Basic characteristics of Islamic civilization?

Introduction:

1) “Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements

constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral tradition,
and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and
insecurity end. For when fear is overcome, curiosity and constructiveness
are free, and man passes by natural impulse towards the understanding
and embellishment of life.”( Will Durant, Story of Civilization).

2) “If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within
the next hundred years, it could be Islam.”( Sir George Bernard Shaw in
The Genuine Islam).

3) “That this is My path, straight; so do you follow it and follow not divers
paths lest they scatter you from His path.” (Al-An’am: 153).

4) ISLAM WAS DESTINED to be a world religion and a civilisation, stretched

from one end of the globe to the other. The early Muslim caliphates
(empires), first the Arabs, then the Persians and later the Turks set
about to create classical Islamic civilisation. Islamic civilisation is
committed to two basic principles: oneness of God and oneness of
humanity. Islam does not allow any racial, linguistic or ethnic
discrimination; it stands for universal humanism.

Definition of Civilization:

1) According to Oxford English Dictionary civilization is “ The action or

process of civilizing or of being civilized , developed or advanced state
of human society.”
Characteristics of Civilization:

1) Advanced Cities: Cities grew on rivers and bodies of water where

people could carry on large scale farming or could fish for food. As
the population grew, villages became towns and towns became
cities, and surplus goods could be used in trade. Cities were centers
of population, culture, and trade.e.g Babylon in Mesopotamia.

2) Organized Central Government: Government organizes and

regulates human activity. Government provides smooth interaction
between groups and people. Early governments were led by
monarchs who organized armies to defend the people and they
made laws to regulate their subjects lives.

3) Complex Religions: Religion explains the forces of nature and their

roles in the world, why thing are the way they are, and provide
values for living. Early civilizations religions were connected to the
rulers who claimed that their power was based on divine approval
or they themselves were divine.

4) Job Specialization: As cities grew, so did the need for specialized

workers. No longer could individuals do all the work. Food surplus
provided for the need for specialized skills from workers.
Specialization helped workers refine their skills and specialize on
one specific task.

5) Social Classes: Social structure gives civilization a framework for

peoples' roles in the society. Rulers and an upper class of priests,
government officials, and warriors dominated the society. Below
them a large group of free people - farmers, artisans, and
craftspeople - grew food and made necessary items for the society.
The upper classes wanted luxury items which encouraged artisans,
and they bought food from the farmers.
 6) Writing: Writing was used to keep records of history and important
matters. Eventually writing was also used for creative expression
and produced literature.

7) Art and Architecture: All civilizations have a highly developed

culture including the arts. Arts include creative forms of expression
such as painting, architecture, literature, and music.
Painters and artists portrayed stories of nature and depicted gods
and rulers.

Definition of Culture:

1) According to Robert Redfield “an organised body of conventional

understandings manifest in art and artifact, which, persisting
through tradition, characterizes a human group”.

Characteristics of Islamic Civilization:

1) Tawheed: Tauheed forms the very core distinction of the Islamic

Civilization from other civilizations. Its concept of oneness of God
lifts human beings from degraded status they had experienced
during earlier civilizations. If we look back into the history, the
common human beings were mostly considered slaves due to the
alteration of teachings of earlier scriptures or due to the
influence of royal families. Islam totally destroys the concept of
slavery on the basis of religion or royalty and takes humans to a
plane of moral enlightenment. Islam has given so much
importance to this concept that it says that Allah will forgive any
sin except Shirk or Polytheism.
2) Self-Purification: The other main character of the Islamic
Civilization is self-purification or Tazkiyah Nafs. This concept
clearly states that the purpose of a human should be to purify its
soul or inner-self before asking anyone to follow the teachings of
this true religion. Once the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) was
returning from Jihad with his companions, he said to them that
we are returning from a smaller form of Jihad to a bigger form of
Jihad- Tazkiyah Nafs. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) once said,” I was
appointed for the prophethood so that I may accomplish the
important task of Human perfection”.

3) Dignity of man: The center of attention of the Islam is human and

human life. All human beings are equally dignified as per the rules
set by Allah in the Quran but some people have been given better
stature due to their commitment to the message of Allah and to
the welfare of the fellow humans. Once a companion of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) was standing in front of the Kabba
and was saying that the Prophet(S.A.W) once said that,"indeed
Kabba! You have a great sanctity but the sanctity of a human
being is greater than your sanctity".

4) Equality: A very important element of the Islamic civilization is

the equality or equity. In Islam, everyone is equal in the eyes of
Allah as a human being but it also distinguishes bad deeds from
good ones. In Islamic teachings, the element that makes a
human superior to other is piety or Taqwa. In his last address, the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said that “an Arab has no
superiority over a non-Arab and non-Arab has no superiority over
an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black and a black has
no superiority over a white except by piety alone.” When Makkah
was conquered by the Muslim Army under the leadership of
Hazrat Muhammad (s.a.w). He(S.A.W) ordered a black slave
 from Africa to ascend the roof of Kabba and say Adhan. This was
a unique experience in the history of the world.

5) Social justice: One of the main element of the Islamic civilization

and the chief driving force for the development of society both in
material and spiritual terms is Social Justice. In Quran and in the
sayings of the Prophet it has clearly been mentioned that every of
Muslim should abide by the rules of social justice. In Quran, Allah
(SWT) says, “ No doubt, Allah (SWT) commands you to deposit
trusts to whom they belong and when you judge, judge with
justice” (Surah Nisa). Islamic teachings had laid a complete model
of how to attain social justice in a society. It has ordered its
followers to give Zakat to the poor and needy of the society.
Islam also designates some specific proportions of wealth that
should be given to a person’s heirs when the appropriate time
reaches.

6) Moral values: Some people claim Islamic as only the religion of

prayers and rituals but is not the case clearly. One of the main
topics of Islamic civilization is how to reach a higher level of
morality. Islamic teachings are a clear manifestation of the fact
that Islam attaches high importance to the moral values that
distinguish good from the bad and vice versa. Some of the moral
values are patience, truthfulness, truthness to the promise and
abstaining from backbiting and from using bad language. God
says in the Quran,” Talk straight and with Truthfulness” (Surah
Ahzab).

7) Tolerance: One of the most important teachings of the Prophet

of Islam was tolerance as displayed practically by him during his
life. There is a famous story of a Jewish woman who used to
throw garbage on the Prophet’s clothes when he would go to
pray. The Prophet though experienced this situation almost daily
 but with tolerance and moral courage. When one day the
woman, became ill the Prophet himself visited the woman. This
clearly shows that how much tolerance the Prophet of Islam
displayed during his life. Allah says in the Quran,” Indeed, Allah is
with the patient”. (Surah Baqara).

8) Rule of Law: Islamic stresses highly on the rule of law in every

field of life. The Quran and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad
(s.a.w) are clearly the manifestations of those teachings. Once a
person stole the armor of the fourth CALIPH OF Islam, Ali (r.a).
The Caliph went into the court against him and presented his son
and his slave as the people who argued in favor of him. The court
rejected the testimony on the basis that both of them have close
relationship with the caliph and the armor was given to that
person.This is the level of rule of law in Islam.

Conclusion:

1) “I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the
wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a
uniform regime based on the principles of Quran which alone are
true and which alone can lead men to happiness.”( Napoleon
Bonaparte).

2) Islamic civilization had immensely contributed to the world

civilization, it was homogenous civilization which open its door to
all mankind regardless their ethnic and racial diversities, its
characteristics are based on Unitarianism(Al-tawhid) and
universality(Al-‘Alamiyyah). It is because of its solid foundation
that such civilization enjoyed the glorious era in the early century
of Islam.
3) “Thus we have appointed you a mid-most nation, that you may be
witnesses upon mankind.” (Quran, 11:43).