10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

Definition and Concept

Civilization is a word used to describe a state of achievement in human history. The word civilization is derived for the Latin word 'civis' and 'civitas'. 'Civis' mean 'citizen' or 'townsman' while 'civitas' means 'town' or 'city'.

There are various definitions of the word civilization. In general, 'civilization' means an advanced state of moral, intellectual, and technological development (e.g., with complex legal, political, religious, and cultural organizations. A contemporary Muslim scholar, Dr. Yusof al-Qaradhawi defines civilization as a series of highly developed, materialistic, scientific, literary and social aspects of particular society or of similar society.

In Islamic civilization, the word 'tamaddun' is used to describe civilization. The root word of "Tamaddun" is 'din' which means religion or description of religious life. Then, the word is expanded to "madanna" that refers to the opening of city then it becomes 'madinah' which means city or urban dwelling-place. Normally, in the development of civilization, a high stage of civilization is only achievable in cities (close to rivers) with many in habitants, enough crops and goods for trade, division of labor and technology achievement.

Thus, the word tamaddun is used for civilization. Besides the word tamaddun, there are other terms associated to civilization i.e 'umran and hadarah. 'Umran refers to features and the development of a...

10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

...society while hadarah describes the permanent life in a place as an opposite to moving from one place to another (badwi).

All civilizations are based on religion. Every great civilization such as Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian and Sumerian had a distinct system of Holy Scriptures, moral codes and laws. In Islamic civilization, Islamic teachings are basis of tamaddun. Prophets are considered as the founders of human civilization. They were chosen leaders of their communities and introduced just laws (land ownership, tax system), established high standards of morality, and succeeded in uniting their communities and achieved a high level of cooperation and loyalty between its members.

The prophets were taught by Allah SWT the art of writing and recording (kitabah) and wisdom (hikmah), and thus were able to lead their societies in terms of just laws and ways of administration (landownership, taxation, written law, courts of justice).

10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

Characteristics of Civilization

Each civilization that emerged has its own characteristics as well as some similarities and differences. Among them are:

i.

Language and writing system

As a tool of recording their achievements and to tell the future generations that come after them about

their heritage.

ii.

Well-Organized social system and organization

The society is governed by a system in every aspects of life such as politics, economy, social,

education, administration and so on also there exists organizations or institutions to govern the society.

iii.

Special settlement

Normally, a civilization has a special statement that led to the formation of cities, towns, military

barracks and others.

iv.

Well-organized legal system

In a civilization, there must be a well organized legal system and value system that controls the

behaviour of the people. For example, Sahifah Madinah was enacted by Rasulullah SAW to govern the

behavior of the members of the people in Madinah inclusive of Muslims and non-Muslims.

10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

v.

Aesthetic works

The civilizations in the past have left the contributions of their scholars to the world such as in

philosophy, arts, literature and creative handmade products.

vi.

Great inventions and ideas

A civilization will leave to future generations great inventions and ideas with high technological values.

For example, the Greek civilization had left abundant of works in philosophy. In China, there is the

Great Wall of China as well pyramids in Egypt.

Sources of Civilization

In general, there are three sources of civilization i.e religion, culture and race.

a.

Religion

It is a fact that every society has belief system that colours the life of its members. The personality and

attitude of its members are normally shaped by the belief. The belief normally comes in the form of

religion. For example, the Egyptian civilization that believed in One God. Therefore, the pyramids were

built that point to one direction.

10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

The same thin in Islamic civilization. The belief that there is relationship between human being and

Allah SWT (vertical relationship) as well as human with the universe (horizontal), it was translated into

the building of mosques that have minarets. The minarets which is built in vertical shape actually

symbolizes the relationship between human and Allah SWT (حبل من الله) , while the horizontal part of the

building symbolizes the relationship between man with the fellow human beings (حبل من الناس) including

also environment, animals and so on.

b.

Culture

Culture also can be considered as one of the sources of civilization because culture describes the life

style of the people. The culture normally includes economic activities, marriage, social behavior,

education, custom and others. For example, clothes. The Chinese civilization that had formed a

special design of clothes for Chinese and it remains until today even though the Chinese had left their

original belief. If you look to Chinese Muslims, they still wear their traditional clothes that were

originated from their civilization.

10.1 The Definition and Concept of Civilization and Islamic Civilization

c.

Races

A civilization is normally known by the race that forms the civilization such as Chinese civilization,

Greek civilization and Sumerian civilization. This shows that race also play an important role in

civilization in which it can be considered as one of the sources of civilization. However, it is different

with Islamic civilization as the element of race was not so centric because its foundation is the religion

of Islam. That is why, even though Islam revealed to the land of Arabs but Islamic civilization is not

known as 'Arab Civilization'.