LINGUISTICS
On account of superstitious beliefs becoming attached to language, linguistics, as a science, stagnated for thousands of years. Writing of this failure to Dr Ernest Gellner, a linguist very aptly commented: ‘Linguistic philosophy has an inverted vision which treats genuine thought as a disease and dead thought as a paradigm of health.’
In antiquity it was generally believed that writing was the gift of God, as in the Indian concept of “Braham lipi.” Words and the form of speech were considered to have been given to man by the gods and, as such, they commanded the highest veneration from humans. John Stevens, in his book Sacred Calligraphy of the East, presents research carried out by himself, which shows that the concept of ‘sacred’ calligraphy persisted for centuries. Scholars differed as to the origin of calligraphy, whether in Egypt, China, India, or any other place. One idea, however, was universal: writing was divine. It was inherently holy. Writing was the speech of the gods.
That human languages have been the object of superstitions for thousands of years is a matter of historical record. It was supposed that certain languages had a divine origin, and that their speakers enjoyed a special status above others. For instance, for centuries the Greek language had been supposed to be superior to other languages, Greek being the language of the gods, while other languages were those of barbarians.
The same was the case with Hebrew. In the Jewish–Christian world it was an age-old belief that Hebrew was God’s own language and that it was the first language to be used in the world. Wonderly and Eugene Nida, who have made a detailed study of the influences of Christian beliefs on languages, have made this analysis:
One of the factors, which retarded linguistic progress, was the belief among early Christian writers, and persisting well into the Renaissance era, that all languages were derived from Hebrew.
The concept of ‘divine’ language was wholly a product of superstitious beliefs, having nothing to do with reality. Whenever it comes to be supposed of a language that it is the language of the gods, it becomes an object of reverence in people’s eyes with the status of a sacred language. It can no longer remain an object of investigation. After this stage, making a critical analysis of it, or advocating a new method to develop it, or any other such progressive attitude towards it, are looked upon as heretical, and akin to being sacrilegious. All such efforts are seen by the people as presumptuousness, rather than as a sincere attempt to develop the language. This state of arrested development was typical not only of the ancient languages, but of all other departments of thought, innumerable kinds of superstitious beliefs having stemmed the tide of intellectual progress. It was the revolution based on monotheism, which broke down this barrier for the first time in history. This revolution originated in Arabia, and finally came to exert its influence all over the world. Human history then entered the age of realism, leaving behind the age of superstition.
The very moment when the Quran announced that there was no god but the one God, the scientific way of thinking was set in motion. People began thinking about things independently of unrealistic, mental barriers. This way of thinking went from strength to strength until, finally, it led to the present scientific revolution.
The monotheistic practice of according the status of divinity to the one and only God, and denying sanctity to all else, divested all other creatures and things of any special status they may have had.
It was actually the ‘divine’ status of things, which had been acting as a barrier to their becoming of research and investigation. Once all these things were shorn of their former so-called divinity, they naturally came down to the level of being proper subjects for research and investigation. It is this unique achievement of Islam, which entitles it to be regarded as the creator of the modern age.
