Rafed English
site.site_name : Rafed English

The sciences of the din of Islam came into being at the beginning of the Prophet's mission and the revelation of the Qur'an, including laws governing the behaviour and transactions of Muslims. Study of these sciences developed in the first century after the Hajar although initially, not in any formal way. Since the Caliphs had prohibited the writing down of the tradition, they were handed down by word of mouth by the companions and their followers. A small number of Scholars wrote on jurisprudence and on the science of the traditions at the beginning of the second century when the prohibition was lifted1, allowing Scholars to record the traditions.

It was at this point that a number of disciplines came into being including the Science of Traditions and the Science of establishing the authority and sincerity of those men who transmitted it; the Science of analysis of the text of the traditions; the Science of the foundations ofjurisprUde1~~ and jurisprudence itself; the Science of belief in the judgement After death and the after-life. Even philosophy, which entered the Islamic arena via the Greek, and remained there for some time in its original Greek, took on the colour and beliefs of the people after a time.

Changes in the subject matter and the structure of disciplines took place such that today, amongst Muslims, all subject matter concerning divine gnosis is supported by proofs and reasons taken from the Qur'an and the traditions. All these subjects were also studied as an integral part of the Arabic language: mastery of the science of verb declension, grammar, meanings of words, commentary and explanation, the art of metaphors and good style, and the philosophy and science of derived meanings allowed greater precision and clarity in the study of the Islamic Sciences as a whole. Indeed what stimulated scholars to record and arrange coherently the laws of the Arabic language was the sense that they were serving God; love of Him drew them to a clarity and sweetness of style which in turn generated the Science of correct speech and composition.

It is thus related that Ibn 'Abb?s, who was one of the commentators amongst the companions, explained the meanings of verses by taking examples of the vocabulary in question from Arabic poetry. He advised people to collect and learn Arabic poetry saying, Poetry is the court of the Arabs (meaning the place where the finest language may be heard).

The famous Shi'ites scholar KhaIil ibn Ahmad al-Far?hidi wrote the book al-'any on the subject of language and also iescribed the science of poetic rhyme. Many others also wrote on the same subjects. The subject of ~history was initially derived in Islam from stories of the lives ) prophets, in particular that of the Prophet Muhammad, tnd the description of the course of past nations. To this basic naterial was added an account of the events during the period rnmediately following the appearance of Islam. All this was enveloped into a history of the world in the writings of such rein as al-Tabari, aJ-Mas'üdi, al-Ya'qubi and al-Waqidi.

The original reason the Muslims translated and transmit, d the natural Sciences and mathematics from other cultures nd languages into Arabic was the cultural stimulation given to them by the Qur'an. Many different Sciences were translated from Greek, Syrian and Sanskrit into Arabic. Access to these sciences was at first available only to the Caliph (who was at that time leader of only Arab Muslims). Gradually they were made available to all Muslims and improved upon as research methods, s~ructUriflg, classific3~ tion and ordering of the subjects developed.

One of the main reasons the civilization of Islam, which formed after the death of the Prophet, came to include a large part of the inhabited world (and which today numbers over six hundred million inhabitants), was the Qur'afl. We as Sbi'ahs, however, deny that the caliphs and the kings who followed them bad legitimate claim to the guardianshiP and execution of the law even though they expanded Islamic civilization, and do not fully agree with the way they explained the realities of Islam.

Indeed the light of wisdom, which illuminated the world, was from the light of the miracle of the Qur'an. The apppearaflce and diffusion of the revelation caused a change in the direction of history and generated a chain of important events resulting in the progress and development of the culture of man.

Adopted from the book: "Quran per Islam" by: "Allamah sayyid Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai"