered and their lineage wiped out. Due to subsequent weakening of their economic and political power, Islamic leaders were unable to sustain the operation of such centres of learning. They became entangled in further warfare and political struggles, ultimately leading to the decline of Islamic civilization. (Wikipedia)

Missing Element of the European Renaissance

A Baha’i historian Douglas Martin, in his lecture series “Historical Consciousness and the Divine Plan,” stated that never before in human history had such a magnificent civilization been witnessed. In the cities of the Islamic Empire, there were streetlights, running water, museums, and universities (the world’s first Islamic university appeared in the empire’s territory in Spain, attracting Christians from Germany, France, and other countries to study and imitate, leading to the establishment of later European universities like Oxford and Cambridge). A bank cheque could be sent from the western edge of the Empire in Spain and cashed in the eastern edge in Iran. A letter sent from Lebanon could be received in Morocco. These were unheard-of feats in the human world of that time. The world’s first public hospital was also established by Arabs.

The most significant feature was that the people within this vast empire shared a common language and universal moral discipline. An individual could be both a courageous warrior and a highly spiritual mystic believer. All of this was attributed to the laws and doctrines of Islam, with their source being the Quran. How could Europeans learn about the vast knowledge and material civilization of Islam while neglecting the study of its source, the Quran? In the over one hundred years before Europeans discovered the American Continent, if they had been taught the Quran in universities and learned the core teachings and spiritual moral views of Islam, would today’s European and American societies have a different appearance? Therefore, the entire population of the continent and the countries of Europe and America completely missed a boat — a significant opportunity to learn another new revelation given to humanity by God (after Christianity), concluded Douglas Martin with a sigh.

The Renaissance in Europe allowed the continent to emerge from the darkness of the Middle Ages and even enter a new era of enlightenment movement. However, during the colonial era, European countries engaged in mass killings of foreign populations, surpassing the total death toll of all previous human conflicts. Due to the lack of progressive moral values and approaches to handling warfare, it has led to a moral degradation despite material progress driven by modern technology in both European and American continents today, as a result, issues like substance abuse and alcoholism have reached unprecedented levels, and religious attendance is declining while materialism rises. The number of people in churches is far fewer than the audience numbers at stadiums or pop music concerts. People are forsaking religious beliefs for material worship. Second and Third World countries are however, striving to imitate the First World represented by both Western Europe and North America. As a result, a so-called modern world seems destined to become a decaying materialistic world.

Future Centre of Learning

caption:  largest global spiritual transformation movement – Bahai Study Circle.

The Bahá’í Centre of Learning, resembling a modern version of the House of Wisdom, aims to provide a space for people to study the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, free of charge. As the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh has revealed and written over a hundred volumes of works. The new set of laws He decreed are seen as the foundation for human civilization for the next thousand years (the 3^rd Millennium), as Bahais believe. The vast teachings revealed by Him will impact human history for the next five hundred thousand years. Bahá’u’lláh stated that if God had imparted the knowledge of only two (Arabic) letters from Adam to Muhammad in the past history, then today He has revealed all the remaining twenty-five letters to humanity. This is because the maturity and comprehension of humanity have reached a point where they can absorb all the knowledge from God. What a tremendous glad tiding!

Similar to Christians and Muslims, Baha’is believe that the knowledge of God is the beginning of knowledge, hence a centre of learning serves as the connection between civilization and knowledge. The future centres of learning may not necessarily be grand edifices as the House of Wisdom in the past, but their presence and proliferation in communities and neighborhoods globally should be of unprecedented scale. The Baha’i Faith, of nearly seven million believers worldwide, advocates for a way of life that encompasses worship, learning, and service. A Bahai Centre of Learning will thus serve as a base for such a lifestyle, promoting personal excellence while contributing towards the betterment of the world.

(31^st December 2020)