China’s Gulag for Muslims
In modern-day “re-education” prisons, Beijing is forcing ethnic Uighurs to forsake their religion. Why don’t Muslim governments rise up in anger?
Excerpt:
The target of this mass persecution is China’s Muslim minorities — especially the Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people based in Xinjiang. They follow a mainstream, moderate interpretation of Sunni Islam. But that is enough of a “mental illness” for Chinese Communists, whose ideology considers all religions, including Christianity, to be backward superstitions that must be diluted and nationalized. That is why they go as far as forbidding people from having beards or fasting during Ramadan, and forcing them to consume pork and alcohol, both of which are forbidden in Islam.
Chinese authorities say they are alarmed about extremists among the Uighurs — and, in fact, a handful of terrorists have carried out attacks against government targets over the years. But those extremists arose partly in response to a decades-old policy of subjugation, along with ethnic colonialization, that Beijing has pursued against the Uighurs. That history suggests that Beijing’s current “counterterrorism” campaign will be only counterproductive — deepening a vicious cycle that authoritarian minds are often unable to understand, let alone break.
And here is the strangest aspect of this story: China’s “re-education” policy is a major attack on Muslim people and their faith, Islam, yet the Muslim world has remained largely silent. While the policy has been condemned by human rights groups and the liberal news media in the West, along with Uighur organizations themselves, only a few Muslim leaders, like the Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim and Pakistan’s minister of religion, Noorul Haq Qadri, have raised some public concerns. Not until last month did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation finally express concern about “the disturbing reports on the treatment of Muslims” by China.
That is all very meek given how grim the situation is — and how it compares to what we would have seen if the same persecution had been carried out by some other country, such as, say, Israel.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/opin ... dline&te=1
Perception of Islam
Why the West craves materialism & why the East sticks to religion
Author:
By Imran Khan (the present prime minister of Pakistan)
Publication Date:
Mon, 2002-01-14 03:00
My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.
I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal — the national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.
Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah.
Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford, not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism.
Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies. Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered.
Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience with religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the Inquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.
To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one should go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used during the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics by the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.
However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals.
I feel that humans are different to animals. While, the latter can be drilled, humans need to be intellectually convinced. That is why the Qur’an constantly appeals to reason. The worst, of course, was the exploitation of Islam for political gains by various individuals or groups.
Hence, it was a miracle I did not become an atheist. The only reason why I did not was the powerful religious influence my mother wielded on me since my childhood. It was not so much out of conviction but love for her that I stayed a Muslim.
However, my Islam was selective. I accepted only parts of the religion that suited me. Prayers were restricted to Eid days and occasionally on Fridays, when my father insisted on taking me to the mosque with him.
All in all I was smoothly moving to becoming a Pukka Brown Sahib. After all I had the right credentials in terms of school, university and, above all, acceptability in the English aristocracy, something that our brown sahibs would give their lives for. So what led me to do a ‘lota’ on the Brown Sahib culture and instead become a ‘desi’?
Well it did not just happen overnight.
More...
http://www.arabnews.com/node/217634
Author:
By Imran Khan (the present prime minister of Pakistan)
Publication Date:
Mon, 2002-01-14 03:00
My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.
I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal — the national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.
Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah.
Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford, not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism.
Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies. Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered.
Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience with religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the Inquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.
To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one should go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used during the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics by the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.
However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals.
I feel that humans are different to animals. While, the latter can be drilled, humans need to be intellectually convinced. That is why the Qur’an constantly appeals to reason. The worst, of course, was the exploitation of Islam for political gains by various individuals or groups.
Hence, it was a miracle I did not become an atheist. The only reason why I did not was the powerful religious influence my mother wielded on me since my childhood. It was not so much out of conviction but love for her that I stayed a Muslim.
However, my Islam was selective. I accepted only parts of the religion that suited me. Prayers were restricted to Eid days and occasionally on Fridays, when my father insisted on taking me to the mosque with him.
All in all I was smoothly moving to becoming a Pukka Brown Sahib. After all I had the right credentials in terms of school, university and, above all, acceptability in the English aristocracy, something that our brown sahibs would give their lives for. So what led me to do a ‘lota’ on the Brown Sahib culture and instead become a ‘desi’?
Well it did not just happen overnight.
More...
http://www.arabnews.com/node/217634
The Journey of Islam...
It is unfortunate but for a large section of non-Muslims around the world, the defining perception of Islam and Islamic history has been influenced by what they see on news channels. Few realize that the 1,400-year-long history of Islam, across continents, is also a fascinating journey of cultural exuberance evident from Alhambra in Spain to the imperial capitals of Istanbul and Tehran, and further afield in South East Asia.
The recently released book Islam: An Illustrated Journey by Farhad Daftary and Zulfikar Hirji, published by Azimuth Editions in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, is a richly illustrated account of Islamic history, covering the social, political and cultural landscapes of the vast regions of the world where Islam was adopted and took root.
For centuries, India had strong trade and cultural ties with pre-Islamic Arabia and these continued even with the advent of Islam. Islam first arrived in India through Arab traders in the port cities on the western coast. The conquest of Sindh in 711 CE by the armies of the Ummayad chaliphate under Muhammad bin Al-Qasim Al-Thaqafi opened up a new chapter of Islam in Indian history.
Interview with the author and more...
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/histor ... y-of-islam
It is unfortunate but for a large section of non-Muslims around the world, the defining perception of Islam and Islamic history has been influenced by what they see on news channels. Few realize that the 1,400-year-long history of Islam, across continents, is also a fascinating journey of cultural exuberance evident from Alhambra in Spain to the imperial capitals of Istanbul and Tehran, and further afield in South East Asia.
The recently released book Islam: An Illustrated Journey by Farhad Daftary and Zulfikar Hirji, published by Azimuth Editions in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, is a richly illustrated account of Islamic history, covering the social, political and cultural landscapes of the vast regions of the world where Islam was adopted and took root.
For centuries, India had strong trade and cultural ties with pre-Islamic Arabia and these continued even with the advent of Islam. Islam first arrived in India through Arab traders in the port cities on the western coast. The conquest of Sindh in 711 CE by the armies of the Ummayad chaliphate under Muhammad bin Al-Qasim Al-Thaqafi opened up a new chapter of Islam in Indian history.
Interview with the author and more...
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/histor ... y-of-islam
UK Imam praises Jacinda Ardern in open Letter
May God envelop you with His light.
Excerpt:
You did what no other leaders in the western world have ever done or ever dare to do – you greeted your nation in your parliament with the Islamic greeting “Assalamu Alaikum” (may peace be upon you) and your words have flooded our hearts with peace instantly. Your true desire to include us in the depth of your heart was visible in your face for all to see and admire and in your action for all to feel safe. You then proceeded to open the parliamentary proceedings with a recitation from the holy Quran, this was even more generous gesture of goodwill, an action that sent shivers of elation down our spine. You are the first leader of a western nation who has the courage to defend the honour of your Muslim minority citizens and guests offering them an equal seat next to you. I believe the Muslims of New Zealand no longer feel an outsider but an equal citizen. I am a British citizen but you made me feel like wanting to migrate to your country so that I too can enjoy the true equality you are offering. I would like to pray for you and your countries’ men and women’s success and happiness.
More....
https://www.siasat.com/news/uk-imam-pra ... r-1481086/
May God envelop you with His light.
Excerpt:
You did what no other leaders in the western world have ever done or ever dare to do – you greeted your nation in your parliament with the Islamic greeting “Assalamu Alaikum” (may peace be upon you) and your words have flooded our hearts with peace instantly. Your true desire to include us in the depth of your heart was visible in your face for all to see and admire and in your action for all to feel safe. You then proceeded to open the parliamentary proceedings with a recitation from the holy Quran, this was even more generous gesture of goodwill, an action that sent shivers of elation down our spine. You are the first leader of a western nation who has the courage to defend the honour of your Muslim minority citizens and guests offering them an equal seat next to you. I believe the Muslims of New Zealand no longer feel an outsider but an equal citizen. I am a British citizen but you made me feel like wanting to migrate to your country so that I too can enjoy the true equality you are offering. I would like to pray for you and your countries’ men and women’s success and happiness.
More....
https://www.siasat.com/news/uk-imam-pra ... r-1481086/
Quebec’s proposed secularism law is repugnant. Here are six reasons why.
Next week I finish my Masters of Divinity degree at Trinity College, University of Toronto. For three years I’ve been studying the form, history, foundation, politics, language and philosophy of religion. I’ve mixed with people of almost all faiths, discovered much from and about them, and also been strengthened on my own religious path.
The academic study of religion does not make one naïve or credulous, and much as I love God, I’m extremely aware of the horrors committed, historically and in our own age, in the deity’s name. I also believe in the separation of church and state, which when implemented properly should benefit and protect both institutions. But the Quebec government’s proposed secularism law is repugnant and dangerous.
The Coalition Avenir Québec’s law will prevent public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols such as a hijab, kippa or turban so as to, it claims, ensure “a balance between the collective rights of the Quebec nation and human rights and freedoms.”
Christians are hardly affected by this, partly because most Christians have no outwardly visible religious symbolism beyond perhaps a crucifix around the neck, which is not required, usually hidden, and frequently aesthetic or cultural rather than theological. The law will impinge upon some orthodox Jews, and Sikhs of course, but at heart and soul it is about Muslims.
There’s a whole stew of problems involved, but a half-dozen stand out as being particularly disturbing.
More....
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/q ... ailsignout
Next week I finish my Masters of Divinity degree at Trinity College, University of Toronto. For three years I’ve been studying the form, history, foundation, politics, language and philosophy of religion. I’ve mixed with people of almost all faiths, discovered much from and about them, and also been strengthened on my own religious path.
The academic study of religion does not make one naïve or credulous, and much as I love God, I’m extremely aware of the horrors committed, historically and in our own age, in the deity’s name. I also believe in the separation of church and state, which when implemented properly should benefit and protect both institutions. But the Quebec government’s proposed secularism law is repugnant and dangerous.
The Coalition Avenir Québec’s law will prevent public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols such as a hijab, kippa or turban so as to, it claims, ensure “a balance between the collective rights of the Quebec nation and human rights and freedoms.”
Christians are hardly affected by this, partly because most Christians have no outwardly visible religious symbolism beyond perhaps a crucifix around the neck, which is not required, usually hidden, and frequently aesthetic or cultural rather than theological. The law will impinge upon some orthodox Jews, and Sikhs of course, but at heart and soul it is about Muslims.
There’s a whole stew of problems involved, but a half-dozen stand out as being particularly disturbing.
More....
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/q ... ailsignout
To humanize Muslims, let’s start in the classroom
Zulfikar Hirji is an associate professor at York University and co-author of Islam: An Illustrated Journey.
A number of years ago, my son came home from school excited to tell me that he was studying the medieval era. “That’s great," I said. "Where?” Looking confused, he turned to me and said, “You know, medieval times, Baba. The stuff about lords and feuds and England.”
Playing the provocateur, I asked, “What was happening in the Muslim world in medieval times? Or in China or on the African continent?”
He looked dejected. I gently explained that there were many diverse people who lived and thrived in other parts of the world during England’s medieval period and that the teacher should have explained this.
For the past 13 years, I have similarly been asking my first- and second-year university students what histories they are taught in school. The majority give this sequence: Greco-Roman world with a bit of Ancient Egypt, medieval and Renaissance Europe, Europe and the Industrial Revolution, the World Wars and Canadian history.
I also ask students if they see or hear about their own backgrounds in this curriculum. Most times, the answer is no. I ask if they have ever been taught about Muslim histories, art, architecture or literature? Without exception, the answer is no. Most Canadian students seemingly go through the education system without ever hearing about the plurality of the world’s histories, cultures, faiths and traditions, including Islam and Muslims.
What messages are we sending to our future generations by continuing to exclude knowledge of a rich and diverse 1,400-year old faith whose adherents continue to shape the modern world?
With such omissions, are school curriculums not unwittingly contributing to the dehumanization of Muslims and negating Islam’s place in world history?
More...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... classroom/
Zulfikar Hirji is an associate professor at York University and co-author of Islam: An Illustrated Journey.
A number of years ago, my son came home from school excited to tell me that he was studying the medieval era. “That’s great," I said. "Where?” Looking confused, he turned to me and said, “You know, medieval times, Baba. The stuff about lords and feuds and England.”
Playing the provocateur, I asked, “What was happening in the Muslim world in medieval times? Or in China or on the African continent?”
He looked dejected. I gently explained that there were many diverse people who lived and thrived in other parts of the world during England’s medieval period and that the teacher should have explained this.
For the past 13 years, I have similarly been asking my first- and second-year university students what histories they are taught in school. The majority give this sequence: Greco-Roman world with a bit of Ancient Egypt, medieval and Renaissance Europe, Europe and the Industrial Revolution, the World Wars and Canadian history.
I also ask students if they see or hear about their own backgrounds in this curriculum. Most times, the answer is no. I ask if they have ever been taught about Muslim histories, art, architecture or literature? Without exception, the answer is no. Most Canadian students seemingly go through the education system without ever hearing about the plurality of the world’s histories, cultures, faiths and traditions, including Islam and Muslims.
What messages are we sending to our future generations by continuing to exclude knowledge of a rich and diverse 1,400-year old faith whose adherents continue to shape the modern world?
With such omissions, are school curriculums not unwittingly contributing to the dehumanization of Muslims and negating Islam’s place in world history?
More...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... classroom/
Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders Paperback – Jul 1 2014
In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country.
Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done.
As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.
https://www.amazon.ca/Thomas-Jeffersons ... 0307388395
In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country.
Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done.
As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.
https://www.amazon.ca/Thomas-Jeffersons ... 0307388395
On Washington DC’s Hidden Islamic Trail
The American capital has a long and storied Muslim history, if you dig deep enough
LONDON: The ‘David’-like physiology and ‘Nike’ wings were Greco-Roman, but his turban, beard and ‘semitic’ face, were unmistakably of the East. He sat majestically with one arm under his chin and his right foot atop a distilling retort.
“Those figures represent the building blocks of Western civilization. There’s Spain, England, the Middle Ages, even Islam is there for its contribution to science. Look, ‘Islam’ is written under the turbaned man.”
The tour guide’s voice broke my meditative study of the Renaissance-style figures high up on the dome of the Thomas Jefferson building, inside Washington DC’s Library of Congress.
Painted in the 1890s by Edward Homeland Blashfield, “The Evolution of Civilization” suggests Islam played a far greater role in the development of America than popular US history would have you believe.
This fact is further reinforced by one of the library’s most prized possessions, the Jefferson Qur’an — a two-volume 18th-century leatherbound English translation of Islam’s holiest text that once belonged to the American founding father and third president, Thomas Jefferson.
Along with the library's dome, “The Qu’ran,” by George Sale, is part of a series of clues alluding to Islam’s relationship with the US, scattered across Washington DC
More...
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1479041/lifestyle
The American capital has a long and storied Muslim history, if you dig deep enough
LONDON: The ‘David’-like physiology and ‘Nike’ wings were Greco-Roman, but his turban, beard and ‘semitic’ face, were unmistakably of the East. He sat majestically with one arm under his chin and his right foot atop a distilling retort.
“Those figures represent the building blocks of Western civilization. There’s Spain, England, the Middle Ages, even Islam is there for its contribution to science. Look, ‘Islam’ is written under the turbaned man.”
The tour guide’s voice broke my meditative study of the Renaissance-style figures high up on the dome of the Thomas Jefferson building, inside Washington DC’s Library of Congress.
Painted in the 1890s by Edward Homeland Blashfield, “The Evolution of Civilization” suggests Islam played a far greater role in the development of America than popular US history would have you believe.
This fact is further reinforced by one of the library’s most prized possessions, the Jefferson Qur’an — a two-volume 18th-century leatherbound English translation of Islam’s holiest text that once belonged to the American founding father and third president, Thomas Jefferson.
Along with the library's dome, “The Qu’ran,” by George Sale, is part of a series of clues alluding to Islam’s relationship with the US, scattered across Washington DC
More...
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1479041/lifestyle
Stories Leave "Creases" in Your Mind
Just as a crease on paper, once folded, never disappears, similarly, the human mind absorbs and remembers the story its heard. For Muslim Americans, we need to find ways to embed stories of our humanity within the negative stories about us that are so prevalent. Listen to Silk Road Rising co-founder, Malik Gillani, as he shares why immigrant Muslims have a responsibility to create and widely distribute their stories.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... m0slg9-nNw
Just as a crease on paper, once folded, never disappears, similarly, the human mind absorbs and remembers the story its heard. For Muslim Americans, we need to find ways to embed stories of our humanity within the negative stories about us that are so prevalent. Listen to Silk Road Rising co-founder, Malik Gillani, as he shares why immigrant Muslims have a responsibility to create and widely distribute their stories.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... m0slg9-nNw
For Western leaders, Ramadan is a time to reassure the world of Islam
When a fast becomes a slow diplomatic dance
AT LEAST since 1805, Western heads of government have been making delicate judgments over how exactly to signal their respect for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. On December 9th of that year, Thomas Jefferson changed the time of a White House dinner from the usual 3.30 pm to “precisely at sunset”. The shift was made to accommodate the religious obligations of a guest from Tunis who was playing an important role in negotiations to free the young republic from the threat of North African pirates.
In more recent times, leaders of the democratic world have taken the period of daybreak-to-dusk abstinence, the latest enactment of which began at sunset on May 5th, as a cue to salute and reassure Muslims everywhere, in their own countries and around the world. Often they attend or host at least one iftar, the communal meal consumed when darkness falls. Even President Donald Trump and his administration have begun to acknowledge the importance of Ramadan, despite the Islamo-sceptical feelings of many of his supporters.
In 2017, Mr Trump’s first full year in office, both the White House and the State Department broke with the practice of hosting iftar dinners, and a presidential message of greeting contained the acid assertion that the sacred month “strengthens awareness of our shared obligation to reject violence”. But Mr Trump resumed the practice of hosting a White House iftar last year (though he was criticised for inviting mainly foreign diplomats rather than Muslim compatriots). Last year’s communication spoke more positively of the “richness” that Islam brought to America’s “religious tapestry”.
This year’s Ramadan salutation was warmer still. In words that might have been taken from a Friday mosque sermon Mr Trump declared: “During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, recite passages from the Koran, and perform benevolent acts of charity and good will towards others. By doing so, they develop a renewed sense of purpose in their own spiritual journey, deepening their appreciation for God’s grace and mercy.”
The American president is not the only Western leader to have used the holy month to counter the impression of being hostile to Islam. In 2015, Canada’s then Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, became the first leader of his country to host an iftar: this was despite the widespread perception that his party was playing to anti-Muslim sentiment by, for example, banning face veils during citizenship ceremonies. His Liberal successor, Justin Trudeau, has been even warmer in his acknowledgement of Ramadan. In one of the first messages issued by a Western leader this year, he said the fast “honours the values at the heart of Islam, like compassion and service to others”.
More...
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/ ... d-of-islam
When a fast becomes a slow diplomatic dance
AT LEAST since 1805, Western heads of government have been making delicate judgments over how exactly to signal their respect for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. On December 9th of that year, Thomas Jefferson changed the time of a White House dinner from the usual 3.30 pm to “precisely at sunset”. The shift was made to accommodate the religious obligations of a guest from Tunis who was playing an important role in negotiations to free the young republic from the threat of North African pirates.
In more recent times, leaders of the democratic world have taken the period of daybreak-to-dusk abstinence, the latest enactment of which began at sunset on May 5th, as a cue to salute and reassure Muslims everywhere, in their own countries and around the world. Often they attend or host at least one iftar, the communal meal consumed when darkness falls. Even President Donald Trump and his administration have begun to acknowledge the importance of Ramadan, despite the Islamo-sceptical feelings of many of his supporters.
In 2017, Mr Trump’s first full year in office, both the White House and the State Department broke with the practice of hosting iftar dinners, and a presidential message of greeting contained the acid assertion that the sacred month “strengthens awareness of our shared obligation to reject violence”. But Mr Trump resumed the practice of hosting a White House iftar last year (though he was criticised for inviting mainly foreign diplomats rather than Muslim compatriots). Last year’s communication spoke more positively of the “richness” that Islam brought to America’s “religious tapestry”.
This year’s Ramadan salutation was warmer still. In words that might have been taken from a Friday mosque sermon Mr Trump declared: “During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, recite passages from the Koran, and perform benevolent acts of charity and good will towards others. By doing so, they develop a renewed sense of purpose in their own spiritual journey, deepening their appreciation for God’s grace and mercy.”
The American president is not the only Western leader to have used the holy month to counter the impression of being hostile to Islam. In 2015, Canada’s then Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, became the first leader of his country to host an iftar: this was despite the widespread perception that his party was playing to anti-Muslim sentiment by, for example, banning face veils during citizenship ceremonies. His Liberal successor, Justin Trudeau, has been even warmer in his acknowledgement of Ramadan. In one of the first messages issued by a Western leader this year, he said the fast “honours the values at the heart of Islam, like compassion and service to others”.
More...
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/ ... d-of-islam
The foundations of laser technology were established by Ibn al-Haytham in Fatimid Cairo in the 11th century
International Day of Light commemorates the anniversary of the first successful operation of the LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) on May 16, 1960 by Theodore Maiman, a physicist at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
“The study of light and its properties has revolutionised every field of science and has involved all the major figures of science from Ibn Al Haytham to Einstein” (UNESCO). Among al-Haytham’s monumental contributions was his understanding of the crucial role of visual proportions, which influenced Renaissance Europe’s science and art.
Abu Ali al-Hassan ibn al-Haytham (965-1039), a distinguished philosopher, physicist, and mathematician was born in Basra, Iraq, where he earned a reputation for his knowledge of applied mathematics. Claiming to be able to regulate the flow of the Nile, he was invited by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Hakim (r.996-1021) to assist with a hydraulic project at the current location of the Aswan Dam. However, al-Haytham was forced to concede the impracticability of the project. He spent the remainder of his years in Fatimid Cairo, residing close to the Al-Azhar mosque and centre of learning, founded by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Mu’izz (r.953-975), working on theories of vision and light.
Early theories of vision claimed that in order to see an object, light emanated from the object into the eye. Although many challenged this theory, it remained until the year 1000 when Ibn al-Haytham developed a scientific theory of vision that proved earlier theories of light travelling in straight lines, but from the eye to the object and not vice-versa. He also developed mathematical models of reflection and refraction to prove his theories, urging others to repeat his experiments to verify his results and conclusions.
Ibn al-Haytham is considered the earliest proponent of the modern scientific method earning him the title of “the first scientist.” He wrote several works including his influential seven-volume text Kitab al-Manazir (‘Book of Optics’), which was translated into Latin as De Aspectibus (‘Visible Aspects’) and became popular in Europe where he was known by his Latinised name Alhazen or Alhacen.
al-haytham optics alhazen
Ibn al-Haytham’s diagram of the eyes from his Book of Optics. Source: ResearchGate
The De Aspectibus was printed by Friedrich Risner (d. ca. 1580) in 1572, as part of his collection Opticae thesaurus. The English philosopher Roger Bacon (d. 1292) wrote a summary of De Aspectibus into a form that became historically important and remained the standard theory of vision until the work of Kepler (d. 1630).
al-Haytham optics Alhazen Opticae
The frontispiece of the Latin translation of Ibn al- Haytham’s Book of Optics titled Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni Arabis Libri Septem (The Optic Treasure, Seven Arabic Books of Alhazen) that was published in Basel, in 1572. Source: Research Gate
al-haytham alhazen alhacen galileo
Ibn al-Haytham’s diagram of the eyes from Friedrich Risner’s Latin translation, Opticae Thesaurus, Alhazeni Arabis Libri Septem (The Optic Treasure, Seven Arabic Books of Alhazen) dating from 1572. Source: ResearchGate
Marshal notes: “Unlike many of his time or predecessors, Alhazen was a diligent experimenter, verifying unproved theories first by experiment. He observed the magnifying power of spheres and lenses, and experimented with cylindrical, concave, and parabolic metal mirrors… His geometrical or optical theories were demonstrated by diagrams which aided lens- and spectacle-makers to produce reasonably accurate results…Kepler conceived the optical construction which gives an inverted image, and Scheiner made the first telescope which incorporated this inverted-image principle suggested by Kepler. This is probably the earliest intellectual contact between Alhazen and modern scientists. Kepler was a contemporary and friend of Galileo” (Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets, February 1950).
“Few mathematical and scientific writings in the Middle Ages have been as influential as those of Ibn al-Haytham, whose works were translated into Latin, Italian, and Hebrew…. His mathematical works influenced Roger Bacon, Frederick of Fribourg, Kepler, Snell, Descartes, and Huygens and many others” (Rashed).
Among al-Haytham’s monumental contributions was his understanding of the crucial role of visual contrasts (for example, the contrast of the brightness levels explain why we cannot see the stars during the daytime) and proportions, which impacted aesthetics:
“For sight perceives beauty only from the forms of visible objects which are perceptible to it; and these forms are composed of the particular properties that have been shown in detail; and sight perceives the forms from its perception of these properties; and therefore, it perceives beauty from its perception of these properties.”
Ibn al-Haytham, Kitab al-Manazir, vol. 2, cited in Beauty and Islam, p. 22
Gonzales states that with this new conception of vision and perception “appeared a new aesthetics, the aesthetics of light that was notably developed through the great programme of cathedral-building and the decisive problem of perspective in paintings” (Ibid p. 23).
The Latin texts of the Book of Optics were translated into Italian in the 14th century, titled Prospettiva (‘Perspective’), which was studied in the school of Padua in Italy. Biagio Pelacani da Parma (d. 1416), a renowned Italian philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer, assimilated al-Haytham’s work, and in turn influenced pictorial representation in Renaissance art and spatial design in architecture.
Ibn al-Haytham’s works influenced art theorist and architect Leon Battista Alberti (d. 1472), author of the treatise On Painting (Della Pittura); the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (d. 1455); and the artist Piero della Francesca (d. 1492). Al-Khalili notes that “they harnessed Ibn al-Haytham’s discussion on perspective to help create the illusion of three-dimensional depth on canvas and in friezes.”
Al-Haytham wrote over 200 treatises and books but only about 50 have survived although most of them have not been translated from Arabic. His numerous notable works include Risala fi al-dawʾ (‘Treatise of Light’), al-Hāla wa-qaws quzaḥ (‘On the Halo and the Rainbow’), Ṣurat al-kusuf (‘On the Shape of the Eclipse’), and al-Ḍawʾ (‘A Discourse on Light’). In mathematics, he wrote about the area of crescent-shaped figures and on the volume of a parabolic revolution (formed by rotating a parabola about its axis). He also wrote on astronomy, music, ethics, politics, and poetry, and “defended astrology as a science based on mathematical proof…”(Sabra). Certain ophthalmology terms originated from the Latin translation of Alhazen’s Arabic text, such as retina and cornea.
In 2014, the Hiding in the Light episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, focused on the accomplishments of Ibn al-Haytham, who came to be known as “father of optics.”
In 2015, on the one-thousandth-year anniversary of Ibn al-Haytham’s Book of Optics, UNESCO declared it the International Year of Light in his honour.
A lunar crater is named after Ibn al-Haytham as is the asteroid 59239 Alhazen, in recognition of his enormous contribution to science.
Al-Haytham Alhazen optics Galileo
The Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (d.1687) chose to honour Ibn al-Haytham, alongside Galileo, in his most famous work on the Moon, Selenographia, published in 1647. The image is from his book’s title page. Source: Houghton Library, Harvard University
“Today, as we use laser beams to manipulate atoms, stimulate neurons with light or convey information in entangled photons, it is worth recalling that the foundations of this field were laid down around 1,000 years ago by Ibn al-Haytham” (Al-Khalili).
~*~
“Extract from Islamic history, from Islamic philosophy, the great names, the great thinkers, the great astronomers, great scientists, great medical figures who have influenced global knowledge.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV in conversation with Adrienne Clarkson at the Prize for Global Citizenship, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2016
Video of the conversation
Sources:
Abdelhamid I. Sabra, Ibn al-Haytham, Harvard Magazine
Anthony Carpi, Annee Egger, Alhazen: Early experiments on light, Visionlearning
Jim Al-Khalili, In retrospect: Book of Optics, Nature, International Journal of Science
O.S. Marshall, Alhazen and the Telescope, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets, Vol. 6, No. 251, p.4, The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Roshdi Rashed, A Polymath in the 10th Century, Science Magazine
Valerie Gonzalez, Beauty and Islam, Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2001
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/ ... h-century/
International Day of Light commemorates the anniversary of the first successful operation of the LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) on May 16, 1960 by Theodore Maiman, a physicist at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
“The study of light and its properties has revolutionised every field of science and has involved all the major figures of science from Ibn Al Haytham to Einstein” (UNESCO). Among al-Haytham’s monumental contributions was his understanding of the crucial role of visual proportions, which influenced Renaissance Europe’s science and art.
Abu Ali al-Hassan ibn al-Haytham (965-1039), a distinguished philosopher, physicist, and mathematician was born in Basra, Iraq, where he earned a reputation for his knowledge of applied mathematics. Claiming to be able to regulate the flow of the Nile, he was invited by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Hakim (r.996-1021) to assist with a hydraulic project at the current location of the Aswan Dam. However, al-Haytham was forced to concede the impracticability of the project. He spent the remainder of his years in Fatimid Cairo, residing close to the Al-Azhar mosque and centre of learning, founded by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Mu’izz (r.953-975), working on theories of vision and light.
Early theories of vision claimed that in order to see an object, light emanated from the object into the eye. Although many challenged this theory, it remained until the year 1000 when Ibn al-Haytham developed a scientific theory of vision that proved earlier theories of light travelling in straight lines, but from the eye to the object and not vice-versa. He also developed mathematical models of reflection and refraction to prove his theories, urging others to repeat his experiments to verify his results and conclusions.
Ibn al-Haytham is considered the earliest proponent of the modern scientific method earning him the title of “the first scientist.” He wrote several works including his influential seven-volume text Kitab al-Manazir (‘Book of Optics’), which was translated into Latin as De Aspectibus (‘Visible Aspects’) and became popular in Europe where he was known by his Latinised name Alhazen or Alhacen.
al-haytham optics alhazen
Ibn al-Haytham’s diagram of the eyes from his Book of Optics. Source: ResearchGate
The De Aspectibus was printed by Friedrich Risner (d. ca. 1580) in 1572, as part of his collection Opticae thesaurus. The English philosopher Roger Bacon (d. 1292) wrote a summary of De Aspectibus into a form that became historically important and remained the standard theory of vision until the work of Kepler (d. 1630).
al-Haytham optics Alhazen Opticae
The frontispiece of the Latin translation of Ibn al- Haytham’s Book of Optics titled Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni Arabis Libri Septem (The Optic Treasure, Seven Arabic Books of Alhazen) that was published in Basel, in 1572. Source: Research Gate
al-haytham alhazen alhacen galileo
Ibn al-Haytham’s diagram of the eyes from Friedrich Risner’s Latin translation, Opticae Thesaurus, Alhazeni Arabis Libri Septem (The Optic Treasure, Seven Arabic Books of Alhazen) dating from 1572. Source: ResearchGate
Marshal notes: “Unlike many of his time or predecessors, Alhazen was a diligent experimenter, verifying unproved theories first by experiment. He observed the magnifying power of spheres and lenses, and experimented with cylindrical, concave, and parabolic metal mirrors… His geometrical or optical theories were demonstrated by diagrams which aided lens- and spectacle-makers to produce reasonably accurate results…Kepler conceived the optical construction which gives an inverted image, and Scheiner made the first telescope which incorporated this inverted-image principle suggested by Kepler. This is probably the earliest intellectual contact between Alhazen and modern scientists. Kepler was a contemporary and friend of Galileo” (Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets, February 1950).
“Few mathematical and scientific writings in the Middle Ages have been as influential as those of Ibn al-Haytham, whose works were translated into Latin, Italian, and Hebrew…. His mathematical works influenced Roger Bacon, Frederick of Fribourg, Kepler, Snell, Descartes, and Huygens and many others” (Rashed).
Among al-Haytham’s monumental contributions was his understanding of the crucial role of visual contrasts (for example, the contrast of the brightness levels explain why we cannot see the stars during the daytime) and proportions, which impacted aesthetics:
“For sight perceives beauty only from the forms of visible objects which are perceptible to it; and these forms are composed of the particular properties that have been shown in detail; and sight perceives the forms from its perception of these properties; and therefore, it perceives beauty from its perception of these properties.”
Ibn al-Haytham, Kitab al-Manazir, vol. 2, cited in Beauty and Islam, p. 22
Gonzales states that with this new conception of vision and perception “appeared a new aesthetics, the aesthetics of light that was notably developed through the great programme of cathedral-building and the decisive problem of perspective in paintings” (Ibid p. 23).
The Latin texts of the Book of Optics were translated into Italian in the 14th century, titled Prospettiva (‘Perspective’), which was studied in the school of Padua in Italy. Biagio Pelacani da Parma (d. 1416), a renowned Italian philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer, assimilated al-Haytham’s work, and in turn influenced pictorial representation in Renaissance art and spatial design in architecture.
Ibn al-Haytham’s works influenced art theorist and architect Leon Battista Alberti (d. 1472), author of the treatise On Painting (Della Pittura); the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (d. 1455); and the artist Piero della Francesca (d. 1492). Al-Khalili notes that “they harnessed Ibn al-Haytham’s discussion on perspective to help create the illusion of three-dimensional depth on canvas and in friezes.”
Al-Haytham wrote over 200 treatises and books but only about 50 have survived although most of them have not been translated from Arabic. His numerous notable works include Risala fi al-dawʾ (‘Treatise of Light’), al-Hāla wa-qaws quzaḥ (‘On the Halo and the Rainbow’), Ṣurat al-kusuf (‘On the Shape of the Eclipse’), and al-Ḍawʾ (‘A Discourse on Light’). In mathematics, he wrote about the area of crescent-shaped figures and on the volume of a parabolic revolution (formed by rotating a parabola about its axis). He also wrote on astronomy, music, ethics, politics, and poetry, and “defended astrology as a science based on mathematical proof…”(Sabra). Certain ophthalmology terms originated from the Latin translation of Alhazen’s Arabic text, such as retina and cornea.
In 2014, the Hiding in the Light episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, focused on the accomplishments of Ibn al-Haytham, who came to be known as “father of optics.”
In 2015, on the one-thousandth-year anniversary of Ibn al-Haytham’s Book of Optics, UNESCO declared it the International Year of Light in his honour.
A lunar crater is named after Ibn al-Haytham as is the asteroid 59239 Alhazen, in recognition of his enormous contribution to science.
Al-Haytham Alhazen optics Galileo
The Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (d.1687) chose to honour Ibn al-Haytham, alongside Galileo, in his most famous work on the Moon, Selenographia, published in 1647. The image is from his book’s title page. Source: Houghton Library, Harvard University
“Today, as we use laser beams to manipulate atoms, stimulate neurons with light or convey information in entangled photons, it is worth recalling that the foundations of this field were laid down around 1,000 years ago by Ibn al-Haytham” (Al-Khalili).
~*~
“Extract from Islamic history, from Islamic philosophy, the great names, the great thinkers, the great astronomers, great scientists, great medical figures who have influenced global knowledge.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV in conversation with Adrienne Clarkson at the Prize for Global Citizenship, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2016
Video of the conversation
Sources:
Abdelhamid I. Sabra, Ibn al-Haytham, Harvard Magazine
Anthony Carpi, Annee Egger, Alhazen: Early experiments on light, Visionlearning
Jim Al-Khalili, In retrospect: Book of Optics, Nature, International Journal of Science
O.S. Marshall, Alhazen and the Telescope, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets, Vol. 6, No. 251, p.4, The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Roshdi Rashed, A Polymath in the 10th Century, Science Magazine
Valerie Gonzalez, Beauty and Islam, Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2001
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/ ... h-century/
Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV: “We don’t do enough to illustrate… the greatness of the Islamic civilisations”
Each year since 1977, the International Council of Museums has organised International Museum Day on May 18 or around this date. The objective is to raise awareness that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
International Council of Museums
Aga Khan Museum
Dr Henry Kim, CEO of Aga Khan Museum:
“…for His Highness the Aga Khan, it was actually a much deeper meaning behind this museum. He said ‘I don’t want this simply to be a repository of the arts. It’s there so that we can improve peoples’ understanding and appreciation of arts and culture of the Muslim world and by doing so, to understand who Muslims are and what exactly Islam is.’
Arts are one of the areas of neutral ground….Through arts…you get a better sense of people who used them, made them, commissioned them. Art is universal. All cultures have some form of art.
As you look through a museum’s collection, you start realising that cultural connections, cultural contexts, transmission of knowledge, all of these wonderful things we consider very much part of the modern world were alive and well hundreds of thousands of years ago.
With objects, you can tell stories that history books simply do not tell….”
Extracts from Dr Kim’s presentation, AKU Lecture series, Karachi, Pakistan, October 19, 2017
Bead, Egypt or Syria, 10th-11th century. Aga Khan Museum
astrolabe aga khan museum incense Aga Khan Museum Plaque fatima aga khan museum Fritware aga khan museum
“Our hope is that the Aga Khan Museum will also be a centre of learning, of education, revealing the connections between the arts of Muslim civilisations and those of other civilisations, indeed between the arts of the different Muslim civilisations themselves. This dialogue – silent, musical, literary – is what binds us all together in a common cultural heritage that we share.”
Prince Amyn
Opening remarks, Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia exhibition, Vancouver, Canada, May 11, 2017
The Ismaili
“We don’t do enough to illustrate to the peoples of our world the greatness of the Islamic civilisations, of cultures of the past.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Aleppo, Syria, August 28, 2008
AKDN Press Release
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/ ... lisations/
Each year since 1977, the International Council of Museums has organised International Museum Day on May 18 or around this date. The objective is to raise awareness that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
International Council of Museums
Aga Khan Museum
Dr Henry Kim, CEO of Aga Khan Museum:
“…for His Highness the Aga Khan, it was actually a much deeper meaning behind this museum. He said ‘I don’t want this simply to be a repository of the arts. It’s there so that we can improve peoples’ understanding and appreciation of arts and culture of the Muslim world and by doing so, to understand who Muslims are and what exactly Islam is.’
Arts are one of the areas of neutral ground….Through arts…you get a better sense of people who used them, made them, commissioned them. Art is universal. All cultures have some form of art.
As you look through a museum’s collection, you start realising that cultural connections, cultural contexts, transmission of knowledge, all of these wonderful things we consider very much part of the modern world were alive and well hundreds of thousands of years ago.
With objects, you can tell stories that history books simply do not tell….”
Extracts from Dr Kim’s presentation, AKU Lecture series, Karachi, Pakistan, October 19, 2017
Bead, Egypt or Syria, 10th-11th century. Aga Khan Museum
astrolabe aga khan museum incense Aga Khan Museum Plaque fatima aga khan museum Fritware aga khan museum
“Our hope is that the Aga Khan Museum will also be a centre of learning, of education, revealing the connections between the arts of Muslim civilisations and those of other civilisations, indeed between the arts of the different Muslim civilisations themselves. This dialogue – silent, musical, literary – is what binds us all together in a common cultural heritage that we share.”
Prince Amyn
Opening remarks, Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia exhibition, Vancouver, Canada, May 11, 2017
The Ismaili
“We don’t do enough to illustrate to the peoples of our world the greatness of the Islamic civilisations, of cultures of the past.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Aleppo, Syria, August 28, 2008
AKDN Press Release
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/ ... lisations/
Who’s Afraid of Arabic Numerals?
Before there was a Western civilization, there was Islamic civilization.
Should Americans, as part of their school curriculum, learn Arabic numerals?
CivicScience, a Pittsburgh-based research firm, put that question to some 3,200 Americans recently in a poll seemingly about mathematics, but the outcome was a measure of students’ attitudes toward the Arab world. Some 56 percent of the respondents said, “No.” Fifteen percent had no opinion.
Those results, which quickly inspired more than 24,000 tweets, might have been sharply different had the pollsters explained what “Arabic numerals” are.
There are 10 of them: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
That fact prompted John Dick, the chief executive of the polling company, to label the finding “the saddest and funniest testament to American bigotry we’ve ever seen in our data.”
Presumably, the Americans who opposed the teaching of Arabic numerals (Republicans in greater proportion than Democrats) lacked the basic knowledge of what they are and also had some aversion to anything described as “Arabic.”
Which is indeed sad and funny — and also a reason to pause and ask a simple question: Why is the world’s most efficient numerical system, also standard in Western civilization, called “Arabic numerals”?
The answer traces to seventh-century India, where the numerical system, which included the revolutionary formulation of zero, was developed. Some two centuries later, it moved to the Muslim world, whose magnificent capital, Baghdad, was then the world’s best city in which to pursue an intellectual career. There, a Persian Muslim scholar named Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi developed a mathematical discipline called al-jabir, which literally means “reunion of broken parts.”
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/opin ... y_20190604
Before there was a Western civilization, there was Islamic civilization.
Should Americans, as part of their school curriculum, learn Arabic numerals?
CivicScience, a Pittsburgh-based research firm, put that question to some 3,200 Americans recently in a poll seemingly about mathematics, but the outcome was a measure of students’ attitudes toward the Arab world. Some 56 percent of the respondents said, “No.” Fifteen percent had no opinion.
Those results, which quickly inspired more than 24,000 tweets, might have been sharply different had the pollsters explained what “Arabic numerals” are.
There are 10 of them: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
That fact prompted John Dick, the chief executive of the polling company, to label the finding “the saddest and funniest testament to American bigotry we’ve ever seen in our data.”
Presumably, the Americans who opposed the teaching of Arabic numerals (Republicans in greater proportion than Democrats) lacked the basic knowledge of what they are and also had some aversion to anything described as “Arabic.”
Which is indeed sad and funny — and also a reason to pause and ask a simple question: Why is the world’s most efficient numerical system, also standard in Western civilization, called “Arabic numerals”?
The answer traces to seventh-century India, where the numerical system, which included the revolutionary formulation of zero, was developed. Some two centuries later, it moved to the Muslim world, whose magnificent capital, Baghdad, was then the world’s best city in which to pursue an intellectual career. There, a Persian Muslim scholar named Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi developed a mathematical discipline called al-jabir, which literally means “reunion of broken parts.”
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/opin ... y_20190604
Discovering Islam in New York City: a tour of its Muslim History
Muslims have been a part of New York City, even before New York was a city. Records show that Muslims settled in the area as part of the Dutch settlement, New Amsterdam, since the 1600s. Today, there are now over 300 registered mosques in the City. This is how the Muslim Tour of Harlem, a historic neighborhood in New York, begins. Katie Merriman, a doctoral student of religious studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill escorted a group of New York City Ismailis on a tour of 400 years of Muslim history in New York. On a three-hour walking tour, participants expand their knowledge of how Muslims have contributed to their city and continue to do so.
Photos and more...
https://the.ismaili/usa/discovering-isl ... rce=Direct
Muslims have been a part of New York City, even before New York was a city. Records show that Muslims settled in the area as part of the Dutch settlement, New Amsterdam, since the 1600s. Today, there are now over 300 registered mosques in the City. This is how the Muslim Tour of Harlem, a historic neighborhood in New York, begins. Katie Merriman, a doctoral student of religious studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill escorted a group of New York City Ismailis on a tour of 400 years of Muslim history in New York. On a three-hour walking tour, participants expand their knowledge of how Muslims have contributed to their city and continue to do so.
Photos and more...
https://the.ismaili/usa/discovering-isl ... rce=Direct
Science in a Golden Age - Chemistry: The Search for the Philosopher's Stone
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAFZbrrCjA
The chemical industry has reshaped the modern world - giving us new fuels, drugs and materials. But the methodology and principles of chemistry go back over a thousand years.
Between the 9th and 14th centuries, there was a Golden Age of Science when scholars from the Islamic world, like Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Razi, introduced a rigorous experimental approach that laid the foundations for the modern scientific method.
In this episode of Science in a Golden Age, theoretical physicist Jim al-Khalili leads us on an exploration of just how these scientists began the process of transforming the superstition of alchemy into the science of chemistry.
He begins by unpicking the medieval obsession with alchemy - the effort to turn common, less valuable metals into gold. He looks into the work of Jabir Ibn Hayyan, a polymath who grew up in modern-day Iran and who is credited with applying an experimental-based approach to early chemistry.
Through his determined efforts to dissolve and transform metals, Ibn Hayyan learnt much about acids. Together with Professor Hal Sosabowski from the University of Brighton, Jim looks at the reaction of gold with aqua regia - a powerful combination of acids that Ibn Hayyan discovered.
Following on from Ibn Hayyan's work, chemists like Al-Kindi and Al-Razi furthered the development of scientific practice, basing their work on careful experiments and observations. Their obsession with accuracy was what qualified them as being amongst the first true scientists. Jim shows us the 'Mizan Al-Hikma', an intricate set of scales built by a scholar by the name of Al-Khazani in the 12th century. What set this piece of equipment apart was not just the beauty of the craftsmanship, but the exacting precision it delivered.
The chemical processes developed by the Islamic scientists were motivated by numerous factors - one of which was the requirements of Islam itself - for example, the washing of the hands, face and feet before prayer. This requirement for cleanliness quickly led to the development of whole industries - like the production of soap. The first solid bars of soap were manufactured in the Islamic world and Jim looks at how alkalis helped develop the soap industries of the Golden Age.
From Jabir Ibn Hayyan to Al-Kindi to Al-Razi, this episode covers the works of some of most prolific and influential chemists of the Golden Age and tells the story of how the evolution of modern chemistry began.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAFZbrrCjA
The chemical industry has reshaped the modern world - giving us new fuels, drugs and materials. But the methodology and principles of chemistry go back over a thousand years.
Between the 9th and 14th centuries, there was a Golden Age of Science when scholars from the Islamic world, like Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Razi, introduced a rigorous experimental approach that laid the foundations for the modern scientific method.
In this episode of Science in a Golden Age, theoretical physicist Jim al-Khalili leads us on an exploration of just how these scientists began the process of transforming the superstition of alchemy into the science of chemistry.
He begins by unpicking the medieval obsession with alchemy - the effort to turn common, less valuable metals into gold. He looks into the work of Jabir Ibn Hayyan, a polymath who grew up in modern-day Iran and who is credited with applying an experimental-based approach to early chemistry.
Through his determined efforts to dissolve and transform metals, Ibn Hayyan learnt much about acids. Together with Professor Hal Sosabowski from the University of Brighton, Jim looks at the reaction of gold with aqua regia - a powerful combination of acids that Ibn Hayyan discovered.
Following on from Ibn Hayyan's work, chemists like Al-Kindi and Al-Razi furthered the development of scientific practice, basing their work on careful experiments and observations. Their obsession with accuracy was what qualified them as being amongst the first true scientists. Jim shows us the 'Mizan Al-Hikma', an intricate set of scales built by a scholar by the name of Al-Khazani in the 12th century. What set this piece of equipment apart was not just the beauty of the craftsmanship, but the exacting precision it delivered.
The chemical processes developed by the Islamic scientists were motivated by numerous factors - one of which was the requirements of Islam itself - for example, the washing of the hands, face and feet before prayer. This requirement for cleanliness quickly led to the development of whole industries - like the production of soap. The first solid bars of soap were manufactured in the Islamic world and Jim looks at how alkalis helped develop the soap industries of the Golden Age.
From Jabir Ibn Hayyan to Al-Kindi to Al-Razi, this episode covers the works of some of most prolific and influential chemists of the Golden Age and tells the story of how the evolution of modern chemistry began.
Muslims of early America
Muslims came to America more than a century before Protestants, and in great numbers. How was their history forgotten?
he first words to pass between Europeans and Americans (one-sided and confusing as they must have been) were in the sacred language of Islam. Christopher Columbus had hoped to sail to Asia and had prepared to communicate at its great courts in one of the major languages of Eurasian commerce. So when Columbus’s interpreter, a Spanish Jew, spoke to the Taíno of Hispaniola, he did so in Arabic. Not just the language of Islam, but the religion itself likely arrived in America in 1492, more than 20 years before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door, igniting the Protestant reformation.
Moors – African and Arab Muslims – had conquered much of the Iberian peninsula in 711, establishing a Muslim culture that lasted nearly eight centuries. By early 1492, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista, defeating the last of the Muslim kingdoms, Granada. By the end of the century, the Inquisition, which had begun a century earlier, had coerced between 300,000 and 800,000 Muslims (and probably at least 70,000 Jews) to convert to Christianity. Spanish Catholics often suspected these Moriscos or conversos of practising Islam (or Judaism) in secret, and the Inquisition pursued and persecuted them. Some, almost certainly, sailed in Columbus’s crew, carrying Islam in their hearts and minds.
Eight centuries of Muslim rule left a deep cultural legacy on Spain, one evident in clear and sometimes surprising ways during the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the chronicler of Hernán Cortés’s conquest of Meso-America, admired the costumes of native women dancers by writing ‘muy bien vestidas a su manera y que parecían moriscas’, or ‘very well-dressed in their own way, and seemed like Moorish women’. The Spanish routinely used ‘mezquita’ (Spanish for mosque) to refer to Native American religious sites. Travelling through Anahuac (today’s Texas and Mexico), Cortés reported that he saw more than 400 mosques.
Islam served as a kind of blueprint or algorithm for the Spanish in the New World. As they encountered people and things new to them, they turned to Islam to try to understand what they were seeing, what was happening. Even the name ‘California’ might have some Arabic lineage. The Spanish gave the name, in 1535, taking it from The Deeds of Esplandian (1510), a romance novel popular with the conquistadores. The novel features a rich island – California – ruled by black Amazonians and their queen Calafia. The Deeds of Esplandian had been published in Seville, a city that had for centuries been part of the Umayyad caliphate (caliph, Calafia, California).
More....
https://aeon.co/essays/muslims-lived-in ... en-existed
Muslims came to America more than a century before Protestants, and in great numbers. How was their history forgotten?
he first words to pass between Europeans and Americans (one-sided and confusing as they must have been) were in the sacred language of Islam. Christopher Columbus had hoped to sail to Asia and had prepared to communicate at its great courts in one of the major languages of Eurasian commerce. So when Columbus’s interpreter, a Spanish Jew, spoke to the Taíno of Hispaniola, he did so in Arabic. Not just the language of Islam, but the religion itself likely arrived in America in 1492, more than 20 years before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door, igniting the Protestant reformation.
Moors – African and Arab Muslims – had conquered much of the Iberian peninsula in 711, establishing a Muslim culture that lasted nearly eight centuries. By early 1492, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista, defeating the last of the Muslim kingdoms, Granada. By the end of the century, the Inquisition, which had begun a century earlier, had coerced between 300,000 and 800,000 Muslims (and probably at least 70,000 Jews) to convert to Christianity. Spanish Catholics often suspected these Moriscos or conversos of practising Islam (or Judaism) in secret, and the Inquisition pursued and persecuted them. Some, almost certainly, sailed in Columbus’s crew, carrying Islam in their hearts and minds.
Eight centuries of Muslim rule left a deep cultural legacy on Spain, one evident in clear and sometimes surprising ways during the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the chronicler of Hernán Cortés’s conquest of Meso-America, admired the costumes of native women dancers by writing ‘muy bien vestidas a su manera y que parecían moriscas’, or ‘very well-dressed in their own way, and seemed like Moorish women’. The Spanish routinely used ‘mezquita’ (Spanish for mosque) to refer to Native American religious sites. Travelling through Anahuac (today’s Texas and Mexico), Cortés reported that he saw more than 400 mosques.
Islam served as a kind of blueprint or algorithm for the Spanish in the New World. As they encountered people and things new to them, they turned to Islam to try to understand what they were seeing, what was happening. Even the name ‘California’ might have some Arabic lineage. The Spanish gave the name, in 1535, taking it from The Deeds of Esplandian (1510), a romance novel popular with the conquistadores. The novel features a rich island – California – ruled by black Amazonians and their queen Calafia. The Deeds of Esplandian had been published in Seville, a city that had for centuries been part of the Umayyad caliphate (caliph, Calafia, California).
More....
https://aeon.co/essays/muslims-lived-in ... en-existed
BOOK
Teaching Islam today
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – It was an idea whose time had come, and it took hold at Wofford College – a new book on how to teach high school and college students about Islam in an age where misinformation and fear are heightened through social media and the internet.
........
As for his chapter, he explains the five questions “students don’t know they have about Islam”:
Is Islam inherently violent?
No. No religion is inherently violent or inherently peaceful. Like other world religions, Islamic ethics emphasize peace and reconciliation.
Does Islam want to dominate non-Muslim societies or politics?
No. Like other world religions, Islam has no specific political objective and is most concerned about living in accordance with religious teaching.
Is Islam inherently oppressive to women?
No. No religion has a unified teaching on gender relations; these vary widely depending on context.
Who are the terrorists (such as ISIS) and where do they come from?
These movements are called “jihadists,” and they are the product of 20th-century ideologies and political conditions. They have no basis in traditional Islamic teachings.
Is Islam a threat to the United States?
No, for all the reasons stated above. Millions of Muslims live in accordance with their faith in the United States alongside members of other faiths and are integral parts of American history and American identity.
More...
https://www.wofford.edu/about/news/news ... slam-today
Teaching Islam today
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – It was an idea whose time had come, and it took hold at Wofford College – a new book on how to teach high school and college students about Islam in an age where misinformation and fear are heightened through social media and the internet.
........
As for his chapter, he explains the five questions “students don’t know they have about Islam”:
Is Islam inherently violent?
No. No religion is inherently violent or inherently peaceful. Like other world religions, Islamic ethics emphasize peace and reconciliation.
Does Islam want to dominate non-Muslim societies or politics?
No. Like other world religions, Islam has no specific political objective and is most concerned about living in accordance with religious teaching.
Is Islam inherently oppressive to women?
No. No religion has a unified teaching on gender relations; these vary widely depending on context.
Who are the terrorists (such as ISIS) and where do they come from?
These movements are called “jihadists,” and they are the product of 20th-century ideologies and political conditions. They have no basis in traditional Islamic teachings.
Is Islam a threat to the United States?
No, for all the reasons stated above. Millions of Muslims live in accordance with their faith in the United States alongside members of other faiths and are integral parts of American history and American identity.
More...
https://www.wofford.edu/about/news/news ... slam-today
A Sound-and-Art Show Fills a Void for Muslims in Brooklyn
There was “next to nothing” about Muslims in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s century-old archives. Now there are 54 oral histories, which serve as the foundation for a new art exhibition.
Nsenga Knight, a 38-year-old artist, recalls visiting the Brooklyn Historical Society archives after receiving a research grant, curious to explore what sort of material she could find about Muslims in Brooklyn. She didn’t find much of anything.
“They’re missing a lot of stuff,” Ms. Knight, who was raised Muslim in the East Flatbush neighborhood, thought. “There were hardly any images of Muslims in their archives. They didn’t have that many images of black people.”
“The archive of Brooklyn isn’t necessarily representing Brooklyn,” she concluded.
Recently, that has changed drastically.
Oral historians associated with the Brooklyn Historical Society spent last year traversing the borough, recording interviews with dozens of Muslims. The intention was to preserve the conversations to fill what the institution admits was a gaping cultural hole in its famous archives.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/arts ... 3053090910
There was “next to nothing” about Muslims in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s century-old archives. Now there are 54 oral histories, which serve as the foundation for a new art exhibition.
Nsenga Knight, a 38-year-old artist, recalls visiting the Brooklyn Historical Society archives after receiving a research grant, curious to explore what sort of material she could find about Muslims in Brooklyn. She didn’t find much of anything.
“They’re missing a lot of stuff,” Ms. Knight, who was raised Muslim in the East Flatbush neighborhood, thought. “There were hardly any images of Muslims in their archives. They didn’t have that many images of black people.”
“The archive of Brooklyn isn’t necessarily representing Brooklyn,” she concluded.
Recently, that has changed drastically.
Oral historians associated with the Brooklyn Historical Society spent last year traversing the borough, recording interviews with dozens of Muslims. The intention was to preserve the conversations to fill what the institution admits was a gaping cultural hole in its famous archives.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/arts ... 3053090910
Yusuf Islam | In Conversation | Showcase
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 5Mfo10QoYc
He is considered a legend in the music world. He sold millions of albums in the 1970's and was one of the greatest artists on the planet. Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens opens up to TRT World about his spiritual journey. And shares his thoughts about the world...
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 5Mfo10QoYc
He is considered a legend in the music world. He sold millions of albums in the 1970's and was one of the greatest artists on the planet. Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens opens up to TRT World about his spiritual journey. And shares his thoughts about the world...
Who Really Discovered How the Heart Works?
For centuries, the voice of the Greek doctor Galen, who held that blood is produced in the liver and filtered through tiny pores in the heart, went unchallenged.
Excerpt:
Ibn al-Nafis’ Earlier Discovery
Ibn al-Nafis
But pop history has elevated Harvey’s stature to the level of myth, a hero that was first in many things, especially in raising the voice of reason against Galen. The claim can be easily disputed by mentioning Vesalius’ earlier work. But Vesalius’ corrective was more general, and in the realm of the heart and blood, it was neither Harvey nor Vesalius who first contested Galen: The first rebellious voice to settle the heart of the matter was Ibn al-Nafis.
Born Ala al-Din Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi in 1213, al-Nafis was a man of many minds. He wrote about astronomy, legal theory, philosophy, sociology, and medicine, a subject on which he wrote commentaries and criticisms prodigiously.
Published in 1242, when al-Nafis was only 29 years old, his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna’s Canon contains his contentions. In this text, al-Nafis did not just predate later anatomists in resisting Galenic influence, he also made independent discoveries. He was the first to describe pulmonary circulation in print, explaining how blood from the right ventricle enters and exits the lungs. He also discovered the coronary arteries and, in doing so, the mechanisms of coronary circulation, the process by which the heart pumps blood onto itself via coronary arteries that wrap around it.
He first set out to argue, like Harvey, that a porous middle membrane didn’t exist. From his dissections of animals, al-Nafis found that the inner linings of what Galen thought of as the septum were too thick to permit gas exchange (JSTOR). Al-Nafis writes:
…there is no passage as that part of the heart is closed and has no apparent openings as some believed and no non-apparent opening fit for the passage of this blood as Galen believed.
He adds, almost as a flourish, a strong conviction against those who shared Galen’s idea of the septum:
The contention of some persons to say that this place is porous, is erroneous; it is based on the preconceived idea that the blood from the right ventricle had to pass through this porosity–and they are wrong!
Despite his strong contentions against Galen, al-Nafis’ work fell silently into historical obscurity, and his name was shrouded in anonymity for centuries. We can only speculate as to why. But his voice was heard once again, not in a hospital, university, or in a surgery room. In 1924, the young Egyptian physician Muhyo Al-deen el Tatawi was scouring the shelves of what is now the Berlin State Library for his doctoral dissertation. Among the books that he chanced upon was Ibn al-Nafis’ Commentary. This fortunate find restored Ibn al-Nafis to his rightful place in the history of medicine.
Since pop history prefers to embellish its tales with the dramatic, who was first is often a juicy angle in its chronicles. But while Ibn al-Nafis rightly deserves the distinction for being the first to discover the workings of the heart, falling into the trap of pitting him against Harvey is unnecessary. Both deserve recognition for their works. But there is a unique lesson latent in Ibn al-Nafis’ eventual rediscovery, and we should (if you’ll excuse the pun) take it to heart: There are things we think only we know that actually were already known for a long time.
More...
https://daily.jstor.org/who-really-disc ... dium=email
For centuries, the voice of the Greek doctor Galen, who held that blood is produced in the liver and filtered through tiny pores in the heart, went unchallenged.
Excerpt:
Ibn al-Nafis’ Earlier Discovery
Ibn al-Nafis
But pop history has elevated Harvey’s stature to the level of myth, a hero that was first in many things, especially in raising the voice of reason against Galen. The claim can be easily disputed by mentioning Vesalius’ earlier work. But Vesalius’ corrective was more general, and in the realm of the heart and blood, it was neither Harvey nor Vesalius who first contested Galen: The first rebellious voice to settle the heart of the matter was Ibn al-Nafis.
Born Ala al-Din Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi in 1213, al-Nafis was a man of many minds. He wrote about astronomy, legal theory, philosophy, sociology, and medicine, a subject on which he wrote commentaries and criticisms prodigiously.
Published in 1242, when al-Nafis was only 29 years old, his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna’s Canon contains his contentions. In this text, al-Nafis did not just predate later anatomists in resisting Galenic influence, he also made independent discoveries. He was the first to describe pulmonary circulation in print, explaining how blood from the right ventricle enters and exits the lungs. He also discovered the coronary arteries and, in doing so, the mechanisms of coronary circulation, the process by which the heart pumps blood onto itself via coronary arteries that wrap around it.
He first set out to argue, like Harvey, that a porous middle membrane didn’t exist. From his dissections of animals, al-Nafis found that the inner linings of what Galen thought of as the septum were too thick to permit gas exchange (JSTOR). Al-Nafis writes:
…there is no passage as that part of the heart is closed and has no apparent openings as some believed and no non-apparent opening fit for the passage of this blood as Galen believed.
He adds, almost as a flourish, a strong conviction against those who shared Galen’s idea of the septum:
The contention of some persons to say that this place is porous, is erroneous; it is based on the preconceived idea that the blood from the right ventricle had to pass through this porosity–and they are wrong!
Despite his strong contentions against Galen, al-Nafis’ work fell silently into historical obscurity, and his name was shrouded in anonymity for centuries. We can only speculate as to why. But his voice was heard once again, not in a hospital, university, or in a surgery room. In 1924, the young Egyptian physician Muhyo Al-deen el Tatawi was scouring the shelves of what is now the Berlin State Library for his doctoral dissertation. Among the books that he chanced upon was Ibn al-Nafis’ Commentary. This fortunate find restored Ibn al-Nafis to his rightful place in the history of medicine.
Since pop history prefers to embellish its tales with the dramatic, who was first is often a juicy angle in its chronicles. But while Ibn al-Nafis rightly deserves the distinction for being the first to discover the workings of the heart, falling into the trap of pitting him against Harvey is unnecessary. Both deserve recognition for their works. But there is a unique lesson latent in Ibn al-Nafis’ eventual rediscovery, and we should (if you’ll excuse the pun) take it to heart: There are things we think only we know that actually were already known for a long time.
More...
https://daily.jstor.org/who-really-disc ... dium=email
Mawlana Hazar Imam: “How many would recognise the name al-Khwarizmi …?”
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Some of the best minds and creative spirits from every corner of the world, independent of ethnic or religious identities, were brought together at great Muslim centres of learning. My own ancestors, the Fatimids, founded one of the world’s oldest universities, Al-Azhar in Cairo, over a thousand years ago. In fields of learning from mathematics to astronomy, from philosophy to medicine Muslim scholars sharpened the cutting edge of human knowledge. They were the equivalents of thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, Galileo and Newton. Yet their names are scarcely known in the West today. How many would recognise the name al-Khwarizmi – the Persian mathematician who developed some 1,200 years ago the algorithm, which is the foundation of search engine technology?”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Brown University, Providence, USA, March 10, 2014
Speech
Photo: Aga Khan Development Network/ Farhez Rayani
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (ca. 780-850), a Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and geographer, was born in modern-day Kiva, Uzbekistan, and worked at the Bayt al-Hikma, a renowned centre of learning in Baghdad.
The Qur’anic injunction and Prophetic tradition to seek knowledge to better understand God’s Creation, led to the founding of many institutions of learning. A vast movement of translation and development took place in the 8th to 10th centuries where scientists and scholars from various backgrounds worked together and achieved significant advances in science and philosophy, which were later transmitted to Europe and Asia, forming an important link in modern intellectual development. Knowledge was valued and resources were allocated for its advancement.
The Abbasid ruler Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809) established the Bayt al-Hikma (‘House of Wisdom’) in Baghdad in the 9th century to translate works of the Greeks, Persians, and Indians. It subsequently became a prominent institution of learning. Al-Khwarizmi worked at the Bayt al-Hikma, where he wrote some of his most influential works in mathematics, specifically in the field of algebra earning him the title of “father of algebra.” Although his primary interest was to develop formulae to settle inheritance, and to measure and partition lands, his work left a lasting impact beyond his imagination.
Al-Khwarizmi introduced Indian numerals, from 0 to 9 (now generally known as Arabic numerals), as well as the decimal system. In his work titled Treatise on Calculations with Hindu Numerals, written ca. 825, he discussed basic mathematical functions, but also the extraction of square roots. Later mathematicians such as Abu al-Wafa (d. ca. 998), al-Biruni (d. after 1050), and Umar al-Khayyam (d. ca. 1131) – better known as a poet – worked out methods to extract higher square roots.
The word algebra is from the phrase al-jabr wa al-muqabla (‘restoration and balancing’) from his text Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala (‘The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing‘).
Page from “The Compendius Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.” In the first half of the page, he discusses mathematical rules for triangles and their division. The second half of the page titled “Book of Wills” discusses division of inheritance. Source: Secondary Curriculum, “Muslim Societies and Civilisations,” Volume 2, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Although methods for discovering unknown quantities had been determined in ancient civilisations, al-Kharizmi’s innovation involved combining these, hence creating algebra. By using the two operations al-jabr (“restoring” or “completion”) and al-muqabala (“balancing”), he developed a methodology for systematically solving equations. For example, in the equation 2x+4=9-3x, the step to determine 5x+4=9 is restoration. The subsequent step of “balancing” reduces positive quantities on both sides of the equation resulting in 5x=5 (Dhanani). His monumental contribution to mathematics laid the foundation for subsequent innovations in algebra and trigonometry.
In 1145, his text was translated into Latin as Algoritmi de Numero Indorum (‘Al Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning’) by Robert of Chester (d. ca 1150) and was used as the standard mathematical textbook in European universities until the 16th century. The words “algorithm” and “algorism” stem from Algoritmi — the Latin form of al-Khwarizmi’s name.
A page from Chester’s translation of Al-Khwarizmi’s opus. Source: University of Michigan
Khwarizmi Chester algebra
Source: University of Michigan
Khwarizmi algebra
Source: The University of Michigan
A page from Chester’s translation. Source: University of Michigan.
Translations of al-Khwarizmi’s opus were also made into Italian in the 12th and 13th centuries. Mathematicians J. O’Conner (b. 1945) and E. F. Robertson (b. 1943), writing in the MacTutor History of Mathematics stated:
“It is important to understand just how significant [the introduction of algebra] was. It was a revolutionary move away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was essentially geometry. Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers, irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes, etc., to all be treated as ‘algebraic objects’.. it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not happened before” (USA Science and Engineering Festival).
He made significant contributions in the fields of astronomy and geography, enhancing Ptolemy’s work, supervising the work of 70 geographers compiling a map of the known world at the time. These maps were later translated into Latin, profoundly impacting the geographical knowledge in the West. “Al Khwarizmi improved the construction of sundials, which were placed on mosques to more accurately observe prayer times. He also invented the shadow square, which was an instrument used to determine the height of an object. He wrote several important works on astronomy such as the position of sun, moon and planets, calendars, astrological tables, eclipses etc.” (Famous Inventors). He is also reported to have collaborated in studies ordered by the Abbasid ruler al-Mamun (r. 813-833) which were aimed at measuring the volume and circumference of Earth.
Algorithmi is named after his most recognised work whose modern-day meaning still relates to the practice of systematically solving a specific problem – principles found in al-Khwarizmis’s text written 12 centuries ago.
Khwarizmi algebra algorithm
Monument of Al-Khwarizmi in his birthplace in Khiva, Uzbekistan. Source: Wikipedia
[email protected]
Sources:
Alnoor Dhanani, Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Luke Mastin, Islamic Mathematics – Al-Khwarizmi, The Story of Mathematics
Unguru, Robert of Chester’s Latin Translation of al-Khwārizmī’s Al-Jabr . Al-Khwārizmī, Barnabas B. Hughes, The University of Chicago Press Journals
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/ ... khwarizmi/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Some of the best minds and creative spirits from every corner of the world, independent of ethnic or religious identities, were brought together at great Muslim centres of learning. My own ancestors, the Fatimids, founded one of the world’s oldest universities, Al-Azhar in Cairo, over a thousand years ago. In fields of learning from mathematics to astronomy, from philosophy to medicine Muslim scholars sharpened the cutting edge of human knowledge. They were the equivalents of thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, Galileo and Newton. Yet their names are scarcely known in the West today. How many would recognise the name al-Khwarizmi – the Persian mathematician who developed some 1,200 years ago the algorithm, which is the foundation of search engine technology?”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Brown University, Providence, USA, March 10, 2014
Speech
Photo: Aga Khan Development Network/ Farhez Rayani
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (ca. 780-850), a Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and geographer, was born in modern-day Kiva, Uzbekistan, and worked at the Bayt al-Hikma, a renowned centre of learning in Baghdad.
The Qur’anic injunction and Prophetic tradition to seek knowledge to better understand God’s Creation, led to the founding of many institutions of learning. A vast movement of translation and development took place in the 8th to 10th centuries where scientists and scholars from various backgrounds worked together and achieved significant advances in science and philosophy, which were later transmitted to Europe and Asia, forming an important link in modern intellectual development. Knowledge was valued and resources were allocated for its advancement.
The Abbasid ruler Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809) established the Bayt al-Hikma (‘House of Wisdom’) in Baghdad in the 9th century to translate works of the Greeks, Persians, and Indians. It subsequently became a prominent institution of learning. Al-Khwarizmi worked at the Bayt al-Hikma, where he wrote some of his most influential works in mathematics, specifically in the field of algebra earning him the title of “father of algebra.” Although his primary interest was to develop formulae to settle inheritance, and to measure and partition lands, his work left a lasting impact beyond his imagination.
Al-Khwarizmi introduced Indian numerals, from 0 to 9 (now generally known as Arabic numerals), as well as the decimal system. In his work titled Treatise on Calculations with Hindu Numerals, written ca. 825, he discussed basic mathematical functions, but also the extraction of square roots. Later mathematicians such as Abu al-Wafa (d. ca. 998), al-Biruni (d. after 1050), and Umar al-Khayyam (d. ca. 1131) – better known as a poet – worked out methods to extract higher square roots.
The word algebra is from the phrase al-jabr wa al-muqabla (‘restoration and balancing’) from his text Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala (‘The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing‘).
Page from “The Compendius Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.” In the first half of the page, he discusses mathematical rules for triangles and their division. The second half of the page titled “Book of Wills” discusses division of inheritance. Source: Secondary Curriculum, “Muslim Societies and Civilisations,” Volume 2, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Although methods for discovering unknown quantities had been determined in ancient civilisations, al-Kharizmi’s innovation involved combining these, hence creating algebra. By using the two operations al-jabr (“restoring” or “completion”) and al-muqabala (“balancing”), he developed a methodology for systematically solving equations. For example, in the equation 2x+4=9-3x, the step to determine 5x+4=9 is restoration. The subsequent step of “balancing” reduces positive quantities on both sides of the equation resulting in 5x=5 (Dhanani). His monumental contribution to mathematics laid the foundation for subsequent innovations in algebra and trigonometry.
In 1145, his text was translated into Latin as Algoritmi de Numero Indorum (‘Al Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning’) by Robert of Chester (d. ca 1150) and was used as the standard mathematical textbook in European universities until the 16th century. The words “algorithm” and “algorism” stem from Algoritmi — the Latin form of al-Khwarizmi’s name.
A page from Chester’s translation of Al-Khwarizmi’s opus. Source: University of Michigan
Khwarizmi Chester algebra
Source: University of Michigan
Khwarizmi algebra
Source: The University of Michigan
A page from Chester’s translation. Source: University of Michigan.
Translations of al-Khwarizmi’s opus were also made into Italian in the 12th and 13th centuries. Mathematicians J. O’Conner (b. 1945) and E. F. Robertson (b. 1943), writing in the MacTutor History of Mathematics stated:
“It is important to understand just how significant [the introduction of algebra] was. It was a revolutionary move away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was essentially geometry. Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers, irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes, etc., to all be treated as ‘algebraic objects’.. it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not happened before” (USA Science and Engineering Festival).
He made significant contributions in the fields of astronomy and geography, enhancing Ptolemy’s work, supervising the work of 70 geographers compiling a map of the known world at the time. These maps were later translated into Latin, profoundly impacting the geographical knowledge in the West. “Al Khwarizmi improved the construction of sundials, which were placed on mosques to more accurately observe prayer times. He also invented the shadow square, which was an instrument used to determine the height of an object. He wrote several important works on astronomy such as the position of sun, moon and planets, calendars, astrological tables, eclipses etc.” (Famous Inventors). He is also reported to have collaborated in studies ordered by the Abbasid ruler al-Mamun (r. 813-833) which were aimed at measuring the volume and circumference of Earth.
Algorithmi is named after his most recognised work whose modern-day meaning still relates to the practice of systematically solving a specific problem – principles found in al-Khwarizmis’s text written 12 centuries ago.
Khwarizmi algebra algorithm
Monument of Al-Khwarizmi in his birthplace in Khiva, Uzbekistan. Source: Wikipedia
[email protected]
Sources:
Alnoor Dhanani, Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Luke Mastin, Islamic Mathematics – Al-Khwarizmi, The Story of Mathematics
Unguru, Robert of Chester’s Latin Translation of al-Khwārizmī’s Al-Jabr . Al-Khwārizmī, Barnabas B. Hughes, The University of Chicago Press Journals
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/ ... khwarizmi/
The purpose of posting the article below is to demonstrate that terrorism is not an Islamic phenomenon only, it is universal....
We Once Fought Jihadists. Now We Battle White Supremacists.
The truth about so-called domestic terrorism? There is nothing domestic about it.
As a former soldier and F.B.I. agent, we both risked our lives to fight Al Qaeda. But the enemy we currently face is not a jihadist threat. It’s white supremacists — in the United States and overseas.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/opin ... 3053090212
We Once Fought Jihadists. Now We Battle White Supremacists.
The truth about so-called domestic terrorism? There is nothing domestic about it.
As a former soldier and F.B.I. agent, we both risked our lives to fight Al Qaeda. But the enemy we currently face is not a jihadist threat. It’s white supremacists — in the United States and overseas.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/opin ... 3053090212
Home (Raef)
Raef Haggag is a successful American Muslim singer and guitarist born in Washington DC and raised in Maryland. His genre are rock, acoustic and folk music.
This is a patriotic song about how America’s diverse communities made it a great nation. Join Raef as he walks through a tapestry of history, meeting immigrants of all stripes that built America. The Italian fishermen, Native American farmers, Chinese rail-workers, Mexican Vaqueros, African Slaves, Jewish filmmakers, Irish authors, Japanese-American soldiers, Arab auto-workers, and many more are celebrated in this video – a song about the uniqueness of the American story.
Vocals: Raef Haggag
Album : The Path
Director : Lena Khan
Label: Andante Records
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo
Raef Haggag is a successful American Muslim singer and guitarist born in Washington DC and raised in Maryland. His genre are rock, acoustic and folk music.
This is a patriotic song about how America’s diverse communities made it a great nation. Join Raef as he walks through a tapestry of history, meeting immigrants of all stripes that built America. The Italian fishermen, Native American farmers, Chinese rail-workers, Mexican Vaqueros, African Slaves, Jewish filmmakers, Irish authors, Japanese-American soldiers, Arab auto-workers, and many more are celebrated in this video – a song about the uniqueness of the American story.
Vocals: Raef Haggag
Album : The Path
Director : Lena Khan
Label: Andante Records
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo
Muslims Should Kill Islamophobia With Kindness
The Quran has many verses that command a courteous response to even a terrible insult to Islam.
Until the night of Jan. 18, Mila Orriols, a 16-year-old lesbian and atheist schoolgirl from southern France, probably did not expect to initiate a national controversy. But that is what happened when she live-streamed herself on Instagram while applying makeup, only to get into a quarrel with a man who, in her words, began “hitting on her heavily.” The online fight soon turned into matters of identity, and at some point the angry Mila said, “the Quran is a religion of hatred,” and used a vile vulgarity to describe Islam.
The very fact that she defined the Quran as “a religion” was a sign that Mila was not in touch with Islamic theology. (The Quran is the holy book of Islam, the religion). Yet still, her comment, which quickly spread on social media, was taken seriously by many French Muslims, some of whom reacted with anger. “I receive 200 messages of hate each minute,” Mila said, before she was put under police protection against death threats and went into hiding.
Since then, the Mila affair has become a national controversy in France, with numerous media stories, comments from President Emmanuel Macron, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Countless Twitter posts adopted the hashtag JeSuisMila# (“I am Mila”), evoking #JeSuisCharlie, the motto for supporting the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after Islamist terrorists claiming ties to Al Qaeda in 2015 attacked its office and murdered 12 people.
In other words, the Mila affair has become yet another episode in an oft-repeated pattern: A Westerner mocks or openly demeans Islam, often labeling it as a harsh, intolerant and violent religion. In return, some Muslims have harsh, intolerant or even violent reactions — without realizing that they only seem to confirm the accusation.
Of course, not all Muslims agree with this knee-jerk reaction; many simply prefer to stay silent. But while silence does not exacerbate the problem, it doesn’t solve it either. Other Muslims seek a response in identity politics, by slamming all critics of Islam as racists. But that best-defense-is-offense approach also doesn’t help much, nor does its premise — that Muslims are a race, which is not very accurate.
Here is what we Muslims should see: A very negative view of Islam, often called Islamophobia, is now a real, even lethal, problem in the world. In part, it derives from factors beyond our control — nativism in the West, Hindu supremacy in India or totalitarianism in Communist China. But it is also caused by factors within us — the justification of many terrible deeds in the name of Islam today, from terrorism to tyranny, from patriarchy to bigotry. It is only normal that some non-Muslims are shocked by these wrongdoings, and judge Islam accordingly.
In return, it is mainly our duty to clean up our house, challenge the harsh interpretations of our faith and also respond to Islamophobia in a way that will not reinforce it, but rather disarm it.
What would that look like?
The answer is right there in the Quran.
First, the Quran warns us against what unfortunately has become a dominant mood in the contemporary Muslim public sphere: anger. Verse 3:134 defines good Muslims, rather, as “those who restrain their anger and who forgive people.” Other verses also praise prophets such as Abraham, Isaac and Shuaib for having hilm, a moral virtue that implies forbearance, gentleness and forgiveness.
In verse 16:125, the Quran also explains how hilm must be practiced when Muslims are in conversation with others:
“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good teaching. Argue with them in the most courteous way … .”
In another verse, 41:34, the Quran goes even further, advising what we today call “killing with kindness”:
“Good and evil cannot be equal. Repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an intimate friend.”
So, in the light of these verses, the Muslim reaction against Islamophobia should be calm and gentle, and “in the most courteous way.” Muslims should even go out of their way to win the hearts and minds of those who seem hostile.
One reason this doesn’t happen often enough is that the verses quoted above have not fully defined the Islamic perspective on engagement with non-Muslims. The Quran also has verses commanding war against “unbelievers” until they are converted or subdued. In medieval Islam, these belligerent verses were taken as the pivotal ones by the mainstream jurisprudential tradition, which unmistakably grew under conquest-hungry empires. This tradition even explicitly “abrogated” more than a hundred Quranic verses that preached civility, including the ones just quoted above — 16:125 and 41:34.
Worse than that, medieval Muslim jurists invented severe blasphemy laws to punish anyone who insulted Islam. Among these jurists were the 48 Christians of Cordoba who, in the mid-ninth century, publicly defamed the Prophet Muhammad, only to be beheaded for it. Clearly, killing with kindness was gone, and replaced by killing with the sword.
Today, the verdicts behind such grim episodes still inspire extremists in the Muslim world. However, we, the reasonable Muslims, don’t have to blindly abide by medieval jurisprudence. We can take peace, not war, as the normal state of human affairs. Similarly, we can defend our faith not with the dictates of power, but the appeals of reason and virtue.
With that in mind, if I were a Muslim leader in France, here is how I would respond to Mila: I would send her a kind letter filled with hilm. “We respect your freedom of speech, and regret the hate poured on you,” it would read. “But ours is really a religion of compassion, not hate.” I would also add a helpful introductory book on Islam, and even a nice bouquet of flowers.
Perhaps then, the young Mila Orriols would see Islam in a brighter light. And with her, the rest of French society, and maybe even the broader modern world.
Mustafa Akyol (@akyolinenglish) is a senior fellow on Islam and modernity at the Cato Institute, and the author of “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opin ... 0920200227
The Quran has many verses that command a courteous response to even a terrible insult to Islam.
Until the night of Jan. 18, Mila Orriols, a 16-year-old lesbian and atheist schoolgirl from southern France, probably did not expect to initiate a national controversy. But that is what happened when she live-streamed herself on Instagram while applying makeup, only to get into a quarrel with a man who, in her words, began “hitting on her heavily.” The online fight soon turned into matters of identity, and at some point the angry Mila said, “the Quran is a religion of hatred,” and used a vile vulgarity to describe Islam.
The very fact that she defined the Quran as “a religion” was a sign that Mila was not in touch with Islamic theology. (The Quran is the holy book of Islam, the religion). Yet still, her comment, which quickly spread on social media, was taken seriously by many French Muslims, some of whom reacted with anger. “I receive 200 messages of hate each minute,” Mila said, before she was put under police protection against death threats and went into hiding.
Since then, the Mila affair has become a national controversy in France, with numerous media stories, comments from President Emmanuel Macron, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Countless Twitter posts adopted the hashtag JeSuisMila# (“I am Mila”), evoking #JeSuisCharlie, the motto for supporting the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after Islamist terrorists claiming ties to Al Qaeda in 2015 attacked its office and murdered 12 people.
In other words, the Mila affair has become yet another episode in an oft-repeated pattern: A Westerner mocks or openly demeans Islam, often labeling it as a harsh, intolerant and violent religion. In return, some Muslims have harsh, intolerant or even violent reactions — without realizing that they only seem to confirm the accusation.
Of course, not all Muslims agree with this knee-jerk reaction; many simply prefer to stay silent. But while silence does not exacerbate the problem, it doesn’t solve it either. Other Muslims seek a response in identity politics, by slamming all critics of Islam as racists. But that best-defense-is-offense approach also doesn’t help much, nor does its premise — that Muslims are a race, which is not very accurate.
Here is what we Muslims should see: A very negative view of Islam, often called Islamophobia, is now a real, even lethal, problem in the world. In part, it derives from factors beyond our control — nativism in the West, Hindu supremacy in India or totalitarianism in Communist China. But it is also caused by factors within us — the justification of many terrible deeds in the name of Islam today, from terrorism to tyranny, from patriarchy to bigotry. It is only normal that some non-Muslims are shocked by these wrongdoings, and judge Islam accordingly.
In return, it is mainly our duty to clean up our house, challenge the harsh interpretations of our faith and also respond to Islamophobia in a way that will not reinforce it, but rather disarm it.
What would that look like?
The answer is right there in the Quran.
First, the Quran warns us against what unfortunately has become a dominant mood in the contemporary Muslim public sphere: anger. Verse 3:134 defines good Muslims, rather, as “those who restrain their anger and who forgive people.” Other verses also praise prophets such as Abraham, Isaac and Shuaib for having hilm, a moral virtue that implies forbearance, gentleness and forgiveness.
In verse 16:125, the Quran also explains how hilm must be practiced when Muslims are in conversation with others:
“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good teaching. Argue with them in the most courteous way … .”
In another verse, 41:34, the Quran goes even further, advising what we today call “killing with kindness”:
“Good and evil cannot be equal. Repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an intimate friend.”
So, in the light of these verses, the Muslim reaction against Islamophobia should be calm and gentle, and “in the most courteous way.” Muslims should even go out of their way to win the hearts and minds of those who seem hostile.
One reason this doesn’t happen often enough is that the verses quoted above have not fully defined the Islamic perspective on engagement with non-Muslims. The Quran also has verses commanding war against “unbelievers” until they are converted or subdued. In medieval Islam, these belligerent verses were taken as the pivotal ones by the mainstream jurisprudential tradition, which unmistakably grew under conquest-hungry empires. This tradition even explicitly “abrogated” more than a hundred Quranic verses that preached civility, including the ones just quoted above — 16:125 and 41:34.
Worse than that, medieval Muslim jurists invented severe blasphemy laws to punish anyone who insulted Islam. Among these jurists were the 48 Christians of Cordoba who, in the mid-ninth century, publicly defamed the Prophet Muhammad, only to be beheaded for it. Clearly, killing with kindness was gone, and replaced by killing with the sword.
Today, the verdicts behind such grim episodes still inspire extremists in the Muslim world. However, we, the reasonable Muslims, don’t have to blindly abide by medieval jurisprudence. We can take peace, not war, as the normal state of human affairs. Similarly, we can defend our faith not with the dictates of power, but the appeals of reason and virtue.
With that in mind, if I were a Muslim leader in France, here is how I would respond to Mila: I would send her a kind letter filled with hilm. “We respect your freedom of speech, and regret the hate poured on you,” it would read. “But ours is really a religion of compassion, not hate.” I would also add a helpful introductory book on Islam, and even a nice bouquet of flowers.
Perhaps then, the young Mila Orriols would see Islam in a brighter light. And with her, the rest of French society, and maybe even the broader modern world.
Mustafa Akyol (@akyolinenglish) is a senior fellow on Islam and modernity at the Cato Institute, and the author of “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opin ... 0920200227
The development of medicine in Muslim societies
In contributing to the development of human knowledge, historic Muslim societies laid the foundations of modern science and medicine. Throughout history, Muslim doctors and nurses pushed the boundaries of medical science, and established hospitals and clinics. Today, and especially at the current time, the modern world is indebted to these figures and institutions.
Just as the ethics of Islam encourage believers to care for the poor, they also endorse care for the sick and differently-abled. According to the Qur’an, good health is seen as a divine gift, and the sanctity of human life is paramount: “whoever saves a life, it is as if he had saved the entirety of mankind” (5:32).
Rufayda bint Sa’ad, who lived at the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), was considered to be the first nurse in Islamic history. She devoted herself to caring for sick people and became an expert healer. She trained other women to become nurses, worked to solve social problems, and also took care of orphans and children in need.
Today’s hospitals are sometimes taken for granted; we hope not to need them, but are grateful when we do. All across the world now, we expect hospitals and clinics to be places where we are treated and healed when suffering illness or accidents.
In medieval times, during the so-called golden age of Islam, Muslim scientists and physicians made far-reaching strides and discoveries which would treat ailments and extend lives. Hospitals and mobile dispensaries were established, and were staffed by both male and female health personnel.
The earliest documented general hospitals were built by Muslims in Baghdad, Damascus, Fustat (Cairo) and Córdoba, and were referred to as Bimaristan, an establishment where people with physical and mental ailments were treated and cared for by qualified staff, with separate wards for males and females. They consisted of several specialist departments, and included pharmacies, lecture theatres, and libraries. They were open to all; male or female, civilian or military, child or adult, Muslim or non-Muslim, rich or poor. Eventually, charitable foundations were set up to support patients who were unable to pay.
These institutions are similar to the multi-service healthcare and medical education centres we recognise today.
The famous 11th-century Persian scholar Ibn Sina — also referred to by his Latin name, Avicenna — is considered the father of modern medicine. He wrote the Canon of Medicine, a five-volume work encompassing all known medical knowledge of the time, known as "the most famous medical textbook ever written," and studied by European medics until the 18th century. Through his research, Ibn Sina found that viruses caused infectious diseases; a hypothesis confirmed by Louis Pasteur in Europe 800 years later.
When the great plague struck Europe and Asia in the late 14th century, Muslim physicians argued against the prevailing superstition that the Black Death was sent as a punishment from the heavens. Explaining the scientific theory of contagion, Ibn al-Khatib of Andalusia clarified that the spread of disease was caused by transmission from one infected person to the next, and pointed out the immunity of those who had been isolated.
In more recent times, various healthcare organisations have been set up across the world. These include the World Health Organisation, The Red Cross and Red Crescent, and Médecins sans Frontières.
Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah established healthcare institutions for the Ismaili community and others in South Asia and East Africa in the early 20th century. One of these was the Ismailia General Hospital in Bombay, which later became the Prince Aly Khan Hospital, serving a wide cross-section of the Mumbai public.
The hospital is now part of the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS), designated as an AKDN agency by Mawlana Hazar Imam. Today, AKHS manages over 200 health facilities, ranging from dispensaries to full-service hospitals. Working in the areas of health services, primary health care, health promotion, and disease prevention, AKHS — along with the Aga Khan University and Aga Khan Foundation — provides quality healthcare annually to five million people around the world.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/feature ... -societies
In contributing to the development of human knowledge, historic Muslim societies laid the foundations of modern science and medicine. Throughout history, Muslim doctors and nurses pushed the boundaries of medical science, and established hospitals and clinics. Today, and especially at the current time, the modern world is indebted to these figures and institutions.
Just as the ethics of Islam encourage believers to care for the poor, they also endorse care for the sick and differently-abled. According to the Qur’an, good health is seen as a divine gift, and the sanctity of human life is paramount: “whoever saves a life, it is as if he had saved the entirety of mankind” (5:32).
Rufayda bint Sa’ad, who lived at the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), was considered to be the first nurse in Islamic history. She devoted herself to caring for sick people and became an expert healer. She trained other women to become nurses, worked to solve social problems, and also took care of orphans and children in need.
Today’s hospitals are sometimes taken for granted; we hope not to need them, but are grateful when we do. All across the world now, we expect hospitals and clinics to be places where we are treated and healed when suffering illness or accidents.
In medieval times, during the so-called golden age of Islam, Muslim scientists and physicians made far-reaching strides and discoveries which would treat ailments and extend lives. Hospitals and mobile dispensaries were established, and were staffed by both male and female health personnel.
The earliest documented general hospitals were built by Muslims in Baghdad, Damascus, Fustat (Cairo) and Córdoba, and were referred to as Bimaristan, an establishment where people with physical and mental ailments were treated and cared for by qualified staff, with separate wards for males and females. They consisted of several specialist departments, and included pharmacies, lecture theatres, and libraries. They were open to all; male or female, civilian or military, child or adult, Muslim or non-Muslim, rich or poor. Eventually, charitable foundations were set up to support patients who were unable to pay.
These institutions are similar to the multi-service healthcare and medical education centres we recognise today.
The famous 11th-century Persian scholar Ibn Sina — also referred to by his Latin name, Avicenna — is considered the father of modern medicine. He wrote the Canon of Medicine, a five-volume work encompassing all known medical knowledge of the time, known as "the most famous medical textbook ever written," and studied by European medics until the 18th century. Through his research, Ibn Sina found that viruses caused infectious diseases; a hypothesis confirmed by Louis Pasteur in Europe 800 years later.
When the great plague struck Europe and Asia in the late 14th century, Muslim physicians argued against the prevailing superstition that the Black Death was sent as a punishment from the heavens. Explaining the scientific theory of contagion, Ibn al-Khatib of Andalusia clarified that the spread of disease was caused by transmission from one infected person to the next, and pointed out the immunity of those who had been isolated.
In more recent times, various healthcare organisations have been set up across the world. These include the World Health Organisation, The Red Cross and Red Crescent, and Médecins sans Frontières.
Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah established healthcare institutions for the Ismaili community and others in South Asia and East Africa in the early 20th century. One of these was the Ismailia General Hospital in Bombay, which later became the Prince Aly Khan Hospital, serving a wide cross-section of the Mumbai public.
The hospital is now part of the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS), designated as an AKDN agency by Mawlana Hazar Imam. Today, AKHS manages over 200 health facilities, ranging from dispensaries to full-service hospitals. Working in the areas of health services, primary health care, health promotion, and disease prevention, AKHS — along with the Aga Khan University and Aga Khan Foundation — provides quality healthcare annually to five million people around the world.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/feature ... -societies
Al-Razi’s medical treatise was a milestone in the development of differential diagnosis
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“The doctors’ aim is to do well, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies.”1
Rhazes
AKUal-Razi Rhazes
Al-Razi. Source: Science Museum History of Medicine
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya Al-Razi (854-ca. 925), a Persian polymath, alchemist, philosopher, and one of the greatest clinicians of the Middle Ages, is regarded as Islamic medicine’s greatest clinician and its most important original thinker. Many of his medical works, translated into Latin, exercised a remarkable influence in Europe for many centuries. Known to the West as Rhazes, he was born in Rayy, in modern day Iran, where he spent his youth as a musician, mathematician, and alchemist. Al-Razi went to Baghdad to take up the study of medicine at the age of forty. After completing his studies, he returned to Rayy, where he assumed the directorship of its hospital.
In his first major work, which was a ten-part treatise titled Al-Kitab al-tibb al-Mansuri, (al-Mansur’s Book of Health), compiled for the governor of Rayy, Mansur ibn Ishaq, he discussed general medical theories and definitions, diets and drugs and their effects on the human body, mother and child care, skin disease, oral hygiene, the effect of the environment on health, and dental anatomy. It was translated into Latin as Liber ad Almansorem and became one of the most widely read medieval medical texts in Europe. During the Renaissance, many editions of it were printed with commentaries by the prominent physicians of the day, such as Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564).
Al-Razi Rhazes rasis measles smallpox
Fragment of manuscript bifolium from the Liber ad Almansorem, dated between 1200 and 1225, possibly Italy. Source: Penn Libraries
In his famous pioneering work Al-Judaro wa al Hasbah, (A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles), al-Razi gave the first accurate descriptions of smallpox and measles, prescribing appropriate respective treatments. Previously smallpox and measles were considered together simply as a disease that caused skin rashes. Al-Razi discovered differences in their skin manifestations and symptoms through a process today known as differential diagnosis (Kadaan). “By differentiating between smallpox and measles Rhazes provided a paradigmatic case for thinking in terms of specific disease entities…This work became a landmark in the development of the concept of specific disease entities and the value of diagnostic precision” (Magner).
al-Razi Rhazes smallpox measles variolis
Al-Razi’s Latin translation of “On Smallpox and Measles,”the “De variolis et morbillis,” dated 1766, London. Bowyer, William. Channing, John. Source: NYUAD Special Collections
His most sought-after work, Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb (The comprehensive book on medicine), was translated into Latin and published in 1279 under the title Continens Rasis and also as Continens Liber, and in English as The Virtuous Life; it summarised the medical and surgical knowledge of al-Razi’s time.
Al-Razi Rhazes Rasis
A 1529 edition of Continens Rasis, printed in Venice by Johannes Hamman. Source: World Digital Library
He was the first to identify hay fever and its causes; his work on kidney stones is still considered a classic. In addition, he was instrumental in the introduction of mercurial ointments to treat scabies. Also a pharmacist, al-Razi wrote extensively on the subject, introducing the use of mercurial ointments. His treatise The Diseases of Children has led some historians to regard him as the father of paediatrics.
Records attribute many devices to him, including spatulas, flasks, mortars, and phials (Medical News Today). “Numerous “firsts” in medical research and clinical care are attributed to him, and his writings alone set him apart” (Ligion).
Al-Razi was the first to emphasise the value of mutual trust and consultation among physicians in the treatment of patients, a rare practice at that time; the doctor-patient relationship continues to be emphasised today.
In his prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer (d. ca.1400) named the prominent physicians of the time, including al-Razi (Razis), ‘a Doctour of Phisyk,’ as one of fifteen great sources of knowledge, along with Avicen (Ibn Sina) and Averrois (Ibn Rushd).
~*~
“Extract from Islamic history, from Islamic philosophy, the great names, the great thinkers, the great astronomers, great scientists, great medical figures who have influenced global knowledge.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV in conversation with Adrienne Clarkson at the Prize for Global Citizenship, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2016
Video of the conversation
Sources:
1Rhazes (AD 865–925) and his early contributions to the field of pediatrics, Springer Link
B. Lee Ligion, Biography: Rhazes: His career and his writings, ScienceDirect
Lois N. Magner, The Medical Influence Of Rhazes, Encyclopedia.com
Nasser Pouyan, Al-Razi (Rhazes), Journal of Microbiology Research 2014
The Comprehensive Book on Medicine, World Digital Library
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/ ... diagnosis/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“The doctors’ aim is to do well, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies.”1
Rhazes
AKUal-Razi Rhazes
Al-Razi. Source: Science Museum History of Medicine
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya Al-Razi (854-ca. 925), a Persian polymath, alchemist, philosopher, and one of the greatest clinicians of the Middle Ages, is regarded as Islamic medicine’s greatest clinician and its most important original thinker. Many of his medical works, translated into Latin, exercised a remarkable influence in Europe for many centuries. Known to the West as Rhazes, he was born in Rayy, in modern day Iran, where he spent his youth as a musician, mathematician, and alchemist. Al-Razi went to Baghdad to take up the study of medicine at the age of forty. After completing his studies, he returned to Rayy, where he assumed the directorship of its hospital.
In his first major work, which was a ten-part treatise titled Al-Kitab al-tibb al-Mansuri, (al-Mansur’s Book of Health), compiled for the governor of Rayy, Mansur ibn Ishaq, he discussed general medical theories and definitions, diets and drugs and their effects on the human body, mother and child care, skin disease, oral hygiene, the effect of the environment on health, and dental anatomy. It was translated into Latin as Liber ad Almansorem and became one of the most widely read medieval medical texts in Europe. During the Renaissance, many editions of it were printed with commentaries by the prominent physicians of the day, such as Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564).
Al-Razi Rhazes rasis measles smallpox
Fragment of manuscript bifolium from the Liber ad Almansorem, dated between 1200 and 1225, possibly Italy. Source: Penn Libraries
In his famous pioneering work Al-Judaro wa al Hasbah, (A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles), al-Razi gave the first accurate descriptions of smallpox and measles, prescribing appropriate respective treatments. Previously smallpox and measles were considered together simply as a disease that caused skin rashes. Al-Razi discovered differences in their skin manifestations and symptoms through a process today known as differential diagnosis (Kadaan). “By differentiating between smallpox and measles Rhazes provided a paradigmatic case for thinking in terms of specific disease entities…This work became a landmark in the development of the concept of specific disease entities and the value of diagnostic precision” (Magner).
al-Razi Rhazes smallpox measles variolis
Al-Razi’s Latin translation of “On Smallpox and Measles,”the “De variolis et morbillis,” dated 1766, London. Bowyer, William. Channing, John. Source: NYUAD Special Collections
His most sought-after work, Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb (The comprehensive book on medicine), was translated into Latin and published in 1279 under the title Continens Rasis and also as Continens Liber, and in English as The Virtuous Life; it summarised the medical and surgical knowledge of al-Razi’s time.
Al-Razi Rhazes Rasis
A 1529 edition of Continens Rasis, printed in Venice by Johannes Hamman. Source: World Digital Library
He was the first to identify hay fever and its causes; his work on kidney stones is still considered a classic. In addition, he was instrumental in the introduction of mercurial ointments to treat scabies. Also a pharmacist, al-Razi wrote extensively on the subject, introducing the use of mercurial ointments. His treatise The Diseases of Children has led some historians to regard him as the father of paediatrics.
Records attribute many devices to him, including spatulas, flasks, mortars, and phials (Medical News Today). “Numerous “firsts” in medical research and clinical care are attributed to him, and his writings alone set him apart” (Ligion).
Al-Razi was the first to emphasise the value of mutual trust and consultation among physicians in the treatment of patients, a rare practice at that time; the doctor-patient relationship continues to be emphasised today.
In his prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer (d. ca.1400) named the prominent physicians of the time, including al-Razi (Razis), ‘a Doctour of Phisyk,’ as one of fifteen great sources of knowledge, along with Avicen (Ibn Sina) and Averrois (Ibn Rushd).
~*~
“Extract from Islamic history, from Islamic philosophy, the great names, the great thinkers, the great astronomers, great scientists, great medical figures who have influenced global knowledge.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV in conversation with Adrienne Clarkson at the Prize for Global Citizenship, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2016
Video of the conversation
Sources:
1Rhazes (AD 865–925) and his early contributions to the field of pediatrics, Springer Link
B. Lee Ligion, Biography: Rhazes: His career and his writings, ScienceDirect
Lois N. Magner, The Medical Influence Of Rhazes, Encyclopedia.com
Nasser Pouyan, Al-Razi (Rhazes), Journal of Microbiology Research 2014
The Comprehensive Book on Medicine, World Digital Library
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/ ... diagnosis/
Here's the First Time a U.S. President Visited an American Mosque
BY SARAH BEGLEY FEBRUARY 3, 2016 11:08 AM EST
As President Obama visits the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, he sets a milestone for his presidency: it’s his first presidential visit to a U.S. mosque. But he’s far from the first president to do so.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower is believed to hold that distinction. According to the State Department, “Eisenhower gave the first known speech by a U.S. president at an American mosque when the exquisitely designed Islamic Center of Washington was dedicated in 1957.” He and his wife Mamie got attention for respectfully removing their shoes on entering. As TIME wrote, “Grey cotton slippers had been prepared to slip over his shoes, but Ike decided to go all the way, shed his new black oxfords before he put on the slippers; Mamie took off her white pumps and stood in her nylons.” The president emphasized the importance of religious freedom in his remarks:
I should like to assure you, my Islamic friends, that under the American Constitution, under American tradition, and in American hearts, this Center, this place of worship, is just as welcome as could be a similar edifice of any other religion. Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience.
This concept is indeed a part of America, and without that concept we would be something else than what we are.
It wasn’t the last encounter between the U.S. presidency and the Islamic Center of Washington: in 2001, six days after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush visited the mosque himself and gave an address in which he famously said “Islam is peace”:
Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday’s attacks. And so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans and Muslim friends and citizens, tax-paying citizens, and Muslims in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens …
The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.
When Obama makes his own visit to “affirm our conviction in the principle of religious liberty,” as his press secretary said, he will add his contribution to this particular chapter of religious tolerance in America.
https://time.com/4205979/obama-mosque-visit-history/
BY SARAH BEGLEY FEBRUARY 3, 2016 11:08 AM EST
As President Obama visits the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, he sets a milestone for his presidency: it’s his first presidential visit to a U.S. mosque. But he’s far from the first president to do so.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower is believed to hold that distinction. According to the State Department, “Eisenhower gave the first known speech by a U.S. president at an American mosque when the exquisitely designed Islamic Center of Washington was dedicated in 1957.” He and his wife Mamie got attention for respectfully removing their shoes on entering. As TIME wrote, “Grey cotton slippers had been prepared to slip over his shoes, but Ike decided to go all the way, shed his new black oxfords before he put on the slippers; Mamie took off her white pumps and stood in her nylons.” The president emphasized the importance of religious freedom in his remarks:
I should like to assure you, my Islamic friends, that under the American Constitution, under American tradition, and in American hearts, this Center, this place of worship, is just as welcome as could be a similar edifice of any other religion. Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience.
This concept is indeed a part of America, and without that concept we would be something else than what we are.
It wasn’t the last encounter between the U.S. presidency and the Islamic Center of Washington: in 2001, six days after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush visited the mosque himself and gave an address in which he famously said “Islam is peace”:
Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday’s attacks. And so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans and Muslim friends and citizens, tax-paying citizens, and Muslims in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens …
The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.
When Obama makes his own visit to “affirm our conviction in the principle of religious liberty,” as his press secretary said, he will add his contribution to this particular chapter of religious tolerance in America.
https://time.com/4205979/obama-mosque-visit-history/
Al-Balkhi - pioneer of mental health treatment
In the 9th century, the physician al-Balkhi recognised that the balance between body and soul is necessary to enjoy good health, while an imbalance between the two can cause illness. He also introduced the concepts of mental health and the use of cognitive therapy to treat anxiety and depression.
[ESPAÑOL]
Dr Jesús de la Gándara, head of the psychiatry service at the University Hospital of Burgos, considers that the pandemic will have a considerable psychosocial impact. More than three months of confinement have left consequences in our mental health. A recent study has shown that around a 35% of the Spanish population has presented symptoms and it is at risk of suffering anxiety and depression. The consequences of post-confinement, probably more long-lasting than the virus itself, will have to be addressed by medical doctors and psychologists.
There is a general perception that the discipline of psychology together with mental health treatments began in Europe in the 19th century and cognitive therapy began in the mid-20th century. However, mental illnesses were known and treated as early as classical Greece. In the Islamic context, from the 8th century onwards, there was a concern to understand the human mind and hospitals were created to treat patients with mental disorders. But it is in the 9th century that the physician al-Balkhi normalized mental illness by dismissing taboos and stigma, introduced the concepts of mental health and mental hygiene and pioneered the use of cognitive therapy to treat anxiety and depression.
Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934), considered by some authors to be possibly Ismaili, was born in Sijistan, near Balk (now Afghanistan). He was a disciple of the philosopher al-Kindi and worked for al-Husayn b. Ali al-Marwazi, a powerful emir of the Samanid dynasty, who converted to Ismailism and was appointed as the head of the da'is of northeast Persia (Daftary 2007: 111,113, 116; Walker 1993: 34).
Al-Balkhi, a polymath scholar – in disciplines such as philosophy, grammar, geography, mathematics, medicine, and psychology – is known mostly for his work Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus (Sustenance of Bodies and Souls)(1) where he considered that the balance between body and soul is necessary to enjoy good health, while an imbalance between the two can cause illness. When the body gets sick, the mind loses much of its cognitive ability and fails to enjoy the pleasures of life and when the soul gets sick, the body may develop a physical illness. Al-Balkhi is believed to have been the first to diagnose that mental illness can have psychological and physiological causes and he was the first to typify four types of emotional disorders: 1) fear and anxiety, 2) anger and aggression, 3) sadness and depression, and 4) obsessions. As well as two types of depression: 1) depression originating from within the human being, caused by fear of loss and failure, which must be treated psychologically through conversations and advice in order to generate thoughts that help to undo the depressive condition. 2) clinic depression, caused by external factors – that generate pain and anguish and prevent physical activities or enjoy life – which must be treated through medicine.
Al-Balkhi was a pioneer of cognitive therapy for each of these disorders in order to restore body and mind to their natural state. He noted the importance of having a suitable house and of taking active care of the body and of the soul. His recommendations included:
To enjoy beauty; to monitor nutrition with a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, sleeping well, breathing fresh air and going to walks into nature; to groom the body with relaxing massages, perfumes and oils and with physical activity, protecting it from extreme temperatures, having an active sex life and listening to music; to avoid the inner monologue of catastrophic thoughts and obsessive thoughts, focusing on creating a repository of healthy thoughts to counteract the unhealthy ones; to accept that problems are part of live, using emotions to neutralize them, interacting with other human beings, staying active avoiding laziness, boredom and being unemployed, contributing to the well-being of others, talking about problems with friends, family and the doctor, listening and accepting their help.
His approach was both preventive and therapeutic, which shows a deep understanding of the human condition, its emotional states and the need for appropriate treatments. Al-Balkhi also included references to the Qu´ran, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and the value of faith in God. Al-Balkhi's work has long been ignored by western medicine. Although the eight chapters of his book seem to be taken from a current text of cognitive psychotherapy, it has taken more than ten centuries to get to be appreciated.
(1)Terms nafs, sg., anfus pl. have been discussed throughout history; often philosopher and theologians did not reach a consensus about their interpretation, typologies and uses. With regards to al-Balkhi´s context, anfus would correspond to anfus natika or “reasoning souls” of human being, which produce the faculties such as common sense, imagination, memory and reason. In our days it is used as a synonym of the psique o mind. Also, the term nafsaniyyah used by al-Balkhi corresponds to the contemporary notion of the psychological.
https://the.ismaili/portugal/al-balkhi- ... -treatment
In the 9th century, the physician al-Balkhi recognised that the balance between body and soul is necessary to enjoy good health, while an imbalance between the two can cause illness. He also introduced the concepts of mental health and the use of cognitive therapy to treat anxiety and depression.
[ESPAÑOL]
Dr Jesús de la Gándara, head of the psychiatry service at the University Hospital of Burgos, considers that the pandemic will have a considerable psychosocial impact. More than three months of confinement have left consequences in our mental health. A recent study has shown that around a 35% of the Spanish population has presented symptoms and it is at risk of suffering anxiety and depression. The consequences of post-confinement, probably more long-lasting than the virus itself, will have to be addressed by medical doctors and psychologists.
There is a general perception that the discipline of psychology together with mental health treatments began in Europe in the 19th century and cognitive therapy began in the mid-20th century. However, mental illnesses were known and treated as early as classical Greece. In the Islamic context, from the 8th century onwards, there was a concern to understand the human mind and hospitals were created to treat patients with mental disorders. But it is in the 9th century that the physician al-Balkhi normalized mental illness by dismissing taboos and stigma, introduced the concepts of mental health and mental hygiene and pioneered the use of cognitive therapy to treat anxiety and depression.
Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934), considered by some authors to be possibly Ismaili, was born in Sijistan, near Balk (now Afghanistan). He was a disciple of the philosopher al-Kindi and worked for al-Husayn b. Ali al-Marwazi, a powerful emir of the Samanid dynasty, who converted to Ismailism and was appointed as the head of the da'is of northeast Persia (Daftary 2007: 111,113, 116; Walker 1993: 34).
Al-Balkhi, a polymath scholar – in disciplines such as philosophy, grammar, geography, mathematics, medicine, and psychology – is known mostly for his work Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus (Sustenance of Bodies and Souls)(1) where he considered that the balance between body and soul is necessary to enjoy good health, while an imbalance between the two can cause illness. When the body gets sick, the mind loses much of its cognitive ability and fails to enjoy the pleasures of life and when the soul gets sick, the body may develop a physical illness. Al-Balkhi is believed to have been the first to diagnose that mental illness can have psychological and physiological causes and he was the first to typify four types of emotional disorders: 1) fear and anxiety, 2) anger and aggression, 3) sadness and depression, and 4) obsessions. As well as two types of depression: 1) depression originating from within the human being, caused by fear of loss and failure, which must be treated psychologically through conversations and advice in order to generate thoughts that help to undo the depressive condition. 2) clinic depression, caused by external factors – that generate pain and anguish and prevent physical activities or enjoy life – which must be treated through medicine.
Al-Balkhi was a pioneer of cognitive therapy for each of these disorders in order to restore body and mind to their natural state. He noted the importance of having a suitable house and of taking active care of the body and of the soul. His recommendations included:
To enjoy beauty; to monitor nutrition with a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, sleeping well, breathing fresh air and going to walks into nature; to groom the body with relaxing massages, perfumes and oils and with physical activity, protecting it from extreme temperatures, having an active sex life and listening to music; to avoid the inner monologue of catastrophic thoughts and obsessive thoughts, focusing on creating a repository of healthy thoughts to counteract the unhealthy ones; to accept that problems are part of live, using emotions to neutralize them, interacting with other human beings, staying active avoiding laziness, boredom and being unemployed, contributing to the well-being of others, talking about problems with friends, family and the doctor, listening and accepting their help.
His approach was both preventive and therapeutic, which shows a deep understanding of the human condition, its emotional states and the need for appropriate treatments. Al-Balkhi also included references to the Qu´ran, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and the value of faith in God. Al-Balkhi's work has long been ignored by western medicine. Although the eight chapters of his book seem to be taken from a current text of cognitive psychotherapy, it has taken more than ten centuries to get to be appreciated.
(1)Terms nafs, sg., anfus pl. have been discussed throughout history; often philosopher and theologians did not reach a consensus about their interpretation, typologies and uses. With regards to al-Balkhi´s context, anfus would correspond to anfus natika or “reasoning souls” of human being, which produce the faculties such as common sense, imagination, memory and reason. In our days it is used as a synonym of the psique o mind. Also, the term nafsaniyyah used by al-Balkhi corresponds to the contemporary notion of the psychological.
https://the.ismaili/portugal/al-balkhi- ... -treatment
Knowledge - The Islamic Legacy
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... gVteymbdgQ
Watch the video prepared by Education Portfolio for Mozambique about Knowledge - The Islamic Legacy. It starts with a quote from the speech of MHI.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... gVteymbdgQ
Watch the video prepared by Education Portfolio for Mozambique about Knowledge - The Islamic Legacy. It starts with a quote from the speech of MHI.
DAWN.COM
TODAY'S PAPER | AUGUST 24, 2020
Precedent from history
Zara Imran | Arif Hasan updated 23 Aug 2020
IN the year 636, Abu Ubaidah besieged the city of Jerusalem, as part of the military conflict that lasted from 636-637 between the Byzantine army and the Rashidun Caliphate during Hazrat Umar’s reign. The Patriarch Sophronius agreed to surrender after six months of the siege but only on the condition that he would surrender the city to the caliph. Hazrat Umar then made the journey to Jerusalem, on a lone camel wearing simple woollen clothes accompanied by only one person who shared the camel with him.
When he arrived in Jerusalem, the Arab nobles who had conquered the city came to receive him. They were dressed in rich, Byzantine styled clothes, with fine robes, and when Hazrat Umar saw them he was incensed at the display of lavishness and worldliness.
The Patriarch Sophronius gave Hazrat Umar a tour of the holy city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is considered to be one of the holiest sites in Christianity. The church contains, according to Christian tradition, the site where Jesus was crucified and his empty tomb where he was buried and then resurrected.
It is reported by Ibn Khaldun, the famous Arab historian and sociologist, that when it was time to pray the Patriarch Sophronius invited Hazrat Umar to pray in the courtyard of the church. Hazrat Umar refused and instead prayed outside the church. He later disclosed that he did so because he feared that his followers would turn the church into a mosque if he prayed there. There is a mosque built where Hazrat Umar prayed outside, by the name of Mosque of Umar. This mosque was built to commemorate this incident, and it acts as a physical symbol of the justice and principles that Hazrat Umar stood for.
Would Hazrat Umar have turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque?
The Church of the Hagia Sophia was built in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople. It was the biggest church at that time and was considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. Not only that, it contained a number of structural innovations, including one of the world’s first pendentive domes. Hagia Sophia’s unique architecture had a strong influence on future Ottoman architecture and on the work of the great Turkish architect Mimar Sinan.
Hagia Sophia also served as the centre of Orthodox Christianity from the time it was created to its conversion into a mosque in 1453 by Mehmed the Conqueror when he captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The bells, altar, baptistry and other Christian relics in the church were destroyed and thrown out. The intricate mosaics that adorned the church’s walls depicting various scenes of Jesus, Mother Mary, the angels and the saints were either destroyed or plastered over. In its place a mimbar, four minarets and the direction of the qibla were added to the church to signify its successful conversion into a mosque.
In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after he overthrew the last vestiges of the Ottoman Empire. In 1935, the secular state of Turkey reopened Hagia Sophia as a museum after it had been closed to the public for four years.
The museum of Hagia Sophia was one of Turkey’s most-visited tourist attractions, eliciting awe and wonder from people of all religions. Recently, however, as part of President Erdogan’s mainly political mission to Islamise Turkey, his cabinet operating under his decree reclassified it into a mosque, despite much criticism and condemnation from the Turkish opposition, Unesco and many other international leaders. Erdogan’s reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque has been made on the basis that the Hagia Sophia was the sultan’s personal property and its status as a museum was unlawful under both Ottoman and Turkish law.
But if we were to look at the Hazrat Umar incident and the precedent that he wished to set for his followers, was the initial conversion of the Church of Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror ethical and in keeping with Islamic tradition? Would Hazrat Umar have turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque with the force that Mehmed used, and if it had been converted into a mosque would he have allowed it to remain as such, or would he have returned it to its original owners?
Would austere and simple Hazrat Umar have considered Hagia Sophia to be the sultan’s personal property, and would he have forcefully removed the Christian traces from the church for it to serve as a mosque? After all, the Church of the Holy Sepluchre remains a church to this day with its foundations and walls intact, its cross, altar and baptistry undamaged by anything other than time.
Zara Imran is a student of Development and Policy at Habib University. Arif Hasan is an architect.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1575973/prece ... om-history
TODAY'S PAPER | AUGUST 24, 2020
Precedent from history
Zara Imran | Arif Hasan updated 23 Aug 2020
IN the year 636, Abu Ubaidah besieged the city of Jerusalem, as part of the military conflict that lasted from 636-637 between the Byzantine army and the Rashidun Caliphate during Hazrat Umar’s reign. The Patriarch Sophronius agreed to surrender after six months of the siege but only on the condition that he would surrender the city to the caliph. Hazrat Umar then made the journey to Jerusalem, on a lone camel wearing simple woollen clothes accompanied by only one person who shared the camel with him.
When he arrived in Jerusalem, the Arab nobles who had conquered the city came to receive him. They were dressed in rich, Byzantine styled clothes, with fine robes, and when Hazrat Umar saw them he was incensed at the display of lavishness and worldliness.
The Patriarch Sophronius gave Hazrat Umar a tour of the holy city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is considered to be one of the holiest sites in Christianity. The church contains, according to Christian tradition, the site where Jesus was crucified and his empty tomb where he was buried and then resurrected.
It is reported by Ibn Khaldun, the famous Arab historian and sociologist, that when it was time to pray the Patriarch Sophronius invited Hazrat Umar to pray in the courtyard of the church. Hazrat Umar refused and instead prayed outside the church. He later disclosed that he did so because he feared that his followers would turn the church into a mosque if he prayed there. There is a mosque built where Hazrat Umar prayed outside, by the name of Mosque of Umar. This mosque was built to commemorate this incident, and it acts as a physical symbol of the justice and principles that Hazrat Umar stood for.
Would Hazrat Umar have turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque?
The Church of the Hagia Sophia was built in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople. It was the biggest church at that time and was considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. Not only that, it contained a number of structural innovations, including one of the world’s first pendentive domes. Hagia Sophia’s unique architecture had a strong influence on future Ottoman architecture and on the work of the great Turkish architect Mimar Sinan.
Hagia Sophia also served as the centre of Orthodox Christianity from the time it was created to its conversion into a mosque in 1453 by Mehmed the Conqueror when he captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The bells, altar, baptistry and other Christian relics in the church were destroyed and thrown out. The intricate mosaics that adorned the church’s walls depicting various scenes of Jesus, Mother Mary, the angels and the saints were either destroyed or plastered over. In its place a mimbar, four minarets and the direction of the qibla were added to the church to signify its successful conversion into a mosque.
In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after he overthrew the last vestiges of the Ottoman Empire. In 1935, the secular state of Turkey reopened Hagia Sophia as a museum after it had been closed to the public for four years.
The museum of Hagia Sophia was one of Turkey’s most-visited tourist attractions, eliciting awe and wonder from people of all religions. Recently, however, as part of President Erdogan’s mainly political mission to Islamise Turkey, his cabinet operating under his decree reclassified it into a mosque, despite much criticism and condemnation from the Turkish opposition, Unesco and many other international leaders. Erdogan’s reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque has been made on the basis that the Hagia Sophia was the sultan’s personal property and its status as a museum was unlawful under both Ottoman and Turkish law.
But if we were to look at the Hazrat Umar incident and the precedent that he wished to set for his followers, was the initial conversion of the Church of Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror ethical and in keeping with Islamic tradition? Would Hazrat Umar have turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque with the force that Mehmed used, and if it had been converted into a mosque would he have allowed it to remain as such, or would he have returned it to its original owners?
Would austere and simple Hazrat Umar have considered Hagia Sophia to be the sultan’s personal property, and would he have forcefully removed the Christian traces from the church for it to serve as a mosque? After all, the Church of the Holy Sepluchre remains a church to this day with its foundations and walls intact, its cross, altar and baptistry undamaged by anything other than time.
Zara Imran is a student of Development and Policy at Habib University. Arif Hasan is an architect.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1575973/prece ... om-history