The Golden Age of Islam

A good while after denouncing my faith and identity as a Muslim, my perception of Islam pivotally changed after doing some research into Islamic philosophy and history. I had always thought that since its conception, Islam and the Qu’raan had never changed or progressed from the time of Prophet Muhammad, as this is a sentiment I hear relentlessly from Muslims.

Little did I know that Islam has enjoyed a rich history of progression throughout its years, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age. I was stunned to learn that major developments in knowledge, such as Algebra, Chemistry, Music, Optics, Medicine and Philosophy, had occurred during this time period, and are achievements credited towards Muslims!

It is a whole new world I had never learned or encountered, despite being a Muslim most of my life. I had constantly heard about the stories of Muhammad and other prophets during Jummah (Friday) prayer, but very little about the genius Muslims of our day, experimenting and soon innovating things we still have today, such as hospitals, universities, and lenses.

My degrees are in philosophy, so it was a matter of time before I encountered Islamic Philosophy during the Golden Age, which in my four years of studying Western philosophies, I had never heard of before. The most seminal of them for me being Averroes (Ibn Rushd).

Averroes was an Islamic philosopher greatly inspired by the works of Aristotle. He fundamentally believed that upholding an Islamic faith can be compatible with philosophical reasoning, and in some circumstances, living in accordance to reason should prioritised over following scripture for the sake of tradition.

He believed this so vehemently, that Averroes held that one could actually become a better Muslim by reasoning intellectually, since their knowledge of Allah is heightened when interpreting the Qu’raan, and the Prophet’s life as allegories towards deeper and greater understandings of the universe.

To take the Qu’raan literally was to neglect an essential part of understanding Islam and being a strong Muslim, and that was reasoning independently and intellectually.

Many take Averroes to be one of the first Islamic thinkers to promote secular thought, which as you can imagine, received a lot of criticism and controversy at the time. These ideas still cause controversy today!

His contribution to philosophy, in effect, were to defend the longevity of Islamic philosophy against thinkers such as Al-Ghazali, who believed that certain Muslim thinkers at the time held Greek wisdom so much so the essence of Islam was under threat.

Though considered a very notable Islamic philosopher himself, he was concerned that Islamic philosophy integrating with Western values necessarily sacrificed the essence of Islam, demoting actions and ideas which were not discussed during the time of the Prophet, as ‘Bidah’ (innovation). The Catholic equivalent of this term would be ‘heresy’.

Al-Ghazali’s influence is one reason why many branches of Sunni Islam adhere strictly to faith, dismissing innovations and developments to the religion as Bidah — which is considered to be a grave sin.

Here lies one compelling reason why many Muslims so strictly adhere to the religious practices and traditions, even to the extent of closely following the same example of Prophet Muhammad himself. They fear blasphemy.

Salafism, a movement within Sunni Islam, is mostly concerned with restoring the purest form of Islam, and avoiding all kinds of Bidah, anything that is not concerned directly in the Qu’raan or the prophet’s life.

It is essentially this thought process that led me to believe I wasn’t Muslim. Where I disagreed with some parts of the Qu’raan, or actions of Prophet Muhammad, I increasingly thought I was unable to identify myself as Muslim, since my beliefs were not in exact accordance of the original scripture.

But I was ignorant to the fact this was only one, of many different sects, perspectives and philosophies within Islam. I learned by researching into the history post-Muhammad, that Islam is a pluralistic concept that encompasses a wide range of different beliefs, from Sunni to Shia, and all the sects inclusive of it.

If Islam is exactly the same for everyone, then everyone in the Ummah would agree on exactly the same things. Since there are so many different sects of Islam, this is clearly not the case. There are disagreements even within the same sect of Islam, so it certainly isn’t the case!

What fundamentally unifies Muslims despite these differences? It is Tawheed, the belief in one God, that remains the core essence of Islamic belief.

One could go further to say it is only this condition which needs to be satisfied in order for one to be considered a Muslim at the very least, if it is the unanimously considered to be the core of Islamic belief regardless of sect, nationality, and belief system.

I think the greatest innovations in the Islamic Golden Age occurred mostly because it wasn’t seen as a bad thing to deviate from orthodox traditions, and experiment with new types of knowledge and ethics. Bidah was not considered a sin, and by resisting orthodoxy, what encompasses Islam and what a Muslim could be, can blossom into beautiful achievements of humanity.