Kabhi aye naujawan e muslim, tadabur bhi kiya tu ney

Woh kya gardo'n tha jiska tu hey ek tota howa tara

Over 1.5 billion adherents comprising one-fifth of the world's population, 50 Muslim majority states, a community spanning over the entire globe -- Islam is one of the largest forces today. The volume and degree of this force speaks for itself. Yet, this is one power that probably is also one of the most wretched, dominated, and subjugated. God created us as the guardian of His truth, yet we took the path of fallacies and flawed beliefs.

Muslim empire was once considered to be the most powerful realm, comparable to the Roman, Greek, and Egyptian empires before them. The rule of Muslims spanned half the globe and was feared and respected by the enemies and allies alike. Now, all the glory and grandeur is lost.

The golden age --

Islamic Renaissance

The golden age of Islamic empire, the Islamic Renaissance, started from 700 A.D. and lasted till the 16th century. This era produced Muslim scholars, poets, philosophers, artists, architects, and traders whose influence touched every discipline known to mankind. Their contributions to arts, literature, philosophy, economics, law, science, and technology remain unparalleled in the history. Howard R. Turner, a documentary and educational film writer wrote in his book, 'The Heritage of Islamí':

"Muslim artists and scientists, princes and laborers together made a unique culture that has directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent."

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire, or commonly known as the Turkish Empire, lasted from 1299 A.D. to1923 A.D. This was the period when Islam was at its pinnacle, culturally, socially, economically and educationally, especially in the field of science. At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, with much of the Southeastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East under their rule, and it comprised 29 provinces and various vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into it. For over six centuries, the Ottomans were the bridge between the Western and Eastern cultures. The imperial capital of the empire was Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, which was one of Europe's largest and wealthiest cities of its time. The empire grew stronger under the reign of Suleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and al-kanuni, the lawgiver, in the East for his just rule and reconstruction of the Empire's legal system. He was the longest reigning Sultan of the Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566, presiding over the empire's large military, economic, and political powers and taking it to the heights of its glory.

The rule of logic and reasoning

Muslims used rational, practical, and scientific paths to reach the age of discovery. Their motivations were not fuelled just by the verses of the Holy Quran, but by understanding, interpreting, and following the true meaning and hidden connotations behind each word.

During that period, the Muslims emphasised on freedom of speech, bridging the gaps between different religions, and creating cross-cultural networks which gave rise to a period of philosophical creativity, where all the great thinkers and scholars put their mental resources together to create an unparallel environment.

The age of invention and

exploration

During the period of the Muslim ascendancy, the phenomenon of globalisation took place with Muslim explorers, traders, and scientists travelling to far off lands through sea. Some have called this period the "Pax Islamica", since many traders and travellers from Asia and Africa developed a global economy and many trade routes. This helped establish the Islamic Empire as the world's leading economic power from the seventh to 13th centuries.

A significant number of inventions were made in this era by Muslim inventors and scientists, which include chemical compounds such as Aqua Regia and nitric acid, different scientific techniques like distillation, liquefaction, oxidation, crystallisation and everyday use items such as shampoos, soap bars and coffee. Other inventions included the camera obscura, method of smallpox inoculation, fountain pen, stained glass etc., all of the inventions that we now take for granted, without even going into their histories and finding out that they were our forefathers, and not the Westerners, who developed them.

Thus, Muslims laid the foundations of the modern day science during the 'Muslim Scientific Revolution'. The main driving force behind the innovations and discoveries was Islam, as a religion, that influenced its followers to dig deep and find the secrets in this universe.

The renaissance produced many polymaths. These polymaths were colloquially known as hakeems, who were an emblem of knowledge not only in religious studies, but also in the disciplines of science, medicine, arts and philosophy. Notable medieval Muslim polymaths included Al-Biruni, Al-Jahiz, Al-Kindi, Al-Khawarzimi, Al-Idrisi, Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Tufail, Averroes, Al-Suyuti, Abbas Ibn Firnas, Alhacen, Ibn al-Nafis, Ibn Khaldun, al-Khwarizmi, Al-Masudi, Al-Muqaddasi, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, among others. These scholars were comparable to the Renaissance Men of the European world, like Learnado da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture was one of the most prominent aspects of the Islamic culture. The architectural designs were based on religious, secular and contemporary concepts that made the Islamic architecture widely valued even today. We still see the grandeur of these structures in mosques, tombs, palaces and forts all across the world.

During the renaissance, many great architectural feats were accomplished by the Muslim engineers. The Great Mosque of Xi'an in China was completed in 740, and the Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq was completed in 847. The Spanish Muslims began construction of the Great Mosque at Cordoba, noted for its striking interior arches, in 785, which marked the beginning of an era of Islamic architecture in Spain and Northern Africa. Moorish architecture reached its peak with the construction of the Alhambra, the magnificent palace of Granada, with its open and breezy interior spaces adorned in red, blue, and gold.

Another distinctive sub-style is the architecture of the Mughal Empire in India in the 15-17th centuries. Blending Islamic and Hindu elements, the emperor Akbar constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri in the late 1500s. His grandson Shah Jahan ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal for Mumtaz Mahal in the 1650s, which is considered the finest example of Islamic architecture, the jewel of Muslim art and is universally admired. In the Ottoman Empire, massive mosques with ornate tiles and calligraphy were constructed by a series of sultans including the Suleymaniye Mosque, Sultanahmet Mosque, Selimiey Mosque, and Bayezid II Mosque.

Universities

Some of the oldest universities in the world were initiated during this time. University of Al-Karaouine in Fes, Morocco, was developed in 859, making it the oldest recognised university in the world. Al-Azhar University in Cairo, founded in 975, was one of the first degree granting universities. Other universities include Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, University of Sankore in Mali, Istanbul University in Istanbul and Calcutta Madrasah College in Calcutta which is the oldest continuously running Islamic seminary in India.

The downfall

"The achievements of the Arabic speaking people between the ninth and twelfth centuries are so great as to baffle our understanding. The decadence of Islam and of Arabic is almost as puzzling in its speed and completeness as their phenomenal rise. Scholars will forever try to explain it as they try to explain the decadence and fall of Rome. Such questions are exceedingly complex and it is impossible to answer them in a simple way."

George Sarton,

'The Incubation of Western Culture in the Middle East'.

By the end of 15th century, the Islamic Civilisation started struggling, and its creative and dynamic outlook began to succumb to the fast developing European Renaissance. The decline of the great empire continued, until it ended up in stagnation and the eventual collapse by the start of the 20th century, after the downfall of the last stronghold of Muslims, the Mughal Empire.

Muslims were weakened by continuous losses and their culture was almost totally disintegrated. The great Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey, the Mughal Empire came under the rule of the British monarchy, Africa became the most under developed continent where civil wars broke, and the gateway to Islam, the Arab world took up the life of lavishness and luxury. The Muslims, wounded and completely over powered in all aspects, tried to regain their lost glory, initially by revolts and when that failed, their attitude changed to hostility against the Western world.

At this stage, with no other available platforms, a new breed of the so-called Muslim revolutionist emerged. Unfortunately, their purpose was not revolution, but self-destruction. These fundamentalists took extreme measures: from hijacking to kidnapping innocent people. The power of logic gave way to violence. Their true motivations became violent with time, from self-defence to aggression. Their ultimate aim to regain the lost power turned into an obsession of Islamic rule.

The Western world, with the mantra of 'freedom of expression' and 'freedom of speech', took advantage of this weakened state of the Muslims, and used their powers to turn the Muslims against each other and ultimately against themselves. The Western world used the words Islam and terrorism as synonyms and compared Muslims with extremists and fundamentalists. An air of Islamophobia began to spread in the Western world, which was fuelled by ignorant and unjustifiable acts of extremists, suicide bombers, and hijackers. Degradation of Islamic culture, values, and beliefs started taking place and words such as Islamism, Islamofascism, Islamist terrorism, and Islamic feminism obtruded, which were considered parallel to blasphemy in the Western world.

In these times, instead of regaining their lost heritage, instead of using wisdom and knowledge to regain their dignity, certain Muslim groups have intensified their acts. Suicide bombings, hijacking, and kidnapping have increased. Extremists have captured innocent civilians, engineers, and human right activists, working for their betterment and after holding them hostage, decapitated them with the chants of 'Allah hu Akbar' which did nothing but fuelled the hatred.

Islam urges its followers to spread the religion with logic and good notions -- not with the blade of a sword; Islam advocates us to be reasonable, not to blow ourselves up; Islam wants us to live in peace. Islam can never condone such acts. Therefore, such acts cannot be described as Islamic terrorism; rather, these are terrorist acts committed by certain groups of Muslims.