Username:   Password:        Lost Password?  |  Register

Europe, Christianity and Islam

 

 The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) was born in the late sixth century CE and he started his Divine invitation in the beginning of the seventh century CE. At the time, Europe was going through an era called “the Middle Ages”. The Middle Ages- which were later also called “The Dark Ages”- started approximately in the fifth century CE when the Roman Church gained political power. When over one hundred gospels (perhaps hundreds) were declared as unlawful by the Roman Church in the Middle Ages, many religious personalities protested that decision, because their beliefs were closer to Monotheism while the four Catholic Church-chosen gospels were written based on the teachings of Paul which were actually in accordance with the Roman, Greek and … pagan beliefs and myths, and they became the basis for the distorted doctrine of trinity … 

 

As the direct result of Paul’s usurpation of the God bestowed Successorship position of the Prophet Jesus (PBUH), step by step Christianity moved away from the pure Monotheistic teachings of Prophet Jesus (PBUH) and pagan doctrines such as divinity of Jesus and Trinity became standard Church teachings:

 

“At its core, Gnosticism formed a speculative interest in the relationship of the oneness of God to the ‘triplicity’ of his manifestations. It seems to have taken Neoplatonic metaphysics of substance and hypostases (“being”) in its attempt to define a new theology. (Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1, the Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1971.)

 

 “Although, Athanasius [the renowned bishop of Alexandria, 4th century C.E.] took his monotheism seriously, he later taught that the only way to save mankind from moral and physical extinction was for God to do the unthinkable, descend into human flesh.” Athanasius, “On the Incarnation of the World”, in Phillip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, vol. 4, Athanasius: Select Works and Letters (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994)

 

 

For more information in this regard please refer to: Jewish, Christian and Islamic calendars, and Ghadir and Aushura (‘Aashoora)! Part 2, also as a part of the E-book Ghadir, declaration of the Truth, from creation to eternity; and other writings in this site: kindfather.com

 

Anyhow … distorted Christianity ruled over Europe for centuries. During their rulership, it has been said that most people were not given the right to become educated; education was allowed only for a limited group of people under the control of the Church. Even the use of paper was banned by the Church, it was associated with Jews and Arabs who were not trusted and it was called a pagan art. Under the rulership of the distorted Church, Europe took many steps backward during that period of time and therefore, that era became known as The Dark Ages.

 

This is when the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) started his Divine invitation; he declared learning and education as a religious duty for everyone, man and woman, young and old, rich and poor. This movement which was truly an educational and scientific revolution, as well as theological, originated many achievements in the history of sciences which sadly later, when possible,  were falsely attributed to European scientists who had actually studied Muslim discoveries; to name a few:

 

Jabir ibn Hayyan, the father of chemistry known as Geber in Europe, was a Shi'ah Iranian scholar in the eighth century CE who made many discoveries which became the basis for future world industrial development:

 

Sulphuric acid was the bedrock of the Industrial Revolution (SCIENCENORDIC.com)

 

“People have known about the sulphate minerals of iron and copper since ancient times, when they were referred to as vitriol.

“Our ancestors used vitriol for metallurgical and medical purposes, but learnt much later that vitriol could also be used to make strong acid. The discovery is often attributed to the Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (ca. 721 to 815 CE), who became known as Geber and whose writings were known around 1300 CE.”

 

The Origins of Vitrol (Office for Science and Society- McGill University)

“When heated, all these compounds convert to their oxide and give off water along with sulphur trioxide which then combine to form sulphuric acid. This process was supposedly discovered by the 8th century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, known in English as Geber.”

 

Jabir ibn Hayyan (Inside.nku.edu)

 

“By distilling various salts together with sulfuric acid, Jabir discovered hydrochloric acid (from salt) and nitric acid (from saltpeter). By combining the two, he invented aqua regia, one of the few substances that can dissolve gold.”

 

Jabir was a student of Imam Ja'far Saadeq (PBUH). Many scientific writings are available from Jabir ibn Hayyan which every one of them starts with this statement: “Imam Sadiq has said”.

 

Ibn Al-Haytham: Father of Modern Optics (PMC - NCBI)

“The Arab Muslim scholar Abu Ali al Hasan ibn al-Haytham, known in the west as Alhacen or Alhazen was born in 965 in the city of Basra in [present-day] Southern Iraq, hence he is also known as Al-Basri.

“Ibn al-Haytham developed rigorous experimental methods of controlled scientific testing in order to verify theoretical hypotheses and substantiate inductive conjectures. Ibn al-Haytham’s scientific method was very similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of a repeating cycle of observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and the need for independent verification.

“Ibn al-Haytham’s theory of light and vision is neither identical with nor directly descendant from any one of the theories known to have previously existed in the antiquity or in Islam. The first real appreciation of the action of a lens, in particular the ability of a convex form to produce a magnified image of an object, appears to be credited to Ibn al-Haytham. It was not until the late 13th century that spectacles were invented, representing the first practical use of magnification in society.

“In mathematics, Ibn al-Haytham built on the mathematical works of Euclid and Thabit ibn Qurra, and went on to systemize infinitesimal calculus, conic sections, number theory, and analytic geometry after linking algebra to geometry. His contribution to mathematics was extensive. He developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry. He studied the mechanics of motion of a body and was the first to maintain that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This is strikingly similar to the first law of motion described centuries later by Isaac Newton.

“Ibn al-Haytham was the first to describe accurately the various parts of the eye and give a scientific explanation of the process of vision. In medicine and ophthalmology, Ibn al-Haytham made important advances in eye surgery, and he studied and correctly explained the process of sight and visual perception for the first time. He described in detail the various parts of the eye and introduced the idea that objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the objects and not the eyes, as was popularly believed.”

 

Abu Rayhan Birooni, a Muslim Iranian scholar in the eleventh century CE admired Sijzi's astrolabe  which was based on the belief of the moving of the earth; Biruni did not refute the moving of the earth and acknowledged that refutation of this issue was quite difficult. All this was about six centuries before Galileo

 

Abu Rayhan Biruni (Encyclopaedia Iranica)

 

“Applied mathematics. In mathematical geograph Bīrūnī developed a new technique for measuring the difference in longitude between two given cities: He computed the longitudinal difference between Bagh­dad and Ḡazna at 24;20°, differing from the modern value by only eighteen minutes. In the same vein he described a method for calculating the circumference of the earth different from those preserved in Greek sources, though it may have been invented during the caliphate of al-Maʾmūn (198-201/813-17).”

 

As cited in the English Wikipedia Encyclopaedia:

 

 “In his major astronomical work, the Mas'ud Canon, Biruni observed that, contrary to Ptolemy, the sun's apogee (highest point in the heavens) was mobile, not fixed.”

 

“Bīrūnī devised a novel method of determining the earth's radius by means of the observation of the height of a mountain. He carried it out at Nandana in Pind Dadan Khan (present-day Pakistan).”

 

“He used trigonometry to calculate the radius of the Earth using measurements of the height of a hill and measurement of the dip in the horizon from the top of that hill. His calculated radius for the Earth of 3928.77 miles was [only] 2% higher than the actual mean radius of 3847.80 miles.”

 

These are only a few examples …

 

European cultural and scientific decline in The Dark Ages- a definite phenomenon which is sometimes being justified and even denied by so called European scholars- resulted in the loss of many cultural writings; but the Muslim scientists and scholars translated many of Roman and Greek works to Arabic before the destruction of many books during the Middle Ages. Actually what is today available in regard to the ancient Roman, Greek and … cultures, are mostly the translations from Arabic (scientific language of the time) to other languages.

 

Loss of books in late antiquity (Wikipedia)

 

“Much of the cultural heritage of classical antiquity was lost as a consequence of the loss of books in late antiquity … Among the causes of the loss of books in late antiquity, there is evidence for systematic annihilation of Christian scriptures in the persecution of Christians, as well as pagan scriptures in the course of the Christianization of the Roman Empire.”

Lost Works of the Middle Ages (Medievalists.net)

 

“Only a small fraction of the writings created in the Middle Ages have survived to the present day. Throughout the medieval period manuscripts would be destroyed or recycled, and in more recent centuries this process only worsened as fires, theft and neglect led to more losses. Many great works from the Middle Ages have been lost, with little hope that any copies survive.”

 

Sadly it was through these translations- which were supported by the usurping self appointed so-called khulapha in order to stand against the teachings of the AhlulBayt (PBUT)-Pagan philosophy, mysticism and … entered Islam and have been painted by an Islam looking cover …

 

 Finally, the European thinkers by entering the Muslim territories, began to get back on their feet. But sadly, many of them concealed the facts and pretended that the scientific discoveries which they had taken from Muslims, were their own. Only a few of them originally confessed the truth while most of them reluctantly accepted later when the Muslims revealed the truth, and still many are arrogantly expressing doubts and even denying …; William Frederick Mayers, in this regard, has said:

 

“Islam is one of the most serious religions of Monotheism in the world; while the true Christianity insists on the concept of trinity (three gods). The knowledge and culture of Muslims in the middle ages were much greater than the western civilization. ....Muslims have created high standards for science. Roger Bacon is indebted to Muslim scientists, who were pioneers in mathematics, physics and chemistry sciences. Generally, experimental method of thinking ruled over scientific (Arabic-Islamic) research. Scientific researches had to be tested and verified by experiments. The Islamic universities in the middle ages were much more improved and progressive than the present time. In general, the Islamic training is the model for the connection of freedom and education creativity.”

(History of Educational Thought)

 

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the Muslim governments were gaining lots of power and growing. The Crusade Wars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE were the confrontations between Christians and Muslims. During and after those Wars, many European thinkers traveled to Muslim countries; and history indicates that they took many of the books and works of Muslim scientists with themselves back to Europe and burned the rest. From Approximately the thirteenth century CE, centers such as Oxford and Sarbon, which were not universities yet, started to teach Arabic; and from fifteenth century CE, the translation of Arabic books to European languages started seriously; for instance, the book of medicine from Abu-Ali-Sina (Avicenna), another Muslim Iranian scholar, was being taught for over 400 years in European centers as the major source of medical sciences. As a result of these translations, Arabic scientific words such as algebra, alcohol, algorithm and ... are evident in English and other languages. The Crusade Wars actually introduced Islam to Christians. Some Church leaders and followers who were getting nervous from the growth of Islam, in order to make Islam look bad , propagated many distorted things against Islam; Also at the same time, Many Christian scholars started to question the distorted Christianity which was being practiced in Europe; while their pride did not let many of them accept Islam, but Protestantism -which was a protest and modification to the available distorted Christianity- was invented after confrontations between Christians and Muslims. As one example, the Catholic Churches had declared the marriage of priests as unlawful and we still see this practice in effect; their belief- although mostly concealed today- is that women are evil and by marriage to women, the priests are going to lose their holiness! It is important to mention that hundreds of thousands of women were killed during the Middle Ages because of the distorted view that the Church had about women. But Islam changed all that. As one result, we see that in Protestantism, the marriage of priests is allowed. The distorted view of Church regarding women caused many oppressions against women which we can still see and touch its evil effects; for instance the fact that today's women are considered as se x objects and their bodies and beauties are used for selling products and services, is one direct result of that evil distortion. Again, Paul (the usurper of the Successorship position after Jesus) had a lot to do with this; he advised men not to marry and this teaching and many other teachings which originated by Paul had nothing to do with Jesus's original teachings, and was deceitfully attributed to Jesus.

 

Sadly, the Muslims- who mostly had deviated from genuine teachings of Islam and had forsaken the God Chosen Successors of the Prophet- eventually lost their power and became weaker and weaker as time passed. Later we observe that the Muslim territories became the colonies of European countries and Muslims totally lost their original status in the world. At the same time, the European countries -based on Islamic scientific knowledge- started to grow as time passed. The Renaissance in Europe happened based on the scientific knowledge of the Muslims but ironically, the Renaissance was the time when the Muslims' scientific advantages began to deteriorate. As if the Europeans stepped over and selfishly exploited the Muslims in order to climb the scientific ladder and the Muslims were crushed under the pressure! Getting back on our scientific feet is easy, all it takes is hard work but the key point is , not to lose the correct spiritual beliefs as thought by Qur’an and interpreted by the Prophet and his AhlulBayt (PBUT), if we do, we may gain the world but we shall lose eternity; let us have both the world and eternity ...

 

It is so interesting that while the Islamic culture and civilization influenced Europe but the prejudice against women was so strong in Europe that they were not willing to let go of their unfair beliefs for centuries. For instance, based on Qur’an women have a complete and full Right to ownership; Qur’an clearly defines this Divinely bestowed right. While the Europeans learned many things from Muslims and they owe their scientific growth in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and after, to Muslims but they failed to copy women's rights from Islam due to their deep prejudice. It was only after the European Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries -when they needed cheap labor for growth- that they finally gave limited ownership rights to women. Women in England did not have the right to own absolutely anything until the year 1870 CE, women in France until 1900 CE, women in Switzerland until 1907 CE, and women in Italy until 1917 CE; I.e. about 100 years ago; while Muslim women were given this Divine right over 1400 years ago! Facts like these have always been hidden and unfortunately, the Muslims have lost their confidence!

 

For more information regarding Biblical view of women please refer to: Hijab: A Divine Ordinance, ordained by all Prophets of Allah (SBUT) part 2, also the E-book with the same name.

 

Political and historical situations change all the time and many circumstances occur as their results, but the Truth can not always remain concealed. By truly studying the entire history from different and original sources, any fair person can discover many facts which were unknown to him and these facts can change his life and his point of view, completely.

 

At the end, in order to warm the hearts of the readers, we wish to briefly mention one aspect of a famous speech of Lady Fatima (PBUH) -the daughter of the Prophet of Islam- which is known as “the Fadak Khotbah/Sermon”. After the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP), Fatima's right of ownership was violated by those who claimed to be the successors of the Prophet (the usurpers of Caliphate), by the same who also violated Ali's (PBUH) rights which resulted into the deviation of humankind from the Right Path to Salvation. The property which they had taken away from her, was the source of sustenance for many poor people whom she supported. She stood up and claimed her “right to ownership” over 1400 years ago in front of the people who used to bury their baby girls alive, in front of the people who considered women as their properties. It is so heart-touching that Allah gave the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) a daughter -not a son- whom from her, 11 infallible Imams have carried the responsibility of the holy Prophet's Divine successorship. Those people were so blind and still, many people do not understand. Islam encompasses all times and places; the Divine Truth originates from Allah therefore, the Truth yesterday is still the Truth today and it shall be the Truth tomorrow.

 

For a full manifestation of genuine Islam, we eagerly Anticipate Mahdi's Appearance and sincerely implore Allah to hasten that glorious time ... .