The lasting legacy of the Islamic civilization can be summed up under five main headings:

1.  The Field of Religious Belief

The principles of the Islamic civilization had a profound impact on the religious reform movements that appeared in Europe from the 7^th century until the age of the modern Renaissance. For Islam, which proclaimed the oneness of God and declared Him to be the only Sovereign, far removed from having any human attributes, performing any injustice, or having any shortcomings, and its declaration of man to be independent in his worship, his relationship with Him, and his understanding of His laws without any need for the mediation of the clergy, was a major factor in opening the minds of the people to these astounding principles. At that time people were suffering from violent sectarian disputes and having to submit their thoughts, opinions, wealth, and labor to the men of the cloth. So it was only natural that with the Islamic conquests spreading so far and wide from the east to the west, that neighboring nations would be influenced by Islam’s principles of belief above all else.

This is indeed what happened. In the 7^th century there arose some westerners who denounced the worship of images; then came those who denounced the idea of having any intermediary between God and His worshippers, and who called for independent understanding of the Bible, far removed from the authority and supervision of the clergy. Many researchers have confirmed that in his reformation movement, Martin Luther was influenced by what he had read of the philosophy of the Arabs and Muslim scholars, and their views on religion, doctrine, and revelation. European universities during his time were still dependent on the books of Muslim philosophers that had been translated previously into Latin. We can be certain that the movements to separate church from state, which was proclaimed during the French Revolution, stemmed from the violent intellectual movements which had dominated Europe for three centuries of more, and which were sparked by our civilization through the Crusades and Andalusia.

2. The Field of Philosophy and Science, including Medicine, Mathematics, Chemistry, Geography, and Astronomy

Europe was awakened by the voice of our scholars and philosophers who taught these sciences in the mosques of Seville, Cordoba, Granada, and elsewhere. The first westerners to come to our schools were very impressed and excited by all that they heard of these sciences in an atmosphere of freedom, the like of which was unknown in their own countries. At the time when our scholars were speaking in their study circles and books of the rotation of the earth, its spherical shape, and the movements of the stars and heavenly bodies, the minds of Europeans were filled with myths and stories about all these matters. then the Europeans started to translate works from Arabic to Latin, and the books of our scholars were studies in the western universities. Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) book on medicine, al-Qānūn, was translated in the twelfth century, and ar-Razi’s (Rhases or Rhazes) book al-Ḥāwi – which was larger and more comprehensive than al-Qānūn – was translated at the end of the thirteenth century. These two books remained the basis for the teaching of medicine in the universities of Europe until the sixteenth century, but the books of philosophy continued to be the main reference for much longer. The west only knew of Greek philosophy via our writers and translators.

Hence many fair-minded Europeans acknowledge that during the Middle Ages, we were the teachers of Europe for no less than six hundred years. The scholar Gustave LeBon says, “The translation of the books of the Arabs, especially scientific books, remained virtually the only source of teaching in the universities of Europe for five to six centuries. We can say that the influence of the Arabs on some sciences such as medicine has lasted to this day. For the books of ibn Sina was still being expounded in Montpellier at the end of the last century.”

He also said, “Roger Bacon, Leonard Albeezi, Arnaud Filfofi, Ramon Paul, Saint Thomas, Albetus Magnus, and the Spaniard Alfonso the Tenth all relied solely on the books of the Arabs.”

Monsieur Renan says, “Albertus Magnus was indebted to ibn Sina; Saint Thomas was indebted to the philosophy of ibn Rushd (Averroes).”

The orientalist scholar Sideo says, “The Arabs alone carried the banner of civilization in the Middle Ages and they defeated the barbarism of Europe which had been shaken by the incursions of the northern tribes. The Arabs drank from the enduring spring of Greek philosophy and, not content with what they had discovered of the Greek legacy, went on to expand it and add new topics to the study of nature.”

He also said, “When the Arabs practiced astronomy they paid a great deal of attention to all the mathematical sciences, and so they became proficient masters and were truly our teachers in this field.”

He also said, “When we study what the Latin took from the Arabs in the beginning, we find that Gerbert, who became Pope and took the name Sylvester II, introduced to us between the year 970 and 980 what he had learned of mathematics in Andalusia; Athelhard the Englishman travelled in Andalusia and Egypt from 1100 to 1128, and translated the Elements of Euclid from Arabic, a work which had been unknown in the west; Plato of Tivoli translated from Arabic the Spherics of Theodosius; Rudolf al-Birooji translated from Arabic The Geography of the Known World by Ptolemy; Leonard al-Beezi wrote around 1200 essays on Algebra, which he learned from the Arabs; Kanianus an-Nabari translated from Arabic ten books of Euclid in the thirteenth century, a good translation with commentary; Pole Witelo (Vitellius) translated al-Baṣariyāt by al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the same century; Gerhard of Cremona spread knowledge of sound and correct astronomy in the same century with his translation of Almagest by Ptolemy and the commentary by Jabir (Geber), etc. In 1250 CE the Spaniard Alfonso ordered the publications of the astronomical tables that bear his name. Roger I encouraged the acquisition of Arabic science in Sicily, especially the books of al-Idrīsi, and the emperor Frederick II was no less keen to encourage study of the science and literature of the Arabs. The sons of ibn Rushd lived in the court of this emperor and taught him the history of plants and animals.”

Homeld says in his book on the universe, “It was the Arabs who for the first time invented the method of chemical preparations of medicines, and it was from this source that sound advice and procedure of experiments came to us, which were taken up by the School of Saliram and from there after a long time spread to southern Europe. The medicine and the natural elements on which medication entirely depends became the cause of study of plants’ chemistry. In this way both these studies went on simultaneously in two different ways and thus the door on a new era of the study of this science was opened by the Arabs. Suffice it for the proof of the vast Arab knowledge of the plant kingdom that they made addition of two thousand herbs to those of Zulefuredas. There were many herbs in their pharmacy that the Greeks had not even dreamt of.”

Sideo says of ar-Rāzi and ibn Sina that through their books they dominated the schools of the west for a long time. Ibn Sina was known in Europe as a doctor, and held absolute sway over their schools for approximately six centuries. His boosk al-Qānūn, which includes five sections, was translated and printed a number of times, because it formed the basis for study in the universities of France and Italy.

3. The Field of Language and Literature

Westerners, especially the poets of Spain, were greatly influenced by Arabic literature. The literature of chivalry, knighthood, metaphor, and marvelous imaginary tales entered western literature through Arabic literature in Andalusia in particular. The famous Spanish writer Abaniz said, “Europe knew nothing of chivalry and its literature before the Arabs came to Andalusia and their knights and heroes spread throughout the regions of the south.”

The extent to which western writers were influenced by Arabic and its literature is proven to us by what Dozy quoted in his book on Islam of the words of the Spanish writer Algharo, who deeply regretted the neglect of Latin and Greek and the acceptance of the language of the Muslims. He said, “The intelligent and eloquent people are bewitched by the sound of Arabic and they look down on Latin. They have started to write in the language of those who defeated them.”

A contemporary of his, who was more influenced by nationalistic feelings, expressed his bitterness when he said, “My Christian brothers admire the poetry and stories of the Arabs, and they study the books written by the philosophies and scholars of the Muslims. They do not do that in order to refute them, but rather to learn the eloquent Arabic style. Where today – apart from the clergy – and those who read the religious commentaries on the Old and New Testaments? Where are those who read the Gospels and the words of the Prophets? Alas, the new generation of intelligent Christians do not know any literature and language well apart from Arabic literature and the Arabic language. They avidly read the books of the Arabs and amass huge libraries of these books at great expense; they look upon these Arabic treasures with great pride, at the time when they refrain from reading Christian books on the basis that they are not worth paying attention to. How unfortunate it is that the Christians have forgotten their language, and nowadays you cannot find among them one in a thousand who could write a letter to a friend in his own language. But with regard to the language of the Arabs, how many there are who express themselves fluently in it with the most eloquent style, and they write poetry of the Arabs themselves in its eloquence and correct usage.”

Among the brilliant writers of Europe in the fourteenth century and thereafter, there can be no doubt whatever concerning the influence of Arabic literature on their stories and writings. In 1349 Boccaccio wrote stories called The Decameron which is a copy of The Arabian Nights, and from which Shakespeare took the idea for his play All’s Well that Ends Well, and the German playwright Lessing took the idea for his play Nathan the Wise.

Chaucer was the foremost English poet and the one who took the most from Boccaccio in his own lifetime. He had met him in Italy, after which he wrote his famous stories known as The Canterbury Tales.

With regard to Dante, many critics affirm that in The Divine Comedy, in which he describes his journey to the other world, he was influenced by Risālat al-Ghufrān by al-Ma’arri and Wasf al-Jannahi by ibn al-‘Arabi. That was because he lived in Sicily at the time of the emperor Frederick II, who was fond of Islamic culture and of studying it from its Arabic sources. There were debates between him and Dante concerning the views of Aristotle, some of which were only known through Arabic sources. Dante also knew a considerable amount about the biography of the Prophet, of which he had read the story of Isa’ and Mi’rāj, and the description of heaven.

Petrarch lived during the time of Arabic culture in Italy and France, and he studied at the universities of Montpellier and Paris, both of which based their syllabus on the books of the Arabs and their students in the universities of Andalusia.

The development of the European story was influenced by the storytelling arts of the Arabs in the Middle Ages, which were the maqāmāt (a genre of Arabic rhythmic prose) and tales of chivalry and knightly adventure for the sake of glory and love. After the Arabian Nights was translated into European languages in the twelfth century, it had a great impact in this field. From that time until the present it has been published in more than three hundred editions in all the languages of Europe. A number of European critics think that Swifts’ Gulliver’s Travels and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and indebted to the Arabian Nights and the letter of Hayy ibn Yaqdhān to the Arab philosopher ibn Ṭufayl.

No one can doubt that this huge number of editions of the Arabian Nights is indicative of westerners’ love for this book and therefore of its influence on them.

There is no need for us to mention the Arabic words, having to do with various aspects of life, that have entered different European languages but which still are pronounced much as in Arabic, such as cotton, damask silk, musk, syrup, jar, lemon, zero, and countless others.

It is sufficient for us here to note the words of Professors Mikhael, “Europe is indebted, in its storytelling literature, to the Arab lands and to the Arab peoples living in the Syrian plateau. It is indebted, for the greater part or primarily, to those active forces which made the Middle Ages in Europe different in spirit and imagination.”

4. The Field of Legislation

The contact of European students with Islamic schools in Andalusia and elsewhere had a great impact in transmitting a number of legislative and juristic rulings into their languages. At that time Europe had no proper system and no just laws until, during Napoleon’s time in Egypt, the most famous books of Māliki fiqh were translated into French. Foremost among these books was Kitāb Khalīl (The Book of Khalīl), which formed the core of French civil law, which to a large extent was familiar to the rulings of Māliki fiqh. The scholar Sideo said, “The Māliki School is the one which attracts our attention, especially because of its connection to the Arabs of Africa. The French government delegated Dr. Beron to translate into French the book al-Mukhtaṣar fil-Fiqh by al-Khalīl ibn Isḥāq ibn Ya‘qūb (d. 1422 CE).”

5. The Concept of the State and the Relationship between the People and the Government

In the ancient and medieval worlds, the people’s right to supervise the actions of their rulers was denied, and the relationship between the people and their ruler was that of slave and master. The ruler was the absolute master who did whatever he wanted with the people, and the kingdom was regarded as the personal property of the king, to be inherited from him like the rest of his wealth. Because of that, they regarded it as permissible to wage war against another state to demand a princess’ right to the throne or because of a dispute concerning a son-in-law’s inheritance.

As for the relationship between warring countries, it was usually one of violating the sanctity of everything owned by the defeated party, his wealth, honor, freedom, and dignity. This is how things remained until the emergence of the Islamic civilization which proclaimed as one of its basic principles that the people had the right to supervise the activities of their rulers, and that these rulers were no more than hired workers who were expected to work hard in taking care of the people’s interests with honesty and integrity. Hence, for the first time in history, an individual from among the people was able to call his ruler to account for what he was wearing and ask where he had gotten it from, and no one ruled that he should be executed or imprisoned or banished from the land, rather the ruler came and explained himself until that man and the people were convinced. And for the first time in history, one of the people said to the supreme ruler: “Peace be upon you, O hired worker,” and the ruler acknowledged that he was the hired worker of the people and that he shared the hired worker’s duties of sincere service and fulfilling the trust. This was one of the things that the Islamic civilization proclaimed and implemented. It was like a breeze of freedom and awareness blowing among the people neighboring the Islamic civilization. They began to complain, then to stir, then they revolted and liberated themselves. This is what happened in Europe, for the westerners came to the land of Syria during the Crusades and they had previously seen in the lands of the Andalusian caliphate that the people kept a watchful eye on their rulers, and that the rulers were not under the supervision of anyone except their own people. The kings of Europe compared the Arab and Muslim kings who were not subject to the influence of any particular class but rather the whole people, with their own submission to the authority in Rome and the ever-present threat of ex-communication unless they showed obedience to the religious king of Rome (i.e., the Pope). After their return to their own countries, they rebelled against them until they freed themselves. After that, the French Revolution did not take matters any further than the freedoms that our civilization had proclaimed twelve centuries earlier.

Among the principles that our civilization followed in its wars were: respecting treaties, respecting freedom of belief, leaving places of worship to their people, guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of people. This generated a spirit of pride and dignity in the conquered people, and awoke in them a sense of their own worth.

For the first time in history, a father among the conquered people complained to the supreme ruler of the state that the son of the governor had hit his son twice with a whip on the head for no reason. The supreme ruler of the state became angry and called the governor to account. He passed judgment that the injured party be given the right to retaliate, and he rebuked the governor saying, “When did you enslave the people who were born free?” This was a new spirit which was awoken by our civilization among individuals and people. Before our rule and our civilization, a father who complained about his son being hit had been humiliated and beaten, his wealth confiscated, and he would have been persecuted for his beliefs, so he could not have revolted or expressed his pain, or felt any sense of pride and dignity, until the sun of our civilization rose on him, and then he could raise his voice and say to the ruler of the believers: “I seek refuge in Allah and in you from oppression.” The oppression of which he was complaining was not the shedding of blood or the violation of honor; it was not religious persecution or the confiscation of land; rather it was to blows of one small child against another.

The westerners made contact with our civilization in the Middle Ages in Syria and in Andalusia, before that they had never known a king revolting against a pope, or the uprising of a people against a king. They never thought that they had the right to call a ruler to account or to support one who was oppressed. When one of them differed with another concerning some matter of doctrine or sect, they would slaughter one another like a butcher slaughter sheep. But when they made contact with us, their renaissance and revolution began, then they freed themselves. After this, can anyone deny the effect of our civilization in freeing the world and saving the people?