Western Civilization.p

Rome’s Successors: Byzantium, Islam, and the Germanic West 129

the fall of Rome. Visigoths (West Goths) ruled Spain,

and Vandals controlled the ancient province of Africa

until they were supplanted in the eighth century by the

Muslims. In Italy, Lombards superseded the Ostrogoths

(East Goths) and maintained a violent and precarious

frontier with the Byzantine Greeks. Gaul was divided

among Visigoths in the southwest, Burgundians in the

east, and Franks in the north. Most of these groups

were themselves divided into subtribes with chieftains

of their own.

Beyond the Rhine were the Alamanni, the Bavari-

ans, and the Saxons. Slower to accept Christianity than

their western cousins, they served as a barrier between

the lands of what had once been the empire and the

non-Germanic peoples to the east. Of these, the most

important were the Slavs and the Avars, an Asiatic tribe

related to the Huns who had seized control of the mid-

dle Danube valley.

Most of Britain fell to Germanic conquerors in the

course of the sixth century. Small bands of Angles, Sax-

ons, Jutes, and Frisians obtained a foothold on the east-

ern coast before the year 500. They seem to have made

few efforts to preserve their tribal identities, and the

large-scale migration that followed resulted in the es-

tablishment of seven small kingdoms that covered vir-

tually the entire island from the English Channel to the

Firth of Forth. Wales and West Wales (Cornwall) re-

mained Celtic strongholds as did western Scotland and

the Highlands, but England proper had become Anglo-

Saxon. A society of Germanic warriors had once again

superimposed itself on a larger body of partially roman-

ized Celts. Anglo-Saxon cultural values are portrayed in

DOCUMENT 7.3

Al-Ghazzali: Science and Religion

Illustration 7.3

The Dome of the Rock,

Jerusalem.This superb example

of early Islamic architecture was

built on the site of Solomon’s tem-

ple in 687–691. Though Byzan-

tine influence is clear, the

structure is a new departure. It en-

closes the rock formation from

which Muhammad, led by the an-

gel Gabriel, ascended into

Heaven. The site remains a fertile

source of controversy between

Muslims and Israelis to this day.

Note the Arabic calligraphy that

encircles the entire cornice.

Al-Ghazzali (1058–1111) was a leading defender of Islamic

orthodoxy, but he understood clearly the difference between re-

ligion and science. In this passage he demonstrates the attitudes

that encouraged mathematical and scientific studies in the Is-

lamic world.

Mathematics comprises the knowledge of calcula-
tion, geometry, and cosmography; it has no con-
nection with the religious sciences, and proves
nothing for or against religion; it rests on a founda-
tion of proofs which, once known and understood,
cannot be refuted....
It is therefore a great injury to religion to sup-
pose that the defense of Islam involves the condem-
nation of the exact sciences. The religious law
contains nothing which approves them or condemns
them, and in their turn they make no attack on reli-
gion. The words of the Prophet: “The sun and the
moon are two signs of the power of God; they are
not eclipsed for the birth or death of any one; when
you see these signs take refuge in prayer and invoke
the name of God”—these words, I say, do not in any
way condemn the astronomical calculations which
define the orbits of these two bodies, their conjunc-
tion and opposition according to particular laws.
The Confession of Al-Ghazzali,pp. 33–34, trans. Claud Field,
London: John Murray, 1908.