Al-Zahwari surgery: Ali Hassan Amro Qu'ranic Foundation of Islamic Science

By Senad Mrahorovic Introduction Every aspect of the Islamic religion Sunnah as the key interpretation from intellectual and doctrinal of the former, the implementation to jurisprudential and practical of the said principles by the domains has its origin in the Qur’ān virtue of their origin could not or the Sunnah of the Prophet. The have, but taken place within the concept of Islamic science, which framework of Islamic worldview or includes all of the highly significant environment. Concerning the idea and enormously rich intellectual of knowledge in , it might be and scientific enterprise that said that from the starting point Muslims and non-Muslims living of the Qur’anic revelation, it was under the umbrella of the Islamic given an islamicized character by civilization have produced for the the very first verses of the Qur’ān: past fourteen centuries, is of no “Read in the name of your Lord”. exception. Since the principles An added value to its islamization of Islam are all contained in the is the fact that the first and Qur’ān as the primary source of foremost principle of Islam, namely everything that is Islamic, and the the Shahādah, that is, Lā ilāha

103 ill’Allāh, implies both certainty of Islamic thought, this knowledge knowledge and undeniable faith. is called ‘Ilm al-Tawhīd or in its In this essay, I will discuss the more philosophical treatment al- Qur’ān as the main source for the ‘Ilm al-Ilāhī, that is, the science of development of Islamic science. Divine Unity or metaphysics4. ‘Ilm al-Tawhīd is regarded as the most Qur’anic conception of praiseworthy and most beneficial knowledge knowledge towards which all The notion of knowledge is deeply other avenues of intellectual and rooted in the vocabulary of the scientific inquiries should lead Qur’anic revelation and it has been to. In al-Ghazālī’s classification articulated in a number of different of sciences for instance, the linguistic forms among which science of Tawhīd appears at are the roots ‘ilm, fqh, ‘aql, bsr, the head of the sections of both qlb and their various derivatives religious and intellectual divisions respectively, that were frequently of sciences5. In one of his many employed within the language works, al-Ghazālī writes: “The of the Qur’ān. For example, the Highest and noblest knowledge root ‘ilm with a number of its is the knowledge of God because verbal derivations, appears in all other forms of knowledge are the Qur’ān about 750 times1. sought for the sake of it and it is Regardless of possible reasons not sought for anything else”6. behind the frequent usage of the Another prominent intellectual notions related to knowledge, figure from classical period of understanding, spiritual illumin- Islamic civilization, namely, Ibn ation and vision and other terms, ‘Arabī, like al-Ghazālī, has widely it is certain that the Qur’anic written in this domain of study. In usage of them has brought the his reflection on the importance aspect of knowledge in Islam as of knowledge of Divine Unity, an almost inseparable component Ibn ‘Arabī has stated that “[t]he of the Islamic faith2. Indeed, intelligent person should not seek the first part of the testimony of any knowledge save that through faith in Islam “is a statement of which his essence is perfected knowledge concerning Reality”3. and which is carried along with The knowledge in question refers him wherever he may be taken. to the awareness of God who This is not but knowledge of created the entire cosmos and the God in respect of bestowal and whole chain of hierarchical beings witnessing”7. Today, in a similar contained within. In traditional fashion , a

104 leading contemporary authority In the case of various branches on Islamic thought and of Islamic science, the principle of has argued that the “real nature of Divine Unity has always dominated intelligence is ultimately to come other aspects of knowledge. to realize that Lā ilāhe illa’Allāh, Despite numerous methods used that is to come to know that in to study different subjects, the aim the end there is only one Absolute of Muslim scholars and scientists Reality. It is to realize the absolute has always been to underline the nature of Allāh and the relativity Unity of God and consequently of all else that is other than He”8. the unicity of nature in which This knowledge of Tawhīd in everything is being perceived as Islam is regarded as the supreme a symbol pointing to the Divine knowledge or the highest truth Principle as the Cause of all that since it concerns the knowledge exists in the created realm of reality. and truth of the Highest, that is, This is best explained by Seyyed the Supreme Reality9. Hossein Nasr in the following Needless to say, the above- statement: “One might say that mentioned views and numerous the aim of all the Islamic sciences – other statements by Muslim and, more generally speaking, of all scholars on the supremacy of medieval and ancient cosmological ‘Ilm al-Tawhīd over other types of sciences – is to show the unity and sciences are almost solely based interrelatedness of all that exist, so on the Qur’anic and Sunnatic that, in contemplating the unity treatments of the subject of of the cosmos, man may be led to knowledge and its related themes. the unity of the Divine Principle, In both these sources respectively, of which the unity of Nature is the knowledge is often linked to faith image”10. or treated as a Muslim’s religious The relationship between duty. A few instances from knowledge and Islamic faith the Qur’ān and Hadīth may be however, may well be illustrated sufficient to justify this: “Among by considering the first revealed His servants, only those who have portion of the Qur’anic revelation knowledge (‘ulamā) are God- and the symbolism and messages fearing” [Qur’ān, 35:28]; “God they portrayed. Having in mind the will raise in rank those of you importance of knowledge in the who believe and who are given Islamic intellectual tradition and its knowledge” [Qur’ān, 58:11]; “The correlation with religious dogmas, seeking of knowledge is obligatory it is not surprising that the starting for every Muslim”[Ibn Mājah, 224]. point of the Islamic revelation is

105 almost exclusively concerned with in hearts and minds of Muslims knowledge and its source on the is clearly demanded for every one hand, and the way of obtaining action or thought conducted by a knowledge and its ultimate aim on Muslim, especially when it comes the other hand. The first revealed to seeking truth and discerning it verses of the Qur’ān, which form from falsehood11. The act carried the opening part of the Sūrah al- out in this manner partakes in ‘Alaq (the chapter of the Clinging the sacred be it of a worldly or Clot), state the following: “Read! of a spiritual nature. From the (Recite!) In the name of your simplest conduct to the noblest Lord and Cherisher, Who created deed, from the basic education - Created man, out of a (mere) to the higher contemplation, a clot of congealed blood: Read! Muslim is thus able to sanctify or And your Lord is Most Bountiful, transcend his action, intellection - He Who taught (the use of) the and imagination by adhering to Pen, - Taught man that which he the message of the above verses knew not” (Qur’ān, 96:1-5). This or simply to the shahādah which, Qur’anic text immediately projects for its part implies, not only one’s the three main principles among verbal witness to the oneness of others, concerning knowledge God and the messengerhood of in the context of the relationship the Prophet but also a certitude between God and humankind, and intellectual recognition of the namely, the recitation or bearing truth that it expresses. It is in this witness to the reality or truth in the context according to Nasr, that the name of God; Divine creation of a Prophetic hadīth that states: “Say human as an intelligent being; and Lā ilāha ill’Allāh and be delivered”, Divine teaching and illumination should be understood12. of human being. In the traditional On the other hand, the Islamic perspective, each of the imperative form of the verb qara’a above principles reflects certain by which the Islamic revelation has elements that are directly or commenced is very significant for indirectly connected to the Islamic two main reasons. The first one character of science developed is that the infinitive form of this within the Islamic worldview. verb, that is, qur’ān or recitation, Concerning the first principle, is the very name of the Islamic that is, iqra’ b-’i-smirabbika or revelation, while the second one ‘Read (Recite) in the name of is that in Islam a book (al-kitāb), your Lord’, it is strongly indicated yet another name of the Qur’ān13, that the presence of the Divine is the crystallization of the Divine

106 revelation in human language as qualitative to quantitative; practical well as the ultimate container of and aesthetical”16. Here it would the Divine Word14. The Qur’ān be sufficient to mention that the therefore is at once a recitation, a countless facts, occurrences and discernment and a book of Divine sights contained in nature are signs (āyāt) which besides its clear regarded as signs (āyāt) pointing exoteric meaning also possesses to the transcendental reality. In the the inner character or esoteric same way, the verses of the Qur’ān denotation hidden by veils of are called āyāt. Both types of numerous layers of symbolism that āyāt are considered sacred simply is beautifully as well as miraculously because of their Divine origin and expressed by the Divine Arabic purpose of their manifestation in dictation in the Qur’ān. That is the created order of reality. The why the Qur’ān is regarded, in the Qur’ān states: “We shall show intellectual tradition of Islam, as them our signs (āyātinā) upon the the source of all knowledge. From horizons and within themselves, the Islamic perspective, writes until it be manifest unto them that Nasr, “all knowledge is contained it is the Truth” [Qur’ān, 41:53]17. in essence in the Qur’ān, the Based on this almost equal meaning knowledge of all orders of reality. and the role shared between the But this knowledge lies within the natural and the Qur’anic signs, Qur’ān in essence, or as a seed some Muslim scholars have called and in principle, not in formal natural phenomena as the al- detail”15. Qur’ān al-Takwīnī, compared to The second principle derived the al-Qur’ān al-Tadwīnī which from the foregoing verses (alladhī refers to the actual form of Islamic khalaqa), is the Divine creation of revelation18. the cosmos and all what it contains. As for the purpose of this It is precisely in the light of this Divine creation, the Qur’ān has principle that Muslim scholars made it clear in the following and scientists have approached verses: “I have only created Jinn19 the world and its phenomena. and men that they may worship As the sources of various kinds of Me” [Qur’ān, 51:56], or “In the knowledge vary, the created world creation of heavens and earth… of nature with its multiple levels of there are indeed Sings for men being represented an important of understanding” [Qur’ān, 3: source for the development of 190]. Here the verses clearly numerous sciences “physical and show the essential obligation of metaphysical; scientific to spiritual; men and other creatures towards

107 their Creator and Sustainer, al-insāna). The process however an obligation that in the case of this kind of teaching involves, of human being can only be besides the utilization of the adequately achieved by the virtue mentioned faculties of knowing, of proper knowledge. Being the highest level of certainty in one’s Divine vicegerent on earth with faith in God, the unconditional the responsibility of his conducts devotion to Him and the total towards himself and the entire submission to His Will. As the creation therein, over which he traditional Islamic classifications was given the dominance20, and of knowledge suggests, there are ultimately towards God to whom numerous methods of obtaining he will finally return, man is created knowledge. Among these are in the “best of stature” [Qur’ān, mystic vision (mushāhadah) 95:4]. He is the central being in this and illumination (mukāshafah), world to whom God has revealed known in Sufi terminology as al- the knowledge of all things, or to ‘Ilm al-Hudūrī, that is, presential whom the Divine revelation was knowledge. It is also called al- primarily addressed21. This indeed ‘Ilm al-Ladunnī (Divinely taught implies that man is the only being or inspired knowledge) or endowed with the faculties of simply al-ma’rifah (illuminative knowing not only the physical knowledge). Compare to attained aspect of things, as it is the knowledge or knowledge gained case with the modern scientific by cognitive senses, presential epistemology, but also and most knowledge is direct, metaphysical, importantly the metaphysical intuitive and contemplative23. For aspect of reality. The superiority of the traditional Islamic scholars, man among other created beings presential knowledge is regarded is marked by the words of the as the highest level of knowledge aforementioned second verse of and understanding of reality. In the the Sūrah al-‘Alaq: “khalaqa al- Qur’anic vocabulary, it is identified insāna min ‘alaq”, whereby he was with “haqq al-yaqīn” or truth of given an honor and superiority certainty. According to Ibn ‘Arabī, over other created beings to be presential knowledge is possible mentioned at the first place in the only by Divine Will and not by one’s opening verses of the Qur’ān22. own efforts. However, the key This brings us to the third for this possibility of knowledge principle contained in the cited is being revealed in the Qur’anic verses that is, the Divine teaching verse: “Be wary of God, and God and enlightenment of man (‘allama will teach you” [Qur’ān, 2:282]24.

108 Development of Islamic Science works, juridical argumentations to Since the essential teaching of numerous sciences dealing with Islam is to believe in and know literature as well as Arabic the unity of God or Tawhīd, the language as the lingua sacra of rest of the Islamic economy of Islam, the entire corpus of the doctrines and practices is centered Islamic literature was created by upon this truth. The issue of the end of the second century Islamic science may serve as the of Islamic era. The technical best example of how the different vocabulary used in these works kinds of knowledge encompassed as well as in the later periods of by the Islamic revelation have the intellectual history of Islam, been intellectually perceived and was mainly constructed based as such practically implemented by on the Qur’anic and Prophetic generations of Muslim scholars and terminologies. For example, scientists. As the Qur’ān contains the terms such as tawhīd, , the fundamental principles of Islam hikmah, tafsīr, ta’wīl and others that were perfectly elaborated were all taken directly from the and explained by the Prophet of Qur’ān to form later different Islam through his Sunnah (verbal branches of Islamic science26. and practical teachings of the These scholarly and scientific Prophet)25 , the logical priority for activities during the first two the first few generations of Muslim centuries of Islam, have formed scholars was to safeguard the the intellectual as well as sources of their religion, namely, epistemological basis for the the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. In further expansion of Islamic due course they have embarked science. In the view of Alparslan on the path which will lead them Acikgenc, this period was crucial to the highest intellectual summits for the emergence of three ‘mental that were hardly reached by any frameworks’ as the fundamental civilization prior to Islam. Before conditions for the development any serious intellectual influence of Islamic science, namely, upon the rising civilization of the emergence of the Islamic Islam, a great deal of religious worldview as the environment for sciences alongside a number of the Islamic science, the emergence linguistic and artistic disciplines of the Islamic-knowledge structure were developed by way of studying within the Islamic worldview and and commenting the Qur’ān the emergence of the Islamic and the Sunnah. From various scientific tradition. The first theological treatises, exegetical two frameworks are said to be

109 developed during the Prophet’s the world for several centuries lifetime in Mecca and Madinah until the rise of the Western respectively, while the third Renaissance27. In other words, framework developed as the result the Qur’anic insistence on the of the intellectual and practical importance of knowledge and implementation of the Qur’anic its close relationship with the principles related to knowledge principles of the Islamic religion as by the first generation of Muslim was illustrated using the first five scholars headed by the Prophet verses of the Sūrah al-‘Alaq, has himself. The early intellectual made the Islamic civilization not activities introduced directly only the intellectual inheritor of by the Prophet of Islam under ancient scientific traditions, a great the guidance of the Qur’anic part of which has been Islamized, revelation was later expanded and and as such incorporated into the transformed into a sophisticated corpus of the Islamic intellectual system of knowledge which, with tradition, but also a rich source its own and unique methodology for the intellectual and scientific and epistemology, became the revolution in Europe during the leading scientific tradition in latter’s period of enlightenment. Bibliography Acikgenc, Alparslan, 1996, Islamic Science: Towards A Definition, : International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). ‘Alī, ‘Abdullah Yūsuf, 2005, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’ān: Complete Translation with Selected Notes, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust. Al-A’zami, Mustafa , 2011, The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust. Bakar, Osman, 1998, Classification of Knowledge in Islam, Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society. 1999, The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science, Cambridge: Islamic Text Society. Chittick, C. William, 2006, ‘Ibn ‘Arabi on the Benefit of Knowledge’, in Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Catherine O’Brien (eds.), The Essential Sophia, Bloomington: World Wisdom Inc. Haqqī, Ismā’il, Rūh al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, www.altafsir.com. Ibn Mājah, ‘The Book of Sunnah’ Sunan, www.sunnah.com. Izutsu, Toshihiko, 2002, God and Man in the Qur’an: Semantics of the Qur’anic Weltanschauung, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, 2000, Ideals and Realities of Islam, Chicago: ABC International Group, Inc. 1993, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, New York: State University of New York Press. 1989, Knowledge and the Sacred, New York: State University of New York Press. 1987, Science and Civilization in Islam, Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society. 2007, The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promises of , Islam’s Mystical Tradition, New York: HarperOne. Rosenthal, Franz, 2007, Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam, Leiden: Brill.

110 Notes 1 Franz Rosenthal, 2007, Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam, Leiden: Brill, pp. 19-20. 2 See for example some of Rosenthal’s speculation in this regard, Ibid., pp. 19-28. 3 Osman Bakar, 1999, The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science, Cambridge: Islamic Text Society, pp. 1. 4 For the detailed discussion of this subject, see Osman Bakar, 1998, Classification of Knowledge in Islam, Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, pp. 207-210. 5 Osman Bakar, Ibid., pp. 207-210. 6 Al-Ghazālī, The Jewels of the Qur’ān, pp. 43, as cited by Osman Bakar, Ibid., pp. 197. 7 ‘Risālat al-Shaykh ilā‘l-imām al-Rāzī’, pp. 6-7, Rasā’il Ibn ‘Arabī, 1996, Hayderabad-Deccan: The Dairatu’l Ma’rifi’l-Osmania as cited by William C. Chittick in his ‘Ibn ‘Arabi on the Benefit of Knowledge’, in Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Catherine O’Brien, (Eds.), 2006, The Essential Sophia, Bloomington: World Wisdom Inc., pp. 129. 8 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2000, Ideals and Realities of Islam, Chicago: ABC International Group, Inc., pp. 5-6. 9 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2007, The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promises of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition, New York: HarperOne, pp. 34. 10 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 1987, Science and Civilization in Islam, Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, p. 22. 11 Among the names by which the Qur’ān addressed itself is al-Furqān or the discernment, [Qur’ān, 25:1]. The Qur’ān therefore is the criterion by which one is able to distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil, Absolute and relative or as the Qur’anic verse states: “These are the verses (āyāt) of the Book that makes things clear” [Qur’ān, 26:1]. 12 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 1989, Knowledge and the Sacred, New York: State University of New York Press, p. 11. 13 “This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear God” [Qur’ān, 2:2]. 14 Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Islam, p. 32. 15 Ibid., p. 39. 16 Osman Bakar, Ibid., pp. 63. 17 With a slight modification this verse was cited from Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 1993, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, New York: State University of New York Press, p. 6. 18 Professor Toshihiko Izutzu has stated that in terms of Divine intervention in human affairs, there is no difference between linguistic and non-linguistic signs, since both types represent Divine āyāt, Toshihiko Izutsu, 2002, God and Man in the Qur’an: Semantics of the Qur’anic Weltanschauung, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, pp. 142-143. 19 Jinn are beings “of fire” existing in the intermediary realm between the celestial and the physical realms, who are normally unperceived by unaided human vision. 20 “It is He Who has made the earth manageable for you, so traverse you through its tracks and enjoy of the Sustenance which He furnishes: but unto Him is the Resurrection” [Qur’ān, 67:15]. 21 “And He taught Adam the nature of all things” [Qur’ān, 2:31]. 22 Ismā’il Haqqī, “Tafsīr Sūrah al-‘Alaq” in Rūh al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān. The complete Tafsīr is awailable at www.altafsir.com. On the supremacy of man over other created beings se also the following Qur’anic verses: 2:30; 31:20; 95:4. 23 Osman Bakar, Ibid., pp. 194-195, 204. 24 William C. Chittick, Ibid., p. 129. 25 For detailed study of this subject see Mustafa Muhammad al-A’zami, 2011, The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, pp. 59-81. 26 Alparslan Acikgenc in his excellent study of 1996, Islamic Science: Towards A Definition, Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), has offered much extended list of the scholarly and scientific terms adopted from the Qur’ān during the first two centuries of Islam. See the section entitle “The Emergence of the Islamic Scientific Tradition” (10-200 A.H./632-800 A.D.) in the author’s cited work. 27 Alparslan Acikgenc, Ibid., pp. 63-92.

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