Literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Literature review - Essay Example Ancient Western viewpoint Intellectually In the early period of the High Middle Ages, the Islamic communities had greatly contributed to the intellectual growth of the European people. Goddard (2000) stated that the medieval Muslim scholars (e.g., Averroes) had translated into Arabic language the scientific ideas and philosophies of the Greeks such as Aristotle (Goddard, 2000: 97). He further noted that it was in the eleventh century that the Europeans were able to obtain, translate, and read the works of the Greek scientists and philosophers via their Arabic version. Goddard (2000) said that there were two specific European locations wherein the readings and translations of the Arabic texts of the Greek intellectuals were made: Spain and Sicily. By and large, Muslims were viewed by the medieval Christians, based from Goddard’s analysis, as transmitters of scientific knowledge and intellectual tradition (Goddard, 2000: 98). Economically Moreover, Glick (2005) said that the Isl amic communities had greatly shaped the notion and praxis of urbanization for the pre-11th century European people. Prior to A.D. 1000, the administration of justice practiced by the Christian nation-state of Iberian descent was â€Å"dispersed among a multiplicity† of institutions or courts throughout the land (Glick, 2005: 113). In contrast, the administration of justice prominent in Islamic communities was remarkably concentrated in the al-Andalus towns. With respect to urban practices, the influence of Muslims to the medieval Iberian Christians took place when the former created the al-Andalus region as an international market in the 8th-century period. Here, European Christians perceived Muslims as civilized people with highly organized activities pertaining to urban function. Glick’s reading of medieval Spanish urbanization significantly viewed Islam as the promoter of civilization as we know it today: concentrated at the center. Theologically In spite of the con tributions of Islam to the preservation and institution of knowledge and urbanization, the European elite had attempted to demonize, and eventually succeeded in demonizing, the expanding Muslim communities. Tolan (1996), p.xv) described how Peter the Venerable, a Christian abbot of Cluny, travelled to Spain in order to meet and convince its king for a sinister plot of attacking Islam (Tolan, 1996: xv). The abbot of Cluny conceived a plan to rationally criticize the ideas and teachings characterized in the Islamic faith; through the aid of the king of Castile and Leon, Peter the Venerable created a team of translators with the main task of translating the Qur’an and other Islamic texts from Arabic to Latin language (Tolan, 1996). Thence, Christian scholars attacked the philosophy or ideas prominent in the Islamic texts. In the process, they perceived the Muslims as akin to pagans or heretics (Lumbard, 2009: 156). Militarily In the Early Middle Ages, it must be noted that Islam was not highly considered by the medieval Christians as a religion in