Everything about Early Muslim Sociology totally explained
Early Muslim sociology responded to the challenges of social organization of diverse peoples all under common religious organization in the
Islamic caliphate, the
Abbasid and later
Mamluk period in Egypt. It was rooted in methods from
early Islamic philosophy and
Islamic science and it reflected the strong concern of
Islam with
social cohesion.
Early reforms under Islam
Sociologist
Robert Bellah (
Beyond belief) argues that Islam in its seventh-century origins was, for its time and place, "remarkably modern...in the high degree of commitment, involvement, and participation expected from the rank-and-file members of the community." This because, he argues, that Islam emphasized on the equality of all Muslims. Leadership positions were open to all men. However, there were restraints on the early
Muslim community that kept it from exemplifying these principles, primarily from the "stagnant localisms" of tribe and kinship. Dale Eickelman writes that Bellah suggests "the early Islamic community placed a particular value on individuals, as opposed to collective or group responsibility."
The Islamic idea of community (that of
umma), established by Muhammad, is flexible in social, religious, and political terms and includes a diversity of Muslims who share a general sense of common cause and consensus concerning beliefs and individual and communal actions.
Corporate social responsibility in commerce
Social responsibility and
corporate social responsibility in
commerce was stressed in early
Islamic sociology during
Muhammad's time. The development of
Islamic banks and
Islamic economics was a side effect of this
sociology:
usury was rather severely restrained, no
interest rate was allowed, and investors were not permitted to escape the consequences of any failed venture - all financing was equity financing (
Musharaka). In not letting borrowers bear all the risk/cost of a failure, an extreme disparity of outcomes between "partners" is thus avoided. Ultimately this serves a social harmony purpose. Muslims also couldn't and can't (in
shariah) finance any dealings in forbidden goods or activities, such as
wine,
pork,
gambling, etc. Thus
ethical investing is the only acceptable investing, and
moral purchasing is encouraged.
Ecological responsibility and environmentalism
» Further information: Muslim Agricultural Revolution - Agricultural sciences
Perhaps due to resource scarcity in most Islamic nations, there was an emphasis on limited (and some claim also sustainable) use of
natural capital, for example producing land. Traditions of
haram and
hima and early
urban planning were expressions of strong social obligations to stay within
carrying capacity and to preserve the
natural environment as an obligation of
khalifa or "stewardship".
Muhammad is considered a pioneer of
environmentalism for his teachings on
environmental preservation. His
hadiths on
agriculture and
environmental philosophy were compiled in the "Book of Agriculture" of the
Sahih Bukhari, which included the following saying:
Qur'an, such as the following:
Ibn Khaldun
Without doubt the most important figure in early Muslim sociology was
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who is regarded as the father of
demography,
cultural history,
historiography, the
philosophy of history,
sociology, and is viewed as a father of modern
economics. He is best known for his
Muqaddimah "
Prolegomenon".
Sati' al-Husri suggested that Ibn Khaldun's
Muqaddimah is essentially a sociological work, sketching over its six books a general
sociology; a
sociology of politics; a sociology of
urban life; a sociology of
economics; and a
sociology of knowledge.
Conflict theory
Ibn Khaldun conceived both a central
social conflict ("town" versus "desert") as well as a theory (using the concept of a "generation") of the necessary loss of power of city conquerors coming from the desert.
Asibiyah
Khaldun's central concept of
asabiyah, or "
social cohesion", seems to anticipate modern conceptions of
social capital arising in
social networks:
This cohesion arises spontaneously in tribes and other small kinship groups; and it can be intensified and enlarged by a religious ideology. Khaldun's analysis looks at how this cohesion carries groups to power but contains within itself the seeds - psychological, sociological, economic, political - of the group's downfall, to be replaced by a new group, dynasty or empire bound by a stronger (or at least younger and more vigorous) cohesion.
Interestingly, Khaldun's concept is instinctive and doesn't involve any
social contract or explicit forms of
constitution or other
instructional capital that would provide a basis for appeals, in law or otherwise.
Histiography
The
Muqaddimah emphasized the role of
systemic bias in affecting the
standard of evidence. Khaldun was quite concerned with the effect of raising standard of evidence when confronted with uncomfortable claims, and relaxing it when given claims that seemed reasonable or comfortable. He was a jurist, and sometimes participated reluctantly in rulings that he felt were coerced, based on arguments he didn't respect.
His
Muqaddimah also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of
state,
communication,
propaganda and
systematic bias in history,
His
historical method also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of
state,
communication,
propaganda and
systematic bias in history, He wrote detailed comparative studies on the
anthropology of peoples, religions and cultures in the
Middle East,
Mediterranean and
South Asia. Biruni's anthropology of religion was only possible for a scholar deeply immersed in the lore of other nations.
Biruni has also been praised by several scholars for his
Islamic anthropology. Biruni is also regarded as the father of
Indology.
Economic thought
To some degree, the early Muslims based their
economic analyses on the
Qu'ran (such as opposition to
riba, meaning
usury or
interest), and from
sunnah, the sayings and doings of
Muhammad.
Perhaps the most well known Islamic scholar who wrote about economics was
Ibn Khaldun of
Tunisia (
1332–
1406), who is considered a father of modern economics. Ibn Khaldun wrote on economic and political theory in the introduction, or
Muqaddimah (
Prolegomena), of his
History of the World (
Kitab al-Ibar). In the book, he discussed what he called
asabiyya (social cohesion), which he sourced as the cause of some civilizations becoming great and others not. Ibn Khaldun felt that many social forces are cyclic, although there can be sudden sharp turns that break the pattern. His idea about the benefits of the division of labor also relate to
asabiyya, the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the successful division may be, the greater the economic growth. He noted that growth and development positively stimulates both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods. He also noted macroeconomic forces of population growth,
human capital development, and technological developments effects on development. In fact, Ibn Khaldun thought that population growth was directly a function of wealth.
Other important early Muslim scholars who wrote about economics include
Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man (699-767),
Abu Yusuf (731-798), Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi (854–931),
al-Farabi (873–950),
Qabus (d. 1012),
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037),
Ibn Miskawayh (b. 1030),
al-Ghazali (1058–1111),
al-Mawardi (1075–1158),
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274),
Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328) and
al-Maqrizi (1364-1442).
Neuroscience and Psychology
In
neuroscience and
psychology,
Islamic medicine stressed the need for individual understanding of their
mental health. The first
psychiatric hospitals and insane asylums were built in the Islamic world as early as the 8th century. The first psychiatric hospitals were built by Arab Muslims in
Baghdad in 705,
Fes in the early 8th century, and
Cairo in 800. Other famous psychiatric hospitals were built in
Damascus and
Aleppo in 1270. Unlike medieval Christian physicians who relied on
demonological explanations for mental illness, medieval Muslim physicians relied mostly on
clinical psychiatry and clinical observations on mentally ill patients. They made significant advances to psychiatry and were the first to provide
psychotherapy and
moral treatment for mentally ill patients, in addition to other new forms of treatment such as
baths, drug
medication,
music therapy and
occupational therapy.
The concepts of
mental health and "mental hygiene" were introduced by the Muslim physician
Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934). In his
Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus (
Sustenance for Body and Soul), he was the first to successfully discuss diseases related to both the body and the mind, and argued that "if the
nafs [psyche] gets sick, the body may also find no joy in life and may eventually develop a physical illness."
Najab ud-din Muhammad (10th century) described a number of mental diseases in detail. He made many careful
observations of mentally ill patients and compiled them in a book which "made up the most complete classification of mental diseases theretofore known." The mental illnesses first described by Najab include
agitated depression,
neurosis,
priapism and sexual
impotence (
Nafkhae Malikholia),
psychosis (
Kutrib), and
mania (
Dual-Kulb).
Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi was a pioneer of psychotherapy,
psychophysiology and
psychosomatic medicine. He recognized that the
body and the
soul can be healthy or sick, or "balanced or imbalanced", and that mental illness can have both
psychological and/or
physiological causes. He wrote that imbalance of the body can result in
fever,
headaches and other physical illnesses, while imbalance of the soul can result in
anger,
anxiety,
sadness and other mental symptoms. He recognized two types of
depression: one caused by known reasons such as
loss or
failure, which can be treated psychologically; and the other caused by unknown reasons possibly caused by physiological reasons, which can be treated through physical medicine.
Ibn al-Haytham is considered by some to be the founder of
experimental psychology and
psychophysics, for his pioneering work on the
psychology of
visual perception in the
Book of Optics.
Along with
al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham,
al-Biruni was also a pioneer of experimental psychology, as he was the first to
empirically describe the concept of
reaction time:
Avicenna was a pioneer of psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine. He recognized 'physiological psychology' in the treatment of illnesses involving
emotions, and developed a system for associating changes in the
pulse rate with inner feelings, which is seen as an anticipation of the
word association test attributed to
Carl Jung.
Social psychology
The earliest works on
social psychology and
animal psychology were written by
al-Jahiz (766–868), an
Afro-Arab scholar who wrote a number of works dealing with the social organization of
ants and with animal
communication and psychology.
Al-Farabi's
Social Psychology and
Model City were also some of the first treatises to deal with
social psychology. He stated that "an isolated individual couldn't achieve all the perfections by himself, without the aid of other individuals." He wrote that it's the "innate disposition of every man to join another human being or other men in the labor he ought to perform." He concluded that in order to "achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others and associate with them." Al-Farabi's treatise
Meanings of the Intellect dealt with
music therapy, where he discussed the
therapeutic effects of music on the
soul.
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