The Al Hambra in Granada, Spain, built in 889 AD, an example of Islamic architecture at its best. This magnificent creation was created as a manifestation of great love, not an expression of domination.
Ed Noor: Whilst asking some very pertinent questions regarding Islam,
this Muslim author speaks of the vast contributions Islam has made to the world
over the past millennium. I leave it to
you, Dear Reader, to research for yourself his claims if you have disputes but
I, for one, am thrilled to post a piece that has absolutely no political axe to
grind but paints Islam in a positive historical and non hysterical light ~ not a
scimitar-wielding madman on a rearing camel in sight!
Keep in mind that the modern dumbing down and social control we are
dealing with today are very much the same as the level of the medieval dark
ages only now there is the technology to take it to the horrible heights we
already deal with. Up until now this ignorance has been enforced via the pleasure principle but that is changing as its effects allow those in power to shift to out and out harsh enforcement as we see today.
Consider also as you read this, the effects of democracy (Western style)
on what were by today’s standards, very modern Muslim societies. Iraq and Libya
are the best examples although, alas, Syria is not far behind. These Muslim
countries were advanced, the women living in relatively modern times, until the
darkness of democracy was enforced upon them. The Green Book of Muammar Qaddafi
was founded on the ideals of early Islam and this manifested in the advanced country
that was created under these guidelines. Now Libya is plunged into modern Dark
Ages ruled by force and violence ~ Islam corrupted.
One thing though. Now that I know Muslims are responsible for the creation of algebra, a system that drove me to madness beyond belief, can I blame Hamas for my high school agony?
To further understand this topic, the overall demonization and denigration of Islam so predominant here in the West, I believe the following article of the war waged against Islam (hundreds of years after its origins from Rome known as the Crusades) should be mandatory reading by the young of both East and West, regardless of religious leanings.
CONFESSIONS OF A BRITISH SPY AND BRITISH ENMITY AGAINST ISLAM
http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.ca/2012/11/confessions-of-british-spy-and-british_27.html
One thing though. Now that I know Muslims are responsible for the creation of algebra, a system that drove me to madness beyond belief, can I blame Hamas for my high school agony?
To further understand this topic, the overall demonization and denigration of Islam so predominant here in the West, I believe the following article of the war waged against Islam (hundreds of years after its origins from Rome known as the Crusades) should be mandatory reading by the young of both East and West, regardless of religious leanings.
CONFESSIONS OF A BRITISH SPY AND BRITISH ENMITY AGAINST ISLAM
http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.ca/2012/11/confessions-of-british-spy-and-british_27.html
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November 29, 2014
It is quite rare these days to hear anything good
about Muslims from the Anglo-American news media. There are, however, some
exceptions in the West and Dr. Richard Bulliet, Professor of History Columbia
University, New York is one of them. He narrated the scenarios that elevated the Muslims as the Torch Bearers during those Dark Ages of Europe and helped them achieve their Renaissance.
Roman civilisation begins around 250 BC and ends around 500 AD. But the Renaissance starts about 1,300 AD ~ a difference of 800 years. This is referred to as the European Period of Darkness by the contemporary historians. While no progress may have happened in the Western World during those days because of religious dogmatism, but did the rest of the world take a recess too for 800 years? The answer is ‘surely not’.
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ED Noor: I include the above two images, political in nature, to assist the reader in comprehending just what is going on here in truth, as part of the centuries old war on Islam.
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ED Noor: The first places looted and destroyed with the war on Iraq included the libraries and museums containing these ancient records. Some people offer the observation that our modern times are the dark ages for modern Islam and that is quite true but for almost all destroyed Muslim countries, Iran the most notable exception with its great contributions to Western society. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam or the invaluable works of internationally beloved poet Rumi serve as perfect examples.
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"During those days of Islam, Islamic civilization
was free from religious constrictions."
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ED Noor: I include the above two images, political in nature, to assist the reader in comprehending just what is going on here in truth, as part of the centuries old war on Islam.
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THE ISLAMIC
EMPIRES THAT GAVE EUROPE ITS RENAISSANCE
During the Dark Ages of Europe, the Islamic civilization created a superdome for innovative science and technology. Muslim
countries of that time helped wipe out the cavity of darkness in Europe. In
recognition of this Professor Bulliet commented
“If it had not been for the Muslims, we might have never had Renaissance at all.”
NEWNESS AND
NOVELTY
The inception of Islam took place in the 7th
Century in a small city known as Meccah. Islam was not a new faith but its
message was filled with newness and novelty. It had more congruity than
conflict with other monotheism. It didn’t have any plan to change Christianity
or Judaism; rather it had its building block on the cognizance of the
Judeo-Christian Prophet hood.
Islam had an unbending theme of abolishing social injustice.Within a short while, the message of Islam traversed throughout the whole Arab Peninsula, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Persia and North Africa, Spain and all the way to Indian subcontinent. Even the far-reaching China felt the inviting rhythm of Islam.
At the beginning, Islamic people were simple-minded
desert dwellers. They however, had indomitable desire to adopt other’s virtue
and enrich their own knowledge, technology and means of life. That’s why the
footsteps of Islamic people could be traced to Greece, Italy, Persia, India,
and all the way to the doors of China.
During those days of Islam, Islamic civilisation was free from religious constrictions.
The people of Islamic domain represented a
conglomerate that possessed honourable positions in all aspects of civilised
societies even though they differed in race, religion and country of origin.
Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid
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One of the greatest times of Islamic achievements
can be traced to the time of Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid. His empire had the imprint
of Hebrew physician, Greek philosopher, Turkish soldier and many more.
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The stories about Aladdin and his magic-lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, Alibaba and Forty Thieves and many other folk-tales were not based on the Arabs alone. But all of them had the flavours of the Arabs. People during the prevalence of Islamic vilification, spoke in Turkish, Hebrew, Persian and Greek but even then their official language was Arabic.
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The stories about Aladdin and his magic-lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, Alibaba and Forty Thieves and many other folk-tales were not based on the Arabs alone. But all of them had the flavours of the Arabs. People during the prevalence of Islamic vilification, spoke in Turkish, Hebrew, Persian and Greek but even then their official language was Arabic.
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DECIMAL
FIELDS
An exclusive artistic design that is known to us as
Arabesque is pivoted on skilful presentation of Arabic letters. Thousands of
scientific names in English today have Arabic roots. In general if we notice
‘al’ at the beginning of a word, chances are that it originates from Arabic.
For instance alcove is derived from al-qubbah,
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almanac is from al-manaakh,
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algebra from al-Jabr,
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alcohol from al-kuhul and
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alkali from al-qili.
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The counting process of algorithm is named after
al-Khwerazmi. He was a renounced mathematician and a notable advisor to
Harun-ar-Rashid.
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Al-kimia was a chemist and his name could be traced
to alchemy. The Muslim chemists tried hard to enhance the longevity of the
livings. Their efforts eventually paved the way to modern chemistry.
MEDICAL
TREATMENT
Even in the field of surgery, the Muslims of the
medieval times contributed a lot. Here Professor Bullet had wholehearted praise
for them. He wrote
“They also made great strides in saving life and healing the sick. They invented many new medical instruments and made important breakthroughs in optics and surgery. Islamic medicines were much more advanced than anything going on in Europe.”
Muhammad Ibn-Zakaria al-Razi, creator of the concept of modern pharmacy and hospitalization
There was, in the 9th Century, a famous Muslim physician named Ar-Razi (to the West he is known as Razi). His research, in the field of medical treatment, still occupies an influential place. Ibn Sina of Bukhara is known as Avicenna in Europe. During the 10th Century he wrote a medical encyclopaedia and named it as the Canon of Medicine. It was then unrivalled in the medical history. The prevalence of the Canon of medicine was indispensable in Europe throughout the 17th Century.
It was the Muslim physicians that introduced the concept of pharmacy and hospital for the first time in medical history.
From the 7th to the 12th Century, the people of the
Islamic countries showed enormous excellence in literature, science, trade and
commerce. But right at the door of science there was mathematics and
mathematics needs digits and numbers. In this context Professor Bulliet, with a
heartfelt thank recognised and said
“This is where the medieval Muslims made a contribution that benefits each of us every day”.
The counting method that existed prior to Muslim’s
decimal system was known as Roman method. Its application was a nightmare even
to the experts ~ let alone ordinary people.
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To eliminate this counting hardship, the
mathematicians of the Muslim empire imported a new system from India and
improvised it with the introduction of zero. The system contains nine numerals
and one zero and the value of each numeral is dependent on its place value.
Thus if we write 1, its value is one, but when we write 11, then from the left
the value of the first 1 is ten and the second 1 is one, and the combined value
is eleven. Thus when we place a “0” after 1 the value is ten. In modern
science, this is known as the decimal system. Here too, Professor Bulliet gave
enormous credits to the Muslim. He picked up a year and made a remark
“Thanks to the Muslims we no longer have to write MCMLXXXIV and instead we write 1984”.
The credit for the decimal system of numbers is, in
general, given to the Arabs. Here Professor Bulliet was cautious and explained
“Although strictly speaking, they are Indian numerals, but hadn’t it been the mathematicians of the Islamic Empire, they might never have reached the Western World”.
Paper, though indispensable as a carrier of
knowledge to the civilized world, was not invented in Europe ~ rather in China.
But throughout the world the making of paper bears the hallmark of the Muslims.
Right from the 8th to the 11th Century, the paper making technology reached all
the way from Samarqand to Spain. Besides new invention, the Muslims reinvented
others’ invention and made them accessible over time to sustain continuity.
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THE EUROPEAN
RENAISSANCE
Let us now come to the eras of European
Renaissance. All that we know about Greek philosophy, literature and science
are intricately tied to European Renaissance. The Europeans, after 800 years of
intellectual darkness didn’t have a chance to read about Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, Euclid, Hypocrites and other Greek notables in their original
composition in Greek. Rather they read them in Arabic. The Catholic
Christianity believed these Greeks literary treasures as the works of the
pagans and consequently had them destroyed.
There was a time when the Muslim Caliphs patronised
the translation of all the famous Greek literature in Arabic, especially by
Caliph Abdullah-al-Mamun (son of Harun ar-Rashid). In 830, he established the
House of Wisdom, a centre for Greek translation work. This effort saved the Greek literary antiquities from vanishing away
from the surface of the earth. In the 10th and 11th Century, the
knowledge-thirsty Europeans flocked into Islamic cities.
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Inside the House of Wisdom
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Their learning centers were Cordoba, Baghdad,
Damascus, and Cairo which were the places that were the centers of higher
learning.
There were also the cities where the Greek classics
got translated from Arabic to Latin. These cities were not just for the
Europeans to study Greek literature alone, rather they housed Chinese, Indian,
Persian, Hebrew and other scholars. The collective efforts of these scholars
helped restore most of the Greek classics that exist today.
In those early days of higher learning, the
students used to sit around the chairs of the teacher. Some scholars are of the
opinion that this position of the chair and students, eventually turned into
departmental identification of the faculties such as ‘Chair of Philosophy,
Chair of History’ and so on.
Some scholars are also of the opinion that the
academic gown worn during convocation has impeccable Islamic imprint. Thinking
rationally, it would be obvious that other than established traditions,
acquired from the oldest university of the world, there could be no reason to
wear a costume on the convocation day, which should look like an Arab Sheikh.
History tells us that Al-Azhar in Cairo is the first and the oldest university
of the world. It was built as a formal university in 970 AD.
The West takes pride for their nuclear and
mechanical advancement today, but do they realise who gave them the initial
stepping stone to stand on?
Who gave them the torch to search through the caves
of the Dark Ages?
Weren’t they the Muslims of middle ages across the
Mediterranean Sea?
Didn’t they keep the torch of civilisation kindled
up for eight hundred years before the West got rejuvenated?
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Early Starbbucks. Qahwah' is the Arabic term for the coffee. Yes, coffee is also Arabic in origins.
Additional Reading:
SCIENCE, RELIGION AND MYTH
#5: MEDIEVAL ISLAM – 1 / SCIENCE – 0?
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Early Starbbucks. Qahwah' is the Arabic term for the coffee. Yes, coffee is also Arabic in origins. Additional Reading:
this isnt the picture of caliph Harun alrasheed this is Mohammad Aly Pasha.
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