Introduction
In the context of modern society, one of the challenges for international integrity is not only to appraise and encourage various cultural and scientific advances in different cultures and civilizations but also to recognize their influences and appreciate traditions. In the history of Islamic civilization, there are a number of achievements that contributed to global human knowledge. Those milestones of the progress of Islamic culture and civilization concern the inventions and ideas of both past and present.
They derive from various fields of human knowledge, from mathematics to psychology, and from philosophy to architecture. In the contemporary society, those achievements of Islamic culture and civilization should be recognized and appreciated both on the inside of Islamic culture and within other cultural paradigms.
In such a way, the objective of this paper is to analyze the crucial milestones of Islamic culture and civilization in relations to its achievements in the fields of both sciences and humanities. In particular, it is to discuss the achievements and inventions in natural sciences and humanitarian disciplines nurtured within Islamic culture and civilization in order to analyze how they contributed to the development of global modern development of a range of different disciplines, scientific paradigms, and humanitarian knowledge.
Islamic culture and civilization in the context of natural sciences
It is important to point out the fact that the development of sciences in the Islamic culture is currently uneven throughout different counties, since they differ in terms of how much they invest in scientific research, in what areas the research is conducted, and what are the implications and results of such different types of research. However, alongside all those standard variables that usually define the success and dynamics of scientific progress, there are sometimes also other determinants influencing the development of natural sciences in the Arab countries.
There are some conflicting opinions on the issues whether the progress and advances in the scientific research in Islamic civilization is encouraged or hindered by the Western world. For example, Stone argues that Iranian government is actively investing money “into world-class facilities for biotechnology, particle physics, and astronomy, but growing tensions with the West threaten a scientific community [are] just coming into its own” (1802).
Although some arguments lie in support of such interpretation, there is also evidence of the opposite, including the fact that some of the scientists turn down job offers from the Western countries in order to develop and continue research in their home countries (Stone 1803). On one hand, it means that there is a crucial cooperation between different cultures in the field of scientific innovation and research. On the other hand, the dedication of the scientists who prefer to go back to their homeland and continue their research there suggest that, at least, they have enough opportunities to guarantee even more scientific advances for Islamic culture and civilization.
At present, among the most important programs, scientific project, ideas and inventions in the field of natural sciences in Islamic culture and civilization, a great number deserves to be mentioned. First of all, the scientific tradition in Islamic culture and civilization takes its roots from Early Medieval scientists who influenced the global knowledge in mathematics, medicine, biology, astronomy, as well as in humanitarian disciplines. However, the periodization of the intellectual history of Islamic culture and civilization does not end at its medieval revitalization (Saliba 28).
In many ways, the development of sciences in Islamic culture and civilization both during the pre-modern times and the contemporary environment was predetermined by the conditions of the natural world, including its deserts, lack of drinking water, etc. Thus, the scientific tradition in Islamic culture and civilization was originally intended to solve practical problems and improve the quality of life. Such heuristic approach manifests itself in the range of scientific branches that are the most developed in Islamic culture and civilization, which include both pre-modern and contemporary advances in medicine, mathematics, etc.
Among the pre-modern scientists who affected both the current stage of sciences in Islamic culture and civilization and the development of knowledge in different branches, including European Renaissance were mathematicians Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi and al-Khwarizmi, astronomer al-Battani, experimentalists from the different fields of knowledge Ibn al-Haytham and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, etc. (Saliba 148). However, in terms of the modern stage of scientific development, it is also important to name physicist Hessamaddin Arfaei, who contributed to the research of String theory at the international scale. Yousef Sobouti is also a theoretical physicist, whose research made a contribution to CERN laboratory.
Alongside the theoretical fields of knowledge, there are also numerous projects researching such spheres as medicine and biology. For example, Akram Amani is a leading expert on medical chemistry, who now conducts the work of a group of scientists in one of the laboratories of the Pasteur Institute in Tehran (Stone 1804). Overall, there are still a number of challenges that Islamic culture and civilization need to overcome in the field of natural science, but active research in the fields that are crucial for improving the conditions of human life proves the fact that the contemporary directions and values of scientific research in Islamic culture and civilization continue the tradition.
Islamic culture and civilization in the context of humanities
Humanitarian knowledge of Islamic culture and civilization in general and philosophical investigations, in particular, were among the biggest influences on the European Renaissance. According to Haque, the research in the field of psychology and philosophy conducted by some of the Muslim scholars contributed to finding the solutions to the dilemmas in Western psychology and medicine in Early Medieval times (358). It is also important to point out the contribution of Islamic culture and civilization to the field of ethics and aesthetics (Leaman 65).
In philosophy and logic, the early scholars of Islamic culture and civilization improved and developed the methodology of theoretical research by means of using “a validation that may be called argument by example and illustration” (Haque 969). Today, contemporary scholars are developing the tradition of authentic for Islamic culture and civilization ethics and aesthetics. Some of the examples include the philosophy of Ziauddin Sardar, who although he is based in London is one of the world’s most renowned scholars interested in the Muslim thought (Sardar, Inayatullah, and Boxwell 3).
It is also important to note that currently, one of the objectives of humanitarian research is to be more inclusive and to view different cultures with regard for influences of postmodernist and other philosophical paradigms.
Conclusion
Although there are a number of challenges that Islamic culture and civilization need to surmount in the field of natural science, active research in such fields as physics, medical chemistry, and medicine proves the fact that the contemporary innovations and values of scientific research in Islamic culture and civilization continue the pre-modern tradition. In humanities, the primary objective today is to be more inclusive and to analyze Islamic culture with regard for various influences and in various paradigms.
Works Cited
Haque, Amber. “Psychology from Islamic Perspective.” Journal of Religion and Health 43.4 (2004): 357-377. Print.
Leaman, Oliver. History of Islamic Philosophy. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Saliba, George. Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. Boston, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2007. Print.
Sardar, Ziauddin, Sohail Inayatullah, and Gail Boxwell. Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Stone, Richard. “An Islamic Science Revolution?” Science 309.5742 (2005): 1802. Print.