438)Knowledge Society: A Collection of Posts on the Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.

"That quest for a better life, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, must lead inevitably to the Knowledge Society which is developing in our time. The great and central question facing the Ummah of today is how it will relate to the Knowledge Society of tomorrow.The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of Islamic civilizations lay neither in accidents of history nor in acts of war, but rather in their ability to discover new knowledge, to make it their own, and to build constructively upon it. They became the Knowledge Societies of their time."(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 2nd December 2006, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)

"For century after century, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and many other Islamic societies achieved powerful leadership roles in the world—not only politically and economically but also intellectually. Some ill-informed historians and biased commentators have tried to argue that these successes were essentially produced by military power, but this view is profoundly incorrect"(Aga Khan IV, 2nd December 2006, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)

"The Muslim world, once a remarkable bastion of scientific and humanist knowledge, a rich and self-confident cradle of culture and art, has never forgotten its past.The great Muslim philosopher al-Kindi wrote eleven hundred years ago, "No one is diminished by the truth, rather does the truth ennobles all". That is no less true today"(Aga Khan IV, Speech,1996, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.)

"From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought"(Aga Khan IV, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, 1996)

"Above all, following the guidance of the Holy Quran, there was freedom of enquiry and research. The result was a magnificent flowering of artistic and intellectual activity throughout the ummah" (Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"One of the first and greatest research centres, the Bayt al-Hikmah established in Baghdad in 830, led Islam in translating philosophical and scientific works from Greek, Roman, Persian and Indian classics. By the art of translation, learning was assimilated from other civilizations"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)

"It is no exaggeration to say that the original Christian universities of Latin West, at Paris, Bologna and Oxford, indeed the whole European renaissance, received a vital influx of new knowledge from Islam -- an influx from which the later western colleges and universities, including those of North Africa, were to benefit in turn"(Aga Khan IV, 16 March 1983, Aga Khan UNiversity, Karachi, Pakistan)

"The tapestry of Islamic history is studded with jewels of civilization; these jewels poured forththeir light and beauty; great statesmen, great philosophers, great doctors, great astronomers; but these individuals, these precious stones were worked into a tapestry, whose dominant theme was Islam, and this theme remained dominant regardless of the swallowing up of foreign lands, foreign cultures, foreign languages and foreign people"(Aga Khan IV, 30 Jan 1970, Hyderabad, Pakistan)

The above are 8 quotes and excerpts from Blogpost Four Hundred, a collection of about 100 quotes on the subjects of knowledge, intellect, creation, education, science and religion:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html





1)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain: EXCERPTS, PART 1
THE TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE FROM ISLAMIC SPAIN TO EUROPE
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/376city-of-light-rise-and-fall-of.html



2)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS PART 2
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/377city-of-light-rise-and-fall-of.html



3)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS, PART 3
THE HERITAGE OF LEARNING PASSES TO MUSLIM CIVILIZATION
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/378city-of-light-rise-and-fall-of.html



4)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS, PART 4
CLASSICAL AND ISLAMIC LEARNING ENTERS EUROPE
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/379city-of-light-rise-and-fall-of.html



5)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islam in Spain, EXCERPTS, PART 5
SCIENCE IN AL-ANDALUS
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/380city-of-light-rise-and-fall-of-islam.html


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)