The Golden Age versus the Dark Age

Study history. See what it was like during the Golden Age. Then see what it was like during the subsequent Dark Age. Spot the difference. And the reason this was so will become as clear as daylight.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

An Islamic administration must be fair in all matters, says Dr M

MELAKA, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- An administration led by Muslims must be guided by Islamic values and be fair in all matters, free from corruption, respect laws and show concern for all communities, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

As such, he said, having a good administration when in power was important to ensure Islam grew well and non-Muslims did not keep away from Muslims.

"If we can do this, the benefits will be great, among them understanding of Islamic teachings will increase besides the people being more willing to listen to the administration," he said at Perkim's (Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation) 48th annual general meeting at a hotel here today.

Also present were Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Perkim's honorary secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Othman.

Dr Mahathir, who has been Perkim president since 2006, said when Islamic administrations were smeared with cruelty, power abuse, corruption, inefficiency, oppression of others and the like, others will have a negative perception of Islam.

"Today, there isn't a single Islamic country that can be said to be a developed nation. And again there some who hold the view that progress of Islamic countries is not important.”

"But we have witnessed the fate of many Islamic nations because of their backwardness. They are forced to beg, ask for help from others and as a result are often manipulated by their benefactors who might in reality be their enemies," he said.

He said Islamic countries and Islam will only be respected if they were progressive, like in the Golden Age of Islam.

Dr Mahathir said Perkim's role in propagating Islam was also very clear in that before trying to bring Islam to the public, its members must be shining examples of the values and teachings of the religion.

"It is important for Muslims to be successful in all fields, social, economics, politics and others to attract attention, increase understanding and respect for Islam and not only that, also open the hearts of non-Muslims to get to know the religion and all the good it stands for," he added.

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I know, I know, I know…many of you would prefer whacking Mahathir and call him all sorts of nasty names. Okay, there are many Mahathir-haters in this site and you are probably going to crawl out of the woodwork and take pot shots at him. But before you do, let us first analyse what the man has to say. Then, if you think what he says is not true, whack him all you wish.

I, however, am inclined to agree with what Mahathir says. What he said holds a lot of truth, even if you may dislike or hate the man. And I would rather focus on what he says and agree or disagree with him based on that.

Is not what he says true? Are not the most backward nations on this earth all those so-called ‘Islamic’ countries? And herein lies the problem. These so-called Islamic countries are as Islamic as I am a virgin. And trust me, I am no virgin.

And this is what gives Islam that bad image. Because these countries CLAIM to be Islamic countries and are labeled as such, and because these countries do not practice the tenets of Islam, or at least the ‘values of Islam’, as Mahathir says, the image of Islam suffers. When you do wrong and claim that you are doing so in the name of Islam then Islam is wronged. You are in fact doing Islam a great disservice.

Democracy is great. Freedoms of all kinds are fantastic. But when the greatest democracy on earth violates human rights in the name of democracy then expect people to view democracy as bad. It is not democracy that is at fault. It is the people who scream democracy and then attack other weaker nations and send in their army to kidnap other leaders and attack countries they don’t like and occupy them and then claim that they do all this in the name of democracy.

The US is probably as poor an example of a democracy as Afghanistan is a poor example of an Islamic State. Invariably, however, people judge the system by the reality of what is happening rather than the ideals of the ideology. Why talk about the ideals of the ideology when the reality is a far departure from what they preach?

Mahathir, like most Muslims, always talk about the ‘Golden Age of Islam’. When was this Golden Age? What was it like? How did it become the Golden Age of Islam? And when did this Golden Age end and how/why did it end?

If I want to go into the detailed history of this Golden Age of Islam it would take many pages and would look like a thesis for a doctorate. And I doubt many of you are going to spend your Saturday night reading a long and detailed thesis. I shall nevertheless try to be as brief as I can without losing the salient points of the issue, if that is actually possible.

The Golden Age of Islam was the period when the Muslims learned from the other nations and communities. And this of course meant the non-Muslim communities. Books originally written in Greek, German, French, Chinese and whatnot were translated into Arabic. Engineers, architects, scientists, mathematicians, doctors, and many more studied the work of the non-Muslims and did further research to improve or perfect what they had learned.

In short, it was a period of research and development as well as what we would call, today, ‘reverse engineering’ -- which was also the key to the Japanese, Korean and Chinese success of post-Second World War. In Malaysia they would call this chiplak -- not downright chiplak mind you, but chiplak and improve.

Now, take note of one very important point. All these engineers, architects, scientists, mathematicians, doctors, and whatnot were not necessarily Muslims. Many were in fact non-Muslims -- Jews and Christians -- although they lived in the great Islamic Empire. So, while the Islamic Empire went through the Golden Age of learning, inventing and innovation, it was not always Muslims who were behind this massive reverse technology and research and development.

The Golden Age of Islam began to decline when the religionists started to oppose the Rulers who they viewed as too ‘Secular’. The religionists wanted more Islamisation and less ‘infidel’ influence. In other words, if it came from the non-Muslims, it must be rejected as un-Islamic.

While the West still thought that migraines were caused by the devil entering your head, the Muslims were performing brain surgery to remove the blood clots causing your migraine. While the West had no notion of time other than day and night and what the sundial showed, the Muslims invented clocks that ran on water and accurate to the nearest second. And so on and so forth.

But after the religionists got their way and the doors to science, medicine, engineering, architecture, and whatnot were closed, the Golden Age of Islam ended and the Muslim world went into reverse while the West went through one period of ‘revolution’ after another until it came to where it is today.

No, this is not Islam’s fault. Islam is not to be blamed. Those to be blamed are the religionists who wanted to interpret Islam in a very narrow manner and close the Muslim world to what they viewed as un-Islamic influence. It was almost like China’s isolation policy where ‘time stood still’ for hundreds of years.

Thus ended the Golden Age of Islam and the Muslim world went into the Dark Age.

Mahathir did not quite say this of course. He would never dare say this, as would be the case for many Muslims. But let us call a spade a spade. While the West was in the Dark Age the Muslim world was in the Golden Age. And then the West and the Muslim world suddenly traded places.

Study history. See what it was like during the Golden Age. Then see what it was like during the subsequent Dark Age. Spot the difference. And the reason this was so will become as clear as daylight.

To sum up, the Muslims screwed up and got left behind. And the sad thing is the Muslims are still screwing up. But then the Muslims blame the Jews and Christians for their current woes. What they fail to see is that it was because of the Jewish and Christian population that Islam enjoyed its Golden Age. But of course the Islamic history books list down all the great minds of the Muslims of the Golden Age of Islam while conveniently leaving out the role of the Jews and Christians and even the Chinese.

Mahathir told only part of the story. But while he is not wrong in his views there is more he did not tell or did not dare tell. But what must be said must be said. I just hope the Muslims will realise that it was not the enemies of Islam who sent the Muslim nations back into the Dark Age but the Muslims themselves. The Muslims are that enemy.