Journal of Islamic Civilization Studies

Abstract

Abstract:
Modernism,
which has dominated the world for the last two centuries, produces economic,
political and social inequalities and it underlies the persecution and
subversion far from bringing the justice needed by humanity. With this base,
Westerners have injected the humanist, rational, secularist, progressive and
positive understanding of science into the Islamic world as elements of
modernity as a result of the falsification and after the occupation of the
Islamic world. Because of these, Muslims have been having inferiority complex
and lack of confidence for several centuries. These damages of modernity to
humanity increase incrementally with the withdrawal of Muslims from the
scientific field. In order to stop this increase, it is necessary to return to
the truths that humanity has broken with modernity. To do this, first of all,
people, who are members of a civilization that has played a major role in the
history of humanity for 800 years, must demonstrate how this all happened and
know the scholars, ecoles and processes that developed this civilization. For
this, it is necessary to develop a macro understanding in education and culture
perception and this must be superior to those given in educational
institutions. Education is not merely a systematic formal teaching, but rather
the rehabilitation of mentality at any age and not being exposed to the
subversion of modernity. For a valid scientific perspective, it is necessary to
follow the scientific developments of the age. Of course, while doing this, if
the original in Islam can be taken without having an attitude that is neither
according to modernity (conservative modernization efforts) nor for it (western
modernization efforts) and nor against it (conservative efforts) and if the
modern one can be used, the subversion of modernity will be removed. Likewise,
when Muslims established the civilization, they benefited from all previous
experiences. They did not feel like they had to be bound to them or against
them. In this process, we need to understand that they are consciously
nourished from world societies.

Summary : Modernism, which has dominated the world for the
last two centuries, produces economic, political and social inequalities and it
underlies the persecution and subversion far from bringing the justice needed
by humanity. Westerners have injected the humanist, rational, secularist,
progressive understanding of science into the all non-western societies
generellay and into the Islamic world particularly as main elements of
modernity as a result of the falsification and after the occupation of the
Islamic world. As they have been affected by these, Muslims have been having
inferiority complex and lack of confidence for several centuries due to the
political, economic and intellectual collapse. These damages of modernity to
humanity increase incrementally with the withdrawal of Muslims especially from
the political, economic and intellectual fields. In order to stop this
increase, it is necessary to return to the truths that humanity has broken with
modernity.

In order to return to the truths, first of all, it
is necessary to make the place of the Islamic religion in the minds of the
Muslims of which they are members. It should not be forgotten that Islam, sent
by God as a vertical axis with prophethood, to provide peace, prosperity and
happiness in the life of the world and the hereafter, plays important roles in
meeting not only the spiritual needs but also the material needs of humanity.
In this sense, it is important to keep in mind that Islam advises people to
interact with each other in order to meet the material needs of humanity in the
world life, to ensure, increase and stabilize the prosperity. It should be
noted that Islam, which encourages these practices constituting the horizontal
axis of civilizations, has put forward an integrated system that regulates this
incentive along with prophethood as the vertical axis. Allah wishes humanity,
which is in the situation of tribalization due to the geographical conditions,
to meet and interact with each other and He has been involved in history with
prophethood in the times when this communication breaks. As it is frequently
mentioned, all the prophets carried out communiqués to ensure that communities
live together and interact with each other. As we have indicated in the
previous lines, it is essential that mentioned trait of Islam should be
re-arranged in a powerful way in a period when modernity tries to standardize
the differences of people and assimilate their originality.

For the solution of the problem, people who are
members of a civilization that has played a major role in the history of
humanity for 800 years must demonstrate how Islamic civilization and thought
occured and know the scholars, ecoles and processes that developed this civilization.
For instance; Fuat Sezgin says “Muslims should know Al-Biruni (d. 1050), Ibn
Sina (d. 1037), Jabir Ibn Hayyan (d. 813) and Ibn Al-Haytham (d. 1040). It
should not be forgotten that Muslims will see what a person can do alone and
the creativity of a person when they investigate these things. First of all,
these studies will enable particularly Turks and generally Muslims to see how
high the civilization they belong to. Then, with the increase of the audience
of these works, the feeling of inferiority in the Muslims against the West and
the misperception of European civilization will be eliminated.”

On the other hand, it is essential to read the
history from our own perspective of civilization, not from a Eurocentric and
progressive view of history. Only with this perspective, the central place of
Islam and Muslims in world history can be realized because one of the biggest
events affecting the world history is the emergence of Islam. In a short time
after the emergence of Islam, the paganism of Jahiliyyah was buried in history,
the Sassanid empire was defeated and Zoroastrianism was abolished. Eastern
Roman Empire was kept its hands off ancient lands. Religions have once again
been influential in history with the emergence of Islam and its integrated
structure that regulates social life. The physical geography map has been
rearranged and has continued on this arrangement until today. Moreover, China
was moving to the west and its progress was halted and remained at its present
boundaries. Even though the historical truth is like this, it is not possible
to see this from the European centrist point of view. Looking at them from our
own perception of time is essential to achieve the truth.

For this, it is necessary to develop a macro
understanding in education and culture perception and this must be superior to
those given in educational institutions. Therefore, education and training
should include the education of moral and conscientious values ​​rather than a system in which only material and
worldly sciences are taught. A sustainable national education policy that
demonstrates an educational approach providing all these mental transformations
in society should be pursued. Education is not merely a systematic formal
teaching, but rather the rehabilitation of mentality at any age and not being
exposed to the subversion of modernity. In reaching this point, morality, the
concept of rights, moral and material development, the right path and the
necessity of creating mindscapes directed towards to aims in every field should
be envisaged as the main parameter in education. For a valid scientific
perspective, it is necessary to follow the scientific developments of the age.

Of course, while doing this, if the original in
Islam can be taken without having an attitude that is neither according to
modernity (conservative modernization efforts) nor for it (western
modernization efforts) and nor against it (conservative efforts) and if the
modern one can be used, the subversion of modernity will be removed. Likewise,
Muslims benefited from all previous experiences when they established the
civilization. They did not feel like they had to live according to them or
against them. In this process, we need to understand that they are consciously
nourished from world societies. Within that period, communication was
established by canceling the aspects of other's accumulation of truths that did
not conform to the truth, separating the truth and the non-truth, and
correcting the mistakes involved in the truth, and ensuring that the truth was
taken and maintained. What we should do today is to act on these principles. In
this study, the understanding of education of Islam that encompasses life in
all its aspects and the interaction dimension that Islam attends with other civilizations
have been discussed and with the introduction of the process that has been
going on since the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), critics have been realized for our
understanding of education and science in the last century.