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Renaissance
Most western authors contend that the Renaissance emerged when
Europeans studied Greek and Roman civilizations then developed
new arts and sciences. These racist views hide or deny the massive
effort to translate Arabic books to Latin, study them, and copy the
Muslim civilization without giving appropriate credit to the "real"
authors. Most Europeans had discovered the magnificent Muslim
civilization during their crusades against the Muslims in Iberia and the
Middle East.
The Qur'an, as the final word of God, anticipated many of the modern
scientific discoveries which were beyond human imagination 14
centuries ago. The Muslim scientific revolution, which produced the
renaissance that put Muslims at the top of the civilized world for 8
centuries, was a result of contemplating the clues in the Qur'an about
the physical world.
The Muslim contributions are still evident today, 7 centuries after the
destruction of the Muslim cultural centers in Asia by Genghis Khan
and Hulagu, and 5 centuries after the destruction of the great Muslim
cultural centers in Iberia by the Spaniards.
The first medical book ever printed in Europe in 1486 AD was the
medical encyclopedia by Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes) (The Worlds
Greatest Physician In The Middle Ages who died in 932 AD). It
was translated into Latin by Faraj Ibn Salem.
The first real hospital and apothecary were opened in Baghdad in 805
AD by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In 931 AD, 869 physicians applied
for licensing examination in Baghdad. Muslims had separate hospitals
for men and women; and separate hospitals for mental, contagious
and non-contagious diseases.
During the 8 centuries when Muslims ruled the civilized world, Muslim
scientists compiled accomplishments that are still impressive by
today's standards. The list of scientists includes: Jabir Ibn Hayyan
(Geber) who died in 808 AD, was the father of modern chemistry;
Ibn Firnas, who died in 888 AD, constructed the first man-powered
flying machine; Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes) who died in 932 AD, was
the world's greatest physician in the middle ages; al-Idrisi who
died in 932 AD, prepared the world's first globe; Al-Buzajani who
died in 998 AD, discovered the wobble in the moon's orbit; Abu al-
Qasim al-Zahrawi ( Albucasis ) who died in 1013 AD, was the author
of the first surgery book ; al-Maqdisi who died in 1101 AD,
produced the first map in colors; Omar al-Khayyam, who died in
1131 AD, was a Sufi poet and a mathematician who reformed the
Indian calendar with higher accuracy than the 1582 AD Gregorian
calendar; Ibn Sina (Avicenna), who died in 1037 AD wrote the
world's medical authority until the 19th Century; Ibn al-Haitham,
who died in 1039 AD, was the Father Of Modern Optics, a great
scientist and Engineer who formulated the laws of reflection and
refraction and explained the rainbow phenomenon; Ibn Rushd
(Averroes) who died in 1198 AD, was a philosopher, physician, Chief
Justice, Minister, and discovered the sunspots; Fakhruddin Al-Razi
who died in 1209 AD, determined that the stars were moving and
varied in distance from the earth; Ibn al-Nafis, who died in 1288
AD, discovered the blood circulation; al-Jaldaki who died in 1360
AD, produced pure gold ; Ibn Khaldun who died in 1406 AD, was the
real father of sociology.
The collapse of the Muslim civilization toward the end of the 15th
century, after endless Crusades ended 8 centuries of Muslim
scholarship when Muslims ruled the civilized world. This put the
Muslims under colonial imperialism determined to keep them divided,
poor, and uneducated so they may supply their conquerors with
cheap raw materials, labor, and open unregulated markets.
Muslim Law
(Shari'ah)
Islam has a balanced approach to law. The Qur'an indicates that
Punishment must fit the crime, however, forgiveness is preferred
[Qur'an 16:126]. Islam is not a vengeful tribal religion trapped in
commandments and punishment which lead humans to despair.
Islam does not waive punishment for all crimes and all criminals
which could easily wreck the society. Punishment or forgiveness must
be decided on a case by case basis.
The details of Muslim legal principles are beyond the scope of this
effort. Some of the basic principles are discussed here.
The state covered court cost which allowed poor people to seek
justice from the rich without fear of financial ruin. Nobody,
including the Sultan, was above the law.
Even animal rights were not left out. Inhumane treatment of animals
or branding them in the face were prohibited. Animals cannot be used
for target practice. Those who slaughtered animals for food were
required to sharpen their blades and not to slaughter an animal in
view of another animal.
The collapse of the Muslim civilization toward the end of the 15th
century ended 8 centuries of legal scholarship. This trapped Muslim
Law in an alien 15th century world when Muslims ruled the civilized
world.
The concepts of "holy war" and "just war" were developed by the Holy
(Christian) Roman Empire to force the pacifist Middle Eastern
Christians into the Roman army. These Christians believed in turning
the other cheek and renounced violence for 3 centuries before the
Romans converted to Christianity under the rule of Constantine.
It is not surprising that the Christian Roman Empire was militant, It's
first emperor believed he conquered Rome after a vision in which he
saw a cross over the sun and heard a voice telling him that he would
win under the religion of the cross.
Those who claim that Jesus preached only love and peace ignore
Jesus' words: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to
the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." [Matthew
10:34]. " Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the
city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to
it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May
you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
[Matthew 21:18,19].
Jesus died in his thirties leaving behind few followers. He was not
responsible for a new nation under siege by the hostile Persian and
Holy Roman Empires as Muhammad was.
Muslims fought against the rulers who opposed them and their
armies not against the people or their institutions. Non - Muslims
were admitted to Muslim Universities. Those who excelled became
top advisers to Muslim leaders regardless of race, religion, color, or
ethnic background. This was another factor which accelerated the
spread of Islam.
A search for the word "kill" found it 442 times in the Revised Standard
Version, and 271 times in the King James Version of the Bible
compared to 40 times in the Pickthall Version and 22 times in the
Yusuf-Ali Version of the Qur'an!
The facts show that Islam tolerates non - Muslim minorities within the
Muslim Nation and treats them as independent nations free to
worship and live according to their own religious laws. This was
outlined in the Covenant of Medina which became the world's first
written constitution in 622 AD.
The spread of Islam in the 7th century threatened the Romans and
Persians who shared dominion over Arabia and collected heavy taxes
from the Arabs. This led to a series of wars between the Romans and
Persians on one side and the Muslims on the other.
The Muslims won the war with Persia and restricted the Romans to
Asia minor until the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in the
16th century. This spread the Muslim influence over the civilized
world from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The way Muslims
conducted the affairs of state and their personal lives led many
Christians, Jews and others to embrace Islam.
Muslims in Europe:
When the tables were turned and the Catholic Spaniards defeated the
Muslims in Spain and Portugal, they instituted the Spanish Inquisition
which killed or expelled millions of Muslims who refused to convert to
Christianity. The Jews suffered a similar fate at the hands of the
Spaniards.
The Crusades:
The "real" holy wars were waged by the Crusaders against the
Muslims in the Middle East. The Crusaders were brutal in their
treatment of Muslim prisoners of war and civilians. When the
Crusaders conquered Jerusalem, they killed 70,000 Muslims.
When the Muslims re-conquered the city they did not kill
anybody.
Napoleonic Crusade:
The Crusades were not an unfortunate episode during the dark age in
Europe that ended a long time ago. When Napoleon invaded Egypt,
he ordered his troops to destroy the face of the sphinx and the tip of
the great pyramid to leave his mark on them.
Napoleon was proud that he had ordered beheading 5-6 people daily
and parading their heads in the streets to scare the population!
After defeating the Turks in Jaffa, Napoleon ordered his troops to kill
about 2500 Turkish soldiers from the city garrison who surrendered.
The soldiers were led to the shore and the French kept firing at them
until they ran out of ammunition then finished them off with bayonets.
The water turned red from the blood of the slain Turks. In the city, the
killing, raping, looting and burning lasted for 2 days and did not stop
until the French troops were too exhausted to continue.
Modern Crusades:
Nazi Crusade:
Muslims revere Moses, Jesus and all the prophets and consider
Judaism and Christianity earlier phases of the primordial religion of
God: Islam. The Muslims in Bulgaria, for example, were very active in
protecting Jewish groups from persecution, and King Hussein V of
Morocco refused to hand over his Jewish subjects to the Vichy
government in France.
Jewish Crusade:
``It started at night and was over in a few hours,'' Katz said 14 Israeli
soldiers were killed in the ambush on the village. Tantura, near Haifa
in northern Israel, had 1,500 residents at the time. It was later
demolished to make way for a parking lot for a nearby beach and the
Nahsholim kibbutz, or cooperative farm.
Katz said the killing spree in Tantura was more tragic and bigger than
in the village of Deir Yassin just west of Jerusalem, where scores of
Palestinians were killed on April 9, 1948, in an assault by Jewish
armed groups.
Reports just after the Deir Yassin killings spoke of some 240 deaths.
Up to 700,000 Palestinians fled from their towns and villages or were
driven out by Jewish troops in the conflict between Arab and Jew that
surrounded Israel's creation.
``I was 21 years old then. They took a group of 10 men, lined them up
against the cemetery wall and killed them. Then they brought another
group, killed them, threw away the bodies and so on,'' Tanji said.
Violation of the civil, religious and human rights of the Muslim and
Christian minorities in Israel, which are 18% of the population, had no
effect on the flow of unlimited aid to Israel. Israel has destroyed
about 400 mosques and 400 churches since the UN divided
Palestine into Palestinian and Jewish States in 1948.
It seems that the US policy of linking foreign aid to human rights and
religious persecution records of foreign countries does not apply to
Israel.
Serbian Crusade:
The Serb Christians waged war on the Muslim civilians in Bosnia and
Kosovo. In Bosnia, more than 200,000 Muslims have been killed and
more than 1400 mosques have been destroyed or damaged. About
200 villages have been destroyed in Kosovo and about 250,000
refugees have fled for their lives.
Double Standards:
The mentality of the Crusades still exists today under the guise of
fighting terrorists or Muslim fundamentalists, or fighting the spread of
weapons of mass destruction (meaning leaving the Muslim countries
vulnerable to the threat of mass destruction by Israel or others), or
stemming the tide of immigration by North Africans to Europe."
The facts contradict all the rhetoric by the media and government
officials linking Muslims to terrorism. The State Department's
"Patterns of Global Terrorism" 1997 report, there were 123 anti-U.S.
attacks in that year; 97 occurred in Latin America, seven took place in
Europe and six in Asia. The Middle East ranked fourth as a location of
anti-American attacks.
These activities are never reported by the media in the US the way
they cover suicide bombings by desperate militants who have lost
everything to illegal destruction of their homes and killing of their
family members by the Israeli government or by Jewish settlers who
are illegally taking over Palestinian territories and barring Palestinians
from access to their farms and places of worship to pressure them
into submission to the illegal status quo.
This policy did not apply to Iraq - the former US ally during the
Iran/Iraq war. The US obtained a UN decision against Iraq the day
following the invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait had been a province of Iraq
until the British decided to make it a separate protectorate after
World War I. Iraq was not allowed (like Israel) 32 years of
procrastination and frivolous negotiations with the Sheik of Kuwait.
In short, there was no peace process.
Iraq was bombed into the stone age and unprecedented sanctions
were imposed which led to the death of more than one million Iraqis
to-date. A whole generation of Iraqis was murdered by the sanctions
against Iraq since 1991. Swift military action is ready to kill more
Iraqis if they protest the frivolous inspections that have been going on
all these years.
During their weeklong visit, the group spent Christmas among the
Iraqi Christian community in Basra, a city some 335 miles south of
Baghdad.
Current Crusade:
Unfortunately, the holy war against Islam will continue to claim more
Muslim victims in the foreseeable future. In an effort to keep the
military industrial complex going after the end of the cold war, Islam
has been targeted as the new enemy and new threats have been
invented. This keeps tax payers' subsidies flowing to the cold war
industry and protects it from competition from the productive
economy.
The US spends more on the military than the rest of the world
combined. The government needs terrorists and Islamophobia to
justify this level of military expenditures. It is ironic that the current
most dangerous enemies, according to the US government, were
trained and armed by the US!
The US accounts for half of the weapons exports around the world.
These exports need wars and conflicts to sustain them. This is a
major disappointment to all the people who hoped that the collapse of
the Berlin Wall would bring world peace and prosperity for all.
Respecting and supporting equal rights for Blacks ended all the
conflicts and allowed blacks to play a productive role that benefited
the whole society.
The Muslim militants are the product - not the cause of the anger and
frustration in the Muslim countries which are helpless to defend
themselves in the face of Israeli arrogance backed by unlimited US
support.
In the mean time The US provides Israel with military and financial aid
so they can continue their occupation of Arab lands by force for more
than 32 years and disregard UN resolutions.
The Muslim world occupies about one fourth of the world area.
Muslims represent about one sixth of the World population. American
Muslims outnumber American Jews in the US. Yet the media consider
the Muslims invisible and portray them in the worst possible image.
American interests in the vast Muslim world are being sacrificed for
the benefit of 5 million Israelis and their US supporters!
Comprehensive campaign finance reform is sorely needed to free US
policy from lobbies and pressure groups and focus it on real "national"
interest.
Christians and Jews are better off studying their Bible which
anticipated Islam, the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of
trying to beat the Muslims, Christians and Jews should join them so
they can all turn to God and fulfill the promise of His creation.
Muslims are not the enemy terrorizing the West. They are the
victims of the nonstop Crusades. Islam is not a threat to the
West. It is the only religion that can solve the social and moral
problems of the West.
Islam
(Turning To God)
Islam is popularly known as the religion started by the Prophet
Muhammad at the beginning of the revelation of the Qur'an in 610
AD. In fact the Mohammedan message is the final comprehensive
phase that completed the primordial religion of God which is within
our soul. This universal religion is called Islam in the Qur'an and
includes the Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan traditions.
The word Islam means Turning To God. The Arabic verb aslama is
used in the Qur'an in sentences meaning turned his face to God or
simply turned to God [Qur'an 2:112, 3:20, 4:125]. Muslims turn to God
at least 5 times daily during the ritual prayers (Salat).
Turning to God implies trusting God with your life and going with
the flow. This frees the Muslim from the suffering and limitations of
life on earth [Qur'an 90:4].
The Qur'an refers to Adam and the prophets from Noah to Jesus as
Muslims [Qur'an 2:132] who practiced the universal monotheistic
religion of God. Different phases of the religion emerged to return
people, who changed the word of God or worshipped idols or
intermediaries, to the original religion.
God does not change people's condition until they change themselves
[Qur'an 13:11]. People will see only what they seek. Life and death
were created by God to show who acted more properly [Qur'an 67:2].
Good and evil are challenges to test our faith [Qur'an 21:35].
The Qur'an indicates that humans are created in the spiritual form and
then lowered in the material form [Qur'an 95:4] to experience the
temptation of the flesh and exercise their freedom of choice. God
desires to ease our lives not to make them hard [Qur'an 2:185].
God breathed into us of His spirit. We are not created in jest and we
will return to God [Qur'an 23:115]. We are blessed with countless
blessings [Qur'an14:34]. We are not the product of Original Sin and
do not need an intermediary in the form of a savior, prophet, saint, or
clergy to reach God [Qur'an 2:255]. Nobody is responsible for
someone else's sin [Qur'an 31:33]. God is fair to everyone[Qur'an
18:49].
God's punishment does not always: follow the offense but comes at a
predetermined time; sometimes when the offenders least expect it
[Qur'an 29:53]. This frees people to act according to their true beliefs
and not out of fear of immediate and certain punishment.
The Qur'an affirmed that God is most gracious and most merciful
[Qur'an 1:1], is singular [Qur'an 112:1], is alive, never sleeps,
always watching over His servants [Qur'an 2:255], and that He is
near, answering the prayers of those who pray. There is nothing
like God [Qur'an 42:11] who transcends human attempts to
describe Him in terms of human or animal qualities.
Pride and conceit are not Muslim traits. Muslims should consider their
insignificance compared to the universe [Qur'an 19:37-38]. The great
achievements are merely blessings from God requiring gratitude
toward God and charity toward the needy.
The collapse of the Muslim civilization toward the end of the 15th
century, after endless Crusades, ended the Renaissance that lasted
from the 8th through the 15th centuries when Muslims ruled the
civilized world. The collapse led to the spread of fundamentalism
throughout the Muslim countries.
Muslims can still turn to God and use the Qur'an to advance along the
spiritual path based on their best interpretation of the divine clues
regardless of what the fundamentalists say or do. This interpretation
will change as Muslims advance along the spiritual path. The
interpretation will also change as the world the Muslims live in
changes.
Muhammad's call to Islam met with stiff resistance from most of the
people of Mecca. They were afraid to lose Mecca's advantage, as a
trading and religious center for Arabia, if Arabs abandon the idols in
Mecca and embrace Islam. The Arabs had abandoned the religion of
Abraham and Ishmael and used idols as intermediaries between them
and God the way many Christians used saints and angels.
The death of his uncle, followed by the death of his wife, affected
Muhammad deeply and exposed him to more aggressive persecution.
Following the end of the mourning period, Muhammad married
Sawdah the widow of one of the early converts to Islam. She was the
first of several wives that he married following the death of his first
wife.
The Muslims won or held their own against superior forces in all the
battles. This led to the spread of Islam at a more rapid pace. The
conflicts with Mecca ended when Muhammad entered the city at the
head of 4 armies. The city offered practically no resistance after
Muhammad gave his word that everyone who remained at home or in
the mosque would be safe.
The idols in Mecca were destroyed and Arabia was united under the
banner of Islam before the Prophet's death in 632 A
The Full Spiritual Enlightenment
Of The Prophet Muhammad
In 621 AD, the Prophet Muhammad achieved full spiritual
enlightenment. He described the experience to his followers in
symbolic detail in the form of an actual trip. Briefly, he was awakened
by the archangel Gabriel who accompanied him from Mecca to
Jerusalem and then to the first heaven (spiritual station, veil or rank in
Sufi terms, chackras in oriental terms) where he met Adam.
He was humble and did not allow his companions to stand up when
he met them or kiss his hand. He sat with his companions where he
happened to be. A stranger walking into the room could not tell who
the Prophet was by his position in the group.
He joked with his companions, played with their kids and put them in
his lap. He loved his grandchildren, played with them, and even
carried them on his shoulder while conducting the ritual prayers.
He smiled most of the time and disliked to say no. When asked a
question he didn't want to answer, he remained silent. When given a
choice, he always chose the easiest option. He emphasized that
Islam is the Golden Mean and discouraged extremes of behavior.
In the mosque, he cut the group prayer short if he heard a child crying
outside to allow the child's mother to leave the mosque and take care
of her child. He stopped his personal prayers if he noticed someone
approaching to ask him something then resumed the prayers after the
person's departure.
He was kind to animals and opened his door to a stray cat seeking
shelter. One of his travelling companions once took 2 baby robins
from a nest. When the Prophet saw the mother flapping her wings
over the nest, he responded, "Who shocked this in her babies?
Return her babies to her". He ordered his followers not to use animals
for target practice. He also ordered those who slaughtered animals for
food to sharpen their blades and not to slaughter an animal in view of
another animal.
He prayed frequently which meant his body and clothing were always
clean since Muslims must complete a cleansing ritual before praying.
He ate only when hungry and never reached his fill. He brushed his
teeth after every meal. He advised his companions to keep one third
of their stomach for food, one third for beverages, and one third for
themselves.
His marriage to the very young 'A'ishah was not a frivolous act. She
was the only wife alive when the need to record the details of the
Prophet's personal life and practices for posterity became urgent.
He married his cousin Zeinab following her divorce from his adopted
son Zaid who used to be his servant. Muhammad had asked for her
hand for Zaid and persisted until she accepted. She mistreated Zaid
because of her high social status until he divorced her. This made her
unfit to marry a status conscious Arab. Her subsequent marriage to
the Prophet shattered the Arabs' concepts of status and marriage.
The Qur'an has 114 chapters. The first chapter is the Opener which
has 8 paragraphs called in Arabic Ayat which means signs,
guidelines, or clues to guide Muslims along the spiritual path. They
are not commandments or sentences to be taken literally although
some refer to specific historical events or simple issues.
The Arabs, who had the most developed language and poetry in the
world at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, were stunned to hear
the Qur'an from an unlettered man. One poet declared, after hearing
few Ayat, these words are not from this world and embraced Islam on
the spot.
Studies of the Clues in the Qur'an led Muslim scholars to develop The
Scientific Method and carefully study the physical world. This
resulted in impressive advances in the sciences and arts which put
the Muslims at the top of the civilized world for 8 centuries. Latin
translations of their books started the Renaissance several centuries
later when the grip of the Catholic Church on Europe weakened.
He was criticized again when he turned away from a blind man to call
one of Mecca's distinguished men to Islam. He was also asked not to
dislike people who did not believe.
The stories and personalities in the Qur'an are not limited to specific
events in the past. They refer to events and personalities that are
relevant to the reader's life. The only specific personal references in
the Qur'an are those of Jesus who was referred to as Jesus, son of
Mary; and Mary who was referred to as Mary, daughter of 'Imran. The
miracle of the virgin birth was limited to the historic Jesus and Mary.
The Qur'an has infinite meanings and will continue to dazzle future
generations. If all the trees on earth were pens and more than the
oceans were ink, that would not be enough to record the Word of God
[31:27,18:109].
The translations frequently use archaic English and do not convey the
meaning derived from the elegant and beautiful Arabic verse.
Instead, the translations frequently convey ridiculous and offensive
meanings.
However, the Qur'an did not come to the world to intimidate the
scholars. The Qur'an came with knowledge, guidance, sermon,
vision, healing, good tidings, and mercy for the world [7:203,
7:52, 10:57, 12:111, 16:64, 16:89, 27:77, 28:43, 31:3, 45:20].
The proper way to approach the Qur'an is to keep the above aspects
in mind and read it as a book of divine clues, signs or guidelines to
guide the reader along the spiritual path.
The reader should not attempt to understand all the divine Clues.
Many of the Clues, thought by readers 14 centuries ago to be elegant
literary structures, turned out to be references to actual scientific
description of aspects of our universe. Some of the Clues puzzling the
reader today will have a specific meaning to a Sufi master or a future
scientist.
Sufis maintain that those who read the Qur'an without weeping
do not understand what they are reading!
This separates the Qur'an from other religious texts which were
limited to the knowledge of the people at the time the text was
completed.
• The heavens and the earth were one before they were ripped
apart. Life started in the water and living things are mostly
water [21:30]. Today when scientists look for traces of life on
Mars or Jupiter moons, they look for water!
• Reptiles came out of the water and were followed by two
legged then 4 legged creatures [24:45].
• The heavens are expanding [51:47]. Modern science tells us
that the universe was started from a singularity. The
pictures taken by Edwin Hubbell in Mount Wilson observatory
in 1929 showed that the universe was expanding which led
to the Big Bang theory. The Qur'an anticipated this
"discovery" by 14 centuries.
• The heaven used to be smoke [41:11]. We know that smoke is
a mixture of hot gases and suspended particles.
• The atom is not the smallest unit of matter in the universe
which indicates the presence of subatomic particles! [34:3]
• The Universe was created over a very long period. For God,
some days last 1000 lunar years [22:47, 32:5]. This was used
by Professor Mansour Hassab-Elnaby, an Egyptian physicist,
to calculate the speed of light C=299792.5 km/s !!!
• The Qur'an predicts that the speed of light is not the fastest
speed in the universe. Spirits and angels proceed to God at
50 times the speed of light [70:4]
• The earth rotates around its axis [27:88], rotates around the
sun [7:54], is not flat but is like a ball [39:5] or an egg [79:30].
• The lowest point on earth is near the dead sea [30:3].
• Iron was sent to earth by God [57:25]. Scientists now believe
that iron was introduced to earth by meteors.
• The oceans have layers of waves and layers of darkness in
which some creatures have light [24:40]. Scientists discovered
recently different currents at different depths.
• When different seas ( i.e. different in salinity, temperature,
oxygen content, etc. ) meet, there is a barrier between them
that they do not violate [55:19-20]. This is not apparent by
visual observation but temperature sensitive satellite pictures
confirm this.
• Mountains are pegs that have roots extending below the
surface of the earth [78:7], mountains stabilize the earth's crust
by minimizing earthquakes [16:15].
• Earthquakes precede volcanic eruptions [99:1].
• The earth's core is heavier than its crust [99:2].
• Our sun is not the only sun in the universe [25:61]. Modern
astronomy tells us that the sun is actually a star and therefore
the universe is full of suns. Astronomers are looking for other
planets like ours. The Qur'an predicts they will find other
planets [65:12]
• The Bible differentiates the sun and the moon by size only:
"God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day
and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the
stars" [Genesis 1:16]. The Qur'an tells us that: the sun is a
shining glory while the moon is a light [10:5]; the sun is a lamp
and the moon is a light [25:61,71:16]; the sun is a blazing lamp
[78:13] .
• The solar system is travelling through the universe to a final
destination [36:38].
• At the end of time, the sun will stop radiating energy and will be
folded into a ball [ 81:1] (quasar? Black hole?)
• Morning is associated with breathing [81:18]. Now we know
that plants produce oxygen in presence of light and consume
carbon dioxide.
• Sperm attaches itself to the egg to form an attachment or a
leach then a chewed-like lump which develops bones which
are covered with flesh and then changed into a different form [
23:14]. This refers to facts discovered only recently when
scientists, using special scopes, followed the development of
the fetus from a fertilized egg to a form resembling lower
vertebrae before turning into the human form.
• After contemplating the descriptions of embryonic stages as a
leach then a chewed-like lump [23:14], Professor Keith Moore,
a Canadian embryologist, compared pictures of different
embryonic stages to pictures of leaches and chewed clay and
confirmed the amazing accuracy of the Qur'anic verses.
• Human pregnancy passes through 3 trimesters [39:6]
• Different clouds (positively and negatively charged?) are
harmonized to produce droplets of water and lightning [24:43].
This is not surprising since The Qur'an came to detail and explain
everything and to settle differences of opinions [12:111, 16:64,
16:89].
These authors missed the fact that the Bible anticipated the mission
of the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an:
"I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their
brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them
everything I command him [18]. If anyone does not listen to my
words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him
to account [19]. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my
name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet
who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death
[20]."
Since all the Jews were present in Sinai, the reference to their
brothers means the Arabs, descendants of Ishmael who was
Abraham's first born son and heir according to ancient customs.
Like Moses, Muhammad saw and spoke to God. Moses was the only
Jewish Prophet to face God: "Since then, (the death of Moses) no
prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face
to face", Deuteronomy [34:10]. We also know that Muhammad was
not put to death for claiming what God did not reveal to him.
Like Moses, Muhammad married, fathered children and led his nation.
Moses took shelter at Midian, which was later named Yathrib after his
father-in-law, Jethro. Muhammad went to Yathrib, which was
renamed Medina.
When the companions of Moses saw Pharaoh's army, they cried out:
Surely we are being overtaken!" - but Moses replied: By no means,
my Lord is with me. He will show me a way out." While hiding from
pursuing enemies in the cave of Hira, Muhammad's reply to his
companion Abu Bakr was "Do not worry, God is with us."
He said: "The Lord came from Sinai and dawned over them from
Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of
holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes",
Deuteronomy [33:2]
"Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into
a great nation." [18] Then God opened her eyes and she saw a
well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave
the boy a drink [19]. God was with the boy as he grew up. He
lived in the desert and became an archer [20]. While he was
living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from
Egypt [21]".
Revelation [19] describes a final leader of religion and state who will
defeat the forces of evil and make the Word of God supreme: "I saw
heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse,
whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges
and makes war [11]. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his
head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no
one knows but he himself [12]. He is dressed in a robe dipped in
blood, and his name is the Word of God [13]. The armies of
heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed
in fine linen, white and clean [14]. Out of his mouth comes a
sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule
them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of
the wrath of God Almighty." [15]
The Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet. He rode horses and
waged war on the enemies of Islam. He was known as "the Honest"
long before he started receiving the Qur'an. His face was compared to
the sun. His tent and favorite coat were red. The red coat was passed
on to those who followed him in leading the Muslim Nation and
became an article of succession,
His main message was the Word of God, the Qur'an. The Qur'an is
also referred to as the Furqan, the separator, which separates right
from wrong. Muhammad's followers rode horses, dressed in white
and were clean since Muslims are required to clean themselves and
their clothing before each of the 5 daily ritual prayers. The Holy
Roman and the Persian empires were struck down by the early
Muslims.
Sufism
(Changing Lead Into Gold)
Sufism defines a spiritual path derived from the Prophet Muhammad's
spiritual practices leading to his full spiritual enlightenment and
beyond. The practices were outlined by Muhammad's companions,
particularly his cousin, and fourth successor, Aly who wrote the first
manual on the subject.
Opening the heart is an important Sufi goal. The heart helps the
seeker sense the spiritual world. al-Ghazali once said: "If God took
over the heart, it is flooded with Grace, enlightened, opened, and the
secret of the Kingdom is revealed."
The Qur'an outlines the path in many places: The Heart is a faculty
like hearing and sight. Those who struggle for God's sake will be
guided to his paths. Believers who are mindful of God will be given a
light to differentiate the Truth from the rest. The path leads ultimately
to God. The most honored by God are the most mindful. God draws
to Him whoever He wants; and guides to Him whoever he delegates
to others. God devotes His Grace to whoever He wants. Be mindful of
God and seek the means to Him. Every seeker knows what quenches
his thirst.
Sufis weep when they listen to the Qur'an or to Sufi poetry. They long
for being in the presence of the Beloved and achieve ecstasy
whenever they are rewarded by a glimpse.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) concluded that the Sufi path can be traveled by
determination and practice and not by reading and research. He
declared that the Sufi is brave because he is shielded from the fear of
death; is very good because he is shielded from the love of what is
not right; is forgiving because his ego is above being hurt by a human
mistake; is forgetting hatred because his memory is busy with the
Truth.
Abul Hasan al-Nuri declared that the path is not a plan or science;
otherwise it would be traveled with effort and study. The path can be
traveled by acquiring divine character traits.
Many of the early Sufi masters were also chemists who used
chemical terms; such as filtration, distillation, crystallization, and
dissolution; to describe the nature of each spiritual step. One
prominent example of those masters is Jabir Ibn Hayyan the father of
modern chemistry.
When the Prophet started his mission, the Arabs lived somewhere
between the extremes of the very wealthy Meccans who lived in
luxury and the ascetic Bedouins who believed the hardships of life as
desert migrants were character building and good for the soul.
Even the wealthy Meccans gave their children to Bedouin wet nurses
who nursed the children for two years and kept them for several years
in a desert setting to teach them pure Arabic, character and strength
away from the luxuries of Mecca. The Prophet had such a nurse,
Halima, for 5 years. He showed his respect for her in public by
offering her his coat to sit on.
This gave all Arabs respect for asceticism and for those who survive
hardships. Unfortunately, this also gave many Arabs an ascetic,
inflexible and harsh point of view.
This follows the example of the Prophet Muhammad who veiled his
miracles by preceding them with sincere prayers to God and following
them by thanking and praising God.
Sufi Orders
Sufism is mostly practiced within fraternal orders. Each order is
headed by a Sufi master who teaches his version or "method" to his
followers. To join an order, beginners must show serious interest in
pursuing the spiritual path, and take a vow to straighten their lives and
to obey their teachers.
The early steps in a Sufi retreat provided the inspiration for all
12-step programs.
We were honored when God ordered the angels, who are created
from light, to bow to Adam, who was created from clay. Satan refused
and vowed to stand in the straight path to God [Qur'an 7:16] and offer
us temptation or choice.
Satan vowed to approach us from our front, our back, our right, and
our left [Qur'an 7:17]. He would not place himself below us and he
knew that only God is above us. This indicates that all movements
identified as the right, the left, the progressive or forward, the
regressive or backward are influenced by temptation from Satan.
Muslims are safe from Satan when they aim upward and receive their
guidelines from the heaven above.
Both Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan in Paradise to try the
forbidden tree and achieve eternal life [Qur'an 7:20]. They both
shared the blame, felt shame and disgrace. God lowered them to
earth to earn their living and experience conflict , life, and death
[Qur'an 7:24,25]
We knew God in the spiritual form before our birth. We were veiled
from God after birth. This is probably why babies cry when they are
born. Babies are innocent and angelic. Small children run instinctively
from adults to other children regardless of their shape or color.
As the material world tightens its grip on individuals, they turn away
from God and stop trusting their instincts. The divine purpose of life
on earth is to turn to God and to serve and worship Him. Those who
transcend the veils and ultimately know Him will be His trustees on
earth.
Muslim Law
(Shari'ah)
Islam has a balanced approach to law. The Qur'an indicates that
Punishment must fit the crime, however, forgiveness is preferred
[Qur'an 16:126]. Islam is not a vengeful tribal religion trapped in
commandments and punishment which lead humans to despair.
Islam does not waive punishment for all crimes and all criminals
which could easily wreck the society. Punishment or forgiveness must
be decided on a case by case basis.
The details of Muslim legal principles are beyond the scope of this
effort. Some of the basic principles are discussed here.
The state covered court cost which allowed poor people to seek
justice from the rich without fear of financial ruin. Nobody,
including the Sultan, was above the law.
Even animal rights were not left out. Inhumane treatment of animals
or branding them in the face were prohibited. Animals cannot be used
for target practice. Those who slaughtered animals for food were
required to sharpen their blades and not to slaughter an animal in
view of another animal.
The collapse of the Muslim civilization toward the end of the 15th
century ended 8 centuries of legal scholarship. This trapped Muslim
Law in an alien 15th century world when Muslims ruled the civilized
world.
Muslims can still turn to God and use the Qur'an to advance along the
spiritual path based on their best interpretation of the divine clues
regardless of what the fundamentalists say or do. This interpretation
will change as they advance along the spiritual path. The
interpretation will also change as the world the Muslims live in
changes.
The true spirit of Islam can be found today in the teachings and
practices of the Sufis.
Holy War
(Jihad)
Non - Muslim authors accuse Muslims of spreading Islam by the
sword, by waging holy wars. They ignore the fact that Islam is the
fastest growing religion in the world today. They cannot find a trace of
evidence showing that swords or force of any kind are responsible for
the current high rate of conversion to Islam.
The concepts of "holy war" and "just war" were developed by the Holy
(Christian) Roman Empire to force the pacifist Middle Eastern
Christians into the Roman army. These Christians believed in turning
the other cheek and renounced violence for 3 centuries before the
Romans converted to Christianity under the rule of Constantine.
It is not surprising that the Christian Roman Empire was militant, It's
first emperor believed he conquered Rome after a vision in which he
saw a cross over the sun and heard a voice telling him that he would
win under the religion of the cross.
Those who claim that Jesus preached only love and peace ignore
Jesus' words: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to
the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." [Matthew
10:34]. " Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the
city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to
it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May
you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
[Matthew 21:18,19].
Jesus died in his thirties leaving behind few followers. He was not
responsible for a new nation under siege by the hostile Persian and
Holy Roman Empires as Muhammad was.
Muslims fought against the rulers who opposed them and their
armies not against the people or their institutions. Non - Muslims
were admitted to Muslim Universities. Those who excelled became
top advisers to Muslim leaders regardless of race, religion, color, or
ethnic background. This was another factor which accelerated the
spread of Islam.
A search for the word "kill" found it 442 times in the Revised Standard
Version, and 271 times in the King James Version of the Bible
compared to 40 times in the Pickthall Version and 22 times in the
Yusuf-Ali Version of the Qur'an!
The facts show that Islam tolerates non - Muslim minorities within the
Muslim Nation and treats them as independent nations free to
worship and live according to their own religious laws. This was
outlined in the Covenant of Medina which became the world's first
written constitution in 622 AD.
The spread of Islam in the 7th century threatened the Romans and
Persians who shared dominion over Arabia and collected heavy taxes
from the Arabs. This led to a series of wars between the Romans and
Persians on one side and the Muslims on the other.
The Muslims won the war with Persia and restricted the Romans to
Asia minor until the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in the
16th century. This spread the Muslim influence over the civilized
world from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The way Muslims
conducted the affairs of state and their personal lives led many
Christians, Jews and others to embrace Islam.
Muslims in Europe:
When the tables were turned and the Catholic Spaniards defeated the
Muslims in Spain and Portugal, they instituted the Spanish Inquisition
which killed or expelled millions of Muslims who refused to convert to
Christianity. The Jews suffered a similar fate at the hands of the
Spaniards.
The Crusades:
The "real" holy wars were waged by the Crusaders against the
Muslims in the Middle East. The Crusaders were brutal in their
treatment of Muslim prisoners of war and civilians. When the
Crusaders conquered Jerusalem, they killed 70,000 Muslims.
When the Muslims re-conquered the city they did not kill
anybody.
Napoleonic Crusade:
The Crusades were not an unfortunate episode during the dark age in
Europe that ended a long time ago. When Napoleon invaded Egypt,
he ordered his troops to destroy the face of the sphinx and the tip of
the great pyramid to leave his mark on them.
Napoleon was proud that he had ordered beheading 5-6 people daily
and parading their heads in the streets to scare the population!
After defeating the Turks in Jaffa, Napoleon ordered his troops to kill
about 2500 Turkish soldiers from the city garrison who surrendered.
The soldiers were led to the shore and the French kept firing at them
until they ran out of ammunition then finished them off with bayonets.
The water turned red from the blood of the slain Turks. In the city, the
killing, raping, looting and burning lasted for 2 days and did not stop
until the French troops were too exhausted to continue.
Modern Crusades:
Nazi Crusade:
Muslims revere Moses, Jesus and all the prophets and consider
Judaism and Christianity earlier phases of the primordial religion of
God: Islam. The Muslims in Bulgaria, for example, were very active in
protecting Jewish groups from persecution, and King Hussein V of
Morocco refused to hand over his Jewish subjects to the Vichy
government in France.
Jewish Crusade:
``It started at night and was over in a few hours,'' Katz said 14 Israeli
soldiers were killed in the ambush on the village. Tantura, near Haifa
in northern Israel, had 1,500 residents at the time. It was later
demolished to make way for a parking lot for a nearby beach and the
Nahsholim kibbutz, or cooperative farm.
Katz said the killing spree in Tantura was more tragic and bigger than
in the village of Deir Yassin just west of Jerusalem, where scores of
Palestinians were killed on April 9, 1948, in an assault by Jewish
armed groups.
Reports just after the Deir Yassin killings spoke of some 240 deaths.
Up to 700,000 Palestinians fled from their towns and villages or were
driven out by Jewish troops in the conflict between Arab and Jew that
surrounded Israel's creation.
``I was 21 years old then. They took a group of 10 men, lined them up
against the cemetery wall and killed them. Then they brought another
group, killed them, threw away the bodies and so on,'' Tanji said.
``It was war...When you see the enemy opposite you, he doesn't have
a note saying he doesn't mean to shoot you. When you see him, you
shoot him,'' retired colonel Bentz Pridan said. (New York Times,
January 19, 2000)
Violation of the civil, religious and human rights of the Muslim and
Christian minorities in Israel, which are 18% of the population, had no
effect on the flow of unlimited aid to Israel. Israel has destroyed
about 400 mosques and 400 churches since the UN divided
Palestine into Palestinian and Jewish States in 1948.
It seems that the US policy of linking foreign aid to human rights and
religious persecution records of foreign countries does not apply to
Israel.
Serbian Crusade:
The Serb Christians waged war on the Muslim civilians in Bosnia and
Kosovo. In Bosnia, more than 200,000 Muslims have been killed and
more than 1400 mosques have been destroyed or damaged. About
200 villages have been destroyed in Kosovo and about 250,000
refugees have fled for their lives.
Double Standards:
The mentality of the Crusades still exists today under the guise of
fighting terrorists or Muslim fundamentalists, or fighting the spread of
weapons of mass destruction (meaning leaving the Muslim countries
vulnerable to the threat of mass destruction by Israel or others), or
stemming the tide of immigration by North Africans to Europe."
The facts contradict all the rhetoric by the media and government
officials linking Muslims to terrorism. The State Department's
"Patterns of Global Terrorism" 1997 report, there were 123 anti-U.S.
attacks in that year; 97 occurred in Latin America, seven took place in
Europe and six in Asia. The Middle East ranked fourth as a location of
anti-American attacks.
These activities are never reported by the media in the US the way
they cover suicide bombings by desperate militants who have lost
everything to illegal destruction of their homes and killing of their
family members by the Israeli government or by Jewish settlers who
are illegally taking over Palestinian territories and barring Palestinians
from access to their farms and places of worship to pressure them
into submission to the illegal status quo.
This policy did not apply to Iraq - the former US ally during the
Iran/Iraq war. The US obtained a UN decision against Iraq the day
following the invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait had been a province of Iraq
until the British decided to make it a separate protectorate after
World War I. Iraq was not allowed (like Israel) 32 years of
procrastination and frivolous negotiations with the Sheik of Kuwait.
In short, there was no peace process.
Iraq was bombed into the stone age and unprecedented sanctions
were imposed which led to the death of more than one million Iraqis
to-date. A whole generation of Iraqis was murdered by the sanctions
against Iraq since 1991. Swift military action is ready to kill more
Iraqis if they protest the frivolous inspections that have been going on
all these years.
During their weeklong visit, the group spent Christmas among the
Iraqi Christian community in Basra, a city some 335 miles south of
Baghdad.
Current Crusade:
Unfortunately, the holy war against Islam will continue to claim more
Muslim victims in the foreseeable future. In an effort to keep the
military industrial complex going after the end of the cold war, Islam
has been targeted as the new enemy and new threats have been
invented. This keeps tax payers' subsidies flowing to the cold war
industry and protects it from competition from the productive
economy.
The US spends more on the military than the rest of the world
combined. The government needs terrorists and Islamophobia to
justify this level of military expenditures. It is ironic that the current
most dangerous enemies, according to the US government, were
trained and armed by the US!
The US accounts for half of the weapons exports around the world.
These exports need wars and conflicts to sustain them. This is a
major disappointment to all the people who hoped that the collapse of
the Berlin Wall would bring world peace and prosperity for all.
Respecting and supporting equal rights for Blacks ended all the
conflicts and allowed blacks to play a productive role that benefited
the whole society.
The Muslim militants are the product - not the cause of the anger and
frustration in the Muslim countries which are helpless to defend
themselves in the face of Israeli arrogance backed by unlimited US
support.
In the mean time The US provides Israel with military and financial aid
so they can continue their occupation of Arab lands by force for more
than 32 years and disregard UN resolutions.
The Muslim world occupies about one fourth of the world area.
Muslims represent about one sixth of the World population. American
Muslims outnumber American Jews in the US. Yet the media consider
the Muslims invisible and portray them in the worst possible image.
American interests in the vast Muslim world are being sacrificed for
the benefit of 5 million Israelis and their US supporters!
Comprehensive campaign finance reform is sorely needed to free US
policy from lobbies and pressure groups and focus it on real "national"
interest.
Christians and Jews are better off studying their Bible which
anticipated Islam, the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of
trying to beat the Muslims, Christians and Jews should join them so
they can all turn to God and fulfill the promise of His creation.
Muslims are not the enemy terrorizing the West. They are the
victims of the nonstop Crusades. Islam is not a threat to the
West. It is the only religion that can solve the social and moral
problems of the West.
The benefits of giving can be lost if the donor hurts the feelings of the
recipient [Qur'an 2:263-264] or if the donor is giving to impress others.
Giving in this fashion narrows the gap between the rich and the poor,
reduces social conflicts, and promotes a productive economy.
Diverting 2.5% of the donor's accumulated funds to basic
consumption by the needy and away from bidding up the price of
paper assets or luxury goods, benefits the whole economy including
the wealthy donors.
The Prophet Muhammad used to give to the needy all the money and
gifts that exceeded his needs on a daily basis. He placed his faith in
God to provide for his future needs.
Pride and conceit make people feel superior to others and give them
a false sense of entitlement to God's bounty without responsibility to
share the bounty with others. God gives individuals different abilities
to enable them as a group to handle all the challenges presented by
life on earth.
Those with more ability in one area are entitled to enjoy the rewards
of that ability but are required to use it to benefit others. Using one's
ability to do God's work by helping other people, other creatures, and
the environment; is serving God, is worship. We were created to
serve and worship God.
The concept of more or less gifted protects the individual from pride
and conceit which are more closely associated with accomplishment.
We are more gifted in some areas and less gifted in others. Gifts
should be extended beyond wealth, power, status, intelligence,
health, and physical appearance to include love, friendship,
compassion, kindness, etc.
The Qur'an advises the less gifted not to be sorry for what they
missed; and the more gifted not to be glad for what they got [57:23].
When all the gifts are considered, we are created equally.
The most honored by God are the most mindful of Him. The mindful
of God are defined as: those who believe in the unseen, do their
prayers, give from God's bounty, believe in what was brought down to
Muhammad and what was brought down before his time, are certain
of the hereafter. Those are guided by their Lord and those are the
prosperous [Qur'an 2:5].
Jabir Ibn Hayyan, who died in 808 AD, was a renaissance man, a Sufi
, a pharmacist and a great chemist who spent most of his life at home
in his laboratory in Damascus. He is known in the west as: Geber. He
wrote more than 200 books including 80 books on chemistry.
Jabir was respected as a great scientist during his life while Dalton
was considered a sorcerer by his neighbors. When Dalton died, his
neighbors sealed his house then asked the parson to burn his books
to rid the town of evil!
Al-Razi who died in 932 AD, was a renaissance man, a musician who
studied philosophy, mathematics, and chemistry. He started studying
medicine in Baghdad when he was 40. He wrote 237 books on
chemistry, medicine and psychiatry. He also invented sulfuric acid.
He was the first to require medical students to undertake graduate
studies.
Al-Khawarizmi
Al Khawarizmi, who died in 850 AD, was a renaissance man, a great
mathematician, geographer and astronomer. He introduced the zero,
negative numbers, algebra, and the decimal system to the West. This
opened the door to higher mathematics. He also invented
mathematical programming using a set of instructions to perform
complex calculations. The term algorithm (computer program,
software) is named after a variation of his name, Algorithmi.
Al-Zahrawi, who died in 1013 AD, was born, raised, educated, and
practiced in Muslim Spain. He was the world's greatest surgeon of
the 10th-11th centuries AD. He invented procedures to break up
and extract kidney and bladder stones. Only one of his books
survived the Spanish Inquisition. It contained more than 200
drawings of surgical instruments and procedures and was the
world's first book on surgery.
IBN SINA
(Avicenna)
Ibn Sina, who died in 1037 AD, is known in the West as Avicenna. He
was a renaissance man, a Sufi who excelled in mathematics, which
he studied under Al Khawarizmi. He also excelled in medicine,
science, astronomy, law, music, poetry and philosophy.
Al-Idrisi
( The World's First Globe)
Al Idrisi, who died in 932 AD, was a renaissance man, a world class
geographer. He prepared the world's first globe out of 400 pounds of
silver for the king of Sicily Roger II. The globe showed the trade
routes and detailed measurements. He also prepared a detailed
companion book. Centuries later, Europeans continued to believe that
the earth was flat.
Ibn Rushd
(Averroes)
Ibn Rushd, who died in 1198 AD, is known in the west as Averroes.
He was a real renaissance man. He was born in Muslim Spain and
studied medicine, philosophy and law. He was Chief Justice in
Cordoba, Spain and a minister in Morocco. In his spare time, he
discovered sunspots. He wrote a medical encyclopedia and several
books on law, religion and philosophy. He wrote 3 books on Aristotle
and his philosophy.
Al-Jaldaki
(Pure Gold)
Al Jaldaki, who died in 1360 AD, was a renaissance man, a great
chemist who wrote many books on the subject. He was the first to
use masks to protect against chemical fumes. He developed
improved soap formulations. He purified gold by dissolving silver
impurities in nitric acid. He purified contaminated water by
distillation.
Ibn Khaldun
(The Real Father Of Sociology)
Ibn Khaldun, a Sufi who died in 1406 AD, was a renaissance man, the
real father of sociology. He defined the foundations of sociology
more than 4 centuries before Auguste Comte "discovered" them.
Ibn Khaldun lived in an era when the Muslim Nation in North Africa
And the Iberian peninsula disintegrated into a multitude of city states
fighting against each other. At the same time the Spaniards were
uniting their kingdoms and steadily taking over the Muslim city states
in Iberia.
a.aly@worldnet.att.net
Revised on 10/3/99