الفصل الثالث: في أهل الإسلام وعلومهمBab 02 Fasl 03 — Muslims and Their Sciences

Chapter Three: On the Muslims and Their Sciences

It contains: indications

The First Indication: On the Early Islamic Period

Know that, at the end of the Age of Ignorance, when the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—was sent, the Arabs' authority had become dispersed and their affairs divided. God Most High therefore gathered their scattered forces through him and united around him groups from both Qahtaan and 'Adnaan. They believed in him, rejected everything upon which they had previously relied, and committed themselves to the law of Islam in belief and practice. The Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—did not remain among them long before he died, leaving his Companions—may God be pleased with them—in his place. They overcame kings, and the Islamic realm attained, during the days of 'Uthmaan ibn 'Affaan, a grandeur and breadth corresponding to what he—peace be upon him—indicated in his saying: “The earth was folded up for me, and I was shown its eastern and western extremities; the dominion of my community will reach as far as what was folded up for me.” Through the Islamic state, God Most High erased the Persian state in Iraq and Khurasan, the Roman state in Syria, and the Coptic state in Egypt. In the early period of Islam, the Arabs devoted themselves to little in the sciences beyond their language, knowledge of the rulings of their law, and the craft of medicine, which existed among some of them because everyone needed it. This was done to protect the foundations and doctrines of Islam from the intrusion of defects arising from the sciences of the ancients before those foundations had become firmly established and sound. It is even reported that they burned the books they found during the conquests of the lands. There is also a report prohibiting examination of the Torah and the Gospel, so that the community might be united and agreed upon taking and practicing the Book of God Most High and the Sunnah of the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace. This continued until the end of the age of the Successors. Then divergent opinions and the spread of schools emerged, and the matter came to require compilation and fortification.

The Second Indication: On the Need for Compilation

Know that the Companions and the Successors, because their beliefs were pure through the blessing of companionship with the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—their nearness to his time, the scarcity of disagreement and new cases, and their ability to consult trustworthy authorities, had no need to compile the sciences of the revealed law and its rulings. Indeed, some of them disliked writing down knowledge, citing the report that Aboo Sa'eed al-Khudree asked the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—for permission to write down knowledge, but he did not permit him.

It is also related from Ibn 'Abbaas that he prohibited writing, saying: “Those before you went astray only because of writing.”

A man came to 'Abd Allaah ibn 'Abbaas and said, “I have written a book that I would like to present to you.” When he presented it to him, Ibn 'Abbaas took it and erased it with water. He was asked, “Why did you do that?” He replied: “When people write, they rely upon writing and abandon memorization. Then something may happen to the written text, and their knowledge is lost.” He also argued that a written text may be augmented, diminished, or altered, whereas what has been memorized cannot be changed: the person who has memorized speaks from knowledge, while the one who reports from writing reports on the basis of conjecture and inspection.

When Islam spread, the cities expanded, the Companions dispersed throughout the regions, dissensions and divergent opinions arose, fatwas multiplied, and people increasingly referred matters to the elders, they began compiling hadeeth, jurisprudence, and the sciences of the Qur'aan. They occupied themselves with investigation,

[Edition footnote 1] By the author of Abjad al-'Uloom.

* * *

[Printed page 101]

* * *

reasoning, independent judgment, deduction, the establishment of principles and foundations, the arrangement of chapters and sections, the multiplication of questions together with their proofs, the presentation of objections together with their answers, the specification of technical usages and terminology, and the clarification of schools and disagreements. This was a great benefit and a sound reflection directed toward what is correct. They therefore deemed it recommended, indeed obligatory, in view of the obligation just mentioned and the saying of the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—“Knowledge is game, and writing is its tether. Tether your knowledge through writing—may God Most High have mercy upon you.” [Translation of a report.] I say: perhaps this report is not sound.

The Third Indication: On the First Person to Compose a Book in Islam

Know that there is disagreement concerning the first person to compose a book. Some say it was the Imaam 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Jurayj al-Basree, who died in the year 155 AH; others say it was Aboo al-Nadhr Sa'eed ibn Abee 'Arooba, who died in the year 156 AH. al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee mentions both. Aboo Muhammad al-Raamahurmuzee says it was Rabee' ibn Subayh, who died in the year 160 AH. Sufyaan ibn 'Uyayna and Maalik ibn Anas then composed works in Medina; 'Abd Allaah ibn Wahb in Egypt; Ma'mar and 'Abd al-Razzaaq in Yemen; Sufyaan al-Thawree and Muhammad ibn Fudhayl ibn Ghazwaan in Kufa; Hammaad ibn Salama and Rooh ibn 'Ubaada in Basra; Hushaym in Waasit; and 'Abd Allaah ibn al-Mubaarak in Khurasan. Their principal concern and focus in compilation was to preserve the essential structures of the Qur'aan and hadeeth and their meanings; they then compiled works on matters serving as means to them.

The Fourth Indication: On the Intermingling of the Sciences of the Ancients and Islam

Know that the sciences of the ancients were neglected during the Umayyad period. When the Abbasids appeared, the first of them to concern himself with the sciences was the second caliph, Aboo Ja'far al-Mansoor. Despite his mastery of jurisprudence, he held a leading position in philosophy, especially astrology, and loved its practitioners. When the caliphate passed to the seventh caliph, 'Abd Allaah al-Ma'moon ibn al-Rasheed, he completed what his grandfather had begun. He devoted himself to seeking knowledge in its proper places and extracting it from its sources, driven by his noble spirit and elevated ambition. He corresponded with the Roman kings and asked them to send what books of the philosophers they possessed. They sent him what they had of the works of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Euclid, Ptolemy, and others. He brought in accomplished translators, who translated them to the fullest extent possible. He then instructed people to read them and encouraged them to learn them, since the purpose of the prohibition had been to secure the foundations of Islam and establish the people's beliefs—and that purpose had been achieved and completed; moreover, most of these works had no connection to religions.

The market of knowledge therefore flourished for him, and the state of wisdom arose during his reign, as did the other arts. A group of discerning men mastered much philosophy in his time, laid down the foundations of literary culture, and clarified the paths of learning. Then people began to turn away from knowledge and occupy themselves with other matters: at one time through the succession of tribulations, and at another through efforts to reunite. It nearly disappeared altogether. The same is true of all crafts and states: they begin little by little and continue to increase until they reach a limit that is their culmination, then return to decline, until their condition ends in disappearance beneath the soil of oblivion.

The truth is that the greatest causes of the advance and stagnation of knowledge are the inclination or disinclination of kings in every age. To God we belong, and to Him we return.

* * *

[Printed page 102]

* * *