It is a lengthy and complex topic, and despite omitting some important details, it still expanded on few pages. Because of its length, I thought it is better to post it as an article than a comment.
Why Renaissance started in Europe and not anywhere else in the world?
Bright and inquisitive minds are born everywhere in the world, but enriched and challenging environment makes them shine brighter. This knowledge and opportunity rich, and curiosity satisfying environment always attracts the greatest minds both from near and afar. House of Wisdom during Golden age of Islam, and 12th century of network of universities in the Europe created that environment which was unrivaled anywhere else in the world.
If we look at the chronological historic perspective of European Renaissance, and what was happening in the rest of world during that period, it will shed the light that Europe was the natural place for Renaissance.
European Renaissance in general is considered the revival of art, literature, science and other sphere of knowledge from 15th century to 17th Century which later transformed into modern world. The exact time period of Renaissance is debatable.
The foundations of the European Renaissance were laid down during the Classic Greece period which lasted during the 5th and the 4th century BC. This period gave birth to Athenian Democracy that became the backbone of Western Civilization, and produced such giants as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who made fundamental and ground breaking contributions to western philosophy, ethics, literature, architecture and other spheres of knowledge. The classic period ended with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
The Classic Period was followed by Hellenistic period and during this period times the Greek civilization influence was at its peak, but decadence has started. This period is also referred to as decadence or transition period. Hellenistic period ended with the emergence of Roman Empire in 31 BC.
The Greek civilization had a great impact on Roman Empire, and during Roman Empire Greek and Roman influence spread over large part of the world. The Roman period ended in the West in 476 AD with the fall of Rome. It fell victim to internal fighting and outside invasions. The Western Europe was in full decay at this time. The Eastern Roman Empire comparatively had more lasting power and did not start to decline until 610 AD, and eventually fell to Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD with the surrender of Constantinople.
When Heraclius took reins of declining Eastern Roman Empire in 610 AD, a Muslim community was being born in Mecca that will change the landscape and cultural makeup of the world for all the time to come. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received the first revelations of Quran in the same year, 610 AD. Within decades the Muslims conquered large territory from Egypt and Syria to Cordoba and Cicely, and ushered in the Golden Age of Islam. The Golden Age of Islam began with the establishment of House of Wisdom by Caliph Harun-Rashid in 786 AD. Muslim scholars made significant contributions in areas of philosophy, mathematics, algebra, literature, cosmology, science sand other disciplines of knowledge. Scholars from all over the world were welcomed to translate Greek and Latin work into Arabic. This golden era produced great Muslim scholars and philosophers like Al-Farabi , Averroes and Avicenna. Al-Farabi and Averroes influenced modern day thought of reasoning above revelation and secularism. Al-Farabi was called ‘second teacher’ after Aristotle and Averroes was called ‘founding father of modern secularism’. Avicenna wrote ‘The Cannon Of Medicine’ which was later taught in Medieval universities as a text book as late as 1650. His writings on metaphysics and theory of knowledge influenced the thought of Thomas Aquinas ,Albertus Magnus and other western scholars. This period also produced another great scholar, Al-Ghazali, who successfully challenged the Islamic Neoplatonism philosophy advocated by A-Farabi and reversed its course. The Golden age ended in 1258 AD, when Mongols invaded and sacked Baghdad
During the 16th and 17th century the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, but not much was contributed in the sphere of knowledge except in navy warfare and architect. The Ottoman Empire started to decline from this point.
The modern European Renaissance in essence began in 12th century which was the period of Crusades, building of Universities, building of new towns and recovery of Latin, Greek science and philosophy with Arabic additions.
Robert Luis argues in his book, Renaissance and Renewal in the 12th Century, that the scenario changed during the 12th century. The increased contact with the Islamic world and Muslim dominated Spain and Sicily, the Crusades, as well as increased contact with Byzantium, allowed Europeans to seek and translate the works of Classic Greek and Islamic philosophers and scientists.
During this period the development of universities in Europe provided the infrastructure to expand and propagate the knowledge by making these texts the core of curriculum. Special emphasis was placed on scientific texts that help to create scientific communities for the future. These universities laid the foundations for later resurgence in artistic literary movement of Italian Renaissance of the 15th Century and scientific developments of 17th century.
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD at the hands of Turks led to migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy, and Spanish inquisition of 1501 forced many Jewish, including many scholars, to migrate to Europe and North America. The Europe already had infrastructure of universities, laid in the 12th Century, and was ready to absorb and nurture this influx of scholars. Once Renaissance had started, it was able to attract bright minds and scholars from other parts of the world.
While the Renaissance was taking place in the West, the Muslim lands were in decay and falling victim to Mongols’ destructive invasion and Western colonialism. Much of Asia and Africa has also fallen to colonialism. Canada and Australia were colonial lands during the 18th and 19th century, but they fared better because they were of European decent and brought some of the new knowledge with them. These colonies were not treated the same way as Asian, Middle East or African colonies.
Russia was busy with its internal strife, except during Elizabeth’ reign in the 18th century Russian culture began to emerge and University of Moscow and Academy of fine arts was established. It was not much as compared to what was taking place in the Western Europe, but it helped modernize Russian Culture and produce eminent scientist and scholar like Mikhail Lomonosov.
Like Russia, China was also busy in its internal strife, and foundation of modern China was laid by Den Xiaoping after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976.
Japan was under the influence of Chinese culture until 19th century, when it started to modernize itself on western model. Japan made significant economic progress after 1955 and became economic power house.
European migration started to USA territory in 17th Century, the time when European Renaissance was already in full swing. USA got Independence in 1776. It benefitted from the knowledge of European immigrants and started developing institutions of knowledge with research capabilities early on. It established Harvard University in 1636. USA gradually developed colleges and universities all over the country as it built new towns and cities, but gained un-rivaled prosperity after WWII and started to attract the best and brightest minds from all over the world.
Concluding thoughts;
By looking at chronological history, the Europe was the only logical place left for modern Renaissance because after Golden Age of Islam ended in 1258 by Mongols’ invasion. Europe has already built network of universities in the 12th century and acquired lot of classic Greek and Latin work as well as Muslim scholar’s work. It was not only ready to nurture the great inquisitive minds but also ready to spread the knowledge to public at large. During this time nothing much was happening in the rest of the world except some sporadic inventions. At this time, the only place where network of organized institutions of knowledge were in place to serve both the academic scholars and public at large, was Europe.
The natural next question is; why Golden Age of Islam did not have longer durability while European Renaissance was able to transform itself into modern world ?
During the Golden Age of Islam, the knowledge was mostly limited to academic circles and only in few large cities. There was no network of universities to expand the advanced knowledge to public at large. The education was limited to schools attached to Mosques. The public at large was not much educated to appreciate the Islamic philosophy works of Al-Farabi , but the work of Al-Ghazali resonated with them because it was in their familiar territory and did not require much knowledge to understand it; and it was at their understanding level. Al-Ghazali successfully advocated forgetting about Islamic philosophy, going back to basics of Islam and bringing orthodox Islam closer to Sufism.
When Mongols destroyed big cities, they also destroyed what was the source and heart of advanced progressive learning. Nothing much was left to re-emerge both in the cities as well as in poorly educated public. Mongols were un-educated, and as Mughal rulers they never paid attention to building Universities. Ottoman Empire did not do better either, except sporadic scientific contributions and building beautiful mosques and palaces like Mughal rulers. Then colonial period started, eliminating any chance of renewal.
By Contrast, since 12th century the Europe, and later the entire West, built universities and advanced academic institutions in most of the cities to attract and nourish bright minds as well as spread the knowledge to public at large. When the knowledge is wide-spread and integrated into societal culture at large, it has durability and is impossible to take away.
The Renaissance has transformed itself into modern world and is spreading from West to the rest of the world, but Muslim lands are still struggling to embrace it.
Refrences;
- The “Classical Age” is “the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.”Thomas R Martin, Yale University Press, 1996
- Green, Peter (2008). Alexander The Great and the Hellenistic Age. London: Orion
- Heather, Peter. The fall of the Roman Empire. A new history. Pan Books, 2006.
- GEOFFREY VILLEHARDON(1963). “The Conquest of Constantinople”.Chronicles of the Crusades (translated by Margaret R. Shaw). Penguin Classics.
- Angold, Michael (1997). The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1204: A Political History. London: Longman. .
- Matthew E. Falagas, Effie A. Zarkadoulia, George Samonis (2006). “Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today”, -. Sack of Baghdad
- Short History of Islam by Karen Armstrong
- ‘Golden Age of Islam’ article by Namit Arora
- Robert Robert Louis Benson, Giles Constable, Carol Carol Dana Lanham, ed. (1991). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century. Harvard University Press.
- Burke, P.,The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries1998)
- Reisman, D.Al-Farabi and the Philosophical CurriculumIn Adamson, P & Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Janssens, Jules L. (1991). An annotated bibliography on Ibn Sînâ (1970–1989): including Arabic and Persian publications and Turkish and Russian references. Leuven University Press.
- “Averroes.” By Individual Philosopher-com. Retrieved2012-10-13.
- Watt, W. Montgomery (1953). The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali, London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd
- Education during Golden Age of Islam;-Metaexistence Education Institute
- Wikipedia
Fayyaz Sheikh
Most people think of the veil solely in terms of Islam, but it is much older. It originated from ancient Indo-European cultures, such as the Hittites, Greeks, Romans and Persians. It was also practiced by the Assyrians. Veiling had class as well as gender implications; thus, the ancient Assyrian law required it of upper class women while punishing commoners for it. The strong association of veiling with class rank, as well as an urban/peasant split, persisted historically up until the last century. Then more privileged women began rejecting the veil, as did Egyptian feminist Huda Sharawi, while poor women increasingly adopted it as a ticket to upward mobility. (A similar dynamic occurred with footbinding in modern China.)