Islamic and Christian Civilizations

Islamic and Christian Civilizations
By Aaron Schwartz

Islamic and Christian civilizations developed in parallel with their distinguishing features and peculiarities resulting from differences in cultures, religion, disposition of territory, definite historical prerequisites.

Three civilizations that were based on religion emerged after the fall of Rome: Byzantium, Islamic and West European. First of all it is need to be stressed that Islam as a religion had a great impact on the development of the whole eastern civilization as from its very beginning it was destined to become a world religion and to create a civilization which stretched from one end of the globe to the other. Islam was presented as a monotheistic religion and as the fulfillment of Judaism and Christianity. The teachings of Muhammad on the Five Pillars of the faith and on a variety of practical questions became the fundamental rules of life for Islamic people. They are compiled in the Qur’an and Hadith.

On the contrary to the European autocracy the Islamic state was theocratic. The rulers governed according to religious law. Despite the status of Arab women was perfected with Islam, ambiguities in the Qur’an and Hadith led to the establishment of an Arab-style patriarchy in which women were entirely subordinate to men. Islamic religion agreed to special status to Christians and Jews. Despite they were exposed to restrictions and penalties because non-Muslims, these “Peoples of the Book” generally lived free of persecution.

On the contrary to common opinion Islam is quite tolerant religion, as they preserved the Hellenic tradition and helped pass it on to the West. Muslim culture and science built upon the work of the Greeks, spreading out its understanding and often correcting their mistakes. Even Islamic theoretical philosophy is based on Platonic and Aristotelian ideas. There are such famous thinkers as Al-Farabi and Avicenna who inherited Neoplatonic and Aristotelian concepts to prove the existence of God, while Averroës employed Aristotle to argue that philosophy and study of the Qur’an were matched. Were there also historiographers for instance Ibn Khaldun with his Universal History, which includes, along with a comprehensive account of civilization, an analytical autobiography.