Islam in the Modern World: When Islam was the Modern World-the Islamic Golden Age.

“Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim.”*

*Hadith, Sunan Ibn Majah 224, attributed to Mohammad

On the surface, our immediate answer to the question of whether Islam is compatible with the modern world would be a decisive “NO!” Islam is not compatible with the modern world.

The blunt evidence of stagnation and incompatibility is in plain sight. The resurgent Taliban. The still alive Al-Qaeda. ISIS. HAMAS. Hezbollah in Lebanon. Sharia in London and much of Holland and France. The bitter, over thousand year, Shiite/Sunni schism. The entire, ongoing, epoch of the Iranian Islamic [atomic] Republic. And the general economic, scientific, educational, and cultural decline of most of the non-oil-rich Islamic world. Today’s Islam knows of these unacceptable realities, but it says little and does even less to acknowledge and fix these crippling problems. What more do we need to say? Not compatible.

But, there’s a significant “but” in this skeptical conclusion and judgement that needs to be faced square-on: Islam could be compatible with the modern world, if only they, your every-day Muslim, could simply remember……

Twelve hundred years ago—in the midst of what would later be called the Islamic Golden Age (roughly 620 to 1400 AD)—the world of Islam was the modern world. Nothing else on the planet during this period came close to its advancements and achievements in the arts, the sciences, mathematics, and other intellectual pursuits, along with its successful fostering of the general (relative) prosperity of its population.

The Center of the Civilized World, post Rome.

While Western Europe continued to stagger under the consequences (e.g. Dark Ages…and they were dark ages) following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire—and the Byzantine Empire maintained its slow slide-into-terminal-decline and military impotence (squandering what was left of the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire)—the leading minds of Islam were developing and advancing algebra, geometry, and calculus, giving us Arabic numerals (likely, via India), precisely charting the heavens (astronomy), geography (mapping), mass publishing (via the paper* revolution) great works of literature like The Arabian Nights, and doing everything they could to translate and preserve the literary, medical, and scientific classics of the ancient world—including music, no less….think about “preserving” and celebrating music in a modern Taliban context.

*Paper, an invention imported from China that supplanted the somewhat unwieldy and expensive and difficult to produce papyrus.

As a Wikipedia AI commentary so aptly describes it:

The Islamic Golden Age was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century.**

**This Wikipedia commentary proposes the Islamic Golden Age essentially ended with the Mongol sacking of Baghdad in 1258 AD, but we use the later date of approximately 1400 AD—following the Great Plague hitting the eastern Mediterranean (1348 in Cairo)—with the gradual expulsion of Muslim rule from Spain, culminating in around 1492.

The gem of the Golden Age: The Baghdad House of Wisdom.

And, during this Golden Age there was also the legendary Baghdad House of Wisdom…the Islamic equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in the ancient world (not of the same scale or magnificence, but the same idea). According to legend, scholars from all over the world, including Christians, Jews, Persians (in particular), and even Chinese from that distant empire, were invited to share, study, research and debate at this edifice of Arabic (Islamic) intellectual pursuits. Even Sunni and Shiite Arabs studied and worked together productively and, as far as we know, happily and peacefully. This was hardly the Taliban or ISIS view of learning, culture, and religious tolerance we see today. By the way, we recognize there is considerable debate as far as how much this legendary-House-of-Wisdom is historical reality and how much is well-meaning exaggeration and legend, but we believe the “legend” is largely true. The ripples from this Golden Age pond are, in our view, simply too large to be the product of overactive, well-meaning, imaginations.

Another commentary from Wikipedia (AI) pretty much sums up our own view on the whole topic of Islam’s Golden Age, and its significance:

This [the Golden Age] was the high point of Islamic civilization, when scholars of various religions from around the world flocked to the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom), an unrivaled centre for the study of humanities and for sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, medicine, chemistry, zoology and geography, as well as other intellectual pursuits [including music and the development of chord progression concepts and refined classical musical instruments].

To be realistic, this Islamic Golden Age should not be overstated…to embellish the legend and polish the Islamic ego, so to speak. It was certainly no Pax Romana compared to the cultural, economic, urban infrastructure (aqueducts, stadiums, 40,000+ miles of paved roads, public libraries, public baths, sewers), and other “civilization” benefits Rome provided the majority of its citizens at its peak. But it certainly beat what was going on in post-Rome Western Europe at the time, or the life of the typical non-Elite member of Chinese civilization, or just about any other human experience on the planet during Islam’s Golden Age.

The other contemporary advanced world civilization: China.

And, since we’ve mentioned China several times in this episode, what about China? What was happening on the other side of the “civilized” world during this Islamic Golden Age? China was unquestionably far more advanced technologically, in certain categories, than the rest of the world, including the world of Islam. Unfortunately for the vast masses of China at this time, the civilization was largely a civilization run by narrowly-trained, almost cloistered, scholars imposed as a ruling intellectual elite over 95% of the population—they didn’t call Peking’s inner sanctum Forbidden City “Forbidden” for nothing.

There was nothing comparable in China to the relative prosperity and wide-spread intellectual curiosity one saw in the cosmopolitan Islamic world during its Golden Age, from Saudi Arabia to Spain. Contemporary China represented a slowly decaying uber-feudal society that had stretched over millennia, ruled by an isolated intellectual elite, as only a mix of Confucianism, Taoism, and an increasingly corrupted Imperial Examination* system could engineer and justify.

*Originally, a merit-based series of examinations that the Chinese used to choose their administrative elite. Starting in the Sui dynasty and becoming dominant during the Song dynasty; lasting, in an increasingly debased, nepotistic, and corrupt form, until its abolition in 1905. wiki/AI

• Certainly, when considering China during this period, we acknowledge the amazing achievements of Chinese notables like Admiral Zheng He. However, Zheng (ironically, born to a Chinese Muslim family) achieved his peak authority and achievements at almost the same time (early to mid 1400’s) that the Islamic Golden Age had already largely faded, so the comparison doesn’t really apply. And, in our view, his achievements were aberrations in the slow Chinese cultural decline that finally ended with the revolution of Sun Yet Sun in 1911 AD. Per a Brittanica commentary: Zheng He commanded the largest and most advanced fleet the world had ever seen. The voyages were intended to display China’s power and culture and bring foreign treasures back to the Ming court. Zheng He set sail on his first voyage in 1405, commanding some 27,800 men.

It should be noted, however, that following Zheng’s epic voyages (1405-1433), his achievements were repudiated by the Chinese government (ruling Elite), the records of his voyages were allegedly destroyed, and China returned to its slow decay of “cultural superiority” isolation and a center-of-the-universe view—in other words, the world had nothing to offer China, and China had no need for the rest of the world. This started changing in the 1700’s when China became the world’s (essentially, for European markets) leading producer and source of luxury and consumer goods…but that’s another story, for another “book.”

So, by almost every standard those of us in the West would use to define at least an embryonic civilized “modern” society, Islam, during its Golden Age, was it. Nothing else on the planet came close.

Truth be told, the whole point of this respectful multi-paragraph dissertation on the glories of Islam’s Golden Age—beyond acknowledging it happened—is to make the critical point that it ended—over 600 years ago. Dramatically, quickly, decisively, and almost mysteriously. Which raises some critical questions. Like: “What happened?” “Where did it go?” “Why did it end?” Why??

These questions, even when answered (which we will attempt to do, shortly), raise an even bigger question, particularly relative to our contemporary world: Could there be another, modern, “Islamic Golden Age,” fully compatible with the rest of the modern world?

We think the answer to this last question is “Yes,” but only after noting a deep-seated cultural aberration that emerged near the end of the Golden Age. A philosophical virus that afflicts most (but not all) Islamic cultures and nations to this day.

And thus we find ourselves back where we started, at the “criticism” and outright skepticism section of this commentary on Islam’s place in our “modern” world. We begin with this point:

The Golden Age suddenly goes “poof.”

And so it was in the 13th Century that something seriously short-circuited in the Islamic world, and its Golden Age began to collapse. In our view, it was much deeper than the physical, spiritual, and psychological shock and after-effects of the Mongol invasions and the sacking of Baghdad (including the House of Wisdom—destroyed) in 1258 A.D, or even the devastating effects of the Plague that hit the Middle East almost a century later.* It was something far more fundamental.

* In 1348 Cairo was the largest city in the Middle East, and larger than any city in Western Europe. As Wiki AI states…”until the Plague hit.” The commentary is particularly interesting (in our examination of the end of the Golden Age) because of the continuing size (population) and influence of Cairo–almost a hundred years after Mongol sacking of Baghdad (1258).

Per Wiki AI:
In September 1348 the plague reached Cairo, which at this time was the biggest city in the Middle East and the Mediterranean world, as well as bigger than any city in Europe. When the plague reached Cairo, the Mamluk sultan An-Nasir Hasan fled the city and stayed in his residence Siryaqus outside of the city between the 25 September and 22 December, when the Black Death was present in Cairo.[1] The Black Death in Cairo resulted in the death of 200,000 people, which were a third of the population of the city, and resulted in several quarters of the city becoming depopulated quarters of empty ruins during the following century.^Wikipedia

This philosophical affliction and infection (beyond the literal Plague, when it eventually reached the Middle East) was at the very soul of Islam, and something very new in the previously can-do religion of a man who had shown little patience with pessimism: that get-it-done warrior/prophet Muhammad. In our view, this “something new” was the paralyzing cultural disease of Fatalism, and of a uniquely Muslim strain: “God-willing” Fatalism.

Of course, “God-Willing” had been the underlying mantra of Islam from its origin, as it had been for the Jewish and even Christian faiths. All three faiths recognized God’s ultimate supremacy and authority in all physical and human events. The difference was that at Islam’s beginning (and during most of the Golden Age) “God-willing” simply meant acknowledging and celebrating God’s (Allah’s) ultimate supremacy. It did not mean earthly passivity. “God-willing” did not suppress initiative, curiosity, exploration. And, it didn’t prohibit the committed Muslim from delving into classical-era (i.e. Roman and Greek, Chinese) world texts , philosophies, and topics that were definitely not Islamic.

In contrast, the general Islamic thinking during the Golden Age—relative to most other faiths, cultures, and philosophies—seemed to be that since Islam was God’s ultimate revelation, what possible danger could these other views and faiths hold to those who already possessed, and deeply believed, Islam’s perfect revelation? Other views, faiths, and philosophies in this view were simply manifestations of human curiosity and striving (and, often, foolishness) and thus posed no real threat, in most cases, to Islam or its “beloved” true believers. In fact borrowed and legacy “pagan” knowledge might prove useful to the world of Islam—let the pagans and non-believers believe what they believed, as long as they in no way threatened Islam. As long as their knowledge was useful, it was used.

During the roughly hundred year collapse of the Islamic Golden Age, this curiosity-based open-minded view changed dramatically. Islam became hyper-cautious and xenophobic. Even beyond its new suspicions and “problems” with non-believers, unity of intellectual purpose between Arab, Persian, and Turkish Muslim’s gave way to a growing and increasingly bloody factionalism.

The worst hatred and outbreaks of outright warfare occurred between Sunni and Shiite, particularly within Arabic Islam. Truth was, there were a lot of old scores to settle. Top of the list: the assassination of Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali, in 661, while he was in prayer. Shia, of course, believed (and believe) Ali was the Prophet’s rightful successor; Sunni’s most definitely did not (and do not). The tensions around this outrageous act had, somehow, been largely been put on hold (truce), or suppressed, during the Golden Age—apparently it was considered to be in everyone’s interest to chill on this unresolvable point. Sunni’s mostly ruled and Shia mostly suffered at times, it’s true, but the Golden Age prospered, involving both Sunni and Shia. A Google AI commentary on this point is worth noting—we fully agree with this commentary:

……Shia Muslims actively participated in the Islamic Golden Age, despite their theological differences with Sunni Muslims. While the Shia were a minority within the larger Islamic world during the Abbasid period, they were not isolated or marginalized. In fact, Shia influence and even rulers emerged during this time, particularly in areas like Persia and even within the Abbasid Empire. 

As the Golden Age collapsed, this apparent truce policy collapsed with it. Later, as the disunity increased, conflicts between Arabs and Turks and other majority Islamic nationalities broke out—the very same groups that would later comprise, at times uneasily, the Ottoman Empire. That empire, founded in 1299, thrived, relatively speaking, for several hundred years, although not anywhere near as successfully as Renaissance/Industrial Revolution fueled Western Europe–this growing lag proved to be its downfall. As Google AI correctly states:

The [Ottoman] empire was known for its strong military, extensive territory, and significant cultural and artistic achievements.”

[Unfortunately for the Ottomans, this did not include technological achievements comparable to the Chinese or Western Europeans–e.g gunpowder, and rapid technological improvements in its uses.]

By the end of 18th century, at the latest, the world of Islam was rocked again, this time by the internal corruption and growing disorganization of the vast Ottoman Empire itself. And thus, by the 19th Century the world of Islam was well on its way to being colonized or “supervised” by the European imperial powers—England and France, primarily, but even Italy got in on the game.* Defeat in WW1 ended the Ottoman Empire once and for all, and the founder of modern Turkey (Kamal Ataturk) made a point of constitutionally declaring Turkey a secular state, theoretically enforced by the Turkish military on his, and his successors’, behalf (willing, or otherwise).**

*In many cases to collect debts from over-borrowing, using these owed debts as an excuse to move in and “administer” and clean up these overextended Muslim regimes, assuring and insuring payment…..Egypt being the prime example (under de facto English “protection” from roughly 1880 to the 1950’s.)

**Per Wikipedia: “Turkey has officially been a secular country since its 1924 constitution was amended in 1928. This was later strengthened and entrenched with the wider appliance of laicism by founder Atatürk during the mid-1930s, as part of the Republican reforms.” In the past two decades, under the presidency of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish secular state has become increasingly Islamized, despite an attempted coup by the Turkish military in 2016.

It was from this bitter soup of dissolution, decay, disunity, corruption, growing sectarian hatred, embarrassment, and imposed foreign control that the “modern” Islamic world—that we see and live with today (and, often, suffer with)—sprang. In our view, this debased state of Islamic affairs—and the resulting centuries-long humiliation of Islamic pride—created and fired the rising Islamic radicalism that afflicts both the Western world and most of the Islamic world today. Realistically, this bitter stew of frustration lead directly to 911 and the rise of cults like Al Qaida and ISIS and the Taliban—ironically enough, all bitter, brutal, relentless opponents of each other.

So, the Islamic Golden Age was gone. What was once the beacon of the world—at least in the scientific and intellectual and literary contexts—had become in recent centuries the world’s laughing stock. The world is not laughing now.

An almost tragic question on a Reddit thread, apparently from a Muslim participant, asks the question we are all asking:

“The Baghdad House of Wisdom used to be shared by Muslims and Christians [and Jews, and Chinese, and Persians]. Work was written in both Arabic and Syriac. Why were our ancestors able to get along better than we are now? What changed?”

“God-willing” fatalism. In our view, this is the basic “change” that still afflicts most of the Islamic world, but not all. There are beacons of reformation and restoration, and ambition. Will these beacons ignite a new Islamic Golden Age that will benefit the whole world, and Islam in particular?

We believe it can happen.

Until then, is Islam compatible with the modern world? No, but it used to be, and could be again. God-willing.