The dissolution of the caliphate multiplied the different centers of learning across the Islamic world, ushering in an Islamic Renaissance that lasted from approximately c. 790 – c. 1050. During this time period, the production of new knowledge across the Islamic world was at a new high, and the sciences and philosophies were flourishing under the onslaught of new information and teachings. The circumstances that led to the production of new knowledge in Islamic society, before and after the ending of the caliphate, centered around societal expectations, religious expectations, and political circumstances.

First, societal norms and expectations required Muslims to produce new knowledge. According to a few Hadith, or sources on revelation and the early Muslims, “Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim” (2). These statements, short but simple, laid out the expectations of Muslims at the time – that they would seek and produce knowledge, and these requirements helped push the production of new knowledge at the time, especially when coming from authoritative sources such as the Hadiths. It was not just the Hadiths but the Caliphs who pushed for the production of knowledge. A Caliph in the year A.D. 786, “ was fond of poetry and poets, and patronized literary and learned men. Eulogy he relished highly, especially eulogy by gifted poets, whom he richly rewarded… This Prince treated learned men with great regard.” (3). The Caliphates were leaders who combined the roles of government and religion into one position. The support of the government meant a lot to society, and with the government as one of the driving forces behind the pursuit of knowledge, learning flourished across Islamic society. As in every society, the people also pull from their past, and “Muslims throughout their history have diligently taught their children the Qur’an and provided them with teachers” (5). Thus, teaching became a key part of Muslim society, and the education of children, the future, allowed for the generation of knowledge to thrive. The combination of societal norms through the Hadiths, government and past examples allowed for the production of new knowledge to be encouraged.

Second, Islam had religious expectations centered around the fact that God required the people to produce knowledge. For the people to enter Heaven, they had to follow the teachings of God, and if God expected them to be educated and learn about the world around them to enter heaven, then the people would do just that. Islamic Law urged them “to observe creation by means of reason and demands the knowledge of creation through reason.” (7), which led the people to explore the universe because the Qur’an told them to. As with all religions, not following the path and laws of God meant that one had sinned and thus would not make it to heaven. Thus, the people sought knowledge, such as a scholar who discussed small-pox in a paper, who “composed this treatise, hoping to receive [his] reward from the Almighty and Glorious God” (6). The Messenger of Allah, Muhammed himself, stated: “Whoever travels a path in search of knowledge, then Allah will ease for him the path to Paradise” (2). When it was declared outright that scholars will be welcomed to Paradise, and are superior over simple worshipers, the religion-centric Islamic society became a virtual machine of knowledge, stretching their brains on their quest for erudition. The Hadiths furthermore stated that the world is facilitated by “the scholar and the seeker of knowledge” (2), a high pedestal to put scholars upon. Religious expectations are one of the main reasons that the hunt for knowledge was encouraged, for scholars would be welcomed into heaven in a way plain worshipers would not be.

Last, the political climate at the time was one where foreign, idolatrous peoples, especially the Hindus and Greeks, were making incredible scientific contributions. Idolatry was wrong in Islamic society, and thus Islamic society, who worshiped the ‘right’ way, sought to find knowledge at the same level if not better than the foreigners. Taking the example of the Greeks, who “discovered and worked out for them the elements of science, for it is the object of the upper classes to be guided by the results of science” (9). Another philosopher even stated that “the Greek philosophers are the highest class of people and the most respected among the people of knowledge; this is because of the true care that they have demonstrated in cultivating all the branches of knowledge” (4). For Muslims to call the idolatrous Greeks the highest class of people is a stark demonstration of politics at the time, and how even a society that looked down on idolatry could see the intelligence of the Greeks in the past. Thus the example from the past would push them to look for knowledge. The Hindus, on the other hand, were a more present example of an idolatrous but educated people. An Islamic mathematician stated that “the Hindus cultivate numerous other branches of science and literature, and have nearly boundless literature. I, however, could not comprehend it with my knowledge” (9), a great compliment. Education and the pursuit of knowledge would allow for the mathematician to understand the Hindu teachings, however. The Muslims were racing to catch up to the Hindus, who “made great strides in the study of numbers and of geometry. They have reached the zenith in their knowledge of the movements of the stars and the secrets of the skies as well as other mathematical studies. They have surpassed all other peoples in their knowledge of medical science and the strengths of various drugs, the characteristics of compounds and the peculiarities of substances” (4). Thus, it was the need to understand the world at the same level as the Hindus and Greeks that pushed the pursuit of knowledge in Islamic society.

The pursuit of knowledge was pushed by many things, and the main three were religious expectations, societal expectations, and political circumstances. Because of these, the Islamic society was truly an educated one, and it prospered even more during the Islamic Renaissance.

Links:

(2) – Quotes from Hadiths on Knowledge (Anas ibn Malik, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan At-Tirmidhi, and Sunan Abu Dawud)

(3) – Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masudi, The Book of Golden Meadows

(4) – al-Andalusi, Science in the Medieval World: Book of the Categories of Nations, Translated by Salem and Kumar (Austin: University of Texas Press), Ch. 1, 5.

(5) – Barbara Rosenwein, Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), 182-83.

(6) – Katherine Lualdi, Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures Volume 1: To 1750  (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009), 182-83.

(7) – The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1190averroes.asp

(9) – Edward Sachau (ed. & trans.), Alberuni’s India Vol. 1 (London: Routledge, 2000), 24-25, 159.