Past, Present and Future of Islamic Civilization

           

                                                                       Photo By: Met Museum                                           

Before going into the details of the subject, it is very important to focus on the concept of "civilization" to better understand the subject. The word civilization is derived from the Arabic root "m-d-n", which means "settling and residing somewhere" and means "urbanism, sedentary life, living well and prosperous". This concept, which started to be used in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire, corresponds to the term "civilization" in Western thought. To express the concept of civilization in Turkish, the word “civilization” was derived from the Uyghur, which was the first Turkish community to come to life, and was used instead of the concept of civilization. In Arabic, the concepts of “umran-hadaret-prosperity”, which corresponds to the concept of civilization, appear. Although many definitions have been made on the concept of civilization throughout history, we do not encounter a definition with consensus on it. However, in the most general sense, it is possible to understand civilization as "the material and spiritual cultures that people have conveyed over generations". Although there are some theses on the difference between civilization and culture concepts, in this article both concepts will be considered complementary. 

The conception called civilization ultimately consists of the formation of three things. These can be listed as "heritage of the past", "those obtained as a result of mutual interaction with other cultures" and "elements that society has produced in its age". If society protects the legacy of the past, it absorbs and accumulates its accumulation from them as a result of its interaction with other civilizations in line with the codes of the society and it is possible to talk about a unique civilization there. It is not possible to evaluate the birth and development of Islamic civilization separately from these three dynamics. If we define the material and spiritual culture totals of Muslim nations as “Islamic civilization”, Muslims have come up with an original image of civilization by going through the above processes. It is very important to talk about the sources of Islamic civilization, which are the main dynamics of these processes before moving on to the development stages of Islamic civilization. As in many other civilizations, one of the most fundamental dynamics in the emergence of Islamic civilization is religion. Religion is a phenomenon that regulates the inner lives of people, and it is also a very important element that holds the parameters of political-social life. In many ancient civilizations in which Islamic civilization was born (Iran, Hind, China, Greek, and Mesopotamia), religion and its shaping structure will attract attention. In this context, the religion of Islam has played a very important role in the formation of the "Islamic civilization" and the sources of the Islamic religion have taken their place as the primary sources of this civilization. 

These primary sources are basically the "Holy Qur'an" and "Sunnah". The Holy Qur'an appears as the first and primary source for the formation of Islamic civilization. The first Islamic society found the codes of "civilized" life in the basic principles of the Qur'an in the period of Madinah after Ignorance. Based on these principles, they organized their political, social, economic, military, and moral lives and thus took important steps towards institutionalization in the following years. The belief of “oneness”, which is the main emphasis of the Qur'an, and the “faith in the hereafter” issues have been the most important principles affecting both the character / moral understanding of Muslim individuals and their associated social life. On the other hand, the second and most important source is “circumcision”. Expressed as “Üsve-i hasene-the best example ”, Hz. The Prophet (PBUH) was the first person he had contacted the Qur'an and Islamic civilization through his life. In the historical process, the Qur'an and Sunnah continued to be the most important factor shaping the mind and cultural codes of Muslim communities. It is possible to express the processes that Islamic civilization has undergone until today in three stages. These are "birth", "development and rise" and "pause process". The birth of the Islamic civilization begins with the appointment of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) with prophecy and eventually corresponds to the one and a half-century-long process that lasted until the fall of the Umayyads. At the end of the first years of apostleship and the following migration process, the first cores of Islamic civilization were laid in the ground through the experience of “Medina” and the social structure was shaped by the material and spiritual principles reported by revelation. At the end of this period, Islam spread to the Arabian Peninsula, and during the time of the Rashid Caliphs, Islamic lands expanded through conquests, and neighboring civilizations had the chance to be more closely aware of the lives of Islamic civilization and Muslim communities. The Umayyad period has been the years when some political instability has emerged, but despite all this, the boundaries of the state have continued to expand and the process of progress in the scientific-cultural sense has not been interrupted. Although "the Arabs" were the founding elements of the Islamic civilization, the new nations accepted this religion and contributed to the development of Islamic civilization as a result of the development of borders through conquests. Although the first institutionalization movements during the birth of the Islamic civilization appeared after the migration to Madinah, this situation gained momentum during the Umayyad period and religious sciences started to form in this period. The Muslim communities that faced ancient civilizations had undergone some changes as a result of their efforts to understand these civilizations and cultures and they contributed to the rise of Islamic civilization in the following period. 

The stage of development and promotion of Islamic civilization begins with the establishment of the Abbasid state and includes the process until the 16th century. The Abbasid period is considered to be the brightest period when the Islamic civilization peaked. In this period, Muslims synthesized the elements they obtained from other civilizations with the values ​​of their civilizations and thus contributed to the development of Islamic civilization. "Translation activities" carried out in this period are very important. Artifacts belonging to ancient civilizations such as Greek, Hind, and Iran were translated into Arabic and brought to the Islamic world and played an important role in the development of Islamic sciences. In the period of Caliph Mamoon, the establishment of an institution such as “Beytül Hikme- House of Wisdom ”, which has been used as an academy of sciences, has fulfilled a very important duty in terms of gaining works on both Islamic and natural sciences to the Islamic world. Another group that contributed to the progress of Islamic civilization in the period following the Abbasid period is the Seljuk Turks, who dominated the middle of the 11th century. In the period following this period, Turks led Muslims politically, militarily, and culturally, and contributed to the rise of Islamic civilization. They built "madrasahs" as the bearer legs of this civilization and gave original works to Islamic civilization through these educational institutions. Islamic civilization has made many contributions to the thought of humanity, from its birth to the time of its rise, through its scientists. Islamic civilization entered the pause process in the 16th century and came to the point of collapse in the 19th century. With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the end of the First World War, the Islamic civilization went away from the complexity and the Muslim nations were divided into several small cultures. Several internal and external factors influencing the collapse of civilizations have also affected Islamic civilization. These include the collapse of the system of values, inadequate scientific activities, internal conflicts, and the inability to keep up with the innovations of the age, etc. countable. In parallel with all these, Islamic civilization has entered a pause process and applied for new searches. 

Following the processes such as Renaissance, Reform, and Enlightenment, Western civilization has opened the doors of modern sciences and modernity to the fullest and has managed to dominate all other civilizations. In parallel with the dissolution of its internal dynamics, Islamic civilization was unable to respond to the challenge of colonialism/imperialism/modernity and was subjected to mental-economic and political transformation. Although civilizations meet on a common denominator, it is possible to mention many distinctive qualities that distinguish each other. Islamic civilization also differs from other ancient civilizations in terms of some features. The most important feature of the Islamic civilization is that it is centered on “unity”. The principle of unity/savagery that penetrates not only the religious level but also all aspects of life has been the most important factor shaping the world view of Muslims. The belief in Tawheed played a very important role in “creating the harmony of revelation, mind, and emotion trio” and providing material and spiritual balance. Islamic civilization, which is a revelation-centered civilization, is shaped around the principles of the Qur'an, and these principles consist of the synthesis of some sources of information such as revelation, reason, and intuition. This situation played an important role in the formation of a complete vision in the intellectual world and the social life of the Muslim individual. Another important feature of Islamic civilization is that it is “human-centered”. This idea of ​​civilization, which takes the happiness of man and man to the center, has also served this through the ideas it created and the social institutions. It is possible to see this situation in five basic principles under which Islam is protected. Islam, through these five principles that people have set; aimed to protect its faith, life, property, generation, and mind, and with it laid the foundations of universal human rights. It established the ground of solidarity in Islamic civilization by placing not only the individual but also the “brotherhood law”. Another distinguishing feature of Islamic civilization is that it is a "civilization of knowledge". As stated in the "Qur'an" and "Sunnah", which constitute the primary sources of Islamic civilization, this religion was sent to enlighten humanity through science and bring it to peace. 

The most important factor in the background of the progress of the Muslim nations is hidden in the importance given by the Islamic religion to the “science and knowledge man”. Science education for individuals who surrendered to Islam has been evaluated as fard, and this has paved the way for Muslims to appeal in many branches of science. Another important feature of Islamic civilization is that it is based on the “principle of tolerance”. The religion of Islam considered the preservation of five fundamental principles necessary not only for Muslim individuals but for all humanity. Based on this principle, Muslims treated the principle of “tolerance” with people from different cultures and religions they met in the regions they conquered and managed to live in peace under the same roof with these civilizations for centuries. The "universal" of Islamic civilization made it easier for them to embrace all these communities of various races and cultures and paved the way for them to survive on the ground of tolerance without destroying them. Islamic civilization has succeeded in establishing every principle on “moderation” by avoiding two extremes and has become the symbol of a completely balanced civilization. Finally, the structure of this civilization based on fiqh/law is very important. There are inevitably some principles/rules that make social life livable. By building the legal system of the Islamic civilization on the principle of "justice", it made the life of livelihoods viable and sustained for centuries. The development process of fiqh science and methodology played an important role in the idea and social life of Islamic civilization and facilitated this civilization to be a fiqh/law centered civilization.

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