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de la vraie verite - the real truth Amnon Cohen, an American Jewish historian, studied the 16th century documents

st ored in the archives of the Shari ah religious court of Jerusalem (commonly known as sijill), whereby he found 1000 Jewish cases filed from the year 1530 to 1601 CE. Cohen published his research in 1994 during which he made some astonishing d iscoveries, as he himself states: Cases concerning Jews cover a very wide spectrum of topics. If we bear in mind th at the Jews of Jerusalem had their own separate courts, the number of cases brou ght to Muslim court (which actually meant putting themselves at the mercy of a j udge outside the pale of their communal and religious identity) is quite impress ive[1] The Jews went to the Muslim court for a variety of reasons, but the overwhe lming fact was their ongoing and almost permanent presence there. This indicates that they went there not only in search of justice, but did so hoping, or rathe r knowing, that more often than not they would attain redress when wronged The Jew s went to court to resolve much more than their conflicts with Muslim or Christi an neighbours. They turned to Shari a authorities to seek redress with respect to internal differences, and even in matters within their immediate family (intimat e relations between husband and wife, nafaqa maintenance payments to divorcees, support of infants etc.). [2] Cohen further elaborates upon the Jewish condition in the 16th century Ottoman J erusalem: Their possessions were protected, although they might have had to pay for extra p rotection at night for their houses and commercial properties. Their title deeds and other official documents indicating their rights were honoured when present ed to the court, being treated like those of their Muslim neighbours[3] The pictur e emerging from the sijill documents is baffling. On the one hand we encounter r ecurring Sultanic decrees sent to Jerusalem in response to pleas of the Jews to the effect that nothing should be done to stop them from applying their own law re garding a variety of matters. There are also many explicit references to the ove rriding importance of applying Shari a law to them only if they so choose. On the other hand, if we look closely at some of the inheritance lists, we see that the local court allocated to female members of Jewish families half the share given to male members, exactly as in Islamic law. This meant, ipso facto, a significa nt improvement in the status of Jewish women with respect to legacies over that accorded them by Jewish tradition, although it actually meant the application of Islamic law in an internal Jewish context [4] he [the Muslim Judge] defended Jewi sh causes jeopardized by high-handed behaviour of local governors; he enabled Je wish business people and craftsmen to lease properties from Muslim endowments on an equal footing with Muslim bidders; more generally, he respected their ritual s and places of worship and guarded them against encroachment even when the perp etrators were other Muslim dignitaries.[5] And finally Amnon Cohen describes the effectiveness of Islamic law for Jewish in terests: No one interfered with their internal organisation or their external cultural and economic activities In a world where civil and political equality, or positive so cial change affecting the group or even the individual were not the norms, the S ultan s Jewish subjects had no reason to mourn their status or begrudge their cond itions of life. The Jews of Ottoman Jerusalem enjoyed religious and administrati ve autonomy within an Islamic state, and as a constructive, dynamic element of t he local economy and society they could and actually did contribute to its funct ioning. [6] [1] Amnon Cohen, A World Within: Jewish Life as Reflected in Muslim Court Docume nts from the Sijill of Jerusalem (XVIth Century). Part One, 1994, Pennsylvania,

p. 8. [2] Ibid, [3] Ibid, [4] Ibid, [5] Ibid, [6] Ibid,

p. p. p. p. p.

17. 18. 20-21. 22. 22-23

Christian Evidence of the Caliph's Treatment "In his [Umar, the 2nd Caliph of Islam] dying charge to his successor he said, ' I charge the Caliph after me to be kind to the Dhimmis [non-Muslims under Islami c protection], to keep their covenant, to protect them, and not to burden them a bove their strength.' There is Christian evidence to support this view. Ishoyabth, who was patriarch f rom AD 647 to 657, writes, 'The Arabs, to who God gave the dominion over the wor ld, behave to us as you know. They are not hostile to Christianity, but praise o ur religion, honour priests and saints, and help the Churches and Monastries.'" Source: Caliph and their non-Muslim subjects: A critical study of the covenant o f Umar. A. S. Tritton. Routledge Library Editions: Islam. 2008, p. 138-139

Hugh Blair (1718 - 1800) on Eloquence & the Persuasive Power of the Qur'an Hugh Blair, in his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, considered one of th e first great theorists of written discourse gave the following desription of El oquence: "To be truly eloquent, is to speak to the purpose. For the best definition which , I think, can be given to Eloquence, is the Art of Speaking in such a manner as to attain the end for which we speak. Whenever a man speaks or writes, he is su pposed, as a rational being, to have some end in view; either to inform, or to a muse, or to persuade, or, in some way or other, to act upon his fellow creatures . He who speaks, or writes, in such a manner as to adapt all his words most effe ctually to that end, is the most eloquent man. Whatever then the subject be, the re is room for Eloquence; in history, or even in Philosophy, as well as orations . The definition which I have given of Eloquence, comprehends all the different kinds to it; whether calculated to instruct, to persuade, or to pleade. But, as the most important subject of discourse is Action, or Conduct, the power of Eloq uence chiefly appears when it is employed to influence Conduct, and persuade to Action. As it is principally with reference to this end, that it becomes the obj ect of Art, Eloquence may, under this view of it, be defined, The Art of Persuas ion." [1] If someone was to take the above, three centuries old, definition of Eloquence, then it can only be concluded that the Qur'an has had an unparalleled history of persuading mankind into action; and therefore must be the most eloquent. This p ersuasive power of the Qur'an was changing the hearts and minds of many Arabs at the time of revelation, and still does to people of all backrgounds today. NonMuslim Arabs at that time had realized its power and some had tried to lessen th e effect by shouting, clapping, singing and loud chatter while it was recited. A bu-Zahra comments on this reality, "The greatest among Muhammad's enemies feared that the Qur'an would have a stron g effect on them, while they preferred lack of faith to faith and aberration to right guidance. Thus, they agreed not to listen to this Qur'an. They knew that e

veryone listening was moved by its solemn expressive force that exceeded human s trength. They saw that the people even great personalities, the notables and mig hty - one after another believed it, that Islam grew stronger, that the faithful became more numerous, polytheism became weaker, and their supporters became les s." [2] [1] Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Letters. Hugh Blair. Vol II, 3rd Edition. Lo ndon. 1787, p 172-173 [2] N. Kermani. 2000.The Aesthetic Reception of the Quran as Reflected in Early Muslim History. Curzon Press.

Advice to those Visiting the 'Khaliphate of the West' Donald Mackenzie in his book "The Khaliphate of the West", which is a general de scription of Morocco in the late 19th and early 20th Century, gives the followin g advice for those who wish to travel to that part of the Muslim world. "And on no account should any one disguise himself in Mohammedan clothing or den y being a Christian. The Mohammedans have respect for real Christians, and belie ve their word...The Arabs estimate the character of strangers by their acts, whi ch they closely watch, and not by their speech, which seldom reveals the real ch aracter of man." Donald Mackenzie. The Khaliphate of the West. London. 1911, p 53

A Brief History Of Hadith Collection And Criticism: A Lecture By Dr. Jonathan Br own I have never been more impressed with anybody in history in my life than with Mus lim hadith scholars. I mean, when I first started studying hadith I was very ske ptical, I though it was all made-up and bogus but the more you study it the more you just appreciate the intense brain power of these people. I mean they memori zed thousands and thousands of books and then they were able to recall all the d ifferent versions of hadith from these books, and then they were able to analyze them and put them all together and figure-out where they all connect and make j udgments about the authenticity of these hadith. I mean even nowadays with elect ronic databases, and computers and word processing, I have hard time following e ven their discussions of the hadith - let alone their original mastering that th ey were drawing on. It's almost unbelievable... It's almost unbelievable, and if you didn't have the books in front of you that they wrote, I wouldn't believe i t personally....

Due to Total Ignorance A French writer, Count Henri Decastri, wrote a book in 1896 entitled Islam' in wh ich he stated: I cannot imagine what the Muslims would say if they heard the tales of the mediae val ages and understood what the Christian orators used to say in their hymns; a ll our hymns even those which emerged before the 12th century emanated from one concept which was the cause of the crusades, these hymns were filled with hatred towards the Muslims due to the total ignorance of their religion. As a result o f those hymns and songs, hatred against that religion became fixed in people's m inds, and the erroneous ideas deeply rooted, some of which are still carried now

adays. Everyone used to regard the Muslims as polytheists, disbelievers, idol wo rshippers and apostates.

Being Honest "Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sen se of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for 50 generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times 'by the sword' to get them to abandon their faith." Uri Avnery, September 27, 2006. An Israeli journalist, who was originally a memb er of the right wing Revisionist Zionist movement.

Placing Reason Above Blind Faith "Since arriving at an age of discretion, the beauty and the simple purity of Isl am have always appealed to me. I could never, though born and brought up as a Ch ristian, believe in the dogmatic aspect of the Church, and have always placed re ason and commonsense above blind faith." Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart, formerly Sir Charles Edward Archibald Watk ins Hamilton, embraced Islam on 20th December 1923. A well-known English statesm an, fifth baronet of the first (1770) and third baronet of the second creation ( 1819) Sir Abdullah was born on 10th December 1876. He was a Lieutinent in the Ro yal Defence Corp. and was also the President of the Selsy Conservative Associati on.

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