Western states are united in exporting freedom to the Muslim world. The West hope that the call for freedom will become the clarion call of those who live under occupation or are ruled by repressive (and usually Western appointed) regimes. Prominent preachers, scholars and thinkers have given speech after speech and written page upon page in an attempt to reconcile Islam with freedom, while those Muslims who point out that it is un Islamic are labelled reactionary fundamentalists.
‘We don’t say freedom is only consigned to one group of people or one religion. We believe freedom is universal. And free societies are peaceful societies. And freedom will be the cure for those who harbour deep resentment and hatred in their heart.’ [President Goerge Bush in a joint press conference with Tony Blair on 16th April 2004]
Although it can be traced back to ancient Greece, freedom as understood today originates with the Renaissance when there was a rediscovery and reappraisal of Roman and Greek ideas. This period marked a clear shift away from viewing the world as being centred on the Creator, to a viewpoint that emphasised man and how he could succeed in life by dominating and exploiting his environment. The humanist philosophers of the period criticised Christianity as being a barrier to material progress. Machiavelli, for example, attacked religion for not valuing ‘worldly honour’. He held that man should be free to achieve power and glory without the constraints of religion, even if it necessitated murder as in the case of the legend in which Romulus killed his brother Remus and founded the city of Rome.
The modern-day concept of freedom was perhaps first clearly defined in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan: “Liberty, or freedom, signifieth, properly, the absence of opposition; by opposition, I mean external impediments of motion”. Hobbes continued ‘One is free when he is not hindered to do what he has a will to do’. This definition was reiterated by a number of political theorists, among them the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham who, in his An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), wrote: “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. To them…we refer all our desires, every resolve we make in life.” Bentham further declared that ‘Every law is an evil, because every law is a violation of liberty’.
The word freedom in its basic form means to think and act as one desires. Bertrand Russell defined freedom as ‘the absence of obstacles in the realisation of desires.’ In the political context, Orlando Patterson, a Harvard professor and award-winning author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, states in his book that freedom is the ‘supreme value of the Western world’. He describes it as the ‘catchword’ of Western politicians, the ‘secular gospel’ of free market economics and as the foundation of Western culture.
Freedom is viewed the world over as a natural concept and consequently, it has become the clarion call of the Western states to those who live under occupation in Iraq and Palestine and indeed for those who live under oppressive Muslim rulers. The political culture of Western countries is built upon the bedrock of liberal-capitalist values. Ideas which form the pillars of liberal democratic societies such as personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, right to own property are all drawn from liberalism, which per se is built upon the secular thought of division between the spiritual and the temporal.
Tony Blair addressing the US Congress last year said, ‘our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs ... ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, and the choice is the same, freedom not tyranny.’
The underlying assumption behind the West’s claim is that the value of freedom and its associated beliefs such as Human Rights are universal ones. In fact, the codification of Human Rights is no more than 60 years old when the West formulated them unilaterally after the Second World War. One therefore has to question whether freedom or liberty is a universal value. Indeed, why should it be considered paramount in relation to other values? Piety, humility, courage, patience, justice, mercy, honesty, honour, integrity, modesty and chastity were in the past viewed as far more important in non-Western cultures. Moreover, from a linguistic point of view many countries did not even have a word for freedom before contact with the West. The Japanese had great difficulty in finding a word for the concept of freedom after they opened their doors to the West in the 1860’s. They resorted to the word jiyu, which originally meant ‘licentiousness’. Koreans also began to use the term in the nineteenth century after the Western intrusion.
The English language therefore played an important role in exporting freedom to the East, but for those who have assimilated freedom into their culture, the consequences have been disastrous. For instance, in Japan family honour was seen as one of the most important social values but today this has been traded off with liberal and Capitalist values and is illustrated by the outbreak in prostitution and promiscuity, which has now become widely accepted as a natural component and even a necessity in society. According to Yumi Yanmashita, a writer who has studied this phenomena, ‘instead of feeling ashamed for trading their bodies for currency many girls are proud that they are able to make so much money.’ The values of family honour and courage have become archaic and obsolete.
Clearly, freedom is a Western concept and its values are not ‘universal.’ But what of the claim that the freedom to pursue happiness, to express one’s opinion and to trade on the open markets, should be shared by all, regardless of creed, history race and culture? Such freedoms are so firmly entrenched in Western societies that they are seldom challenged openly or even questioned. Admittedly, liberalism has brought the West economic and technological success, but Western liberal culture has however caused many problems in society. High rates of crime, family breakdown and high levels of anti-social behaviour have caused widespread concern. Freedom to pursue happiness means nothing less than following one’s desires. In the true spirit of liberalism, respected legal theorists such as Jeremy Bentham have openly advocated for sexual promiscuity and the legalisation of sexual practices such as bestiality.
The US has been at the forefront in exporting its hedonistic culture of personal freedom to the Iraqi people. The Arab papers are awash with reports of US troops in Iraq distributing moral corruption by selling pornographic movies and liquor and hashish, which the West brought with it to Iraq. Al-Hawsa newspaper recently reported that the US is showing ‘pornographic movies in the cinemas and people are drinking alcohol in the streets.’ The report went onto say that the showing of ‘bad and immoral movies on the Hebrew media network [a reference to the American-established Iraqi media network] and Hura TV [a US government-produced television station] and even in children's movies in order to create a new generation that is far from the Islamic religion.’ The West is so convinced that encouraging moral laxities and advocating sexual freedom will liberate the Iraqi people that it rarely pauses to consider whether or not such values are in contradiction with the nation upon which it is attempting to impose and whether these ideals can be shared by all.
The abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison is a deplorable illustration of how US and British troops have exercised their ‘freedom’ by subjugating civilian prisoners to humiliating acts of indecency. The now notorious female soldier, Private Lyndie England, committed several acts of fornication with her colleagues in front of Muslim prisoners. Images of a hooded prisoner with wires fixed to his body, nude inmates piled in a human pyramid, prisoners forced to simulate sex with each other are but few examples of the vile treatment of those arbitrarily incarcerated without charge. Other pictures not yet widely released show a boy being raped, inmates ridden like animals and religious abuse. These photographs will no doubt also serve as a poignant reminder in the minds of the Iraqi people that unbridled personal freedom represents sexual depravity, brutality and inhuman behaviour.
Alarmingly, it is now emerging that not only are Iraqi women being held at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison but soldiers are also raping them and several of the women are now pregnant. Ironically, the West claimed that “freedom” would bring equality and respect to the women of Iraq. It is the same “freedom loving” soldiers who dishonoured these women. A report by Luke Garding in the Guardian entitled ‘The other prisoners’ states that women are forced to strip naked in front of men. A woman prisoner who managed to smuggle out a note, ‘urged the Iraqi resistance to bomb the jail to spare the women from shame.’ As if this form of criminal behaviour was not enough, it was also reported that an elderly women in her 70's had been ‘harnessed and ridden like a donkey’ at the Abu Ghraib. There appears to be no limits to the wanton behaviour of the occupying forces.
These are not the conduct of a few ‘rotten apples’ since the wealth of growing evidence shows that such maltreatment is systemic rather than sporadic. Lending support to the former, the Guardian recently revealed that the sexual humiliation and physical coercion was part of a ‘special programme’ endorsed by the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, the national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, and President Bush himself. It was governed by ‘Grab who you must. Do what you want,’ and was used because it was such a successful strategy in the war on terror in Afghanistan. The feelings amongst Iraqis who have tasted the sour fruits of ‘liberation’ were aptly summed up by the sceptical sentiments of a former detainee of Abu Ghraib, Hyder Sabber Abd, who appears in the picture in which Private Lyndie England is seen pointing to the genitals of a group of Muslim men with her thumbs up. He told the New York Times, tapping on the photographs, “I ask you: Is that democracy? Is that freedom?
Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental principles of liberal democratic theory and is oft quoted as being a value that is deficient in the Middle East. However, one need only survey the US attitude towards free speech to conclude that this is a value that the West neither truly upholds nor believes in. On 28th March this year, Iraq’s coalition' forces shut down the newspaper al-Hawsa. It was accused of inciting 'violence' through headlines such as "Iraqis of all religions and sects refuse to watch half naked women on television." Although it is debatable whether such headlines would incite violence it was enough for Iraq's all-powerful civilian chief Paul Bremer III to order closure of the newspaper. Mr Bremer assigned himself absolute power over the Iraqi press claiming that freedom of expression is a privilege that only the ‘responsible’ may enjoy.
Of course, the reality is that the US closed down al-Hawsa because it was attempting to silence a vocal and vitriolic critic of their efforts in Iraq. This is not the first time that it has taken such steps to curb criticism from the Press. The occupying forces have already punished al-Jazeera satellite news network during the war by bombing its offices and more recently al-Arabiya was shut down because it broadcasted programs that the Americans found distasteful. In a desperate bid to win Iraqi hearts and minds the Pentagon funded al-Iraqiya TV to provide an optimistic, pro-American slant to news reporting. It seems that little has changed since Saddam’s reign when TV news was stilted and satellite dishes were banned. As a writer for the al-Hawsa put it, “We are still under the rule of Saddam [Hussein] but with an American face."
In essence, one totalitarian dictator has been replaced by another and no meaningful distinction can be drawn between the US and Saddam Hussein whether one looks to freedom of expression or the treatment of prisoners. Similarly, the freedom to worship in the West is only given lip service. This is not only palpable from the banning of the hijab in France, but also the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and now Abu Ghraib prison. In the latest disclosures, prisoners tell of how they were force-fed alcohol despite the fact they were Muslims. Some, like Ameen Saeed al-Sheikh, were tortured to denounce Islam. He was asked whether he prays to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'aala) and when he replied in the affirmative, US soldiers broke his legs.
The West’s vision for Iraq is a package of political and economic freedoms based on Capitalism and free-market policies. The Heritage Foundation report entitled, ‘The Road to Economic Prosperity for post-Saddam Iraq,’ outlined the plan for Iraq stating that there will be ‘fundamental structural reform’ with ‘massive privatisation of various sectors of the economy.’ But even before the Iraqi people have chosen a government, key irreversible economic decisions to privatise its resources are being made by the US – so much for democracy and freedom. Iraq’s oil resources are now set to be sold to ExxonMobil and Shell. Indeed, US economic policy in Iraq has serious repercussions for the entire region. Naomi Klien in an article entitled, ‘Privatisation in Disguise,’ states that investors are predicting that once privatisation takes root in Iraq, other countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait will be forced to compete by privatising their oil.
However, the booty of the war is not simply oil. Multinationals are lunging for Iraq’s untapped market consisting of water, oil, roads, trains, phones, and drugs. The reconstruction alone is worth $100 billion dollars. Klien comments that ‘if this process is not halted, ‘free Iraq’ will be the most sold country on earth.’ When Iraq recovers from the trauma of war, starvation and economic sanctions its fate will have been already decided; it will have been raped and plundered of its resources. Therefore, this current economic policy of structural reform and ‘mass privatisation’ is not destined to liberate Iraq but rather enslave it permanently to the managerial trinity of global Capitalism, namely, the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation. This is the stark reality of an occupying force that is brazenly committing grand theft of cataclysmic proportions disguised as charity in the name of freedom.
[Extracted from the writings of Javed Ansari]
About this blog
In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.
This blog is dedicated:-
1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.
This blog is dedicated:-
1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.
13 Jun 2008
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What they said...
“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”
[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]
"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"
[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]
"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."
[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]
"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."
[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]
"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."
[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]
“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”
[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]
"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."
[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]
"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."
[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]
“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”
[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]
"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"
[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]
"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."
[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]
"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."
[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']
"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"
[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']
"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.
[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]
"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"
[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]
"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"
[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]
“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”
[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]
[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]
"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"
[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]
"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."
[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]
"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."
[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]
"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."
[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]
“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”
[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]
"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."
[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]
"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."
[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]
“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”
[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]
"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"
[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]
"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."
[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]
"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."
[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']
"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"
[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']
"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.
[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]
"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"
[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]
"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"
[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]
“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”
[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]
“Throughout much of the period in question, Arabic served as the global language of scholarship, and learned men of all stripes could travel widely and hold serious and nuanced discussions in this lingua franca. Medieval Western scholars who wanted access to the latest findings also needed to master the Arabic Tongue or work from translations by those who had done so.”
[Jonathan Lyons, Author, Writer and Lecturer, 2009]
1 comment:
In light of the uprisings in many Muslim countries in which we hear a clear call for freedom, have you changed your mind about freedom not being a universal value?
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