This evening, the activities of the seminar season, organized by the Ministry of Culture in its second edition, in cooperation with Qatar University, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, and Qatar National Library, from 4 to 19 March, were concluded. The end of the season came with a symposium under the title "The impact of Islamic civilization on the West" In the presence of His Excellency Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Thani, Minister of Culture, His Excellency Mr. Masoud bin Muhammad Al Ameri, Minister of Justice, a number of dignitaries, and a large gathering of intellectuals and interested citizens and residents. The Moroccan academic and preacher Dr. Saeed Al Kamali spoke at the symposium, and it was moderated by the preacher Youssef Achir. Dr. Saeed Al-Kamali reviewed the position of European historians on the influence of Islamic civilization on the West, as some of them claim that the influence of Islamic civilization was only in the transmission and translation of the sciences of Greek and Roman civilization into Arabic, and thus preserved it from being lost until the West received it in the eras of the Renaissance and developed it, and among them Newton, And Galileo, and Samuel Huntington, and others, stressing that the claims of these people are invalid by the evidence of history, given its obviousness, and given the flow of Muslim scholars in various fields, according to the fair-minded among them who saw that Islamic civilization had a clear impact on the West. He dealt with some writers and books that did justice to Islamic civilization, such as the French writer Voltaire, despite his position on Muslims, where he said: "We owe them physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy and even the arts"Voltaire had a portable dictionary in which he said "We owe them reparation"And he meant the Arabs, as he cited a book "Arab civilization" For the French orientalist Gustave Le Bon, who said "It is the Arabs who taught us medicine, philosophy, physics, chemistry and even the arts". Al-Kamali spoke about the civilized foundations of Islam, which urged the reconstruction of the universe, and the transfer of its followers from a state of illiteracy to a professorship, and this change occurred by changing the perception of the worldly life, as the Arabs understood through Islam that they are successors in the land, and that they are required to reconstruct the earth and that this is linked to work for the afterlife. Evidenced in this by many hadiths of the Prophet that urged the reconstruction of the earth, including the words of the Holy Prophet "If the Hour comes and one of you has a sapling in his hand, let him plant it"Referring to the understanding and detail of scholars of the nature of reconstruction and revival and how to achieve this. The Moroccan preacher explained that Islam incited people to work, and that the Messenger, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, incited work and order at the same time, as his Sunnah was followed by the righteous caliphs. In Egypt, stressing that the construction and construction in the Islamic civilization was based on foundations and science, stressing the interest of the Islamic civilization in all the elements of the industry of civilization, starting from reconstruction and construction and ending with the establishment of the bases of military engineering since the first century AH.
And Dr. Saeed Al-Kamali confirmed during a seminar "The impact of Islamic civilization on the West" That Andalusia was an important and great station from which the elements of Islamic civilization infiltrated Europe, where a comparison was made based on the testimonies of Western writers themselves about Europe in the Middle Ages and the civilization of Andalusia, which was scientifically, cognitively and culturally advanced, so there were universities, observatories, laboratories and libraries in Andalusia, whereas Spain had more From 70 public libraries, even the library of Al-Hakim Al-Mustansir alone contained 600,000 books in that era, according to the book “Civilization of the Arabs”, while European capitals were immersed in darkness, pointing out that the results of this comparison were all logical premises to emerge from Muslim doctors, scientists and engineers. Al-Kamali mentioned many Muslim scholars who have emerged in the manufacture of elements of civilization in various sciences and knowledge, such as Al-Biruni, Al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Sina, Al-Farabi and others, indicating that the matter does not depend on famous scholars, but there are great scholars who did not enjoy the same fame, such as Abu Bakr Ibn Zahr who excelled in He is the author of the book Al-Tayseer in Healing and Management, and he was the first to use stitches to close wounds, and the first to stipulate the necessity of the doctor’s commitment to clinical observation of patients and not to suffice with the theoretical aspect. Al-Kamali also spoke about the German book Zaghrid Hunke and the translator / The Arab Sun Shines on the West /, while he saw that the correct translation is the sun of Islam shining on the West because of the influence of Islam itself, stressing in his speech that the Arabs were the first to build hospitals, so it was the first hospital It was built by Al-Walid bin Abdul-Malik in Damascus in the year 88 AH, to move to the rest of the Islamic cities. Hospitals had rooms for patients, and full treatment for free. The Moroccan preacher, Dr. Saeed Al-Kamali, addressed the contributions made by the Islamic civilization in the field of mathematics, which the West benefited from and built on later, which made Western pens keen to translate the books written by Muslims in mathematics, pointing to many models in this field, the most important of which are: Ibn al-Banna’ al-Marrakshi, who excelled in many sciences in addition to mathematics, like many Muslim scholars, and he wrote more than seventy books on arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and astronomy, most of which were lost and only a few of them remain, and what was found has been translated. Speaking about the problem of the decline of Muslims in modern times, he said this is a matter that has many dimensions, the most important of which is colonialism, which was able to separate the present Muslims from their past, in addition to relying on the writings of the West that started from hostility to Islam and Muslims, stressing at the end of his speech the need to return to science As a means to achieve a real civilized contribution, stressing that there are academic experiences in the Islamic world, including a number of Qatari universities that follow this path that promotes science as a means of advancement. It is worth noting that the seminar season included 5 seminars and a poetry evening. It is a lively annual platform and a spacious space to highlight the national culture and enrich it by interacting with international cultures, in addition to its primary role in promoting dialogue between intellectuals and generations of intellectuals on pivotal issues of concern to large sectors of society.
