‘The Saracens [i.e. The Muslims] show us great goodwill. They allow us to build our churches and to observe our own customs without hindrance.’ [Christopher J. Walker, Islam and the West]
These are the sentiments of Patriarch Theodosius of Jerusalem regarding Muslim tolerance, expressed in a letter written to the Patriarch of Constantinople in 869 CE. Theodosius was certainly the equivalent of Archbishop of Canterbury in Jerusalem at the time. We may wonder whether his acknowledgement was deemed controversial, or whether he was asked to resign for daring to speak well of Muslims. Such sentiments did not of course provoke the kind of outrage that is witnessed today; probably due to the factual accuracy of the patriarch’s statement. What Theodosius stated is also corroborated by other Christian figures such as Bernard the Wise (a French pilgrim who visited Jerusalem in the reign of Caliph al-Mu’tazz [866-9 CE]), who stated that if any property was left unattended for some time, it would be found unmolested upon return, ‘such is the peace there’. [Christopher J. Walker, Islam and the West]
If modern critics of Shariah law were living in those times, we don’t quite know what they would have said about its effective tolerant nature. The dynamics of the Shariah and its application continues, on the one hand, to intrigue interest, and on the other to generate scepticism. The debate of course has global implications; how compatible is Shariah law with the modern age?
At the outset we must begin by highlighting media bias and selective focus on cases of ‘unethical’ and ‘uncivilized’ treatment of others in Muslim populated countries, which has sadly done much to tarnish a legal code founded upon ideals of justice, human rights and deterrence; resulting in a somewhat negative popular perception of Shariah law. The law code is applied extremely selectively, or not at all, in Muslim populated countries today.
What is Shariah law?
Shariah law is the law that is directly derived from the Qur’an and authentic prophetic traditions (the Sunnah) and it is this law, which Muslims uphold as sacred as well as a source of modernity.
Is Shariah law modernising or is it terrorising?
The parameters for such a discussion are blurred due to the aforementioned current context, but it is hoped that objectivity will triumph above misconceived notions and political persuasions. A fusion of linguistic and technical terminology allows for recognition of modernity as anything newly accepted, and manifests itself through political, economic and scientific development. Modernity of course is a very fluid and relative term, and the peripheries of the notion may change from time to time or place to place. Modernity may influence societies in a diverse range of ways, and under various socio-economic circumstances, the effects of modernity may transpire in a variety of forms. Today, however, it is fairly accurate to conclude that no one has a monopoly on modernity; one man’s modernity may be another’s barbarity.
Who defines modernity and its limits is the question still to be addressed by European scholarship. European modernity is in continuous evolution, not having any set consistency, standard or criteria. However, the Islamic definition of modernity is very different in both make-up and stature. Islamic Law seeks to ensure the protection of one’s life, honour, property, intellect, religion and the constructive development of humanity - whilst pursuing the ‘progressive’ attainment of modernity. This must be noted in light of contemporary markings of ‘modernity’; from the economic exploitation of poor nations to the corrosion of social values within contemporary and supposedly civil societies.
We may note that Muslims governed parts of Spain with Shariah law for more than seven centuries (711-1492 CE). This law produced such peace and tranquility among the population that they were able to achieve high levels of academic excellence and scientific advancement, and it was this very same advancement, which was subsequently translated into Latin for European learning by scholars such as Gerard of Cremona, Michael Scot, Robert of Ketton and Adelard of Bath. Europeans were, at that time, so unacquainted with these sciences that Robert of Ketton, when writing the preface for his translation of the Arabic text, ‘Composition of Alchemy’, stated that ‘Since what Alchymia is, and what its composition is, your Latin world does not yet know, I will explain in the present book’ [E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy]
Works on all scientific fields were translated in the schools of Toledo and then subsequently passed on to European countries. Professor Thomas Arnold confirmed this by asserting that ‘Muslim Spain had written one of the brightest pages in the history of medieval Europe. Her influence had passed through Provence into the other countries of Europe, bringing into birth a new poetry and new culture, and it was from her that the Christian scholars received what of Greek Philosophy and science they had to stimulate their mental activity up to the time of the renaissance.’ [Thomas Arnold, Preaching of Islam]
It would thus be of great benefit to British society if some of its politicians and journalists were to drop the attitude that is well spotted by Maria Rosa Menocal, a prominent scholar of medieval European literature, who stated that: ‘Westerners – Europeans - have great difficulty in considering the possibility that they are in some way seriously indebted to the Arab world...’ [Maria Rosa Menocal, The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History]
How Shariah law enabled the Spanish Muslims, Jews and Christian to produce this result was also appreciated by some of the most prominent European thinkers. Adam Smith, the 18th Century founder of modern economics whose picture is printed on the current £20 note, was exceedingly inspired by the Islamic method of governing. He proclaimed that ‘...the empire of the Caliphs seems to have been the first state under which the world enjoyed that degree of tranquility which the cultivation of the sciences requires. It was under the protection of those generous and magnificent princes, that the ancient philosophy and astronomy of the Greeks were restored and established in the East; that tranquility, which their mild, just and religious government diffused over their vast empire, revived the curiosity of mankind, to inquire into the connecting principles of nature.’ [Adam Smith, ‘History of Astronomy’, The Essays of Adam Smith]
How the Shariah Law provided this security and tolerance is clearly demonstrated in the texts of the treaties, which were agreed upon, by the Muslim rulers and their non-Muslim subjects. Consider, for instance, the Treaty of Jerusalem (638 CE): ‘This is the protection which the servant of Allah, Amir ul-Mumineen, grants to the people of Palestine.Thus, protection is for their lives, property, church, cross, for the healthy, and for all their co-religionists. In this way that their churches shall not be turned into dwelling houses, nor will they be pulled down, nor any injury will be done to them or to their enclosures, nor to their cross and nor will anything be deducted from their wealth. No restrictions shall be made regarding their religious ceremonies…’ [Thomas Arnold, Preaching of Islam]
This treaty concerning the Christians of Jerusalem was enacted by the 2nd Caliph Omar in the year 638 CE.
Whilst many politicians emphatically rule out any existence or partial accommodation of the Shariah law in UK, Times on-line (20th January 2008) ironically quoted Home Secretary Jacqui Smith remarking that she would not feel safe walking the streets of London at night even in well-to-do areas like Kensington and Chelsea. ‘It is thus astonishing’, as Chris Huhne notes, that ‘the Home Secretary admits that after 10 years of a Labour government, our capital is a no-go area for women at night.’ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk]
Unfortunately, Jacqui Smith’s fears were confirmed by a Daily Mail report, only three days later, which stated that a teenage girl was raped next to the Diana memorial fountain in Kensington.
If the medieval monk Bernard the Wise (quoted above) was alive today, he probably would have advised the Home Secretary to give Shariah law a try. And perhaps too the Nestorian John bar Penkaye (690 CE) who stated, regarding the reign of Mu’awiah (661-80 CE), that ‘the peace throughout the world was such that we have never heard, either from our fathers or from our grandparents, or seen that there had ever been any like it’ [Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests]
Much talk regarding the Shariah revolves around its attitude towards women. Women are protected, favoured and respected by the Shariah law, and this can be ascertained when one considers the rights and freedoms endowed upon women by Islam. For instance, women were considered an inherited object in pre-Islamic Arabia and sons would inherit their fathers’ wives as property. Islam, however, put an end to this injustice (‘O you who believe! you are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dower you have given them-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity’. [Surah Nisa (4), Ayah 19]); women were denied any part of inheritance, Islam gave them their share; women were not given a choice to choose a husband, Islam put an end to this inequality; men could divorce women at will and take them back at will, Islam diminished this practice and decreed that if a man was to divorce, he had to sustain the woman for four successive months; women were given complete rights of owning property by Islam and in addition to that they could spend their wealth when they liked while previously this was not the case; Islam declared that even if women were wealthy, it was the responsibility of the husband to provide sustenance.
Annie Besant, a feminist activist in the 1930s, had this to say about Islam’s position towards women: ‘I often think that a woman is more free in Islam than in Christianity. Woman is more protected by Islam...In the Qur’an the law about woman is more just and liberal. It is only in the last twenty years that Christian England has recognised the right of woman to property, while Islam has allowed this right from all times…it is a slander to say that Islam preaches that women have no souls.’ [Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad]
Conclusion
It can therefore be noted that Muslims and their religious law played a decisive role in the modernisation of societies, and helped to establish a framework of justice and cohesive societal rule that has left a positive impression on the world. Much of what is now referred to as ‘western modernity’ – in its positive aspects - was largely borrowed from Islamic lands like Spain and Sicily, and such a contribution has received wide acclamation from historians and authors (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) of Islam’s unique ability to provide peace, harmony and advancement in society. Shariah law, therefore, is not terrorising; rather it is a divine religious code that works to foster human enlightenment.
[Article taken from Hitten Institute]
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.
15 Jul 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]
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