The Golden Age Of Islam Essay

The golden age of Islam, starting in the 16th century and ending in the 19th century, was a time when intellectuality thrived within an Islamic environment and the Muslim state was strong. During this time, European, North African, and Southwest Asian nations had maintained a relatively symbiotic relationship through trade, colonialism, and adaptation of ideas. The Muslim world began to languish during the 19th century when European Imperialism turned to the Middle East. This decline was also a result of the rejection of European science and education by Muslims. Their failure to learn from European advancement was sustained by reliance on a “religious filter” of scientific and technological information. Humans are innately disposed to finding

The fear that science would mean deviating from being a true “traditional” muslim did reinforce much concern and resistance to modern science, but Al-Afghani believed that being a muslim was its own form of active solidarity that could not be so easily broken by fear. Orthodox Muslims who completely rejected useful science and technology argued that westerners would spend all their time studying specialized areas while neglecting their souls. Not only was it Al-Afghani’s goal to dismember this sentiment, but to also prove that “useful European science” could be integrated into Islamic educational systems without threatening Islamic identities or social values. He claims, “If man obeys the teachings of Islam, he follows the laws of nature. What is true for the individual is true for society as a whole. Mutual responsibility and solidarity is the strength of nations”. By proclaiming this, he laid the ideological foundations for the penetration of secular, nationalist ideas. Western style education would lead to the renewal of Islam rather than its destruction by using select integration of modern ideas instead of unrestricted adoption of modernity as a