Philip Wolff, an honorary professor at the University of Toulouse in France and a well-known orientalist in Europe, in a part of his book titled “Intellectual Awakening in Europe” has stated: “The Carolingian Renaissance in the first years of the 9th century, which caused the awakening, movement and formation of Western civilization, was not achieved except by taking advantage of the treasures of science and knowledge that were collected in the Eastern Mediterranean countries.” Wolff adds that “we should not forget that Mesopotamia was one of the most important centers of influence in the formation of European civilization.” Although Philip Wolf’s theory is not accepted by all European scholars, the prevailing suspicion is that he was born in the East. Philip’s opponents insist on the claim that it is necessary to first address the issue of whether what was considered science in the ancient East is really considered science or is it a personal experience? In response, it should be said that if the oriental sciences were first based on individual needs and experiences, but ultimately benefited from the load of scientific thinking. (Henry Lucas, History of Civilization, Abdul Hossein Azarang, two volumes, p. 85)
After being saturated with the gods on earth, humans looked up to the sky. The sky was the center of blessing for humans, because it had rain and the sun, and it was also the shelter of the mysterious and important forces of the dwelling of the gods.
Therefore, the Babylonians were the first people to declare that the stars have a powerful role in determining the fate of humans. For the first time, the Chaldeans specifically determined the location, name and movement and apparent irregular path of the stars, measured the distances of the stars to each other and their positions, and determined the orbit that the sun apparently travels around the earth in one year. They measured the area of the zodiac and divided the year into 365 days and 12 months and determined the solar year. In Egypt, in addition to arithmetic and geometry, the science of medicine and dissection developed in accordance with the science of mummies. This was a little of the scientific reserves of the East. So we are allowed to say that the East was the birthplace of science. A claim that is also confirmed by Western scholars.
But how did this science go to Europe? The Greeks were the first people to break away from the geography of Europe and they had colonies in Asia Minor and the banks of the Nile, and in this way and by merchants, the basis for the transfer of knowledge from the East to the West was provided. Later, due to military and political clashes, this scientific transfer gained more speed. Greek scholars were the founders of whys and hows in scientific investigations (in Greece, the occurrence of natural events came out of the mysterious power of the gods), as the founder of scientific thinking in the world, Thales considered the occurrence of events and the emergence of natural phenomena as a result of changes and transformations. He declared that it was hidden in nature itself, not caused by the will of the gods, and he pulled the thought from the sky of superstitions to the earth. why is it raining Does the weather get cold and hot? Do the trees turn green and yellow? All these are caused by the change of states of a single substance. which according to Thales, this substance was the same as water. (A group of Russian writers, Tarikh Jahan, four volumes, Baqer Momeni, Sadegh Ansari, p. 153)
Talas founded the Malasti school or materialist thought. His disciples followed his thinking like Anaximander. Pythagoras got involved with this school and became the founder of the school of idealism and considered numbers and figures to have a powerful mystery that affects the occurrence of events. Heraclitus, the author of the theory of motion, and Democritus, the author of the theory of the atom, created a huge change in the world of thought.
The sophists founded sociology and political science, and Socrates made ethics the basis of his philosophical thinking, and decided to go to war with the traditions of his society and founded a new order, and this intellectual trend is the biggest difference between the teacher and the student, i.e., Socrates and Plato. Was. Because the aristocratic Plato, who saw his existence and the Athenian society in preserving the old aristocratic traditions, opposed his teacher and set the Spartan aristocratic society as the model of his utopia. Plato opened a new chapter in philosophical views with the parable theory and for the first time he used geometry to prove his philosophical claim. But Aristotle’s taffeta became a separate fabric that was both the ruler of all the sciences of his time and the founder of many new sciences, especially logic. (Aristotle, Politics, Hamid Enayat, Tehran: Khwarazmi, 1358), p. 1)
The emergence of Aristotle coincides with Alexander’s rise to power and the destruction of cities. States as the base of political thought and the growth factor of thought, the sovereignty of Alexander’s militarism blocked the space for freedom of thought, and this was the end of the first stage of the formation of Western civilization. The first stage of East-West confrontation began with Alexander’s attack, he traveled to the East with the legacy of Greek science and philosophy and greatly influenced our society by Greek culture and civilization.
In his teenage mind, Alexander envisioned a world empire. For this reason and in order to achieve this goal, Alexander opposed Greek racism and nationalism and realized that he had no choice but to imitate the culture of defeated nations in order to create a global empire. He claimed to be a god in imitation of Persian emperors and Egyptian pharaohs and wore He dressed up as an old man and moved Athens to Alexandria, and here the Greek scholars divided and specialized the science: Ptolemy, Archimedes and Galen each pursued a specific science. In this way, the East once again became the center of growth of science. This shift showed that science dislikes tense environment due to its subtlety. Alexandria maintained its critical position as the most prominent scientific center of the world at that time until the emergence of Islam. The Islamic empire, which had spread from the Mediterranean to India and from the Caspian Sea to North Africa, dominated the centers that used to be the center of Greek and Roman cultural heritage, such as monasteries. According to many western scholars, Islam became an effective factor in the preservation and protection of Greek sciences because the unifying character of Islam and the encouragement of seeking science according to the command of its noble prophet caused the guardians of religion to try to preserve the spread of science.
During the time of the Abbasid caliphs, Mansour Dawanqi and especially Harun al-Rashid and his son Ma’mun, the work of collecting scientific documents and books was provided in Baghdad and the translation movement was formed. Imam Sadiq (AS) brought together scholars from all non-Islamic and Islamic religions and sects without any religious bias and provided the growth and advancement of science. During this period, scientific documents from all parts of the civilization world of that day were collected for translation into Arabic in Baghdad, and the rich Islamic philosophy and science began and the golden age of Islamic civilization began. (Delisi O’Leary – Transferring Greek sciences to the Islamic world – translated by Ahmed Aram, p. 5)
But unfortunately, since the 3rd-4th century Hijri, due to the appearance of the Turkish element in the political scene and the birth of new power centers such as the Fatimid caliphs in Egypt, the Umayyad caliphs in Andalusia, the Ismaili devotees in Egypt and Iran, and the local powers, the religious-political centrality of Baghdad is declining. and tense conditions hindered the growth of scientific thinking in the Islamic East. (Ms. Sigrid Hotke – Islamic culture in Europe – Morteza Rahbani – Tehran: Islamic Culture Publishing House, 1361, p. 171) in addition to the reason that at this time the crusades between East and West or Muslims and Christians began for two centuries. Venetian merchants who had a close relationship with the Islamic world kept the leaders of the Christian world in the flow of the religious and political contradictions of the Islamic East. Although the Crusades ended with the military victory of the Muslims, it was the Christians who won the scientific victory by obtaining valuable sources of knowledge and They got Islamic philosophy.
The awakening of Europeans
The awakening of Europeans is caused by internal events and external events. What is more relevant to our discussion is the external conditions, which are the product of two important events, both of which originated from the Islamic world: The first is the unsuccessful attack of Western Muslims in 711 by Tariq on Europe, which caused the Europeans to wake up from the slumber of the dark ages of the Middle Ages. This influx of Muslims caused the Ummah of Jesus Christ (pbuh), which lives a limited and blocked life in a single political-religious system under the supervision of the Pope, to come to their senses and reconsider their old and learned organizations. This attack was the most important cause of European awakening. Because the Catholic religious unitary system collapsed and the Pope was forced to put the crown of the Holy Roman Empire on Charlain on January 1, 800, in order to prevent the new power of the Muslims, and thus the power of the Pope was divided and the Christian world was divided between two powers. Religious (pope) and political (empire) were divided into two halves.
Charlaine embarked on a renaissance to strengthen her imperial institution. This renaissance became the turning point of European awakening and the formation of Western civilization. In 781, Charlaine invited the English scientist Alcuin to build a new empire building to usher in an intellectual revival. On the eve of the formation of Western civilization, a strong contradiction and contradiction between European philosophers arises, which is actually a reaction to the conflict between reason and faith. Saint Anselm, the representative of faith and the church, is opposed to Gerber Jean Scott, the representative of reason or the new schools. These encounters are another stage of division in the church system under the aegis of the establishment of the Chartres school in France.
Secondly, the focus and goals of science and philosophy, which until now constituted church orders, were changed with the Carolingian Renaissance, and from now on, it is man who is at the center of science, and man comes from heaven to earth, thinking and thinking in search of Man establishes the school of humanism. Humanism replaces humanism with God-centeredness. In Islamic philosophy, there is also a discussion of the priority of science over faith. Mu’tazila believe that reason precedes faith. The extremists consider faith to be ahead of reason, and the Ash’arites have chosen an intermediate path. (Henry Crane, History of Islamic Philosophy, Dr. Asadullah Mobasheri, Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1358) by translating the works and sources of Galen, Ptolemy, Democritus and Hippocrates from Arabic and Hebrew to Latin, Constantine African compiled the teaching materials of Chartres France in the 11th century. In this way, in the West, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in imitation of the Islamic East, a translation movement translated the works of Greek scholars from Arabic to European languages.
Age of Enlightenment in Europe
By collecting documents and documents from all over the scientific centers, especially from the Islamic world in the East and Andalusia, Seville, Toled, Zaragoza, Sicily, which were governed as Islamic principalities since the fifth century, and translating these documents into Latin, which are often used by the authorities. A church took place, the beginning of the Enlightenment movement was created (it is necessary to remember that the Carolingian Renaissance took place in the ninth century to change the structure of society and thought, until today this movement has never stopped) The Age of Enlightenment in Europe was born simultaneously with an economic transformation. was (that is, the emergence and growth of the bourgeois class) the birth of this class as the driver and driver of Western civilization took place again as a result of European trade relations with the East.
One of the signs of European awakening was the emergence of cities in the 11th century, especially in Italy. The emergence of the city as the political-economic power base of the bourgeoisie coincides with the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, the city was the place of residence and employment of merchants and artisans, when the exchange of goods with goods (especially rural economic relations) gave way to exchange based on money. The Enlightenment movement was a humanist movement against the power of religion in European society and is a prelude to the beginning of secularism. This movement was generally started by church trustees. During the Age of Enlightenment, the priests hated living in the sad environment of the monastery and started working as university professors, writers, researchers, and translators in the city.
Alcuin was the first priest in the time of Charlaine who held the high administrative position and the position of Ministry of Culture of Charlaine Empire. In the same 9th century, Ludo Freire was the first priest who studied Cicero’s works despite the opposition of the church. As soon as the city dwellers settled in the city, they started organizing an economic organization, then an administrative and political organization, and finally a cultural one, which was the Enlightenment movement. That is, a movement that loosened traditions, customs, adherence to faith and ethics, and man was raised as an independent economic being, not an eschatological personality dependent on the church order. This movement became known as urban renaissance. One of the main foundations of the Carolingian Renaissance, which was later noticed in the 12th century and in the Age of Enlightenment, was the first religious reform in 817, that is, during the reign of the emperor Louis Lolpo, one of Charlaine’s children, who was led by a priest named “I Benoit Daniel And it happened in the name of “Benedictan Reform” and many monasteries were closed by order of the emperor.
The translation movement in the Christian world
Before the Crusades, trade relations between the East and the West were limited by the Mediterranean Sea and through the mediation of Italian coastal cities, especially Venice and Geneva. Italian merchants from Byzantium, Damascus, Baghdad and Egypt bought and transported rare and luxury goods for the European aristocracy. Along with silk and spices, written documents in Greek, Arabic and Hebrew were bought and secretly taken to Europe, and humanists were good customers for these goods, the role of Islamic or Arab scholars was an intermediary role. Because they collected and translated scientific sources from Greece and Rome and wrote a commentary on each of them and once again delivered them to the westerners through the Muslim scientific centers in Koranatha. The work of translating Greek and Roman documents in Baghdad and Jundishapur is usually done by Eastern Christians, i.e., the Orthodox, who were renegades from the point of view of the Catholic Church and believed in the principle of Monophysitism (the principle that they believe in the unity of the Messiah, that is, his humanity is the same as his creation). ) and the Nestorians and Jews who fled from the torture and persecution of the Byzantine government and took refuge in the arms of Islam, these three groups could visit schools, Dar al-Tarjeme, libraries and even Dar al-Khilafah. Therefore, these religious sects became an effective factor in selling valuable scientific documents to European merchants. In the transfer of scientific documents from East to West, Europeans had two fortunes, one was the vast coasts of the Christian Mediterranean and the other were the centers of political power in Asia Minor, such as Edsa, Haran, and Nusaybin, all of which were Christian.
The ways of transferring Islamic sciences to Europe were mainly either Sicily in Italy or Granada in Spain (Andalusia), the European humanists who were the flag bearers of the awakening movement and the Renaissance movement, chose hunters from among Christians, Jews and even Muslims who, in Greek languages, They were familiar with Roman, Arabic, and Hebrew, and they had to buy or even steal scientific, philosophical, and historical documents and secretly take them to Europe as merchandise. Hunters often traveled in the clothes of merchants and priests (Sir Hikmat in Europe, Mohammad Ali Foroughi, p. 83). They provided Greek, Christian, Jewish and Muslim translators.
Another translation center was the city of birth, where the translators under the supervision of the famous scientist priest Raymond (mid-12th century) translated Greek, Indian, Islamic and Roman works into Latin. The most famous translator was the famous French scientist Abelard who used Andalusian Christians, Jews and Muslims to translate scientific and philosophical texts. Abelard assigned the translators to groups based on their expertise and familiarity with the language to translate the Holy Quran, and then the first inspiration of war with raised Muslims among Christian authorities, this war was not a military struggle, but a cultural invasion of Islamic resources. Ablar is the first famous figure of the European Enlightenment and Awakening movement, and he is the first priest who taught non-church sciences and chanted the slogan of the unity of reason and faith, which is the slogan of humanism and enlightenment. After Abelard, it is the turn of Albert the Great (follower of the school of Abu Ali Sina), Saint Thomas Docken, the most famous medieval Christian philosopher, and Saint Anselm.
Saint Anselm, the director of the Chartres school (12th century), is one of the most prominent English humanists who believes that man is at the center of creation. Humanist thought from a religious point of view was against two principles: The first is original sin and the second is the physical body of Christ. One of the most noisy humanist actions in this century was the title of granting independence to universities and the withdrawal of universities from the domination of political and religious power centers. The University of Paris, which is one of the oldest universities in Europe, was opened in 1200 and during the time of Philippe Auguste. This university went on strike for the first time in its student history in 1229 to gain its independence. The strike caused a bloody clash between students and government forces, and a number of students were killed.
All these reasons caused the religious relationship of the people with each other and the Pope’s influence on his followers to decrease. In front of all these power centers and new movements, the church was looking for an excuse and a tool to once again bring the Christian society to itself and govern the rules of Christianity. The crusades were the best means and excuse to draw Europe towards the church and to compensate for the lack of land as an important economic factor by occupying the East, to send the surplus population, which had the potential for unrest, to an uncertain fate, and to make the nobles and knights who were capable competitors and only war would quench their thirst for aggression and keep them satisfied. Pope’s diagnosis was correct; The means and ways he used were accurate, but the end and end of the Crusades were neither in favor of the anointing nor in the favor of Islam. Religious reform removed Catholic Christianity from sovereignty and renaissance separated religion from politics or made politics the ruler of religion.
In the Islamic world, political disunity and religious division prepared the ground for the Mongol invasion and later colonialism. The Eastern Roman Empire, which was the mediator of these wars, did not have a better fate than others and was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. So who benefited from the Crusades? Those who encouraged the continuation of wars behind the wall of the church in order to remove the cause of wars, namely religion, from the eyes of the people, that is, humanist groups and enlightenment movements, religious reformers, bourgeoisie and imperialists, exactly the same groups and movements that caused awakening, renaissance and enlightenment. and became the foundation of the new civilization of Europe.
The Crusades as the starting point of European civilization produced at least two results for Europe in relation to our discussion. First, after establishing and learning the Arabic language, the Crusaders took valuable scientific documents and resources with them to Europe, which provided the cornerstones of the Renaissance.
Second, a series of revolutions and developments occurred in Europe that changed the structure of all parts of the Christian society in favor of the new capitalist system, and these changes took the name of the Renaissance. The scientific revolution of Copernicus overturned the old astronomical system of Ptolemy. Luther’s religious revolutions or religious reformation officially disunited the Catholic Church, and Protestantism, as a capitalist religion, separated religion from politics, economics, and perhaps ethics. Machiavelli’s political revolution overruled the rule of religion and separated politics from religion and morality, replaced religion with nationalism, and violence became the weapon of political power. Gutenberg’s printing revolution made it easier to transmit ideas. Erasm saved philosophy from the control of the church and placed man at the center of philosophical studies. Interestingly, all these revolutions occurred at the end of the 16th century.
The result is that the formation of western civilization is dependent on a series of documents and information from a time frame of 3 thousand years. And it was strengthened, went to Europe and was cultivated and became the leaven for the growth and development of later times until our days. European civilization is the product of the birth of a number of schools that changed the face of the West in all dimensions and angles, quantitatively and qualitatively: Such as humanism, Machiavellianism, Protestantism, liberalism, nationalism, realism, capitalism and possibly other schools. The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus brings the European civilization to a new stage and gives birth to colonialism in the economic relations between East and West. In the 17th century, the face of Europe changed with a series of political revolutions. The Dutch Revolution of 1609 frees this country from Spain’s domination with the help of Britain, and a type of democratic republic system rules over the Dutch States. The bourgeois, democratic revolution in England in 1640, which continued until 1688, with the help of the famous British political thinker John Locke, put the theory of national sovereignty in place of the theory of divine shadow and pulled the king down from the throne of divine power and made the people the ruler. The 17th century is the age of new scientific approach to issues. English Francis Bacon, by using the inductive method in scientific studies, declared the Aristotelian methods to be obsolete and popularized the new scientific method of observing, experimenting and classifying scientific data to achieve the goal.
French Descartes destroyed the ancient palace of scientific thought and built a new world of scientific thought based on the theory of doubt in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. The 17th century is the era of the Italian Galileo, who created a stir in astronomy and was attacked by the church. In this way, the era of Aristotelian rule and the scholastic school ended. The 18th century began with the Englishman Isaac Newton in the field of astronomy, physics, philosophy. Newton’s physics theories were used in scientific circles without a rival for almost two centuries. With the victory of the American Revolution, the world experienced the world’s first liberating movement against colonialism. The beginning of the British industrial revolution in this century caused a huge transformation in the production system; The Great French Revolution changed all the medieval institutions and not only the European society but also the world society underwent a fundamental change.
In summary, the civilization that we see today was formed in the 19th century with the help of two important events: The industrial revolution of Britain and the political revolution of France in the 19th century, which is the heir of these two important events, is a turbulent century that, as a result of the rule of democratic political systems and peaceful and bloody encounters, European civilization’s ideas benefit from more consistency. Therefore, at the end of this century, Western civilization will leave the old ideas of secularism, humanism, imperialism and socialism in the 20th century.
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