Crusades one of the routes of Islamic civilization to Europe

Monday, 26 July 2010

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Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Impact of Islamic civilization on Europe during crusades

The crusades are wars that continued for about two centuries starting from the end of the 5th Hijri century/11th Gregorian century in (490 A.H/1097A.D) until the fall of the last bastion of crusaders in the hands of Mamelukes in (690 A.H/1291 A.D). That period is considered to be one of the most important liaison points or points where influence and copying took place. Although the crusaders came to the Islamic Mashreq seeking war rather than knowledge, they were influenced by Islamic civilization. The crusaders copied as much as they could of the Muslims’ achievements to Europe, which was suffering from backwardness and degeneration at the time.

Gustav Lebon says: “The link between the Occident and the Orient for two centuries was one of the strongest factors for the development of civilization in Europe… those who want to know the influence of the Orient on the Occident have to understand the state of civilization of the peoples of both sides. As the Orient was enjoying flourishing civilization thanks to the Arabs, the Occident plunged into barbarism.”[1]

In this regard, Al-Maqrizi[2] says that when Emperor Frederick II left Jerusalem for Acre on his way to his country in (626 A.H/1228 A.D), he sent to the Ayyubid sultan Al-Kamil with questions in engineering and mathematics he found too difficult to answer. Al-Kamil used to love science and bring scientists closer to him, test them and award them generously. The Ayyubid sultan gave these questions to one of his scientists, Sheikh Alam al-Din Qaysar, who was a mathematician and engineer. Al-Kamil then sent the answers to Frederick. The questions raised by the emperor included:

- Why does a spear not appear straight if part of it was plunged into water?

 - Why do people with poor sight see threads that appear like flies or mosquitoes in front of the eyes?[3]

Europeans came to Islamic countries in subsequent waves and caused wide bloodshed and waded through the blood of innocent people with no mercy or pity until they were encountered by Muslim soldiers who showed them how they had great sword fighting skills, kind hearts, and merciful souls not part of their message to enslave, oppress, and do injustice. The crusaders had, therefore, seen equality, justice, and fraternity. So, they rebelled against the feudal system and the humiliation of man in their countries and denounced the sway and dominion of the church. The crusaders struggled against the transfer of wealth to some princes and brokers of kings. The crusaders copied massively from science, arts, and civilization. So, many industries, plants, medicines, dyes, the art of architecture and engineering, and the building of forts and castles, made their way to them. Also, many Islamic traditions, including those related to dress, food, and family, made their way to Europe. The crusaders went back dazzled as if they had an electric shock that alerted them to their bad conditions, ignorant thinking, and insignificant society. So, the crusaders rolled up their sleeves to search for knowledge and science, seeking social reform and intellectual, industrial and moral progress.[4]

Gustav Le Bon says: “The impact of the Orient on the civilization of the Occident was very great, thanks to the crusades. That impact was greater in arts, industries, and trade than in sciences and literature. If we looked at the steady progress of commercial relations between the Orient and the Occident and the development in arts and industry that resulted from the contact between the crusaders and people in the Orient, we would find that people in the Orient were the ones who extricated the Occident from alienation and prepared souls to progress, thanks to the sciences and literature of the Arabs which European universities relied on, which made the renaissance era start from there one day”.[5]