Fundamental Characteristics of Flourishing of Islamic Civilization: Eclecticism and Cultural Unity

The Islamic civilization began its formation and expansion with the establishment of the Prophetic state. But, what really caused this civilization to turn into one of the most significant civilizations in the world history within ten centuries were several fundamental features, two of which will be discussed in this paper: the eclectic nature and cultural unity of this civilization in all stages. These two features have guaranteed the development, dynamism and perpetuation of creativity of Islamic civilization which stretched out up to the modern time and then was stopped. Eclecticism helped this civilization to integrate the pre-Islam traditions of the conquered lands within monotheistic worldview, while cultural unity helped the formation of a permanent intra-civilizational cycle, which led to the transfer of culture, art and science. The present paper is an attempt to study the said two features with emphasis on the fields of Islamic art and sciences.