SCIENCE IN AL-ANDALUS
Written by Paul Lunde
Illustrated by Michael Grimsdale
The Medieval Christians of Spain had a legend that Roderick, the last king of the Visigoths, was responsible for unleashing the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula because, in defiance of his plighted word, he unlocked the gates of an enchanted palace he had sworn not to tamper with. As far as the West was concerned, the Arab invasion did unlock an enchanted palace. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Vandals, Huns and Visigoths had pillaged and burned their way through the Iberian Peninsula, establishing ephemeral kingdoms, which lasted only as long as loot poured in, and were then destroyed in their turn. Then, without warning, in the year 711, came the Arabs -- to settle, fall in love with the land and create the first civilization Europe had known since the Roman legions gave up the unequal fight against the barbarian hordes.
Spain first prospered under the rule of the Umayyads, who established a dynasty there after they had lost the caliphate in the East to the Abbasids. At first, the culture of the Umayyad court at Córdoba was wholly derivative. Fashions, both in literature and dress, were imitiative of those current in the Abbasids’ newly founded capital of Baghdad. Scholars from the more sophisticated lands to the east were always assured of a warm reception at the court of Córdoba, where their colleagues would listen avidly for news of what was being discussed in the capital, what people were wearing, what songs were being sung, and -- above all -- what books were being read.
Islamic culture was pre-eminently a culture of the book. The introduction of paper from China in 751 gave an impetus to learning and an excitement about ideas which the world had never before known. Books became more available than they had been even in Rome, and incomparably cheaper than they were in the Latin West, where they continued to be written on expensive parchment. In the 12th century, a man sold 120 acres of land in order to buy a single Book of Hours. In the ninth century, the library of the monastery of St. Gall was the largest in Europe, boasting 36 volumes. At the same time, that of Córdoba contained 500,000. The cultural lag between East and West in the Middle Ages can be attributed partly to the fact that the Arabs had paper, while the Latin West did not.
It took much more than paper to create an intellectual and scientific culture like that of Islamic Spain, of course. Islam, with its tolerance and encouragement of both secular and religious learning, created the necessary climate for the exchange of ideas. The court of Córdoba, like that of Baghdad, was open to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, and one prominent bishop complained that young Christian men were devoting themselves to the study of Arabic, rather than Latin -- a reflection of the fact that Arabic, in a surprisingly short time, had become the international language of science, as English has today.
Islamic culture in Spain began to flourish in earnest during the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahman II of Córdoba, as Arabic spread increasingly among his non-Muslim subjects, especially in the cities, leading to a great flowering of intellectual activity of all kinds.
In a courtly society, the tastes and predilections of the ruler set the tone for society at large, and ‘Abd al-Rahman II, passionately interested in both the religious and the secular sciences, was determined to show the world that his court was in no way inferior to the court of the caliphs at Baghdad. To this end, therefore, he actively recruited scholars by offering handsome inducements to overcome their initial reluctance to live in what many in the lands of the East considered the provinces. As a result, many scholars, poets, philosophers, historians and musicians migrated to Al-Andalus, and established the basis of the intellectual tradition and educational system, which made Spain so outstanding for the next 400 years.
Another result was that an infrastructure of public and private libraries, mosques, hospitals and research institutions rapidly grew up and famous scholars in the East, hearing of these amenities, flocked to the West. They in turn attracted students of their own; in the Islamic world it was not at all unusual for a student to travel thousands of miles to study at the feet of a famous professor.
One of the earliest of these scholars was ‘Abbas ibn Firnas, who died in the year 888 and who, had he lived in the Florence of the Medici, would have been a “Renaissance man.” He came to Córdoba to teach music, then a branch of mathematical theory, but—not a man to limit himself to a single field of study -- soon became interested in the mechanics of flight. He constructed a pair of wings, made out of feathers in a wooden frame, and attempted to fly -- anticipating Leonardo da Vinci by some 600 years.
Luckily, ‘Abbas survived, and, undiscouraged, turned his mind to the construction of a planetarium in which the planets actually revolved -- it would be extremely interesting to know the details of the gearing mechanism. It also simulated such celestial phenomena as thunder and lightning and was, of course, a wild success. Next ‘Abbas turned to the mathematical problems involved in the regularity of the facets of certain crystals and evolved a formula for manufacturing artificial crystals.
It must be remembered that a knowledge of the achievements of men like ‘Abbas has come to us purely by chance. It has been estimated that today there are 250,000 Arabic manuscripts in western and eastern libraries, including private collections. Yet in the 10th century, private libraries existed which contained as many as 500,000 books. Literally millions of books must have perished, and with them the achievements of a great many scholars and scientists whose books, had they survived, might have changed the course of history. As it is, even now, only a tiny proportion of existing Arabic scientific texts has been studied, and it will take years to form a more exact idea of the contributions of Muslim scientists to the history of ideas.
One of the fields most assiduously cultivated in Spain was natural science. Although Andalusian scholars did not make contributions as fundamental as those made by their colleagues in the East, those that they did make had more effect on the later development of science and technology, for it was through Spain and the scholars of Al-Andalus that these ideas reached the West.
No school of translators comparable to the House of Wisdom of al-Ma’mun existed in Spain, and Andalusian scholars seem not to have interested themselves in the natural sciences until the translations of the House of Wisdom reached them.
Interest in mathematics, astronomy, and medicine was always lively, however, because of their obvious utility -- mathematics for commercial purposes, computation of the rather complicated Islamic laws of inheritance, and as a basis for measuring distances. Astronomy was useful for determining the times of prayer and adjusting the calendar, and the study of medicine needed no apology. The introduction of the new Aristotelian ideas, however, even in Arab dress, aroused a certain amount of suspicion in the conservative West, and it was some time before public opinion would accept that Aristotelian logic did not conflict with the revelation of Islam.
Part of the suspicion with which certain of the ideas emanating from the scholars of the Abbasid court were viewed was due to an inadequate distinction between sciences and pseudo-sciences. This was a distinction which the Muslims made at a much earlier date than western scholars, who, even during the Renaissance, tended to confound astronomy with astrology, chemistry with alchemy. Ibn Hazm, a leading Andalusian scholar of the 11th century and staunchly conservative, was very outspoken on this point. People who advocated the efficacy of talismans, magic, alchemy, and astrology he calls shameless liars. This rational approach did much to make Islam preeminent in the natural sciences.
The study of mathematics and astronomy went hand in hand. Al-Khwarizmi’s famous book entitled The Calculation of Integration and Equation reached Al-Andalus at an early date, and became the foundation of much later speculation. In it, Al-Khwarizmi dealt with equations, algebraic multiplication and division, measurement of surfaces and other questions. Al-Khwarizmi was the first to introduce the use of what he called “Indian” and we call “Arabic” numerals. The exact method of transmission of these numerals—and the place-value idea which they embodied—is not known, but the symbols used to represent the numbers had slightly different forms in eastern and western Islam, and the forms of our numerals are derived from those used in Al-Andalus. The work of al-Khwarizmi, which now only survives in a 12th-century Latin translation made in Spain, together with a translation of Euclid’s Elements, became the two foundations of subsequent mathematical developments in Al-Andalus.
The first original mathematician and astronomer of Al-Andalus was the 10th century’s Maslama al-Majriti. He had been preceded by competent scientists—men like Ibn Abi ‘Ubaida of Valencia, who in the ninth century was a leading astronomer, and the emigré from Baghdad, Ibn Taimiyyah, who was both a well-known physician and an astronomer—but al-Majriti was in a class by himself. He wrote a number of works on mathematics and astronomy, studied and elaborated the Arabic translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest and enlarged and corrected the astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi himself. He compiled conversion tables, in which the dates of the Persian calendar were related to hijri dates, so that for the first time the events of Persia’s past could be dated with precision.
Al-Zarqali, known to the Latin West as Arzachel, was another leading mathematician and astronomer who flourished in Córdoba in the 11th century. He combined theoretical knowledge with technical skills, and excelled at the construction of precision instruments for astronomical use. He built a waterclock capable of determining the hours of the day and night and indicating the days of the lunar month. He contributed to the compilation of the famous Toledan Tables, a highly accurate compilation of astronomical data. His Book of Tables, written in the form of an almanac (almanac is an Arabic word meaning “climate,” originally indicating the stations of the moon) contains tables which allow one to find on what day the Coptic, Roman, lunar and Persian months begin; others give the position of the various planets at any given time; still others allow prediction of solar and lunar eclipses. He also compiled valuable tables of latitude and longitude; many of his works were translated, both into Spanish and into Latin.
Still another luminary was al-Bitruji (the Latin scholars of the Middle Ages called him Alpetragius), who developed a new theory of stellar movement and wrote the Book of Form in which it is detailed.
The influence of these astronom- ical works was immense. Today, for example, the constellations still bear the names given them by Muslim astronomers—Acrab (from ‘aqrab, “scorpion”), Altair (from al-ta’ir, “the flyer”), Deneb (from dhanb, “tail”), Pherkard (from farqad, “calf”)—and words such as zenith, nadir and azimuth, all still in use today, recall the works of the Muslim scholars of Al-Andalus.
But the Muslim science par excellence was the study of medicine. Interest in medicine goes back to the very earliest times. The Prophet himself stated that there was a remedy for every illness, and was aware that some diseases were contagious.
The great contribution of the Arabs was to put the study of medicine on a scientific footing and eliminate superstition and harmful folk-practices. Medicine was considered a highly technical calling, and one which required long study and training. Elaborate codes were formulated to regulate the professional conduct of doctors. It was not enough to have a mastery of one’s subject in order to practice medicine. Certain moral qualities were mandatory. Ibn Hazm said that a doctor should be kind, understanding, friendly, good, able to endure insults and adverse criticism; he must keep his hair short, and his fingernails as well; he must wear clean, white clothes and behave with dignity.
Before doctors could practice, they had to pass an examination, and if they passed they had to take the Hippocratic oath, which, if neglected, could lead to dismissal.
Hospitals were similarly organized. The large one built in Córdoba was provided with running water and baths, and had different sections for the treatment of various diseases, each of which was headed by a specialist. Hospitals were required to be open 24 hours a day to handle emergency cases, and could not turn any patient away.
Muslim physicians made many important additions to the body of medical knowledge which they inherited from the Greeks. Ibn al-Nafis, for example, discovered the lesser circulation of the blood hundreds of years before Harvey, and ideas of quarantine sprang from an empirical notion of contagion.
Another example is Ibn Juljul, who was born in Córdoba in 943, became a leading physician by the age of 24 (he began his studies of medicine at 14) and compiled a commentary on the De Materia Medica of Dioscorides and a special treatise on drugs found in Al-Andalus. In his Categories of Physicians, composed at the request of one of the Umayyad princes, he also presents a history of the medical profession from the time of Aesculapius to his own day.
During the 10th century, Al-Andalus produced a large number of excellent physicians. Several went to Baghdad, where they studied Greek medical works under the famous translators Thabit ibn Qurra and Thabit ibn Sinan. On their return, they were lodged in the government palace complex at Madinat al-Zahra. One of these men, Ahmad ibn Harran, was placed in charge of a dispensary which provided free medical care and food to poor patients.
Ibn Shuhaid, also known as a popular doctor, wrote a fundamental work on the use of drugs. He -- like many of his contemporaries -- recommended drugs only if the patient did not respond to dietary treatment, and said that if they must be used, simple drugs should be employed in all cases but the most serious.
Al-Zahrawi, who died in 1013, was the most famous surgeon of the Middle Ages. He was court physician of al-Hakam II, and his great work, the Tasrif, was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona and became a leading medical text in European universities in the later Middle Ages. The section on surgery contains a number of illustrations of surgical instruments of elegant, functional design and great precision. It describes lithotrites, amputations, ophthalmic and dental surgery and the treatment of wounds and fractures.
Ibn Zuhr, known as Avenzoar, who died in 1162, was born in Seville and earned a great reputation throughout North Africa and Spain. He described abscesses and mediastinal tumors for the first time, and made original experiments in therapeutics. One of his works, the Taysir, was translated into Latin in 1280 and became a standard work.
An outgrowth of the interest in medicine was the study of botany. The most famous Andalusian botanist was Ibn Baitar, who wrote a famous book called Collection of Simple Drugs and Food. It is an alphabetically arranged compendium of medicinal plants of all sorts, most of which were native to Spain and North Africa, which he had spent a lifetime gathering. Where possible, he gives the Berber, Arabic, and sometimes Romance names of the plant, so that for linguists his work is of special interest. In each article, he gives information about the preparation of the drug and its administration, purpose and dosage.
The last of the great Andalusian physicians was Ibn al-Khatib, who was also a noted historian, poet, and statesman. Among his other works, he wrote an important work on the theory of contagion: “The fact of infection becomes clear to the investigator who notices how he who establishes contact with the afflicted gets the disease, whereas he who is not in contact remains safe, and how transmitting is effected through garments, vessels, and earrings.”
Ibn al-Khatib was the last representative of the Andalusian medical tradition. Soon after his death, the energies of the Muslims of Al-Andalus were wholly absorbed in the long, costly struggle against the Christian reconquista.
Another field that interested the scholars of Al-Andalus was geography, and many of the finest Muslim works in this field were produced there. Economic and political considerations played some part in the development of this field of study, but it was above all their all-consuming curiosity about the world and its inhabitants that motivated the scholars who devoted themselves to the description of the earth and its inhabitants. The first steps had been taken in the East, when “books of routes,” as they were called, were compiled for the use of the postmasters of the early Abbasid caliphs. Soon, reports on faraway lands, their commercial products and major physical features were compiled for the information of the caliph and his ministers. Advances in astronomy and mathematics made the plotting of this information on maps feasible, and soon cartography became an important discipline in its own right.
Al-Khwarizmi, who did so much to advance the science of mathematics, was also one of the earliest scientific descriptive geographers. Basing his work on information made available through the Arabic translation of Ptolemy, al-Khwarizmi wrote a book called The Form of the Earth, which included maps of the heavens and of the earth. In Al-Andalus, this work was carried forward by Ibn Muhammad al-Razi, who died in 936, and who wrote a basic geography of Al-Andalus for administrative purposes. Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Warraq, a contemporary of al-Razi, wrote a similar work describing the topography of North Africa. The wide-ranging commercial relations of Al-Andalus allowed the collection, from returning merchants, of a great deal of detailed information about regions as far north as the Baltic. Ibrahim ibn Ya‘qub, for example, who traveled widely in Europe and the Balkans in the late ninth century -- he must have been a brave man indeed -- left itineraries of his travels.
Two men who wrote in the 11th century collected much of the information assembled by their predecessors and put it into convenient form. One of them, al-Bakri, is particularly interesting. Born in Saltes in 1014, al-Bakri was the son of the governor of the province of Huelva and Saltes. Al-Bakri himself was an important minister at the court in Seville and undertook several diplomatic missions. An accomplished scholar as well as litérateur, he wrote works on history, botany and geography as well as poetry and literary essays. One of his two important geographical works is devoted to the geography of the Arabian Peninsula, with particular attention to the elucidation of its place names. It is arranged alphabetically, and lists the names of villages, towns, wadis and monuments which he culled from the hadith and histories. His other major work has not survived in its entirety, but it was an encyclopedic treatment of the entire world.
Al-Bakri arranged his material by country -- preceding each entry by a short historical introduction -- and describes the people, customs, climate, geographical features and the major cities, with anecdotes about them. He says of the inhabitants of Galicia, for example: “They are treacherous, dirty and bathe once or twice a year, even then with cold water; they never wash their clothes until they are worn out because they claim that the dirt accumulated as the result of their sweat softens their body.”
Perhaps the most famous geographer of the time was al-Idrisi, “the Strabo of the Arabs.” Born in 1100 and educated in Córdoba, al-Idrisi traveled widely, visiting Spain, North Africa and Anatolia, until he eventually settled in Sicily. There he was employed by the Norman king Roger ii to write a systematic geography of the world, which is still extant, and is usually known as The Book of Roger.
In it, al-Idrisi describes the world systematically, following the Greek division of it into seven “climes,” each divided into 10 sections. Each of the climes is mapped—and the maps are highly accurate for the time in which they were compiled. He gives the distances between major cities and describes the customs, people, products and climate of the entire known world. He even records the voyage of a Moroccan navigator who was blown off course in the Atlantic, sailed for 30 days, and returned to tell of a fertile land to the west inhabited by naked savages.
The information contained in The Book of Roger was engraved on a silver planisphere, which was one of the wonders of the age.
Al-Andalus also produced the authors of two of the most interesting travel books ever written. Each exists in good English translation. The first is by Ibn Jubair, secretary to the governor of Granada who, in 1183, made the Hajj, and wrote a book about his journey, called simply Travels. The book is in the form of a diary, and gives a detailed account of the eastern Mediterranean world at the height of the Crusades. It is written in clear, elegant style, and is filled with the perceptive, intelligent comments of a tolerant -- and often witty -- man.
The most famous of all the Andalusian travelers was Ibn Battuta -- the greatest tourist of his age, and perhaps of any. He went to North Africa, Syria, Makkah, Medina and Iraq. He went to Yemen, sailed down the Nile, the Red Sea, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea. He went to the Crimea and to Constantinople. He went to Afghanistan, India and China. He died in Granada at the age of 73.
It is impossible to do justice to all the scholars of Al-Andalus who devoted themselves to the study of history and linguistic sciences. These were the prime “social sciences” cultivated by the Arabs, and both were brought to a high level of art in Al-Andalus. For example, Ibn al-Khatib, whose theory of contagious diseases we have touched on already, was the author of the finest history of Granada that has come down to us.
Ibn al-Khatib was born in 1313, near Granada, and followed the traditional educational curriculum of his time -- he studied grammar, poetry, natural sciences and Islamic law, as well, of course, as the Qur’an. His father, an important official, was killed by the Christians in 1340. The ruler of Granada invited the son to occupy the post of secretary in the department of correspondence. He soon became the confidant of the ruler and gained a position of great power.
Despite his busy political career, Ibn al-Khatib found time to write more than 50 books on travel, medicine, poetry, music, history, politics and theology.
The achievements of Ibn al-Khatib were rivaled only by those of his near contemporary Ibn Khaldun, the first historian to seek to develop and explicate the general laws which govern the rise and decline of civilizations. His huge, seven-volume history is entitled The Book of Examples and Collection from Early and Later Information Concerning the Days of Arabs, Non-Arabs and Berbers. The first volume, entitled Introduction, gives a profound and detailed analysis of Islamic society and indeed of human society in general, for he constantly refers to other cultures for comparative purposes. He gives a sophisticated analysis of how human society evolved from nomadism to urban centers, and how and why these urban centers decay and finally succumb to less developed invaders. Many of the profoundly disturbing questions raised by Ibn Khaldun have still not received the attention they should from all thinking people. Certainly, anyone interested in the problems of the rise and fall of civilizations, the decay of cities, or the complex relationship between technologically advanced societies and traditional ones should read Ibn Khaldun’s Introduction.
Another great area of Andalusian intellectual activity was philosophy, but it is impossible to do more than glance at this difficult and specialized study. From the ninth century, Andalusian scholars, like those in Baghdad, had to deal with the theological problems posed by the introduction of Greek philosophy into a context of Islam. How could reason be reconciled with revelation? This was the central question.
Ibn Hazm was one of the first to deal with this problem. He supported certain Aristotelian concepts with enthusiasm and rejected others. For example, he wrote a large and detailed commentary on Aristotle’s Posterior Analects, that abstruse work on logic. Interestingly, Ibn Hazm appears to have had no trouble relating logic to Islam -- in fact, he gives illustrative examples of how it can be used in solving legal problems, drawn from the body of Islamic law. Nothing better illustrates the ability of Islam to assimilate foreign ideas and acclimatize them than Ibn Hazm’s words in the introduction to his work: “Let it be known that he who reads this book of ours will find that the usefulness of this kind of work is not limited to one single discipline but includes the Qur’an, hadith and legal decisions concerning what is permissible and what is not, and what is obligatory and what is lawful.”
Ibn Hazm considered logic a useful tool, and philosophy to be in harmony, or at least not in conflict, with revelation. He has been described as “one of the giants of the intellectual history of Islam,” but it is difficult to form a considered judgment of a man who wrote more than 400 books, most of which have perished or still remain in manuscript.
Ibn Bajjah, whom western scholastic theologians called Avempace, was another great Andalusian philosopher. But it was Averroës -- Ibn Rushd -- who earned the greatest reputation. He was an ardent Aristotelian, and his works had a lasting effect, in their Latin translation, on the development of European philosophy.
Islamic technological innovations also played their part in the legacy that Al-Andalus left to Medieval Europe. Paper has been mentioned, but there were others of great importance -- the windmill, new techniques of working metal, making ceramics, building, weaving and agriculture. The people of Al-Andalus had a passion for gardens, combining their love of beauty with their interest in medicinal plants. Two important treatises on agriculture -- one of which was partially translated into Romance in the Middle Ages, were written in Al-Andalus. Ibn al-‘Awwam, the author of one of these treatises, lists 584 species of plants and gives precise instructions regarding their cultivation and use. He writes, for example, of how to graft trees, make hybrids, stop blights and insect pests, and how to make floral essences and perfumes.
This area of technological achievement has not yet been examined in detail, but it had as profound an influence on Medieval European material culture as the Muslim commentators on Aristotle had on Medieval European intellectuals. For these were the arts of civilization, the arts that make life a pleasure rather than a burden, and without which philosophical speculation is an arid exercise.
Paul Lunde, an independent scholar who divides his time between Seville and Cambridge, England, researches and writes about the Middle East. His most recent book is Islam: Culture, Faith and History (2001, Dorling Kindersley).
Michael Grimsdale, one of Britain’s foremost illustrators, paints portraits, animals, sports and travel themes in a variety of media. Widely collected and exhibited, his paintings have also appeared in advertising, books and magazines.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
379)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS, PART 4
CLASSICAL AND ISLAMIC LEARNING ENTERS EUROPE
Learning Evolves in Europe
In the 1100s, there was a new desire for learning that developed in Europe, especially in the towns.
Farming was improving. Trade began to grow. So, towns along trade routes also expanded.
Growing towns needed skilled artisans and merchants, and stronger governments. They needed systems of law and people to keep records. Schools began to educate the sons of wealthy merchants in more worldly subjects; church learning was not enough. With the entry of newly translated books from Spain and Italy, the quality of learning was gradually advancing.
Philosophy Meets Faith
Philosophy means “love of wisdom” in Greek. Aristotle, Plato, and other famous Greek philosophers wrote and taught about reason, moral teachings, and human behavior.
Jews, Christians, and Muslims share the important set of ideas set forth by Greek thinking. Philosophers of all three faiths have discussed how Greek ideas could be melded with the teachings of their scriptures.
They have written about the links between God-given reason and God-given revelation and faith. People have spent their entire lifetime thinking, writing, and teaching about such philosophical questions as how humans can balance the urge to question with the necessity to believe.
If the House of Wisdom had not preserved in Arabic classical works of Greek and other ancient philosophers and scientists, they may have been lost to Europeans. Muslims translated the works, wrote comments and explanations, and added their own ideas.
The Spanish Muslim, Ibn Rushd, and the Jewish thinker, Maimonides, commented on Aristotle. They both were born and worked in Islamic Spain. Other Muslim philosophers -- such as al-Kindi, Ibn Sina (Avecinna, the medical writer), and al-Ghazzali -- had also written about faith and reason. Their works were translated into Latin. They stimulated Christian scholars to discuss reason and faith.
The similarity of thought and ideas of Islam and Judaism with Christianity gave way to meaningful translations and commentaries from such great thinkers as Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas was a scholar of the 12th century. He wrote a famous work on this subject, called the Summa Theologica. It contains ideas from Greek and Arab/Muslim thinkers. Europeans and Muslims alike were attracted to Aristotle and Plato's ideas.
Most importantly, the work of philosophers -- whether Greek, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian -- offered solutions, which opened the way to scientific thought. They made it acceptable to investigate the natural world, draw conclusions about it, and attempt to discover the laws of nature.
Learning Transforms Higher Education
The entry of new learning into Europe had a huge effect on higher education. Students and scholars wanted to study these important new works. So, they eagerly sought out teachers who had read them.
Europe developed colleges as centers for teaching and research in medicine, law, mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Universities in Paris, France, and Oxford and Cambridge, England, were founded. A college at Bologna specialized in law. Another at Salerno taught new Arabic medical knowledge.
Changes in knowledge opened up new ways of thinking among educated Europeans. Volumes of ancient wisdom, new learning, and literature filled libraries. This historic period is known as the Renaissance, or "rebirth."
Learning and the Renaissance
The discovery of classical and Arabic learning set off the search for works “lost” after the fall of Rome. During the Renaissance, European scholars re-explored these works and brought a fresh perspective on the past. They put aside the rigid, narrow thinking of the Middle Ages. They found ways to build a better life and future, using these ideas.
A group of philosophers, called humanists, improved the teaching of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and even Arabic. Their discovery of Greek and Latin writings led them to travel, discuss, and debate.
Despite changes taking place in universities, new knowledge reached only the tiny group of Europeans who attended college. However, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1450 set off an explosion of literature and learning.
Together with paper-making technology -- which entered Europe through Islamic Spain -- book production became much easier and cheaper. Books became trade goods sold on expanding trade routes all over Europe.
Wealthy customers -- often merchants and aristocrats -- bought scientific books to add to their libraries. Scientific books -- translated from Arabic two centuries earlier in Spain -- now became available in print.
Authors with Latinized Arabic names appeared in newly printed books on such subjects as medicine, astronomy, agriculture, metallurgy, and meteorology. They included Avecinna (Ibn Sina), Geber (Jaber), Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and many others.
Most of the works, which influenced teaching at European universities in the 1200s, now had an even greater impact. During the next 300 years, some of these books continued to be printed and re-printed.
New Age of Discovery
The work of these Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars centuries earlier sparked a new age of discovery in Europe.
The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries resulted from the transfer of knowledge five centuries before. Developments in scholarship and education leading to the Renaissance also played an important role. And, in turn, the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution brought about the Industrial Revolution.
It took more than a few people in one part of the world to bring about the changes leading to the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. History proves that exchanges among many cultures over a very long period of time contributed to modern inventions and scientific understanding. Ultimately, it is the result of humanity's desire and cooperation to preserve and pass on knowledge from one generation to the next.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Learning Evolves in Europe
In the 1100s, there was a new desire for learning that developed in Europe, especially in the towns.
Farming was improving. Trade began to grow. So, towns along trade routes also expanded.
Growing towns needed skilled artisans and merchants, and stronger governments. They needed systems of law and people to keep records. Schools began to educate the sons of wealthy merchants in more worldly subjects; church learning was not enough. With the entry of newly translated books from Spain and Italy, the quality of learning was gradually advancing.
Philosophy Meets Faith
Philosophy means “love of wisdom” in Greek. Aristotle, Plato, and other famous Greek philosophers wrote and taught about reason, moral teachings, and human behavior.
Jews, Christians, and Muslims share the important set of ideas set forth by Greek thinking. Philosophers of all three faiths have discussed how Greek ideas could be melded with the teachings of their scriptures.
They have written about the links between God-given reason and God-given revelation and faith. People have spent their entire lifetime thinking, writing, and teaching about such philosophical questions as how humans can balance the urge to question with the necessity to believe.
If the House of Wisdom had not preserved in Arabic classical works of Greek and other ancient philosophers and scientists, they may have been lost to Europeans. Muslims translated the works, wrote comments and explanations, and added their own ideas.
The Spanish Muslim, Ibn Rushd, and the Jewish thinker, Maimonides, commented on Aristotle. They both were born and worked in Islamic Spain. Other Muslim philosophers -- such as al-Kindi, Ibn Sina (Avecinna, the medical writer), and al-Ghazzali -- had also written about faith and reason. Their works were translated into Latin. They stimulated Christian scholars to discuss reason and faith.
The similarity of thought and ideas of Islam and Judaism with Christianity gave way to meaningful translations and commentaries from such great thinkers as Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas was a scholar of the 12th century. He wrote a famous work on this subject, called the Summa Theologica. It contains ideas from Greek and Arab/Muslim thinkers. Europeans and Muslims alike were attracted to Aristotle and Plato's ideas.
Most importantly, the work of philosophers -- whether Greek, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian -- offered solutions, which opened the way to scientific thought. They made it acceptable to investigate the natural world, draw conclusions about it, and attempt to discover the laws of nature.
Learning Transforms Higher Education
The entry of new learning into Europe had a huge effect on higher education. Students and scholars wanted to study these important new works. So, they eagerly sought out teachers who had read them.
Europe developed colleges as centers for teaching and research in medicine, law, mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Universities in Paris, France, and Oxford and Cambridge, England, were founded. A college at Bologna specialized in law. Another at Salerno taught new Arabic medical knowledge.
Changes in knowledge opened up new ways of thinking among educated Europeans. Volumes of ancient wisdom, new learning, and literature filled libraries. This historic period is known as the Renaissance, or "rebirth."
Learning and the Renaissance
The discovery of classical and Arabic learning set off the search for works “lost” after the fall of Rome. During the Renaissance, European scholars re-explored these works and brought a fresh perspective on the past. They put aside the rigid, narrow thinking of the Middle Ages. They found ways to build a better life and future, using these ideas.
A group of philosophers, called humanists, improved the teaching of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and even Arabic. Their discovery of Greek and Latin writings led them to travel, discuss, and debate.
Despite changes taking place in universities, new knowledge reached only the tiny group of Europeans who attended college. However, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1450 set off an explosion of literature and learning.
Together with paper-making technology -- which entered Europe through Islamic Spain -- book production became much easier and cheaper. Books became trade goods sold on expanding trade routes all over Europe.
Wealthy customers -- often merchants and aristocrats -- bought scientific books to add to their libraries. Scientific books -- translated from Arabic two centuries earlier in Spain -- now became available in print.
Authors with Latinized Arabic names appeared in newly printed books on such subjects as medicine, astronomy, agriculture, metallurgy, and meteorology. They included Avecinna (Ibn Sina), Geber (Jaber), Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and many others.
Most of the works, which influenced teaching at European universities in the 1200s, now had an even greater impact. During the next 300 years, some of these books continued to be printed and re-printed.
New Age of Discovery
The work of these Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars centuries earlier sparked a new age of discovery in Europe.
The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries resulted from the transfer of knowledge five centuries before. Developments in scholarship and education leading to the Renaissance also played an important role. And, in turn, the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution brought about the Industrial Revolution.
It took more than a few people in one part of the world to bring about the changes leading to the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. History proves that exchanges among many cultures over a very long period of time contributed to modern inventions and scientific understanding. Ultimately, it is the result of humanity's desire and cooperation to preserve and pass on knowledge from one generation to the next.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
378)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS, PART 3
THE HERITAGE OF LEARNING PASSES TO MUSLIM CIVILIZATION
Centers of Learning
The spread of Islam extended the Arabic language across Afro-Eurasian lands, from Central Asia to the Atlantic.
Just as the Greeks, Romans, and Persians had done under their rule, Muslim governments established centers of learning. At these centers, they would collect and translate scientific, literary, and philosophical works.
Among the most famous effort was the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma in Arabic). Khalifah al-Ma’mun established this center in 870 C.E. in Baghdad.
Al-Hunayn, a Christian scholar, led a great effort to collect and translate available knowledge. Emissaries were sent out to purchase books from wherever they could be found. They included works in the library at Jundi-Shapur, as well as all the great traditions.
Invention of Paper
Around the time the House of Wisdom was founded, a new technology helped to advance the spread of knowledge: paper-making.
In the early 700s, the Chinese invention of paper arrived in the Muslim countries of Southwest Asia. Suddenly, making books became cheaper and easier. While parchment was a good writing material, it was made from expensive animal skins. Papyrus was cheap, but not very durable. In comparison, paper could be made from cotton, linen and other plant fibers, or even from old rags.
In the growing cities of Muslim lands, people bought, wrote, and collected books more than ever before. Instead of having just a few copies of an existing work, more could be produced. This increased production improved chances that the work would not be lost to history.
Books and paper-making spread westward across Africa to Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain. Another technology that spread with paper-making was the use of water-power to pound fiber. The result: libraries in Muslim lands grew to thousands of volumes -- even though books were still copied by hand!
Growth of Knowledge
Muslims, Jews, and Christians took part in the growth of learning and culture in eastern and western Muslim lands.
The cities in western Muslim lands -- including Córdoba, Toledo, Seville and Granada -- shared in this book and scholarship exchange. Scholars in different places using the same book corresponded with each other. They shared thoughts and ideas. Their efforts allowed for the growth of knowledge between cities.
There also were other key factors advancing knowledge growth. Trade, travel, and migration sped up this process. Increased wealth also fueled this knowledge growth. What's more, the use of Arabic language and Islamic law across a wide territory proved critical.
It was, indeed, a very dynamic period of learning. The House of Wisdom became a translation center, library, museum, and institute for scholars. There, scholars copied, studied, and discussed books from every angle.
What's more, Baghdad’s scholars worked with scientific ideas everywhere -- in courts, palaces, streets, homes, and bookshops. They tested them by measuring, experimenting, and traveling. In time, they developed a large body of new knowledge, adding to the wisdom of ancient times.
Faith and Knowledge Growth
One important concern -- which would be shared across religious boundaries -- was the question of how these ancient ideas fit in with Islamic teachings. If scriptures were a revelation from God and contained all wisdom, as they believed, was it permitted to look to other sources of knowledge?
Numerous scholars wrestled with this issue. But they generally reached agreement that faith or belief and reason or independent investigation are not just permitted, but encouraged. God created human beings with the capacity to think and reason. Like other human abilities, it could be used for good and evil.
This important balance between faith and reason would be explored for centuries. It would be passed on through the work of Muslim, Jewish, and later Christian philosophers and scientists.
This shared understanding among the Abrahamic faiths put into place one of the cornerstones of modern science. And, the scholars of Al-Andalus played an important role in its formation and transmission.
Institutionalized Learning Grows
Educational institutions such as schools, universities, and libraries spread across the network of Muslim cities. Mosques offered classes in reading Arabic. Meanwhile, the wealthy employed tutors in their homes or palaces.
From the 800s to the 1100s, major Muslim cities established formal schools and colleges. There were also several already-existing important universities for teaching and research.
For example, there was a college in Córdoba attached to the Umayyad caliphate. In Baghdad, the Seljuk Turks established the Mustansiriyyah. And, the Fatimid rulers founded Cairo’s famous al-Azhar University.
Traveling students -- including young European scholars -- came to these colleges. They learned Arabic. They also transmitted important ideas and styles of song, poetry, and new foods once they returned home.
Muslim-ruled territories in Spain and Sicily became centers of Muslim learning and culture. These Mediterranean lands within Europe served as links to the East.
Contacts during times of both war and peace brought Christian Europe information about an advanced way of life -- luxury goods, music, fashions -- and the learning available in Al-Andalus. Curious scholars -- including Church officials -- traveled to Al-Andalus to learn about these things firsthand. They wanted to see the libraries filled with books in Arabic on many important and useful subjects.
Groups of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars sat down together to translate these works from Arabic to Latin, with the support of certain Christian rulers. This translation effort mirrored the one at the House of Wisdom in Jundi-Shapur centuries earlier.
Practical Uses of Knowledge
During the 1100 and 1200s, Latin translations of Arabic books fostered changes in Europe’s schools and growing cities. Books about mathematics -- including algebra, geometry and advanced arithmetic -- introduced Arabic numerals. Yet, it took another 200 years before Arabic replaced Roman numerals in Europeans’ everyday life.
North African and Italian merchants' use of Arabic numerals enabled them to spread among merchants, who also did their own bookkeeping, or accounting. Meanwhile, other books brought knowledge about astronomy -- contributions from Greek, Persian, and Arabic sources.
Geography, maps, and navigational instruments allowed Europeans to see the world in a new way. These navigational instruments included: the astrolabe, the quadrant, the compass, and the use of longitude and latitude to create accurate maps and charts. (Calculating longitude at sea came in later centuries.)
Medical books -- especially by Ibn Sina, al-Razi, and al-Zahrawi -- and some classical Greek works, lifted the cloud of superstition over illness. What's more, descriptions of diseases and cures, surgery, and pharmacy -- the art of preparing medicines -- helped develop a medical profession in Europe.
Modern writers Francis and Joseph Gies summarize the importance of translation work taking place in Spain after the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085:
"It was the Muslim-Assisted translation of Aristotle followed by Galen, Euclid, Ptolemy, and other Greek authorities and their integration into the university curriculum that created what historians have called "the scientific Renaissance of the12th century." Certainly the completion of the double, sometimes triple translation (Greek into Arabic, Arabic into Latin, often with an intermediate Castilian Spanish … ) is one of the most fruitful scholarly enterprises ever undertaken. Two chief sources of translation were Spain and Sicily, regions where Arab, European, and Jewish scholars freely mingled. In Spain the main center was Toledo, where Archbishop Raymond established a college specifically for making Arab knowledge available to Europe. Scholars flocked thither … By 1200 "virtually the entire scientific corpus of Aristotle" was available in Latin, along with works by other Greek and Arab authors on medicine, optics, catoptrics (mirror theory), geometry, astronomy, astrology, zoology, psychology, and mechanics."
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Centers of Learning
The spread of Islam extended the Arabic language across Afro-Eurasian lands, from Central Asia to the Atlantic.
Just as the Greeks, Romans, and Persians had done under their rule, Muslim governments established centers of learning. At these centers, they would collect and translate scientific, literary, and philosophical works.
Among the most famous effort was the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma in Arabic). Khalifah al-Ma’mun established this center in 870 C.E. in Baghdad.
Al-Hunayn, a Christian scholar, led a great effort to collect and translate available knowledge. Emissaries were sent out to purchase books from wherever they could be found. They included works in the library at Jundi-Shapur, as well as all the great traditions.
Invention of Paper
Around the time the House of Wisdom was founded, a new technology helped to advance the spread of knowledge: paper-making.
In the early 700s, the Chinese invention of paper arrived in the Muslim countries of Southwest Asia. Suddenly, making books became cheaper and easier. While parchment was a good writing material, it was made from expensive animal skins. Papyrus was cheap, but not very durable. In comparison, paper could be made from cotton, linen and other plant fibers, or even from old rags.
In the growing cities of Muslim lands, people bought, wrote, and collected books more than ever before. Instead of having just a few copies of an existing work, more could be produced. This increased production improved chances that the work would not be lost to history.
Books and paper-making spread westward across Africa to Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain. Another technology that spread with paper-making was the use of water-power to pound fiber. The result: libraries in Muslim lands grew to thousands of volumes -- even though books were still copied by hand!
Growth of Knowledge
Muslims, Jews, and Christians took part in the growth of learning and culture in eastern and western Muslim lands.
The cities in western Muslim lands -- including Córdoba, Toledo, Seville and Granada -- shared in this book and scholarship exchange. Scholars in different places using the same book corresponded with each other. They shared thoughts and ideas. Their efforts allowed for the growth of knowledge between cities.
There also were other key factors advancing knowledge growth. Trade, travel, and migration sped up this process. Increased wealth also fueled this knowledge growth. What's more, the use of Arabic language and Islamic law across a wide territory proved critical.
It was, indeed, a very dynamic period of learning. The House of Wisdom became a translation center, library, museum, and institute for scholars. There, scholars copied, studied, and discussed books from every angle.
What's more, Baghdad’s scholars worked with scientific ideas everywhere -- in courts, palaces, streets, homes, and bookshops. They tested them by measuring, experimenting, and traveling. In time, they developed a large body of new knowledge, adding to the wisdom of ancient times.
Faith and Knowledge Growth
One important concern -- which would be shared across religious boundaries -- was the question of how these ancient ideas fit in with Islamic teachings. If scriptures were a revelation from God and contained all wisdom, as they believed, was it permitted to look to other sources of knowledge?
Numerous scholars wrestled with this issue. But they generally reached agreement that faith or belief and reason or independent investigation are not just permitted, but encouraged. God created human beings with the capacity to think and reason. Like other human abilities, it could be used for good and evil.
This important balance between faith and reason would be explored for centuries. It would be passed on through the work of Muslim, Jewish, and later Christian philosophers and scientists.
This shared understanding among the Abrahamic faiths put into place one of the cornerstones of modern science. And, the scholars of Al-Andalus played an important role in its formation and transmission.
Institutionalized Learning Grows
Educational institutions such as schools, universities, and libraries spread across the network of Muslim cities. Mosques offered classes in reading Arabic. Meanwhile, the wealthy employed tutors in their homes or palaces.
From the 800s to the 1100s, major Muslim cities established formal schools and colleges. There were also several already-existing important universities for teaching and research.
For example, there was a college in Córdoba attached to the Umayyad caliphate. In Baghdad, the Seljuk Turks established the Mustansiriyyah. And, the Fatimid rulers founded Cairo’s famous al-Azhar University.
Traveling students -- including young European scholars -- came to these colleges. They learned Arabic. They also transmitted important ideas and styles of song, poetry, and new foods once they returned home.
Muslim-ruled territories in Spain and Sicily became centers of Muslim learning and culture. These Mediterranean lands within Europe served as links to the East.
Contacts during times of both war and peace brought Christian Europe information about an advanced way of life -- luxury goods, music, fashions -- and the learning available in Al-Andalus. Curious scholars -- including Church officials -- traveled to Al-Andalus to learn about these things firsthand. They wanted to see the libraries filled with books in Arabic on many important and useful subjects.
Groups of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars sat down together to translate these works from Arabic to Latin, with the support of certain Christian rulers. This translation effort mirrored the one at the House of Wisdom in Jundi-Shapur centuries earlier.
Practical Uses of Knowledge
During the 1100 and 1200s, Latin translations of Arabic books fostered changes in Europe’s schools and growing cities. Books about mathematics -- including algebra, geometry and advanced arithmetic -- introduced Arabic numerals. Yet, it took another 200 years before Arabic replaced Roman numerals in Europeans’ everyday life.
North African and Italian merchants' use of Arabic numerals enabled them to spread among merchants, who also did their own bookkeeping, or accounting. Meanwhile, other books brought knowledge about astronomy -- contributions from Greek, Persian, and Arabic sources.
Geography, maps, and navigational instruments allowed Europeans to see the world in a new way. These navigational instruments included: the astrolabe, the quadrant, the compass, and the use of longitude and latitude to create accurate maps and charts. (Calculating longitude at sea came in later centuries.)
Medical books -- especially by Ibn Sina, al-Razi, and al-Zahrawi -- and some classical Greek works, lifted the cloud of superstition over illness. What's more, descriptions of diseases and cures, surgery, and pharmacy -- the art of preparing medicines -- helped develop a medical profession in Europe.
Modern writers Francis and Joseph Gies summarize the importance of translation work taking place in Spain after the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085:
"It was the Muslim-Assisted translation of Aristotle followed by Galen, Euclid, Ptolemy, and other Greek authorities and their integration into the university curriculum that created what historians have called "the scientific Renaissance of the12th century." Certainly the completion of the double, sometimes triple translation (Greek into Arabic, Arabic into Latin, often with an intermediate Castilian Spanish … ) is one of the most fruitful scholarly enterprises ever undertaken. Two chief sources of translation were Spain and Sicily, regions where Arab, European, and Jewish scholars freely mingled. In Spain the main center was Toledo, where Archbishop Raymond established a college specifically for making Arab knowledge available to Europe. Scholars flocked thither … By 1200 "virtually the entire scientific corpus of Aristotle" was available in Latin, along with works by other Greek and Arab authors on medicine, optics, catoptrics (mirror theory), geometry, astronomy, astrology, zoology, psychology, and mechanics."
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
377)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, EXCERPTS PART 2
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION
Ancient Wisdom
Science developed in ancient cultures over time. People observed the world around them, studied the night skies, and developed an accurate calendar. They studied the human body and discovered medicines to cure illnesses. Practices such as counting and measuring developed into the science of mathematics.
The wisdom of ancient cultures passed along in different ways among varying cultures. For example, Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian cultures are among the few societies that made important discoveries and wrote them down.
Classical Learning
In the Mediterranean region, many cultures contributed to what historians call “classical” learning. Greek thinkers wrote about mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy -- or the study of wisdom. And, a Greek academy called the School of Athens became a famous center of learning.
In Egypt, Ptolemy wrote an important work about geography and the solar system. The Romans absorbed Greek sciences. They excelled in literature, politics, history, and engineering. Books from Greek and Roman sources -- along with the heritage of ancient wisdom from farther east -- formed the foundation for later cultures.
Greek, Roman, Chinese, African, and Indian traditions of learning grew during the Classical Period, from around 1000 B.C.E. to around 500 C.E. During this time, understanding of the natural world of plants, animals, and earth grew. Theoretical knowledge such as mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy also expanded.
Alexander the Great built an empire that helped to spread Greek ideas and develop contacts among civilizations. Scientific knowledge led to advances in engineering and architecture, producing remarkable monuments and buildings. Religious and philosophical ideas, and literature -- such as poetry, drama, and prose -- explored problems and expressed ideas of beauty.
As the classical civilizations declined, the institutions that preserved their knowledge did, too. However, the Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, and another in the ancient Greek city of Pergamum survived for many centuries.
Wisdom and Learning Move East
The fall of the Roman Empire signaled a time of decline and loss in culture that lasted for centuries. As Christianity spread in Roman territory, the Empire split into eastern and western parts.
The Latin, or western, part suffered invasions and unrest. People built castles defended by knights to protect themselves. Monks in monasteries or other church centers maintained what little learning and books were left from Roman times.
In the East, the Byzantines remained strong. They continued trade with other eastern lands. They also continued to preserve Greek learning. However, the growing power of the Church over learning and ideas caused many scholars to flee to the east toward Persia.
The Royal Academy of Jundi-Shapur especially welcomed the Christian scholars who fled there. It was at the academy that learning from India, Babylonia, the Hebrews, Greece, and even distant China came together: With the help of Persian kings, people who gathered and taught at Jundi-Shapur translated, copied, and discussed many books.
During the 600s, the Byzantines also fell into wars with Persia. Eventually, both empires lost much or all of their territory to a third new ruling group: the Muslims.
A Pan-Faith Tradition of Learning
The rise of Islam in the 6th century resulted in the formation of a new empire and world civilization. The Muslims rapidly expanded their territory from humble beginnings in Arabia. And, by the 700s, the Muslims governed lands stretching from Spain to the borders of China.
There is an old story that Muslims destroyed the famous library of Alexandria out of ignorance of its value. However, Islamic teachings place a high value on learning. Historians agree that early Muslims were very open to accepting the religions and cultural heritage of lands newly under their rule.
Since then, the tale has been proven false. In fact, the library had been destroyed centuries earlier. What's more, the Abbasid Muslim rulers ordered translations to be made of the works at Jundi-Shapur and other places. They left the Academy of Jundi-Shapur intact and later added to its treasures.
This translation and preservation effort is an important example of religious and cultural cooperation: Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together to help translate these books into Arabic.
During this time, Muslims also were introduced to Indian mathematics, including Hindi numerals called Arabic numerals today. Literature, music, and decorative arts were part of this exciting period of cultural exchange as well. India brought fantastic fables, fairy tales, and stories to Jundi-Shapur, which even had knowledge from as far away as China.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Ancient Wisdom
Science developed in ancient cultures over time. People observed the world around them, studied the night skies, and developed an accurate calendar. They studied the human body and discovered medicines to cure illnesses. Practices such as counting and measuring developed into the science of mathematics.
The wisdom of ancient cultures passed along in different ways among varying cultures. For example, Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian cultures are among the few societies that made important discoveries and wrote them down.
Classical Learning
In the Mediterranean region, many cultures contributed to what historians call “classical” learning. Greek thinkers wrote about mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy -- or the study of wisdom. And, a Greek academy called the School of Athens became a famous center of learning.
In Egypt, Ptolemy wrote an important work about geography and the solar system. The Romans absorbed Greek sciences. They excelled in literature, politics, history, and engineering. Books from Greek and Roman sources -- along with the heritage of ancient wisdom from farther east -- formed the foundation for later cultures.
Greek, Roman, Chinese, African, and Indian traditions of learning grew during the Classical Period, from around 1000 B.C.E. to around 500 C.E. During this time, understanding of the natural world of plants, animals, and earth grew. Theoretical knowledge such as mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy also expanded.
Alexander the Great built an empire that helped to spread Greek ideas and develop contacts among civilizations. Scientific knowledge led to advances in engineering and architecture, producing remarkable monuments and buildings. Religious and philosophical ideas, and literature -- such as poetry, drama, and prose -- explored problems and expressed ideas of beauty.
As the classical civilizations declined, the institutions that preserved their knowledge did, too. However, the Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, and another in the ancient Greek city of Pergamum survived for many centuries.
Wisdom and Learning Move East
The fall of the Roman Empire signaled a time of decline and loss in culture that lasted for centuries. As Christianity spread in Roman territory, the Empire split into eastern and western parts.
The Latin, or western, part suffered invasions and unrest. People built castles defended by knights to protect themselves. Monks in monasteries or other church centers maintained what little learning and books were left from Roman times.
In the East, the Byzantines remained strong. They continued trade with other eastern lands. They also continued to preserve Greek learning. However, the growing power of the Church over learning and ideas caused many scholars to flee to the east toward Persia.
The Royal Academy of Jundi-Shapur especially welcomed the Christian scholars who fled there. It was at the academy that learning from India, Babylonia, the Hebrews, Greece, and even distant China came together: With the help of Persian kings, people who gathered and taught at Jundi-Shapur translated, copied, and discussed many books.
During the 600s, the Byzantines also fell into wars with Persia. Eventually, both empires lost much or all of their territory to a third new ruling group: the Muslims.
A Pan-Faith Tradition of Learning
The rise of Islam in the 6th century resulted in the formation of a new empire and world civilization. The Muslims rapidly expanded their territory from humble beginnings in Arabia. And, by the 700s, the Muslims governed lands stretching from Spain to the borders of China.
There is an old story that Muslims destroyed the famous library of Alexandria out of ignorance of its value. However, Islamic teachings place a high value on learning. Historians agree that early Muslims were very open to accepting the religions and cultural heritage of lands newly under their rule.
Since then, the tale has been proven false. In fact, the library had been destroyed centuries earlier. What's more, the Abbasid Muslim rulers ordered translations to be made of the works at Jundi-Shapur and other places. They left the Academy of Jundi-Shapur intact and later added to its treasures.
This translation and preservation effort is an important example of religious and cultural cooperation: Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together to help translate these books into Arabic.
During this time, Muslims also were introduced to Indian mathematics, including Hindi numerals called Arabic numerals today. Literature, music, and decorative arts were part of this exciting period of cultural exchange as well. India brought fantastic fables, fairy tales, and stories to Jundi-Shapur, which even had knowledge from as far away as China.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
376)City of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain: EXCERPTS, PART 1
THE TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE FROM ISLAMIC SPAIN TO EUROPE
Today's knowledge of science and technology developed over thousands of years. People of many cultures and civilizations contributed to what we know today.
The ancient and classical civilizations of Greece, Rome, China, India, and Persia fostered knowledge building. This heritage of learning then passed on to the Muslims in western Asia, during a time of tolerance.
Centuries later, Western European Spain experienced a similar period of tolerance among religious groups. Individuals from differing religious groups added to and passed along the heritage of learning once again.
They were responsible for bringing this learning from ancient into modern times. Indeed, the world's ancient and classical knowledge came to the West through Spain under Muslim rule.
The next few posts on my blog will contain excerpts of this mammoth article.
COLLECTIVE LEARNING AND PRESERVATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Collective Learning
Throughout human history, each generation has built upon the work of those who came before. People have passed on knowledge through spoken and written language, both locally and globally. This process is called "collective learning."
As human societies came in contact through trade and conflict, they shared knowledge and technologies across cultural barriers. As networks of exchange spread, the pace of learning increased. The more we learn and share what we know, the greater the rate of new learning.
Ways of Sharing Knowledge
Person-to-person, oral transmission of knowledge was slow but effective. To help remember what was said, ideas were put into poetry and song. For example, orally transmitted ideas have come down to us today in religious texts and epic poems from thousands of years ago.
The development of writing systems served as a catalyst to the exchanging of ideas. Scribes patiently wrote things down on clay, stone, wood, bone, and skin. Alphabets improved over time; instead of pictures, they began using phonetic symbols.
More people could learn to read and write. With the invention of papyrus, parchment, and then paper, ideas could be stored in smaller spaces. Written words became more portable and could be carried over land and sea. Books could hold more text than scrolls. Then, libraries collected and stored books.
Today, we collect and share masses of knowledge through computers and on plastic, such as CDs. Powered by electricity and radio waves, digital ideas are so portable, they can travel around the world -- and even into outer space -- and back in seconds or minutes.
Barriers to Knowledge Sharing
Progress in human knowledge sounds simple, like a hike straight up a mountainside. Yet, in reality, it has not been so easy.
Throughout history, there have been setbacks in recording and preserving knowledge; wars that devastate people and institutions of learning; broken off connections in human exchange networks; and barriers to sharing. These and other factors have stopped, slowed, or prevented knowledge sharing among people and across generations.
Two other key barriers include language difference and loss of recorded knowledge.
People who cannot understand each other's language cannot communicate much beyond the basics. As a result, translators must be found -- such as merchants, diplomats, or scholars with foreign language skills -- and they are fairly rare. What's more, languages also get lost over time, and have to be de-coded to unlock their message again. Islam offered a common language and culture that bridged or linked Africa, Asia, and Europe and allowed for free interchanging of ideas from all of these regions.
The loss of recorded information halts the spread of knowledge across time and place. For example, books in libraries have burned due to accidents, wars, and intentional destruction of ideas. Also, books written on paper rot and decay. Even today, librarians worry about deterioration of books less than a century old.
What's more, modern technology may make recorded knowledge even more fragile. If no one has a record player, vinyl recordings of great music -- which have never been transferred to CD -- cannot be heard again. Floppy disks had become obsolete within only 10 years. And while CDs and tapes are amazing ways of recording words, sounds, and images, they too are fragile.
When a computer breaks down, data losses can be huge. Today, we can record masses of
information, but it can be lost forever in the blink of an eye!
When we look at the transmission of ideas this way, it is remarkable how much has survived. We have clues about how much has been lost. But we also see times and places in history when conditions favored the preservation of knowledge and its transmission across cultural barriers.
Favorable Conditions for Knowledge Sharing
Expansion of empires has sometimes resulted in great bursts of learning. Empires bring together people of many languages and cultures under one government -- often times a very wealthy one. Great leaders have paid for books to be collected from all over the world, housed in libraries, and translated. These rulers recognize that knowledge is the foundation of power.
Just as a nutritious meal gives the body energy, collection of knowledge and translation stimulates learning and sciences in these empires. This process is part of the development of civilizations. The spread of religions has also led to scholarship, travel, and exchange of ideas.
The search for religious wisdom has often led to study of nature, and the collection and translation of books. Conversely, the search for natural wisdom has led to the study of religion. Trade -- and even warfare -- can spread ideas and result in the desire to gain access to the best ideas that others have.
The spread of religions has also motivated scholars to learn. It has connected them with others who wish to share knowledge and technology. Buddhist monks and pilgrims -- as well as Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian monks, missionaries, and travelers -- along the Silk Roads carried knowledge and promoted literacy among their followers.
The spread of Christianity into Africa and Europe stimulated reading, writing, and study, as many early Christians wrote down their ideas. The Jewish tradition of learning has been carried into the many lands where they have settled and traveled for trade. Jews often became fluent in language. Their cohesive society and common linguistic, scholarly, and literary culture bridged far-flung regions and encouraged their employment as merchants, diplomats, and administrators.
The spread of Islam across Africa, Asia, and southern Europe greatly encouraged the spread of learning, through the growth of cities, trade networks, and new technologies.
Muslim civilization inherited, developed, and passed on the learning of all the cultures with which it came into contact. The key to these achievements centered on collection, preservation, and transformation of treasured learning from many sources.
Cooperation among people of different languages, cultures, and religions has taken place at numerous times in the past. From time to time, scholars of different faiths have sat down to listen to one another and work out ways of translating their languages, patiently transcribing the results.
Places where knowledge is collected and society is tolerant -- even for a time -- have acted as magnets for those in search of learning.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Today's knowledge of science and technology developed over thousands of years. People of many cultures and civilizations contributed to what we know today.
The ancient and classical civilizations of Greece, Rome, China, India, and Persia fostered knowledge building. This heritage of learning then passed on to the Muslims in western Asia, during a time of tolerance.
Centuries later, Western European Spain experienced a similar period of tolerance among religious groups. Individuals from differing religious groups added to and passed along the heritage of learning once again.
They were responsible for bringing this learning from ancient into modern times. Indeed, the world's ancient and classical knowledge came to the West through Spain under Muslim rule.
The next few posts on my blog will contain excerpts of this mammoth article.
COLLECTIVE LEARNING AND PRESERVATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Collective Learning
Throughout human history, each generation has built upon the work of those who came before. People have passed on knowledge through spoken and written language, both locally and globally. This process is called "collective learning."
As human societies came in contact through trade and conflict, they shared knowledge and technologies across cultural barriers. As networks of exchange spread, the pace of learning increased. The more we learn and share what we know, the greater the rate of new learning.
Ways of Sharing Knowledge
Person-to-person, oral transmission of knowledge was slow but effective. To help remember what was said, ideas were put into poetry and song. For example, orally transmitted ideas have come down to us today in religious texts and epic poems from thousands of years ago.
The development of writing systems served as a catalyst to the exchanging of ideas. Scribes patiently wrote things down on clay, stone, wood, bone, and skin. Alphabets improved over time; instead of pictures, they began using phonetic symbols.
More people could learn to read and write. With the invention of papyrus, parchment, and then paper, ideas could be stored in smaller spaces. Written words became more portable and could be carried over land and sea. Books could hold more text than scrolls. Then, libraries collected and stored books.
Today, we collect and share masses of knowledge through computers and on plastic, such as CDs. Powered by electricity and radio waves, digital ideas are so portable, they can travel around the world -- and even into outer space -- and back in seconds or minutes.
Barriers to Knowledge Sharing
Progress in human knowledge sounds simple, like a hike straight up a mountainside. Yet, in reality, it has not been so easy.
Throughout history, there have been setbacks in recording and preserving knowledge; wars that devastate people and institutions of learning; broken off connections in human exchange networks; and barriers to sharing. These and other factors have stopped, slowed, or prevented knowledge sharing among people and across generations.
Two other key barriers include language difference and loss of recorded knowledge.
People who cannot understand each other's language cannot communicate much beyond the basics. As a result, translators must be found -- such as merchants, diplomats, or scholars with foreign language skills -- and they are fairly rare. What's more, languages also get lost over time, and have to be de-coded to unlock their message again. Islam offered a common language and culture that bridged or linked Africa, Asia, and Europe and allowed for free interchanging of ideas from all of these regions.
The loss of recorded information halts the spread of knowledge across time and place. For example, books in libraries have burned due to accidents, wars, and intentional destruction of ideas. Also, books written on paper rot and decay. Even today, librarians worry about deterioration of books less than a century old.
What's more, modern technology may make recorded knowledge even more fragile. If no one has a record player, vinyl recordings of great music -- which have never been transferred to CD -- cannot be heard again. Floppy disks had become obsolete within only 10 years. And while CDs and tapes are amazing ways of recording words, sounds, and images, they too are fragile.
When a computer breaks down, data losses can be huge. Today, we can record masses of
information, but it can be lost forever in the blink of an eye!
When we look at the transmission of ideas this way, it is remarkable how much has survived. We have clues about how much has been lost. But we also see times and places in history when conditions favored the preservation of knowledge and its transmission across cultural barriers.
Favorable Conditions for Knowledge Sharing
Expansion of empires has sometimes resulted in great bursts of learning. Empires bring together people of many languages and cultures under one government -- often times a very wealthy one. Great leaders have paid for books to be collected from all over the world, housed in libraries, and translated. These rulers recognize that knowledge is the foundation of power.
Just as a nutritious meal gives the body energy, collection of knowledge and translation stimulates learning and sciences in these empires. This process is part of the development of civilizations. The spread of religions has also led to scholarship, travel, and exchange of ideas.
The search for religious wisdom has often led to study of nature, and the collection and translation of books. Conversely, the search for natural wisdom has led to the study of religion. Trade -- and even warfare -- can spread ideas and result in the desire to gain access to the best ideas that others have.
The spread of religions has also motivated scholars to learn. It has connected them with others who wish to share knowledge and technology. Buddhist monks and pilgrims -- as well as Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian monks, missionaries, and travelers -- along the Silk Roads carried knowledge and promoted literacy among their followers.
The spread of Christianity into Africa and Europe stimulated reading, writing, and study, as many early Christians wrote down their ideas. The Jewish tradition of learning has been carried into the many lands where they have settled and traveled for trade. Jews often became fluent in language. Their cohesive society and common linguistic, scholarly, and literary culture bridged far-flung regions and encouraged their employment as merchants, diplomats, and administrators.
The spread of Islam across Africa, Asia, and southern Europe greatly encouraged the spread of learning, through the growth of cities, trade networks, and new technologies.
Muslim civilization inherited, developed, and passed on the learning of all the cultures with which it came into contact. The key to these achievements centered on collection, preservation, and transformation of treasured learning from many sources.
Cooperation among people of different languages, cultures, and religions has taken place at numerous times in the past. From time to time, scholars of different faiths have sat down to listen to one another and work out ways of translating their languages, patiently transcribing the results.
Places where knowledge is collected and society is tolerant -- even for a time -- have acted as magnets for those in search of learning.
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Islamic-Spain/index.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
375)Summer reading for those who are interested; My choice of the top 50 posts in my 375-post Blog
This is to inform you that if the Google or any other search engines bring you to this post it has been updated and is now entitled:
Fall And Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts On My 427-Post Blog
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/12/427fall-and-winter-reading-for-those.html
My blog postings are about to become sporadic as the summer vacation dawns upon us so I came up with a list of my top 50 posts as I see them. They represent a tiny fraction of my experiential encounter with the religion of my birth, Islam. The idea that learning about our universe, what it is made up of and how it operates, can be and is an integral part of the faith of Islam is a very powerful idea indeed. Here they are in descending order:
1)Comprehensive quotes of Aga Khan IV and others relating to knowledge, intellect, creation, science and religion-FROM 2007CE DOWN TO 322BC:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html
2)2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/3592-intellectual-giants-speak-to-each.html
3)Allegories in Nature: "....a Cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"; Quotes ofAgaKhans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/332allegories-in-nature-cosmos-full-of.html
4)No. 7: Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series. How are proteins made inside living cells and what does this have to do with religion?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/282no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
5)The Death of Science in Islam/What have we forgotten in Islam?-COMBO DELIGHT
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
6)The architect of universal good -Gulf News Interview with Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, April 2008, United Arab Emirates.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/351the-architect-of-universal-good-gulf.html
7)Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website:Intellect and Faith
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/361intellect-and-faith-in-shia-ismaili.html
8)The uninterrupted thread of the search for knowledge of all types.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
9)Abu Yakub al-Sijistani: Cosmologist, Theologian, Philosopher par excellence.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
10)One mega-post, encompassing five regular posts, on the pioneering 9th century Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen(965CE to 1039CE).
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/296one-mega-post-encompassing-four.html
11)So how old is the Universe anyway, 6000 years or 14 billion(14,000,000,000) years old?; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.html
12)Basics on the vast distances and sizes in Astronomy.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/273basics-on-vast-distances-and-sizes.html
13)Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html
14)Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, Mintaka, Betelgeuse, Al-Deberan: Arabic-named stars in nearby constellations in space.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html
15)A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html
16)Albert Einstein and Faith; Quote of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/311albert-einstein-and-faith-quote-of.html
17)Excitement mounts as Peter Higgs announces that the discovery of the "God Particle" is at hand; Quotes of Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khans and others.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/342excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs.html
18)Existential Wonderment: Huge star exploded 7.5 billion yrs ago, Earth was created 5 billion yrs ago: light from the star arrived here Mar 19 '08!!http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/340existential-wonderment-huge-star.html
19)"Knowledge Society", by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html
20)Pluralism and Ikhwan al-Safa: If society is to start from a premise that knowledge should be foundational, what form should that knowledge take?http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/267pluralism-and-ikhwan-al-safa-if.html
21)Latest 2008 USA quotes and speech excerpts of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, on the subjects of knowledge, learning and education.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html
22)Humans were nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago says Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/354humans-were-nearly-wiped-out-70000.html
23)Two back-to-back pictures on NASA Astronomy website reflect the tiniest living organisms(viruses) versus the largest galaxies of stars in space
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/352two-back-to-back-pictures-on-nasa.html
24)No. 3, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the earth.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/276no-3-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
25)No. 4, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series. Photosynthesis: Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288no-4-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
26)No. 2, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The miniscule universe inside a living cell.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/275no-2-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
27)No. 1, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: A magnificent vista of nature as seen from a cottage deck
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/272no-1-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
28)No. 5, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: Speeding angels; the relativity of time; everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289no-5-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
29)Excerpt: Aga Khan IV's interview with Spiegel newspaper, October 9th 2006.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/28760excerpt-aga-khan-ivs-interview.html
30)Symmetry in nature; Symmetry as a product of the human mind.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288symmetry-in-nature-symmetry-as.html
31)Tiniest matter: The strange world of the Quantum; harbinger of the world of spirit?http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/297tiniest-matter-strange-world-of.html
32)The bending and scattering of light in the recent total lunar eclipse; Quote of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/308the-bending-and-scattering-of-light.html
33)Harmonious mathematical reasoning and the Universe in which we live, move and have our being; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/309harmonious-mathematical-reasoning.html
34)20 things you need to know about Albert Einstein, the smartest scientist of the 20th century; Quotes of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/31220-things-you-need-to-know-about.html
35)Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist, Iranian, American, Canadian: a junior Albert Einstein?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/360nima-arkani-hamed-theoretical.html
36)Sir Isaac Newton: Man of Science and Religion.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/283sir-isaac-newton-man-of-science-and.html
37)Abdus Salam: 1979 Nobel laureate in Physics.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/285abdus-salam-1979-nobel-laureate-in.html
38)"The learning of mathematics was therefore linked to the Muslim religion and developing an understanding of the world...."; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/319the-learning-of-mathematics-was.html
39)Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences(IIS Review Article); Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
40)Matter and Energy: two sides of the same coin; how interpreting the light(energy) from the sun gives precise information about the matter in it.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/330matter-and-energy-two-sides-of-same.html
41)A survey of off-topic posts in the 2-year history of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/356a-survey-of-off-topic-posts-in-2.html
42)Our Sun is a WILD place-doing all kinds of ablutions, looking like a Picasso painting, having a bad hair day, or just scintillating radiantly....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/329our-sun-is-wild-place-doing-pesap.html
43)Mountains according to the Quran, as we know them today and as part of the dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the Earth; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/326mountains-according-to-quran-as-we.html
44)A must-see documentary movie on His Highness Aga Khan IV, who is the beloved muse of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/256a-must-see-documentary-movie-on-his.html
45)The Top Ten Hubble Space Telescope photographs of the past 16 years.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/265the-top-ten-hubble-space-telescope.html
46)The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation(Aga Khan IV)
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/11/250the-quran-itself-repeatedly.html
47)Four giants of 10th to 13th century Science in early Islam:Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan, Nasir al-Din Tusi; more quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/219four-giants-of-10th-to-13th-century.html
48)Science, Philosophy and Religion in medieval times: Moses Maimonides and the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/189science-and-religion-in-medieval.html
49)Whats new in the world of Astronomy?
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/185whats-new-in-world-of-astronomy.html
50)Einstein=Genius squared: the man who taught us key insights about the Universal "Soul that sustains, embraces and is the Universe".
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/178einsteingenius-squared-man-who.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Fall And Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts On My 427-Post Blog
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/12/427fall-and-winter-reading-for-those.html
My blog postings are about to become sporadic as the summer vacation dawns upon us so I came up with a list of my top 50 posts as I see them. They represent a tiny fraction of my experiential encounter with the religion of my birth, Islam. The idea that learning about our universe, what it is made up of and how it operates, can be and is an integral part of the faith of Islam is a very powerful idea indeed. Here they are in descending order:
1)Comprehensive quotes of Aga Khan IV and others relating to knowledge, intellect, creation, science and religion-FROM 2007CE DOWN TO 322BC:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html
2)2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/3592-intellectual-giants-speak-to-each.html
3)Allegories in Nature: "....a Cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"; Quotes ofAgaKhans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/332allegories-in-nature-cosmos-full-of.html
4)No. 7: Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series. How are proteins made inside living cells and what does this have to do with religion?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/282no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
5)The Death of Science in Islam/What have we forgotten in Islam?-COMBO DELIGHT
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
6)The architect of universal good -Gulf News Interview with Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, April 2008, United Arab Emirates.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/351the-architect-of-universal-good-gulf.html
7)Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website:Intellect and Faith
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/361intellect-and-faith-in-shia-ismaili.html
8)The uninterrupted thread of the search for knowledge of all types.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
9)Abu Yakub al-Sijistani: Cosmologist, Theologian, Philosopher par excellence.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
10)One mega-post, encompassing five regular posts, on the pioneering 9th century Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen(965CE to 1039CE).
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/296one-mega-post-encompassing-four.html
11)So how old is the Universe anyway, 6000 years or 14 billion(14,000,000,000) years old?; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.html
12)Basics on the vast distances and sizes in Astronomy.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/273basics-on-vast-distances-and-sizes.html
13)Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html
14)Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, Mintaka, Betelgeuse, Al-Deberan: Arabic-named stars in nearby constellations in space.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html
15)A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html
16)Albert Einstein and Faith; Quote of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/311albert-einstein-and-faith-quote-of.html
17)Excitement mounts as Peter Higgs announces that the discovery of the "God Particle" is at hand; Quotes of Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khans and others.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/342excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs.html
18)Existential Wonderment: Huge star exploded 7.5 billion yrs ago, Earth was created 5 billion yrs ago: light from the star arrived here Mar 19 '08!!http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/340existential-wonderment-huge-star.html
19)"Knowledge Society", by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html
20)Pluralism and Ikhwan al-Safa: If society is to start from a premise that knowledge should be foundational, what form should that knowledge take?http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/267pluralism-and-ikhwan-al-safa-if.html
21)Latest 2008 USA quotes and speech excerpts of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, on the subjects of knowledge, learning and education.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html
22)Humans were nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago says Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/354humans-were-nearly-wiped-out-70000.html
23)Two back-to-back pictures on NASA Astronomy website reflect the tiniest living organisms(viruses) versus the largest galaxies of stars in space
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/352two-back-to-back-pictures-on-nasa.html
24)No. 3, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the earth.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/276no-3-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
25)No. 4, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series. Photosynthesis: Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288no-4-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
26)No. 2, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The miniscule universe inside a living cell.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/275no-2-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
27)No. 1, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: A magnificent vista of nature as seen from a cottage deck
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/272no-1-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
28)No. 5, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: Speeding angels; the relativity of time; everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289no-5-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
29)Excerpt: Aga Khan IV's interview with Spiegel newspaper, October 9th 2006.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/28760excerpt-aga-khan-ivs-interview.html
30)Symmetry in nature; Symmetry as a product of the human mind.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288symmetry-in-nature-symmetry-as.html
31)Tiniest matter: The strange world of the Quantum; harbinger of the world of spirit?http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/297tiniest-matter-strange-world-of.html
32)The bending and scattering of light in the recent total lunar eclipse; Quote of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/308the-bending-and-scattering-of-light.html
33)Harmonious mathematical reasoning and the Universe in which we live, move and have our being; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/309harmonious-mathematical-reasoning.html
34)20 things you need to know about Albert Einstein, the smartest scientist of the 20th century; Quotes of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/31220-things-you-need-to-know-about.html
35)Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist, Iranian, American, Canadian: a junior Albert Einstein?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/360nima-arkani-hamed-theoretical.html
36)Sir Isaac Newton: Man of Science and Religion.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/283sir-isaac-newton-man-of-science-and.html
37)Abdus Salam: 1979 Nobel laureate in Physics.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/285abdus-salam-1979-nobel-laureate-in.html
38)"The learning of mathematics was therefore linked to the Muslim religion and developing an understanding of the world...."; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/319the-learning-of-mathematics-was.html
39)Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences(IIS Review Article); Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
40)Matter and Energy: two sides of the same coin; how interpreting the light(energy) from the sun gives precise information about the matter in it.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/330matter-and-energy-two-sides-of-same.html
41)A survey of off-topic posts in the 2-year history of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/356a-survey-of-off-topic-posts-in-2.html
42)Our Sun is a WILD place-doing all kinds of ablutions, looking like a Picasso painting, having a bad hair day, or just scintillating radiantly....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/329our-sun-is-wild-place-doing-pesap.html
43)Mountains according to the Quran, as we know them today and as part of the dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the Earth; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/326mountains-according-to-quran-as-we.html
44)A must-see documentary movie on His Highness Aga Khan IV, who is the beloved muse of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/256a-must-see-documentary-movie-on-his.html
45)The Top Ten Hubble Space Telescope photographs of the past 16 years.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/265the-top-ten-hubble-space-telescope.html
46)The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation(Aga Khan IV)
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/11/250the-quran-itself-repeatedly.html
47)Four giants of 10th to 13th century Science in early Islam:Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan, Nasir al-Din Tusi; more quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/219four-giants-of-10th-to-13th-century.html
48)Science, Philosophy and Religion in medieval times: Moses Maimonides and the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/189science-and-religion-in-medieval.html
49)Whats new in the world of Astronomy?
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/185whats-new-in-world-of-astronomy.html
50)Einstein=Genius squared: the man who taught us key insights about the Universal "Soul that sustains, embraces and is the Universe".
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/178einsteingenius-squared-man-who.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
375)Summer reading for those who are interested; My choice of the top 50 posts in my 375-post Blog
This is to inform you that if the Google or any other search engines bring you to this post it has been updated and is now entitled:
Fall And Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts On My 427-Post Blog
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/12/427fall-and-winter-reading-for-those.html
My blog postings are about to become sporadic as the summer vacation dawns upon us so I came up with a list of my top 50 posts as I see them. They represent a tiny fraction of my experiential encounter with the religion of my birth, Islam. The idea that learning about our universe, what it is made up of and how it operates, can be and is an integral part of the faith of Islam is a very powerful idea indeed. Here they are in descending order:
1)Comprehensive quotes of Aga Khan IV and others relating to knowledge, intellect, creation, science and religion-FROM 2007CE DOWN TO 322BC:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html
2)2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/3592-intellectual-giants-speak-to-each.html
3)Allegories in Nature: "....a Cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/332allegories-in-nature-cosmos-full-of.html
4)No. 7: Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series. How are proteins made inside living cells and what does this have to do with religion?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/282no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
5)The Death of Science in Islam/What have we forgotten in Islam?-COMBO DELIGHT
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
6)The architect of universal good -Gulf News Interview with Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, April 2008, United Arab Emirates.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/351the-architect-of-universal-good-gulf.html
7)Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website:
Intellect and Faith
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/361intellect-and-faith-in-shia-ismaili.html
8)The uninterrupted thread of the search for knowledge of all types.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
9)Abu Yakub al-Sijistani: Cosmologist, Theologian, Philosopher par excellence.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
10)One mega-post, encompassing five regular posts, on the pioneering 9th century Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen(965CE to 1039CE).
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/296one-mega-post-encompassing-four.html
11)So how old is the Universe anyway, 6000 years or 14 billion(14,000,000,000) years old?; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.html
12)Basics on the vast distances and sizes in Astronomy.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/273basics-on-vast-distances-and-sizes.html
13)Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html
14)Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, Mintaka, Betelgeuse, Al-Deberan: Arabic-named stars in nearby constellations in space.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html
15)A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html
16)Albert Einstein and Faith; Quote of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/311albert-einstein-and-faith-quote-of.html
17)Excitement mounts as Peter Higgs announces that the discovery of the "God Particle" is at hand; Quotes of Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khans and others.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/342excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs.html
18)Existential Wonderment: Huge star exploded 7.5 billion yrs ago, Earth was created 5 billion yrs ago: light from the star arrived here Mar 19 '08!!
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/340existential-wonderment-huge-star.html
19)"Knowledge Society", by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html
20)Pluralism and Ikhwan al-Safa: If society is to start from a premise that knowledge should be foundational, what form should that knowledge take?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/267pluralism-and-ikhwan-al-safa-if.html
21)Latest 2008 USA quotes and speech excerpts of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, on the subjects of knowledge, learning and education.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html
22)Humans were nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago says Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/354humans-were-nearly-wiped-out-70000.html
23)Two back-to-back pictures on NASA Astronomy website reflect the tiniest living organisms(viruses) versus the largest galaxies of stars in space
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/352two-back-to-back-pictures-on-nasa.html
24)No. 3, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the earth.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/276no-3-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
25)No. 4, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series. Photosynthesis: Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288no-4-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
26)No. 2, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The miniscule universe inside a living cell.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/275no-2-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
27)No. 1, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: A magnificent vista of nature as seen from a cottage deck
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/272no-1-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
28)No. 5, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: Speeding angels; the relativity of time; everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289no-5-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
29)Excerpt: Aga Khan IV's interview with Spiegel newspaper, October 9th 2006.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/28760excerpt-aga-khan-ivs-interview.html
30)Symmetry in nature; Symmetry as a product of the human mind.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288symmetry-in-nature-symmetry-as.html
31)Tiniest matter: The strange world of the Quantum; harbinger of the world of spirit?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/297tiniest-matter-strange-world-of.html
32)The bending and scattering of light in the recent total lunar eclipse; Quote of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/308the-bending-and-scattering-of-light.html
33)Harmonious mathematical reasoning and the Universe in which we live, move and have our being; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/309harmonious-mathematical-reasoning.html
34)20 things you need to know about Albert Einstein, the smartest scientist of the 20th century; Quotes of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/31220-things-you-need-to-know-about.html
35)Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist, Iranian, American, Canadian: a junior Albert Einstein?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/360nima-arkani-hamed-theoretical.html
36)Sir Isaac Newton: Man of Science and Religion.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/283sir-isaac-newton-man-of-science-and.html
37)Abdus Salam: 1979 Nobel laureate in Physics.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/285abdus-salam-1979-nobel-laureate-in.html
38)"The learning of mathematics was therefore linked to the Muslim religion and developing an understanding of the world...."; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/319the-learning-of-mathematics-was.html
39)Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences(IIS Review Article); Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
40)Matter and Energy: two sides of the same coin; how interpreting the light(energy) from the sun gives precise information about the matter in it.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/330matter-and-energy-two-sides-of-same.html
41)A survey of off-topic posts in the 2-year history of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/356a-survey-of-off-topic-posts-in-2.html
42)Our Sun is a WILD place-doing all kinds of ablutions, looking like a Picasso painting, having a bad hair day, or just scintillating radiantly....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/329our-sun-is-wild-place-doing-pesap.html
43)Mountains according to the Quran, as we know them today and as part of the dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the Earth; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/326mountains-according-to-quran-as-we.html
44)A must-see documentary movie on His Highness Aga Khan IV, who is the beloved muse of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/256a-must-see-documentary-movie-on-his.html
45)The Top Ten Hubble Space Telescope photographs of the past 16 years.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/265the-top-ten-hubble-space-telescope.html
46)The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation(Aga Khan IV)
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/11/250the-quran-itself-repeatedly.html
47)Four giants of 10th to 13th century Science in early Islam:Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan, Nasir al-Din Tusi; more quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/219four-giants-of-10th-to-13th-century.html
48)Science, Philosophy and Religion in medieval times: Moses Maimonides and the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/189science-and-religion-in-medieval.html
49)Whats new in the world of Astronomy?
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/185whats-new-in-world-of-astronomy.html
50)Einstein=Genius squared: the man who taught us key insights about the Universal "Soul that sustains, embraces and is the Universe".
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/178einsteingenius-squared-man-who.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Fall And Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts On My 427-Post Blog
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/12/427fall-and-winter-reading-for-those.html
My blog postings are about to become sporadic as the summer vacation dawns upon us so I came up with a list of my top 50 posts as I see them. They represent a tiny fraction of my experiential encounter with the religion of my birth, Islam. The idea that learning about our universe, what it is made up of and how it operates, can be and is an integral part of the faith of Islam is a very powerful idea indeed. Here they are in descending order:
1)Comprehensive quotes of Aga Khan IV and others relating to knowledge, intellect, creation, science and religion-FROM 2007CE DOWN TO 322BC:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html
2)2 intellectual giants speak to each other accross a millenium on "time": can it be slowed, sped up, reversed, transcended?Ask Einstein and Khusraw
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/3592-intellectual-giants-speak-to-each.html
3)Allegories in Nature: "....a Cosmos full of signs and symbols that evoke the perfection of Allah's creation and mercy"; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/03/332allegories-in-nature-cosmos-full-of.html
4)No. 7: Ayats(Signs) in the Universe series. How are proteins made inside living cells and what does this have to do with religion?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/282no-7-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
5)The Death of Science in Islam/What have we forgotten in Islam?-COMBO DELIGHT
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
6)The architect of universal good -Gulf News Interview with Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, April 2008, United Arab Emirates.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/351the-architect-of-universal-good-gulf.html
7)Intellect and Faith in Shia Ismaili Islam as described on the Preamble to the AKDN website:
Intellect and Faith
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/361intellect-and-faith-in-shia-ismaili.html
8)The uninterrupted thread of the search for knowledge of all types.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
9)Abu Yakub al-Sijistani: Cosmologist, Theologian, Philosopher par excellence.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
10)One mega-post, encompassing five regular posts, on the pioneering 9th century Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen(965CE to 1039CE).
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/296one-mega-post-encompassing-four.html
11)So how old is the Universe anyway, 6000 years or 14 billion(14,000,000,000) years old?; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/317so-how-old-is-universe-anyway-6000.html
12)Basics on the vast distances and sizes in Astronomy.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/273basics-on-vast-distances-and-sizes.html
13)Islam and Astronomy: Vestiges of a fine legacy; Quotes of Aga Khan IV and Ibn Sina
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/358islam-and-astronomy-vestiges-of-fine.html
14)Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, Mintaka, Betelgeuse, Al-Deberan: Arabic-named stars in nearby constellations in space.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289al-nitak-al-nilam-mintaka-betelgeuse.html
15)A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html
16)Albert Einstein and Faith; Quote of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/311albert-einstein-and-faith-quote-of.html
17)Excitement mounts as Peter Higgs announces that the discovery of the "God Particle" is at hand; Quotes of Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khans and others.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/342excitement-mounts-as-peter-higgs.html
18)Existential Wonderment: Huge star exploded 7.5 billion yrs ago, Earth was created 5 billion yrs ago: light from the star arrived here Mar 19 '08!!
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/340existential-wonderment-huge-star.html
19)"Knowledge Society", by Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/344knowledge-society-by-aga-khan-iv.html
20)Pluralism and Ikhwan al-Safa: If society is to start from a premise that knowledge should be foundational, what form should that knowledge take?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/267pluralism-and-ikhwan-al-safa-if.html
21)Latest 2008 USA quotes and speech excerpts of Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness Aga Khan IV, on the subjects of knowledge, learning and education.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/349latest-2008-quotes-and-speech.html
22)Humans were nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago says Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/354humans-were-nearly-wiped-out-70000.html
23)Two back-to-back pictures on NASA Astronomy website reflect the tiniest living organisms(viruses) versus the largest galaxies of stars in space
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/352two-back-to-back-pictures-on-nasa.html
24)No. 3, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the earth.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/276no-3-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
25)No. 4, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series. Photosynthesis: Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288no-4-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
26)No. 2, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: The miniscule universe inside a living cell.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/275no-2-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
27)No. 1, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: A magnificent vista of nature as seen from a cottage deck
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/272no-1-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
28)No. 5, 'Ayats'(Signs) in the Universe series: Speeding angels; the relativity of time; everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/289no-5-ayatssigns-in-universe-series.html
29)Excerpt: Aga Khan IV's interview with Spiegel newspaper, October 9th 2006.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/28760excerpt-aga-khan-ivs-interview.html
30)Symmetry in nature; Symmetry as a product of the human mind.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/288symmetry-in-nature-symmetry-as.html
31)Tiniest matter: The strange world of the Quantum; harbinger of the world of spirit?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/297tiniest-matter-strange-world-of.html
32)The bending and scattering of light in the recent total lunar eclipse; Quote of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/308the-bending-and-scattering-of-light.html
33)Harmonious mathematical reasoning and the Universe in which we live, move and have our being; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/309harmonious-mathematical-reasoning.html
34)20 things you need to know about Albert Einstein, the smartest scientist of the 20th century; Quotes of Aga Khan III.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/31220-things-you-need-to-know-about.html
35)Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist, Iranian, American, Canadian: a junior Albert Einstein?
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/360nima-arkani-hamed-theoretical.html
36)Sir Isaac Newton: Man of Science and Religion.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/283sir-isaac-newton-man-of-science-and.html
37)Abdus Salam: 1979 Nobel laureate in Physics.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/285abdus-salam-1979-nobel-laureate-in.html
38)"The learning of mathematics was therefore linked to the Muslim religion and developing an understanding of the world...."; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/319the-learning-of-mathematics-was.html
39)Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences(IIS Review Article); Quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
40)Matter and Energy: two sides of the same coin; how interpreting the light(energy) from the sun gives precise information about the matter in it.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/330matter-and-energy-two-sides-of-same.html
41)A survey of off-topic posts in the 2-year history of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/356a-survey-of-off-topic-posts-in-2.html
42)Our Sun is a WILD place-doing all kinds of ablutions, looking like a Picasso painting, having a bad hair day, or just scintillating radiantly....
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/329our-sun-is-wild-place-doing-pesap.html
43)Mountains according to the Quran, as we know them today and as part of the dynamic, roiling, rumbling surface of the Earth; Quotes of Aga Khans.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/326mountains-according-to-quran-as-we.html
44)A must-see documentary movie on His Highness Aga Khan IV, who is the beloved muse of my blog.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/256a-must-see-documentary-movie-on-his.html
45)The Top Ten Hubble Space Telescope photographs of the past 16 years.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/12/265the-top-ten-hubble-space-telescope.html
46)The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation(Aga Khan IV)
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2007/11/250the-quran-itself-repeatedly.html
47)Four giants of 10th to 13th century Science in early Islam:Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Butlan, Nasir al-Din Tusi; more quotes of Aga Khan IV.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/07/219four-giants-of-10th-to-13th-century.html
48)Science, Philosophy and Religion in medieval times: Moses Maimonides and the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/189science-and-religion-in-medieval.html
49)Whats new in the world of Astronomy?
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/06/185whats-new-in-world-of-astronomy.html
50)Einstein=Genius squared: the man who taught us key insights about the Universal "Soul that sustains, embraces and is the Universe".
http://easynash.blogspot.com/2007/05/178einsteingenius-squared-man-who.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
374)Dialogue among the Religions: The Vatican Prepares the Guidelines; Mohammed Arkoun of the IIS on Faith and Reason in Islam; Quotes of Aga Khan IV
IIS= Institute of Ismaili Studies
My friend Almoonir of the Calgary Interfaith Initiatives brought the article below to my attention, for which I am grateful:
http://almoonir.blogspot.com/
Quotes of Aga Khan IV:
"What does it (the West) know about the Islamic world? Is anything taught in secondary education? Does anybody know the names of the great philosophers, the scientists, the great theologians? Do they even know the names of the great civilizations?"(Aga Khan IV, Interview, 2nd Feb. 2002)
"The faith of a billion people is not part of the general education process in the West - ignored by school and college curricula in history, the sciences, philosophy and geography"(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 2002)
"The basic problem is the enormous lack of knowledge of the Islamic world in the general world-culture. It's a rather remarkable thing and a very sad thing to me, that over a billion people, their 1400 year history, of civilizations, are simply not part of general education in the general Western world. It's a remarkable knowledge gap"(Aga Khan IV, Interview, 2002)
"The Muslim world, once a remarkable bastion of scientific and humanist knowledge, a rich and self-confident cradle of culture and art, has never forgotten its past.The great Muslim philosopher al-Kindi wrote eleven hundred years ago, "No one is diminished by the truth, rather does the truth ennobles all". That is no less true today"(Aga Khan IV, Speech,1996, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.)
"From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought"(Aga Khan IV, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, 1996)
My take on the article below:
Ikhwan Al-Safa, An-Nasafi, Al-Sijistani, Ibn Sina, Al-Kirmani, Alfarabi, Nasir Khusraw, Nasir Al-Din Tusi, Ibn Rushd and many others were very involved in the reason-faith debate from the 8th to the 13th centuries within Islam. Among Jews Moses Maimonides and, among Christians, St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas also grappled with the reason-faith debate and the so-called "pagan" philosophy of the Greeks was a common thread employed among these 3 monotheistic faiths. Greek philosophy was also the precursor to modern western philosophy. That same common thread today presents a golden opportunity for bridge-building among the 3 faiths along with the bridge linking antiquity to modernity in the study of philosophy and religion, if only the mindless formalists on all sides can be subdued.
Dialogue Among the Religions. The Vatican Prepares the Guidelines
Chiesa Sandro Magister
Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008
1)Enough with the ceremonies.
2)And more conviction in proclaiming the Gospel.
3)New signs of openness come from Saudi Arabia.
4)Algerian philosopher Mohammed Arkoun criticizes the Pope, but even more the cultural void in the Muslim world.
ROMA, June 11, 2008 – The plenary meeting that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue held at the Vatican last week was the first of this pontificate, and took place with a new president – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran – and with experts who were also newcomers to a great extent.
And the aim of the plenary session was itself new: to develop new guidelines for the bishops, priests, and faithful in relating to other religions. This objective, Cardinal Tauran said, was decided "after many years of hesitation over its appropriateness."
On Saturday, June 9, at the end of the three-day meeting, Benedict XVI received the participants in the Sala del Concistoro. He encouraged the publication of the guidelines because, he said, "the great proliferation of interreligious meetings in today's world requires discernment." This last word is used in ecclesiastical language to urge critical analysis and the choices that stem from it.
In effect, the relationship with men of other religions has been and is being practiced in different and sometimes contradictory ways within the Catholic Church.
In the Muslim countries, for example, the most widespread practice among Catholics is that of the silent testimony of Christian life. There are reasons of prudence that justify this practice. But against those who justify it always and everywhere, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith published a doctrinal note last December 3, presenting instead a thesis previously voiced by Paul VI in "Evangelii Nuntiandi" in 1975:
"Even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not [...] made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus."
The guidelines that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue is preparing to publish will point in this direction. In introducing the plenary assembly, Cardinal Tauran said:
"We know that the Holy Spirit works in every man and every woman, independently of his religious or spiritual creed. But on the other hand, we must proclaim that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God has revealed to us the truth about God and the truth about man, and for us this is the Good News. We cannot hide this truth under a bushel basket."
Speaking to 200 representatives of other religions during his recent visit to the United States, Benedict XVI expressed himself no less clearly:
"It is Jesus whom we bring to the forum of interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue. [...] In our attempt to discover points of commonality, perhaps we have shied away from the responsibility to discuss our differences with calmness and clarity. [...] The higher goal of interreligious dialogue requires a clear exposition of our respective religious tenets."
This does not eliminate the fact that there is common ground for action among men of different beliefs, as the guidelines will insist. Introducing the plenary session, Tauran also said:
"The Ten Commandments are a sort of universal grammar that all believers can use in their relationship with God and neighbor. [...] In creating man, God ordered him with wisdom and love to his end, through the law written within his heart (Romans 2:15), the natural law. This is nothing other than the light of intelligence infused within us by God. Thanks to this, we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God gave us this light and this law at creation."
* * *
During the same days when the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue was holding its plenary assembly at the Vatican, there were new developments in relations between the Catholic Church and Islam.
In Saudi Arabia, in the holy city of Mecca, king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud inaugurated on June 4 a conference of 600 representatives from the vast Muslim world, with the aim of "telling the world that we are the voice of justice and moral human values, of coexistence and dialogue."
To this end, Abdullah confirmed his desire to "organize meetings with brothers belonging to other faiths," in particular Judaism and Christianity. Islamism, according to the Saudi sovereign, "has defined the principles and opened the road for a dialogue with the faithful of other religions," and this road "passes through the values common to the three monotheistic religions".
These values "reject treason, alienate crime, and combat the terrorism" practiced by "extremists among [our] own people," who "have joined forces in a flagrant aggressiveness to distort the rightfulness and tolerance of Islam."
Spoken by the king of Saudi Arabia – a nation of rigid Wahhabi Islamism and the place of origin of Osama bin Laden and of most of the authors of the attacks on September 11, 2001 – these words are of indisputable significance. At the Vatican, "L'Osservatore Romano" emphasized them in its reporting.
Moreover, King Abdullah said that he had gotten the "green light" for his project of interreligious dialogue from the Saudi ulema, and that he wants to consult with Muslims of other countries as well about the possibility. At the conference in Mecca, he brought together in a single room the sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Sayyid Tantawi, a leading Sunni authority, and the Shiite ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran and member of the Assembly of Experts, the center of the regime's supreme power.
In Israel, the proposals of King Abdullah were received favorably by the Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger, and the Sephardic chief rabbi Shlomo Amar.
The final statement of the conference, called "The Appeal from Mecca," announced the creation of an Islamic center for relations among civilizations. This will organize moments of dialogue with representatives of other religions, cultures, and philosophies, and will promote the publication of books on this topic.
* * *
Another novelty in these days is the upcoming meeting that the experts of the international magazine "Oasis" – backed by the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, and with a focus on dialogue between Christians and Muslims – will hold in Amman, Jordan, from June 23-24, on the topic of the connections between truth and freedom.
Amman is the city where the al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought is based, headed by prince of Jordan Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal. It is the same institute that promoted the famous letter of the 138 Muslims entitled "A common word between us and you" and addressed to the pope and to the other heads of Christian confessions.
Next November, a meeting is planned in Rome between authorities and experts of the Catholic Church, and a delegation of the 138 Muslims.
Meanwhile, one of the 138, Mustafa Cherif, a former education minister and ambassador of Algeria, has published a commentary on two recent events in his country in the monthly "Mondo e Missione" of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
The first of these events, which took place in early June, was the sentencing of four Algerians for converting from Islam to Christianity. The four are Protestant, but a similar sentence had been pronounced previously against a Catholic priest, guilty of leading a prayer, at Christmas, for a group of immigrants from Cameroon.
Cherif calls "incomprehensible and deplorable" the ways in which the question of proselytism is addressed in Algeria, because "our vision of law is founded on the Qur'anic principle: no imposition in matters of religion."
And he adds:
"Moreover, our Catholic friends in Algeria, who have been here for fifty years, have never tried to convert anyone, although they do have the right to witness to their faith. This, in spite of the fact that the current pope frequently recalls the central nature of the evangelizing mission for the Catholic Church."
The second event Cherif comments on is connected to this previous observation: the resignation, for reasons of age, of the archbishop of Algiers, Henri Teissier, made official by the Vatican last May 24.
Cherif draws a portrait of the elderly archbishop as "one of those moderate priests who seek the right balance, aware also of the reforms needed within the Church, and not hesitating sometimes to express their disagreements with the Vatican, especially over relations with Muslims."
As evidence of the "right balance" sought by Teissier, Cherif writes:
"Last December, the Vatican published a doctrinal note that reaffirms the mission of evangelizing non-Catholics. [...] Sometimes, nonetheless, after leaving to evangelize the world, many priests and pastors have set themselves to learn from the people they have encountered and from their culture, without necessarily seeking to divert them from their original religion. Archbishop Henri Teissier is one of those great men of faith who respect the other."
Cherif adds that he met Teissier for the first time in Cordoba in 1974, on the occasion of an international Islamic-Christian conference:
"It is important to recall that at that juncture, through the personal intervention of Archbishop Teissier with the bishop of Cordoba, our group of Muslim participants was authorized to hold our Friday prayers in the mosque of Cordoba."
The "mosque" cited here is properly, and has been for centuries, the cathedral church of the city. * * *
The third interesting novelty is the criticism made against Benedict XVI, but even more so against the Islamic world as a whole, by a prominent Muslim intellectual, Mohammed Arkoun.
Arkoun, 80, born in Algeria, has taught at the Sorbonne, at Princeton, and at other famous universities in Europe and America. Today, he is the research director at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, founded by Aga Khan.
Interviewed by John Allen, the Vatican analyst for the "National Catholic Reporter," during a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, Arkoun took his cue from the lecture in Regensburg:
"Pope Benedict has said that an intimate relationship between reason and faith does not exist in Islamic elaboration and expressions. This statement, historically speaking, is not true. If we consider the period from the 8th century to the 13th century, it is simply not true. But after the death of the philosopher Averroes in 1198, philosophy disappeared in Islamic thought. To that extent the pope was right [...]. The fact is today, when one speaks with Muslims, they don't have any idea about this history."
And the 138 who signed the letter are no exception, Arkoun continues: "I don't know any historians of thought among them."
So the pope is mistaken to choose them as dialogue partners:
"The pope should create a kind of space of debate, instead of all these so-called interreligious dialogues that have been going on since the Second Vatican Council. I've participated in so many of them, and I can tell you that they're absolutely nothing. It's gossip. There's no intellectual input in it. There is no respect for scholarship in it. A huge scholarship has already been produced devoted to the question of faith and reason. All this is put aside and we ignore it. We just congratulate one another, saying: 'I respect your faith, and you respect mine.' This is nonsense."
And to the question of whether the young Muslim generations have a real thirst for a new way of expressing their faith, different from that of the "ulema on the television, " Arkoun responds:
"Of course. When [in Egypt] I give a lecture, the turnout is enormous. The interest of people is very strong. Also the older generations are happy, they feel they can breathe. People applauded when I said after this affair with the pope [Pope Benedict's 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg] that Muslims should not go to the street demonstrating against him, but they should run to the libraries. They should know what has happened to Islamic thought after the 13th century."
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2030070/posts
Related Posts:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/294philosophical-judaism-christianity.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/286intellect-and-faith-from-aga-khan.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/277intellectual-pluralism-in-10th-to.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/271ikhwan-al-safa-early-attempt-to.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
My friend Almoonir of the Calgary Interfaith Initiatives brought the article below to my attention, for which I am grateful:
http://almoonir.blogspot.com/
Quotes of Aga Khan IV:
"What does it (the West) know about the Islamic world? Is anything taught in secondary education? Does anybody know the names of the great philosophers, the scientists, the great theologians? Do they even know the names of the great civilizations?"(Aga Khan IV, Interview, 2nd Feb. 2002)
"The faith of a billion people is not part of the general education process in the West - ignored by school and college curricula in history, the sciences, philosophy and geography"(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 2002)
"The basic problem is the enormous lack of knowledge of the Islamic world in the general world-culture. It's a rather remarkable thing and a very sad thing to me, that over a billion people, their 1400 year history, of civilizations, are simply not part of general education in the general Western world. It's a remarkable knowledge gap"(Aga Khan IV, Interview, 2002)
"The Muslim world, once a remarkable bastion of scientific and humanist knowledge, a rich and self-confident cradle of culture and art, has never forgotten its past.The great Muslim philosopher al-Kindi wrote eleven hundred years ago, "No one is diminished by the truth, rather does the truth ennobles all". That is no less true today"(Aga Khan IV, Speech,1996, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.)
"From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought"(Aga Khan IV, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, 1996)
My take on the article below:
Ikhwan Al-Safa, An-Nasafi, Al-Sijistani, Ibn Sina, Al-Kirmani, Alfarabi, Nasir Khusraw, Nasir Al-Din Tusi, Ibn Rushd and many others were very involved in the reason-faith debate from the 8th to the 13th centuries within Islam. Among Jews Moses Maimonides and, among Christians, St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas also grappled with the reason-faith debate and the so-called "pagan" philosophy of the Greeks was a common thread employed among these 3 monotheistic faiths. Greek philosophy was also the precursor to modern western philosophy. That same common thread today presents a golden opportunity for bridge-building among the 3 faiths along with the bridge linking antiquity to modernity in the study of philosophy and religion, if only the mindless formalists on all sides can be subdued.
Dialogue Among the Religions. The Vatican Prepares the Guidelines
Chiesa Sandro Magister
Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008
1)Enough with the ceremonies.
2)And more conviction in proclaiming the Gospel.
3)New signs of openness come from Saudi Arabia.
4)Algerian philosopher Mohammed Arkoun criticizes the Pope, but even more the cultural void in the Muslim world.
ROMA, June 11, 2008 – The plenary meeting that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue held at the Vatican last week was the first of this pontificate, and took place with a new president – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran – and with experts who were also newcomers to a great extent.
And the aim of the plenary session was itself new: to develop new guidelines for the bishops, priests, and faithful in relating to other religions. This objective, Cardinal Tauran said, was decided "after many years of hesitation over its appropriateness."
On Saturday, June 9, at the end of the three-day meeting, Benedict XVI received the participants in the Sala del Concistoro. He encouraged the publication of the guidelines because, he said, "the great proliferation of interreligious meetings in today's world requires discernment." This last word is used in ecclesiastical language to urge critical analysis and the choices that stem from it.
In effect, the relationship with men of other religions has been and is being practiced in different and sometimes contradictory ways within the Catholic Church.
In the Muslim countries, for example, the most widespread practice among Catholics is that of the silent testimony of Christian life. There are reasons of prudence that justify this practice. But against those who justify it always and everywhere, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith published a doctrinal note last December 3, presenting instead a thesis previously voiced by Paul VI in "Evangelii Nuntiandi" in 1975:
"Even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not [...] made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus."
The guidelines that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue is preparing to publish will point in this direction. In introducing the plenary assembly, Cardinal Tauran said:
"We know that the Holy Spirit works in every man and every woman, independently of his religious or spiritual creed. But on the other hand, we must proclaim that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God has revealed to us the truth about God and the truth about man, and for us this is the Good News. We cannot hide this truth under a bushel basket."
Speaking to 200 representatives of other religions during his recent visit to the United States, Benedict XVI expressed himself no less clearly:
"It is Jesus whom we bring to the forum of interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue. [...] In our attempt to discover points of commonality, perhaps we have shied away from the responsibility to discuss our differences with calmness and clarity. [...] The higher goal of interreligious dialogue requires a clear exposition of our respective religious tenets."
This does not eliminate the fact that there is common ground for action among men of different beliefs, as the guidelines will insist. Introducing the plenary session, Tauran also said:
"The Ten Commandments are a sort of universal grammar that all believers can use in their relationship with God and neighbor. [...] In creating man, God ordered him with wisdom and love to his end, through the law written within his heart (Romans 2:15), the natural law. This is nothing other than the light of intelligence infused within us by God. Thanks to this, we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God gave us this light and this law at creation."
* * *
During the same days when the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue was holding its plenary assembly at the Vatican, there were new developments in relations between the Catholic Church and Islam.
In Saudi Arabia, in the holy city of Mecca, king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud inaugurated on June 4 a conference of 600 representatives from the vast Muslim world, with the aim of "telling the world that we are the voice of justice and moral human values, of coexistence and dialogue."
To this end, Abdullah confirmed his desire to "organize meetings with brothers belonging to other faiths," in particular Judaism and Christianity. Islamism, according to the Saudi sovereign, "has defined the principles and opened the road for a dialogue with the faithful of other religions," and this road "passes through the values common to the three monotheistic religions".
These values "reject treason, alienate crime, and combat the terrorism" practiced by "extremists among [our] own people," who "have joined forces in a flagrant aggressiveness to distort the rightfulness and tolerance of Islam."
Spoken by the king of Saudi Arabia – a nation of rigid Wahhabi Islamism and the place of origin of Osama bin Laden and of most of the authors of the attacks on September 11, 2001 – these words are of indisputable significance. At the Vatican, "L'Osservatore Romano" emphasized them in its reporting.
Moreover, King Abdullah said that he had gotten the "green light" for his project of interreligious dialogue from the Saudi ulema, and that he wants to consult with Muslims of other countries as well about the possibility. At the conference in Mecca, he brought together in a single room the sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Sayyid Tantawi, a leading Sunni authority, and the Shiite ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran and member of the Assembly of Experts, the center of the regime's supreme power.
In Israel, the proposals of King Abdullah were received favorably by the Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger, and the Sephardic chief rabbi Shlomo Amar.
The final statement of the conference, called "The Appeal from Mecca," announced the creation of an Islamic center for relations among civilizations. This will organize moments of dialogue with representatives of other religions, cultures, and philosophies, and will promote the publication of books on this topic.
* * *
Another novelty in these days is the upcoming meeting that the experts of the international magazine "Oasis" – backed by the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, and with a focus on dialogue between Christians and Muslims – will hold in Amman, Jordan, from June 23-24, on the topic of the connections between truth and freedom.
Amman is the city where the al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought is based, headed by prince of Jordan Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal. It is the same institute that promoted the famous letter of the 138 Muslims entitled "A common word between us and you" and addressed to the pope and to the other heads of Christian confessions.
Next November, a meeting is planned in Rome between authorities and experts of the Catholic Church, and a delegation of the 138 Muslims.
Meanwhile, one of the 138, Mustafa Cherif, a former education minister and ambassador of Algeria, has published a commentary on two recent events in his country in the monthly "Mondo e Missione" of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
The first of these events, which took place in early June, was the sentencing of four Algerians for converting from Islam to Christianity. The four are Protestant, but a similar sentence had been pronounced previously against a Catholic priest, guilty of leading a prayer, at Christmas, for a group of immigrants from Cameroon.
Cherif calls "incomprehensible and deplorable" the ways in which the question of proselytism is addressed in Algeria, because "our vision of law is founded on the Qur'anic principle: no imposition in matters of religion."
And he adds:
"Moreover, our Catholic friends in Algeria, who have been here for fifty years, have never tried to convert anyone, although they do have the right to witness to their faith. This, in spite of the fact that the current pope frequently recalls the central nature of the evangelizing mission for the Catholic Church."
The second event Cherif comments on is connected to this previous observation: the resignation, for reasons of age, of the archbishop of Algiers, Henri Teissier, made official by the Vatican last May 24.
Cherif draws a portrait of the elderly archbishop as "one of those moderate priests who seek the right balance, aware also of the reforms needed within the Church, and not hesitating sometimes to express their disagreements with the Vatican, especially over relations with Muslims."
As evidence of the "right balance" sought by Teissier, Cherif writes:
"Last December, the Vatican published a doctrinal note that reaffirms the mission of evangelizing non-Catholics. [...] Sometimes, nonetheless, after leaving to evangelize the world, many priests and pastors have set themselves to learn from the people they have encountered and from their culture, without necessarily seeking to divert them from their original religion. Archbishop Henri Teissier is one of those great men of faith who respect the other."
Cherif adds that he met Teissier for the first time in Cordoba in 1974, on the occasion of an international Islamic-Christian conference:
"It is important to recall that at that juncture, through the personal intervention of Archbishop Teissier with the bishop of Cordoba, our group of Muslim participants was authorized to hold our Friday prayers in the mosque of Cordoba."
The "mosque" cited here is properly, and has been for centuries, the cathedral church of the city. * * *
The third interesting novelty is the criticism made against Benedict XVI, but even more so against the Islamic world as a whole, by a prominent Muslim intellectual, Mohammed Arkoun.
Arkoun, 80, born in Algeria, has taught at the Sorbonne, at Princeton, and at other famous universities in Europe and America. Today, he is the research director at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, founded by Aga Khan.
Interviewed by John Allen, the Vatican analyst for the "National Catholic Reporter," during a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, Arkoun took his cue from the lecture in Regensburg:
"Pope Benedict has said that an intimate relationship between reason and faith does not exist in Islamic elaboration and expressions. This statement, historically speaking, is not true. If we consider the period from the 8th century to the 13th century, it is simply not true. But after the death of the philosopher Averroes in 1198, philosophy disappeared in Islamic thought. To that extent the pope was right [...]. The fact is today, when one speaks with Muslims, they don't have any idea about this history."
And the 138 who signed the letter are no exception, Arkoun continues: "I don't know any historians of thought among them."
So the pope is mistaken to choose them as dialogue partners:
"The pope should create a kind of space of debate, instead of all these so-called interreligious dialogues that have been going on since the Second Vatican Council. I've participated in so many of them, and I can tell you that they're absolutely nothing. It's gossip. There's no intellectual input in it. There is no respect for scholarship in it. A huge scholarship has already been produced devoted to the question of faith and reason. All this is put aside and we ignore it. We just congratulate one another, saying: 'I respect your faith, and you respect mine.' This is nonsense."
And to the question of whether the young Muslim generations have a real thirst for a new way of expressing their faith, different from that of the "ulema on the television, " Arkoun responds:
"Of course. When [in Egypt] I give a lecture, the turnout is enormous. The interest of people is very strong. Also the older generations are happy, they feel they can breathe. People applauded when I said after this affair with the pope [Pope Benedict's 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg] that Muslims should not go to the street demonstrating against him, but they should run to the libraries. They should know what has happened to Islamic thought after the 13th century."
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2030070/posts
Related Posts:
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/331muslim-philosophy-and-sciencesiis.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/305the-death-of-science-in-islamwhat.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/294philosophical-judaism-christianity.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/286intellect-and-faith-from-aga-khan.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/284abu-yakub-al-sijistani-cosmologist.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/277intellectual-pluralism-in-10th-to.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/271ikhwan-al-safa-early-attempt-to.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
373)I guess the literalists have to start somewhere: Comic book series with Superheroes personifying Allah's 99 Names; I've always enjoyed comics :-)
To see another slant on this exact article read Jalaledin's Blog:
http://jalaledin.blogspot.com/2008/06/99-superheroes-sura-15-worldcentric.html
Excerpts from article below:
1)"Mutawa acknowledges he did not consult a cleric before creating the series. "We should not allow a very limited number of people to tell us how to practice our religion. An Islam where I can be an active participant is the only Islam I can belong to. I believe in Islam and I also believe in evolution," he said, sitting in his office in a traditional long white robe and headdress."
2)"When Mutawa recently visited the class, a young student in a black head scarf and makeup told him she was shocked by a scene in which Noora the Light said she was going to go pray to God, even though her hair was not covered."Why?" Mutawa asked. "Do you think only people who wear the hijab ask God for help? There isn't just one way to be Muslim. There areat least 99 different ways to be Muslim.""
Author Looks to the Koran For 99 New Superheroes
By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 11, 2008; A14
KUWAIT CITY -- Naif al-Mutawa was in a London taxi with his sister when she asked when he'd go back to writing children's books. Mutawa, a Kuwaiti psychologist with two doctorates and an MBA from Columbia, said the question sparked a chain of thoughts:
To go back to writing after all that education, it would have to be something big, something with the potential of Pokémon, the Japanese cartoon that was briefly banned by Saudi religious authorities. God would have been disappointed by that, he thought; God has 99 attributes, or names, including tolerance.
"And then the idea formed in my mind," Mutawa said. "Heroes with the 99 attributes."
He mixed his deep religious faith, business acumen and firsthand experience with other cultures -- his childhood summers were spent at a predominantly Jewish camp in New Hampshire -- to create The 99, a comic-book series about superheroes imbued with the 99 attributes of God.
Those traits represent one of Islam's most recognizable concepts.
Mutawa's superheroes are modern, secular and spiritual, moving seamlessly between East and West. They come from 99 countries and are split between males and females.
The heroes include Darr the Afflicter, an American paraplegic named John Wheeler, who manipulates nerve endings to transmit or prevent pain. Noora the Light -- Dana Ibrahim, a university student from the United Arab Emirates -- shows people the light and dark inside themselves. Mumita the Destroyer, a ferocious fighter, is Catarina Barbarosa, a Portuguese bombshell in tight clothes.
They distribute aid to starving Afghan villagers, battle elephant poachers in Africa, fight the evil Rughal and train to increase their powers.
"I wanted to create something that would be a classic, not another made-in-the-fifth-world product," said Mutawa, 37, who has four sons. "It was either going to be Spiderman or nothing."
After returning from London to Kuwait, Mutawa raised $7 million -- some from his old Columbia classmates, the rest from Persian Gulf investors -- and set up the Teshkeel media group in 2004. He hired some of the best people in the industry, including writers and artists who had worked at Marvel and DC Comics. His current writing partner, Stuart Moore, is a writer on the new Iron Man comics.
In November 2006, Mutawa's first comic book hit the newsstands.
Since then, his creation has gained many fans but also faced a rumble of criticism across the Muslim world. Some have disapproved of heroines' makeup and tight clothing. Others view the personification of God's attributes as blasphemous. One Kuwaiti cleric said the series promotes reliance on humans instead of God, counter to the Koran's teachings.
Mutawa acknowledges he did not consult a cleric before creating the series. "We should not allow a very limited number of people to tell us how to practice our religion. An Islam where I can be an active participant is the only Islam I can belong to. I believe in Islam and I also believe in evolution," he said, sitting in his office in a traditional long white robe and headdress.
When it was time to raise a second round of financing in 2007, Mutawa sold 30 percent of Teshkeel to Unicorn Investment Bank, an Islamic bank based in Bahrain. "Now, when people ask me religious questions, I ask them to go to the board of Unicorn," he said, smiling.
Over the past year, he said, he has given dozens of lectures around the world, focused on pushing an Islam at odds with no one. "We shouldn't be fighting globalization," he told a crowd in Indonesia at the launch of the series there last year. "We should be participating in it by putting our own ideas out there."
Mutawa describes The 99 as a modern tale with an ancient Islamic architecture. Ninety-nine gemstones imbued with the wisdom and knowledge of Baghdad's famous Dar al-Hikma library during the 13th century, the golden age of Islam, are scattered around the world, some on Christopher Columbus's ships, after an explosion of the dome in which the stones were embedded. The stones seem to find the people who become the superheroes, whose mystical link to the gems gives them special powers.
Worldwide sales of the comic in English and Arabic, including in the United States, have yet to exceed 30,000 copies a month, including Internet downloads, but Mutawa has been inundated with licensing demands. An American company wants to brand its halal hot dogs with The 99. He has signed deals with Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian and North African publishing companies.
In his office are pencils, rulers, backpacks, notebooks and folders with The 99 logo, by a Spanish company. A Dubai firm is interested in making action figures. A deal for an animated series by a European company will be announced in July, Mutawa said. Last month, he signed a deal for six theme parks.
This semester, the American University of Kuwait offered a class, "The Superhero in the Arab World," that focused on The 99. As a final project, students created their own comic-book heroes.
When Mutawa recently visited the class, a young student in a black head scarf and makeup told him she was shocked by a scene in which Noora the Light said she was going to go pray to God, even though her hair was not covered.
"Why?" Mutawa asked. "Do you think only people who wear the hijab ask God for help? There isn't just one way to be Muslim. There are at least 99 different ways to be Muslim."
To read more of these features, go to the new Worldview page at www.washingtonpost.com/world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002762_pf.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
http://jalaledin.blogspot.com/2008/06/99-superheroes-sura-15-worldcentric.html
Excerpts from article below:
1)"Mutawa acknowledges he did not consult a cleric before creating the series. "We should not allow a very limited number of people to tell us how to practice our religion. An Islam where I can be an active participant is the only Islam I can belong to. I believe in Islam and I also believe in evolution," he said, sitting in his office in a traditional long white robe and headdress."
2)"When Mutawa recently visited the class, a young student in a black head scarf and makeup told him she was shocked by a scene in which Noora the Light said she was going to go pray to God, even though her hair was not covered."Why?" Mutawa asked. "Do you think only people who wear the hijab ask God for help? There isn't just one way to be Muslim. There areat least 99 different ways to be Muslim.""
Author Looks to the Koran For 99 New Superheroes
By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 11, 2008; A14
KUWAIT CITY -- Naif al-Mutawa was in a London taxi with his sister when she asked when he'd go back to writing children's books. Mutawa, a Kuwaiti psychologist with two doctorates and an MBA from Columbia, said the question sparked a chain of thoughts:
To go back to writing after all that education, it would have to be something big, something with the potential of Pokémon, the Japanese cartoon that was briefly banned by Saudi religious authorities. God would have been disappointed by that, he thought; God has 99 attributes, or names, including tolerance.
"And then the idea formed in my mind," Mutawa said. "Heroes with the 99 attributes."
He mixed his deep religious faith, business acumen and firsthand experience with other cultures -- his childhood summers were spent at a predominantly Jewish camp in New Hampshire -- to create The 99, a comic-book series about superheroes imbued with the 99 attributes of God.
Those traits represent one of Islam's most recognizable concepts.
Mutawa's superheroes are modern, secular and spiritual, moving seamlessly between East and West. They come from 99 countries and are split between males and females.
The heroes include Darr the Afflicter, an American paraplegic named John Wheeler, who manipulates nerve endings to transmit or prevent pain. Noora the Light -- Dana Ibrahim, a university student from the United Arab Emirates -- shows people the light and dark inside themselves. Mumita the Destroyer, a ferocious fighter, is Catarina Barbarosa, a Portuguese bombshell in tight clothes.
They distribute aid to starving Afghan villagers, battle elephant poachers in Africa, fight the evil Rughal and train to increase their powers.
"I wanted to create something that would be a classic, not another made-in-the-fifth-world product," said Mutawa, 37, who has four sons. "It was either going to be Spiderman or nothing."
After returning from London to Kuwait, Mutawa raised $7 million -- some from his old Columbia classmates, the rest from Persian Gulf investors -- and set up the Teshkeel media group in 2004. He hired some of the best people in the industry, including writers and artists who had worked at Marvel and DC Comics. His current writing partner, Stuart Moore, is a writer on the new Iron Man comics.
In November 2006, Mutawa's first comic book hit the newsstands.
Since then, his creation has gained many fans but also faced a rumble of criticism across the Muslim world. Some have disapproved of heroines' makeup and tight clothing. Others view the personification of God's attributes as blasphemous. One Kuwaiti cleric said the series promotes reliance on humans instead of God, counter to the Koran's teachings.
Mutawa acknowledges he did not consult a cleric before creating the series. "We should not allow a very limited number of people to tell us how to practice our religion. An Islam where I can be an active participant is the only Islam I can belong to. I believe in Islam and I also believe in evolution," he said, sitting in his office in a traditional long white robe and headdress.
When it was time to raise a second round of financing in 2007, Mutawa sold 30 percent of Teshkeel to Unicorn Investment Bank, an Islamic bank based in Bahrain. "Now, when people ask me religious questions, I ask them to go to the board of Unicorn," he said, smiling.
Over the past year, he said, he has given dozens of lectures around the world, focused on pushing an Islam at odds with no one. "We shouldn't be fighting globalization," he told a crowd in Indonesia at the launch of the series there last year. "We should be participating in it by putting our own ideas out there."
Mutawa describes The 99 as a modern tale with an ancient Islamic architecture. Ninety-nine gemstones imbued with the wisdom and knowledge of Baghdad's famous Dar al-Hikma library during the 13th century, the golden age of Islam, are scattered around the world, some on Christopher Columbus's ships, after an explosion of the dome in which the stones were embedded. The stones seem to find the people who become the superheroes, whose mystical link to the gems gives them special powers.
Worldwide sales of the comic in English and Arabic, including in the United States, have yet to exceed 30,000 copies a month, including Internet downloads, but Mutawa has been inundated with licensing demands. An American company wants to brand its halal hot dogs with The 99. He has signed deals with Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian and North African publishing companies.
In his office are pencils, rulers, backpacks, notebooks and folders with The 99 logo, by a Spanish company. A Dubai firm is interested in making action figures. A deal for an animated series by a European company will be announced in July, Mutawa said. Last month, he signed a deal for six theme parks.
This semester, the American University of Kuwait offered a class, "The Superhero in the Arab World," that focused on The 99. As a final project, students created their own comic-book heroes.
When Mutawa recently visited the class, a young student in a black head scarf and makeup told him she was shocked by a scene in which Noora the Light said she was going to go pray to God, even though her hair was not covered.
"Why?" Mutawa asked. "Do you think only people who wear the hijab ask God for help? There isn't just one way to be Muslim. There are at least 99 different ways to be Muslim."
To read more of these features, go to the new Worldview page at www.washingtonpost.com/world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002762_pf.html
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
Monday, June 9, 2008
372)A great example of a continuous and dynamic creation, all in the same location; Quotes of Aga Khans IV and III.
A great example of a continuous and dynamic creation, all in the same location:
This is a well known region and a signature photograph of the Eagle Nebula(collection of dust and gas) within our Milky Way galaxy and 7000 light years away from earth(70,000,000,000, 000, 000 km away or 70 thousand trillion km). Within some parts of these pillars or "Fingers of God" as some call them there are stellar nurseries where new stars are continuously being born, and in other parts of this nebula and just outside it are dying stars such as exploding supernovae or red giants:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070218.html
These pillars of star creation are part of what looks like the "Hand of God" as seen in this 'big picture', at 4 o'clock in the picture:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070111.html
"Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
"The creation according to Islam is not a unique act in a given time but a perpetual and constant event; and God supports and sustains all existence at every moment by His will and His thought. Outside His will, outside His thought, all is nothing, even the things which seem to us absolutely self-evident such as space and time. Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine Will"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
Thus Islam's basic principle can only be defined as mono-realism and not as monotheism. Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul."(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
This is a well known region and a signature photograph of the Eagle Nebula(collection of dust and gas) within our Milky Way galaxy and 7000 light years away from earth(70,000,000,000, 000, 000 km away or 70 thousand trillion km). Within some parts of these pillars or "Fingers of God" as some call them there are stellar nurseries where new stars are continuously being born, and in other parts of this nebula and just outside it are dying stars such as exploding supernovae or red giants:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070218.html
These pillars of star creation are part of what looks like the "Hand of God" as seen in this 'big picture', at 4 o'clock in the picture:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070111.html
"Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University, 16 March 1983, Karachi, Pakistan)
"The creation according to Islam is not a unique act in a given time but a perpetual and constant event; and God supports and sustains all existence at every moment by His will and His thought. Outside His will, outside His thought, all is nothing, even the things which seem to us absolutely self-evident such as space and time. Allah alone wishes: the Universe exists; and all manifestations are as a witness of the Divine Will"(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
Thus Islam's basic principle can only be defined as mono-realism and not as monotheism. Consider, for example, the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer: "Allah-o-Akbar". What does that mean? There can be no doubt that the second word of the declaration likens the character of Allah to a matrix which contains all and gives existence to the infinite, to space, to time, to the Universe, to all active and passive forces imaginable, to life and to the soul."(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)
Easy Nash
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql)(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)
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