The Supreme Leader’s advisor in international affairs asserted that no religion has patronized knowledge seeking for its followers like Islam.
Addressing
the second session of the Islamic-Iranian Model of Progress Series on Tuesday,
November 20, 2012, Ali Akbar Velayati underscored the role of Iranian thinkers
in the growth of the Islamic civilization throughout history.
The
prominent researcher of the history and Islam said he had to go through a year
of meticulous scrutiny of resources to complete one of his books entitled as
Dynamism of Islamic Culture and Civilization. “I drew a diagram showing the ups
and downs of the Islamic civilization in history. Based on the diagram, the
Islamic civilization’s steeped growth begins in the mid-second century HG and
its plunge begins in the 6th century and continues until the 9th and 10th
centuries. During the 10th century, it resumes its growth until it falls down again
in the 12th century,” said Velayati.
He
further underlined Iran’s key role in development of the Islamic civilization,
and said, “As there has always been an Iranian among top wits of any era,
Iran’s role has been very crucial in the Islamic civilization. I am not saying
this with nationalistic bias. This is plain truth.”
He
went on to call Avicenna the greatest Islamic thinker, and quoted Imam Khomeini
as saying, “Disregarding a number of his mistakes, no one was like him
(Avicenna).”
He
highlighted Avicenna’s books and their influence on philosophy and medicine. As
he said, Avicenna’s The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing were his
greatest works which focus on medicine and philosophy, respectively. The Canon
of Medicine was taught in medieval European medicine schools for almost 600
years and nearly 70% of its content is still practicable and useful for medical
studies. The book was the third book to be printed after the holy Bible and
Torah when print was invented.
“As a physician who has studied traditional medicine, I can tell
you that no other book in world’s medicine is as great as Sina’s Canon.
Likewise, there is not great philosopher who has not read through the Book of
Healing,” Velayati went on to add.
Elsewhere
in his address, Velayati called Islam a knowledge and civilization-generating
religion, and stated, “Undoubtedly, there is no other religion to be as
motivating as Islam for learning… The state of Islamic governments has had a
direct impact on growth or failure of the Islamic civilization in history.”
Abū
Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā ("son of Sina"; c. 980 – 1037),
commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian
polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around
240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on
philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.
His
most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific
encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at
many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in
the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's Canon of
Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of
Galen (and Hippocrates).
His
corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology,
psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry.
He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic
Golden Age.
Source:
IBNA News Agency