Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem

asslamu alaikum

The Muslim Agricultural Revolution

http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/AgricultureRevolution2.pdf -

Medico-botanical books have been produced since the dawn of civilization; records from Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India reflect a tradition that existed before man discovered writing. Conversely, nothing in the West evidences such antiquity. The first herbal in the Greek language was written in the 3^rd century B.C.E. by Diocles of Carystus, followed by Crateuas in the 1^st century C.E. The only consistent work that has survived is by Pedanios Dioscorides of Anazarba "De Materia Medica" (65 C.E.). He remains the only known authority amongst the Greek and Roman herbalists. The first treatise written on agriculture in the West was just after the fall of Carthage; it was a Roman Encyclopaedic work written by Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.E.) on medicine and on farming that was called "De Agricultura", the oldest complete Latin prose on this subject.

However, the stability of the world in which these works were compiled came to an end with the disintegration of the Roman Empire. In places where the authority of the empire no longer existed, its haphazard replacement by the early stages of feudalism brought little stability. Conflicts for the possession of the land were liable to break out anywhere. Civilization was near to collapse and all development halted. This dismal situation prevailed until the advent of Islam (7^th century C.E.).

In 711 C.E., within a century of the establishment of Islam, the area under Muslim influence had become one of robust economic development capable of yielding the wealth necessary to finance the protection of an area stretching from the foot of the Pyrenees to the frontiers of China. The widespread patronage of intellectual works was a key factor in this development and this resulted in the flowering of Islamic culture and civilization in the Muslim world.

This civilization had such momentum that - despite constant threats of invasion and internal dissension - huge strides were made in agriculture, medicine and science. Hence a wide range of raw materials and the means of adapting them for curing illnesses and for enhanced forms of nutrition became available.

This great movement in agriculture was largely due to central government sponsoring an extensive network of irrigation canals. In the Near East good results were achieved. However, in the West the situation was less promising. The Iberian peninsula subsistence level agro-economy was only rudimentary. In fact it was defined by race. The Visigoth herder overlords jealously protected their stock-rearing interests whilst their conquered subjects produced wheat, barley, grapes, olive oil and a few vegetables, all inherited from their previous Roman masters. Thus the only links between the two systems were those of tribute or taxes.

Once the Muslims had assumed control of the province, there was a need to define which crops to cultivate. Fortunately, the Arab botanical range was already extensive and growing rapidly. In their territorial expansion, the Muslims had come across plants and trees, which were hitherto unknown to them, whilst their merchants brought back exotic plants, seeds and spices from their many voyages. Many of the more valuable crops such as sugar cane, bananas and cotton needed plenty of water or at least a monsoon season. Thus to cultivate them, a widespread artificial irrigation system would be needed. Artificial irrigation was in fact better known to the Muslims than the crop rotation system of colder European lands where it was felt necessary to leave the land fallow, i.e. to recover, for one year in three or four. However, artificial irrigation implied a need to raise water by several metres to guarantee a constant flow within the system. An ideal device existed for such tasks in the form of the Noria, Na?ura, the various forms of which represent a subject that merits its own particular study. Hence the Noria became the basis of sophisticated irrigation systems. The use of Norias spread rapidly to the extent that, in some areas, the water system became state property to ensure equitable distribution. In the Valencia area alone some 8,000 norias were built for the needs of rice plantations.

Correct calculation of levels was essential, a task that the successors of Roman agrimensores with their chains of specific length were ill-equipped to perform. In this, the Muslims had the advantage of the advances they had made in mathematics thus making triangulation possible and hence the accurate measurement of height.

The Muslims did not waste time in haphazard agricultural trials, but achieved maximum output by learning how to identify suitable soils and by mastering grafting techniques for plants and trees. The written works and oral traditions of ancient peoples were painstakingly recorded, whilst exchanges between experts became increasingly frequent, so that in all major towns the libraries were full of learned works on agriculture. Arising as they did from a civilization of travellers, the Muslims combed the known world for knowledge and information, journeying in the harshest of environments - as far afield as the Steppes of Asia and the Pyrenees. In this context the discovery of paper stimulated on the spot detailed recording of their journeys and observations.

This plethora of records and information built up to a level that prompted the compilation of encyclopaedic works.

�   Kitab nabat (a treatise on plants) by Abu Hanifa Al-Dinawari (d.282/895 CE)

�   Al filaha nabatiya (Nabatean agriculture) by Ibn Wahshiyya (IX^th century)

�   Al Biruni (973-1048) Kitab al saydana (Pharmacopoeia) - large pharmaceutical encylopedia

�   Ali B. Sahl Rabban al Tabari (d. 240/855) Firdaws al hikma

�   Ibn Baqunesh (Abu Othman Sa�d Ben Muhamed) (d.1052 CE)

�   Ibn Bassal (Abu Abdullah Muhamed Ibn Ibrahim) (d.1100 CE)

By the 12th century in Al Andalus, botany was converted from its role as a purely descriptive science and achieved the status of an academic science. This century was seen as the golden age of Islamic botany with such great scholars as:

�   Abu'l Abbas an Nabati (Ibn Rumiyya) d. 636 AH/1239 CE

�   Ibn Baytar (1197-1248 CE), Tafsir kitab Diasquridus - Jami' al mufradat al adwiya wal aghdiya

�   Al Ghafiqi (d.1166 CE), author of "Kitab jami' al mufradat " (materia medica) .

�   Ibn Al ^?Awwam, 12^th century author of "Kitab al filaha" (treatise on agriculture)

�   Ibn Bajja (d. 1138 C.E.), Kitab al nabat Liber de plantis (Latin transl.), defining sex of plants.

�   Najib Eddin as Samarqandi (d.1222 C.E.) wrote a treatise on medical formulary.

In the aftermath of the Roman Empire conquerors, such as the Visigoths, installed regimes in which the monarch, the nobility and the church fathers owned the bulk of the land, the burghers, who were in charge of municipal affairs, had less than 25 acres each, whilst the serfs were the cultivators and were yoked to the land and were sold with it. The attitude of Muslims was different since they understood that real incentives were needed if productivity were to reach levels that might significantly increase wealth and thereby enhance tax revenues. The Muslims brought revolutionary social transformation through changed ownership of land. Any individual had the right to buy, sell, mortgage, inherit the land and farm it or have it farmed according to his preferences. Furthermore every important transaction concerning agriculture, industry, commerce and employment of a servant involved the signing of a contract of which a copy was kept by each side.

The second incentive principle that was gradually adopted was that those, who physically worked the land, should receive a reasonable proportion of the fruits of their labour. Detailed records of contracts between landlords and cultivators have survived with the landlord retaining anything up to one half.

Thus with all the enhancements and incentives already mentioned, the stage was now set for agricultural development on a scale hitherto unknown. The motivations that prompted phases of agricultural development were of two kinds:

�   Political, namely conscious decisions by the central authority to develop under-exploited lands.

�   Market-driven, invariably involving the introduction, by means of free seeds, advice and education and by the introduction of high value crops or animals to areas where they were previously unknown.

Consequently, crops and livestock were introduced initially for subsistence purposes, leading to a level of economic security that ensured wealth for all. The quality of life was enhanced by the introduction of artichokes, spinach, aubergines, carrots, sugar cane and various exotic plants. Vegetables were available all year round, obviating the need to dry them for winter. Citrus and olive plantations became a common sight, whilst market gardens and jananat (orchards) sprang up around every city. All this involved intense cropping and imposing heavy demands on land fertility but the technique of intensive irrigation agriculture with land fertility replacement had now been mastered. In the field of development for economic ends, animal husbandry was of prime importance for its manure in addition to its meat. The latter was now plentiful in places where in the past it had been a luxury. The fine quality of the wool of the Maghreb soon became known throughout the world. Selective breeding using animals from different parts of the known world resulted in significant improvements in horse stocks and provided the Saharan caravans with the best load-carrying camels.

b. The rapid implementation of improved farming techniques derived from the collection and collation of relevant information throughout the whole of the known world.

c. Incentives based upon the two principles of the recognition of private ownership and the rewarding of cultivators with a harvest share commensurate with their efforts.

That picture to me looks like muslimeen planting trees....fruit trees, looks like olives in this case.....now where is the agricultural revolution in the arab and african world of planting trees? do they feel safe that the ends is not yet? or do they think the end is near?

The prophet is reported to have said that even if tomorrow is the end and you are planting a tree then still go ahead and do it.

This is a sign to the future for his ummah to plant trees. Let us do what the prophet spoke of, because it is good.

Let people start planting trees en take care of them...make the lands green, is the land not given to them to do something good with it? how is it that they wish to be called the best community that was made to appear for mankind while they do not even think about making their lands green? and instead choose to be hostile to other people who are different or speak of how wrong and evil they are?

Does not Allah forbid such talk about others because it maybe that they are better then their ownselves?