MUSLIM STATISTICS

MUSLIM STATISTICS


Islam is the True and Perfect religion. And that is what Allah states precisely about Islam:

Surah 12, Ayah 40 "..That is the true religion, but most among mankind know not."

Surah 30, Ayah 30 "..That is the true religion, but most among mankind know not."



The following table is developed from The CIA World's Facts Book estimate of 2008.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/



Country Name

Total Population

Muslims Percentage

Number of Muslims

Afghanistan

32,738,376

99

32,410,992

OIC

Albania

3,619,778

70

2,533,845

OIC

Algeria

33,769,668

99

33,431,971

OIC

Angola

12,531,357

25

3,132,839

Argentina

40,482,000

2

809,640

Australia

21,007,310

1.5

315,110

Austria

8,205,533

4.2

344,632

Azerbaijan

8,177,717

93.4

7,637,988

OIC

Bahrain

718,306

81.2

583,264

OIC

Bangladesh

153,546,896

83

127,443,924

OIC

Benin

8,532,547

24.4

2,081,941

OIC

Bhutan

2,185,569

5

109,278

Bosnia and Herzegovina

4,590,310

40

1,836,124

Botswana

1,842,323

5

92,116

Brazil

196,342,592

0.6

1,178,056

Brunei

381,371

67

255,519

OIC

Bulgaria

7,262,675

12.2

886,046

Burkina Faso

15,264,735

50

7,632,368

OIC
Burma

47,758,180

4

1,910,327

Burundi

8,691,005

10

869,101

Cambodia

14,241,640

1

142,416

Cameroon

18,467,692

20

3,693,538

OIC

Canada

33,212,696

1.9

631,041

Central African Republic

4,444,330

15

666,650

Chad

10,111,337

53.1

5,369,120

OIC

China

1,330,044,544

2

26,600,891

Comoros

651,901

98

638,863

OIC

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

66,514,504

10

6,651,450

Congo, Republic of the

3,903,318

2

78,066

Cote d'Ivoire

20,179,602

38.6

7,789,326

OIC

Croatia

4,491,543

1.3

58,390

Cyprus

792,604

18

142,669

Djibouti

506,221

94

475,848

OIC

Egypt

81,713,520

94

76,810,709

OIC

Equatorial Guinea

616,459

25

154,115

Eritrea

5,502,026

80

4,401,621

Ethiopia

82,544,840

50

41,272,420

Fiji

931,741

7

65,222

France

62,150,775

10

6,215,078

Gabon

1,485,832

1

14,858

OIC

Gambia

1,735,464

90

1,561,918

OIC

Gaza Strip

1,500,202

99.3

1,489,701

OIC*
Georgia

4,630,841

9.9

458,453

Germany

82,369,552

3.7

3,047,673

Ghana

23,382,848

15.9

3,717,873

Gibraltar

28,002

4

1,120

Greece

10,722,816

1.3

139,397

Guinea

9,806,509

85

8,335,533

OIC

Guinea-Bissau

1,503,182

50

751,591

OIC

Guyana

770,794

7.2

55,497

OIC

Hong Kong

7,018,636

1.3

91,242

India

1,147,995,904

13.4

153,831,451

Indonesia

237,512,352

86.1

204,498,135

OIC

Iran

65,875,224

98

64,557,720

OIC

Iraq

28,221,180

97

27,374,545

OIC

Israel

7,112,359

16

1,137,977

Italy

58,145,320

1

581,453

Japan

127,288,416

1

1,272,884

Jordan

6,198,677

94

5,826,756

OIC

Kazakhstan

15,340,533

47

7,210,051

OIC

Kenya

37,953,840

29.5

11,196,383

kosovo

2,126,708

90

1,914,037

Kuwait

2,596,799

85

2,207,279

OIC

Kyrgyzstan

5,356,869

75

4,017,652

OIC

Lebanon

3,971,941

59.7

2,371,249

OIC

Liberia

3,334,587

20

666,917

Libya

6,173,579

97

5,988,372

OIC

Lesotho

2,128,180

10

212,818

Macedonia

2,061,315

33.3

686,418

Madagascar

20,042,552

7

1,402,979

Malawi

13,931,831

12.8

1,783,274

Malaysia

25,274,132

60.4

15,265,576

OIC

Maldives

385,925

100

385,925

OIC

Mali

12,324,029

90

11,091,626

OIC

Malta

403,532

14

56,494

Mauritania

3,364,940

100

3,364,940

OIC

Mauritius

1,274,189

16.6

211,515

Mayotte

216,306

97

209,817

Mongolia

2,996,081

4

119,843

Morocco

34,343,220

98.7

33,896,758

OIC

Mozambique

21,284,700

17.8

3,788,677

OIC

Namibia

2,088,669

5

104,433

Nepal

29,519,114

4.2

1,239,803

Netherlands

16,645,313

5.8

965,428

Niger

13,272,679

80

10,618,143

OIC

Nigeria

146,255,312

75

109,691,484

OIC

Norway

4,644,457

1.8

83,600

Oman

3,311,640

100

3,311,640

OIC

Pakistan

172,800,048

95

164,160,046

OIC

Panama

3,309,679

4

132,387

Philippines

96,061,680

14

13,448,635

Qatar

824,789

77.5

639,211

OIC

Romania

22,246,862

1

222,469

Russia

140,702,096

18

25,326,377

Rwanda

10,186,063

4.6

468,559

Saudi Arabia

28,146,656

100

28,146,656

OIC

Senegal

12,853,259

94

12,082,063

OIC

Serbia

10,159,046

19

1,930,219

Sierra Leone

6,294,774

60

3,776,864

OIC

Singapore

4,608,167

14.9

686,617

Slovenia

2,007,711

2.4

48,185

Somalia

9,558,666

100

9,558,666

OIC

South Africa

48,782,756

2

975,655

Sri Lanka

21,128,772

9

1,901,589

Sudan

40,218,456

70

28,152,919

OIC

Suriname

475,996

19.6

93,295

OIC

Swaziland

1,128,814

10

112,881

Sweden

9,045,389

3.6

325,634

Syria

19,747,586

90

17,772,827

OIC

Tajikistan

7,211,884

90

6,490,696

OIC

Tanzania

40,213,160

65

26,138,554

OIC

Thailand

65,493,296

14

9,169,061

Togo

5,858,673

55

3,222,270

OIC

Trinidad and Tobago

1,231,323

5.8

71,417

Tunisia

10,383,577

98

10,175,905

OIC

Turkey

71,892,808

99.8

71,749,022

OIC

Turkmenistan

5,179,571

89

4,609,818

OIC

Uganda

31,367,972

12.1

3,795,525

United Arab Emirates

4,621,399

96

4,436,543

OIC

United Kingdom

60,943,912

2.7

1,645,486

United States

303,824,640

3

9,114,739

Uzbekistan

27,345,026

88

24,063,623

OIC

West Bank

2,407,681

92

2,215,067

OIC*

Western Sahara

393,831

100

393,831

OIC

Yemen

23,013,376

99

22,783,242

OIC

Zimbabwe

11,350,111

1

113,501

Total

5,653,721,762

1,630,311,479


OIC: organization of Islamic Conference

The above table does not includes many other countries that have Muslims, but no available numbers, which should make the above total number of Muslims higher than 1,630,311,479 . Islam annual growth rate (1994-1995) from U.N. is 6.40%..

This table below shows the growth of Islam:

North America (1989-1998) 25%
Africa 2.15%
Asia 12.57%
Europe 142.35%
Latin America -4.73%
Australia 257.01%




The Worlds Major Religions Changes

Growth rates taken between

World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1935
and Readers Digest Almanac and Yearbook 1983

In the last half century...

Confucianism & Taoism decrease 13%
350,600,000
305,000,000

Judaism decrease 4%
15,630,000
15,000,000

Christianity increase 47%
682,400,000
1,000,000,000

Eastern Orthodox decrease 36%
144,000,000
092,000,000

Protestant increase 57%
206,900,000
324,000,000

Catholic increase 70%
331,500,000
565,000,000

Buddhism increase 63%
150,180,000
245,000,000

Hinduism increase 117%
230,150,000
500,000,000

Shintoism increase 152%
25,000,000
63,000,000

Islam increase 235%
209,020,000
700,000,000

U.S. Muslim Population Table

Ethnic Grouping Population 1000 (1990) Percent of Total Muslim Population Definition of Terms
African-
American 2,100 42.0
African-Americans: Those persons of African descent native to the United States of America.
South Asians 1,220 24.4
South-Asians: Those of Indian/Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, or Afghan descent now residing in the United States as citizens or permanent residents.
Arabs 620 12.4
Arabs: People from Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa who are permanent residents or citizens of the United States.
Africans 260 5.2
Africans: People from the African continent who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States
Iranians 180 3.6
Iranians: People of Persian descent, usually from Iran, who are citizens or permanent residents.
Turks 120 2.4
Turkish: People of Turkish descent who are citizens or permanent residents.
South East Asians 100 2.0
South East Asians: People of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Indochina, or the Philippines.
American Whites 80 1.6
American Whites: Those of West European descent, who are native to the United States.
East Europeans 40 0.8
East Europeans: People from various regions of Eastern Europe.
Other 280 5.6
Other: All other groups.
Totals 5,000 100
Geographical Distribution: The table below represents a breakdown by states of the largest Muslim communities in the United States. It shows that there are an estimated 3.3. million Muslims in these states. The figure represents 62 percent of the estimated 5 million Muslims living in the United States.

Muslim State Population Table

State Muslim Population
(1,000) Percentage Total Muslim Population Percent of Total State Population
California 1,000 20.0 3.4
New York 800 16.0 4.7
Illinois 420 8.4 3.6
New Jersey 200 4.0 2.5
Indiana 180 3.6 3.2
Michigan 170 3.4 1.8
Virginia 150 3.0 2.4
Texas 140 2.8 0.7
Ohio 130 2.6 1.2
Maryland 70 1.4 1.4
* Estimates under column 2 have been rounded to the nearest even number.

The list below shows the number of facilities used by Muslims for religious activities and community affairs:

Mosques/Islamic Centers 843
Islamic Schools 165
Associations 426
Publications 89
There are 165 Islamic Schools in the United States, of which 92 are full time. Figures here for Masjids/Islamic Centers are based on our directory listings.
Note: The exact number of businesses owned and operated by Muslims is unavailable, but they are estimated in the thousands. These preliminary finding represent data collected during 1986-1992.


Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion on Earth

On the authority of Thawbaan , the Prophet said:

The Prophet said: "The People will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating invite others to share their food." Someone asked, "Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?" He replied, "No, you will be numerous at that time: but you will be froth and scum like that carried down by a torrent (of water), and Allah will take the fear (respect) of you from the breasts (hearts) of your enemy and cast Al-wahn into your hearts." Someone asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what is al-wahn?" He replied, "Love of the world and dislike of death."

[An authentic Hadith recorded by Abu Dawud and Ahmad]



"Verily, Allah will never change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves." [Al-Qur'aan, Surah Ar-Ra'd:11]

May Allah (SWT) help us all, and return Muslims to their past glory

THE MAIN DYNAMICS OF THE RAPID SPREAD OF ISLAM

THE MAIN DYNAMICS OF THE RAPID SPREAD OF ISLAM

During the tenth century, Islam was the predominant religion of an area covering more than half of the then-known world. Its adherents inhabited three continents: from the Pyrenees and Siberia up to China and New Guinea, and from Morocco to the southern tip of Africa.

One of history’s most striking facts is that Islam spread over such a vast area within 3 centuries. Most striking of all, within 50 years after the Hijra, all of North Africa (from Egypt to Morocco) and the Middle East (from Yemen to Caucasia, and from Egypt to the lands beyond Transoxiana) had come under the sway of Islam. During ‘Uthman’s reign (644-56), Muslim envoys reached the Chinese royal court and were welcomed enthusiastically. According to historians, this important event marks the beginning of Islam’s presence in China.

How Islam spread

Peoples of all eras have been ready to embrace Islam for a wide variety of reasons. But perhaps the foremost one, as pointed out by Muhammad Asad, a Jewish convert to Islam, is that:

Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other, nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. Everything in the teaching and postulate of Islam is in its proper place.1

Most Western writers continue to accuse Islam of spreading by the sword. One major cause of this prejudice is that Islam often spread at the expense of Christianity. For hundreds of years Christians have converted to Islam without much effort or organized missionary activity. Muslims, however, almost never convert to Christianity despite sophisticated means and well-organized missionary activities. Furthermore, Christianity has always been at a disadvantage when competing with Islam. This has caused its missionaries and most Orientalists to present Islam as a regressive and vulgar religion of uncivilized peoples.2 Such negative attitudes also color their accounts of the Prophet. Some unbiased Western writers have admitted this:

Muslims, according to the principles of their faith, are under an obligation to use force for the purpose of bringing other religions to ruin [probably he means Jihad, which is unfortunately misinterpreted and not for the purpose he claims, as will be explained in the next chapter]; yet, in spite of that, they have been tolerating other religions for some centuries past. The Christians have not been given orders to do anything but preach and instruct, yet, despite this, from time immemorial they have been exterminating by fire and sword all those who are not of their religion… We may feel certain that if Western Christians, instead of the Saracens and the Turks, had won the dominion over Asia, there would be today not a trace left of the Greek Church, and that they would never have tolerated Muhammadanism as the ‘infidels’ have tolerated Christianity there. We (Christians) enjoy the fine advantage of being far better versed than others in the art of killing, bombarding and exterminating the Human Race.3

Islam spread so rapidly

Islam’s rapid expansion, unequaled by any other religion, was due to its religious content and values, as many unbiased Western intellectuals state:

Many have sought to answer the questions of why the triumph of Islam was so speedy and complete? Why have so many millions embraced the religion of Islam and scarcely a hundred ever recanted?.. Some have attempted to explain the first overwhelming success of Islam by the argument of the Sword. They forget Carlyle’s laconic reply. First get your sword. You must win men’s hearts before you can induce them to imperil their lives for you; and the first conquerors of Islam must have been made Muslims before they were made fighters on the Path of God. Others allege the low morality of the religion and the sensual paradise it promises as a sufficient cause for the zeal of its followers: but even were these admitted to the full, no religion has ever gained a lasting hold upon the souls of men by the force of its sensual permissions and fleshy promises...

In all these explanations the religion itself is left out of the question. Decidedly, Islam itself was the main cause for its triumph. Islam not only was at once accepted (by many peoples and races) by Arabia, Syria, Persia, Egypt, Northern Africa and Spain, at its first outburst; but, with the exception of Spain, it has never lost its vantage ground; it has been spreading ever since it came into being. Admitting the mixed causes that contributed to the rapidity of the first swift spread of Islam, they do not account for the duration of Islam. There must be something in the religion itself to explain its persistence and spread, and to account for its present hold over so large of a proportion of the dwellers on the earth... Islam has stirred an enthusiasm that has never been surpassed. Islam has had its martyrs, its recluses, who have renounced all that life offered and have accepted death with a smile for the sake of the faith that was in them.4

A. J. Arberry holds the same view:

The rapidity of the spread of Islam is a crucial fact of history... The sublime rhetoric of the Qur’an, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy”. (M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an, p.vii) ...

This, and the urgency of the simple message carried, holds the key to the mystery of one of the greatest cataclysms in the history of religion. When all military, political and economic factors have been exhausted, the religious impulse must still be recognized as the most vital and enduring.”5

Brockelman, usually very unsympathetic and partial, also recognizes Islam’s religious values as the main factor for its spread.6 Rosenthal writes: “The more important factor for the spread of Islam is religious law of Islam (Sharia which is an inclusive, all-embracing, all-comprehensive way of thinking and living) which was designed to cover all manifestations of life.”7

Along with many other reasons, Islam spread because of its followers’ exemplary lifestyle and unceasing efforts to transmit its message throughout the world. These lie at the root of Islam’s conquest of hearts. Islamic universalism is closely associated with the principle of amr bi al-ma‘ruf (enjoining the good), for this is how Muslims are to spread Islam. This principle seeks to convey Islam’s message to everyone, without exception, and to establish a model community that displays Islam to the world: Thus We have made of you an Ummah justly balanced, that you might be witnesses (models) for the peoples, and the Messenger has been a witness for you (2:143).

Muslims, both as individuals and as a community, therefore have certain goals to achieve: communicating Islam to others, conveying the truth to everyone, striving to prevent oppression and tyranny, and establishing justice. To do this, they must live an exemplary life. Thus Islam’s moral and ethical values usually have played an important part in its spread.

One nineteenth-century European writer recorded his impressions on how Islamic ethics influenced black Africans as follows:

As to the effects of Islam when first embraced by a Negro tribe, can there, when viewed as a whole, be any reasonable doubt? Polytheism disappears almost instantaneously; sorcery, with its attendant evils, gradually dies away; human sacrifice becomes a thing of the past. The general moral elevation is most marked; the natives begin for the first time in their history to dress, and that neatly. Squalid filth is replaced by some approach to personal cleanliness; hospitality becomes a religious duty; drunkenness, instead of the rule, becomes a comparatively rare exception... chastity is looked upon as one of the highest, and becomes, in fact, one of the commoner virtues. It is idleness that henceforward degrades, and industry that elevates, instead of the reverse. Offences are henceforward measured by a written code instead of the arbitrary caprice of a chieftain—a step, as everyone will admit, of vast importance in the progress of a tribe. The Mosque gives an idea of architecture at all events higher than any the Negro has yet had. A thirst for literature is created and that for works of science and philosophy as well as for commentaries on the Qur’an.8

Islam also spread rapidly because of its tolerance. Toynbee praises the Muslims’ tolerance toward the Peoples of the Book after comparing it with the Christians’ attitude toward Muslims in their lands.9 Link attributes Islam’s spread to its credible principles and tolerance, persuasion, and other attractions.10 Makarios, a seventeenth-century Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, compared the Poles’ harsh treatment of the Russian Orthodox to the Ottomans’ tolerant attitude toward Orthodox Christians and prayed for the sultans.11

This is not the only example of non-Muslims’ preference for Muslim rule over that of their own coreligionists. Byzantium’s Orthodox Christians openly expressed their preference for the Ottoman turban in Istanbul to the hats of the Catholic cardinals. Elisee Reclus, a nineteenth-century French traveler, wrote that the Muslim Turks allowed all non-Muslims to observe their religious duties and rituals, and that the sultan’s Christian subjects were freer to live their own lives than those Christians whose lands were ruled by a member of a rival Christian sect.12 Popescu Ciocanel pays tribute to the Muslim Turks by stating that the Romanians were lucky to have Turkish, instead of Russian and Austrian, rulers. Otherwise, he points out, “no trace of the Romanian nation would have remained.”13

The Muslims’ attitude toward the people they conquered is quite clear in the instructions given by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs:14

Always keep fear of God in your mind; remember that you cannot afford to do anything without His grace. Do not forget that Islam is a mission of peace and love. Keep the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) before you as a model of bravery and piety. Do not destroy fruit trees or fertile fields in your paths. Be just, and spare the feelings of the vanquished. Respect all religious persons who live in hermitages or convents and spare their edifices. Do not kill civilians. Do not outrage the chastity of women and the honor of the conquered. Do not harm old people and children. Do not accept any gifts from the civil population of any place. Do not billet your soldiers or officers in the houses of civilians. Do not forget to perform your daily prayers. Fear God. Remember that death will inevitably come to everyone of you at some time or other, even if you are thousands of miles away from a battlefield; therefore be always ready to face death.15

An historical episode, recorded by the famous Muslim historian Baladhuri in his Futuh al-Buldan, tells how pleased the indigenous peoples were with their Muslim conquerors and is of great significance:

When Heraclius, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire (610-41), massed his troops against the Muslims, and the Muslims heard that they were coming to meet them, they refunded the tribute they had taken from the inhabitants of Hims, saying: “We are too busy to support and protect you. Take care of yourselves.” But the people of Hims replied: “We like your rule and justice far better than our former state of oppression and tyranny. We shall indeed, with your help, repulse Heraclius’ army from the city.” The Jews rose and said: “We swear by the Torah, no governor of Heraclius shall enter Hims unless we are first vanquished and exhausted.” Saying this, they closed and guarded the city gates. The Christians and Jews of cities that had capitulated did the same. When, by God’s help, Heraclius’ army was defeated and the Muslims won, they opened the gates of their cities, went out with singers and musicians, and paid the tribute.

1. Muhammad Asad, Islam at the Crossroads (New Era Pubs.: 1982), 5.
2. John Cogley, Religion in a Secular Age (New York: Praeger, 1968); Muhammad Asad, The Road to Makka, 4th. ed. (Gibraltar: Dar Al-Andalus, 1980).
3. P. Bayle, Dictionary, “Mahomed,” 1850.
4. Stanley Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque (Beirut: Khayats, 1966), 86-89.
5. J. Arberry, Aspects of Islamic Civilization (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1977), 12.
6. Carl Brockelman, History of the Islamic Peoples (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1949), 37.
7. Franz Rosenthal, Political Thought in Medieval Islam (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1958), 21.
8. Quoted from Waitz by B. Smith, Muhammad and Muhammadanism, 42-43.
9. Arnold Toynbee, A Historian’s Approach to Religion (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1956), 246.
10. T. Link, A History of Religion.
11. Ibid.
12. Elisee Reclus, Nouvelle Geographie Universelle, vol. IX.
13. Popescu Ciocanel, La Crise de l’Orient.
14. This group consists of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, and ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib, the first four rulers of the Islamic community after the Prophet’s death. They did not inherit the Prophet’s spiritual status or authority.
15. Andrew Miller, Church History; ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Nahj al-Balagha.

Bibliography

Ahmad, Abdurrahman. Garbin Islam’dan Ogrendikleri (Turkish trans.). Istanbul: n.d.
Algul, Huseyin. Islam Tarihi. Istanbul: 1987.
Baladhuri. Futuh al-Buldan. Istanbul: 1965.
Dursun, Davud. Osmanli Devletinde Siyaset ve Din. Istanbul: 1989.
Fayda, Mustafa. Hz. Omer Zamaninda Gayr-i Muslimler. 1989.
Imam Abu Yusuf. Kitab al-Kharaj. Istanbul: 1973.
Izzeti, Abu’l-Fazl. An Introduction to the History of the Spread of Islam. (London: 1976) (frequently quoted).
Al-Mas‘udi, A. Hasan. Muruj adh-Dhahab. Cairo: 1964.
Numani, Shibli. Butun Yonleriyle Hz. Omer ve Devlet Idaresi (Turkish trans.). 1975.
Qutb, Sayid. Islam’da Sosyal Adalet (Turkish trans.) 1980.
Said, Edward. Oryantalizm (Turkish trans.). Istanbul: 1983.
Al-Tabari, Ibn Jarir. Milletler ve Hukumdarlar Tarihi (Turkish trans.). 1955.
Turan, Osman. Selcuklular Tarihi ve Turk-Islam Medeniyeti. 1969.

“ISLAM IS PERFECT” - WHAT DOES IT CONNOTE?



[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]



It was the declaration of Allah (SWT): “This day I have perfected your Deen [System of life] for you and completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your Deen. [Al-Maida: 3] This is the concluding agenda of Allah that He revealed to Rasulullah (S) on the Day of Arafat during his last and final Hajj in the tenth year of Hijrah. It was the last revelation and after that, Rasulullah (S) lived in this world just for 83 days only. Here the question arises: what it connotes. Does it mean that Islam is perfect in all respects and for all times to come? Will Islam, as a system of life, meet all the human needs until the last Day of Judgment? If the case is so, how Islam deals or will deal with various issues, problems and challenges that are cropping up every now and then with the growth of human civilization? Was any thing left for human ingenuity to add or subtract later on for the benefit of mankind? Along with this probe, it is equally important to find out: Are the basic human needs eternal or do they change with the change of time, requiring change in the system? These are very pertinent questions to deal with the captioned subject that in what respects the Deen Al-Islam is perfect. It needs elaboration within these parameters.



Another fundamental question that can be put against these questions: Is the man the same what he was or will remain the same as he is today? Are his habits of greed, anger, thirst, hunger, sex, possessiveness, lust for power, fame and name the same as they were in the most primitive human being or say in Adam and Eve? His weaknesses and strength, mood and temperament, likes and dislikes, criterion of loss and gains are the same or lying in a melting pot, ever changing like shifting sand in the Sahara desert. A deep study of man - his psychology, anatomy, physical, moral and human needs confirm that they are identically the same as they were in the first man. If the case is so, it explains as to why the system of life that was brought by the Messengers of God from Adam, Noah, Abraham to Jesus was the same as was brought finally by Muhammad [peace be upon all of them] to serve mankind and meet its entire needs as a whole. If the position is so comprehensive, then what for man is endowed with talents and different capacities? Where and in what fields they are to be used? How can he enrich the human thoughts and society?



In fact, we should try to understand what connotation the concept of “perfection” the verse quoted above from the Qur’an carries. Allah (SWT) has spelled out the fundamentals of each department of human life – religious, social, economic and political, at individual, family and collective spheres from personal Ebadah (worshipping) to war and peace, trade and commerce and human relationship at personal, family, national and international or global levels through ordaining the comprehensive Islamic code of conduct [the Shariah]. These principles are perfect and final and no human being can undo anything in this Divine guidance. But the Creator and Sustainer has intentionally left a big field or domain for man to exercise his talents to the extent it does not disturb the equilibrium set up by His guidance towards building a balanced and harmonious society on earth. Let us consider this aspect of human life in a broader spectrum.



Man, utilizing the bounties of the Creator that are scattered throughout this cosmos, builds different means of transportation and communication as propounded by Allah in Verse 8 of Chapter XVI of the Qur’an: “He will create [means of transportation and communication] that you know not.” It envelopes the entire spectrum of human endeavors in the fields of transportation and communication until the doomsday that man invents for the comfort and benefits of his specie and to satisfy his efforts to control and conquer the distance of time and gap of space. These are the open fields where man is free to exercise his talents and energies to the extent humanly possible. This field is wide open for humans to explore and exploit and now he is trying to inhabit a colony in the space and perhaps beyond in distant future. The Creator is watching meticulously all his efforts and activities both at individual and collective levels as to whether he makes this abode of man a hell or an abode of peace for the human society. There lies the test of man and he is accountable for all what he does on earth.



The other sphere that is free for man is to struggle for the satisfaction of his God-given urges – rest, hunger/thirst and sex, by dint of his labor/efforts and free will through exploring, and utilizing the sources that the Creator has provided in this cosmos for their fulfillment. This is again his test in a very broad spectrum as how he uses his talents and the bounties of nature. If he fulfills these urges through wrong and fraudulent means and creates disorder, bloodshed and destruction all around, he will disturb the existence of man and its consequences are enormous as we see around us and for that man is accountable to his Lord, facing punishment of gravest nature. If he fulfills these urges with honest means and without resorting to fraud and exploitation and in the way the Creator has ordained in the Qur’an and Prophet’s traditions, man will fill the earth with justice and fair play. In such situation, the Creator and Sustainer will reward man on the last Day of Judgment with eternal bliss.



The third, the most important and the most comprehensive field for man to exercise his talents, capacities and resources is to establish the will and authority of his Creator and Sustainer and struggle for the whole of his or her life for the Kingdom of God on earth. This is the surest way to deliver justice to mankind and the fairest way to fulfill his needs and urges on earth in a balanced and harmonious manner.



It shows that the Deen of Allah is perfect so for the fundamentals of human life are concerned. They are fixed, eternal and beyond the scope of man to make any mend in them. It mostly pertains to the fundamentals of human’s socio-religious-economic-political spheres. They are to create an equilibrium and balance in human society at personal, family, national and international levels. No encroachment is permitted in these fields at all. For the rest, human ingenuity is free to explore and exploit this cosmos and resources for the benefit of man and not for exploitation that creates only disorder and bloodshed. Man can use his talents in the spheres where the Creator Himself in His infinite mercy has left the field open for man. However, unfortunately man thinks that he is the master of his own destiny and as such, he is “poking” his nose everywhere and in each “black hole”, whether on earth or in the cosmos. In net result, he is only creating frustration, oppression [Zulm] and chaos all around.



Allah’s Deen is just “perfect” with a lot of freedom for man to exercise his talents to make this world an abode of peace and tranquility. In case, he disturbs the boundaries of “perfection”, his existence will become a “burden” on earth. The Creator is just and He has justly maintained an equilibrium in fixing the limits that are prohibited to man to cross and the limits of freedom to try his luck are unlimited but in no way he can transgress the limits of his Creator and interfere in His domain as usurpers. Human’s job is to implement the Divine laws on earth with mutual consent and consultation [Mashwrah] and enjoy the permissible freedom for a balanced growth of human society where the will of the Creator and Sustainer prevails in both the situation: where the divine guidance is given and where it is silent.





Shamim A Siddiqi



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THE SEERAH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (pbuh) IT’S BACKGROUND & WHAT IT DEMANDS?



Introduction: Some Postulates:



1. Allah (SWT) created man [with 3 strong urges and 1 Free will] by His own hands [Ref: V#75 of Surah Saad]



2. He created the universe and what it contains and harnessed it all for man: [Ref: verses Al-Baqarah 29; Al-Jathia -13, Luqman -20]



3. He gathered together all the Arwah [spirits] of Adam in Jannah and asked them “Am I not your Lord” All said “Bala” - definitely You are. It is ingrated in the human Genes. [Ref: Verse 172 of Al-Airaf & Wa-Al-Shamsh] But man needs constant REMINDER - Who will do it?



4. God appointed Adam and Eve as the first specie of humans and sent them to earth as His vicegerent over what the world contains with the clear directives as how to live, act and behave on earth and with His firm commitment that He will go on sending HIS APPOINTED MESSNGERS with Divine Guidance [as and when it is lost, mutilated or innovated due to human interpolation] with the sole vision that he/she will be accountable when he/she comes back to Him after death. His success and failure will depend on the manner he/she lived on earth and used His bounties – as per His directives or as per his own free will? He/she will have My eternal pleasure of Jannah if lived with good deeds or My eternal displeasure of Hellfire if lived with evil/bad deeds. That is the ultimate end of human life.



* Man is a TRUSTEE of this world and what it contains not MASTER. Hence, Accountable to the Lord of this cosmos for the manner he/she uses it when living on earth.



5. Accordingly, after Adam (AS) Messengers of God and Prophets were appointed to human abode to direct the destiny of man, to keep him/her always obedient to Him, follow the Divine Guidance that was coming to man incessantly in a chain through His appointed Messengers and feel always accountable to Him consciously that he/she has to meet his/her Creator and Sustainer one Day after death and will be answerable to Him for all his/her actions and deeds on this earth. This is the essence of human’s life on earth.



6. About 124,000 Prophets of God were appointed to this earth for the guidance of mankind at different time and different places. The Most prominent of them were Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus and lastly Mohammad Ibne Abdullah of Makkah [pbut]. They delivered the Guidance from the Creator and Sustainer invited the human society to establish the authority of God and His Deen on self, families and the societies in which they live. All tried their best in their respective time to this effect. Only David, Solomon and Muhammad [pbut] succeeded and established His authority and Allah’s Deen on earth in their respective time.



7. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the last Messenger of God and the message that he brought for mankind in the from of the QUR’AN was and is the last, the latest and the most updated Book of Guidance till Qayamah. His (S) mission was to establish the authority of Allah in the human society [“Qum wa Anzir. Wa Rabbeka Fakabbir” –Al-Muddassir Verse 2- 3] and deliver JUSTICE to mankind, It was not possible without establishing the Deen of Allah in its totality within the body politic of the country.



8. Accordingly, the Mission of Rasulullah (S) was to establish the Islamic System of life that Qur’an contains in the human society and present his (S) life as its model [Ref: Al-Saf 61: 9, Al-Tawba- 33 & Al-Fatah 28] and thus deliver the justice to human abode [Ref: Verse # 25 of Surah Al-Hadeed]



9. With the Revelation of the Qur’an - A very important point of departure form the previous Scriptures took place: All the previous Scriptures like, the Zabur to David, the Torah to Moses and the Injil to Jesus were revealed at a time from God to their respective Messengers but the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S) in piece meal – in bits by pieces, in different phases, at different times as and the situation warranted, some necessity arose, some questions were asked for, some explanation needed or some divine commentary was required and it all completed within a period of 23 years. The Qur’an was completed the same day the mission of Rasulullah (S) was completed THROUGH the Dawah efforts of Rasulullah (S) and his beloved companions.





10. Rasulullah (S) laid down the process of presenting Dawah Ilallah from the first stage to the last – *Dawah, *Organization, *Tarbiyah, *Peaceful Resistance, *Hijrah and *Qital - in the order the Movement developed till the Deen of Allah was established in the body politic of the land. His life pattern represents these stages of Dawah Ilallah in a very concise form one after the other. This Process of Islamic Revolution and its obligation have been spelled out in the Qur’an at various places: Verse # 195 of Surah Al-Imran, Verse # 108 of Surah Yusuf; Verses# 125 to 128 of Surah Al-Nahal; Verse # 78 of Surah Al-Hajj; Verse # 45 & 46 of Surah Al-Ehzab; Verse # 30 to 36 of Surah Al-Fussalat Verse # 13, 15 of Surah Al-Shurah and at many more places through out the Qur’an.



11. *The Qur’an guided Rasulullah (S) all through in his march towards the fulfillment of his mission. You can see its importance from Verse # 21 of Surah Al-Baqarah when Allah addressed the entire humanity to His “Abudiyah”- total obedience to Allah. The entire life pattern of Rasulullah (S) is the living embodiment of Dawah Ilallah till he (S) passed away from this world – the most perfect model of a Da’ee till Qayamah.



12.The Qur’an was guiding the Movement launched by Muhammad (S) to establish Allah’s Deen on this earth, starting from the Arabian Peninsula and culminating into the entire human society of the time. He (S) was the Messenger for the entire mankind till eternity. This job was to be done gradually, systematically and in smooth order. So the Qur’an was revealed in gradual process in order to get it properly memorized and implemented in building the requisite characters of the followers and establish the Islamic society accordingly. Mohammad (S), after completing this assignment departed from this world, leaving behind the team of trusted leadership and that of Da’ees Ilallah and a model Islamic society which was flooded with Khair, justice, peace and security all around to serve as model to human society till Qayamah.



13. The beloved companions of Rasulullah (S), subsequently, carried out his (S) mission ofsia, Africa and partly to Europe within next 80 to 85 years and wherever they went it was through Dawah process and the beauty of their characters, love and behavior with the humanity. The world took it as the boon and benediction of Islam and welcomed it with open arms.



14. When Muslims stopped the process of Dawah Ilallah, they succumbed to their negligence and suffered and are suffering to decay and ignominy for centuries together.



15. In consequence, however, they have Allah’s Deen intact with them in the from of the Qur’an, they have the life pattern of Prophet Muhammad (S) intact in all respects but are suffering decay and decadence though there are 57 Muslim countries today on earth but Islam is no where traceable as a political entity. What a great tragedy it is! We have to do the same things that Rasulullah (S) did at the very outset towards building this Ummah through Dawah process and got the Deen of Allah and His authority established on earth within a period of 23 years in the Arabian Peninsula and in the known world of the time within the next 80 years. The Islamic System continued to dominate the world till May 1923 when Mustafa Kamal Pasha of Turkey abolished the Khilafah out of his individual arrogance and eagerness to follow the Western secularism in its totality.



16. As a matter of fact, the Islamic Movements are struggling in Asia and North Africa but due to half hearted efforts and lack of interest of Muslim Ummah in its revival, Islam is no where is found in a dominant political situation.



17. The time has further changed. NOW it needs a Global Islamic Movement and all-round efforts of the Muslim Ummah to augment it through the process of Dawah Ilallah on the pattern Rasulullah (S) did. Muslims must have a clear vision and devote their time, talents, energies, efforts and resources to be the Da’ee Ilallah at every place where they are, be the truthful model of a devoted and committed Muslim and Muslimah and be actively involved in the Dawah process as the true followers of Prophet Muhammad (S). Only then, Islam will emerge as the effective Savior of mankind, reviving the fate of both Muslims and that of the mankind in near future. This is our destiny and we all have to work hard to attain this goal through constant Dawah efforts both at individual and collective levels.



18. Dawah Ilallah in the context of America: The Priorities and the Process are to remain the same as demonstrated by Rasulullah (S) in his life long struggle for establishing Allah’s Deen on this earth. The means and methodology can, however, be modernized as available to us or are still in the womb of the future. The needs and urgencies of Dawah Ilallah are the same as that of his (S) time. We have to go in the field and develop them further as per Dawah needs. Our addressees will be the common men and women of our time who are the sovereign and their political will is considered supreme in the democratic world of today. We have to address each of them and invite them to the fold of their Creator and Sustainer as the basic need of their life as He is the master not the “demos”. We have to fulfill their need as our top most priority, if we are to face our Lord with flying colors on the Day of Judgment.



19. Unfortunately, the problem lies with us. We are taking Islam as a “religion” and not as Deen and are contented with the so-called “Salah, Sawm, Hajj and Zakah with some rituals, name and nomenclature” on the pattern our Jews and Christians brothers/sisters are satisfied with some rituals, dogmas and myths. That is all.



20. Whereas Islam is a Deen, a Movement and invites each of us to accept and practice it as Al-Deen Al-Islam and present to the world as Al-Deen and invite the humanity to its fold incessantly day and night with all our might, wisdom and concern for human society to live in peace with Justice – Al-Adl wa Al-Qist to all and malice to none.



May Allah pave our path with success and Barakah all through! Ameen! O Allah! Make each of us truthful “Da’ee Ilallah” in American perspective and give us Tawfeeq to be the pioneers of the Global Islamic Movement – the only CURE to deliver justice, peace and security to mankind globally. Ameen!



By Shamim A Siddiqi




































































































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IT WAS ISLAM THAT DID IT

IT WAS ISLAM THAT DID IT



Edward Ingram explains the West’s debt to the Islamic philosophers.


Europe in the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire was not a happy place to be – at least for scholars. For the most part, the aristocracy, including kings, were illiterate and, to all intents and purposes, innumerate – applied mathematics in the West involved little more than tallying, which is a sophisticated form of counting on one’s fingers. The clergy, with few exceptions, were likewise poorly educated – most could neither read nor speak Latin, and even among those that could, abilities were generally low.

These mediocre standards were demonstrated with shocking clarity by the wide acceptance of the Donation of Constantine. This was a forged document produced by Pope Stephen III in 752 in order to impose papal authority over kings and bishops. It purported to show that the Emperor Constantine had bequeathed the Roman Empire to the successors of St Peter, the alleged first Bishop of Rome. European kings and bishops believed in the Donation even to the extent of the French king, Pepin, assisting Stephen in his fight with the Lombards, and later, in 1154, of almost everyone accepting Adrian IV’s word that Ireland was his, by papal right, to give to England. Such were the standards of scholarship at the time. The document was proved a forgery – an obvious forgery – in 1440, by Lorenzo Valla.

Thus the intellectual action in the latter half of the first millennium was not within Christendom. Instead, it was happening within Islam, a religion and culture founded by Mohammed (570-632); and it was happening everywhere the Muslim armies had conquered – stretching from southern Spain through north Africa, to the Middle East, Afghanistan, and northern India. This, the Islamic Renaissance, was the most staggering thing the West had seen since the days of Classical Greece, and in many ways it outshone them. It blazed from around 800 to about 1100, and it continued through to the 15th century. It happened in this way.

Although Islam was initially indifferent to learning, the situation soon changed. Around 750, under the influence of the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad, Arab and other Islamic scholars discovered the works of the Greek philosophers. Then they devoured them, built libraries throughout their vast civilization, and sprinkled these with copies of all that was best of Greek thought. And they did the same with Babylonian, Syrian, Persian, even Chinese texts. They also built observatories, designed scientific instruments, erected mosques of unparalleled elegance, built hospitals, and staffed schools and universities with the finest minds they could find. The Caliph of Baghdad, Al-Mamum (813-877), was exemplary in this respect: he founded a school specifically for the purpose of translating ancient texts, and built a library to support it.

Out of this cultural explosion there emerged philosophers – great philosophers, such as Al-Asmai, Al-Razi, Al-Kindi, Al-Fabari, Al-Battani, Al-Zahravi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Al-Kwarizmi, Al-Idrisi, Al-Khayyam, Al-Tusi, Ibn Qurrah, Al-Farghani. Space does not allow for a treatment of them, or of their philosophy. Instead, we’ll concentrate on the important thing, something I will call the Arab attitude. This can be illustrated by looking at the work of just three of these thinkers.

We’ll start with Al-Razi (864-940), who was known in the West as Rhazes. He was born in Rayy, near Teheran. There he studied music, mathematics, and, most importantly, alchemy. Appreciate that to the Arabs alchemy was, to all intents and purposes, chemistry. Arab alchemy did not concern itself much with the quest for turning base metals into gold. It involved itself with practical concerns: techniques in metallurgy, dyeing, and tinting glass, for instance. And ninth century Arabs had come a long way in it. Following the work of Jabir Ibn Haiyan (flourished 780), they knew how to distil acids and alkalis, how to prevent rust, how to produce gold lettering, all manner of useful things one could do with chemicals. This had been achieved through painstaking trial and error, measurement, and classification, and Al-Razi had got the message.

In middle age he travelled to Baghdad in order to study medicine. So successful was he in this that he was invited to be director of a soon-to-be-built hospital. His approach to this is illuminating. He purchased lumps of fresh meat and festooned them in diverse areas of Baghdad. Then he watched them putrefy, and he observed which pieces putrefied slower than others. At last, when it was clear that one piece was putrefying the slowest, he made his decision. Reasoning that bad air facilitates both disease and meat going bad, he pointed to the spot where the least putrefied meat hung. “Build it there!” he said. So they did.

His practice within the hospital was equally enlightened. He advised the use of only tried and tested remedies, but insisted that medicine should not be practiced only by appeal to authority. Cures were tested on animals prior to being used on humans, lest they have side effects. He stressed the importance of psychological factors in disease. And he noted the importance of good diet.

In addition to all this, he studied the medical works of the Greeks, the Syrians, and other Arabs, and he put this knowledge in a medical encyclopaedia – Al-Kitab Al-Hawi, known in English as The Comprehensive Work – and this ran to 20 volumes. In total, he wrote 237 texts, of which about half were on medicine. Finally, we can note that he was the first to make a clear distinction between smallpox and chicken pox, that he produced detailed accounts of anatomy, and that he was one of the first to write reports of case studies. Iin one, of a man wrongly diagnosed as having malaria, Al-Razi showed that he had an infected kidney; then he cured him.

All this Al-Razi was doing when, in Europe, the sick – if they were lucky – were confined to the care of monks. These monks would recommend praying to the saints, for in medieval times the Christians reasoned that each disease had a patron saint associated with it. Even as late as the 14th century, people believed that the touch of the king of France would cure scrofula.

Sadly, Al-Razi died in poverty. This was because, in his later years, his eyesight faded. There is a revealing story about this. When a surgeon came to operate on him, he asked the doctor how many membranes had the eye. This doctor could not answer correctly, so Al-Razi refused the operation. For the last five years of his life, he was blind.

We’ll next consider Ibn Sina (980-1037), known in the West as Avicenna. He was born near Bukhara in Central Asia, and, from the earliest, demonstrated a formidable precocity. By the age of ten he is said to have memorized the whole of the Koran. Subsequently he studied law, mathematics, and philosophy. In addition to his intellectual gifts, he exhibited great tenacity: upon reading a difficult passage in Aristotle’s Metaphysics, he re-read the book forty times in an attempt to understand it. By 18 he was serving as chief physician to the Samanid court. Later he was twice appointed vizier (chief minister) of Hamadan in present day Iran. As for the rest of his life, he travelled, spent some time as a political prisoner, and, upon his release, served in the court at Isfahan in Iran – his life reads like an Arabian Nights fantasy. He enjoyed fine wine and the company of beautiful women; he was something of a bon vivant. He died aged 58 whilst visiting Hamadan. He is buried in this city, and the Persians constructed a lovely tomb for him.

In medicine, some regard Ibn Sina as the most influential figure in history. He wrote a text book – Al Qanun fi al-Tibb, known as the Canon in the West – and this was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. It became the standard work on the subject in Europe through to the 17th century. The book included a description of 760 medicinal plants, each carefully tested, detailed accounts of human anatomy, and discussions – plus treatments – on various diseases, including rabies and cancers. Like Al-Razi, Ibn Sina stressed the importance of accuracy in medical diagnosis, and he also warned against charlatans. In addition, he provided guidelines concerning how to test drugs. They included testing them one at a time, in pure form, on several patients, and not only on animals because animal bodies might not work in the same way as human bodies.

These guidelines are remarkable, for they aim to ensure that researchers do not jump to hasty conclusions. This is central to scientific thinking.

Though Ibn Sina was talking about testing drugs, his principles can be applied universally. The important thing is not that one confirm one’s ideas – to do so may tell one nothing – it is that one tries one’s best to show them to be wrong. Ibn Sina didn’t articulate this explicitly, but it was there, nonetheless. The idea that attempted disproof is the defining property of science wasn’t made explicit until the 20th century; this was done by Karl Popper.

Nasir Eddin Al-Tusi (1201-1274) was born in Khurasan in present day Iran and died in Baghdad one year after his retirement. In his early years he studied science, mathematics, and philosophy. His life was as colourful as that of Ibn Sina, for he was captured by the assassins, followers of the sect founded, one and a half centuries previously, by Al-Hassan Ibn-al-Sabbah. The assassins were religious fanatics, and terrorists. They didn’t have much time for scholars, and they imprisoned Al-Tusi in their stronghold, the castle of Alamut in Iran. However, his luck was in, for the Islamic world was invaded by the Mongols in 1253, and their leader, Halaku Khan, released him.

Apparently, Al-Tusi was grateful, for he joined the Mongols in their subsequent attack on Baghdad, and, upon their success in defeating her, he became a close advisor to the Khan.

This brings us to my favourite story concerning Al-Tusi. He wished the Khan to build an astronomical observatory, and, as the Khan couldn’t see the use of astronomy, Al-Tusi set about persuading him by means of experiment. He had the Khan array his unsuspecting army at the base of a mountain. Then, upon Al-Tusi’ s orders, a secret troop of soldiers rolled a giant cauldron down from the heights of the mountain, and this made such tremendous noise that the army fled in panic.

“Now,” said Al-Tusi to the Khan, “you and I know what made that hideous racket, but your soldiers didn’t, and that’s why they ran – from ignorance. So imagine how powerful you’d be if you knew how the heavens worked.”

“You’ve got your observatory,” replied the Khan.

And so it was that, at a cost of 2,000 dinars, the observatory was built at Maragha in Azerbaijan. A very fine and beautiful one it was too. It stands to this day. And Al-Tusi staffed it with the best brains he could find. These included Chinese, Jews, Turks, Persians, and Azerbaijanis. Between them they made a discovery of great importance.

Here you need to know of Aristotle’s cosmology, which was accepted as gospel in Europe through to the 16th century. Aristotle (384-322 BC) held the view that heavenly motion is circular, because circular motion is ‘perfect’ and the heavens, being ‘heavenly’, must be perfect. He also believed that the Earth is the centre of the universe. In order to square these beliefs with observed planetary motion, the Greeks developed the notion of epicycles – the planets, whilst tracing an orbit around the Earth, also trace sub-orbits. However, to get something which even modestly squares with the observed motions of the planets, one has to postulate several epicycles, or wheels within wheels. The greatest Greek astronomer, Ptolemy of Alexandria (85-165 AD), was led to postulating 39 such epicycles. The heavens, whilst perfect, seemed annoyingly complicated in their perfection.

Al-Tusi set about checking Ptolemy’s observations, and he found that one couldn’t combine the notion of an Earth-centred universe with that of the circular motion of the planets. In other words, he knew that Aristotle was wrong: either planetary motion was not circular or the Earth was not the centre of the cosmos – possibly both. These views were circulated in the Arab world. It is unknown whether Copernicus (1473-1543), who is generally credited with overthrowing the Ptolemaic system, was aware of this Arab opinion.

Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, and Al-Tusi are not isolated examples of Islamic scholarship. Similarly impressive stories could be told of virtually any of the thinkers I have mentioned. It is because of the work of Al-Kwarizmi, for instance, that we use decimal notation and that algebra became studied in the West. Likewise, the Arabs were great geographers. When he set off on his travels, Columbus used a map derived from a globe (!) devised by Al-Idrisi (1099-1166).

In this, the Arab attitude was more important than the specifics of Islamic philosophy – though note, by identifying Nature with Allah they made the study of her a religious duty – for the Arabs laid the foundations of science as it is now practiced. The Arab attitude encapsulates all of science’s key features – a reluctance to rely on authority yet a willingness to respect scholarship; fierce argument; publication of results; empiricism; experiment; eclecticism; and a faith in, but not a reliance upon, mathematics. All these, the Arab possessed in abundance. This was their major gift – more important than their medicine, their mathematics, their chemistry, their geography, all of which, and more, they gave to the West. It should never be belittled.

The Arab attitude passed to Europe through a variety of avenues. The main ones were pilgrimage, translations and related contact, and the crusades. Of these, the translations were the most significant. They started reaching the West in the 11th century. The first to appear were the translations of Greek writers, but by the 12th century the medical works of Ibn Sina became available, and these were accompanied by a flood of Arab thought.

The translation centres tended to lie at the interface between Islam and Christendom. One was at Salerno in Italy, close to Arab Sicily; another was at Cremona, close to Arab Spain. In addition to this, proximity with the Arab world facilitated Western emulation of Arab practices. Both Salerno and Montpellier – the latter close to Arab Spain – became kernels of medical excellence.

As a result of all these and other influences, Europeans became educated. And, in time, for people to be considered truly civilized, they had to have read, not only Arab translations of the Greeks, but also Arab writers in their own right. Meanwhile, Roger Bacon (1214-1294), a keen student of Arab texts, wrote of their experimental method in science. And a century later, in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer named four Arab scholars – Ibn ‘Isa, Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Rushd. These were familiar and esteemed names to his audience. Ibn Rushd (known in the West as Averroes), incidentally, was a major influence on Western theology.

Thus one can state the obvious. Had it not been for the Islamic Renaissance, Western civilization as we now know it would, most likely, never have got started.

ISLAM:THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE

ISLAM:THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE



By Abdullah Smith



“Islam was the virtual creator of the Renaissance in Europe”
(Robert L. Gullisk, Muhammad the Educator)


The Islamic world has contributed too much, and these gifts are completely ignored by the world because of the hatred caused by the missionaries. The ‘Dark Ages’ of Europe was extinguished by the Light of Islam, and the entire world has ignored the historical facts of how Europe came to power, it translated the Arabic works of Muslim Spain and used the knowledge to attack Islam. A clear study of European history shows that Islam gave birth to the Renaissance, and the Muslim contributions were carried over to Europe. The ignorant Europeans of the ‘Dark Ages’ were civilized by the knowledge transmitted to them.



History shows that wherever Christians traveled, they destroyed the knowledge and wisdom of that culture, burning to ashes the Ancient Wisdom which prepared the way for 1500 years of Darkness. Yet Islam brought the Christians out of Darkness, but today, very little appreciation is showed to Muslims who ended the ‘Dark Ages’ by spreading the Light of Learning. Why did Christians destroy books when Muslims preserved the ancient knowledge? The debt is owed to Islam, for contributing to the fields of Science, Philosophy, Medicine, Geography, Mathematics, Geology, etc



We have compiled the evidence to support that Muslims completely changed the world by preserving (not destroying) the Ancient knowledge of civilization, whereas the Christians destroyed over 15,000,000 books and scrolls. We probably could’ve had the cure for many diseases today if these barbaric and ignorant Christians of the ‘Dark Ages’ did not destroy the knowledge of ancient civilization.



“…The darkness fell, and for two thousand years it covered the Western world. All the wisdom-knowledge of the ages was burned in the market place; the “light of the world” had triumphed and the light of reason died. As Canon Farrar said: “The triumph of Latin theology was the death of rational exegesis”. This is hindsight; those with foresight might well have anticipated Early Grey: “The lights are going out all over Europe”. In the light of these facts, the “tyrants” Nero, Tiberius, Domitian, seem less monstrous; indeed they stand out as the defenders of truth. They tried to save the world from two thousand years of ignorance, but that ignorance was too much for them. They found themselves accused of the very things they tried to prevent, riot, arson, rebellion. The Christian priesthood, inheriting the libelous cunning and libelous cunning of its Semitic prototype, caused the burning and the fighting and blamed them on its enemies. Whether it burned Rome or not, it burned the truth and that is worse.



The destruction of all evidence of Christianity’s Gnostic and pagan source was “the first work”. It was the evangelists themselves who started it, in Antioch, as stated in Acts. Speaking of just such things the Emperor Julian said he would deal with them more at length, “when we begin to explore the monsterous deeds and fraudulent machinations of the evangelists”. And of their followers, Edward Carpenter wrote thus: “…they took special pains to destroy the pagan records and so obliterate the evidence of their own dishonesty”. By order of the Church the books of the Gnostic Basilides were burned, likewise Porphyry’s thirty-six volumes. Pope Gregory VII burned the Apollo library filled with ancient lore. Emperor Theodosius had 27,000 schools of the Mysteries papyrus scrolls burned because they contained the doctrinal basis of the Gospels. By offering rich rewards Ptolemy Philadelphus gathered 270,000 ancient documents; these too were burned for the same reason. As someone has said, the early Christians heated their baths with the Ancient Wisdom. And what knowledge they may have contained!



Nor did the destruction end with the Founders; the fanatics they made carried on the work: the Crusaders burned all the books they could find, including original Hebrew scrolls. In 1233 the works of Maimonides were burned along with twelve volumes of the Talmud. In 1244 eighteen thousand books of various kind were destroyed. According to Draper, Cardinal Ximenes “delivered to the flames in the square of Granada eighty thousand Arabic manuscripts”. On finding similar lore in the New World, the Spanish Christians destroyed it and the temple that contained it. (Lloyd Graham, Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, pp. 443-444)



The early Church tried to destroy the parallels by booking burning, character assassination, and other fraud. Now if Christianity were true, the Christians wouldn’t have any reason to destroy the pagan documents, they obliterated the evidence to COVER UP the fraud of Christianity.



The scholar Tom Harper records:



Obviously, you have to regard with deep suspicion any group or movement, however noble its declarations, that proceeds to win its "case" by silencing, excommunicating, or murdering its assumed opponents. Yet most Christians today are totally unaware that Church history conceals a horrendous, lengthy record of precisely these kinds of tactics by the proponents of what eventually became "orthodox", credal belief. What's more, the kind of bigoted fury unleashed in the third and fourth centuries against Pagans, "heretics", and nonconformists of all types set a ruthless precedent for centuries to come. The comparatively modern Church historian G.R.S. Mead cites, for example, the burning of the manuscripts of French rabbis during the notorious Inquisition and the vandalism of fanatical crusaders, “who left smouldering piles of Hebrew scrolls behind them in their path of blood and fire”. Kuhn argues that the official burnings of Hebrew books began at Montpellier, France, in 1233, with the commitment to the flames of all the works of Maimonides (1135-1204), the renowned Jewish philosopher and theologian. In the same year at Paris, some twelve thousand volumes of the Talmud were burned, and in 1244, eighteen thousand other various works were thrown into fire, he records.



Epiphanius (315 403), the rigidly conservative bishop of Salamiz, in an attack upon the “Sabellian heretics” (who found they couldn’t follow the majority view of the Trinity), wrote that “the whole of their errors…they derive from…that which is called the Gospel of the Egyptians”. Kuhn remarks, “Priceless in value would be that same Gospel of the Egyptians if Christian fury had not destroyed it. Another priceless book, The True Logos by Celsus, one of the most noted Pagan philosophers of the second century, was likewise burned. The brilliant Gnostic philosopher Basildes (c. 135-150) taught at Alexandria in the second quarter of the second century and claimed to know of a secret tradition transmitted by St. Peter himself. He was highly regarded even by so eminent a Christian theologian and Church Father as Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215). Yet according to Eusebius, his irreplaceable, widely renowned Interpretations of the Gospels – in twenty-four splendid volumes – were all burned “by order of the Church”. Thirty-six priceless volumes written by Porphyry (c. 232-303), one of the most learned and brilliant minds of his era, were destroyed by the Church Fathers. Porphyry, a Neoplatonist philosopher who could not accept the divinity of Christ and who exposed numerous inconsistencies in the Gospels, had tried official Christianity for a brief time but found it sadly wanting. Fifteen of his burned books formed a special series called Against the Christians. Scholars would give a lot to have them now.



All of this mayhem was a further deliberate attempt to "blot out all links" between the Christian body of doctrine and any Pagan material. The top Church authorities were not content with the original, specious allegation that Satan had been behind all the amazing resemblances – they even talked of "anticipated plagiarism", charging that the devil stole the rites, doctrines, and dogmas centuries before they became accepted by the Church – so they destroyed as far as possible the entire Pagan record to obliterate the evidence of their own dishonesty. (The Pagan Christ, pp. 61-63)



The utter destruction of the 500,000 to 750,000 books and scrolls of the incredible library at Alexandria by a Christian mob stands as perhaps the greatest single testimony to the overwhelming hatred of learning and education held by the rank-and-file majority who flocked to the new religion. (ibid, p. 61)



The English scholar Edward Carpenter states:



“The Christian writers… not only introduced new doctrines, legends, miracles and so forth – most of which we can trace to antecedent Pagan sources – but they took pains to destroy the Pagan records and so obliterate the evidence of their own dishonesty”. (Pagan & Christian Creeds, p. 205)



We have exposed the fraud of Christianity; the early Christians destroyed the pagan source material to conceal the fraud, or the evidence of their own dishonesty. These “Christians” were ignorant, savage, and barbaric people, who slaughtered thousands of “heretics”, based on suspicion, and burned witches alive, they promoted racism and practiced slavery. How did the Christians escape the ignorance and advance towards Enlightenment? The answer is Islam!



“The Christian World came to wage crusades against Muslims but eventually knelt before them to gain knowledge. They were spellbound to see that Muslims were owners of a culture that was far superior to their own. The Dark Ages of Europe were illuminated by nothing but the beacon of Muslim Civilization.” Author : F.J.C Hearushaw Book Reference : The Science of History

“The Renaissance of Europe did not take place in the 15th century. Rather it began when Europe learned from the culture of the Arabs. The cradle of European awakening is not Italy. It is the Muslim Spain.” Author : Robert Briffault Book Reference : The Making Of Mankind

Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe; it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills, trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse. Author: Jared Diamond Book Reference: UCLA sociologist, and physiologist who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book: "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

During all the first part of the Middle Ages, no other people made as important a contribution to human progress as did the Arabs, if we take this term to mean all those whose mother-tongue was Arabic, and not merely those living in the Arabian peninsula. For centuries, Arabic was the language of learning, culture and intellectual progress for the whole of the civilized world with the exception of the Far East. From the IXth to the XIIth century there were more philosophical, medical, historical, religious, astronomical and geographical works written in Arabic than in any other human tongue. Author: Phillip Hitti Book Reference : in 'Short History of the Arabs

But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does, and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful issue is immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can only be disastrous for both. Author : H.A.R. Gibb Book Reference : WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379

Despite the growth of antagonism, Moslem (Muslim) rulers seldom made their Christian subjects suffer for the Crusades. When the Saracens finally resumed the full control of Palestine the Christians were given their former status as dhimmis. The Coptic Church, too had little cause for complaint under Saladin's (Salahuddin) strong government, and during the time of the earlier Mameluke sultans who succeeded him the Copts experienced more enlightened justice than they had hitherto known. The only effect of the Crusaders upon Egyptian Christians was to keep them for a while from pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for as long as the Frank were in charge heretics were forbidden access to the shrines. Not until the Moslem victories could they enjoy their rights as Christians. Author : James Addison Book Reference : 'The Christian Approach to the Moslem,' p. 35

“It must be owned that all the knowledge, whether of physics, astronomy, philosophy or mathematics, which flourished in Europe from the 10th century, was originally derived from the Muslim schools, and the Spanish Saracen may be looked upon as the father of European philosophy (John Devenport, quoted by A. Karim in Islam’s Contribution to Science and Civilization)

“The supremacy of the East was not only military. Science, philosophy, poetry, and the arts all flourished…in the Muhammedan world at a time when Europe was sunk in barbarism. Europeans, with unpardonable insularity, call this period ‘The Dark Ages’: but it was only in Europe that it was dark – indeed only in Christian Europe, for Spain, which was Muhammedan, had a brilliant culture”. (Abul Ala Mawdudi, Towards Understanding Islam, p. 52)

“It is highly probably that but for the Arabs, modern European civilization would never have assumed that character which has enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution. For although there is not a single aspect of human growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the paramount scientific spirit…What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry: of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, and measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Muslims”. (Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, p. 52)

“Islam, in fact, has done a work. She has left a mark on the pages of human history, which is so indelible that it can never be effaced…that only when the world grows will be acknowledged in full”. (Mawdudi, p. 52)





After the Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years, the ungrateful Christians eradicated the Islamic culture and converted Muslims to Christianity, the religion of fraud. Yet it was Islam that gave birth to knowledge. Yet we find Muslims suffering all over the world.



The historical contrast is that Muslims preserved the knowledge of ancient cultures, when the Christians destroyed the world’s greatest libraries, burning to ashes millions of precious books. The Islamic civilization was flourishing when Europe was trapped in Darkness, and it was Islam that gave birth to the world as we know it today. Muslims contributed to every field of knowledge, along with other non-Muslim contributions. The Noble Quran was the Inspiration for these Muslim inventors. Jesus is recorded to have said “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12) Jesus was predicting that God would perfect His Divine Law after his departure, and the Divine Laws were perfected by Muhammad, the Last Prophet (peace be upon him).


Islam told the Arabs to leave their corrupt practices by recognizing the existence of their Creator, by obeying the God Who built them and their world. It stated that recognizing the proper position of God in relation to man was a great advance in thinking. It claimed that God Himself is the Creator of the mind, and therefore is the ultimate source of all knowledge. Claiming that God is inseparable from man and this world, Islam negated the concept that God is a reserved Being sitting on His unreachable throne, His being actively and intimately connected with all the proceedings of this world. Thus, the Muslims felt that as God holds the keys to knowledge, man’s purpose was to open the doors of ignorance by spreading this knowledge. This led them to view the entire universe as a divine gift for them to study in developing moral and intellectual strength to the utmost. In searching for knowledge, Islam strongly demanded that man study the sciences, since science itself is thought of as a divinely established system. To them, if God is the Creator of the elements on which chemistry must rely, He is also the Constructor of the solar system which the astronomer beholds, as He is the builder of the human biological system whose mind intrigues the philosopher, and to whose physiology the physician responds.


This was the mentality of the early Muslim chemists and scientists whose work is to be presented here. It is miraculous that the mental giants of whom we will speak developed their skills with little resource except the inspiration derived from their beliefs.



Since the Muslims possess the Quran, a book which they regard as unaltered divine revelation, this text became their starting point. The Quran instructed them to seek knowledge in all fields. Thereby stimulated, the Muslims went directly to the earliest sources of knowledge. Masterpieces of Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Syrian, and Indian science were recovered, translated, and where relevant, assimilated. These resources were easily accessible to them as even the storehouse of Greek manuscripts was found in the Near East, not in Europe. True, there were some Greek writings to be found in Medieval Europe. But these lay covered in the dust of monasteries, the keepers of which were too ignorant to understand their meaning, or to propound their contents.



Thus, the Arabs preserved the earliest works available on the sciences. In chemistry, they found that few texts described it as a true science, most subscribing to the cult of alchemy. The Muslim chemists generally negated the validity of this practice, claiming that God Alone can create the uniqueness of the elements. They dealt instead with practical applications of this science, studying the nature of matter, and applying positive effects to beneficial fields of study such as pharmacology and medicine.



It is important to discuss further the contributions made by translating the early works. The works they preserved from the East as well as those of the Greek were at that time repudiated by the West as heresy. In fact, Europe completely neglected the translation and preservation of scientific knowledge in this era. Scientific inquiry had virtually no support in Western society from the 7th to 13th centuries. Bigoted Ecclesiasticism dammed the flow of free thought, blocking the seepage of knowledge within Western societies. Any bits of scientific knowledge that existed in this era were systematically exterminated by the ruling class and clergy. Under Constantine, public libraries were dissoluted or destroyed, while Pope Gregory eliminated scientific studies from Rome and banned the study of all Greek writings. Learning was branded as magic and treasonous, and was punishable by torture or death. Francis Bacon, a noted father of science, was considered a heretic and was forced by the rulers of England to give up his efforts in scientific study. Bruno was burned at the stake for the crime of claiming that the earth rotates about its axis. It was in this, the West’s lowest era of moral and intellectual desolation, that the Islamic world upheld the knowledge by salvaging the ancient works of the Mediterranean world from historical doom.



The world is taking advantage of Islam, and waging war on Muslim countries after giving them so many gifts. The Christian missionaries are raising the dust throughout the Muslim world. But one day people will realize that without Islam, we’d be living in Darkness.