The word “civilization” in Arabic is حضارة or العُمْران. Hadarah indicating living a settled life versus a nomadic one, and ‘umran meaning bringing the Earth to life. Ibn Khaldun is the great master of civilization. The word “civilization” in the West comes from the word “city,” as a particular way of creating cities.
In Islamic law, the primary real estate is the city. The city must have land, water, self-subsistent, healthy to live in, etc. Muslims were the masters of building cities. Cairo, Damascus, Cordoba, Seville, the Round City of Baghdad, Tarim, etc. Tarim prided itself in the fact it didn’t need to import anything but razors, scissors, and needles. Other cities didn’t even need that.
Our predecessors created a decentralized civilization of cities that take the pressure off the land and establish green zones.
The Shari’a is about the empowerment of people. Many people in America don’t want a big centralized government. In the Shari’a you don’t need it because we do everything ourselves. It is a civilization of endowments which pays for free healthcare, libraries, and education. Access to wealth is easy. That’s hard to believe nowadays, because the modern banking system that runs the world today is the complete antithesis. It’s difficult for Muslims to imagine where to fit in. But we must know what gifts we have.
The animals, nature, and environment around us are أمم مثلكم, nations like you. They must be protected. They have rights upon us and we must work to preserve and protect them.
Classical Arabic 