Medieval / Modern Islamic Civilization Comparison - Assignment Example

MEDIEVAL/MODERN ISLAMIC CIVILISATION COMPARISON Medieval/Modern Islamic Civilization Comparison One of the things that are synonymous with the medieval age is innovation. This was a time of discovery and most societies embraced the fad. As such, the Muslim community had a number of innovation and creativity during the medieval age when it was undergoing civilization. However, the spirit of innovation that had so much thrived during this time experienced a setback with the emergence of the modern era.

This was attributed to a number of factors that the Muslims could not control, thus the setback. This paper will be a discussion of the reason why the spirit of innovation and creativity that was evident in the medieval Islamic civilization had gone stale by the time the modern era emerged. According to Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2009, Muslim is one religion whose followers are very strict to adhere to its tenets and traditions, thus Muslims who wanted to embrace modernity that came with innovation had to do this while at the same time following tradition.

This brought about a sort of conflict due to the fact that most of the innovations that brought about modernity were against the Muslim traditions. As such, the content of tradition was possibly one of the most complex and contentious issue that contemporary Muslims had to face. As Muslims struggled to embrace modernity, the task ahead of them was immense. They had to approach modernity with a respectful but independent attitude so that they could still appreciate the teachings of Islam and at the same time incorporate what modernity had to offer in their day to day way of life (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2009).

This was a great challenge since most of the things that came with modernity were against Muslim traditions and beliefs. Since most Muslims are strong believers in keeping their faith, they had to discard what modernity had to offer so that they could practice what was required of their faith. As a result of this, the spirit of innovation and creativity that was evident in the medieval Islamic Civilization faced a decline.Along the same thought, creativity and innovation came with rapid expansion of geographical regions thus creation of new centers of power.

With this realization, there was influx of a lot of wealth, foreign ways of life and greater social stratification. The success brought about by innovation was in its own way a source of downfall to the Muslim community. This is due to the fact that wealth and power brought about corruption and abuse of power as a result of the new lifestyle that had flourished (Esposito, 2011). This was accompanied by infiltration of new ideas and practices. Most of the innovations and new ways of life were seen to undermine the older Muslim way of life.

Islam always has a variety of functions, thus a host of other Muslim critics sprang up and criticized those who were embracing innovation.According to Esposito, 2011, the aspect of power and wealth other than Islamic ideals and commitment is what inspired the Muslim community as a result of new innovations and creativity. Most aspects of power and wealth were regarded as having very little to do with Islam thus the whole aspect of modernity that the two brought had to be declined. The approach of a non-Islamic society based on these new developments was not taken well by most Islamic faithful; therefore, there was a decline on the aspects of innovation and creativity that had so much thrived during the medieval civilization.

In conclusion, innovation and creativity coupled with the resultant modernization came with a number of advantages such as power, wealth and general development. However, strict adherence to Islamic faith made Muslims shun this advent due to the contradiction that came up with regard to what modernization was portraying and what the Islamic way of life dictated. People were torn between modernization and adherence to the strict Muslim values and due to their strong faith and belief in Muslim traditions, they decided to shun modernity thus its decline.

ReferencesEsposito, J.L. (2011) What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. New York: Oxford University Press.Goldschmidt Jr., A. & Davidson, L. (2009). A Concise History of the Middle East. Boulder: Westview Press.