Why Study the History of Civilization?

"The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid." Livy "History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity." Cicero "History is for human self-knowledge. Knowing yourself means knowing, first, what it is to be a person; secondly, knowing what it is to be the kind of person you are; and thirdly, knowing what it is to be the person you are and nobody else is. Knowing yourself means knowing what you can do; and since nobody knows what they can do until they try, the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is." R. G. Collingwood "Only a good-for-nothing is not interested in his past." Sigmund Freud "What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it." G. W. F. Hegel "Everything must be recaptured and relocated in the general framework of history, so that despite the difficulties, the fundamental paradoxes and contradictions, we may respect the unity of history which is also the unity of life." Fernand Braudel "The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present." E. H. Carr "If you do not like the past, change it." William L. Burton

Introduction
Civilization as Abstract: deals with theories and concepts. Civilization as Concrete/Structural: Things we can see i.e. physical

KNOWLEDGE OF CIVILIZATION AND HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION

Knowledge of civilization or Studies of civilization: it is a knowledge that talks about the theory, basic concepts, attributes and characteristics of civilization in conceptual, theoretical and abstract form. History of civilization: on the other hand, is seeing those things experienced by a civilization from the point of achievement, progress, progress and backwardness, or simply the study of the past. The difference here is the study of civilization is not so tied to time or age restrictions, but the history of civilization is often constrained by time factors

The Etymology of the Word

The first word to be used for civilization was umran (a place inhabited by ppl) and hadarah (sedentary life) by Ibn Khaldun. Later hadarah was used as civilization. So also Muhammad Abduh & Muhd Farid Wajdi used the word madaniyyah but it did not gain wide acceptance from scholars and ppl. However, the word Tamaddun which was introduce byJurji Zaydan in his book Tarikh al-Tamaddun al-Islami in the early 1900 gained current among scholars and ppl and it came to be accepted as the right word for civilization. The word Tamaddun is derived from the Arabic word maddana: choosing a location to stay, develop a place to become a city, to become city dwellers, a modern lifestyle. In English, the word "civilization" comes from the Latin word for townsman or citizen, civis or civitas, and its adjectival form, civilis. To be "civilized" essentially meant being a townsman, governed by the constitution and legal statutes of that community . Other words are culture and urbanization. In Malay, Tamadun, peradaban and kebudayaan In Chinese: Wen Ming i.e. wen charm, character; ming-bright, light In Tamil Nakarikam: Nakar town, city; ikam formation. Nakar is also a symbol of the incarnation of Lord Shiva (the god of creation), which is also associated with the creation of the town or city.

The first scholar to study the science of civilization was a Muslim called Abd-ar-Rahman Abu Zayd ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun in the 14 century. i.e to say Muslims have been studying about civilization since the 14th century.
The west only study the science of civilization during the 19 century when Muqaddimah Ibnu Khaldun was translated into English and French. DEFINITION It is difficult to state a definition for civilization, because every society has its own idea about civilization/tamaddun.

E.G. Islamic perspective; tamaddun is balancing between spiritual and material development. Western perspective: material and physical development as a measurement for a civilized society (Toynbee, Fiebleman)

CONTINUATION OF DEFINITION

Civilization means different things to different scholars depending on their field of study. To the HISTORIANS and ARCHAELOGISTS, civilization is a three-dimensional culture and a culture is raised to the position of civilization when it possesses: 1.Town indication large population, 2. Monumental buildings such as palaces, temples etc. And 3. Writing which man invented at the end of barbarism according to Edward Taylor and which made him attained civilization. To Toynbee, another great historian civilization is the kind of culture found in cities To some modern writer, civilization is defined as a characteristic of societies Clive Bell Robert-Heine Geldern sees it as a culture trait while Redfield sees it as one of the limited number of great peaks of culture or of human achievement shouldering itself upward, like a mountain among hills and plains. The Anthropologist Riberio sees civilizations generally as the crystallization of individual civilizational processes. i.e is the different stages of the development of mans society from the basic to the modern or the different revolution man went through in the process of the development of his society. From the Islamic point of view, there is no standard definition of what civilization is but only a description of what constitutes it and how a civilization is founded. However, as we shall see later, some Muslims have also given their own definition of what a civilization is which is in concordance with some of the above. But in addition to all the above, they assigned an important role to religion in the formation of a civilization.

Religion and Civilization

1.Pro-Religion a. Religion a natural instinct in man b. The world as proof of the existence of God c. Religious Humanism: religion began with imagination, superstition and legend d. Theories on religion psychology (Sigmund Freud), sociology (Emile Durkheim), Anthropology ( Ludwig Feuerbach) e. Evolution theory in religion: from polytheism to henotheism to monotheism 2. Anti-religion Atheism: religion is a sign of human weakness. religion was born out of obedience, submission and worship of what they fear and love as the phenomena of nature, including sun, moon, stars, seas, rivers, fire, animals and plants. God is an illusion and all problems in human societies stem from this. With science and technology man will no longer need God as he would have outgrown this illusion

Continue: Religion and Civilization

1. The relationship between civilization and religion can not be separated because in many cases religion becomes a factor to human civilization in a society. Religion builds a universal view of civilization and behavioral actions of the members of the community in civilization. This is evident in the course of the history of the world's great civilizations like the Aztec, Sumerian / Babylonian, Ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Indus, Ganges and others. These civilizations were dominated by their traditional belief system which also determine the image of the civilization. The good civilizations that can be seen to this day is proof of the existence of real appreciation of the religious life. 2. But not all civilizations are influenced by religion e.g. Western Civilization has a tendency to isolate religious values in community life. 3. There are several civilizations, which also gather a variety of different religious communities in a society e.g. Islamic civilization

Continue: Religion and Civilization

In general, there are at least two streams of opinion abt the relationship bwt religion and civilization; first the opinion that the influence and role of religion has a huge impact on civilization and second skeptics of the role of religion in civilization i.e. religion has no role in civilization and if it did, it is accidental. On the first opinion, for example, Arnold Toynbee opines that "in the course of its evolution, a Civilisation produced, among other things, a universal state and higher form of religion". Yet another American scholar, Thomas Berry says that eastern civilization (oriental Civilisation) such as China and India can not be fully understood except by reference to the religions of Asia. While Edward Sullivan recognizing the role of Islam in the Islamic civilization says "Muslim Civilisation was the product of the Muslim religion".

Culture and Civilization

Edward Taylor: Culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society Edward L. Farmer:civilization is an entity or unit of the largest cultural organization of people sharing social norms, traditions and institutions on an ongoing basis. Oswald Spengler: culture will be born when the society or government is in the golden age, the characteristics of prominent social and intellectual community. At a time when the government was at the level of greatness, the public no longer progressive, does not change and is not active then it is called civilization. According to Weber culture can be divided into two categories: spiritual culture and material culture. According to this division, the second culture (i.e. material culture) is known as civilization.

Continue: Culture and Civilization

In contrast to the above, Said Hawa in his book al-Islam divides civilization into two, namely the Islamic civilization and the civilization of ignorance (Jahiliyah). Islamic civilization refers to all aspects of constructive progress based on the Islamic culture. While the pagan civilization is progress in the form of material aspect without due regards to the spiritual and moral aspects. Carroll Quigley: culture and civilization can be distinguished by using the example of groups and community. All groups have a culture but within the group we can have communities and while a particular community could be parasitic bc it fails to produce and innovate, another could be productive and innovative. The one that is productive thus become civilized and advanced. Culture could be different from civilization when considered from the point of view that culture have boundary but civilization does not have boundary. Likewise, culture could be easily changed but civilization cannot be easily changed as it is crystallized in the society.

Civilization and Race

In theory, civilization cannot be separated from race even though civilization goes beyond the limits of nation and races. Many things in a civilization are determined by the nation leading a civilization. However, it is not just a race that determines or owns a civilization, because there are civilizations that were founded and owned by more than one nation or race as it is seen in the founding of Western civilization which is made up of many racial or ethnic groups in Europe and North America. Likewise, the Islamic civilization has developed and grown with the contributions of different cultures and nations.

PROCESS AND FEATURES OF CIVILIZATION

As a process, the evolution of a civilization is caused by change and improvement in human thought from one stage to another stage or from rural life to city life, from nomadic life to settled life. The process experienced by a society can be divided into several stages. First, the provision of basic necessities for themselves and their families such as food, clothing, shelter and safety; this stage can be found in a simple community. Second, the stage at which human wants and achievements are beyond basic needs which could pave the way for the creation of creative thinking and a more refined and artistic values. These processes occur continuously in response to changes experienced by the community.Edward Taylor and H. Morgan stressed the importance of reading and writing as an important aspect in the process of the birth of a civilization. At the end of the time of barbarianism, man has created a script and letters which in turn led them to civilization. Relations between them are very close as Glyn Daniel said in his book, The first Civilizations: the Archeology of their Origins, "Civilization can not exist without a system of writing and a system of writing can not exist except in a Civilization". While Beatty and Johnson also argues that urban life and the written record are two important conditions for achieving civilization, Kluckhohn asserts that a civilized society must have two of the following matters, namely the village of more than 5000 people, a form of written language and ceremonial center of worship. Whereas, Riberio has given nearly a dozen of

civilizational processes that occur in human society.

Characteristics of Civilization
There are general characteristics and specific characteristics of civilization. In particular, a civilization has its own character or characters which differentiate it from other civilizations. Greek civilization, for example, is famous for its literary and artistic philosophy, Chinese civilization with the Craft, while the Islamic civilization is famous for its aspect of faith, morals and shariah is the basis for the view that it is universally comprehensive, complete and perfect. The general characteristics and the basis of a universal civilization are as follows: a. The existence of permanent settlements (cities, towns, metropolitan or early) and the end of nomadic life. b. Increase the quality of a better life and higher life expectancy which is stable and long lasting. c. The existence of organizational systems and social institutions which runs smoothly and efficiently. d. The emergence of a language, writing or some cognate language with its own writing system. e. The existence of an orderly legal system and the system of moral values which is capable of regulating the conduct and behavior of members of the community. f. Ability and increased innovation in the field of science and technology, architecture and so on in order to bring about a complete and more comfortable life. g. Ability and development of creativity embracing philosophy, art, literature and aesthetics of its own.

The Ingredients of Civilization

From all the above, we can identify the following as the basic ingredients that serve as the foundation/pillar of civilization and without which a civilization becomes impossible. These are: 1. Town/Cities 2. Monuments/Mighty Buildings 3. The spread of the art of Writing

4. Religion

Over time, however, the word civilization has come to imply something beyond organization -- it refers to a particular shared way of thinking about the world as well as a reflection on that world in art, literature, drama and a host of other cultural happenings.

Some important principles of civilization

1.Socialization between members of a society

2.Interaction between members of a society

The process of socialization and interaction 1.Social factors 2.Economy factors 3.Interaction between man and cosmos 4.Human creativity 5.Competition 6.Learn from others

Discussion: The definition between the word civilization is different between different society. What are the differences about civilization between Islam and the west? Do you agree that Islamic Civilization already studied the science of civilization earlier than the west? What is the poof? How will u differentiate between the following: knowledge of civilization & history of civilization; culture and civilization.

REFERENCES
For further reading see M. A. Beg, Islamic and Western Concept of Civilization, (Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 3rd edn., 1982), p. 13 20; Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, Islam and Secularism, (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1978), p. 52 54.