How Can Islam ‘Open the Social Sciences’ ?

Ismail Yurdakok

ismailyurdakok@yahoo.com

Abstract:

Malik b. Nabi had expressed 54 years ago that ‘there is not any
iron curtain between civilizations.’ Muslim world has not been in any caprice to
take new findings from any other civilization in fourteen centuries. After
evaluation and harmonizing of original thoughts of Indo-China and Greco-Roman
civilizations, muslims established one of the great civilizations of the world
history. On the other hand, in the Enlightenment period and Industrial Revolution;
Western World had said: “O God! Bon Voyage (Good Bye)” but a deep crisis had
begun. This crisis caused famous suicide of Nietzche. The excitement of Auguste
Comte’s announcement that ‘divorce of science and religion’ had been going on and
Euro-centric viewpoint did not notice the crisis. After the World War II, Fernand
Braudel’s warnings and struggle of Immanuel Wallerstein provided very useful
approach as the report of Gulbankian Commission as ‘Open the Social Sciences’ in
1995. In this article, the appraisal of this report will be done and as a reality,
influence of Islamic civilization to western world and to great western scholars
from Dante to Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe; and from this point, possibility of Islam
for (re)open (the social) sciences in the world history will be studied.

Introduction. Introduction. Gulbankian Commission studied on ‘to discover the

roots of (daily) life’ in 1994-95 that Fernand Braudel had pointed before. The
report of the commission brought heavy criticisms against ‘western understanding
of science in last four centuries.’ Neglected topics of these centuries were ;
‘relation between orders of God and experince of man’ and ‘to be the inheritors of
this scholarship.’ “Ethical values like compasssion, modesty and philanthropical
behaviors had left the western sciences” (1) when western sciences were saying
‘good bye’ to God. The report includes brave criticisms that “ambitions of man
widened even did not recognize any boundary. Man began to try unlimited activities
in a limited world and this concept caused to serve ardent desire of West for
sovereignty on all over the world and becoming easy exploitation and colonization.
Growth, development and discovery were the key words of western world for
colonization (of rest of the world.)” (2) “In the last years of 18th century and
in 19th century, university was (re) born and undertoke a role of ‘institution
that knowledge is created here.’ Faculty of teology became unimportant and
sometimes it became a part of faculty of philosophy. Auguste Comte had declared
‘the divorce of science and religion’ and a new discipline ‘sociology’ was the
queen of the sciences it would represent all of the sciences as a united science
and it would be ‘positivist.’”(3)

In the second part of the Gulbenkian Commission Report; the debates after 1945
for the social sciences are mentioned; in the third and fourth parts: the new
philosophy of social sciences and restructuring them are discussed and the report
gives advices at the end: Interdisciplinary study is the most important ‘take off
point’ to rescue of social sciences from the crisis. After 1995 some years the
commission was busy with different proposols for the encouragement of
interdisciplinary study, but in recent years they inclined to ‘unidisciplinary
study.’ This point is exactly the same the system of classical Islamic education
system. Malaysian scholar Osman Bakar had coined this concept as ‘unity of
knowledge’ for years ago. He had written “The Unity of Science and Spiritual
Knowledge: The Islamic Experience” in 1991. (4) It is a reality that Islamic
history notes hundreds of ‘scholars of unity of knowledge.’

Scholars of Unity of Knowledge

In this paragraph some scholars wil be mentioned as examples: Ibn al-Maristaniyya

(541-599 A.H/1146-1203 A.D) is one of the scholars of unity of knowledge. He was
a Hanbali jurist and learned hadith (the science of the statements and behaviours
of the prophet Muhammad) from different scholars in Baghdad. Apart from religious
sciences, he followed medicine, physics, astronomy, philosophy and logic. He
worked as a physician long years. (5 ) Ibn al-Majdi (767-850 A.H/ 1365-1447 A.D)
is a Shafii jurist and astronomer, was born in Cairo. He learned Shafii law from
Salih b. Umar al-Bulqini and Ibn al-Mulaqqin. When he was following faraiz
(Islamic inheritance law) courses, he began to learn arithmetic. And then he began
to follow geometry, astronomy. He used to give courses from Mawardi’s al-Hawi (a
classical law book in Shafii fiqh) and not only students but a lot of scholars
from different school of thoughts used to follow his courses. On the other hand
Ibn al-Majdi’s zij (book of astronomical tables) was very famous and had been used
to the XIX. century in Egypt. (6) Ibn al-Rumiyya (561-637 A.H/ 1165-1239 A.D)
is an Andalusian scholar. He was an expert in Maliki fiqh, hadith and botany. He
visited a lot of cities of Middle East and collected the sentences of the prophet
Muhammad and followed the courses of famous muhaddithes (scholars of hadith) and
learned botany in Egypt, Damscus, Iraq and Hijaz. After returning to Andalusia he
used to sell drugs in his shop and teach Islamic sciences. Lisan al-din Ibn al-
Khatib says. “There was not any great scholar like Ibn al-Rumiyya in his period.”
(7) Ibn al-Nafis (d. 687 A.H/1288 A.D) he discovered the circulation of blood;
famous physician and thinker. He was the faculty member in the Bimaristan al-
Nasiri (Nasiri College of Medicine) and trained a lot of scholars include famous
operator Ibn al-Ibri. Apart from medical sciences Ibn al-Nafis was an expert in
logic, Islamic law, methodology of Islamic law and methodology of hadith. He also
used to give courses on Shafii law in the madrasa of Masruriyya. Subki writes his
name in the biographies of Shafii jurists (Tabaqat, VIII, 305-306.) (8) And in
the Ottoman history some chief physicians were appointed as kazasker (qadi al-
qudat=chief judge) and a lot of them had worked as judge and muderris (faculty
members of religious colleges) (9)

Who Shocked Italians in the 600th Anniversary of Dante?

Miguel Asin Palacious (1871-1944) Spanish orientalist, expert of Islamic culture

of Andalusia and Arabic language. After he was elected Royal Academy of Spain in
1919, he published his famous study La escatologia Musulmana en la Divinia Comedia
(The Next World of Islam in Divine Comedy, English translation: Islam and the
Divine Comedy, London 1968 by Harold Sutherland.) Palacious defended in this
study that descriptions of Heaven (Paradise), Hell and ‘A’raf (place separating
Paradise from Hell) that exist in Dante’s Divine Comedy had been quoted from
Islamic sources. This thought brought a great shock in Western academic circles
and strong reactions and especially from Italy because Italians were preparing
celebrations for the the 600th anniversary of death of Dante (1265-1321) for the
year of 1921. Asin Palacious resisted these reactions and insisted defending his
opinions with a more detailed supplement, and he published a big size book 609
pages as a second edition (Madrid 1943.) Opposite scholars was (only) saying that
Dante had not learn Arabic. But Asin Palacious was saying that Christian culture
had not got the concepts of isra, mi ‘raj (prophet Muhammad’s ascent to heaven)
and especially ‘a ‘raf that Dante had taken these concepts from Islamic sources
although he had not learned Arabic but he had used the Latin and Spanish
translations. As an another reality; Asin Palacious died and five years later
Italian researcher Enrico Cerulli published a study that “in 1260s that is before
Dante was born, an Arabic book about mi ‘raj had been translated into Spanish and
Latin” that these two translations had been found in Vatikan Library. In 1949, J.
Munoz Sendino published three different translations from Arabic into Spanish
about mi ‘raj that they had been translated in 1264.After these publications,
thesis of Asin Palacious was proved that Dante had used these translations when he
was writing the Divine Comedy (10)

How Ghazzali Opened the Social Sciences in Europe?

Approximately fifty western scholars and thinkers used the thoughts of Ghazzali
and mentioned his name in their books. Some of them: Peter de l’Espagne (Pedro
Hispano) notes Ghazzali’s name twenty times, Alexandre de Hales eleven times,
Vicente de Beauvais fifteen times, Roger Bacon forty times, Albertus Magnus (Great
Albert) one hundred and forty seven times, Saint Thomas thirty one times, Siger
de Brabant eight times, Henri de Gand four, Robert Grossteste eight, Jean Peccham
seven, Mattieu de Aquiasp eighteen, Pierre d’Abano twelve, Augustinus Niphus
eleven times. (11) Western World listened to Ghazzali’s name probably in XII.
century.

Dominicus Gundissalinus translated Maqasid al-Falasifa into Latin language but

Ghazzali was known as an Aristotelian scholar because Gundissalinus did not
translate the preface of Maqasid. Although this preface was translated after but
Aristotelianism of Ghazzali had not been removed even Roger Bacon could not
notice. Maqasid was published in Venice in 1506 as Logica et Philosophia
Algazelis Arabis.

In the middle of XIII. Century Ghazzali’s Mizan al-‘Amal was translated into
Hebrew language by Abraham ben Hasday ben Samuel ha-Levi, and this translation
exists in Oxford Bodlelian and Paris Bibliothéque Nationale (Hebr., nr. 911) and
this translation was published in Leipzig and paris in 1839 by J. Goldenthal.
Abraham ben Hasday mentiones admired sentences in the preface of the translation:
“These depressed years (Dark Ages of Europe was going on in XIII. Century) an
honored and very famous scholar appeared in the Orient lands. He has got power and
deepness in every science. This person is Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali. Ghazzali composed
his book in an excellent style and explained it with the best way. (12) Latin
world heard Ghazzali’s Tahafut al-Falasifa after translation of this book into
Latin by Calonymos ben Todros in 1330s. Ghazzali’s al-Qistas al-Mustaqim was
translated by Moise ben Tibbon (or Jacob ben Machir) and Mishqat al-Anwar by
Isaac ben Josef. Spanish Dominican monk Raimunda Martini gave long passages from
Ghazzali’s books in his books between 1256-80 and Martini translated the titles of
Ghazzali’s books into Latin when he was quoting as Liber Praecipicii vel Ruina
Philosophorum (Tahafut al-Falasifa), Statera Factorum ve Trutina Operum (Mizan
al-‘Amal), Liber Intentionum Philosophorum (Maqasid al-falasifa), Liber
Verificationis Scientiarum (Ihya al-Ulum al-Din.)
Especially Saint Thomas and Spinoza and the other Medieval and Enlightenment
thinkers learned Ghazzali’s thoughts by the way of Moise Maimonide (Musa Ibn
Maymun.) Some parallelisms are obvious between the thoughts of Ghazzali and Saint
Thomas, Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza and Kant. Saint Thomas criticizes Farabi, Ibn
Sina, Ibn Rushd and Ghazzali and quotes passages from Maqasid al-Falasifa, in
Somme théologique,création page 98.There are similarities Ghazzali’s al-Iqtisad
fi al-I’tiqad and Saint Thomas’s Summa Contra Gentiles about the subject of
existing of God. Wensinck points similarities of sceptic behaviours of Descartes
and Ghazzali. (13) Aziz al-Hababi compares also the thoughts of these great
thinkers and says: “Descartes did not know when he began Meditations on First
Philosophy that to where he would reach with these opinions, that is, he did not
fixed the result that he would reach; but Ghazzali knew his target very good when
he was writing al-Munqiz.

That is, form of Ghazzali’s study was only a shape of explanation. Ghazzali’s
suspicion was running for proving of a transcendent reality, but Descartes’ was
for an aim for determining a new method. Descartes stayed in Netherland a long
period and most probably was influenced by the thoughts of Moise Maimonide that
there was an important Jew community that they had studied on the teachings of
Maimonide.(14)

Gahzzali’s impacts on Pascal was searched by Miguel Asin Palacios. Palacios shows
with two ways Pascal obtained the thoughts of Ghazzali; one by Raimundo Martini
that a lot of references exist in Martini’s studies about Ghazzali. And Pascal
repeats these notes. Another way is the books of Syriac-Jacobite priest Abu al-
Faraj al-Ibri (Barhebraeus.) Abu al-Faraj quoted a lot of topics from Ghazzali’s
Ihyau Ulum al-Din in his book Book of Ethics and Dove(Pigeon.) Ghazzali also
effected post-Renaissance thinkers. There are parallelisms with his thoughts on
divine affection and love and Spinoza’s thoughts on these subjects; and also
similarities the understandings of these two great scholars on freedom, necessity
and imagination.(15) And it is also seen parallelisms the thoughts of Ghazzali and
Leibnitz, Ghazzali and Berkeley, Ghazzali and David Hume. For example Ghazzali
gives an example for the character of relation between dog and stick in Mishqat
al-Anwar. This example is repeated in the Monadology of Leibnitz and Hume’s An
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. And similarities are seen between the
thoughts of Berkeley and David Hume on causality and determinism and Ghazzali’s
opinions on cause-result in the seventeenth problem in the Tahafut al-Falasifa.

There are also similarities on the understandings of ethics in Ghazzali and Kant.
Parallelisms of these two great men; on the separation of batin (noumen) and zahir
(phenomen); estimation of categories and ‘theoretical reason is not sufficient in
the metaphysical field.’ M. M. Sharif notes that the sources of this parallelism
are from (the thoughts of) Leibnitz, Spinoza and Maimonide (that Kant read them.)
It is also possible to find similarities Kant’s antinomies in Critique of Pure
Reason and Ghazzali’s questions on cosmos. If the opinions of Kant about Islam are
searched (Religion With in the Limits of Reason Alone, p, 72), the impact of
Ghazzali on him is seen clearly. (16)

From Priestley to Sarton

Four great men Priestley, Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe and George Sarton should be also
mentioned at this point, because of impression of Arabic and Islamic sources on
them. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) British chemist and political theorist and one
of the great thinkers of the humanity. He discovered and studied a large number of
gases including oxygen. He followed Syriac and Arabic courses in his youth. He
left the teachings of classical courses in the university, and taught history,
science and arts. His books The History and Present State of Electricity (1767)
and Essay on the First Principles of Government, and the Nature of Political,
Civil and Religious Liberty(1769) and his thoughts on empirical sciences,
political science and social life influenced Western world.(17) Johann Wolfgang
Goethe (1749-1832) although he did not take Arabic courses in his education, but
philosopher Herder adviced him to read George Sale’s Translation of Quran, in
1771. As a lawyer in Frankfurt in 1772, Goethe wrote articles in the newspaper
Frankfurter Gelehrten Anzeige and criticized the mistake translations of Quran
into German. In the one of his articles, he was saying: “My desire is, a German
translator who is very fond of comprehend the comprehending of Quran and he has
got sharpness of intelligence and has got a soul of poet, he should translate
Quran thinking under the moonlight of the Orient he should feel the soul of the
Prophet (Muhammad) that the Prophet is in a tent and Divine revelation is coming.
After these feelings, a man should translate Quran.(18) Goethe collected ten
suras (chapters) of Quran in Koran Auszüge (Summary of Quran) and emphasized
unity of God. German historian Hammer had translated Hafiz Shirazi’s Diwan in
1812-13. After reading this translation Goethe decided to write like a this diwan.

He was influenced by Hafiz’s Diwan, Quran and the sentences of the prophet
Muhammad while he was writing his West-oestlicher Diwan (West-Easterly Diwan) and
in the preface of this book he had written: “Author of West-oestlicher Diwan does
not reject the doubt that he is a muslim.” In a laylatu al-qadr (the 27th of
Ramazan month, when the Quran began to be revealed to the Prophet Muhammad) that
Goethe was 70 years old, Goethe had said: “Why Goethe will not celebrate with
respect that in this blessed night Quran was revealed from the heaven to
Muhammad ?” (19) The third man is Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49), 19th century
American author, brilliant poet and critic. Like Dante, influence of Islamic
culture is seen in his studies; especially in Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827),
and Al Aaraf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (in 1829) (20) George Sarton (1884-
1956) that he is founder of history of science as an independent discipline. After
learning Arabic he wrote his magnum opus Introduction to the History of Science.
Sarton classified five centuries from VIII. to XII. centuries giving names of
muslim scientists for every fifty years and named this period as ‘Golden Age.’
(21)

Civilization Studies of Malik b. Nabi and Habbabi’s ‘Tomorrowism’ for ‘Open the
Social Sciences’

Malik b. Nebi (1905-73) Algerian thinker. Although he was an electricity engineer

but he spent the majority of his life for the studies on philosophy, sociology and
history. Malik b. Nabi wrote approximately thirty books in French and Arabic. He
had said, more than fifty years ago, that “there is not any iron curtain between
civilizations. And it is necessary for Islamic and Arab world to approach
Western civilization but the condition of to protect its identity.” (22)
“Religion is the base of all of activities of reform and awakening.” According to
b. Nabi: “Today’s muslims lost the scientific and congenital (innate) taste for
understanding of Quran, that’s why it is imposible to profit properly from Quran.”
(23) Malik b. Nabi says “there are two kinds of orientalists that some of them
criticize Islam and muslims unjustly but the others like Joseph-Toussaint Reinaud,
J. J. Sedillot, Miguel Asin Palacious that they showed the contributions of Islam
and muslims to sciences and the humanity. (24)

Moroccon scholar and thinker Hababi (as ‘Lahbabi’ in European languages, 1923-93)
takes his philosopical starting point from Islam. “Islam has got same meaning with
tolerance, rationalism and personalism. Real muslim enters his own world, obeys
his God’s decree and performs the rules of His Sharia with all his effort.”
Hababi puts his philosophy as ‘ghadiyya’ (tomorrowism) that future is very
important. Hababi says: “In the future, the boundaries of cultures and nations
will be passed. He points with his hope that “problems of civilizations and
economics and especially Euro-centrism will not exist(in the future.) His hope is
“to establish a future that all of the civilizations participate equally, no any
differences between developed and underdeveloped worlds and ‘sovereignty of
affection, justice and (mutually) understanding’ is essential, and no any cultural
and racist bigotry or fanaticism is seen.”(25) Habbabi’s writings are important
because Gulbankian Commission had frequently emphasized the importance of
civilization studies for openinig of the social sciences that in the past they
had been neglected.

Conclusion. Although Gulbankian commission had not got a muslim scholar member and
this was a deficiency at the beginning, but in its report, Islamic studies was
encouraged sometimes openly and sometimes by implication. And conferences,
activities and papers in the journal of Fernand Braudel center Review, about
Islam have been published. In a reality that, today, we have not got powerful
muslim and non-muslim scholars of 20th century like Muhammad Abu Zahra,
Abdulwahhab Khallaf, Mawlana Shibli, Muhammad Hamidullah,Muhammad Ghazzali,
Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Sigrid Hunke, Maurice Lombard, George Sarton; but Muslim
and non-muslim scholars should produce more studies from Islamic sources for
obtain sufficient help for ‘Open the Social Sciences.’ Absolutely Islamic rich
cultural legacy will achieve (like a millennium ago) to (re) open (the social)
sciences for a second time in the world history and all of the humanity will
provide big gains (from this scholarly activities) to restore its future.

1) Open the Social Sciences, (the fourth edition) Istanbul 2003, p, 13

(2) ibid, p, 14,
(3) ibid, p, 19
(4) Osman Bakar, “The Unity of Science and Spiritual Knowledge: The Islamic
Experience” in Science and Spirit (R. Ravindra ed.), New York, International
Cultural Foundation, 1991, p, 87-101
(5) Lutz Richter-Bernburg, “Ibn al-Maristaniya: The Career of a Hanbalite
Intellectual in Sixth/Twelfth Century Baghdad”, Journal of the American Oriental
Society, New Haven, Connecticut, CII (1982), pp, 265-83
(6) David A. King-E. S. Kennedy, “Ibn al-Majdi’s Tables for Calculating
Ephemerides”, Majallatu Tarikh al-Ulum al-Arabiyya, Halab, IV/1 (1980), p, 48-68;
George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, New York 1975, III/2, pp,
1528-29
(7) Fazil al-Sibai, “al-Saydalaniyyu al-Andalusi Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati (Ibn al-
Rumiyya)”, Abhath al-Nadwa al-‘Alamiyyati al-Rabia li-tarikhi ulum ınde
al-‘Arab , Halab, publisher Mustafa Shakh Khamza, 1411/1993,II, pp, 50-115
(8) Esin Kahya, “Ibn al-Nafis and His Work Kitab Mujiz al-Qanun”, Studies in
History of Medicine & Science, New Delhi 1985, IX/3-4, pp, 89-95
And in the Ottoman history some chief physicians were appointed as kazasker (qadi
al-qudat=chief judge) and a lot of them had worked as judge and muderris
(faculty members of religious colleges)
(9) (9)G. A. Russell, “Physicians at the Ottoman Court”, Medical History, London
1990, XXXIV/3, pp, 243-67306.)

10) Hikmat Ali al-Awsi, “Islamic Influence in Dante’s Divine Comedy”, Majmuatu al-
lugat al-Arabiyya, Amman 1999, LVII, p, 11-38; Hilmi Ziya Ulken, “Dante ve Mi
‘rac, Divina Komedya’nin Islam Kaynaklari (Dante and Mi ‘raj (Ascent), Islamic
Sources of Divine Comedy”, Islam Mecmuasi, LVIII, Istanbul 1946, p, 4-7
(11)M. A. Alonso, “Algazel en el Mundo Latino”, Al-Andalus, Madrid 1958, XXII, pp,
373-74
(12) Ahmad Shahlan, “al-Mizan bayna al-mafahim al-Islamiyya wa al-taqaliyd al-
Yahudiyya” in Ghazali la raison et le miracle, Paris 1987, p, 97
(13) Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq, Manhaj al-Falsafi bayna al-Ghazzali wa Dekart, Qahira
1981, p, 6-8, 80-81
(14) M. Aziz al-Hababi, Waraqat an Falsafatin Islamiyyetin, Dar al-Bayza 1988, p,
108, 117-23, 126-32, 141
(15) A. J. Wensinck, Bar Hebraeus’s Book of the Dove, Leiden 1919, p, XVI
(16) Karliga, “Gazzali (Eserleri-Tesirleri)”, Diyanet Islam Ansiklopedisi,
Istanbul 1996, XIII, pp, 518-530
(17) Encyclopaedia Britannica; Grolier Universal Encyclopedia, entries on
Priestley
(18) K. Mommsen, Im Islam leben und sterben wir alle, Bonn 1982, p, 14
(19) Goethes Werke (ed. Erich Trunz and others), Hamburg 1962-67, II, p, 206
(20) Allardyce Nicoll, “Poe, Edgar Allan”, Grolier, V, 250-51
(21) Sarton, Introduction, I, p, 16-17, 520, 543, 619, 693, 738
(22) Malik b. Nabi, Wijhat al-‘Alam al-Islami, Qahira 1959, Abdussabur Shahin, p,
57-58 (first edition in French, Vocation de l’Islam, Paris 1954)
(23) Malik b. Nabi, Shurut al-Nahda, Abdussabur Shahin, Qahira 1961, p, 57-60
(24) Malik b. Nabi, Intaj al-Mustashriqin wa Atharuhu fi al-Fikr al-Islami al-
Hadith, Qahira 1970, Abdussabur Shahin, p, 8-11, 186
(25) Abdulhamid al-Mursili, “Min al-Shakhsaniyya ila al-Ghadiyya”, in Nadwa
Takrimiyya li al-mufakkir al-katib Muhammad al-Aziz al-Hababi, Rabat 1411/1990,
pp, 23-27, 189-195