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For more than 1,400 years, Islam has been in a constant state of evolution, going through many phases in its development, including the formation of nationstates in the Muslim world. However, Islam has not yet evolved to a point where there is a separation of religion and state, as found in the history of Western civilization. Historically, Islam developed both as a faith and as a political order. While Islam provided the basic framework of meaning and direction for political, social, and cultural life, it has continually adapted to the cultural, political, and social realities of various regions.

Thus, throughout history, Islam manifested itself in different cultures and societies, creating in each case a unique expression of Islamic culture. This evolutionary process gave rise to an Islamic civilization that is multiracial and multicultural.

Islam also inspired a rich civilization in which Muslim scholars made important advances in sciences such as mathematics, algebra (itself an Arabic word), astronomy, and medicine. Muslim scholars have long been recognized for their contributions to the preservation of classical learning during the Dark Ages. It was through Muslim thinkers' translations of the Greek works of Plato, Aristotle, and other classical thinkers that these works reached Europe and contributed to the first flowerings of the Renaissance. Most Islamic thinkers maintain that the initial encounter between Islam and the West during Islam's early years of expansion represented a dynamic and fruitful interaction. According to many historians, this was because Islam possessed ample power to absorb and assimilate intercultural elements. Some historians even maintain that despite the fact that the history of Christianity and Islam has been marked by mutual hostility and confrontation, medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, allowing Jews and Christians the right to practice their religions. Thus, in its prime time, during the period that Islam was a dominant and expanding civilization, it exhibited a great amount of tolerance.

However, the "Golden Age" of Islam was short-lived and lasted only a few centuries. By the 12th century, a decline in the political and intellectual development of the Islamic world had set in. Most Islamic thinkers agree that the impediment to change was not Islam itself as a religion but rather the emergence of religiopolitical structure in the Islamic world. Other historians believe that this decline was due to the reinterpretation of Islam by powerful conservative religious leaders.

Bibliography:

1) Armstrong, Karen. 2002. Islam: A Short History. New York: Modern Library.

2) Esposito, John L. 2004. Islam: The Straight Path. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

3) Glasse, Cyril. 2003. The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Lanham, MD: AltaMira.

4) Murata, Sachiko and William Chittick. 1994. The Vision of Islam. New York: Cragon.

5) Rahman, Fazlur. 2002. Islam. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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