Islamic Culture & Civilization

Introduction:
In our day-to-day talks and discussions, we often use the terms
‘culture’ and ‘civilization’ interchangeably. Even in the Anglo-French tradition,
the concept of culture was often used synonymously with civilization. But
sociologists differentiate culture and civilization as two different levels of
phenomena. The concept of civilization was almost equated with highly valued
things, such as respect of people for one another, the sanctity of life and high
regard for the good, the ethical and the beautiful. In this sense, those who were
lacking in these attributes were regarded as uncivilized. The cultural facts like
belief, art and literature—prose, poetry or novel, etc., gives direct satisfaction to
the reader while equipment’s of civilization such as cars, computers, refrigerators,
etc., do not give direct satisfaction, until and unless they do not satisfy our wants.
Thus, civilization is practical and is always advancing but not culture. The cultural
facts like dramatic plays or poems may not be necessarily better today than the
plays or poems of Shakespeare? The culture is a word for the 'way of life' of
groups of people, meaning the way they do things. Different groups may have
different cultures. A culture is passed on to the next generation by learning,
whereas genetics are passed on by inheritance. Usually the five things are become
base of culture:

 Norms
 Symbol
 Values
 Language
 Technology
We often call this is middle class culture, this is upper class culture and this this
lower class culture. Islam does not against any culture but legitimate the all culture
according its own boundaries and boarders.

Islam is religion of civilization, Prophet (PBUH) civilized the Arab culture.

The Arab was uncivilized before the arrival of Muhammad (PBUH). The prophet
(PBUH) learned them manners, educate them then they considered as civilized
Nation. It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for in the mosque
when the call from the Miniaret is sounded and the worshippers are gathered together, the
democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and the king kneel
side by side and proclaim, "God alone is great."
Islam and civilization is a realistic and living issue which relates not only to the
prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the teachings of Islam, but
also to the reality of life itself, the present and future of mankind and the historic
role played by Muslims in the development of culture and the building up of a
flourishing civilization. This is a subject important enough to receive the attention
of an academic body instead of by just a single individual. In its depth and scope, it
can compare with any discipline of thought pertaining to the life of man. It covers
an immense area in time and space, from the first century of the Islamic era to this
day and from one corner of the world to the other. In its immanence, it
encompasses everything from creed to morals and behavior, individual as well as
social, and is linked with diverse phenomena, whether it be law, political,
international relations, arts, letters, poetics, architecture, cultural refinement, etc.

Main components of civilization are:

 Religion
 History
 Art & literature
 Science & Technology
 Philosophy
 Culture
 Sociology
 Anthropology
How Muhammad (PBUH) civilized the Arab culture:

Allah has been truly gracious to the believers in sending them a Messenger from
among their own, to recite His revelations to them, to make them grow in purity,
and to teach them the Scripture and wisdom – before that they were clearly astray.

(Al ‘Imran 3:164)

If we study the history, we understand that the basic mission of Prophet

Muhammad –peace be upon him- was to guide humanity. He came to lead human
beings to the right path, from the darkness of Shirk to the light of Tawhid, from the
corruptions of injustice and sin to the ways of peace and virtues, from the
narrowness of this worldliness to the bliss and salvation of the eternal world. Arabs
before Islam were living in Jahiliyah. Jahiliyah was not only the time when they
did not have any schools, books, reading and writing; it was actually an era of total
ignorance, lawlessness or what the Qur’an calls “being clearly astray.” Their
thoughts were the thoughts of Jahiliyah (zann al-jahiliyah, 3:154), their rules were
the rules of Jahiliyah (hukm al-jahiliyah, 5:50), their fashions were the fashions of
jahiliyah (tabrruj al-jahiliyah, 33:33) and their zeal and outrage was always for the
sake jahiliyah (hamiyah al-jahiliyah, 48:26) During the first Hijrah to Abyssinia,
Ja’far ibn Abi Talib –may Allah be pleased with him- spoke before Najashi, the
king of Abyssinia. He described the condition of Arabian society before Islam in
this way:
O King, We were the people of Jahiliyah, we used to worship idols, eat the dead,
commit shameless deeds, break the ties of relations, mistreat our neighbors and the
strong among us used to oppress the weak. We were in this condition until Allah
sent a Messenger among us from our own people… (Al-Bukhari 1649)

From history we learn that there were ten major problems of Jahiliyah: 

1. Shirk or atheism – They worshipped many gods and goddesses or in general

they did not care for any divinity or worship.

 
2. Tribalism and racism – The whole society was divided in tribes. A person’s
main commitment was to his tribe and race. They had tribal, racial and color
prejudices.

 
3. Exploitation of the poor and needy – Slavery was common and the rich used to
exploit the poor and needy. 

4. Injustice and double standards – They had no sense of justice and fairness. Good
thing was whatever a person considered good for himself and for his tribe; and bad
thing was whatever one considered bad for oneself and for one’s tribe. People did
not believe in any universal standard of good or bad.

5. Infanticide – It was common to kill children, especially the girls because of a

misguided sense of shame or fear of poverty.

6. Shamelessness – They had no sense of shame. Sometimes they used to have

nude Tawaf around the Ka’bah. 
7. Drunkenness – Alcohol and other intoxicants were common and they were fond
of them.

8. Usury and interest – The whole economy was based on interest. Different types
of riba practices existed at that time.

9. Adultery and fornication – It was common among men and women to have illicit
relations. There were different types of marriages and different styles of sexual
relations.

10. No belief in the Akhirah or in the accountability of the Day of Judgment –

They did not believe that there can be resurrection and there will be another life
after death.

Besides these injustices and corruptions, they had no organized religion, no sacred
scripture, no religious laws and values and no central authority and government.
In a short period of time, the Prophet – peace be upon him- changed all these
things. Their belief system, their ethics, their morality, their social, economic and
political conditions were changed. He gave them a sacred book that Allah revealed
to Him. He gave them a system of worship. He gave them sacred laws and rules.
He established institutions of learning and education for them. He united them into
one brotherhood and sisterhood of faith. He made them most honest and most
civilized people. He also gave them a mission to guide the humanity to the right
path.
The Prophet – peace be upon him - achieved all this in a very short period of time.
No wonder, the American scholar Michael Hart in his book on the one hundred
most influential and successful people in history, called Prophet Muhammad –
peace be upon him - the number One man in history. A French historian said, “If
greatness of purpose, smallness of means and astounding results are the three
criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern
history with Muhammad?” (Peace be upon him.) There are many other objective
and honest historians who have given similar testimonies.
 
How did the Prophet accomplish all these things? He did this by the help of Allah,
by His continuous guidance and by His glorious Book the Qur’an. He did this by
his wonderful personality, by his kind and compassionate character and demeanor.
He did this by his commitment and sacrifices. 

Muslim Ummah also continued on this successful path that the Prophet – peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him- laid out for them. They made great
contribution to culture and civilization. They were successful as long as they were
true to his teachings and took his example seriously. Humanity at large and
Muslims themselves have now gone down into the same evils of ignorance and
Jahiliyah. The ten major sins of the old Jahiliyah have now re-emerged in the same
or even in more ugly forms. The challenge is that who will save the humanity
today. 
We should remember the Prophet and should study his Sirah with this commitment
and determination that we have to save ourselves, our families and the societies
around us from all evils. We should dedicate ourselves to his Sirah and Sunnah and
follow his example.

Indeed, for you in Allah’s Messenger there is a fine example to follow; for him who
aspires to Allah and the Last Day and often remembers Allah. (Al-Ahzab 33:21)
Conclusion:

In Islamic Culture there is reflection of the Islamic values. In the name of art and
culture, Islam does not encourage open or hidden obscenity. Rather, it declares
obscenity of all kinds as clearly unlawful (haram/‫)حرام‬. Likewise, Islam does not
permit the doing of any action which is against human development and dignity.
Islam has its own values according to which it moulds the human character. Any
culture which is anti-Islamic will be anti-culture. Rather pure pollution. A culture
evolved upon the Islamic basis takes a human being to the high station of crown
creation while common concept of culture which is vehemently propagated
nowadays degrades a human being to the level of animals. The reason is that the
components of such culture are those which are found to the maximum in the
animals. Hence those cannot be the cause of an honour for a human being. The
basis of Muslim Culture is Islam. And any interpretation of Culture cannot be
acceptable which is against the basic concepts of Muslims. Muslim Culture is fully
constructive, full of peace, full of excellence, and based on welfare and well-
wishing of the people. By its expression purity, modesty and sincerity prevails in
the atmosphere.
On the other hand, Islam was both a threat and the source of new ideas to the
Greek East and Latin West. Between the 7th and 12th centuries, Islam became the
center of a brilliant civilization and of a great scientific, philosophic, and artistic
culture. Although its language was neither Greek nor Latin, Islam absorbed a great
deal of Greek culture which it managed to preserve for the Latin West. In general,
it can be said that Islam absorbed and added its culture to the heritage of Greece,
Rome, Judaism, Christianity, and the Near East.