Spring • 2 0 0 9$4.00

“In the latter days, the sun shal l r ise from the west” • Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)

10 The FinancialCrisis: Searchingfor a New Order

15 Rabi’a al-Adawiyya: TheJewel of Basra

19 Black History& the Origin of the

Human Race

38 Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi:

Compassion overCruelty

2 MuslimSunrise

TT he Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organization, international in its scope, with branches in 189 countries inAfrica, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in 1889 by HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmadas (1835-1908) in Qadian, a small and remote village inthe Punjabi province of India. He claimed to be the expected reformer of thelatter days, the Awaited One of the world community of religions (The Mahdiand Messiah). The Movement he started is an embodiment of the benevolentmessage of Islam – peace, universal brotherhood, and submission to theWill of God – in its pristine purity. Hadhrat Ahmadas proclaimed Islam as thereligion of man: “The religion of the people of the right path” (98:6).TheAhmadiyya Muslim Community was created under divine guidance withthe objective to rejuvenate Islamic moral and spiritual values. It encouragesinterfaith dialogue, diligently defends Islam and tries to correctmisunderstandings about Islam in the West. It advocates peace, tolerance,love and understanding among followers of different faiths. It firmly believesin and acts upon the Qur’anic teaching: “There is no compulsion in religion”(2:257). It strongly rejects violence and terrorism in any form and for anyreason.

After the passing of its founder, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hasbeen headed by his elected successors. The present Head of the Community,Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was elected in 2003. His official title isKhalifatul Masih V or Fifth Successor of the Promised Messiah..

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

EditorFalahud Din Shams

Editorial BoardImam Mubasher AhmadDr. Shanaz ButtHasan HakeemAmjad Mahmood Khan, Esq.Naveed Malik

Staff EditorsMaham KhanNaser Shams

Staff WritersSaad AhmadArif HumayunDr. Zia H. ShahShazia Sohail

Hasan Hakeem, Design/LayoutFateh Shams, CirculationShuaib Shams, Circulation

Editor's Notes:The Muslim Sunrise is published by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA,15000 Good Hope Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905, Phone 301.879.0110, Fax301.879.0115, under the auspices of Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar, Ameer and NationalPresident. The views and opinions expressed by individual contributers in thispublication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, USA.

The Muslim Sunrise welcomes letters to the editor, questions and submissions. Emailus at MuslimSunrise@Ahmadiyya.us or go online to www.MuslimSunrise.com.

Library of Congress Call Number BP195.A5 M8

Mailing Address: The Muslim Sunrise, 2 S 510 Route 53, Glen Ellyn, IL60137, Phone: (630) 790-4100, ext. 206, Fax: (630) 793-4100.

Muslims follow the name of God’s prophets with the prayer alaehis salaam or‘may peace be upon him,’ and for the Holy Prophet Muhammad, sallallahualaehi wasallam or ‘may peace and blessings of God be upon him.’ Companionsof prophets and righteous personalities who have passed away are saluted byradhi-Allaho anhu/a or ‘may Allah be pleased with him/her.” While suchsalutations are not set out in the text for readability, we encourage readers tooffer these prayers as if set out in full.

Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq (1872-1957) was the first Ahmadiyya Muslim missionaryto arrive in America. In 1921, he founded the Muslim Sunrise, which stands todayas the longest running Muslim publication in America. The magazine seeks to opendiscussions on Islam and topics relating to religion in general. It highlights the roleof Islam in an ever changing global society. It provides a platform for publicopinion on contemporary issues and presenting their solutions from an Islamicperspective.

www.muslimsunrise.com

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

SPRING 2009 3

Spring 2 0 0 9 • V o l u m e 8 9 • I s s u e 1

Features

10 The Financial CrisisSearching for a new financial order

12 Great Women Leadership in IslamA Muslim woman’s viewpoint

15 Rabi’a al-AdawiyyaA female sufi leader in early Islamic history

19 Black History: The Origin of the HumanRace

22 Al-Khwarizmi & Ibn RushdTwo Muslim medieval scholars

27 Ibn Battuta: The Greatest Traveller

32 Khulafaa RashideenCharacters of the first 4 caliphs

38 Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi (Saladin)Compassion over cruelty during the Crusades

Departments

5 Opening Commentary

6 Editorial

7 Friday SermonPakistan’s growing depravity

24 Questions & AnswersInvestment, Interest & Islam

31 Poetry CornerThe Love of God

41 Religion & ScienceThe Golden Age of Islam

In This Issue

News, Views and Reviews

36 Press PublicationsState terrorism & religious based atrocities

37 ViewpointPalestinians & Isrealis: Fighting each other or theirown principles?

43 Perspectives“For the Love of God”

4 MuslimSunrise

From the Holy Qur'an

And when trouble touches man, he cries unto Us. But when We bestow on him afavor from Us, he says, ‘This has been given to me on account of my own knowledge.’

Nay, it is only a trial; but most of them know not.

Those who were before them said the same thing, yet all that they had earned availedthem not;

So the evil consequences of what they had earned overtook them; and those who dowrong from among these disbelievers — the evil consequences of what they earned shall

also overtake them. They cannot escape.

Know they not that Allah enlarges the provision for whomsoever He pleases, and straitensit for whomsoever He pleases? Verily, in that are Signs for a people who believe.

Al-Zumar 39:50-53

SPRING 2009 5

Opening Commentary

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

Man isEndowedwith aLatentFaculty ofReceivingRevelation

As God has endowed manwith the faculty of reasonfor the understanding tosome degree of elementarymatters, in the same way

God has vested in him a hidden faculty ofreceiving revelation. When human reasonarrives at the limit of its reach, at that stageGod Almighty, for the purpose of leading Histrue and faithful servants to the perfection ofunderstanding and certainty, guides themthrough revelation and visions. Thus, thestages which reason could not traverse aretraversed by means of revelation andvisions, and seekers after truth therebyarrive at full certainty. This is the way ofAllah, to guide to which prophets haveappeared in the wor ld and wi thouttreading along which no one can arriveat true and perfect understanding; butan unfortunate dry philosopher is somuch in a hurry that he desires thatwhatever has to be disclosed should bedisclosed at the stage of reason. Hedoes not know that reason cannot carrya burden beyond its strength, nor can itstep forward beyond its capacity. Hedoes not reflect that to carry a person tohis desired excellence God Almighty hasbestowed upon him not only the facultyof reason bu t a l so the facu l ty o freceiving revelation. It is the height ofmisfortune to make use of only theelementary means out of those that Godhas , ou t o f His Per fec t Wisdom,bestowed upon man for the purpose ofrecognizing God, and to remain ignorantof the rest. It is foolish to waste those

faculties through lack of use and toderive no benefit from them. A personwho does no t use the facu l ty o frece iv ing reve la t ion bu t den ies i t sexistence cannot be a true philosopher,whereas the existence of this faculty hasbeen established by the testimony ofthousands of the righteous and all menof true understanding have arrived atper fec t unders tanding th rough th i smeans (Surma Chashm Arya (Qadian,1886) , Now publ i shed in RuhaniKhazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984) Arya,pp. 39-42).

Revelation Provides Comfortin Distress

It is idle to assert that revelation hasno reality and is a vain thing, the harm ofwhich is greater than its benefit. Such anassertion is made only by a person whohas never tasted this pure wine and doesnot desire that he should acquire truefaith. Such a one is happy with his habitsand customs and never seeks to find outto what degree he believes in God Al-mighty and how far his understanding ex-tends and what should he do so that hisinner weaknesses are removed and a liv-ing change takes place in his morals andactions and designs. He is not eager to

cultivate that love which should makehis journey to the other world easy andwhereby he should develop the innerquality of making spiritual progress.

Everyone can understand that inthis heedless life which is ever pull-ing a person downward, with his rela-tionship with wife and children andwith the burden of honor and goodrepute, which are all like heavy stonespressing him downwards, he is in needof a high power which, by bestowingtrue sight and true vision upon him,should make him eager to behold thePerfect Beauty of God Almighty. Thathigh power is divine revelation thatprovides comfort in distress. It en-ables a person to take his stand joy-ously and comfortably under moun-tains of misfortunes. That Impercep-tible Being, Who confounds reasonand the wisdom of all philosophers,

manifests Himself only through revela-tion. He comforts the hearts of seekersand bestows contentment upon them andrevives the half-dead ones by saying: Iam Present. It is true that the Holy Qur’ancontains all the guidance, but when theQur’an leads a person to the fountain ofguidance the first indication of it is thathe begins to experience converse withthe Divine, whereby a revealing under-standing of high degree and a visibleblessing and light is created and thatcognition begins to be acquired whichcannot be achieved by blind following orthrough intellectual theories, for they areall limited and full of doubts and defec-tive and incomplete. We need to extendour cognition directly, for the greater ourcognition the greater will be our eager-ness. With a defective cognition we can-not expect perfect eagerness. It is a mat-ter of surprise how unintelligent thosepeople are who do not consider them-selves in need of that perfect means ofapproaching the truth upon which spiri-tual life depends. It should be remem-bered that spiritual knowledge and spiri-tual understanding can be acquired onlythrough revelation and visions, and un-til we achieve that standard of light, ourhumanness cannot acquire any true un-derstanding or true perfection....

6 MuslimSunrise

Editorial

BBBB efore theadvent ofIslam, thedesert Arabswere not

known for their education,scientific research, secular orspiritual knowledge. Most ofthe general public was illiterateand followed their customs andtraditions, some of which wereinhumane and cruel. Theirnobles would bury theirnewborn daughters al ive.Drinking alcohol, womanizingand pursuing vulgar activitieswas common behavior. Tribeswould get into feudal wars witheach other over petty issues thatwould go on for generations.

A revolutionary change wasbrought in the Arabian Peninsula bythe Prophet of IslamSAW. Heabolished drinking, establishedrespect for women and createdbrotherhood among the varioustribes in his very lifetime. Hepromoted education in various ways,changing the whole focus of Arabiansociety. People who were lookeddown upon by the internationalcommunity were on their way to leadthe world in all aspects of human life.

After the Holy ProphetMuhammadSAW passed away, hisfour caliphsRA continued to work onthe path of bringing about change andthey increased the sphere in whichthe excellence of Islamic teachingsstarted to shine.

The Holy Qur’an commandedMuslims to spread throughout theworld and experience the vastnessof God’s creation. Holy Qur’anencouraged them to explore natureand study the workings of the sun,the moon and the stars.

Within a few hundred years, arelatively short span in history,Muslims became the educators of theworld. They were the pioneers ofnew discoveries in medicine,mathematics, physics, history, music,geography, astrology and civil andmilitary administration. There arenumerous Muslims over the centurieswho changed the course of the worldin their respective fields of expertise.In the Western countries, Saladin(Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi) is well knownfor his military administration andexcellence of character andgenerosity, and was admired by hisworst of enemies. Ibn Battuta, as a

historian, opened doors ofinternational borders that werepreviously unknown across the globe.Numerous other Muslim scholars arenot acknowledged by the West buttheir work formed the foundationupon which the West based itsresearch and knowledge.

Today, it is incomprehensible fora Westerner to even think thatMuslims could be anything other thanterrorists, let alone the leaders insecular knowledge. In the currentissue, we have provided examples ofa few notable Muslims who broughtchange in various fields of knowledge.They were the pioneers who set upthe stage that eventually broughtEurope out of the Dark Ages. Thegovernments of Spain and Turkeypromoted education, research andscientific knowledge without prejudiceto any faith, race, color or creed. Itwas a period known as the GoldenAge of Islam.

Muslims need to remindthemselves of the past scholars andadvancements made by them. Byfollowing the teachings of the HolyQur’an about exploration and seekingthe bounties of God, they candemonstrate to the world once againthat they are capable of leading theworld. Their strength lies in the Islamicspiritual fundamentals that combinewith secular knowledge and result inleadership in various fields whichcannot be achieved by secularknowledge alone. Once again, theycan prove to the people who lookdown upon them that they have beengiven the tools, means and principlesby which they can change the worldfor a better future.

A spiritualtransformation:The GoldenAge of Islam

SPRING 2009 7

In his Friday Sermon today Huzur gave adiscourse on a range of exhortations of thePromised Messiah (on whom be peace) to theCommunity. The advice pertain to drawingattention towards the objective of forming theCommunity, the ensuing responsibilities of themembers of the Community, the blessings re-sulting from attaining the said objectives andfinally, the ultimate goal of the Community.Huzur said his purpose to present these to-day was to remind us of our responsibilitiesso that we may continue to ruminate and pon-der over them to attain Divine nearness andDivine pleasure.

The Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace) said this age is of spiritual warfare. Thebattle with Satan is on -he wants to defeatIslam, however God has brought about theAhmadiyya movement in order to vanquishSatan. Blessed are those who recognize this.Huzur said we are grateful that we are enabled,either through the insight of our elders or our-selves, to enter into this Community. He saidthe people are going to continue to enter intothis Community to be part of that special groupof people who are to fight the last battle withSatan. Huzur said in some countries of theworld our Community faces persecution, how-ever, in relation to the attainment of our objec-tives the sacrifices that are made are naught.Indeed, the Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace) told us that we will have to endure tri-als and tribulations. The Promised Messiah(on whom be peace) said that his followershave to fight an incredible battle with ‘self’ asthe world around them is hostile and openlycurses them. However, the reward for theirsteadfastness lies with God.

Huzur said today such is the situation insome countries of the world and those whoare making sacrifices amidst the persecutionwill have their reward with God. Opposition ismounting in Pakistan and in India there is a lot

of persecution of the new converts. Sincethe new government came into power inPakistan persecution [of Ahmadis] is con-sidered a meritorious act, the governmenthas given the mullah a free reign. There isno law and order in the country anywayand whatever passes for law and order isnot available for the Ahmadis to seek helpfrom. It is a blessing of God that each timeour opponents hatch a large-scale schemeagainst us, their plans are rebounded onthem by God. This is what we have beenwitnessing for quite a few years now. Alarge-scale scheme against us is in the mak-ing these days but God has created such asituation that they find they are in troublethemselves. Huzur reminded us that this isthe last battle with Satan, we shouldstrengthen our faiths, supplicate for stead-fastness to God, demonstrate patience andfortitude and turn to Him.

Huzur said it worth remembering that in

order to overcome the external Satan we have toconquer the internal satan as well. Our triumphwill not be through worldly ways and meansrather it will be through prayers and for this is itessential to tread the path of God’s pleasurewhich necessitates Jihad of the ‘self’.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace)said egotistic tendencies are shirk (associatingpartners with God) and they shut hearts. Oneshould ever engage in promoting the Unity ofGod and never disregard the intent with whichone comes into bai’at [of the Promised Messiah].He said God started this Community so that Hewould demonstrate taqwa (righteousness) andpurity to the world.

Huzur added, today Muslims are killingMuslims in the name of God. The situation ofthe country that was acquired in the name ofIslam so that religion may be established is suchthat people are killed there for professing theirdeclaration of faith (Kalima) and today the worldenvisages Pakistan synonymous with persecu-

Summary of Friday Sermon

Delivered by Hadhrat Mirza MasroorAhmad aba, the Head of the Ahmadiyya

Muslim CommunityMarch 6, 2009

NOTE: Alislam Team takes fullresponsibility for any errors or

miscommunication in this Synopsis ofthe Friday Sermon. For our readers,the Khalifah is affectionaly referred

to as Huzur.

Pakistan: A nation of persecution and barbarity

“Since the new government came into power inPakistan persecution [of Ahmadis] is considered a

meritorious act, the government has given the mullaha free reign. There is no law and order in the countryanyway and whatever passes for law and order is not

available for the Ahmadis to seek help from.”

8 MuslimSunrise

tion and barbarity. May God have mercy on ourcountry. The Community made great sacrificesfor the establishment of this country, eachPakistani Ahmadi should always be mindfulof this. Today, if anyone can save the coun-try from the storm of sin and depravation, it isthe vessel which has been prepared by thePromised Messiah (on whom be peace). Weare on board this vessel and have to makeourselves worthy of it. We should pray forthe nation of Pakistan that may it come to itssenses. These are the two significant respon-sibilities of Ahmadis, in particular PakistaniAhmadis or the Ahmadis residing in placeswhere the situation is bad.

Huzur said at times Ahmadis who areblessed with prosperity forget the objectiveof being an Ahmadi and are not mindful ofthe teachings of Islam, and are neglectful ofmany things, for example observance ofSalat. Huzur said it is a sobering thought.May God not make even a single personamong us a portrayal of the Quranic verse‘…he is surely not of thy family; he is in-deed a man of unrighteous conduct…’(11:47). Huzur said that may Allah never evermake it so that anyone among those takingtheir bai’at fits this description. May we notpresume and create our own measures of at-taining the standards the Promised Messiah(on whom be peace) expected from us, rather

may we always strive to attain the standardsset by our Imam.

The Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace) said none can attain salvation with-out adopting taqwa. All claims to piety arefutile without adherence to high standardsof obedience and practising sincere humil-ity. He said if our Community really want tobecome a true Community they have to un-dergo a death-like state (annihilate the self),give precedence to God and always assessoneself and endeavour to reform oneself.Huzur said the endeavour to reform succeedswhen there is an absence of inflexibility anda realization that having joined the Commu-nity one’s objective is to present a piousmodel to the world and to purify oneself toseek the pleasure of God.

The Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace) said that each stranger who meetsAhmadis observes the way they carry them-selves, their ethics and manners. If he doesnot find them to be fine, he stumbles be-cause of the Ahmadi. Therefore it is essen-tial to exemplify honesty and truth.

Huzur said this is summary of the objec-tives of our Community. The Promised Mes-siah (on whom be peace) said God is prepar-ing a community of the truthful. We shouldcontinually assess ourselves, this creates arealization and insight to improve and then

turns us to God because it isnot possible to tread thesepaths without the grace ofGod. May Allah make it so thateach one of us abides bytaqwa. The Promised Messiah(on whom be peace) said thatit is the will of God to save manfrom the fire of sin and createa group of the righteous whowould give precedence to faithover the world. Huzur prayedthat may Allah make each oneof us give precedence to faithover the world and truly be-long to the group of the righ-teous and understand the ba-sis of bai’at and never over-look the Divine command-ments for egotistic reasons.Huzur prayed that may we beexemplary so that our genera-tions also tread the right pathand supplicate to God. Maythose who accept Ah-madiyyat through us pray fortheir benefactors. InshaAllah

the Community is destined to grow and flour-ish, we have been witnessing for more thanone hundred years that the hand of God’smercy is upon us and each year hundreds ofthousands of pious souls enter into the Com-munity, may Allah grant steadfastness to thenewcomers.

Huzur said he has said it a few times be-fore that as we increase in numbers feelingsof jealousy is also growing among our ad-versaries. Their mind-set and their wish isfor the Community to be destroyed, how-ever, God’s blessings on us are ever on theincrease. May He continue to cover ourshortcomings with His grace and make ev-ery assault of the enemy unsuccessful. Allour accomplishments are by virtue of thepromise God gave the Promised Messiah (onwhom be peace) and this is why the Prom-ised Messiah (on whom be peace) alwaysgave assurance to the Community. Ascen-dancy will be given to us, InshaAllah, how-ever, may we not be negligent in the hour ofascendancy. May God enable each Ahmadito fulfil their responsibilities, enable them tomeet all the expectations of the PromisedMessiah (on whom be peace), save us fromeach of the evil about which the PromisedMessiah (on whom be peace) expressed con-cern and may we continue to be the recipi-ents of his prayers.

SPRING 2009 9

TTTT he AhmadiyyaM u s l i mC o m m u n i t y

mourns the loss of MunirHamid Sahib who passedaway February 21, 2009,in Philadelphia (To Allahwe belong, and to Him weshal l return) . He issurvived by his wife, ason, and two daughters.

Born on June 1, 1938, Hamidgrew up in Pennsylvania. Heconverted to Islam at the earlyage of 15 years old. Despiteopposition to his new faith, Hamidpersevered as he meanderedthrough the many difficulties andhardships that Christian convertsencounter with family and friends.

During his youth, Hamid was acommunity activist in the Phila-delphia area, as he began topreach the message of Islam inthe African American community.

After a stint in the UnitedStates Air Force, Hamid returnedto his native home where he con-tinued to study and preach Islam.In 1969, he was appointed as thefirst National Qaid for MajlisKhuddamul Ahmadiyya USA, abranch of the community foryouth and young adults.

For 25 years, he worked as asupervisor at a facility owned andoperated by Temple University,dedicated to helping mentally chal-lenged children. Also during thistime, he served as local presidentfor the Philadelphia AhmadiyyaCommunity from 1977 until 2001.

Hamid, who was known for hispassionate and emotionalspeeches, was appointed Naib(Vice) Ameer of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, USA in 1997.Hamid has visited several coun-tries including Bangladesh,Bahrain, India, Pakistan and theUnited Kingdom.

Munir Hamid, Naib AmeerAhmadiyya Muslim Community

1938-2009

“His ardent love for the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings ofAllah be on him) was such that each time he mentioned his

name he would be in tears. He had great love for the PromisedMessiah (on whom be peace) and devotion to the Khulafa. Hewas one of those people who are specially guided by Allah.”

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad aba Khalifatul Masih VHead of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

10 MuslimSunrise

The current global financialcrisis is by far the worst the worldhas seen since the Great Depres-sion. Americans are watchingtheir retirement savings erode bya third to one half at a time whenthey are also losing their jobs atan alarming rate. The entire bank-ing system is in shambles withmany banks practically insolventand looking towards the govern-ment for life support. How didthe world’s most advanced fi-nancial system become so dys-functional? Why is there no endin sight despite the government’smany efforts? And most impor-tantly, does the current crisisbring to the surface some funda-mental flaws in the traditional fi-nancial arrangements? I willtouch upon these issues below.

The Origins Of The Crisis:Household Leverage

Figure I plots household leverage ratioover time for the U.S., i.e. total household debtdivided by total wages. While household le-verage was stable from 1995 till 2000 at about1.8, it increased at an unprecedented rate overthe next six years. Americans were borrowingtwice as much per dollar of income in 2007compared to 2000.

Perhaps households borrowed so muchin the hope of finding an ever more willingbuyer for their houses, or perhaps they sim-ply succumbed to the temptation to consume

in the face of easy credit. We do not know thereal intention of borrowers, but what we doknow is that households borrowed in a waythat had never been seen before. In particular,households with declining real incomes (e.g.subprime borrowers) increased their borrow-ing the most. People borrowed increasinglyhigher amounts even when their incomes de-clined1!

Why did America borrow so aggressivelypost-2000? A possible clue comes from theunfettered willingness of fast growing Asianeconomies and other oil-rich countries to loantheir surplus cash to the U.S. in the aftermathof the Asian financial crisis. From 2000 till 2007,U.S. received a net inflow of over 6 trilliondollars in borrowed money2.

The incoming creditors were only inter-ested in holding “safe” U.S. debt. Thissparked off a large industry among investmentbanks to somehow create new AAA (“riskfree”) securities from existing risky Americanmortgages. How does one create risk free debtfrom risky mortgages with a non-trivial prob-ability of default? The elixir was to be found ina process known as securitization.

Securitization is the act of pooling to-gether hundreds of mortgages into a singleentity, and then slicing it into “tranches” tobe sold separately. As an example, supposewe have a hundred low-income households,each taking out a hundred thousand dollarmortgage. The combined pool of these mort-

gages will be worth ten million dollars. Sup-pose that historically ten percent of low-income households default on their pay-ments. This is too high a default risk formost large financial institutions (e.g. Chi-nese central bank, large pension funds) tobear. Therefore, investment banks came upwith the idea to slice the ten million dollarcombination of mortgages into tranchessuch that the top most tranche would bethe last to bear any loss.

In our example, the ten million dollar poolmay be cut into a “senior” and “junior” trancheof five million dollars each. If 10 percent of themortgages default, the entire loss will be borneby the Junior tranche. In other words, the losswould have to be greater than 5 million dollarsfor the senior tranche to bear any loss. Thesenior tranches were often given the best“AAA” ratings by rating agencies, allowinglarge financial institutions that already had allthe capital coming in, to buy them.

One of the problems with securitizationwas that rating agencies gladly gave “AAA”ratings even when the underlying mortgagesfar from deserved such confidence. Invest-ment banks were happy to market these AAAsecurities for the fees they were making, thegovernment did not want to intervene becausethe credit boom was helping keep the economyafloat, and for a while it all made sense as houseprices, themselves driven by the credit surge,kept going up.

In Searchof A NewFinancialOrder

Figure I plots household leverage ratio over time for the U.S., i.e.total household debt divided by total wages.

By Atif Mian

SPRING 2009 11

The Propagation Of The Crisis:Banking Leverage

The borrowing frenzy fed on itself for awhile. However, it became appar-ent by 2007 that many house-holds did not have the incometo continue making their monthlymortgage payments. Conse-quently, default rates rose torecord levels and banks foundthemselves holding onto mort-gage assets worth a lot less thanthey had originally assumed.Soon there was panic in the mar-ketplace as investors wonderedwhich of the banks were sittingon negative net worth.

However, as bad as the mort-gage crisis was, the total lossesin the U.S. economy today farexceed the total likely losses inthe mortgage sector. For example,the U.S. stocks alone have lostover 7 trillion dollars, an amount greater thaneven the most extreme estimate of likely mort-gage losses. Why are total losses to theeconomy so much more than the original lossesin the mortgage sector? The answer lies in theleverage of financial institutions.

Banks all over the world operate on theprinciple of leverage. The idea is to put around5 dollars of your own money (i.e. equity ofbank owners) and then borrow another 95through debt (e.g. through depositors andother debt holders of banks). The bank in thisexample is 95% levered3. The bank would usesome of the 100 dollars it has as loans to busi-nesses and the rest to buy assets such asmortgage securities.

Due to the high leverage however, if thebank loses 5 dollars on its total investment of100, it stands to lose all of its equity and gobankrupt. This in essence is what has hap-pened to the U.S. financial sector. Their 5 dol-lars of equity has been wiped out by mort-gage defaults, and with no equity left in thebanks, depositors and others are not willingto give new credit to banks. There is thus greathesitancy among banks today to lend to eachother, something they do quite easily undernormal circumstances.

Once banks find it difficult to borrow newcapital, they stop lending to others as well,causing businesses at large to suffer. The im-pact is even worse if they start calling backsome of their existing loans. In our example

above, a loss of 5 dollars has the potential todrive down the remaining 95 dollars of assetsalong with it as well. This is the devastatingmultiplier effect of bank leverage.

The Fundamental Problem:Inadequate Risk Sharing

The interaction of problems in house-hold leverage with bank leverage has cre-ated a serious economic crisis the worldover. While not much can be done aboutthe past excesses of the household or bank-ing sector, the primary challenge in front ofpolicy makers today is how to stop the vi-cious cycle of leverage destroying eco-nomic value.

Our inability to stop the economy frombleeding is in large part due to the over in-dulgence of the household and bankingsector on leverage, i.e. borrowing that guar-antees the creditor that no matter what hap-pens they will get their principal and inter-est back. In other words, there is no risksharing between the borrower and its credi-tor. As I explained in the bank leverage ex-ample, an excessive reliance on this type offinancing implies that relatively small lossescan make the borrower bankrupt and start adomino effect that works like a tsunami wip-ing out an economy’s capacity to produce.

What we need is a financial system thatpromotes the sharing of risk between bor-rowers and creditors. While this is a veryinvolved and detailed topic, the value ofgreater risk-sharing can be understood froma simple example. Suppose that instead ofthe traditional fixed-interest contracts, debt

owed by households or banks had a “con-vertibility clause” in it such that in the eventof a large downturn (or reduction in homeprices), a borrower’s debt obligations wouldhave automatically lowered to prevent un-

necessary bankruptcies and fore-closures.

In this alternative financial ar-rangement, banks would not haveto be bailed out and the housingmarket would not collapse underthe weight of foreclosures. Withbetter risk-sharing mechanisms, wemight have had a mild slowdowntoday, but nothing like the free fallthe economy is currently under. Infact there is a good chance that ifwe had contracts with better risk-sharing provisions up front, wecould have avoided the excessiveborrowing of household and banksin the first place.

The reason is that putting inrisk-sharing clauses into financialcontracts forces the financial sys-

tem to do more work. For example, lendershave to be more careful in evaluating thesustainability of underlying house pricesand borrowers’ income potential. The netresult is that there is greater revelation ofinformation in the financial system (i.e. moretransparency) as well as a greater incentiveto look for borrowers with sound funda-mentals.

The push for better risk-sharing ar-rangements in the financial system shouldbe familiar to those acquainted with the Is-lamic philosophy of financial contracting.The Qur’an warns against the destructivepower of leverage by referring to its adverseconsequences as “war from Allah” (2:280).It also encourages the adoption of betterrisk-sharing contracts by advising creditorsthat “if the debtor be in straitened circum-stances, then grant him respite till a time ofease.” (2:281) Perhaps it’s time we move inthat direction.

(Footnotes)1 More detailed analysis regarding the origins ofthe current financial crisis can be found in “Theconsequences of mortgage credit expansion:Evidence from the U.S. mortgage default crisis”by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, forthcoming in TheQuarterly Journal of Economics.2 Interestingly, the amount of net inflow into theU.S. (6 trillion) is almost equivalent to theincrease in household leverage over the sameperiod.3 Some banks like Bear Stearns and LehmanBrothers were levered at even higher rates.

12 MuslimSunrise

GreatWomenLeadershipin Islam

By Shazia Sohail

SPRING 2009 13

W hen talkinga b o u tleadership in

reference to Muslim womenone must keep in mind that shedefines her success in termsvery different from those of theordinary man. In everyday lifeshe defers to, and actively seeksto promote, the authority of thevarious male figures in her life,namely her father, brother,husband, and her son. Howmany times have we heardbehind every great man thereis a great woman? But howmany times have we stopped tothink what that means and whythat is the case?

We heard about the controversy overwhether a Muslim woman could be an imamand lead a prayer service with men stand-ing behind her, and perhaps came away feel-ing sorry for her for she seems to be deniedthe right to shine in a position of promi-nence. What most people fail to realize isthat standing in the limelight is perhaps theposition most abhorrent to a Muslimwoman. She loves none as much as sheloves her Lord, and finds that the feeling ofnearness to Him is most enhanced whenher being is hidden from the eyes of oth-ers; this is where she finds true paradise.That is not always the case for men, whichis why the definition of leadership, as ap-plied to men, is completely false when itcomes to a Muslim woman.

The words of the Holy Prophetsaw “Para-dise lies under the feet of a mother” are infact an extrapolation from a verse of the HolyQur’an:

“And one of His Signs is this, that Hehas created wives for you from among your-selves that you may find peace of mind inthem, and He has put love and tendernessbetween you. In that surely are Signs for apeople who reflect.” (30:22)

This verse is in effect telling her thatshe is innately gifted with the ability to pro-mote peace. Her challenge lies in figuringout the best way to achieve that, and it var-ies from woman to woman. Her acute aware-ness of her responsibility to create peaceand beauty in her environment so compas-sionate men and women can emerge from itdefines her concept of leadership. She thusdefines her success in terms of the physi-cal, moral, emotional, intellectual, and spiri-tual well-being of those she has raised, in-fluenced, or nurtured. And since mother-hood is defined by the ability to care for,and influence, the wives of the Prophetsare referred to as The Mothers of the Faith-ful.

A Muslim woman finds inspiration to bean exceptional leader in the following wordsof the Holy Qur’an:

“Muhammad is not the fatherof any of your men, but he isthe Messenger of Allah andthe Seal of the Prophets; andAllah has full knowledge of

all things.” (33:41)

Meaning, it is a greater honor to be a‘Seal,’ having the ability to leave your im-press upon others, than to be a genetic par-ent. In this regard I will cite the examples ofa couple of great Muslim women who left adeep impress upon the consciousness ofpeople around them and brought aboutrevolutionary changes in society by rede-fining modes of conduct.

Hadhrat KhadijaHadhrat KhadijaRA became a leader

among women by exhibiting unparalleleddevotion and loyalty to her husband, theHoly ProphetSAW, at a time when he was athis weakest and most persecuted. Despite

being wealthy in her own right she volun-tarily gave over all her wealth and slavesto him knowing that he would free them allimmediately, thus accepting a life of pov-erty. She exhibited firm faith in his truth-fulness and was by his side through aus-terity and starvation. The Holy ProphetSAW

could always count on her to see the brightside of a situation even through his dark-est hour. He is reported to have said:“Whenever I heard something unpleasantfrom the disbelievers I would mention it toKhadijaRA. She would console me in sucha manner that my heart would be at peace,and there wasn’t any sorrow that wouldnot become easy or light with Khadija’scomments.” 1

One only has to look at her day to daylife to understand why the Holy ProphetSAW

remained utterly devoted to a woman 15years his senior for the entire 25 years theywere together. His loyalty to her knew nobounds and continued long after shepassed away. He never failed to praise herwhenever the occasion demanded, whichwas almost daily, even when he knew thathis subsequent wives did not particularlylike to have their husband talking about adeceased elderly woman. This ‘Mother ofthe Faithful’ provided the greatest serviceto Islam, the religion of peace, by demon-strating how to enable the spread of good-ness in society through perfect marital anddomestic harmony.

Hadhrat AyeshaHadhrat AyeshaRA has the distinction of

exhibiting the rightly-guided heart (qalb-e-saleem) under conditions of relative physi-cal comfort but potential mental anguish.Having come into marriage with the HolyProphetSAW at a very young and impression-able age she accepted a very deep imprintof his character upon a clean and pureheart. One has to wonder what it was abouther that made the Holy ProphetSAW respondto a questioner that out of all the people inthe world AyeshaRA was the dearest to him,and out of all the men in the world Ayesha’sfather was the dearest to him. 2 It was in-deed the purity of her heart and mind thatwas even attested to by God Almighty inthe Holy Qur’an in the words:

“Verily, those who accuse chaste,unwary, believing women are

Leadership, asdefined by aMuslim Woman

14 MuslimSunrise

cursed in this world and the

Hereafter. And for them is a

grievous chastisement.” (24:24)

This verse, and the context of its rev-elation, sheds light on the spiritual sta-tus of Hadhrat AyeshaRA. Despite hav-ing spent a night stranded in the wilder-ness of a forest, through no fault of herown, and being rescued by and enteringthe town with a stranger, she fully ex-pected God Himself to absolve her ofany wrongdoing, which He promptly didby revealing the above verse affirmingher innocence and purity. 3

She stands out for her many great ac-complishments. It was her deep andclear understanding of issues, grasp ofcommandments, and intellectual dili-gence that made her the educator of menand women alike for decades after theHoly ProphetSAW passed away. She dem-onstrated how to see the best in peopledespite the existence of natural rivalry.She became the selfless source of pass-ing onto her spiritual progeny the posi-tive aspects of her rivals to the HolyProphetSAW’s love. Here are some of thethings she had to say about her com-petitors:

“I was not envious of any wife of theHoly ProphetSAW to the extent that I en-vied Hadhrat KhadijaRA, even though Ihad not even seen her, because the HolyProphetSAW spoke about her very fre-quently. Oftentimes he would slaughtera goat and send it piece by piece to thefamily and friends of KhadijaRA. If I eversaid that it was as if there was no womanin the world other than KhadijaRA hewould reply, ‘She was indeed such a per-son. She was indeed such a person, andshe is my wife in this world and the next,and my progeny is from her.” 4

I t i s no wonder tha t Hadhra tAyesha RA i s known by the t i t l e o fSiddiqa, meaning the truthful woman.The people around her were fully cogni-zant of the fact that she never glossedover the truth as she saw it, even if itpresented her in an unflattering light.

Hadhra t Sauda RA, t he Ho lyProphetSAW’s second wife, who was alsoelder ly, loved Hadhrat Ayesha RA somuch that she granted her own turn tospend the n igh t wi th the HolyProphetSAW to her, which she willingly

accepted. She said about HadhratSaudaRA, “I have never seen a womandevoid of the feeling of rivalry otherthan SaudaRA.” At another place shesays, “Other than SaudaRA I have neverfelt with any other woman that my heartbeats in her chest.” 5 It seems that toknow AyeshaRA was to love her.

It was the love of God which was be-hind the Holy ProphetSAW’s exceptionallove for Hadhrat AyeshaRA. When hisother wives asked him to demand equaltreatment of all his wives from his fol-lowers, he ignored their request twice.Upon being asked the third time he wascompelled to say, “By God! I have neverreceived a revelation on any of yourbeds, but on Ayesha’s bed God talks tome. Therefore, how can you expect tobe treated equal to her.” 6

A few years after the passing of theHoly ProphetSAW, Hadhrat AyeshaRA ledan army of 30,000 men in the Battle ofJamal for a cause which she consideredto be just at the time. Although she laterfound out that she had been misled, anddeeply regretted taking this action in thelater part of her life, she did set an incon-trovertible example of a woman’s preroga-tive to take firm and bold action if shebelieves that to be the right thing to do.

ConclusionSubsequent to the era of the dawn

of I s lam numerous Musl im womenheld pos i t ions of power and inf lu-ence f rom which they spread peacea n d h a r m o n y a l l a r o u n d t h e mt h r o u g h t h e i r p i e t y, p h i l a n t h r o p y,and exceptional t raining of chi ldren.N o t a b l e a m o n g t h e s e a r e H a d h r a tN u s r a t J a h a n B e g u m , N a w a bMubarka Begum, Hadhra t SayyedaM a r y a m B e g u m , H a d h r a t H u s a i nBibi , and the l is t goes on. One thingthey all had in common was their fer-vent love for God Almighty and HisProphet SAW.

Bibliography1.Mutahher Aili Zindagi, page 21 http://alislam.org/urdu/pdf/Mutahar_Aili_Zindagi-20081028MN.pdf2.Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 57, Number 14 http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/hadith/bukhari/057_sbt.html3.Tafseer-e-Kabeer, Volume 6, Pages 268-271 http://alislam.org/quran/tafseer/?page=268&region=T64.Woman in Islam, page 33 http://alislam.org/library/WOMANINISLAM.pdf5.Mutahher Aili Zindagi, page 34 http://alislam.org/urdu/pdf/Mutahar_Aili_Zindagi-20081028MN.pdf6.Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 57, Number 119 http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/hadith/bukhari/057_sbt.html

It is no wonderthat HadhratAyeshaRA is

known by thetitle of Siddiqa,

meaning thetruthful

woman. Thepeople aroundher were fully

cognizant of thefact that shenever glossedover the truthas she saw it,

even if itpresented her inan unflattering

light.

SPRING 2009 15

By Naureen Choudhry

IIIIIf it had to besummarized in asingle sentence whoRabi‘a al-Basri was,the following statement

would come quite close:Rabi‘a al-Adawiyya, a womanfrom Basra who rejectedworship motivated by thedesire for heavenly reward orthe fear of punishment andinsisted on the love of Godas the sole valid form ofadoration. But thisstatement, although accurateand precise, would not dojustice to the life of such aprominent Muslim Sufiwoman from early Islamichistory. Because she wasborn in an era when historywas not recorded as a norm,some fictions revolve aroundher life story. Nonetheless,the facts presented in thisarticle are taken from thepopular historical accountknown about her.

It is said that Rabi‘a al-Adawiyya, or Rabi‘aal-Qaysiyya, was born in Basra (modern dayIraq) between the years 95 AH and 99 AH(around 717CE). Her father’s name was Ismail(of Syria), who after getting married, went tolive with his wife on the edge of the desert notfar from the town of Basra. After a while, Al-lah Almighty blessed them with a daughterand the father named her Rabi‘a. Then theyhad another daughter whom he also namedRabi‘a ath-thani (Rabi‘a the Second), and athird daughter as well was named Rabi‘a ath-

thalatha (Rabi‘a the Third), and yet again an-other daughter whom he named Rabi‘a ar-rabi‘a (Rabi‘a the Fourth), who was to becomethe beloved Saint of Allah.

Although she belonged to one of the noblefamilies of Basra, she was born in the poorestof homes and her father was a humble servantof God. The family faced much hardship andwhen Rabi’a was a little older, her mother andfather died and she was left an orphan. A fam-ine occurred in Basra and the sisters were scat-tered. One day when Rabi’a was walkingabroad, and evil-minded man saw her andseized upon her and sold her as a slave for sixdirhams and the man who bought her made

her work hard. Rabi‘a’s master took her toBaghdad where he immediately set about us-ing her in the way that was most profitable forhimself. She was very beautiful and she alsohad a lovely voice, so her master taught herhow to sing and play the ‘oud, made her danceand entertain people, and above all, to makemoney for himself. He sent her to weddingsand celebrations where she would dance andsing, and the people would give her moneyfor whatever they wanted from her. In this wayshe came to have many bad habits and ways,living a very low life amongst all sorts of peopleand not caring about anything that she did.

This continued until she was about thirty-

Rabi‘a al-Adawiyyaal-Basri

The Jewel of Basra

16 MuslimSunrise

six years old, when one day as she was sing-ing at a wedding she found herself singing ina different way. Songs were coming from herheart for her Beloved Who was her true Lovebecause now Allah, the All-Mighty, had awak-ened Rabi‘a. From that moment she left every-thing that she had been doing before, and sherefused to sing or dance, or play any musicfor anyone except for her Beloved God. Thismade her master very angry because he couldno longer use her to make money for himself.He began to chastise her hoping that thiswould frighten her into returning to her formerways. But she refused. She had begun to prayall through the night, crying to her BelovedGod to help her in her desperate state. Rabi’acarried out her appointed tasks and in the ser-vice of God she was standing on her feet fromnight until dawn. Rabi’a’s master decided tosell her. So he put a cord around her neck andtook her to the slave market of Baghdad. Therea holy man took Rabi‘a to his home, gave herfood and simple clothes, and told her that hedid not want anything from her, except thatshe could pray and be free in his house.Rabi‘a thanked him with all her heart and said,“If you want anything from me for the Face ofAllah, He will give you your reward, but if youwant anything from me for yourself only, I havenothing to give you. I have everything that Ineed from my Beloved God and I do not needanything from any human being.”

The holy man replied that he would like tomarry her, and to free her from being a slave,but that he did not ask anything from her ex-cept what she wanted to give. Rabi‘a thankedhim for his kindness and consideration, andshe said that she did not want to marry any-one, but was grateful for the way that he caredfor her in her deep need. For Rabi‘a‘s case wasthat she had heard the Voice of her BelovedWho was Allah and none other than He, andshe had no need for any earthly husband.

Like many of the ascetic sufis, Rabi‘a madeno separation in her love between man andwoman if they loved her Beloved God. Manypeople loved her and needed her and wantedto take from her something of the special Giftwhich she had been given from Allah. She hadmany followers who yearned to feed them-selves from her Love which she gave to allthose whom she loved. She never married nordid she have any children but as she said,“My peace is in solitude but my Beloved isalways with me. Whenever I witness HisBeauty He is my prayer niche (mihrab); to-ward Him is my qibla. Oh Healer of souls, theheart feeds upon its desire and its striving

towards Union with You has healed my soul.You are my Joy and my Life to Eternity. Youwere the Source of my life; from You came myecstasy. I have separated myself from all cre-ated beings, for my hope is for Union withYou; for that is the Goal of my searching.”

Not only did Rabi‘a never marry but shealso never had a Shaykh to guide and instructher. She received everything that she knewdirectly from Allah without the intermediaryof any Shaykh. At about this time she leftBaghdad and returned to Basra where she re-mained for many years. Rabi‘a once said thatthere are three kinds of men: The first believesthat his hands and his sons’ hands are all thatis necessary to succeed in the only world theyknow: the material world. The second kindprays with his hands so that a reward will beearned in the next life. The third kind has hishands tied at the wrist, bound with love toserve without thought of return. Her life andsayings became a source of deep inspirationand yearning for many who came after her.Her life gave life to the hearts of those be-loved people of Allah who followed after herin the same Line of the Love of God, as shehad done. Particularly, this was the case laterfor Abu Bayazid al-Bistami, Abu’l-Husayn an-Nuri, Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, and AbuBakr ash-Shibli, who, around their leader andMaster al-Junayd, came to be known as TheBaghdad School.

Once Rabi‘a fasted for a whole week, nei-ther eating nor sleeping. All night she prayedand became very hungry. Then a visitor camebringing her a bowl of food. She accepted itand went to fetch a lamp. When she returned,she found that a cat had overturned the bowlof food. She then said to herself: “I will fetch ajug of water and break my fast by drinking.”But by the time she had fetched the jug, thelamp had gone out. She then tried to drink thewater in the dark, but the jug slipped from herhand and broke into pieces. She lamented andsighed so much, “that it was to be feared thatthe whole house would be consumed withfire!” “O Allah!” she cried, “What is this thatYou are doing with this helpless slave?” Thenshe heard a voice say, “Be careful lest youdesire Me to bestow on you all worldly bless-ings, but take away from your heart the caringfor Me, for care for Me and worldly blessingscan never be together in a single heart. Rabi‘a,you desire one thing and I desire another. Mydesire and your desire can never be joined inone heart.” She said then, “When I heard thisadmonition I so cut off my heart from the worldand curtailed my desires that whenever I have

prayed during the last thirty years I havethought it to be my last prayer.”

Rabi‘a said:

“Everyone prays to You fromfear of the Fire;

And if You do not put them inthe Fire,

This is their reward.Or they pray to You for the

Garden,Full of fruits and flowers.

And that is their prize.But I do not pray to You like

this,For I am not afraid of the

Fire,And I do not ask You for the

Garden.But all I want is the Essence

of Your Love,And to return to be One with

You,And to become Your Face.”

It was told of Rabi‘a that she was seenone day carrying a brand of fire in one handand a pitcher of water in the other, and thatshe was running very fast. When they askedher what she was doing and where she wasgoing, she said, “I am going to light a fire inthe Garden and pour water onto Hell so thatboth these veils may disappear from the seek-ers, and that their purpose may be sure, andthat the slaves of Allah may see Him, withoutany object of hope or motive of fear. What ifthe Hope for the Garden and the Fear of theFire did not exist? Not one would worship hisLord, nor obey Him. But He is worthy of wor-ship without any immediate motive or need.”

One of her companions, Sufyan al-Thawri,asked her, “What is the best thing for the ser-vant to do who desires proximity to his Lord?”She said, “That the servant should possessnothing in this world for the Next, save Him.”

Rabi‘a never had any doubts about herBeloved being present or absent, because she

SPRING 2009 17

was not concerned only to have His good plea-sure and bounties. She lived for a Love whichdoes not seek for any answer, reward or reci-procity. It was related how one day one of herfollowers said in her presence, “Oh Allah, mayYou be satisfied with us!” Whereupon Rabi‘asaid, “Are you not ashamed before Him to askHim to be satisfied with you, when you arenot satisfied with Him?” By this she meantthat first we must be truly satisfied with Allah,Most High, before we can ask Him to be satis-fied with us. Then this was followed by thequestion to her, “When then is the servantsatisfied with Allah Most High?” She replied,“When his pleasure in misfortune is equal tohis pleasure in prosperity.”

She said:

“O God, whatsoever You haveapportioned to me of worldly

things,Give that to Your enemies,

And what You haveapportioned to me in the

Hereafter,Give that to Your Friends,

For You suffice me.”

She also said:

“O God, if I worship You forfear of Hell, burn me in Hell,And if I worship You in hope

of Paradise,Exclude me from Paradise.

But if I worship You for YourOwn sake,

Grudge me not YourEverlasting Beauty.”

When Rabi‘a was urged to speak, herwords perfectly manifested her love, her be-lief and her faith, for she was so totally im-mersed in her Lord that she became a shiningLight which attracted many people to her pres-ence to drink from the same Spring from whichshe drank. She said, “If I will a thing and my

Lord does not will it, I shall be guilty of unbe-lief.” So that her faith came from her total sur-render to her Beloved God, as she said, “I havefled from the world and all that is in it. Myprayer is for Union with You; that is the goalof my desire.”

The sole object of Rabi‘a’s life was in heryearning and passionate love for her Beloved,which meant not merely the destruction of herself (nafs) but surrender to Allah every mo-ment in the perfect Union in which there is noLord and slave, no Creator and created being,only He in Himself. In that state she came torealize that she existed in Him without anypossibility of separation from His indivisibleOneness.

Her attraction to a life of poverty was alsopart of her need not to be distracted from herinner journey by the necessity for materialconsiderations. There is a story about thispoverty of hers, as one of her companionssaid, “I went to visit Rabi`a and saw her in herhouse with nothing but a broken water pitcherout of which she drank and made her ablu-tion. There was also an old reed mat and abrick which she sometimes used as a pillow.When I saw this, I felt very sad and I said toher, ‘I have rich friends. If you wish I will getsomething from them for you.’ She said, ‘Youhave committed a grievous error. Is not myProvider and theirs one and the same?’ I re-plied, ‘Yes.’ Then she said, ‘And has the Pro-vider of the poor forgotten the poor on ac-count of their poverty? And does He remem-ber the rich because of their riches?’ I replied,‘No.’ She said, ‘Then since He knows of mystate, how should I remind Him? Such is HisWill and I too wish what He wills.’”

Rabi‘a’s love, which was passionate andall-consuming was also full of humility, fearand reverence (taqwa) for her Beloved, andwhen she was asked about how she had sucha degree of intimacy, she said, “By constantlysaying: I take refuge in You from everythingwhich has distracted me from You and fromevery hindrance which has hindered me fromYou.” She also said, “You must conceal yourgood deeds as you conceal your evil deeds.”

In the same way, she said, “What appears ofany (good) works, I count as nothing at all.”

The key to Rabi‘a’s reaching and living inthe loving Presence of her Lord was her con-stant praying, remembrance and asking forforgiveness for all her shortcomings, and aknowing that her Union with her Beloved Godcould not come in the way that she desired,but only in the way that He desired for her.She was also well aware that her remembranceand repentance did not come from herself, butfrom Him, her Beloved God. It is said that some-one once said to her, “I have committed manysins; if I turn in repentance toward Allah, willHe turn in His Mercy toward me?” She said,“No, but if He will turn toward you, you willturn toward Him.” For Rabi‘a, repentance wasa Gift from Allah. As she said, “Seeking for-giveness with the tongue is the sin of lying. IfI seek repentance of myself, I shall have needof repentance again.” Or as she also said, “Ourasking for forgiveness of Allah itself needsforgiveness.”

She was blessed with a long life duringwhich she continued, to her last days, to giveof everything that Allah inspired her to giveto all who loved her, because she was His spe-cial Light for them all. She is often referred toas the first true Saint (waliya) of Islam andwas praised, not because she in any way rep-resented womankind, but because as Attar(another famous Sufi) said, “When a womanwalks in the Way of Allah like a man she can-not be called a woman.” Attar also said thatRabi`a was “That one set apart in the seclu-sion of holiness; that woman veiled with theveil of sincerity; that one enflamed by loveand longing, lost in union with God; that oneaccepted as a second spotless Mary.” Al-though, as she said herself, she was alwaysbusy with her Beloved God all the time andshe did not have any moment for anybody oranything else but Him, she also knew the mean-ing of what she said, for her Beloved Allahrevealed Himself to her in every face aroundher. She said, “The groaning and yearning ofthe lover of Allah will not be satisfied until it issatisfied in the Beloved.” And Rabi`a was, formany people, that Beloved.

“You must conceal your good deeds as youconceal your evil deeds.” In the same way, she

said, “What appears of any (good) works, Icount as nothing at all.”

18 MuslimSunrise

A h a d i t h :1. Utbah ibn HarithRA relates: I joined the afternoon Prayer led by the Holy ProphetSAW inMedina. The moment he concluded the service he stood up quickly and proceeded to oneof his chambers stepping across the shoulders of the worshippers. People were perplexedby such haste. When he came back he perceived that people were wondering what hadcalled him away so urgently. So he said: I recalled that there was left with me a piece ofsilver (or gold) and this disturbed me. I have now arranged for its distribution (Bukhari).Another version is: There was left with me a piece of silver (or gold) which was meant forcharity. I was disturbed that it should remain with me overnight.

2. On the authority of Abu HurayrahRA from the Holy ProphetSAW, who said:

Allah has supernumerary angels who rove about seeking out gatherings in which Allah’sname is being invoked: they sit with them and fold their wings round each other, filling thatwhich is between them and between the lowest heaven. When [the people in the gathering]depart, [the angels] ascend and rise up to heaven. He (the Prophet) said: Then Allah asksthem - though He is Most Knowing about them: From where have you come? And they say:We have come from some servants of Yours on Earth: they were glorifying You, exaltingYou, witnessing that there is no god but You, praising You, and asking favors of You. Hesays: And what do they ask of Me? They say: They ask of You Your Paradise. He says: Andhave they seen My Paradise? They say: No, O Lord. He says: And how would it be werethey to have seen My Paradise! They say: And they ask protection of You. He says: Fromwhat do they ask protection of Me? They say: From Your Hell-fire, O Lord. He says: Andhave they seen My Hell-fire? They say: No. He says: And how would it be were they to haveseen My Hell-fire: They say: And they ask for Your forgiveness. He (the Prophet) said: ThenHe says: I have forgiven them and I have bestowed upon them what they have asked for,and I have granted them sanctuary from that from which they asked protection. He (theProphet ) said: They say: O Lord, among them is so-and-so, a much sinning servant, whowas merely passing by and sat down with them. He (the Prophet) said: And He says: And tohim too I have given forgiveness: he who sits with such people shall not suffer.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, at-Tirmidhi, and an-Nasa’i).

SPRING 2009 19

BlackHistory:The Originof theHumanRaceBy Alhaj Dhul-Waqar Yaqub

IIIIt would be safeto say, questions oforigin and ancestryare asked by everythoughtful human

being at least once in their lives.For Black Americans inparticular, finding answers tothese questions embarks uponan incredible journey of selfdiscovery.

Black American folk wisdom says, “If youdon’t know where you’ve been, you won’tknow where you’re going.” Our captain andnavigator into “where you’ve been” is Dr.Cheikh Anta Diop (December 29, 1923 – Feb-ruary 7, 1986), a historian, anthropologist andphysicist. Considered one of the greatest Af-rican historians of the 20th century, Diop’sscientific ideas have transformed the basicthrust of African studies in the United States.

Cheikh Anta Diop was born in the town ofDiourbel, Senegal, on the West coast of Af-rica. His birthplace has a long tradition of pro-ducing Muslim scholars and oral historians.His early education was in a traditional Islamicschool where his inspiration and interest in

history, the humanities and social sciencesfrom an African point of view began. At theage of 23, he went to Paris in 1946 to become aphysicist. He remained there for 15 years,studying physics under Frederic Joliot-Curie,Marie Curie’s son-in-law, and ultimately trans-lating parts of Einstein’s Theory of Relativityinto his native Wolof. Diop’s education alsoincluded African history, Egyptology, linguis-tics, anthropology, economics and sociology.

In 1951, Diop submitted a Ph.D. thesis atthe University of Paris in which he argued thatancient Egypt had in fact been a Black Africanculture. The thesis was rejected. Over the nextnine years, Diop reworked the thesis, addingstronger evidentiary support. In 1960, he suc-ceeded in the defense of his thesis and wasawarded his Ph.D. degree.

In 1955, the thesis had been published in

the popular press as a book titled Nationsnègres et culture (Negro Nations and Culture).Dr. Diop challenged the notions of Europeancentered scholars, who had written Africa’scontributions to world civilization out of his-tory. It would make him one of the most con-troversial historians of his time.

Dr. Diop’s critics contend that his thesislacked merit and that it essentially supplantsand counters one form of racism with another,rather than attempting to arrive at the truth.

Seekers after truth who engage themselvesin studies should be aware that there are schol-ars performing inferior research and researchthat supports prejudicial conclusions ratherthan ones of discovery. Other pseudo-schol-ars approach scholarship with designs to apolitical end. Concerning the latter, identitypolitics came to the forefront in the Black

How did I get here... Wheredid I come from... Who are

my ancestors?

20 MuslimSunrise

American awareness experience. Identity poli-tics is political action to advance the interestsof members of a group who perceive them-selves to be oppressed by virtue of a sharedand marginalized identity (such as race,ethnicity or religion).

While using Africa as the vantage pointand the basis for his thesis, Dr. Diop does notneglect the broader dimensions of history. Heshows that history cannot be restricted bythe limits of an ethnic group, nation or cul-ture. Roman history is Greek as well as Ro-man, and both the Greek and the Roman his-tories are Egyptian because the entire Medi-terranean was civilized Egypt; and Egypt inturn borrowed from other parts of Africa, es-pecially Ethiopia.

Diop left his mark in the realm of the reas-sessment of the role of black people in worldhistory and culture. Combining an unusualbreadth of knowledge; including linguistics,history, anthropology, chemistry, and phys-ics; he uncovered fresh evidence about theancient origins and common principles of clas-sical African civilization. He believed thatpeople who feel they possess no past of theirown tend to be absorbed and assimilated intothe governing system, and are made to feelinferior because of this apparent deficiency.

Dr. Diop contends that there exist two theo-ries of human origin: monogenetic and poly-genetic. The monogenetic view states thatthere is one source for mankind; man was bornin one place and became different due to theclimatic conditions to which he was exposed.Followers of this theory believe that mankindwas born in Africa - specifically in the area ofKenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. It is from thisarea of Africa that mankind evolved as a sepa-rate species and left there to people other partsof the world, which had different climatic con-ditions. Under these different climatic condi-tions and over periods of time the Africanschanged and developed a new look.

As an example, during the last Glacial Ep-och about 40,000 year ago, a Homo Sapienscurrently identified as Grimaldi Man, left Af-rica and went to Europe. As a result of theextreme cold climatic conditions and over aperiod of 20,000 years he underwent an adap-tation to that climate and evolved into whatwe conventionally call a white man. TheGrimaldi Negroids have left their numeroustraces all over Europe and Asia, from the Ibe-rian Peninsula to Lake Baykal in Siberia, pass-ing through France, Austria, the Crimea, andthe Basin of Don, etc. In these last two re-gions, the late Soviet Professor Mikhail

Gerasimov, a scholar of rare objectivity, iden-tified the Negroid type from skulls found inthe Middle Mousterian period.

The polygenetic opinion claims that manhas several locations of origin, which wouldexplain the physiological differences betweenthe races. Followers of this theory believe thatman was born in Africa, Europe and Asia andthere was no evolutionary or climatic devel-opment. Diop argues that there are two rea-sons why this theory is faulty. He says thatnature never strikes twice in its evolution; shedoesn’t create the same being twice. In addi-tion, complete fossils have been found onlyon the African continent, which proves thatlife began there. No such fossils have beenfound anywhere else in the world.

Aspects of the polygenetic theory (some-times referred to as multi-regionalism) havebeen criticized as not based on objective sci-entific observation. Some critics even arguethat the polygenetic theory may be motivatedby ethnocentrism and is meant to instill be-liefs of purity of lineage. This implied racismhas had a negative effect, causing scientiststo restrict their hypothesizing to politicallycorrect conclusions.

Dr. Diop reinforces his belief in the mono-genetic theory by noting that the polygen-etic theory seeks to establish a hierarchy ofrace suggesting that some races are superiorto others. He asserts that if man has the sameorigins, there can be no intellectual hierar-chy because all of the races of the worldwould have the same intellectual history. Ifthe races had had different origins it can besaid that they had different intellectual ca-pacity because they all had a different intel-lectual history. The polygenetic theory is es-sential in order to defend the notion that thereare inequalities between the races. It is forthis reason why the polygenetic theory hasbeen defended by people. However, sciencehas set this theory aside.

The monogenetic theory supports thenotion that because our origin is the samewe also share the same intellectual capacity.Dr. Diop is not saying that Blacks are intel-lectually superior to Whites. That would befalse. Diop insists no race is superior to an-other. All races have the same intellectual ca-pacity. There is no autonomic difference inthe brain of the various races.

Currently, the dominant view among sci-

While using Africaas the vantage

point and the basisfor his thesis, Dr.

Diop does notneglect the broader

dimensions ofhistory. He shows

that history cannotbe restricted by thelimits of an ethnicgroup, nation or

culture.

Cheikh Anta Diop, a modern champion of African identity, wasborn in Diourbel, Senegal on December 29, 1923. At the age oftwenty-three, he journeyed to Paris, France to continue advancedstudies in physics. Within a very short time, however, he wasdrawn deeper and deeper into studies relating to the Africanorigins of humanity and civilization. He left this world in 1986.

SPRING 2009 21

entists is the Out of Africa Model. Accordingto the Out of Africa Model (sometimes referredto as the Recent African Origin of ModernHumans or RAO), Homo Sapiens evolved inAfrica 200,000 years ago. Homo Sapiens be-gan migrating from Africa between 70,000 –50,000 years ago and would eventually replaceexisting Homo Erectus, Neanderthal, andHomo Sapiens in Europe and Asia.

The Out of Africa Model has gained sup-port by recent research using mitochondrialDNA (mtDNA). After analyzing genealogytrees constructed using 133 types of mtDNA,they concluded that all were descended froma woman from Africa, dubbed MitochondrialEve.

By analyzing DNA from people in all re-gions of the world, American geneticist Dr.Spencer Wells has concluded that all humansalive today are descended from a San bush-man who lived in Africa around 60,000 yearsago.

Here, important questions arise: ShouldBlack Americans be satisfied with learningonly European history and why should therebe a focus on Black history? Dr. Diop answeredthese questions by stating, “It’s fine to learnthe history of others but you must know yourown history first. People who lose their his-torical memory become a fragile people andthey regress. It is their historical memory thatpermits them to be a strong people.”

The final question is: To what extent dothe works of Cheikh Anta Diop allow one torespond to the challenges of the future?Theophile Obenga, a disciple and a compan-ion of Diop answers this question by stating,“With Cheikh Anta Diop, history is not de-fined as the study of the past of humankind,but as the construction of the future in thename of life.”

Dr. Diop was the Director of RadiocarbonLaboratory at the Fundamental Institute ofBlack Africa (IFAN) at the University of Dakar.He sat on numerous international scientificcommittees and achieved recognition as oneof the leading historians, Egyptologists, lin-guists and anthropologists in the world. Hetraveled widely, lectured incessantly and wascited and quoted voluminously. He was re-garded by many as the modern ‘pharaoh’ ofAfrican studies. Cheikh Anta Diop died qui-etly in sleep in Dakar, Senegal on February 7,1986.

In the introductory remarks of Cheikh AntaDiop we noted that his early education was ina “traditional Islamic school.” His life’s worksappear to be a reflection of the Holy Qur’an.

Based on the idea that “the proof of the pud-ding is the pudding itself,” it would be safe tobelieve that he was grounded in the Qur’anicconcepts of man’s creation. Some of the versesthat support Diop’s ideas of the origin of thehuman race and the development of man arein Arabic at the beginning of this paper andmay be rendered into English as follows:

[God] Who made perfectly well allthat He created. And He originatedthe creation of man from clay.Then He made his progeny from anextract of an insignificant fluid.(32: 8-9)

O you human beings! What is thematter with you that you fail tounderstand that Allah does not doanything unless there is wisdomand purpose underlying it? Youyourselves are not ready to acceptthe assumption that you do thingswith no aim or purpose in view.Why do you therefore assume thatAllah, the Most Wise and All-Knowing, does things withoutpurpose? Why do you jump to thethoughtless conclusion that Hecreated man with no purpose inview? Why do you fail to grasp theevident truth that your creation hasnot been the result of a suddenmeaningless impulse? It was theresult of wise planning anddeliberate execution in asuccession of stages from one pointto another. (71: 14-15)

Allah has made the earth a vastexpanse for you. That you maytraverse its spacious paths for thedevelopment of civilization andalso to attain spiritual perfection.(71: 20-21)

One world, one people. That seems to bewhat Allah is saying in the Holy Qur’an:

“O mankind, We have created

you from a male and a female; andWe have made you into tribes andsub-tribes that you may know oneanother.” (49:14)

As a counter-measure against ethnocen-trism (intolerance of other cultures), racism (in-tolerance of other races) and xenophobia (fearof other races) we must internalize the histori-cal reality that the blood that unites us isthicker than the waters of the Diaspora, cul-ture and accents that separate and divide us.

Bibliographical Sources:

The Holy Qur’an with English Translation andCommentary, Vol. II (Part II) and Vol. III,Published under the auspices of Hadhrat MirzaBashir-ud-Din Mahmud, Khalifatul Masih II.

The Holy Qur’an with Arabic Text – EnglishTranslation as Explained by Allamah Nooruddin.

Creation of Man by Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-DinMahmud, Khalifatul Masih II.

The Cultural Unity of Negro Africa, Cheikh AntaDiop, (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1963), EnglishTanslation: Cultural Unity of Black Africa: TheDomains of Patriarchy and Matriarchy inClassical Antiquity, (Karnak House: 1989).

Civilization or Barbarism, (1981), Cheikh AntaDiop, Introduction to African Civilizations, JohnG. Jackson and Runoko Rashidi, (Citadel: 2001).

Conceptions of History in the Works of CheikhAnta Diop and Theophile Obenga, Jackson andRashidi, op. cit; Chris Gray, (Karnak House:1989).

Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution inNature, Rebecca L. Cann, Mark Stoneking, AllanC. Wilson (1987).

Genetic and Fossil Evidence for the Origin ofModern Human in Science,Christopher Stringer and Peter Andrews (1988).

Modern Humans Came Out of Africa,“Definitive” Study Says, James Owen, NationalGeographic News (2007).

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop Part 1-6,http://www.youtube.com

Created Unequal: Multiregionalism and theOrigins of Anthropological Racism, Adam WellsDavis, MA Thesis (2004), http://www.pitt.edu/~pittanth/grad/research/davisMA.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_n19146082

http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/human_evolution#cite_note_48

22 MuslimSunrise

Dr. Manzurul A. Sikder

Over the past 15 centuries Muslim scholars have added greatlyto collective human knowl-

edge. Many of their contributions are notfully acknowledged or simply forgottenby those who record history. Unfortu-nately, this group includes some modernMuslim writers as well. In this article Iwill summarize the works of two schol-ars of the middle age, namely AlKhwarizmi and Ibn Rushd, focusing ontheir contributions to mathematics andmedicine, respectively.

Al-Khwarizmi & Ibn RushdMuslim Scholars of the Middle Age

Al-Khwarizmi

Besides being a pioneer mathematician,Al-Khwarizmi (full name Muhammad ibnMusa al Khwarizmi al Majousi al Katarbaliwhich is essentially a capsule biography) wasalso a renowned geographer and astronomer.He was born circa 780 CE in what most histo-rians believe to be Khwarizm, modern dayUzbekistan, and was Persian by descent.1

After Muslim conquest of the Persian Em-pire in the mid seventh century, as Baghdadbecame the seat of science and commerce,Al-Khwarizmi moved to the new Abbasidcapital, and began studying mathematics andscience. He soon established himself as thechief scholar in Khalifah al Mamun’s “Houseof Wisdom” (Baitul Hikma), an unrivalled

center for the study of humanities and thesciences of that era.2

Al-Khwarizmi is best known for his contri-butions in the field of mathematics. Most ex-perts call him the father of modern algebra.3 Itwas his simple yet rational approach to solv-ing linear and quadratic equations that madethis particular branch of mathematics useful.The word algebra itself is derived from an Ara-bic term, al-jabr, which was one of the twoprincipal operations proposed by Al-Khwarizmi to solve quadratic equations in hisca. 830 CE book Al-Kitab al-Mukhtasar fiHisab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala (literally, “TheCompendious Book on Calculation byCompletion and Balancing,” later becameknown simply as al-Jabr). This presented a

SPRING 2009 23

radical change in solution of mathematicalproblems, which was until then dominated bycomplicated geometrical proofs developed bythe ancient Greeks, and arithmetic practicedby the Babylonians.4 Al-Khwarizmi’s algebrain fact incorporated both of these earlier meth-ods but significantly broadened the horizon.

Futhermore, Al-Khwarizmi was mainly re-sponsible for the transmission of decimal-based numerical system of India to the rest ofthe world. His On the Calculation with HinduNumerals, written in 825 CE, introduced whatwe now call the “Arabic numerals.” The bookwas later translated in Latin as Algoritmi denumero Indorum. In Europe, the author be-came known as Algoritmi, giving rise to themodern day term algorithm.5

During his lifetime, Al-Khwarizmi wroteover a dozen books on mathematics and as-tronomy. A distinct achievement was calcu-lating the mean longitude of the sun and themoon based on the Jewish calendar. This hepresented his book Risala fi Istikhraj Tarikhal-Yahud (“Extraction of the Jewish Era”).4 Hedied around 850 CE.

Ibn Rushd

Ibn Rushd was born in 520 AH (1126 CE) inthe province of Cordoba, present day Spain, asAbu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibnRushd. A true renaissance man, his expertiseembraced both the humanities and the sciences.In addition to being the chief justice of Sevilleand later Cordoba, and at times the personalphysician and adviser to the Almohad kings,throughout his professional life he was a pro-lific writer and authored more than 20,000 pagesof text on subjects as varied as philosophy,logic, psychology, music, the Shariah, generaltheology, medicine, astronomy, geography,physics, and mathematics.6

Although the best known work of IbnRushd is his commentaries on the writings ofGreek philosopher Aristotle (for which he wasknown by the west for several centuries sim-ply as The Commentator),7 he authored 67original books, including 20 on medicine alone.The best known among them is an encyclope-dia of medicine titled Kitabul Kulliyat fil Tibb(literally, “General Rules of Medicine”), trans-lated in Latin as Colliget. It took him nearly 9years (1153 and 1162 CE) to complete the 7-volume treatise.8 This became quite popularamong the western Caliphate who were an-tagonist to the medical thoughts and philoso-phies of Ibn Sina, a favorite of the BaghdadCaliphate.

Ibn Rushd himself was deferential to Ibn

Sina, and paid great tribute to the old masterby writing a commentary on Ibn Sina’s Urjuzafil Tibb (“Poem on Medicine”).8 Interestingly,Ibn Rushd’s response - Sharh Urjuzat IbnSina - was also written in verses.

The Kulliyat leans heavily on the teach-ings of Greek physicians, including Galen andHippocrates. In addition, an “abstract” onGalen’s works, appropriately titled Talkhis(literally, intermediate-depth commentary),was published under separate cover. Someof the original Arabic manuscripts of Talkhis,unlike many of Ibn Rushd’s writings, are stillpreserved. However, the scope of Kulliyatwas more expanse than previous books ofmedicine. The anatomy described was moredetailed: seven sets of cranial nerves, for ex-ample, along with several spinal nerves andtheir innervation were fully illustrated, as wasthe task of the brain as more than a motorfunctioning center. Many attribute him to bethe first to describe neurological symptomsdue to loss of substantia nigra, a phenom-enon now known as Parkinson’s disease.8 Hisunderstanding of the retina was extraordi-nary: he was the first to propose the exist-ence of and describe the properties of pho-toreceptors in the retina, and to claim that itis the principal organ of sight. Preventativehealth also gets its fare share in Kulliyat, asIbn Rushd devotes an entire volume on thebiology of diseases and their prevention.

A pervasive theme in all his writing wascompatibility of faith and nature when bothare understood properly. He once wrote,“Anyone who studies anatomy will increase

his faith in the omnipotence and oneness ofGod the Almighty.”9 Among his contempo-rary, he was known as Faqih musharik filulum, a jurist who participates in the sciences.

He maintained that true happiness canonly be achieved through a balanced psy-chological health, and people cannot enjoypsychological health unless they follow waysthat lead to happiness in the hereafter andunless they believe in God and His oneness.10

It is difficult to tease out theological philoso-phy from his medical writings. Noting this,the German physician Max Meyerhof com-mented, “In [medieval] Spain, the philosophi-cal bias predominated among medical men.The prototypes of this combination are thetwo Muslims, Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and IbnRushd (Averroes).”8

Some scholars, however, believe that IbnRushd’s unsuccessful attempts to defendphilosophers against theologians paved theway for decline in Muslim medicine.8 His in-fluence began to wane as the political atmo-sphere changed. His strict rationalism collidedwith the new Almohad ruler, and the latter or-dered publicly burning of many of his booksand banished him to Marrakesh, Morocco.The great philosopher-physician died thereon December 10, 1198.

References:1 Khadduri M, “Iraq from c. 600 to 1055: the‘Abbasid Caliphate” in Encyclopedia Britannica2 Lyons J. The House of Wisdom: How the ArabsTransformed Western Civilization, 20093 Rashed R, “al-Khwarizmi’s concept of algebra”in Arab Civilization: Challenges and Responses -Studies in Honor of Constantine K. Zurayk.Qustantin Z, et al, Eds, 19984 Knuth DE, “Algorithms in modern mathematicsand computer science.” Stanford Univdissertation, 19805 Breggren JL. Episodes in the Mathematics ofMedieval Islam, 19866 “Ibn Rusdh: Spanish Muslim Philosopher,” TheWindow: Philosophy on the Internet. Retrieved onFebruary 14, 20097 Ahmad J, “Ibn Rushd,” Monthly Renaissance(Pakistan), August 19988 Ead HA, “Averroës as a physician.” Presentationat DAAD Fellowship Conference, HeidelbergUniversity, 19989 Savage-Smith E, “Attitudes toward dissection inmedieval Islam.” Journal of the History ofMedicine and Allied Sciences, vol 50, 199510 Ibn Rushd. Kitab fasl al-maqal (“On theharmony of religions and philosophy”), quotedfrom The Philosophy and Theology of Averroës(translated by Mohammed Jamil al-Rahmadn),1959

24 MuslimSunrise

Hadhrat Mirza TahirAhmadRH

From the Review of Religions,February 1994

The fourth leader of theInternational AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad, makeshimself available to publiclyaddress any questions put tohim. We present below atranscript of two questionsfrom a session recorded atNasir Baagh, the AhmadiyyaMuslim centre in Germany onthe 11th of September 1993.

Transcribed by Amatul Hadi AhmadQuestion - It is very important in Islam not

to hoard money but to keep it working. Howdoes Islam view placing money on the capi-talist stock market system?

Answer - The Islamic economic systemruns on a different principle and you haveto understand that system before you canget an answer to the question which youhave specifically asked. There are two pos-sible ways of drawing capital into the work-ing machinery of the economy - to circulatecapital so that it can turn the wheels of the

economy and keep it going.One way to do this is to reward capital

with profits so that you can draw capitaland utilize it as you please. That meansthere are two tools created in society - oneis the smaller pull of capital magnates andthe other much larger and diffused pull ofthe society as a whole. To draw money fromthe profits of a society and direct it to eco-nomic channels requires the banking mag-nates and these banking magnates work onpeople’s greed for profit on their capital.The fundamental principle that can be un-derstood to apply in this capitalist system,is that money gives birth to children, thatis, it creates money directly. In itself it isbelieved to have that quality.

Islam refuses to accept this notion. TheHoly ProphetSAW of Islam once asked thequestion of someone who had enquiredabout interest: “Does your money give birthto children?” In other words, if you keep itidle will it reproduce by itself? Of course,the answer was No. From this we see thatIslam considers money to be an inert factorin an economy. A factor indeed, but an inertfactor which can play both positive andnegative roles depending on who is utiliz-ing that money. So human values must bewedded to money before it produces any

results. If those human values are negativevalues and if irresponsible people get holdof money, that money would be wasted andthe whole capital would be sunk into noth-ingness. In other cases, if the users or usurp-ers of that money are clever enough to putit towards some advantage in the economy,then they will gain from it, but the gain ofthe person who channels this money intothe banks, etc. will be a limited gain and afixed gain. It will be unrelated to the results.If someone who gets your money on thecondition of interest, loses it all, then ei-ther he has to pay through his nose for therest of his life or he would have to declarehimself bankrupt. Thus this system alsoinvites all kinds of cheats and that is whatyou come across in everyday life in Europe.In England, particularly these days, manyfraudsters who use this system to their ad-vantage eat up the money as best they canand then declare themselves bankrupt. Withthem sink the economies of millions ofpeople.

Islam does not believe in the principleof money reproducing by itself. So, Islampromotes shareholding - a contract wherethe lender of money will share in the out-come. If it results in a loss, he would sufferthe loss and if it turns a profit, he will share

Investment, Interest, and Islam

SPRING 2009 25

in the profit. Now, that requires very cau-tious decisions on the part of the lenderand a higher standard of honesty and in-tegrity in the economy - otherwise the sys-tem cannot work. So this is a resultant benefitfor the society - only those stay afloat in themarket who are honest and have earned thereputation of integrity. The rest are just wipedout. This is the Islamic attitude.

But still, the second part of the ques-tion is to be answered: “How would Islamforce capital to be pushed into economicchannels?”

Islam uses the approach of exacting aprogressive fine on idle capital. Thus, ac-cording to Islam, capital is created to runthe wheels of the economy and nobody hasthe right to hoard capital. In this aspect,capital is the common property of the na-tion. It can be individual property only aslong as it is serves some purpose. When itbecomes idle, then it is to be fined. The Is-lamic system of Zakat is exactly that fineimposed on idle capital. In Islam, if the capi-tal owned by individuals is not employedin some economic projects, it decreases invalue for that individual, that is, the cost ofhoarding is paid to the nation by those whohoard money. So they are compelled to pushit into the economy and there, as alreadyexplained, it requires better people, morehonest people, more capable and compe-tent people to utilize that capital.

Now, if you go back into the history ofIslam, you will begin to understand that themost honest and the most pious people werethe greatest “capitalists,” if you want to callthem that, who put capital to good use forthe economy. Hadhrat Imam Abu HanifaRH,one of the most highly revered jurists inIslam, whose system of jurisprudence isfollowed by the largest number of Muslimstoday, was also an astute businessman.People used to throw money at him. Somewould leave pouches full of money at hisdoorstep with the message, “For God’s sakeemploy it and let us share the profit.” So, ifhe could employ that money he would shareequally in the profit. Mostly, people ben-efited from his intellect and his experienceand this also happened in many other cases.Integrity was supported by the economicsystem of Islam while on the other hand,dishonesty and the capacity to cheat cometo the fore and are supported by the sys-tem of usury.

However, I think the question requiresa little more exploration in one particular

area. The comparative advantage or disad-vantage of the two systems comes into thelimelight during economic crises such aswe have seen recently in England. Thosecomplaints that run on money borrowedagainst interest, during the idle days of theeconomy, must collapse. There is no chanceof survival for them because they must paythrough the nose, although they are notearning anything and not benefiting fromthe money they had borrowed. In Islam, itis the other way around. If the money be-comes idle in the hands of the one who hadborrowed it, and production has to be low-ered, due to a crisis, then the lender willalso have to share the burden with the bor-rower. The lender will not be paid anything.Such companies will be given much greaterbreathing periods like those animals who

hibernate during winter periods. So, the Is-lamic system provides the possibility of hi-bernation, while the western capitalist sys-tem has no provision for this.

The following question was also askedon the same occasion and is a continuationof the previous answer as it relates to theWestern economic system.

Question - Why does Islam forbid theuse of interest?

Answer - This is a short question whichrequires a very long answer and I doubt ifwe have sufficient time in this forum as Icannot devote the entire time to one singlequestion. Although I cannot be exhaustive,I will attempt to give a satisfactory, but briefanswer.

The question relates not only to anindividual’s requirements - the question ofinterest and its forbiddance in Islam is amuch wider issue of a much greater impactin kind as well. All those financial systemsthat are run on usury and interest are calledcapitalist systems. They all have an inher-ent weaknesses - not only one, but manyinherent weaknesses which always ulti-mately make the people living in those ar-eas suffer from the consequences whetherthey themselves directly participate in thesystem or not. I can’t speak at length onthis issue but I can give you a single ex-ample to illustrate my point.

A society that can borrow money on in-terest is given permission to spend its fu-ture in the present time. What happens isthat if I for example, need some money tospend on a luxurious car, a good hotel, ahouse or some other article of luxury andthe rate of my earnings is too low but myimpatience is without limit and I can’t waituntil I have earned enough to fulfill my de-sire, the system based on usury, or the in-terest system provides an opportunity toborrow money from the banks. Apparently,what I am doing is that I am borrowing frommy own future, so I become poorer with thepassage of time and sometimes it becomesalmost impossible for me to service the debtswhich I have got myself burdened with.Now this is not just an individual problem.From then on, it becomes a national prob-lem and continues to become more complex.

Industry which flourishes on this sys-tem is in fact, catering for the requirementsof the day or the year and expands itself on

Islam does notbelieve in the

principle of moneyreproducing by itself.So, Islam promotes

shareholding - acontract where the

lender of money willshare in the outcome.If it results in a loss,he would suffer theloss and if it turns aprofit, he will share

in the profit.

26 MuslimSunrise

a requirement that it is not natural but arti-ficially boosted. After a while, buying powerbecomes reduced more and more until itreaches a point of stalemate. The buyingpower of the country as a whole becomesvery little and the servicing of debt itselfbecomes a huge problem for the country toovercome. Industry suffers heavily and sodoes trade. The result is that at such times,economic crises appear.

Now, those countries that have enoughvenues of foreign trade to support them-selves in time of crisis can see themselvesthrough a while. But when a larger num-ber of advanced countries reach a crisisat the same time, then it is impossible tosupport such a false economy. The finan-cial crisis that recently occurred in En-gland was in fact predicted by me in mylecture some years ago at the QueenElizabeth II Hall when I clearly stated thattheir system of interest was going to landthem in much deeper trouble than theybelieved. That is exactly what happenedand the problem will expand further.

Because of the political changes inEastern Europe, the crisis in Western Eu-rope has been delayed for a while for cer-tain reasons that I do not wish to enlargeupon here. But it will come. Foreign mar-kets will remain limited. Their buyingpowers are also reducing. Blood is being

sucked out of Africa so rapidly now thatthey are suffering from anaemia - and per-nicious anaemia for that matter.

If the race in Europe for acquiringmore foreign markets is realized, say, infive years or so, then you will realize howintense the problem will be and howthreatening it will become. Germany it-self is passing through a phase of re-building its economy and absorbing thelarge number of Germans from the East.Among them is available excellent know-how and expertise which has been paidvery little in the past. They are now apart of the West Germany economy andstand on an equal footing and so thelevel of production, after an initial shock,will rise so rapidly that the rest of Eu-rope will find itself shuddering at theprospect of the boos ted Germaneconomy. Then the race for foreign mar-kets will really begin in earnest.

Also, Russia will not remain the Rus-sia of today which is still suffering fromthe aftermath of the destruction of thecommunist system. Russia is regroupingitself. Its economy will start breathingagain. The state of Russia today remindsus of the great work of Milton, ParadiseRegained, in which the armies of Satanregroup themselves after the initial shockto re-capture paradise again. So, don’t

consider Russia out of the competition.The USSR is a huge country, or a num-

ber of countries grouped together, whoseeconomy is potentially stronger than thatof many European countries. Once theyhave had the breathing time to regroupthemselves and to change their systemto a capitalist one then a course of eventssimilar to that of Germany would follow.So now, imagine the situation of Europewith lessening buying power, increasingeconomic problems and increasing com-petition. Such crisis always leads to warand this is a fundamental principle thatcan never be negated.

That is why in prohibiting usury or in-terest the Holy Qur’an says that if youdo not desist from usury, then be readyto go to war with Allah and His Prophet,which means that the divine systemwould be at odds with you and you arebound to enter a situation of war. So thisis the shortest possible answer that Icould give but there is far more to be said.

The Head of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community responds to thespecific questions being asked.Should our readers require anyfurther clarification, they shouldfeel free to contact The MuslimSunrise Editor.

On the authority of Abu HurayrahRA , who said that the Messenger of AllahSAW said: Allah will say on the Dayof Resurrection:

O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are theLord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant so-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not?Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you forfood and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds?He will say: Did you not know that My servant so-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you notknow that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam,I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drinkwhen You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant so-and-so asked you to give him to drink and yougave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.

It was related by Muslim.

A h a d i t h

SPRING 2009 27

Ibn Battuta: TheGreatest Traveler

of All TimesBy Atif Munawar Mir

“For him who adopts a pathseeking knowledge, Allah easesthe way to paradise…A learnedone is superior to a worshipperas the moon is superior to allthe planets. The divines areheirs of the prophets andprophets do not leave aninheritance of dirhams anddinars but only of knowledge.He who acquires knowledgeacquires a vast portion.”

Inspired by these teachings of theHoly Prophet MuhammadSAW, Muslims, throughout history, have travelled to distant places to meet eminent scholars, explore unknown ter-

ritories and discover new cultures. Ibn Battuta,by far, is the most celebrated of these travel-ers in the Islamic world. His travels spannedover a time period of thirty years and covered75,000 miles. This distance is approximatelythree times greater than Marco Polo’s journeyfrom Venice to China in the late thirteenth cen-tury. In the West, Ibn Battuta is not knownwell, mainly because he was a Muslim andtravelled only within the borders of the Is-lamic world. Driven by the desire to seekknowledge, he met sufis, legal scholars, mys-tics and magicians living in 44 modern coun-tries including Morocco, Egypt, Syria, India,Somalia, Tanzania, China, Turkey, Ukraine, Af-ghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia. Thestories of his travels provide not only knowl-edge of Islamic history but also offer a senseof aesthetic pleasure.

Who was Ibn Battuta? Apart from his ownpersonal travel records, we have few detailsabout his life. He was born in Tangier on Feb-ruary 24th, 1304, and died in 1369. He leftTangier on June 14, 1325 A.D., at twenty-twoyears of age, and finally ended his journey inMorocco and dictated accounts of his jour-neys to a scholar, named Ibn Juzayy. The ac-counts of his journey are known as Rihla(Travels) of Ibn Battuta.1 In the 14th centuryIslamic world, the tradition of writing ‘Rihla’was a common pursuit. Rihla were detailedtravel journals or memoirs, written by Muslimtravelers and scholars about their visits to

Mecca or other places. Ibn Battuta coveredhis 75,000 mile travel route on foot, donkeyand camel. He travelled through scorchingdeserts, over towering mountains and ragingoceans. He travelled under the constant fearof bandits and blood thirsty pirates. In otherwords, he risked his life for the sake of seek-ing knowledge and wisdom. His travels werenot merely an adventure, but also and prima-rily a search for knowledge and a desire toexperience and witness God’s vast and infi-nite creation. He truly lived up to the sayingof the Holy ProphetSAW:

“Seek knowledge even if you have to goas far as China, for seeking knowledge is aduty on every Muslim.”

Ibn Battuta’s JourneyIbn Battuta’s journey began when the

Mongols were converting to Islam. During thistime of peace, Ibn Battuta set off globe trot-ting. He was a man of meager means but hewas fed, entertained and cared for along theway by royalty, merchants and Mongolkings.2 In his books, he describes meetingswith kings and encounters with sufis. How-ever, modern geographers find the “descrip-tions of varying natural environment, prod-ucts of far-off islands, articles of export, me-tropolises, ports and sea routes…”3 most in-teresting in his travel accounts.

1325-1327 – Beginning of Jour-ney – From Morocco to Mecca4

Ibn Battuta’s first journey was to the holycity of Mecca for the Hajj. On his way to Mecca,he passed through modern day Algiers (Al-geria), Tunis (Tunisia), Tripoli (Libya), Alex-

andria (Egypt), Jerusalem (Israel), Damascus(Syria) and Medina (Saudi Arabia).

In his book, he provides numerous per-sonal observations of North Africa and theMiddle East. For example, this is his accountof the social security system in Damascus inthe early 14th century C.E:

“The variety and expenditure of the religiousendowments at Damascus are beyondcomputation. There are endowments…forsupplying wedding outfits to girls whosefamilies are unable to provide them, andothers for the freeing of prisoners. There areendowments for travelers, out of the revenuesof which they are given food, clothing, andthe expenses of conveyance to theircountries. Then there are endowments for theimprovement and paving of the streets,because all the lanes in Damascus havepavements on either side, on which the footpassengers walk, while those who ride usethe roadway in the centre”. 5

He painted the picture of the Nile, Alexan-dria and Cairo in the following words:

“There is no need for a traveler on the Nileto take any provision with him, becausewhenever he wishes to descend on the bankhe may do so, for ablutions, prayers,purchasing provisions or any other purpose.There is a continuous series of bazaars fromcity of Alexandria to Cairo”.6

1327-1330- To East Africa andback to Arabia7

After completing Hajj for the first time, IbnBattuta decided to visit Iraq and Iran. It is atthis point that his globetrotting career reallybegan.8 However, he kept coming back to

Ibn Battuta covered his 75,000 mile travelroute on foot, donkey and camel. He

travelled through scorching deserts, overtowering mountains and raging oceans. Hetravelled under the constant fear of bandits

and blood thirsty pirates.

SPRING 2009 29

Mecca from different directions during his vis-its and in total performed Hajj seven times.

He stopped in Basra, Iraq, which in earliercenturies of Islamic history produced greatMuslim philosophers, theologians, scientists,poets and historians.9 While in Iraq, IbnBattuta also visited the city of Baghdad, whichhad recently faced the Mongolian invasionand, as a result, had lost its intellectual splen-dor. Baghdad was the capital of the Islamicempire ruled by the Abbasid Caliphate. TheAbbasid Caliphate had come into power in751 after defeating the Umayyads. Once apowerful military and intellectual force, theinfluence of the Abbasid Caliphate had de-creased in the mid 13th century. The Mongolsoverran Baghdad in 1258. They destroyed theGrand Library of Baghdad, containing count-less historical documents and books on sub-jects ranging from medicine to astronomy.According to some claims, Mongols slaugh-tered hundred of thousands of people.10 Theimpact of the Mongolian invasion was stillvisible in the 1320s, when Ibn Battuta visitedBaghdad. He describes Iraq’s sad state in thefollowing words:

“Her outward lineaments have departed andnothing remains of her but the name…thereis no beauty in her that arrests the eye, orsummons the busy passer-by to forget hisbusiness and to gaze.”11

After visiting Iraq and Iran, he returned toMecca, from where he sailed down the east-ern coast of Africa through the Red and Ara-bian Seas, and further, to modern day Tanza-

nia and Somalia. From there he sailed back toOman and took an overland caravan route toArabia and then back to Mecca again. Whilein Mogadishu (Somalia), he received greathospitality from the local people. In 14th cen-tury Eastern Africa, the spread of Islamic cul-ture was not synonymous with the peoplingof the region by Persians.12 The rulers, schol-ars, officials and big merchants, as well as theport workers, farmers, craftsmen, and slaves,were dark-skinned people speaking Africantongues in everyday life.13 For Arabs and Per-sians, East Africa was a fertile, well-wateredland of economic opportunity and a place ofsalvation from drought, famine, overpopula-tion and war at home.14

1330-1341-To India, throughAnatolia and Asia. 15

Ibn Battuta was now a skilled traveler,however the travels required money. He heardthat the Sultan in Delhi, India, was seekinglearned men to work as qadi (judges) to inter-pret Islamic law. So in 1330, Ibn Battuta setout for India. He traveled through Asia Minor(comprising most of the modern republic ofTurkey) Central Asia and Afghanistan. 16

While travelling through modern day Turkey,he speaks in his book of prestige enjoyed bydoctors of law among Turks.17 In 1333, hecrossed the towering Hindu Kush, which sepa-rates inner Asia from the Indus and finallyreached India, where he met with the sultan ofDelhi, Muhammad Tughluq. He was granteda position as a qadi, and served the king for

almost eight years. Ibn Battuta described theKing Tughluq, who was also a learned scholar,in his Rihla, as:

“The king of India…makes a practice ofhonouring strangers and showing affectionto them...the majority of his courtiers, palaceofficials, ministers of state, judges, andrelatives by marriage are foreigners and hehas issued a decree that foreigners are to becalled by the title of Aziz (Honorable)”18

1341-1349-Moves from India toChina and encounters many

adventures19

In 1340, the sultan of Delhi appointed IbnBattuta to lead a mission to China. He reachedChina passing through southern India, Ceylon,Maldives Island, Bengal, Burma and Sumatra.20. Ibn Battuta notes China as the safest andmost agreeable country of the world for thetraveler21. However, he was not impressed byChina’s paganism:

China was beautiful, but it did not pleaseme. On the contrary, I was greatly troubledthinking about the way paganism dominatedthis country. Whenever I went out of mylodging, I saw many blameworthy things.That disturbed me so much that I stayedindoors most of the time and only went outwhen necessary. During my stay in China,whenever I saw any Muslims I always felt asthough I were meeting my own family andclose kinsmen.22

1349-1354-Journey back home;visit to Grenada and the final

adventure to Mali23

Ibn Battuta returned again to Mecca in1346 to perform the Hajj one more time. Whenhe had completed his duties in Mecca he be-gan his journey home to Fez in Morocco. Hearrived in Fez in 1349. However, the thirst fortraveling had made his soul restless. In 1350he was on the move again; this time to Grenadaon the Iberian Peninsula. Still not completelysatisfied that he had traveled all of Dar-al-Islam (i.e. lands of Islam) he joined a caravanto cross the Sahara to visit Mali. In 1355 hefinally returned home for good 24 after spend-ing 30 years of his life traveling.

Rihla as the Historical DocumentIbn Battuta’s story teaches us about the

Islamic world in the 14th century. Through hiswritings, we learn about the hospitality, cus-toms, educational methods and the geographi-cal conditions of the Muslim world.

James Preston, a renowned scholar ofgeographical education admitted morethan 25 years ago that Ibn Battuta’s book,written as it was in Arabic, made littleimpact on Christian world. Even today,when some of our schools teach childrenabout the intense heat of the torrid zone,reference could be made to Ibn Battuta,who six centuries ago, pointed out thatthe climate along the equator was lessextreme than the climate in the so-calledtemperate zone in North Africa.25 It maybe argued, however, that lately the con-tributions of Ibn Battuta to the subjectof history and geography are being rec-ognized. For example, Paula Ranciato ofYale-New Haven Teachers Institute, aneducational partnership between YaleUnivers i ty and New Haven Publ icschools, acknowledged the historicalvalue of Ibn Battuta’s travel narrative.Referring to Ibn Battuta’s Rihla, she said:The importance of the narrative in a socialstudies class is the ability of our studentsto examine and explore people’s dreamsand experiences in a social and culturalcontext. 26

Joan Arno and Helen Grady, educa-tors of younger children, admit that thestudy of the adventures of Ibn Battutaprovide a mechanism for teaching aboutthe early 14th century.27

Ibn Battuta employed personal expe-riences to construct a social history of14th century Islamic world. His informa-tive narratives contained fascinating por-traits of political and cultural elites. Hediscusses his meeting with sufis. Hesought knowledge from legal scholars.His Rihla also provides in depth detailsof local cultures and sensibilities. How-ever, some argue that personal experi-ences are not wholly reliable because ofthe informants’ tendency to exaggerateand idealize what they did. No doubt,personal narratives may contain errorsand biases, and does not necessarilyconstitute a complete historical record byitself. Nonetheless, personal narrativeshelp us gain meaningful insights intounderstanding how people lived in thepast.

Paul Kegan, in his book “Ibn Battuta,Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354”says the following about the use of IbnBattuta’s narrative of the Islamic world:

Its monuments too abide, for those whomay have the fortunate to visit them, butits men and manners are to most of usutterly unknown, or dimly conceived inthe romant ic image of the ArabianNights. Even for the specialist i t isdifficult to reconstruct their lives and seethem as they were . His tor ies andbiographies there are in quantity, butthe historians for all their picturesquedetails, seldom show the ability to selectthe essential and to give their figuresthat touch of the intimate which makesthem live again for the reader. It is inthis faculty that Ibn Battuta excels.28

Conclusion

The modern mind might question thevalue of Ibn Battuta’s 30 years of travel-ling. In today’s world, knowledge is gen-erally acquired for monetary reasons, sta-tus or prestige, but in the Middle Ages,the purpose of acquiring knowledge wasfor the sake of knowledge itself. IbnBattuta’s travels should be an inspirationfor young people to travel and explorethe different cultures of the world andexpand their horizons. The knowledge ofcultures acquired through travel, tends

to be more authentic and reliable unlikethe knowledge acquired through massmedia, which reduces the complexity ofcultures into sound bites. Granted thatIbn Battuta did not have to worry aboutcustoms and passports but don’t forgetthat he travelled when modes of trans-portation were as inconvenient as don-keys, horses, camels and ships and thethreats of storms, illnesses, pirates andbandits were a constant danger. His cour-age and commitment stand as an inspira-tion to all who thirst to explore the oceanof knowledge.

(Footnotes)

1 Ahmad, Nafis, “The Geographers and their Work”, Muslim Contribution to Geography, SH. Muhammad

Ashraf, 1965, p. 53

2 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

3 Ahmad, Nafis, p. 55-56

4 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

5 http://www.famousmuslims.com/Ibn%20Battuta%20-%20The%20Incredible%20Traveller.htm

6 Dunn, Ross, “The Mamluks”, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, University of California Press, 1986, p. 45.

7 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

8 Dunn, Ross, p. 79

9 Dunn, Ross, p. 92

10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258)

11 Dunn, Ross, p. 97

12 Dunn, Ross, p. 124

13 Dunn, Ross, p. 124

14 Ross, Dunn, p. 125

15 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

16 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

17 Ross, Dun, P. 153.

18 Ross, Dunn, p. 179

19 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

20 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

21 Ross, Dunn, p. 259

22 http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/oldwrld/diplomats/battuta.html

23 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

24 http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2007/2/07.02.07.x.html#b

25 James, E. Preston, Martin, J. Geofffrey, “Geography in the Middle Ages”, All Possible Worlds: A History of

Geographical Ideas, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd Edition,1981, p. 52

26 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/

27 http://nchs.ucla.edu/NH156-preview.pdf

28 http://www.famousmuslims.com/Ibn%20Battuta%20-%20The%20Incredible%20Traveller.htm

SPRING 2009 31

In this brilliant sphere of suchMarvels, beauty and wonderHow can there exist a dark sideFilled with strife, rage and plunder?

Its mere presence causes manyTo give up faith and hope.With his upturned wondering eyes,A young child ponders—“How can man cope?”

With so much hate and violenceIt causes one’s heart to ache.Thought the child, “Is life worth moreThan the time it takes for it to break?”

“Should humans, as animalsLiving knowing only one belief,And not have a choiceTo endure sorrow and grief?”

“Should they not be given the chanceTo follow the wrong path and go astray,To kill, hurt, and destroy others for reasonsConcerning their own greed, desires, and ways?”

“Would life not be much simplerIn such a style?”But “NO” is the answer,Realized the child with a smile.

Regardless of the horrors of this worldAnd the disappointments it may carry,Life is a most precious giftOf which its dangers one must wary.

Our choices were deemed to usBy God for many reasonsJust as the earth’s revolutionsVary the seasons.

And this fills the young lad’s mindAs well as his heart-filled breastWith thoughts of joy and contentmentHis searching mind finally at rest.

Life is for the love of God,Ever so-ForgivingAnd the love of GodMakes life worth living.

By Maria Andleeb Ahmed

Poetry Corner

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:

“The Hour (Last Day) will not be establisheduntil (religious) knowledge will be taken away

(by the death of religious learned men),earthquakes will be very frequent, time will pass

quickly, afflictions will appear, murders willincrease and money will overflow amongst you.”

[Volume 2, Book 17, Number 146: Sahih Bukhari]

32 MuslimSunrise

Allah has promised tothose among you whobelieve and do goodworks that He will,surely, make them

successors in the earth,as He made successorsfrom those who werebefore them; and that

He will, surely, establishfor them their religionwhich He has chosenfor them; and that He

will surely give them inexchange security andpeace after their fear.

(24:56, Al-Nur)

T his verse from the Holy Qur’anis God’s promise to protect theMuslim Community after theHoly Prophet Muhammad’sdeath. God outlines how He

rewards those who believe and do good worksby making them Successors. Four individuals

who believed and engaged in good worksand truly became “successors in the earth”are the Khulafaa Rashideen, or the RightlyGuided Caliphs who succeeded the HolyProphet MuhammadSAW. Through thehistorical accounts of these four grandleaders of the Muslim Community duringthe seventh century, one finds truly nobleand heroic characteristics.

Abu Bakr: The Truthful, Forgivingand Brave (632-634)

The first caliph of Islam wasAbdullahRA, commonly known as Abu BakrSiddiq. Born in 572C.E. in Mecca, Abu

BakrRA was renowned as a noble and equi-table man and was highly respected by allwho knew him. Abu BakrRA was also theHoly Prophet Muhammad’s closest friend.In addition to his many accomplishmentsas caliph, such as expanding the Muslimterritory and beginning the compilation theHoly Qur’an in written form, Abu BakrRA ismost well-known for his truthfulness, for-giving nature, and unwavering bravery.

As suggested by his title, Siddiq, mean-ing truthful, Abu BakrRA was the first adultman to confirm and embrace the truth ofthe Holy Prophet Muhammad’s claim.1 AbuBakr’s truthfulness, however, was much

Khulafaa RashideenModels of Leadership

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

By Lubna R. Malik

This is a traditional study in Arabic calligraphy that comprises thenames of Allah, Muhammad, and the four Noble Caliphs whosucceeded Muhammad as leaders of the Muslim community, AbuBakr, Omar, Uthman, and Ali.

SPRING 2009 33

deeper than his immediate acceptance ofMuhammadSAW as God’s prophet. Siddiqconnotes that one is constantly in a stateof truthfulness. Thus, Abu BakrRA lovedGod and Islam so completely and so purelythat his whole being exuded the truthful-ness of Islam. The Promised Messiah, MirzaGhulam AhmadAS, has written on the spe-cial and unique quality of Siddiqi:

…all the doors leading toProphethood have been closed

except the door of Sirat-e-Siddiqi,i.e., losing oneself in the Holy

Prophet.2

This quotation from the PromisedMessiah’s writing indicates that the only

way to attain the level of righteousness andpiety necessary for prophetic status isthrough becoming truly Siddiq, that is im-mersing oneself in the love of God and Is-lam, just as Abu BakrRA had done in the sev-enth century.3

Following the Holy ProphetMuhammad’s demise, Abu BakrRA was cho-sen as the first caliph of the Muslim com-munity. One reason the Muslim Communitychose Abu BakrRA was because of his ex-tremely forgiving heart. On one occasion, aman slandered Abu Bakr ’s daughter,AyeshaRA, who was also the Holy ProphetMuhammad’s wife. Interestingly, this manrelied on Abu Bakr’s charitable donationsto feed himself and his family. Upset withthis man for insulting the Prophet’s wife4,Abu BakrRA ceased financially supporting

this man. However, Abu Bakr’s heart wasso generous and forgiving that he soon re-sumed financially supporting the man andremoved any negative feelings from hisheart.5

Another reason the Muslim Communitychose Abu BakrRA as the first leader afterthe Holy Prophet Muhammad’s death washis unwavering bravery. Upon theProphet’s death, the Muslims were sad,shocked, and confused about the future ofthe Community. Seeing the Community insuch deep grief over the Prophet’s death,Abu BakrRA stood and addressed them all:

Whoever used to worshipMuhammad, then let him know that

34 MuslimSunrise

indeed Muhammad has died. Andwhosoever worships Allah, then

Allah is alive and does not die. AndMuhammad is only a Messenger.

Verily, all Messengers have passedaway before him. If then he dies, will

you turn back on your heels?6

Even at this difficult and sad point inMuslim history, Abu BakrRA was not afraidto assert the truth that encompassed hisbeing. He challenged his Muslim brothersand sisters to stand up and continue liv-ing Islam because the faith had not diedwith Prophet MuhammadSAW. Abu BakrRA

was the firm and steadfast heart of theMuslim Community that reassured themall.7

Abu Bakr’s two-years as caliph of theMuslim Community that was constantlyengaged in warfare with enemy states, deal-ing with internal strife as apostasy grew,and ensuring that the Qur’an’s teachingsand Prophet Muhammad’s practice wereproperly followed are saturated with count-less examples of his unwavering truthful-ness, commitment to mercy and forgive-ness, and his bravery against all odds.

Umar: The Humble andCompassionate (634-644)

Following Abu Bakr’s demise, UmarRA

was elected caliph. UmarRA had been oneof the fiercest enemies of Islam and theHoly Prophet MuhammadSAW; however,after hearing his sister recite a verse fromthe Holy Qur’an, he accepted Islam andbecame a great source of strength for theMuslim Community. Given the title ofFarooq, or one who distinguishes betweenright and wrong, Umar’s period as caliphhas been called a golden period of Islamichistory for all of its accomplishments, suchas the establishment of the Majlis-e-Shura(consultative body of advisors to the ca-liph), the division of the Islamic state intoprovinces to facilitate administration, theestablishment of a finance department, thebuilding of schools and mosques, and theintroduction of the Islamic calendar. Un-der Umar’s leadership, the Muslim commu-nity also expanded to large parts of Iran,Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Most notable of thisformerly intolerant and violent man, how-ever, was his humility and compassion.8

UmarRA began his period as caliph withthese words:

In running the State, you are mypartners. Help me with your sound

advice. If I follow the right path laiddown by God and His Prophet,

follow me. If I deviate, correct me.Strengthen me with your advice and

suggestions.

This was the level of humility exhib-ited by the second caliph of Islam that,even though he had been chosen to leadthe Muslims, he appealed to the MuslimCommunity to advise him and even cor-rect him, should he make a mistake.

One example from Umar’s period as ca-liph that encompasses both his humilityand compassion is how he cared for thewelfare of the people of Medina. Desiringto hear the true needs of society and offerhis assistance wherever he could, UmarRA

used to disguise himself as a common per-son and walk around Medina at night. Onesuch night UmarRA observed a woman cook-ing while her children cried around her.UmarRA soon found out that the woman andher children had been hungry for twodays, and that the woman was not cook-ing, but merely pretending to cook over afire to console her hungry children. Dis-traught at the state of this mother and herchildren, UmarRA immediately went to thenewly-established treasury and carried allof the food he could to the woman. On hisway to the woman’s home, one of Umar’sservants stopped him and offered to carrythe food load for UmarRA. UmarRA, how-ever, responded:

No doubt you can carry this weightfor me today, but who will carry my

burden on the Day of Judgment?

UmarRA then delivered the food to thewoman who was so grateful that she ex-claimed:

May God bless you. It would be farbetter if you were the Caliph of the

Muslims, instead of Umar who isnot aware of the condition of his

people.

On hearing this, UmarRA began crying

and left the woman’s home without sayinga word.9

This incident from Umar’s life illustrateshis deep compassionate nature and stronghumility. First, because he was a truly com-passionate leader who desired to improvethe lives of his people, UmarRA devised theidea of going out at night in disguise tohelp whoever he could. Second, UmarRA

helped his people, but without taking anycredit for himself. UmarRA went out at nightin disguise because he did not want anyrecognition, he did not even consider al-lowing his servant to carry the load offood, and upon hearing the woman com-pliment him as an individual, he becameso saddened that a Muslim sister thoughtbetter of a random stranger who helpedher than the caliph, that he went away cry-ing.

Umar’s ten years as caliph of the Mus-lim Community speak volumes of his hu-mility and compassion. Instances ofUmarRA exhibiting these characteristics,such as sharing in celebrations at child-birth, marrying his son to the most honestgirl he found while on his night-patrol, giv-ing his personal money to the poor andelderly, wearing the simplest clothing, liv-ing with no guards, eating dry bread, allfill his life before and during his period ascaliph.

Uthman: The Ultimate Devotee tothe Caliphate System (644-656)

As the Muslim Community entered itssecond decade under the caliphate system,UthmanRA was elected the third caliph. En-titled Ghani, UthmanRA was a very gener-ous person, especial ly to the poor.Uthman’s period as caliph is marked by fur-ther expansion of the Islamic Empire, re-pelling the Roman forces, establishing anIslamic naval fleet, and preparing standardcopies of the Holy Qur’an. UthmanRA ismost remembered for his especially strongdevotion to the caliphate system.10

During Uthman’s period as caliph, therewas great internal strife in the MuslimCommunity, especially with various Mus-lim groups asserting that UthmanRA wasnot the rightful caliph. Thus, in additionto dealing with the enemies of Islam,UthmanRA was constantly reinforcing thestrength of the caliphate system. UthmanRA

addressed the Muslims:

SPRING 2009 35

Remain united. Let there be nodissension in your ranks. You were

the enemies of one another. Godblessed you with Islam, and youbegan to love one another, and

became brothers. Maintain yourunity. Do not break up into sec-tions. Allah is happy with your

unity, and exhorts you to refrainfrom disunity.

Thus, in spite of the division that wasfacing the now-partisan Muslim Commu-nity, UthmanRA emphasized the dire needof unity for the future success of Islam.

In addition to emphasizing unity,UthmanRA also remained devoted to the ca-liphate system and protecting pure Islamin his actions. During his period as caliph,certain sections of the Muslim and non-Muslim communities promoted propa-ganda against UthmanRA and accused himof only placing his relatives in places ofhigh office. UthmanRA handled such accu-sations very delicately and always justi-fied his appointments. For example, inKufa, Iraq, UthmanRA allowed Saad bin AbiWaqas, an appointment of UmarRA, to con-tinue governing. However, after it becameclear that Saad was unable to control thevolatile situation in Kufa due to internalMuslim conflict, UthmanRA appointed hisstep-brother, Walid. Contrary to the con-spirators’ allegations, UthmanRA appointedWalid because he was young, well-likedby the people of Kufa, and had firm faithin the caliphate system. Even so, five yearslater, UthmanRA removed Walid upon re-quest by the people of Kufa.

Similarly, in Basra, Iraq, UthmanRA re-moved Abu Musa Asha’ariRA only after thepeople of Basra demanded his removal.Aware of the controversy surroundingWalid’s appointment, UthmanRA asked therepresentatives of Basra to suggest a per-son to serve as their Governor. It was theserepresentatives who requested Uthman’scousin, Abdullah bin Aamar, to serve astheir Governor, not UthmanRA. Thus,UthmanRA proved that he was dedicatedto protecting the caliphate system, and nothis own familial interests.

Uthman’s devotion to the caliphate sys-tem extended to his very last breath. Theconspirators in the Muslim Communityhad created such unrest that some actu-

ally demanded that UthmanRA step downas Caliph. Refusing to surrender to theenemies of Islam, UthmanRA was murdereddefending the caliphate system and Islamwhen he was stabbed while reciting theHoly Qur’an.11 The words from his last ser-mon summarize the theme of his period ascaliph and the message that he left for theworld:

Remember that you were the en-emies of one another, and under

Islam, God made you like brothers.See that this unity is maintained at

all costs.

Ali: The Peacemaker (656-662)After Uthman’s martyrdom, the Mus-

lim Community was in complete disorder.Six days after Uthman’s death, AliRA waschosen as the fourth caliph of the HolyProphet MuhammadSAW and the Commu-nity swore allegiance to him. The son ofAbu Talib and cousin to the Holy ProphetMuhammadSAW, AliRA had played an inte-gral role in Islamic history from the verybeginning by being the first boy to acceptIslam and by being a decoy in the HolyProphet Muhammad’s bed, while the HolyProphet MuhammadSAW escaped toMedina. As a caliph, AliRA quickly wasplaced in a position that required him tomaintain unity among an increasinglysplintering Muslim Community. Althoughhis period as caliph was only six years, hestrived to create peace in the Muslim Com-munity.

At the beginning of his six years ascaliph, AliRA was faced with the question ofavenging Uthman’s death. An influentialgroup of Muslims pressured AliRA to punishUthman’s murders. AliRA, however,announced to the Muslim Community thathe only intended to restore peace andstability among the Muslims. Unconvinced,a group of Muslims led by TalhaRA,ZubairRA, and AyeshaRA fought againstAli’s forces in the Battle of Jamal. Ultimatelydefeated, these three later felt deep regretat having challenged Ali’s authority.12

Upon quelling that conflict, AliRA wasfaced with Amir Muawiyah and hiscompanions who refused to pledgeallegiance to AliRA until Uthman’s murderershad been punished. Unhappy with Ali’sdesire to peacefully settle the issue,Muawiyah demanded that Ali’s forces fighthis own in the Battle of Siffin. After thebatt le ended, Muawiyah agreed to

peacefully decide the issue of punishingUthman’s murderers. Muawiyah and hiscompanions, however, did not abide by theterms of the agreement and created greaterrebellion in the Muslim Community thatAliRA was desperately trying to keep stableand peaceful. From this rebellion, theKhwarij Muslims separated.13

In response to this separation, AliRA

tried again to peacefully reassemble theMuslim Community. Left with no otheroption, AliRA engaged in battle against theKhwarij in which most of the Khwarij died.Although AliRA had worked very hard tokeep peace within the community, theKhwarij were determined to destroy anyprogress AliRA had made and plotted toassassinate him. Thus, one day as AliRA

was walking to the mosque for the morn-ing prayer, he was fatally wounded andpassed away the next month.14

Desiring only to create peace in theMuslim Community and re-establish thebeautiful unity that the Holy ProphetMuhammadSAW had brought, AliRA faced adifficult and tumultuous six years as ca-liph. Although ultimately the Muslim Com-munity decided to separate into groupsand political factions, Ali’s period as ca-liph marks the suppression of many rebel-lions and maintenance of some level of sta-bility.

In conclusion, the thirty year caliphatesystem that followed the Holy ProphetMuhammad’s death and the charismaticand righteous leaders that led the MuslimCommunity illustrate the true qualities ofleadership—truthfulness, forgiveness,bravery, humility, compassion, devotion,and peacemaking. Although the MuslimCommunity failed to remain unified in theend due to various political and territorialreasons, the lives of these four rightly-guided caliphs are excellent examples oftrue leadership.

(Endnotes)1 Mian, Majeed A. The Ahmadiyya Gazette. Apr/May 2000. 28-9.2 Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam. The Will. Islam International Publications:England, 2004.3 Walker, Adam Hani. “Hadhrat Abu Bakr As-Siddiq-The Great Lover ofAllah.” The Review of Religions. Nov 2007. 3-4.4 Note that Abu Bakr did not express resentment towards this man becauseAisha was his daughter, but only because she was the Holy ProphetMuhammad’s highly regarded wife and a devout Muslim woman.5 Id. 14-5.6 Sahih Bukhari. Vol 5, Ch 57, No 19.7 Walker. 18-9.8 Mian. The Ahmadiyya Gazette. 28-9.9 Chaudhry, Rashid Ahmad. Hadhrat Umar Farooq. Islam InternationalPublications: England, 2001. 39.10 Mian, Majeed A. “Khulafa-e-Rashideen.” Al-Nahl. Spring 1995.11 Ahmad, Waheed. A Book of Religious Knowledge. 150.12 Khan, Muhammad Zafrulla. “Hazrat Ali and Khawaraj.”Punishment ofApostacy in Islam. Islam International Publications: England.13 Id.14 Mian. “Khulafa-e-Rashideen.”

36 MuslimSunrise

News, Views and Reviews Press Publications

Originally printed in the 12/03/08 edition of Baltimore

Examiner

Pakistan Must StartCondemning Terrorism

By Faheem Younus QureshiBaltimore, Maryland

Now that the world knows that attackson innocent civilians in Mumbai were per-petrated by Islamic militants of Pakistaniorigin, we the Muslims are left soul-searching once again.

As a Muslim who understands thesanct i ty of human l i fe through theQuranic principle, ‘He who killed one lifeis as though he ki l led humani ty, ’ Istrongly condemn such heinous acts.

The Pakistani government, however,still distances itself from taking any re-spons ib i l i ty for repea ted t ragediescaused by their home-grown militia.

One could argue that such repugnantacts are deeply condoned by Pakistan’sconstitution. Under the cloak of blas-phemy laws, hundreds of members ofAhmadiyya Muslim Community weresubjected to target killings in Pakistanand the government did just what theydid this time: Offer a soft, political con-demnation.

That Pakistan should cooperate withthe investigation and follow the evidencewherever it leads is a very achievableexpectation set by Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice.

However, Pakistan does not have atrack record of following through. As a

first step, Pakistan must repeal the blas-phemy laws under the constitutionalamendment of 1984, which are the rootcause of its most unwanted export prod-uct.

Originally printed in the 12/02/08 edition of USA Today

Muslims AdvocatePeace

By Dr. Sohail Husain,Meriden, Connecticut

Mumbai, the largest city in India, was re-cently paralyzed by terror as militantstriggered a network of bombs and raidedseveral key public and tourist locations.While their identities are being sortedout, members of groups of this type gen-erally claim to represent Islam and thebody of Muslims.

I am an American Muslim of Indian de-scent, and I strongly disagree. Voices ofdissent such as mine and many otherMuslims have long been drowned out bythe clamor on prime-time news of thesemisguided and ignorant extremists. Theynot only took hostage tourists in theirhotels, but they also, in effect, have takenhostage the wider Muslim communitiesthat they claim to lead by proxy.

Well, enough is enough. Islam doesnot condone your acts of terror, and weare not with you. In fact, our religion con-demns your cowardly violence on civil-ians, and we implore you to stop.

The prayers of this Muslim and formerIndian national go out to the victims ofMumbai. The only extremism we can tol-erate is peace, as stated last week insouthern India by Mirza Masroor Ahmad,a prominent Muslim and head of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community.

“As a Muslim whounderstands the sanctity of

human life through theQuranic principle, ‘He whokilled one life is as though

he killed humanity,’ Istrongly condemn such

heinous acts.”

By Amtul R. Ahmad M.D,Kenosha, Wisconsin

Four children and one man werearrested on false charge of blasphemy.Pakistan Law 295C says that a personcan be imprisoned for life or given ad e a t h p e n a l t y a c c o r d i n g t o t h eBlasphemy law, which was amended toimprison an innocent and law abidingsect of Muslims.

The false accusation is that thesechildren wrote the name of the HolyProphet Mohammad, peace be uponhim, on the toilet walls in a mosque inLayyah Pakis tan . The fac t i s thesechildren did not even live in the area oftha t Mosque and ne i t he r t hey hadvisited that area.

This is another evidence of howdemocracy and justice in Pakistan isbowing and succumbing to the extremistFundamentalists and Muslim radicals.

Asma Jahangiri, the chairwomen oft h e H u m a n R i g h t s C o m m i s s i o n o fPakistan and the special Rapporteur ofThe United Nation’s Commission onHuman Rights, has also condemned thisarrest and has called it “heinous.”

It is time that peace loving peopleshould raise their voices against thesea t r o c i t i e s i n t h e n a m e o f r e l i g i o nbecause it is unacceptable to involveinnocent children especially withoutany evidence pointing towards them.

People must protestatrocities in the name of

religionOriginally printed in the

2/12/09 edition of the KenoshaNews, Wisconsin

Four children and one man were arrested on falsecharge of blasphemy. (Persecution Website)

Islam does not condone youracts of terror, and we are not

with you. In fact, our religioncondemns your cowardly

violence on civilians, and weimplore you to stop.

SPRING 2009 37

News, Views and Reviews Viewpoints

Originally published in TheOregonian, January 5, 2009

By Harris Zafar

When Palestinians and Israelis both prayto God for help in destroying the other, whodoes God choose to help? Which of thetwo are the “good guys”? Well, based onthe actions of both parties, I fail to see whyGod would help either of them. Both par-ties claim loyal adherence to God and histeachings, but sadly, both parties violatethe law of their respective faith. Let’s lookat the facts.

As a practicing Muslim, I’m critical ofMuslims who don’t act according to theteachings of Islam. So let’s begin withHamas. Sure, some may argue the case ofGaza residents having their food, water andmedical equipment supply cut off by Israel.Others may cite the Nov. 5 Israeli attack

How Many Must DieBefore Peace Prevails?

under the Gaza fence. But how does it helpto fire rockets in return? Each rocket hasthe possibility of taking an innocent life,which is strictly forbidden in Islam.

Do those who fire them not understandthe Holy Quran when it repeatedly says“create not disorder in the earth” or evenwhen it says that killing even one person islike killing all of mankind? Reverence forlife is a part of Islam, but the very nature ofrockets is to put lives at risk.

And what about the Israeli DefenseForces? How can its leaders justify theirresponse when their actions are breakingthe very law they claim to follow? The Mo-saic law of “an eye for an eye and a toothfor a tooth” teaches the principle of equi-table retaliation.

The purpose of this law was to limit thescope of a punishment and to discouragecruelty. Yet Israel has unleashed an all-outattack of warlike proportions, killing morethan 400 Palestinians and wounding morethan 2,000 more in merely seven days. Canwe consider the death of 400 Palestinians

in response to the death of four Israelis tobe equitable retaliation? Both Israelis andPalestinians are religious people, but whenit comes to matters concerning one another,their respective leaders toss their religiousbeliefs to the side and act with raw emo-tion, with disregard for the value of life. Is-rael and Palestine both consist of men,women and children who desire peace andsecurity instead of violence and fear. Theirrespective faiths, as well as the principle ofrationality, dictate that each must refrainfrom using violence to solve their problems.

True peace can only be achieved byworking together as children of God.If bothparties instilled humanity, mercy and for-giveness into themselves, perhaps Godwould find more value in their prayers. Buthow many must die before the God-givenqualities of humanity and peace prevail?

Harris Zafar, a business analyst in theinformation technology industry, is the youthdirector of faith outreach within his mosquein Southwest Portland.

“It is our duty to bow before God Almighty who has theability to change what is in a person’s heart. It is

incumbent upon all of you to inform the people of theworld that Islam teaches love for God and for His

Creation. Inform the world that the followers of thePromised Messiah do not use swords or violence but will

change people’s hearts through love and affection.”His Holiness, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the World Head of the Ahmadiyya MuslimJamaat, delivered the concluding address to the 85th Annual Convention of the BangladeshAhmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. His Holiness spoke of the continued persecution of the Ah-madiyya Muslim Jamaat both in Bangladesh and in other countries. -- Feb. 15th, 2009.

38 MuslimSunrise

Despite sharing a uniqueancestry, today thechildren of AbrahamAS

seem to be the people most atodds with one another. This ismost apparent in the ongoingunrest in the Middle East.Despite its seeminghopelessness, the Middle Eastgave birth to one of its greatestsons in 1138 C.E. whoseexample illustrated theimportance of humanity overhierarchy, and valuedcompassion over cruelty. Thatprodigal son was Salah-ud-DinYusuf ibn Ayyub [known in theWest as Saladin].

Muslim Sectarianism

Prior to Salah-ud-Din’s birth, ethnic andtribal loyalties ‘controlled’ the Muslim empire.In Egypt, the Fatimid Caliphate had been re-duced to figureheads. Inevitably, a powerlessShiite government ruling over a majority Sunnipopulation was bound to fall. So too was thecase with the entire Muslim empire. In 1095C.E., Crusaders captured Jerusalem. Thereaf-ter, Muslim rulers allied with the Franks againsttheir own Muslim neighbors.1 This was the‘empire’ Salah-ud-Din inherited – riddled withsectarian strife, whose epicenter foreignerscontrolled, and one which housed a corruptspiritual head.

At age twenty-five, Salah-ud-Din was in-strumental in quelling yet another Christian-Muslim alliance, this time between Amalric I,King of Jerusalem, and the Fatimid Caliph’svizier.2 Salah-ud-Din further crushed numer-ous Frankish attacks, including anotherAmalric-led invasion in violation of a treaty,liberating Egypt in the process.3

Following these expeditions Salah-ud-Din

became Egypt’s vizier, occupying a precari-ous position. One who had never sought po-litical power was now responsible for offset-ting the jealousies of his elders, suppressing

international and intra-national uprisings, andbalancing the religious differences of a ShiiteCaliph and Sunni King.

Accordingly, Salah-ud-Din first sur-rounded himself with close relatives. By ap-pointing his siblings to rule over fiefs Egyp-tian statesman previously held, Salah-ud-Dintook a firm step towards weakening a corruptgovernment and earning the public’s support.Ever the soldier-general, Salah-ud-Din madeit a point to emulate Spartan Rule.4 Salah-ud-Din also received petitions with his own handfrom all over Egypt, every Monday and Thurs-day, even during travel. Salah-ud-Din man-dated that jurists and qazis be present to up-hold an unbiased application of the law. Salah-ud-Din rarely ignored a grievance, even if lev-ied against Salah-ud-Din himself.5 Even if thecharge levied against Salah-ud-Din was dis-missed, the complainant received a robe ofhonor and had his travel expenses paid for.6

His gestures were very opportune. Fornearly ten years following his appointment tovizier, Salah-ud-Din had to crush various as-sassination attempts and mutinies in Egyptand the Middle East.7 Yet with each victorythe attachment between the Kurdish states-men and his subjects grew. Of the Syrian con-quest, Stanley Lane-Poole writes, “He treatedhis prisoners generously, set them free, andsent many of them away with gifts. Thewounded, especially, owed their lives to hiscare, and many were eager to enter his ser-vice. As for the rich booty of the enemy’scamp, he gave it all to the army, and kept not athing for himself. In this he displayed alike theinstincts of a generous nature and the fore-sight of a statesman. He bound both his owntroops and the enemy’s to him with ties ofgratitude and personal devotion. The prison-ers he had freed, some of whom were men ofrank and influence, went back to their homes… full of his praises, extolling his clemencyand great heartedness, and prepared to be hiswilling subjects”.8

During this period, the threat of a Crusaderinvasion matured.9 An imposing Greek-Frankalliance preemptively attacked Egypt. Yetagain, Salah-ud-Din fought off the attacks.10

This victory confirmed Salah-ud-Din’s statusamongst the public, and soon after he wasasked to aid in the shift of spiritual leadershipto the Abbasid Sunni Caliphate, ending a two-hundred year Shiite Fatimid rule.

Thus, Salah-ud-Din was able to rid Arablands of foreign rulers, eliminate sectarianstrife, and allow for a markedly peaceful tran-sition of religious authority.11

Salah-ud-Din Yusufibn Ayyub

“He treated his prisonersgenerously, set them free,and sent many of them

away with gifts. Thewounded, especially,owed their lives to hiscare, and many were

eager to enter his service.As for the rich booty of theenemy’s camp, he gave itall to the army, and keptnot a thing for himself.

by Sardar AneesAhmad

SPRING 2009 39

Pluralism Salah-ud-Din was a confirmed Sunni Mus-

lim, yet he never compelled anyone to acceptIslam or punished them for refusing to con-vert. When an Ismailia assassination attemptfailed,12 Salah-ud-Din took no revenge on hisShiite brethren.13 One can visit the variousDamascene monasteries14 or perhaps still seePsalms (145:13) inscribed on a mosque’s wall– all a result of Salah-ud-Din’s tolerant rule.15

Once, on receiving the Lord of Sidon, Salah-ud-Din dined with him and engaged in alengthy discussion on the merits of acceptingIslam.16 On another occasion, Reginald ofSidon deceptively pledged his allegiance toSalah-ud-Din and engaged in lengthy religiousdiscussion with Salah-ud-Din for months.Meanwhile, Reginald’s plan to allow King Guyto attack Acre matured – resulting in 4,000Christian and 1,500 Muslim deaths. Despitehis actions, Reginald was only arrested –Salah-ud-Din took no action regarding his falseinterests in Islam.17

Following Jerusalem’s conquest, Salah-ud-Din ensured a safe passage for all Chris-tian pilgrims, despite the presence of venge-ful Muslim soldiers.18 No churches wereharmed,19 monasteries and priests were wel-come20, Christians possessed the right to pil-grimage and were exempt from taxation21, andultimately Muslims and non-Muslims enjoyedequal access to Jerusalem.22 Salah-ud-Din him-self entertained many pilgrims despite beingvery sick and elderly.23 Balian’s squire re-marked, “Never did Saladin show himselfgreater than during this memorable surrender.His guards … kept order in every street …insomuch that no ill-usage of the Christianswas ever heard of.”24

On one occasion, Salah-ud-Din welcomedthe Bishop of Salisbury to Jerusalem and of-fered him a house free of cost, which was re-spectfully turned down. Salah-ud-Din sent thebishop many gifts, instructed his companionsto treat the bishop with the utmost respect,and invited him to a social gathering. After along conversation, Salah-ud-Din bade thebishop to request any gift he liked. The bishoprequested that two Latin priests and deacons(with similar requests for Bethlehem andNazareth) be permitted to celebrate servicewith the Syrians at the ‘Lord’s Sepulchre’.Salah-ud-Din consented to all his wishes.25

His Jewish brethren, while completely pow-erless, received no less a loving treatment –Salah-ud-Din granting Jews the right of re-settlement.26 In fact, he was echoing his pre-decessors’ treatment towards Egyptian Jews,who lived an autonomous life for genera-

tions.27 Aside from the famous Maimonideswho was Salah-ud-Din’s personal physician,28

other famous physicians also flourished un-der Salah-ud-Din such as Abu al-Ma’ali and

al-Mudawwar.29 Truly, Salah-ud-Din, likeUmarRA before him,30 fulfilled Isaiah’s proph-ecy, “My house shall be called a house ofprayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

In victory and defeat, Salah-ud-Din demonstrateda masterful conquering of the self. He valued life,and did his utmost to obtain peace as quickly aspossible. Literally countless incidents exist ofSalah-ud-Din meeting Crusaders, in times of

peace or war, free or captive, regardless of rank,with honor and arranging banquets for them.

40 MuslimSunrise

Remember, religious tolerance was unprec-edented during this period of history. For ex-ample, following Acre’s conquest in 1187,Salah-ud-Din oversaw the first prayers in threegenerations offered in a mosque that had beenconverted into a church. These were “the firstMoslem prayers … offered on the coast ofPalestine since (the) first Crusaders.”31 Fol-lowing Jerusalem’s conquest, the golden crosswas removed from the Dome of the Rock aswell as all traces of the Templars’ additions tothe Haraam of Umar’s Mosque.32 Even Salah-ud-Din’s predecessor, Nur-ud-Din, whom Wil-liam of Tyre considered just, was a great op-pressor of Christians.33 Lastly, while Muslimsand Christians coexisted amicably in Jerusa-lem following the First Crusade, fanaticismsoon followed.34 It was Salah-ud-Din who dem-onstrated, to Muslims and non-Muslims alike,what tolerance truly was.

Amnesty

In victory and defeat, Salah-ud-Din dem-onstrated a masterful conquering of the self.He valued life, and did his utmost to obtainpeace as quickly as possible. Literally count-less incidents exist of Salah-ud-Din meetingCrusaders, in times of peace or war, free orcaptive, regardless of rank, with honor andarranging banquets for them.35 He was fondof clothing his guests in the finest of robes inan expression of brotherhood. As with theMuslims, when dealing with the CrusadersSalah-ud-Din, “never refused to grant termswhen an enemy wished to surrender.”36 He“never broke a treaty in his life”37 and in everycase granted honorable terms.38

Once, a Frank prisoner was brought trem-bling before Saladin, and cried out, “Before Isaw his face I was sore afraid, but now that Ihave seen him I know he will do me no harm.”Indeed, Salah-ud-Din freed the knight.39 AfterBalian fled from defeat at Hattin in 1187, hebegged Salah-ud-Din to grant him safe-con-duct to Jerusalem and bring his wife and chil-dren back to Tyre. The petition was immedi-ately granted, on the condition that Balianshould never bear arms against Salah-ud-Din.However, when Balian arrived at Jerusalem theclergy overturned his oath. Despite violatinghis oath, when Balian again begged Salah-ud-Din to grant his wife and children safe-con-duct to Tripoli, Salah-ud-Din sent an escort offifty horses to carry out his wishes.40

At Kerak in 1189, soldiers sold their womenand children and resorted to eating theirhorses. Salah-ud-Din bought these women

and children their freedom and safely sent themto Christian lands.41 During the Battle of SpringHead in 1190, when the outcome was veryuncertain, Salah-ud-Din received capturedranking officers with stately courtesy, clothedthem in robes of honor, allowed them to writeto their camp for any needs, and sent them toDamascus. Truly, “It was better to be the guestof Saladin than to shiver and starve in a Chris-tian tent.”42

Salah-ud-Din’s compassionate gestureswere simply unmatched: “Treaties with the sol-diers of the Cross … were worse than useless… (as) no faith need be kept with the ‘infidel’;and scarcely had they concluded the pact …when they began to ravage the beautiful valleyof the Litany.”43 For example, after pardoningKing Guy on the condition that Guy never beararms against Salah-ud-Din, Guy had the clergynullify his oath and once again attacked Salah-ud-Din.44 Again, Salah-ud-Din granted amnestyto the King of Jerusalem provided he neverbear arms against Salah-ud-Din. In turn, the kingconspired with the marquis of Montferrat inmounting another attack.45

King Richard the Lion Hearted of England,upon promising not to harm Muslim captivesat Acre in 1189, massacred every soldier,woman, child, and elder.46 This was the sameRichard who, upon falling ill, asked that Salah-ud-Din send him fresh fruit with snow.47 Dur-ing the Battle of Jaffa, in which the Muslimssuffered defeat, Salah-ud-Din sent Richardtwo steeds as replacements for falling off hishorse.48 On yet another occasion, Richardunderscored Salah-ud-Din’s graciousness inthe hopes of receiving a church. In turn, Salah-ud-Din granted Richard the Church of theResurrection.49 Poole notes, “After Saladin’salmost quixotic acts of clemency and gener-osity, the King of England’s cruelty will ap-pear amazing … (but) in this struggle the vir-tues of civilization, magnanimity, toleration,real chivalry, and gentle culture, were all onthe side of the Saracens.”50

When the first Crusaders conqueredJerusalem in 1099, defenseless Muslims andJews were tortured, burnt, shot, or expelled.51

In return, Salah-ud-Din, like his namesakeYusuf (Joseph), pardoned his erring brothers52

and safely escorted them to Christian land.All who were able paid a ransom, while Salah-ud-Din and his companions liberated the tensof thousands who remained.53 Balian’s squirewrites, “I shall tell you of the great courtesywhich Saladin showed to the wives and daugh-ters of knights … When Saladin saw themweeping, he … wept himself for pity. And he

bade the ladies whose husbands were alive totell him where they were captives, and as soonas he could go to the prisons he would setthem free. (And all were released wherever theywere found.) After that he (gave) the damesand damsels whose lords were dead … somuch that they gave praise to God and pub-lished abroad the kindness and honour whichSaladin had done to them.”54 Of Salah-ud-Din’s magnanimous conquest, Poole com-ments, “Fortunate were the merciless, for theyobtained mercy at the hands of the MoslemSultan. If the taking of Jerusalem were the onlyfact known about Saladin, it were enough toprove him the most chivalrous and great-hearted conqueror of his own, and perhaps ofany, age.”55

Salah-ud-Din’s attachment to justicedid not waiver, even with the most vehe-ment anti-Arab factions. Reynald deChatillon, Lord of Kerak, repeatedly at-tacked pilgrims and trade caravans duringperiods of truce, simply because they were“Saracens”. Reynald also attempted to in-vade Arabia to destroy the Kaaba and thetomb of “the accursed camel-driver”.56 De-spite Reynald’s actions, Salah-ud-Din neverviolated the laws of war. For example, dur-ing a wedding in Kerak in 1184, Salah-ud-Din unsuccessfully attempted to captureReynald. Still, no civilians were targeted.57

On the victory at Hattin in 1187, both KingGuy and Reynald were brought beforeSalah-ud-Din. Guy complained of thirst, andSalah-ud-Din ordered a cup of sherbet forhim.58 Salah-ud-Din then ordered a dinnerreception for both men, and afterwardssummoned them once again and killedReynald. Salah-ud-Din calmed Guy, declar-ing “It is not the wont of kings to kill kings;but that man had transgressed allbounds.”59 Such was the magnanimous na-ture of Salah-ud-Din, observing justiceeven towards the most undeserving offoes.

Salah-ud-Din passed away and was bur-ied in a ceremony fitting not a king, but apauper, on Wednesday, March 4th, 1193.60

His legacy compelled even the French andEnglish, whose forces he opposed through-out his life, to remember him in various ro-mances. Even Dante’s acidic tongue couldutter nothing but praise for Salah-ud-Din.It was his example, demonstrating the plau-sibility of coexistence amongst all the chil-dren of Abraham, which earned him thispraise and which can serve as guidepostfor Muslims, Christians, and Jews today.

SPRING 2009 41

This article focuses on the periodof medieval Islamic history whenscience and learning flourished in

what some scholars have dubbed as “TheGolden Age of Islam”. Since one of themain beliefs emphasized in Islam is tovalue the seeking of knowledge, and thisvalue played an important role in theformation of the scientific enterprise inIslamic civil ization, i t is perhapsappropriate to begin our discussion byfirst examining this topic further.

In this regard, one of the moresatisfying explanations of the statement,“Seek knowledge even if from China” hasrecently been furnished by the historianJames E. Lindsay, who notes that itemphasizes the relationship betweentravel and education in early Islamicculture.1 Although its authenticity asbeing a true hadith has been questioned2,Lindsay’s point remains valid, since thefirst portion of the statement, namely

that of seeking knowledge, has beenemphasized on numerous occasions inother, more authentic ahadith by theholy prophet of Islamsa. Thus, the greatmedieval Persian scholar al-Tirmidhirecords in his Sunan Al-Tirmidhi thathadhrat Anasra relates that the holyprophet Muhammadsa said: “He whoissues forth in search of knowledge isbusy in the cause of Allah till he returnsfrom his quest”3. Notice how in thishadith, too, travel is emphasized inrelation to the seeking of knowledge.Lindsay describes how this emphasis onmovement, intertwined with knowledgeseeking, was often associated with thepilgrimage to Mecca, and became adominant cultural aspect of medievalIslam:

This desire to travel in order to studywith the masters was often coupled withthe obl igat ion to undertake thepilgrimage to Mecca at least once if one

is able. In addition to being the means formany to fulfill one of the five pillars ofIslam, pilgrimage caravans from suchdistant places as Spain, West Africa,Central Asia, India, and elsewherefunct ioned as informal t ravel inguniversities that continually added newscholars as they made their way to Meccaand back each year.4

It has been argued that the effort totravel in order to seek knowledge (talabal-ilm) was so pervasive in medieval Islamicculture, that its very existence provideshistorians with a strong argument to studythis dynamic period of history using acomparative approach, in which culturesand traditions of several countries andpeoples are examined in relation to oneanother5: in this case, all of the territoriesof the diverse Islamic empire, whichstretched (at its furthest) from al-Andalus(Spain) to al-Hind (India) 6. In thediscussion that follows regarding thehistory of the scientific enterprise withinthis vast tract of land, this importantrelation between travel and education willbe emphasized. This is because many ofthe leading scholars of this time periodspent most of their lives traveling throughthe Islamic empire, moving from territoryto territory, and acquiring informationwherever they traveled. Coupled with thetravels of Muslims during the pilgrimageto Mecca were the many other contributingfactors of increased travel across theIslamic lands, especially increased tradeand commerce along various caravan andshipping routes over land and sea.7

Together, these efforts in movementthrough the variety of landscapes andcultures, comprising what is now knownas the full extent of Islamic civilization,took advantage of an almost unprecedentedrichness of diverse opinions, sensibilitiesand resources.

The International Character ofScience in Early Islamic History

Scholars have posited that it was this

richness of diversity (and its widespreadsupport and tolerance) that was animportant cause of the rapid increases inlearning and advancement thatcharacterized these six centuries of Islamicrule.8 Others have further argued that atleast part of the enduring character of thescientific enterprise during this time mayhave had something to do with Islam’sfocus on the unity of Nature, which allowedits denizens to absorb similar messages ofunity from diverse traditions, including

The Golden Age of IslamIslamic history when science and learning flourished

By Arshad M. Khan, Ph.D

42 MuslimSunrise

those of the Greeks, Chaldeans, Persians,Indians and Chinese.9 Still others, includingthe Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, felt that,on a practical level, widespread patronageof the scientific enterprise by wealthyofficials in various dynastic courtsthroughout the lands under Islamic rulealso had much to do with science’scontinued rise during this era.10 Perhapsall of these factors played a role. A. I. Sabranotes for example that although the non-Muslim Hunayn and Thabit families ofBaghdad during the Abbasid caliphatetranslated many Greek works into Arabic,“their activity as translators was positivelyand generously supported (not justtolerated) by the Musl im rul ingestablishment – the caliphal court itselfand individuals closely associated withit.”11

Whatever the reasons were, this periodwas marked by advances in many fields ofscience and technology that were achievedboth by non-Muslim and Muslim scientists,philosophers, and thinkers throughout theIslamic empire. It must be emphasized herethat many of these individuals were Muslim,Christian, Jewish, etc. in terms of culturerather than religion per se. Many were hardlyascetic or deeply religious, whereas otherswere devout followers of their faiths. Thus,the notion that this “Golden Age” of progressin Islamic civilization was only the result of adevout adherence to faith is a misleadingone. Rather, if any benefit was derived fromthe “Islamic” nature of the civilization inwhich these advances were made, it was thatthe transformative flowering of the medievalmind occurred because of the tolerance,intercommunication, and open culture offreely expressed opinion that was encouragedunder Islamic rule during this time. I nowdescribe two individuals who were famousfor such expression, and who transformedthe fields of philosophy and medicine: Al-Kindi and Ibn Sina.

al-Kindi The first of the Muslim philosopher-

scientists, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, was from the Kindah tribe in Arabiaand spent his early life in Kufa, where hisancestors had settled and where his fatherwas governor.12 The historian HughKennedy notes that he later had moved toBaghdad, where he was appreciated andadmired by patrons among the Abbasidcourt, and Zimmerman states that he wasbelieved to serve at some point in thecapacity of tutor to the caliph’s son,Ahmad.13 Kennedy writes of al-Kindi’saccomplishments:

Though not a translator himself, he wasthe first man to use Aristotle’s work tocreate an Islamic, Arabic-languagephilosophical discourse. He was also thefirst to confront the problems of reconcilingfaith and reason…As well as philosophy, hewrote on mathematics, astronomy, musicand medicine; the main hospital in modernBaghdad is named after him….From thetwelfth century many of his works weretranslated into Latin, usually in Spain, andcirculated widely in European universities:some of his writings, in fact, only survive inLatin versions.14

Importantly, al-Kindi was a strongadvocate of a pluralist society and an opencritic of religious bigotry.15 Still, others havecommented on how he believed that while“the educated elite could be guided byreason, the less-advantaged masses onlyby faith.”16 In contrast to, or in spite of thisview, al-Kindi was a staunch opponent ofthe mystical aspects of alchemy (and thuspredates the like-minded English scientistRobert Boyle, who wrote the ScepticalChymist, by nearly nine centuries). Lindbergdescribes al-Kindi as “a leader in theendeavor to communicate Greek learning toIslam” who, nevertheless, challengedEuclid’s theories of optics and vision withhis own ideas about the subject. 17

Ibn Sina Abu Ali al-Husain bin Abdallah bin al-

Hasan bin Ali bin Sina was born in Afshana,which is located near Bukhara in present dayUzbekistan. A child prodigy, he hadmemorized the Qur’an by the age of 10, andhe was exposed to medicine as a career anddiscipline a few years later. By the age ofsixteen, he was “to all intents and purposesinstructing the students himself.”18 Followingthe death of his father, Ibn Sina traveledextensively, arriving finally in various citiesin Persia, where he provided his medicalservices to wealthy patrons.19 Writing in hisfamous five volume history of science in1927, Sarton calls Ibn Sina “the most famousscientist of Islam and one of the most famousof all races, places and times; one may saythat his thought represents the climax ofmediaeval philosophy.”20 His greatest workwas set forth in his al-Qanun fi’l tibb (knownin Europe as the Canon), a monumental textwhich organized medical knowledge into fiveparts: generalities; herbal and other medicalremedies; diseases, head to toe; diseases notspecific to a single organ; and compounddrugs.21 An “immense encyclopaedia ofmedicine (of about a million words), acodification of the whole of ancient andMuslim knowledge”22, Ibn Sina’s al-Qanun

would remain influential as the medical texttaught in European medical schools for sixcenturies, and probably was the most widelyused medieval medical reference.23 Nasrcomments:

[Ibn Sina] possessed much clinical insight,and is given credit for the first description ofseveral drugs and diseases, such asmeningitis, which he was the first to describecorrectly. But it is essentially for hispenetration and for his understanding of thephilosophical principles of medicine, on theone hand, and his mastery of thepsychological treatment of physical ailments,or of “psychosomatic medicine” as it is calledtoday, on the other hand, that he iscelebrated.24

Concluding Remarks In the space permitted, it is impossibleto provide even a cursory overview sum-marizing six centuries of scientific progressunder Islamic rule. It is hoped that the bio-graphical sketches of al-Kindi and Ibn Sinapresented in this article, as well as the bio-graphical descriptions of other luminariespresented in the remainder of this issue,will provide the reader with some insightsabout achievements during this epic pe-riod of world history.

Works CitedAhmad, Nafis. Muslim Contributions to Geography. 1972. Lahore: Sh.Muhammad Ashraf.Edis, Taner. An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam.2007. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.Gellens, Sam I. The search for knowledge in medieval Muslim societies:a comparative approach, In: (Eickelman, Dale E., Piscatori, James,eds.), Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration, and the ReligiousImagination.Karabell, Zachary. Peace Be Upon You: Fourteen Centuries of Muslim,Christian, and Jewish Conflict and Cooperation. 2007. New York: Vintage Books.Kennedy, Hugh. When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise andFall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty. 2004. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.Khan, Muhammad Zafrulla (transl.). Gardens of the Righteous (Englishtranslation of Riyadh as-Salihin). 1975. London and Tilford: CurzonPress, Ltd. and Islam International Publications, Ltd.Lindberg, David C. Theories of Vision from Al-Kindi to Kepler. 1976.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition inPhilosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D.1450. 2nd edition. 2007. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Lindsay, James E. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. 2005.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Morgan, Michael H. Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of MuslimScientists, Thinkers, and Artists. 2007. Washington, D.C.: NationalGeographic.Nasr, Seyyed Hossain. Science and Civilization in Islam. 1968.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Nogales, Salvador Gómez. Ibn Sina, In: (M.J.L. Young, J.D. Latham, andR.B. Serjent, eds.), Religion, Learning and Science in the Abbasid Period,pp. 389-404. 1990. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Sabra, Abdelhamid I. Optics, Astronomy and Logic. 1994. Aldershot,U.K.: Variorum.Salam, Abdus. Nobel address. 1979. Available online at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/salam-lecture.pdf.The future of science in Islamic countries. Address, Islamic Summit,1987. Online link: http://www.alislam.org/library/salam-2.html.Sarton, George. Introduction to the History of Science, Volume I: FromHomer to Omar Khayyam. 1927. Malabar, FL: Robert E. KriegerPublishing Co.Turner, Howard R. Science in Medieval Islam: An IllustratedIntroduction. 1995. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Zimmerman, Fritz W. Al-Kindi, In: (M.J.L. Young, J.D. Latham, andR.B. Serjent, eds.), Religion, Learning and Science in the Abbasid Period,pp. 364-369. 1990. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

SPRING 2009 43

I have seen poor peoplestanding on the side ofstreets whether I am taking astroll on Kalakaua Avenue inHonolulu, walking throughBourbon Street in New Or-leans or rushing to the trainstation on Madison Avenue inChicago. Some of them couldbe homeless as well; Icouldn’t tell.Helping the poor is part ofthe reason congregations areasked to give God’s share ofthe money in mosques,churches, synagogues andtemples. There are comedi-ans who make jokes that ifGod is the Most Powerful,Mighty and the King of kings,why does He need money. Ifind jokes about God dis-tasteful. Taking advantage ofthe freedom of speech in ournation, some make a livingmaking indecent remarks inpublic. No matter whichamendment you use, dis-tasteful expressions are justthat.

I know, by definition, God does not needany money. So why are we asked to give Himmoney or why does He ask us to give to oth-ers? Why couldn’t He give some to the poorand keep us out of the loop. That would keep

our conscience clear.I have discovered that when I don’t un-

derstand something about God, I look at it inthe concept of love and it becomes manifestlyclear. When my Christian friends ask me whyI don’t eat pork, I don’t get in the debate overwhat is and isn’t wrong with pork. I tell themthat I don’t eat it because God has asked meto refrain from it. For the love of Him, I havegiven up just one meat. I have plenty of othermeats to select from: lamb, beef, chicken andfish. If my children cannot stand lamb kidneysor brains, we don’t cook them at home. Notbecause we can’t but because our feelings forour children. So why is it so strange that Igave up one item of food for the affection andlove of God?

It all has to do with the joys and feelingsof love for someone.

A father walks into his home after workwith a box of chocolates in his hand. He givesit to his four year old son and tells him that hebrought the chocolates he loves so much forhim. The smile on the son’s face is only part ofthe reason he does it.

Before the toddler has even opened thebox, his father tells him to share it with hisolder brother and sister. Then he watches him.If he goes ahead and gives a few pieces to hissiblings, the father’s eyes light up with prideand happiness. He says thank you to him. Assoon as the toddler has put the first piece ofchocolate in his mouth, the father asks,“Aren’t you going to give me some also?”

It is his proud moment again when he getsthe candy from his son. In case the toddlerrefuses, the father shows his displeasure andthreatens no more chocolates. Most sons giveup. Just the thought of being deprived in thefuture scares them.

What is wrong with this picture? Why do

fathers all over the world do this intuitively?Why don’t they simply divide up the candiesequally among the children, have some forthemselves and everybody would be happy?

They do it to spread the feelings of love.In this simple episode, feelings of love aregenerated among the siblings, father and sonand the bonds of family are strengthened.

When God gives us wealth and then tellsus to share it with our brothers and sistersand spend for him, it is to spread love amonghumanity. Is it any different than what fathersdo everyday in all cultures?

We need to share with others to createlove and affection in the world. I know I shoulddo more to help the poor brothers and sisters.I could, from time to time, spend a twenty dol-lar bill and buy 20 double cheeseburgers fromMcDonald’s dollar menu and offer them totwenty poor people outside a soup kitchen. Iam sure eating soup everyday gets monoto-nous. Double cheeseburgers could bring outsome smiles. It takes initiative, time and effortbut it is worth the love it would generate.

Small amounts can make big differences.Imagine the love a five dollar box of choco-lates creates in a household. A hundred dol-lars could bring surprising results.

My sincere wish is that my words promptyou to feed some poor brother or sister for thelove of God, regardless of the street or cityyou find yourself in. We never know what in-significant act of kindness opens the flood-gates of God’s Mercy on the day we find our-selves in need. On that note, I think I’ll go toHonolulu next month and feed some home-less people on the beach.

Just for the love of God.

Falahud Din Shams

Fo r t h e L ove o f G o dWe never know what insignificant act of kindness opens the floodgates of

God’s Mercy on the day we find ourselves in need.

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