(185)

[36] Oppression (Injustice)

One of the other pests that disrupts society, destroys the Muslims unity, and causes division is oppression or injustice to people and even to animals. It is a vice hated by God. Oppression or injustice is the cause of many vices such as backbiting, abusing, theft, inchastitiy, misappropriation, and dishonoring. God Almighty reproaches injustice in many Quranic verses and introduces the oppressor as a bad human being: surely the unjust will not be successful. [1] In another verse, God says: So the roots of the people who were unjust were cut off; and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. [2] God also says: will any be destroyed but the unjust people? [3] On the same topic, God says: so away with the unjust people. [4] In another verse, God Almighty says: And let those fear (in their behaviour toward orphans) who if they left behind them weak offspring

[1] Qur'an, 6:21. [2] Qur'an, 6:45. [3] Qur'an, 6:47. [4] Qur'an, 23:41.

(186) would be afraid for them. So let them mind their duty to Allah, and speak justly. [1] Abu Abdullah (Imam Sadiq) (AS) has been reported as saying: Whoever does injustice; God will make someone dominant on him, who will do injustice to him, to his children and to his

grandchildren. [2] The narrator reports: I asked the Imam: Why does God impose an oppressor on the following generation while a certain has done the injustice? The Imam recited the above-mentioned verse and also this verse: The unjust shall not have any compassionate friend nor any intercessor who should be obeyed. [3] The messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: Keep away from injustice, for injustice near God is darkness on the Day of Judgment. [4] The messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported by Imam Ali (AS) as saying: Allah the Almighty says: My wrath is great against one who does injustice to someone who has no helper other than me. [5] In a commentary on this verse Then be on your guard against the Fire of which men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the unbelievers [6], Imam Ali (AS) said: O our followers, fear Allah! Be careful not to be the fuel of this fire if you are not disbelievers. Be careful not to do any injustice to your brothers in faith. [7]

[1] Qur'an, 4:9. [2] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 325. [3] Qur'an, 40:18. [4] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, pp. 309, 330. [5] Ibid., p. 311. [6] Qur'an, 2:24. [7] Bihar al-Anwar , vol. 72, p. 316.

(187) Imam Ali (AS) has also been reported as saying: The worst provision for the Day of Resurrection is to do injustice to the servants of Allah. [1] The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: O son of Adam! Do what is good and give up what is evil! Injustice is of three kinds; first, the injustice which is not forgiven, like associating anything with God. In this relation, God has said: Surely Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with Him. [2] Second, the injustice which is forgiven is like the injustice that one does against himself. Third, it is the injustice which is not forgiven, like the injustice which one does to another one. [3] Imam Baqir (AS) has been reported by Abu Hamzah ath-Thumali as saying: When the demise

of Imam Sajjad (a.s.) approached, he drew me to his chest, saying: My son, I advise you with what my father advised me at his death and what his father had advised him. Then, he said: My son, keep away from injustice to one who has no help but Allah against you. [4] Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying: By Allah, I would rather spend the night in wakefulness on the thorns of as-Sadan (a plant having sharp prickles) than to meet Allah and His Messenger on the Day of Judgment as an oppressor against any one or a usurper of anything out of the worldly wealth. And how can I oppress any one for the sake of a self that hurriedly goes towards its destruction and shall remain under the earth for a long time.By Allah, even if I am given all the seven districts (or continents) with all there is under their skies that I may disobey Allah in extorting a crust of a barley grain from an ant, I would never do. [5]

[1] Nahj al-Balaghah, p. 1174. [2] Qur'an, 4:48. [3] Bihar al-Anwar, vol.72, p. 321. [4] Ibid., p. 308. [5] Nahj al-Balaghah, sermon 215.

(188) Imam Ali (AS) writes the following letter to one of his officers: Fear Allah and give back to those people their properties. If you do not do so and Allah grants me power over you, I will excuse myself before Allah about you and strike you with my sword with which I did not strike anyone except that he went to Hell. By Allah, even if Hassan and Hossain had done what you did, I would never be a bit lenient to them. [1] In another letter to Uthman ibn Hunayf, Imam Ali (AS) writes: O ibn Hunayf, I have come to know that a young man from Basra invited you to a feast and you leapt towards it. Foods of different colors were served for you and big bowels were brought to you. I never thought that you would accept the feast of a people who drive away the beggars and invite the rich. So think of what you bite from this bitten dish (think of the result) Remember that every follower has a leader whom he follows and is guided by the light of his knowledge. Realize that your Imam has contented himself with two shabby pieces of cloth out of (the comforts of the) world and two loaves of bread as his meal (all the day). Certainly, you cannot do so, but at least support me in piety, exertion, chastity and uprightness, because, by Allah, I have not treasured any gold out of your world nor amassed any wealth nor collected any clothes other than the two shabby sheets. Of course, all that we had in our possession under this sky was Fadak, but a group of people felt

greedy for it and the other party withheld themselves from it. Allah is, after all, the best arbiter. What shall I do with Fadak or other than Fadak, while tomorrow this body is to go into the grave in whose darkness its traces shall vanish and (even) news of it will disappear. It is a pit that, even if its width is widened or the hands of the digger make it broad and open, the stones and clods of clay will narrow it and the falling

[1] Ibid., p. 948.

(189) earth will close its aperture. I try to keep myself in piety so that on the Day of the Great Fear it will be peaceful and steady in slippery places. [1] It is worth mentioning that the usurpation of Fadak was injustice done against Lady Fatima (AS), an act of oppression recorded in history. Fadak was gained after the conquest of Khaybar and it was given to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) who donated it to his daughter during his lifetime. A Sunni scholar says: Shiite Muslims unanimously believe that Fadak was given to Fatima by the Messenger of Allah (SAW) before his departure from this world. [2] When the verse: And give to the near of kin his due [3] was revealed, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) gave Fadak to Lady Fatima (AS). When Abu Bakr took it from her, Lady Fatima in a message to him, said: Fadak belongs to me. Ameerul Mominin and Umm Ayman testified to that. Abu Bakr asserted: Fadak belongs to the Muslims, but it is in your hands. Lady Fatima (AS) went to the mosque and delivered an excellent speech proving that Fadak belonged to her, but no one listened to her. Fadak fell in the hands of others, but Umar ibn Abdul Aziz gave it back to the children of Lady Fatima (AS). The caliphs repeatedly appropriated it and gave it back. After telling the story of Fadak, Ali ibn Abi Talib says: If I wished, I could have taken the way leading towards (worldly pleasure like) pure honey, fine wheat and silk clothes, but it cannot be that my passions lead me and greed takes me to choose good meals while in the Hijaz or in Yamamah there may be people who have no hope of getting a piece of bread or who do not have a full meal. Shall I lie with a satiated belly while around me there may be hungry bellies and thirsty livers? Or shall be as the poet has said:

[1] Nahj al-Balaghah, p. 956, Letter 45. [2] Nahj al-Balaghah, explained by Muhammad Abdo, vol. 2, p. 79. [3] Qur'an, 17:26.

(190) It is enough for you as a disease that you lie with your belly full while around you there are people, who may be badly yearning (of hunger) for dried meat. [1] Such is the mentality and performance of Ali ibn Abi Talib as compared to others! The cursed Hajjaj lived a life of fifty-four, but he oppressed people as long as hundreds of years. He killed as many as a hundred and twenty thousand people. Fifty thousand men and thirty thousand women out of whom sixteen thousand were singles, died in his prisons. Men and women were put into prison in the same place. His prisons were such that prisoners were not safe from sunlight in summers and from cold, rain and snow in winter. It has been narrated that one day when Hajjaj was riding on his horse towards the Friday Prayer, he heard some moaning. He asked what that moaning was, and he was said: They are prisoners moaning and complaining of their plight. Hajjaj rode towards the prisoners. People thought that he was going to do something for them, but they saw him saying: Shut up! Do not say anything! It is said that he never rode on that horse again and died on the same Friday. In the history of Ibnul Jouzi, we read: His prisons had walls but no ceilings. Whenever sunlight fell on the prisoners, they took shelter in the shade of the walls but his cruel jailers threw stones at them, forcing them to leave the shade. Their food was barley bread mixed with salt and ashes.

[1] Nahj al-Balaghah, p. 961.

(191) Prisoners would become so suntanned that their parents could not recognize them. The prisoners

said: We are your children, but they gave a loud cry and left this transient life. [1] One day, ash-Shabi warned al-Hajjaj of oppression, and enjoined him to justice. To make him understand that his domination over people was the result of peoples own performance, he weighed a gold Dinar, assayed it and said to Shabi: Take it to the moneychanger and ask about its weight and fineness. Each moneychanger said a different weight and fineness for it. Shabi brought it back to Hajjaj and told him the whole story. Hajjaj said: Take it to so-and-so market after giving the address of some man. Shabi took the gold coin to that man. As soon as the man looked at it, he said: It is perfect in weight and fineness. He was asked: Has Hajjaj ever done an injustice to you? He said: no, he has rather warded off others injustice from me. Being surprised, Shabi came back to Hajjaj and told him the story. Hajjaj said: Since people do injustice to one another, God has made a man dominant over them to do injustice to them. If they were truthful with God and were pious, I would never gain control over them. Truly, peoples injustice to one another has caused such tyrants as Hajjaj to become dominant on them. About Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqafi, Imam Ali (AS) has said: Beware! By Allah, a lad from the Banu Thaqeef, who is haughty and proud, shall be empowered over you. He would eat away your vegetation and melt away your fat [2] When Hajjaj became dominant, he oppressed the good and the bad. He did not refrain from oppressing even one like Saeed ibn Jobair.

[1] Safeenat al-Bihar, vol. 1, p. 222. [2] Nahj al-Balaghah, vol. 1, p. 355.

(192) Therefore, Taqwa is needed to be observed to avoid oppression and injustice. There are many Quranic verses in this relation including one which is spoken by Prophet Salih: Therefore, guard against (the punishment of) Allah and obey me; And do not obey the bidding of the extravagant who make mischief in the land and do not act aright. [1] God Almighty has said: And do not incline to those who are unjust, lest the Fire touch you. [2] In the traditions on prohibitions, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying:

Anyone who helps an oppressor in doing an injustice will be a companion of Haman in Hell. The Holy Prophet (SAW) has also said: Whoever loves an oppressive enemy, befriends or helps him, when the angel of death comes, shall say to him: you are given the good news of the curse of God on you and the fire of Hell which is the worst abode. [3] Al-Kashshi, in his Rijal, has reported Safwan al-Jammal as saying: I went to visit Imam Musa ibn Jafar. The Imam (AS) said: O Safwan! Everything about you is good except one thing. I said: what is it, my master?! The Imam (AS) said: giving your camels for rent to this man (Haroon, the Abbasid caliph). I said: I have not given them for idle sport or amusement. They are for the Hajj. I do not even go with them; rather, I send my slaves with them. The Imam (AS) said: Do they pay the rent? I said: yes, they do. The Imam said: Do you like them to be alive so as to pay your rent? I said: yes. The Imam said: Whoever likes their survival, will be from them and whoever is with them will be in fire.

[1] Qur'an, 26:150-152. [2] Qur'an, 11:113. [3] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 369.

(193) I sold my camels. This news reached Haroon. He sent for me, saying: O Safwan, I was informed that you have sold your camels? I said: Yes, I have. He said: what for? I said: I have grown old and my slaves cannot manage them. He said: Alas, alas! I know who has told you to do so. Musa ibn Jafar has guided you. I said: What am I to do with Musa ibn Jafar? He said: Put these words aside! By God, were it not for your good friendship, I would have you killed. [1]

[1] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 377.

Dire consequences of Injustice - I

Injustice is deviation from justice and violation of the truth. There are three broad types of injustice: 1- To be unjust towards Allaah The Almighty: The most heinous forms of this type are disbelief, polytheism, and hypocrisy. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):

{And [mention, O Muhammad], when Luqmaan said to his son while he was instructing him, O my son, do not associate [anything] with Allaah. Indeed, association [with him] is great injustice.}[Quran 31:13] {Indeed, the curse of Allaah is upon the unjust. } [Quran 11:18]

2- To be unjust towards other people: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And the recompense of an odious deed is an odious deed the like of it; yet whoever is clement and acts righteously, then his reward is up to Allaah. Surely, He does not love the unjust.}[Quran 42:40] {The cause is only against the ones who wrong the people and tyrannize upon the earth without right. Those will have a painful punishment .} [Quran 42:42] To be unjust towards oneself: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Then we caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself.} [Quran 35:32] {He [Moosa] said, My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me, and He forgave him. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.} [Quran 28:16] In fact, all three types are considered as doing injustice to oneself as one wrongs oneself when one intends to do injustice.

Ath-Thahabi maintained that injustice is a major sin and said that doing injustice to others may take the form of trespassing on their property, abusing them physically or verbally, and attacking the weak. He mentioned the Quranic verses and Prophetic Hadeeths that threaten the unjust. Then he reported that some of the righteous predecessors said, Do not wrong the weak so as not to be one of the evil strong people. In addition to this, he mentioned some forms of injustice that he considered to be major sins: Devouring the property of orphans Procrastination in repaying debts despite the ability to repay at the due time.

Denying

wife

her a

rights

such

as

dowry, wage

clothing or

and

provision. salary

Denying

laborer his

- Inaccurate divisions and valuation, which are considered major sins, according to Ibn

Hajar

The Texts of the Shareeah Dispraise Injustice Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And those cities - We destroyed them when they wronged, and We made for their destruction an appointed time.} [Quran 18:59] {And in no way did We do injustice to them, but it is they who were the unjust. } [Quran 43:76] {Allaah {And {And your your Lord does Lord is not not does ever love injustice unjust to the to [His] no unjust.}[Quran one.}[Quran [Quran 3:57] 18:49] 41:46]

servants. }

{Verily the unjust are surely in perpetual torment.} [Quran 42:45] In addition, there are many Quranic verses that speak about doing injustice to oneself. These verses explain that this type of injustice comes in two forms: Shirk (polytheism), and disobeying Allaah The Almighty. Shirk is the most heinous of sins; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Then we caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is he who is moderate, and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds by permission of Allaah. That [inheritance] is what is the great bounty.}[Quran 35:32] Doing injustice to others through aggression against their lives, property or anything else, is dispraised in many Quranic verses such as the verse that reads (what means):{The cause is only against the ones who wrong the people and tyrannize upon the earth without right. Those will have a painful punishment. }[Quran 42:42]

Similarly, the Hadeeths of the Prophet, - It was narrated on the authority of Abu Moosa Al-Ashari

, dispraise injustice:

that the Prophet, , said: Indeed, Allaah gives respite to the oppressor, but when He seizes him, He does not let him escape.' Then he recited:{And thus is the taking away of your Lord when He takes away the towns [while] they are unjust; surely His taking away is painful [and] strict.}[Quran 11:102] [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

- The Prophet, for injustice

will

be

, said:Protect yourselves against doing injustice, darkness on the Day of Resurrection.[Muslim]

Aaishah

said

to

Abu

Salamah

ibn

Abdur

Rahman

Abu

Salamah,

who was disputing with some people over a piece of land, O beware of seizing land unjustly because the Prophet

said, Whoever seizes unlawfully a hand-span of land, a collar of seven lands will be around his neck [in the Hereafter]. [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

- It was narrated on the authority of Huthayfah

that the Prophet,

, said: Do not be blind followers and say: If people do good, we do good, and if people do injustice, we do injustice. Adjust yourselves; when people do good, do good, and when they wrong, do not do injustice.[At-Tirmithi]

- It was narrated on the authority of Abdullah ibn Masood

that

the Prophet,

, said: Whenever a person is murdered, there is a

share of the burden of the crime on the son of Aadam [Adam] since he was the first to commit murder.[Al-Bukhaari

and

Muslim]

It was narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah

that the

Prophet,

said:

Do not envy one another; do not commit Najash [to overbid against a rival purchaser simply to harm him with no intention of buying the merchandise]; do not hate one another; do not turn your backs on one another; do not enter into commercial transactions when others have entered into that [transaction]; rather, be, O slaves of Allaah, brothers. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim; he does not do injustice to him, he does not let him down, and he does not disdain him. Piety is here, [and he pointed to his chest three times]. It is enough evil for a Muslim to disdain his brother Muslim. All of a Muslim is inviolable for other Muslims: his blood [life], his property and his honor.[Muslim] The righteous predecessors also dispraised injustice in their sayings:

- Ali ibn Abi Taalib said, The day when the wronged will triumph over the wrongdoer will be far severer than the day when the wrongdoer wronged him.

Muaawiyah who has none

but

Allaah

would say, I would be terrified to wrong a person The Exalted to seek His help against me.

Abu Al-Aynaa said, I had some unjust enemies, and I complained about them to Ahmad ibn Abi Daawood. I said to him, They have become united like a single hand against me! He replied, {The hand of Allaah is over their hands.}[Quran 48:10] I said, They are cunning! He replied, {The evil plot does not encompass except its own people.} [Quran 35:43] I said, They belong to a large company. He replied, {How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allaah The Exalted.}[Quran 2:249].

- Yoosuf ibn Asbaat life wants Allaah

The

Exalted

said, Whoever wishes an oppressor long to be disobeyed in His universe.

- Ibn Masood

said, When the punishment was removed from the

people of Yoonus they all returned the rights of others to the extent that a man would pluck a stone out of the foundation of his house and return it to its owner.

Abu Thawr ibn Yazeed stone in a building

is

considered

said, Using an unlawfully acquired the beginning of its destruction.

- A scholar said, Had a single stone of injustice been used in building Paradise, the House of Eternity, it would have been ruined. A sage said, When you want to do injustice, remember the justice of Allaah The Almighty that will be executed against you. When you want to use your strength to wrong others, remember that Allaah The Exalted has the strength to punish you. Never, be impressed by someone who sheds blood, as his Assassin never dies.

- Yazeed ibn Haatim would say, I fear nothing more than a person whom I wronged while knowing that he has no supporter but Allaah The Exalted, especially when he says, Allaah The Exalted is sufficient to judge between me and you. - One day, Ali ibn Al-Fudhayl wept, so he was asked why. He replied, I feel sorry for those who wronged me, because they will have nothing to say to Allaah The Almighty as an excuse.

- While Sulaymaan ibn Abdul-Malik was on the pulpit, a man said to him, Remember the Day of Announcement! Sulaymaan descended from the pulpit and asked the man, And what is the Day of Announcement? The man answered, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Then an announcer will announce between them, The curse of Allaah be on the unjust.}[Quran 7:44]

- Abu Ad-Dardaa supplication Some scholars

of state that

said, Beware of the orphans tears and the a wronged person. there are three types of injustice:

o Unforgivable injustice: This type refers to Shirk, from which we seek refuge with Allaah The Exalted. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, Allaah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. }[Quran 4:48] o Injustice that cannot be waived: This type refers to doing injustice to the servants of Allaah The Almighty. o Forgivable Injustice: This type refers to wronging oneself.

- A man passed by a person whom Al-Hajjaaj had crucified, and said, O Allaah, your leniency with the oppressors has harmed the oppressed. When the man slept that night he saw in a vision that he entered Paradise, and saw the man who had been crucified in the highest ranks of Paradise; then he heard a caller say, My leniency with the oppressors has admitted the oppressed people to the highest ranks i n Paradise. It was said, Whoever plunders others property, others will plunder his property. It is said, Whoever does injustice for long, loses power.

- Umar man,

as

said, Beware of the supplication of an oppressed it is answered.

- Ali said, The previous nations were destroyed because they kept denying people's rights until this became rampant, and they spread transgression until its rights were ransomed. - It was said, The most evil of all wrongdoers is the one who wrongs some people for the benefit of others. - Ibn Al-Jawzi said, Injustice necessitates two sins: usurping others rights and defying Allaah The Exalted with disobedience. The sin of doing injustice is more evil than other sins because it is usually committed against the weak, who are powerless to fend for themselves. The cause of injustice is the darkness of the heart; a man whose heart is lit with guidance would not commit injustice.

Ibn Taymiyyah said, People unanimously agree that the consequences of injustice are dire and that the outcomes of justice are good. He also said that, Allaah The Exalted grants victory to a just state even if it is a non -Islamic state, and lets an unjust state be defeated, even if it is an Islamic state.

Summary
1) The need for exposing deviant way and misguidance. 2) Defining secularism. 3) The war between Islaam and the pre Islamic belief. 4) Some example of secular practices in our communities. 5) Seculars deceive people by not declaring their real position against Islaam.

First Khutbah

O Muslims, Allaah sent down The Book to clarify all things and to give Guidance and Mercy to people who believe.

He sent His messenger with guidance and the true religion and He opened with It blinded eyes, deaf ears, and sealed hearts and eliminated with It the darkness of ignorance and stupidity and released the chains of polytheism such that misguidance became a legend of the past and worshipping idols became an old myth.

A Muslim wonders at the stupidity of the polytheists. Allaah speaks the truth saying, which means: "He whom Allah guides is rightly guided but he whom he leads astray never will you find for him a protective guide"(Al-Kahf: 17).

Servants of Allaah, we must always remember though, that trials are continuous and the substance of evil remains till today. Devils among humankind and Jinns continue to spread misguidance, and to make it seem attractive and spread it by means of all tongues. Allaah says which means: "And thus we have made for every Prophet an enemy, devils from mankind and Jinn, inspiring to one another decorated speech and delusion" (AlAn 'aam: 112).

It is mandatory upon us to know the ways of misguidance, warn people of it, expose it, expose its objectives and block the way for those who call to it. By doing this, Muslims can be aware of what their Lord wants of them and have proper insight so as not to be harmed by the plotting and planning of the misguided ones.

Today in the Muslim world many different philosophies and ideologies are propagatedones that deceive numerous people with its superficial sparkle and glory. Many slogans and terms have captured the minds of people and control their way of thinking.

These false beliefs are like a disease and are of the fire. If it has been decreed for these false beliefs to be disseminated, they will not overcome anyone but will turn him into disintegrated ruins.

One of these ideologies is secularism, which has infiltrated into the Muslim communities. Perhaps one of the most serious challenges that face the people of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah at this time is to overthrow these false beliefs, clarify their vague statements and expose the reality of the obscure slogans behind which secularism hides and spreads its poison in the minds and hearts of the people of this nation.

For this reason, it is necessary to unmask the true face of this ideology which is misguided and misguiding at the same time.

Secularism, in its correct definition, is the belief that religion should not enter into the affairs of the state; it denies any form of religious faith and worship. Thus, secularism is the antithesis of Islamic monotheism, which, from the perspective of Islam, is the greatest reality and truth.

Servants of Allaah, Ibn Taimiyah, may Allaah be pleased with him, said in his book AlUbudiyah (Servitude): "Mankind is at the crossroad that has two roads, no third to it. It is either that he chooses servitude to Allaah or he rejects the servitude to Him. To fully believe in the servitude to Allaah excluding all others knowing that servitude to anyone else but Allaah, great or small, is the worshiping of Satan."

As Allaah says which means: "Did I not enjoin upon you O Children of Adam that you not worship Satan for indeed he is to you a clear enemy and that you worship only me. This is the straight path" (Yaaseen: 60-61). This includes the Arabs who Allaah spoke about saying, which means: "They call upon instead of Him none but female deities and they actually call upon none but rebellious Satan"(An-Nisa: 117). This also includes all acts of worship performed to anyone else but Allaah throughout history.

Some of the acts of worship have changed. The Arabs no longer worship the idols of the past. However, worship of Satan in itself did not change. The old idols are replaced with new idols: like the partisanship, nationalism, secularism, personal freedom, sex and others.

There are many new idols today. It is indeed the worship of Satan and Taghoot, which negate the testimony that there is no one worthy of worship but Allaah. For the meaning of La ilaha ill Allaah is to disbelieve in Taghoot and to believe in Allaah.

Based on this, we can know the ruling of Islam concerning secularism. Secularism is disbelief and is of the pre-Islamic Taghoot concept which negates and contradicts La ilaha ill Allaah.

Two points which are basic and paired are that firstly, it is ruling with something other than the rulings of Allaah or what Allaah has revealed, and secondly, it is associating others in the worship of Allaah.

Servants of Allaah! Secularism simply means, ruling with laws other than the laws of Allaah; something other than what Allaah has revealed. Ruling with a constitution or legislation other than, what Allaah has legislated. The acceptance to be governed by and follow Taghoot instead of Allaah, is the essence of establishing life with no faith and religion.

Allaah, says which means: "And he who does not rule with what Allah revealed, indeed, those are the disbelievers" (Al-Maida: 44).

Servants of Allaah! Disbelief is of different kinds, of which we must be aware. One aspect of Jahiliyah-disbelief and pre-Islamic paganism- was the rejection of Allaah. The rejection of His existence is related to faith and the way life is perceived, which correspond to the Jahiliyah of communists.

Another aspect is, acknowledging the existence of Allaah, but in a perverted way, and deviation in acts of worship. This kind of Jahiliyah is synonymous with the Jahiliyah of the Jews and Christians.

Another aspect is accepting the existence of Allaah and performing acts of worship but with a serious deviation in the understanding, implication and the implementation of La ilaha ill Allaah Muhammad-ur Rasul-Allaah, which results in a comprehensive association in the issue of obedience and partnership with Allaah. This Jahiliyah is of those who call themselves Muslims but are secularists. They think that they are within the fold of Islam and have all the rights of Muslims by merely uttering the Shahada, La ilaha ill Allaah, Muhammad-ur RasulAllaah. They perform these acts of worship in a Jahil, un-Islamic fashion.

Servants of Allaah! Believers in secularism deal with the aspects of faith and worship according to what Allaah wants, and at the same time legislate with other than the rules of Allaah. In fact, this is the reality and the basis of Shirk (association), because the people of Jahiliyah (the initial pre-Islamic paganism) did not object to the existence of Allaah. Allaah says, which means: "And if you would ask them who created the heavens and the Earth? They would say Allah" (Luqman: 25). They also used to have some acts of worship, as Allah says which means: "And they assign to Allah from that which He created of crops and livestock as a share"(Al-An'aam: 136). Yet, with all of that, O Servants of Allaah, what was Allaah's ruling regarding such a community. Allaah ruled that they were disbelievers, and considered these acts collectively to weigh nothing on the scale of Islam.

That is why long battles took place between them and the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam, and the fight became intensely aggressive until they could not settle it but with physical fights, with the sword as the judge. The subject and the cause behind all of these long aggressive battles was nothing but that one statement, La ilaha ill Allaah. A statement that the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam, insisted on and propagated to the furthest extent and people of Jahiliyah refused to the furthest extent.

And from the first instant when the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam called them to La ilaha ill Allah, the immediate answer was as Allaah says in the Qur'an which means: "Has he made the Gods only one God, indeed this is a strange thing"(Saad: 5).

The issue was very clear in their minds, that committing to this statement meant rejecting firmly and giving up completely, everything else besides Allaah. Everything from the things that they were worshiping from the Tawagheet: idols, the Taghoot of leadership, the Taghoot of the tribe, the Taghoot of magicians and traditions, all had to be dropped and they had to completely submit to Allah instead. This meant taking all matters, whether minor or significant, big and small in judgment to Allaah, alone with no partners.

Likewise, nowadays we have among us those who say that they are Muslims but they refuse to accept a relationship between religion and dealings in the worldly life, particularly when it comes to dealing with money and materialistic issues.

Among us these days, are people who are highly educated with PhDs from different universities of the world and the first questions they impudently ask are: "What does Islam have to do with our social behavior? What does Islam have to do with men and women intermingling on beaches and places of entertainment? What does Islam have to do with the way women dress on the streets? What does Islam have to do with women driving cars and mixing with men and her personal freedom in traveling alone and dealing and running her own affairs?" This, indeed, is a call towards atheism, because it rejects what Allah has revealed in His Book regarding superiority of men over women. Some question, "What does Islam have to do with releasing the sexual aura through any means, be it adultery, fornication, or anything else". Allaah forbid. "What does Islam have to do with the civilized people and what they do"?

So what is the difference between these people and the people of disbelief at the time of Shu'aib, peace be upon him, as Allaah says which means: "Does your religion command you that we should leave what our fathers worshiped?" (Houd: 87). These people question and strongly reject religion interfering with economics. They reject any connection between financial dealings and religious faith and morals, saying: "What does religion have to do with dealing with usury? What does religion have to do with sly cheating and stealing as long as no one catches you? What does religion have to do with politics and the ruling of countries?"

They shamelessly say that if religious morals were to interfere with the economy they will corrupt and ruin it. Therefore, we are not any better than the people of Median in the early preIslamic era were.

In todays world, we have a Jahiliyah that is worse than the Jahiliyah of the pre-Islamic period, but it claims knowledge and civilization. Its advocators accuse those who connect between religion and human social behavior, politics and the economy of being backward and rigid, labeling them as fundamentalists and extremists.

Is this not the reality of the campaign of those who claim to be Muslim from the secularists, who have corrupted the people and the land saying: Religion and belief is for Allaah, but governing the land is for the people, i.e. separating state from religion? May Allaah fight and kill them.

Second Khutbah

O Muslims, it is the habit of hypocrites and secularists who claim to be Muslims, to not openly reject and show their enmity to Islam. They use the weapon of the illusion of being Muslim until the time of battle, when they take the Muslims by surprise.

For that, these Zanadiqa(hypocrites) from the secularists and those who are like them, campaign by which they try to deceive the largest possible number of Muslims and to diminish the small number of people that might expose, interfere and intercept what they are doing.

Those who campaign in the interest of secularism, while practically trying to extract Islam from its roots, slowly try to gain the means of the media to get to masses.

Servants of Allaah, secularism was born and emerged out of Jahiliyah and it is clear disbelief. This fact is not hidden and there is no doubt about it. Those who call for secularism create doubt and confusion deliberately. They know that there is no place for this Jahiliyah in the lands and countries of Muslims, unless they are deceptive and confuse the masses of Muslims through their false campaigns that conceal the reality from them. They hide from the common people the matter of their religion. They instigate the common people and the masses of Muslims against the sincere and the righteous who call for Islam, those who warn them of the danger to their religion and their families and expose the reality of secularism.

Servants of Allaah, the fight that has been initiated against the Muslims of Ahlus Sunnah and Jamaah by these misguided sects who claim to be a part of Islam, must not be taken lightly.

The most dangerous of these have always been the attack of sects with concealed faith, like the Rafidhaa who have been supported by international monetary forces from the disbelievers to destroy the people of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. Since the people of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah are the real and practical danger to these international forces, their forts are internally endangered by the secular powers that collated against them from the inside and that fight them both covertly and overtly. This represents the core of the battle between Islam and Jahiliyah and disbelief in this modern time.

The most dangerous phase of this struggle is uncovering the reality of this evil secular ideology and exposing it to Muslims, so that the way of the criminals who try to deceive them and confuse them with regards to their religion becomes clear to each of them.

Isn't it time for the people of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah to be careful and cautious of these dangers that surround them from inside and out, and endanger them in this life and the hereafter?

Isn't it time for many of them to give up their old battles and settle petty differences and concentrate their force, power and efforts to confront these challenges?

Causes of Injustice A- The devil: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):

{O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. } [Quran 2:208]

{Satan has overcome them and made them forget the remembrance of Allaah. Those are the party of Satan. Unquestionably, the party of Satan - they will be the losers.} [Quran 58:19]

B- A persistent evil-enjoining soul; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil.}[Quran 12:53] C- Personal inclination; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):

{So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. } [Quran 4:135] {But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge. } [Quran 79:40, 41] {and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire.} [Quran 18:28] There many other similar verses.

Curing and Giving Up Injustice 1- Remembering that Allaah The Almighty never does injustice; He Says (what means):

{Whoever does righteousness - it is for his [own] soul; and whoever does evil [does so] against it. And your Lord is not ever unjust to [His] servants. }[Quran 41:46] {Indeed, Allaah does not do injustice, [even] as much as an atom's weight } [Quran 4:40] {Allaah wants no injustice to the worlds.} [Quran 3:108]

2-

Considering the fateful destiny of unjust people: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):

{And decidedly not one of you [there is], except that he will go [herded] down to it; that, for your Lord, has been a thing decreed, a must. Thereafter, We will safely deliver the ones who were pious and leave behind the unjust [ones], [abjectly] kneeling.} [Quran 19:71, 72] {And your Lord would not have destroyed the cities unjustly while their people were reformers.} [Quran 11:117] {Say, Have you seen for yourselves? In case the torment of A llaah comes up to you suddenly or openly, will any be perished except the unjust people? } [Quran 6:47]

3- Not to despair of the Mercy of Allaah The Almighty: He Says (what means): {Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allaah except the disbelieving people.} [Quran 12:87]. It was narrated on the authority of Safwaan ibn Muhriz that a man asked Ibn Umar

What

did

you

hear

the

Messenger

of

Allaah

say in private? Ibn 'Umar replied, I heard the Prophet

say: A believer will be brought extremely close to his Lord on the Day of Resurrection. Enveloping him in His Mercy; He will make him confess to his sins by asking him: Do you remember doing this sin and that sin? He will reply: Yes, my Lord, I remember. Then Allaah The Almighty will Say, I covered it up for you in the worldly life, and I forgive you for it today. Then the record of his good deeds will be handed to him. As for the disbelievers and hypocrites, their evil acts will be exposed publicly {and the witnesses will say, These are the ones who lied against their Lord. Unquestionably, the curse of Allaah is upon the wrongdoers...} [Quran 11:18][Muslim]

Moreover, the Hadeeth about the story of the man who killed ninety-nine people, as well as the one who said: By Allaah, if my Lord takes hold of me, He would torment me as He has not tormented anyone else. [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim], support the same meaning that a believer must not despair of the mercy of Allaah The Almighty.

4- Imagining the predicament of reckoning and judgment on the Day of Judgment; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the record [of deeds] will be placed, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and it will be judged between them in truth, and they will not be wronged. And every soul will be fully compensated [for] what it did; and He is most knowing of what they do.}[Quran 39:68-70]

5- Remembrance and mentioning of Allaah The Almighty and seeking His forgiveness: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allaah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allaah? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know.} [Quran 3:135]

6- Restraining oneself from doing injustice and returning rights to their owners: Sincere repentance is to feel remorse in the heart, to restrain oneself from disobeying Allaah The Exalted, to ask Him for forgiveness by the tongue, and endeavor to return rights to their owners. Consequently, whoever has transgressed against his brother's honor, property or anything else, then let him ask for his forgiveness today before the time (the Day of Resurrection) when there will not be any dinars or dirhams and there will only good deeds and evil deeds, as mentioned in the authentic Hadeeth.

Consequences and Harms of Injustice Injustice incurs the anger of Allaah The Exalted. Allaah The Almighty makes an unjust person suffer all types of torment. Injustice destroys families and states. An unjust person will be deprived of all forms of the intercession of the Prophet,

. Letting unjust people go unpunished corrupts the entire Ummah (Nation)

Injustice is a sign of the hardness and darkness of the heart. An unjust person is low and mean in the sight of Allaah The Exalted. Injustice causes one to lose the blessings of Allaah The Almighty. The Quran tells us the story of the man who lost his two gardens because of his injustice: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):

{And he entered his garden while he was unjust to h imself. He said, I do not think that this will perish - ever. And I do not think the Hour will occur. And even if I should be brought back to my Lord, I will surely find better than this as a return.} [Quran 18:35, 36] Injustice was the only cause of the destruction of previous kingdoms: {So the people that committed wrong were eliminated. And praise to Allaah, Lord of the worlds.} [Quran 6:45] {So We took him [Pharaoh] and his soldiers and threw them into the sea. So see how was the end of the wrongdoers.} [Quran 28: 40] Allaah The Almighty also tells us about the people of Loote (Lut)

Saying (What means): {So when Our command came, We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of layered hard clay, [which were] marked from your Lord. And Allaah's punishment is not from the wrongdoers [very] far.}[Quran 11:82, 83] Similarly, Allaah The Exalted destroyed the people of Nooh (Noah)

Thamood, Aad and the Companions of the Thicket. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {So each We seized for his sin; and among them were those upon whom We sent a storm of stones, and among them were those who were seized by the blast [from the sky], and among them were those whom We caused the earth to swallow, and among them were those whom We drowned. And Allaah would not have wronged them, but it was they who were wronging themselves.}[Quran 29:40] The remorse of unjust people is useless if it comes too late; {And the Day that the unjust [person] will bite at both his hands, [and] say, Oh, would that I had taken to myself a way along with the Messenger.} [Quran 25:27]

Injustice is one of the sins that cause one to be punished in this world and in the Hereafter because it affects others. This is no surprise, as the wronged person humbly and bitterly supplicates against the person who did injustice to him, and Allaah The Exalted answers his supplication, Saying: By My Might and Exaltedness, I shall rescue you, even if it be after some time.

Hence, fear Allaah The Almighty; be just and return the rights to whom they are due, before there comes a day when there will be no repelling.
Dire consequences of Injustice - I

Quran and Hadith prove Islam's Opposition to Oppression, Terrorism and Injustice.
Discussion in 'Terrorism Not From Islam' started by Mabsoot, Sep 29, 2006.

The Quran was revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad over 1400 years ago. Not a single letter has changed as one of the miracles of the Quran is that it will be preserved for all time. It is the perfect message for All humanity to follow and abide by. We recommend you learn about the true teachings of Islam and to learn from a true Muslim source. That way you will not be taught false information about Islam or Muslims. We are here simply to represent the Truth, to help people accept Islam as salvation and to build bridges to encourage understanding between all people. The hatred some people might show towards Islam and the ill-practices of some Muslims should not hinder a Person from seeking the truth.

Islam strictly forbids killing of innocents. Nobody can ever be justified in killing any innocent man, woman or child. It is indeed a grave sin. Infact, all forms of oppression are outlawed and Muslims are encouraged to help others no matter what their religion or background is. Terrorism does happen, it happens in all societies where various elements of ignorance, helplessness, sense of injustice and oppression are present. It happens by individuals, groups, and even States some perhaps closer to home then you might have though! Have an eye-opener. Extremists/Terrorists do not follow True Islam, their motivations and inspirations are driven from elsewhere..So who are the terrorists? Learn more about what "Terrorism" REALLY is here. Islam, is free from imperfections, a message for all mankind and for all time. Islam is very simple and easy to follow. A Muslim is simply someone who believes in Allah as the only God worthy of worship without having any partners. And, to believe in all his messengers which include Musa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham) Isa (Jesus) and the last and final

messenger sent to mankind Muhammad blessings be upon them all. Learn More about Islam..

. May Allah's peace and

Islam is not at fault, the Quran was revealed by God to all humanity to follow. It shall stand the test of time and not change. Its message is universal. Contrary to common ignorant beliefs, the Quran does not sanction the use of violence, terrorism, or oppression of any sort against any innocent men, women or children. Rather, it upholds the sanctity of life. It encourages human rights and supports resolution to peace. There are Many non-Muslims in the West who after researching and looking at Islam, have totally shed their past prejudices about Islam and accepted Islam. They realised that what they had percieved about the religion previously was completely untrue. They found that the Quran upholds women's rights, and is against all forms of racism and oppression.

These are people who have had family members die on 9/11, journalists, academics, American Pioneers of Human Rights, Texans, British people, Australians, even Christian Preachers. They all found Islam appealing and based their lives upon it. You can Watch many of the video testimonies from them all here at TurnToIslam website, We really recommend you watch for yourself and see how these people have found true Islam. Allah says in the Quran: Certainly, We have brought to them a Book (the Qur'n) which We have explained in detail with knowledge, - a guidance and a mercy to a people who believe. (7:52) The Quran tells us not just how to lead our lives, but the best way to lead our lives. It provides us

with guidance, inspiration, hope and the attainment of justice. No place in the Quran calls for the forced conversion of others, oppression of women or any of the other false claims people make regarding Islam - Unfortunately, in todays climate of War, State Terror and Media bias, the true teachings of Islam seldom get mentioned. This page contains sources and evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, showing the justice and perfection of Islam. These are only a select few verses and hadith, its truly recommended that you read the Noble Quran yourself to learn about Islam and to get a good teacher, someone who is a Muslim with sound understanding of the Quran and Sunnah. You can ask any questions and get help on this website! Jihad in Islam Jihad does not mean "holy war". (Thats something the Christians did in the Middle Ages). The Word Jihad actually stems from Juhd, to strive/struggle. This is encouraged and can be for anything to please God. It is a jihad to get up in the morning to go to pray and to go to work, it is a jihad to go school in the rain. etc. Personal Jihad: The most excellent jihad is that of the soul. This jihad, called the Jihadun-Nafs, is the intimate struggle to purify the soul of satanic influence--both subtle and overt. It is the struggle to cleanse one's spirit of sin. This is the most important level of jihad. Verbal Jihad: On another occasion, the Prophet said, "The most excellent jihad is the speaking of truth in the face of a tyrant." He encouraged raising one's voice in the name of Allah on behalf of justice. Physical Jihad: This is combat waged in defense of Muslims against oppression and transgression by the enemies of Allah, Islam and Muslims. We are commanded by Allah to lead peaceful lives and not transgress against anyone, but also to defend ourselves against oppression by "fighting against those who fight against us." This "jihad with the hand" is the aspect of jihad that has been so profoundly misunderstood in today's world. In the Quran, Jihad is not used in a sense to mean fighting. The Word Qitaal is used when mentioning warfare. The Quran makes it clear: "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not do aggression, for Allah loves not the aggressors. Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors. And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. But if they desist, then lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers." (Al-Baqarah 190-194)

Jihad can be defensive. Such as protecting our homes, people, land and way of life. It can be Liberating, helping free others from tyranny and oppression and it can be preemptive which is launched only when Muslims know for sure that there is treason against their peaceful treaties with the enemy, when the enemy has a serious plan to attack them.

No Such thing as Forced Conversions

Muslims are encouraged to invite people to learn about Islam and possibly to accept Islam as the one and only way to live their lives. It is the greatest gift a person could ever give to another. To have an understanding of why they were created, and to be able to have ultimate success in this life and an eternity of bliss in the next. For the ultimate reward for Muslim is not tangible one, it is spiritual satisfaction, i.e. knowing the purpose of our lives, having complete ease and peace. Allah (most glorified and most high) says in the Quran: Invite (mankind, O Muhammad SAW) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islm) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'n) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided. [16:125] and Allah says: There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Tght (false worship or idols)and believes in Allh, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allh is AllHearer, All-Knower [2:256] It is forbidden to force anyone to become Muslim. And under ISlamic law, forced conversion is not seen as carrying any legal status. i.e. it is invalid. Infact, any forced action is seen as invalid. For every action in Islam is judged by the Intention and it is only Allah who knows what lies in our hearts. This forbidden use of force is also seen in marriage. Men and Women can not be forced to marry each other. Women have the complete right to choose their spouses. Likewise, if a man and a woman are forced to marry each other, under Islamic law the marriage is seen as invalid. I would like to remind the reader that the actions of one person or a group can not be used to pass sweeping judgements against Islam. Islam is free from all of these accusations and slurs.

Killing innocent Men, Women and Children is Forbidden

The use of Force is allowed in Islam. However, Islam lays down clear guidelines as to how warfare is carried out. It is not for anyone to take the law into their own hands. Allah says in the Quran:

{Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. And indeed, there came to them Our Messengers with clear proofs, evidences, and signs, even then after that many of them continued to exceed the limits (e.g. by doing oppression unjustly and exceeding beyond the limits set by Allh by committing the major sins) in the land!.} [ 5 : 32] It is narrated by Ibn 'Umar that a woman was found killed in one of these battles; so the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) forbade the killing of women and children. (Sahih Al Bukhari Chapter : Prohibition of killing women and children in war.) Narated By Rabah ibn Rabi' : When we were with the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) on an expedition, he saw some people collected together over something and sent a man and said: See, what are these people collected around? He then came and said: They are round a woman who has been killed. He said: This is not one with whom fighting should have taken place. Khalid ibn al-Walid was in charge of the van; so he sent a man and said: Tell Khalid not to kill a woman or a hired servant. (Sunan Abu Dawood) Ibn `Umar (May Allah bepleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "A believer continues to guard his Faith (and thus hopes for Allah's Mercy) so long as he does not shed blood unjustly". [Al-Bukhari].

Beware of Enemies of Islam Hiding the Truth

There happen to be people who unfortunately relish in promoting ignorance and hatred towards Muslims. They play on the ignorance of others, by giving false information. For this reason it is always important to find out about Islam from true Islamic sources, such as this website. These people often misquote the Quran. An example is when they quote the following verse out of context: And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [2:191] However, they do not quote the verse in its entirety and without establishing the facts surrounding these verses. And fight in the Way of Allh those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, Allh likes not the transgressors. And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [Trials, Persecution] is worse than killing. And fight not with them at AlMasjid-al-Harm (the sanctuary at Makkah),[unless they (first) fight you there.

But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.[2:190-191]

Allah and his Prophet

forbid peopel from going to extremes.

The Messenger of Allaah (SAW) said, "I warn you of extremism in the Religion for indeed those that came before you were destroyed due to their extremism in the religion." Reported by an-Nasaa'ee (5/268), ibn Maajah (no. 3029), Ahmad (1/215, 347) with a saheeh sanad "Thus have We Made of you an Ummah justly balanced" [Al-Baqara 2:143] "Ummatan Wasata" Allah almighty says in the Quran: Thus We have made you* a Wasat (just) (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses over mankind. [Al-Baqara 2:143] "Ummatan Wasata" Means Nation that is the best, the just, the balanced, and the fair. Not one which goes to any extremes. [*true Muslims are the real believers of Islmic Monotheism, true followers of Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah (legal ways)]

Allah guides People with his words "to ways of peace"

Allah, most high, says in the Quran: {O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Now has come to you Our Messenger (Muhammad SAW) explaining to you much of that which you used to hide from the Scripture and passing over (i.e. leaving out without explaining) much. Indeed, there has come to you from Allh a light (Prophet Muhammad SAW ) and a plain Book (this Qur'n). Wherewith Allh guides all those who seek His Good Pleasure to ways of peace, and He brings them out of darkness by His Will unto light and guides them to a Straight Way (Islmic Monotheism). } [Quran Surah Ma'idah 5:15-16] Indeed, the message of Islam is about submitting to Allah and worhipping him alone. All people

have a choice regarding this message. There is no compulsion in following Islam or not. It is not upon any Muslim to force another to do any action.

Justice:

Allah says in the Quran: O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allh, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allh is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allh is Ever Well Acquainted with what you do [4:135] So, Muslims are those who strive to attain justice, between themselves and with other people. Allah, most high, also says: (They like to) listen to falsehood, to devour anything forbidden. So if they come to you (O Muhammad SAW), either judge between them, or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they cannot hurt you in the least. And if you judge, judge with justice between them. Verily, Allh loves those who act justly. [5:42]

Prophet was a Mercy for Mankind

And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the 'Alamn (mankind, jinns and all that exists). [21:107]

Patience and Forgiveness

"Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the foolish (i.e., don't punish them).'' (7:199) "...who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allah loves Al-Muhsinun (the gooddoers).'' (3:134)

"The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better (i.e., Allah orders the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to excuse those who treat them badly) then verily he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend. But none is granted it (the above quality) except those who are patient - and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion (of happiness in the Hereafter, i.e., Jannah and of a high moral character) in this world.'' (41:34,35) The way (of blame) is only against those who oppress men and wrongly rebel in the earth, for such there will be a painful torment. (42:42)

"And verily, whosoever shows patience and forgives that would truly be from the things recommended by Allah.'' (42:43)

Islam Encourages Kindness and Humility:

In the Noble Quran, Allah, the most gracious most high says: And by the Mercy of Allah, you dealt with them gently. And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you; so pass over (their faults), and ask (Allah's) Forgiveness for them; and consult them in the affair. Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah, certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him). [3:159]

The Prophet Muhammad said: "Allah is not kind to him who is not kind to people." [Muslim & Bukhari] Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah is Forbearer and loves forbearance in all matters.'' [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. Mildness also brings human beings closer to one another, and on this count, Allah likes it very much. `Aishah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said, "Allah is Forbearer and He loves forbearance, and rewards for forbearance while He does not reward severity, and does not give for any thing besides it (forbearance).'' [Muslim] Mildness is the opposite of harshness. Allah enjoins softness and dislikes stiffness in human relations. Allah assures of reward for gentle behaviour in society, not for unkindness or anything like that. However, inflexibility is preferred to flexibility when there arises a question of religious matters and the limits set by Allah. Ibn Mas`ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said,"Shall I not tell you whom the (Hell) Fire is forbidden to touch? It is forbidden to touch a man who is always accessible, having polite and tender nature.'' [At-Tirmidhii]. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: A man asked the Prophet (PBUH) to give him advice, and he (PBUH) said, "Do not get angry.'' The man repeated that several times and he (PBUH) replied (every time), "Do not get angry.''

[Al-Bukhari]. Jarir bin `Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "He who is deprived of forbearance and gentleness is, in fact, deprived of all good.'' [Muslim]. Abdullah ibn Abbas, the Prophets cousin, stated that he heard the Prophet saying: A believer is not the one who eats his fill when his neighbour is hungry. [Related by Al-Bukhari in AlAdab Al-Mufrad, Al-Hakim and Al-Baihaqi].

Gentleness and Forgiveness are the Keys to paradise and an attribute of a True Muslim

{And march forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Lord, and for Paradise as wide as are the heavens and the earth, prepared for Al-Muttaqn (the pious). Those who spend [in Allh's Cause - deeds of charity, alms, etc.] in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allh loves Al-Muhsinn(the good*!doers).} [3: 133-134] So, the Muttaqun and Muhsinun, i.e. the Muslims are those who share these amazing qualities. It is something each and every Muslim must attain. Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I never felt any piece of velvet or silk softer than the palm of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), nor did I smell any fragrance more pleasant than the smell of Messenger of Allah (PBUH). I served him for ten years, and he never said `Uff' (an expression of disgust) to me. He never said `why did you do that?' for something I had done, nor did he ever say `why did you not do such and such' for something I had not done. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The dearest and nearest among you to me on the Day of Resurrection will be one who is the best of you in manners; and the most abhorrent among you to me and the farthest of you from me will be the pompous, the garrulous, and Al-Mutafaihiqun.'' The Companions asked him: "O Messenger of Allah! We know about the pompous and the garrulous, but we do not know who Al-Mutafaihiqun are.'' He replied: "The arrogant people.'' [At-Tirmidhi]. This gentleness, kindness, patience must be shown to all people. This includes non-Muslims. For Islam teaches Muslims, not only to tolerate non-Muslims but to show kindness to everyone we are at peace with. To deal with other people in a just, fair and mild manner is something that

is encouraged. The Prophet Muhammad leading example in this. Infact, kindness is not simply limited to people,

and his companions were

The Prophet also said: "Those who are kind and considerate to Allah's creatures, Allah bestows His kindness and affection on them. Show kindness to the creatures on the earth so that Allah may be kind to you." [Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi] Islam emphasises justice, equality between race, gender and rich and poor.

Note: We are receiving several emails concerning some verses in the Holy Quran which according to them call for killings of non-Muslims. A islam101 Feedback team member gave the following reply to two such emails. -------------------------------------------------------------------"God commands justice, the doing of the good, and liberality to kith and kin. He forbids all shameful deeds, injustice and rebellion. Thus does he instruct you, that you may receive admonition." 16:90 "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that he may know and cooperate with one another." 49:13 Gentlemen:

I want to thank you for taking time out and sending me these questions in regards to Islam. In light of all that has taken place in the last three weeks or so, many people now have an increased curiosity about the faith. I assure you, the explanations that I will put forward (and there are even more) is not damage control on my behalf, nor on the behalf of the Holy Qu'ran. Islam doesn't condone mass murder of innocent people as displayed not only here in America and abroad. I know that you two gentlemen had a lot of questions and due to an overwhelming amount of emails that this site receives, notwithstanding other projects that I am involved in (not to mention family), I can not answer all of the questions presented. However I will answer the ones that seem to keep being raised, in regards to what Islam promotes. I do want to encourage you both (as well as anyone else who is looking for answers), to visit a local Mosque and question the Imam in regards to the questions that you have. I am confident that he can further elaborate on the Qu'ran's inner meaning. Islam is the fastest growing religion not only in America but in the world. And the conversion is coming by way of the Surah and not the sword. And now to the discussion at hand. You have sent me a few Surahs (the term chapter is often used but that is actually inappropriate but I'll leave that off for another discussion) and you are obviously looking at the content of that particular ayat (verse is also used but that is incorrect as well). I too would be apprehensive, if not fearful of the content (i.e. meaning and or significance). However, I now want you to focus in on the context (the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs) of the passages. For example, when I was in my first year of law school, the professor asked, "do we have free speech in America?" Almost everyone answered yes. One student went on to say that, "America guarantees the right under the United States Constitution, that we can basically say what we want and not fear retribution." The professor then paused and asked, "can you yell fire in a crowded theater?" The entire class unanimously stated, "no!" The reasons being is obvious. But what if there was a fire? What I am trying to demonstrate to you, is what my Professor made me aware of. There are circumstances that cause people to do something that they would not normally do (yell fire in a crowded movie theater). Such is what had happened during the course of war, in which the Muslims were being attacked during the life time of the Prophet. When Islam got its first start in the Arabian peninsular, the Muslims were being persecuted for their beliefs. In short...they were at war with those who didn't want Islam to succeed. And even then, the conditions of war was put down by Allah (which means The God in Arabic). "The prohibited month - for the prohibited month, and so for all things prohibited - There is the law of equality. If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him. But fear Allah, and know that Allah is with those who restrain

themselves."

Holy Qu'ran 2:194

"At the same time the Muslims are commanded to exercise self-restraint as much as possible. Force is a dangerous weapon. It may have to be used for self-defense or self-preservation, but we must always remember that self-restraint is pleasing in the eyes of Allah. Even when we are fighting, it should be for a principle not out of passion." - Abdullah Yusuf Ali commentary on the above quote.

"...approach you with hearts restraining them from fighting you as well as fighting their own people. If Allah had pleased, he could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you: Therefore if they withdraw from you but fight you not, and (instead) send you (Guarantees of) peace, then Allah hath opened no way for you (to war against them)." Holy Qu'ran 4:90
"Approach or come: refers not to the physical act of coming, but to the mental attitude; the heart is mentioned for sincerity. When they sincerely promise not to fight against you, do not pursue them. Remember that if they had fought against you, your difficulties would have been increased. Their neutrality itself may be a great advantage to you. So long as you are satisfied that they are sincere and their acts support their declarations of peace with you, you should not consider yourself justified in pursuing them and warring against them." - Abdullah Yusuf Ali commentary on the above quote.

"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); But if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them: For Allah is oft forgiving, most merciful." 9:5 "When war becomes inevitable, it must be prosecuted with vigor. According to the English
phrase, you cannot fight with kid gloves. The fighting may take the form of slaughter, or capture, or siege, or ambush and other stratagems. But even then there is room for repentance and amendment on the part of the guilty party, and if that takes place, our duty is forgiveness and establishment of peace. The repentance must be sincere, and that is shown by conduct - a religious spirit of true prayer and charity. In that case we are not to bar the gate against the repentant. On the contrary we must do all we can to make their way easy, remembering that Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful." I.E..

It is thus clear that the Muslims were allowed to fight only in self-defense, to preserve their national existence, and they were forbidden to be the aggressors. I can't begin to emphatically emphasize this point. Many misconceptions arise from those who pick up the Qu'ran and assume that unbelievers, infidels, and hypocrites are Qu'ran terms for Jews and Christians. Therefore whenever the Qu'ran issues a criticism towards Jews and Christians, it then calls for their death and or demise. This is far from the truth. The two of you are incredibly intelligent individuals is apparent by your quest for the truth. Again, I encourage you to speak to a local Imam and bring your questions and concerns to him. Please get a copy of these books, it will help to explain much if not all of the questions that you have raised. 1. The Meaning of The Holy Qu'ran - Abdullah Yusuf Ali. New Edition with Revised Translation and commentary. 2. Islam: the Natural Way by Abdul Wahid Hamid 3. The Life of Muhammad - Haykal I hope I helped to shed some light on a few questions that you may have had and if you have anymore, do not hesitate to forward some more. I will try and answer as many questions that I can about the religion of Islam. May God continue to bless you and your entire family and may he continue to guide us to a better truth and understanding of ourselves.

ISLAM AND REVOLUTION To proclaim "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest) is to relativise all POWER, all POSSESSION and all KNOWLEDGE. Before this cry of belief, we have seen in history the arms of the most insolent armies lowered and blunted.

The Islamic world By Ahmed Rami translated from German into English by Clive Lindhurst

The chief features of the islamic and Arabic world, to which I belong, are that it has common cultural roots and draws upon a common heritage, which is a very profound intellectual world based on the Islamic religion. But the role played by Islam is by no means purely religious in nature; Islam is a historical factor which has made a decisive cultural and ideological contribution to the creation of an "ArabIslamic" nationality. The following persons belong to this "Arab-Islamic nationality", which is also known as the "Arab world": 1) Anyone who speaks a version of the Arabic language and at the same time regards the latter as his "natural" language; (language of the holy Koran) this may also apply to persons who do not know any Arabic, for example a large number of Berbers. 2) Anyone who considers that his heritage consists of the history and cultural characteristics of the ethnic group which calls itself the Arab ethnic group and is also so called by others. Since the 7th century, the first and foremost of these cultural characteristics has been the Muslim religion, which is to a certain extent the soul of Arabdom. 3) Anyone who demands that his Arab identity be returned to him and is aware of that identity. The Islamic-Arab world is made up of the ethnic groups of those countries which either have a constitution laying it down that they are part of that world, or are member states of the Arab League and have signed its contracts. The core of the Islamic nation (we Muslims always use this term in the singular, even though a non-Muslim would be more likely to use the plural) is the Muslim religion, which is at the same time the decisive source of inspiration for the political ideology of the Islamic nation. Regardless of artificial borders, all the Arab countries form an ideological and political bloc with a common Arab-Muslim civilization. In the islamic and Arabic world, Islam is regarded as a divine revelation concerning man, the world and God, and also as an exquisite treasure common to all muslims and Arabs. Islam can be classified as a "secular" religion, if the word "secular" means that the broad masses become aware that they are responsible for their history. The Koran emphasizes again and again how important it is to arouse an awareness of responsibility within the community. The general tendency of Arab-Muslim nationalism is revolutionary, because it must struggle both defensive and offensively against adverse external circumstances and against colonial and Jewish rule, whether that rule is only capitalist or whether it is communist in nature. The trends which arise from the yearnings of the broad masses and form the basis of an ethnic political ideology are taken up and channelled, and are refined and elaborated in accordance with Islam. Islam characterizes the words and deeds of the rulers.

Today's islamic and Arab states cannot be described as nation states. There is only one Islamic nation: the "umma". According to today's Arab and Islamic ideology, the only entirely legitimate nation state is that comprising the entirety of the Islamic nation. The loyalty of a truly believing Muslim relates very much more to the ideal state which has yet to be created than to the state existing in reality. According to the Koran, a Muslim is only obliged to be loyal to the state if the state is a legitimate political organization which is based on genuine Islamic principles and does not acknowledge that there are any borders separating Muslims. Otherwise, oppression (z.ulm) prevails, and it is the justification for rebellion, that is to say revolution. The Islamic and Arab states are hopelessly splintered at present. The power proceeding from the religious confession makes the temporary and basically illegitimate character of those states appear still more glaringly, and it weakens the believers' loyalty to them. All the rgimes governing the Arab world today are illegitimate, but they employ all kinds of hypocritical devices to try to give themselves an appearance of Islamic legitimacy. At present - and this is a highly interesting phenomenon - two things can also be observed which, although they have existed since time immemorial, nevertheless gain particular significance as matters stand today. Firstly there is the extremely great political and social vitality of Islam, and secondly it can be seen that Islam has, in the most recent period, been purposefully rehearsing its re-entry into history - as the subject and not as the object. In this connection, Islam refrains from endeavouring to give itself a modernist face, and it also regards it as entirely unnecessary to justify itself by using intellectual reasons borrowed from alien ways of thinking. Islam's justification lies in Islam itself, in its own holy texts. Professor Jacques Berque stresses the following: "Islam can only be the vehicle of a utopia, the utopia of the restoration of harmony between man and the world... In my opinion, the power of the Islamic and Arab world lies not in its oil, but in the strength of its identity, or, to put it another way, in the strength of its authenticity. In order really to understand what is going on in the Islamic world at present, it is necessary to cast aside all the categories which are borrowed from sociology and compel us to think in political or materialistic concepts. Instead, the fundamental dimension of the world of the imagination must be restored to favour. Islam is undergoing a radical transformation, and it is therefore necessary not to lose sight of the fact that this is primarily a cultural revolution." What is called "modernity", whether it is decked out in Eastern or Western feathers, has proved to be a mere imitation, a characteristic form of cultural, intellectual and economic dependence, indefensible and immensely deceptive. One cannot possibly understand the Muslim revolution unless one has previously studied and understood Islam, which is that revolution's soul and ethnic ideology. Many in the West mix up the two terms Muslim and Arab; thus Iran is occasionally described as an "Arab state", and this is of course nonsense. It is by no means necessary to be an Arab in order to be a Muslim. The Islamic nation ("umma"), which has been taking shape ever since the 7th century, is based first and foremost on Arab culture, which is in turn founded on Islam.

The relatively small number of ethnic Arabs who initially took part in disseminating Islam soon became merged with the new local societies. What is today called the "Arab world" was created by Islam and not by any Arab colonialism. The Arab world comprises those Islamic states in which Arabic is the national language. The other Islamic states, from Turkey to Pakistan, from Iran to Indonesia, have their own languages. The approximate figure of 200 million Arabs living in the states from Morocco to Iraq form no more than a minority in the Islamic world, which consists of a billion human beings. Arabic is the language of the Koran (prayers are conducted in this language), and this means that for every Muslim it is a holy language. The Koran as holy writ is, unlike the Bible, not translated into other languages. The translations of the Koran which nonetheless exist are regarded not as holy texts, but merely as interpretations. Every Muslim must read and recite the Koran in Arabic. The Koran is an original text which was written down in the 7th century of the Western calendar and has remained entirely unchanged. Of course, one does not need to know Arabic to be a Muslim. For example, my mother knows no Arabic. She only learned by heart some verses from the Koran, and these are sufficient for her to say her prayers.

Ahmed Rami

Islam and Revolution

To proclaim "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest) is to relativise all POWER, all POSSESSION and all KNOWLEDGE. Before this cry of belief, we have seen in history the arms of the most insolent armies lowered and blunted.

1. Islam is the fundamental religion since God "has breathed into him of His spirit"
(Qur'an,XV:29)

- i.e. from the time of Adam until today.

There is no "fundamentalist", "moderate", occidental Islam any more than there is no Black African Islam or Arab Islam or Indian Islam or Indonesian Islam. There is only one Islam.

This is the one that the Qur'an calls the "The Sunnah of God", the continuation of the prophetic revelations and the last message -- that of Muhammad. Our first task is to attest our Islamic belief by living it in its universality, and not to defend a particular folklore or any traditions.

2. The Prophet Muhammad has never pretended to create a new religion.

"Say: I am no bringer of a new-fangled doctrine among the Apostles..." (Qur'an,XLVI:9, XLI:43, etc)

He came to remind all people of the primordial Religion: "So set thou thy face steadily and truly to the faith: (Establish) God's handiwork to the pattern on which He has made mankind - No change (let there be) in the work (wrought) by God; that is the standard Religion; But most among mankind understand not." (Qur'an,XXX,30) Say ye: "We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: and we bow to God (in Islam)." (Qur'an,II:136, also III:84) The Prophet Muhammad was sent by God to confirm the previous messages, to purify them from historical alterations to which they were subjected and to complete them. Our belief will be impoverished if we proclaim our religion as the best simply because we ignore all the others. Seclusion, self-confinement, pretension and "selfsufficiency" are at present the major obstacles preventing the enlightenment of Islam to reach the non- Muslim world.

3. The essential and universal message of Islam is the following:

The certitude that God is unique The Community of Humans The Responsibility of Man

God is unique (Tawheed):

"If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both" (Qur'an,XXI:22).

God is the Creator of everything, and consequently we cannot suffice by ourselves.

"How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God who feeds (both) them and you..." (Qur'an,XXIX:60)

From the principle of Oneness and that of awareness of our "dependence" vis-a vis
God - The Creator -- (secular self-sufficiency contradicts the reality of Transcendence) arises the third aspect of the belief in Transcendence: the acknowledgement of absolute values to be held above the egoistic interests of individuals, groups and nations.

The principle of community is the opposite of individualism which implies that man (as an
individual) is the center and measure of everything. In the Islamic perspective of Community, everybody has an awareness of being personally responsible for all others.

Humanity is ONE, because God, its Creator, is ONE. All men have the same origin and are created for the same end. "It is He who created you from a single person ..." (Qur'an,VII:189, also IV:1 and XXXIX:6)

The Responsibility. Islam is the opposite of fatalism and resignation.

It is the constant appeal for resisting all oppression because it excludes any submission other than to the will of God and holds man responsible for the accomplishment of the divine order on earth.

Everything on earth is subjected to the Law of God;(the word Muslim means submitting to God) the stone in its fall, the treee in its growth, the animal in its instincts, all submit to the Law of God. "Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord most high, Who hath created and further, given order and proportion; Who hath ordained laws and granted guidance." (Qur'an,LXXXVII:1-3)

Man alone has the tremendous privilege of the power of disobediance. "We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: But man undertook it; He was indeed unjust and foolish."
(Qur'an,XXXIII:72)

If one becomes a "Muslim'', i.e. if one unconditionally responds to the call of God by one's supreme sacrifice, then one becomes a Muslim by virtue of a voluntary, free and responsible act.

When God says in the Qur'an: "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error : whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand hold, that never breaks. And God Heareth and knowth all things.'' (Qur'an,II,256) it is not only a matter of excluding physical or military or police compulsion, but any compulsion, even of the self or the spiritual: the Qur'an underscores: "Say, `The truth is from your Lord ': let him who will, believe, and let him who will, reject (it) ... '' (Qur'an,XVIII,29).

The Qur'an tells us that God has made of man His successor, "Khalif'', on earth. ( A "Khalif'' is not a subordinate and passive executive; he is a responsible manager, charged with making decisions. This function is not confined to some individuals : it is the mission of every Muslim. "Then fight in God's cause - Thou art held responsible only for thyself'' (Qur'an,V,84). "Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds'' (Qur'an,LXXIV,38).

To proclaim "ALLAHU AKBAR'' ( God is the greatest ) is to relativise all POWER, all POSSESSION and all KNOWLEDGE.

Before this cry of belief, we have seen in history the arms of the most insolent armies lowered and blunted.

4. The need for this message has been made more evident by the spiritual failure of the West.

Thousands of men and women in the world, whatever their belief may be, if loving the future, are becoming aware that the Western civilisation has declared its bancruptcy, and that if we give in to its drive, it leads us to a global suicide.

In 1985, 700 billion dollars have been spent on armaments. The great powers have
actually stocked the equivalent of more than one million bombs of the Hiroshima type.

That bomb of Hiroshima killed 70,000 persons in one instant. This means that as of today, it is technically possible to annihilate 70 billion human beings, which is more than 10 times the total human species! For the first time, since the three million years of human cavalcade, it has become technically possible to destroy every trace of life on earth. This technical possibility is strangely enough called: "progress'' ! Still more strangely it is called: "peace''; this is an "equilibrium of terror" between the "great" powers.

The relations between the North and the South are equally established on a demeaning
basis.

The sequences of colonialism and the persistent unequal exchange have lead to the following scandal: The United States is limiting its wheat production, and the European cold storages cannot accomodate any more the surplus of meat and butter, while in the rest of the world, in 1985, 80 million human beings have died from starvation and malnutrition. The indebtedness of the so-called "Third World'' is aggravating year after year, and the burden does not stop increasing : the North is becoming more and more rich and the South more and more poor.

The profound cause of this Western policy since what is called the "Renaissance'', i.e. since
the simultaneous birth in Europe in the 16th century of capitalism and colonialism, is the abandonment of belief in the absolute values. Once a community stops recognising absolute values as its guide in action, nothing remains but the confrontations of desires for material growth. It is the war of all against all, and the West is given over to it. Its real religion is the blind belief in a hidden god: growth, i.e. the desire to produce more and more - at an accelerated speed, anything which is the most profitable of industries. This hidden god is a cruel god: it exacts human sacrifices. What characterises this false god is that it exalts the sufficiency of man against the Transcendence of God, and individualism as against community. "Sufficiency'' has been proclaimed since the "Renaissance" in "Faust" by Marlowe: "Man, by means of your powerful brains, become a god, the master and the lord of all elements''. Individualism, since the so-called Renaissance, is the return to the sophist maxim of ancient Greece: "Man is the center and the measure of everything''.

This failure of civilisation has engendered a culture of despair.

The false prophets of the nil and the absurd, reflecting this chaos as if it were ineluctable and eternal, and instead of trying to overcome it, teach our youth that life has no sense. If life has no sense, then everything, even crime, becomes permissible and we are dealt with all sorts of savage violence that flares among individuals, groups and nations. "The equilibrium of terror'' becomes the law of these savage relations among men on all levels of social life.

The negation of the sense of life and the existence of absolute values has led to making of science and technique - which are admirable MEANS in the service of man - ENDS in themselves, trying to make us believe that science and technique can solve all our problems, and that problems which do not relate to them, such as love, beauty and the meaning of life, do not exist. This "religion of means" - forging MEANS into ENDS - i.e. creating false gods: science, technique, nation, money, sexuality and growth, has created a new polytheism and new superstitions, transforming science into scientism, technique into technocracy and politics into Machiavellism. The fundamental problem is thus to restore to man his proper dimensions: the belief in the Transcendence of God, in human community and the awareness of our personal responsibility.

5. By saying that Islam can bring about the answer to the problems posed by the bankrupcy of the Western hegemony, does not mean:

That Islam can accomplish everything alone; That it has complete ready-made solutions to the problems of our time.

On the contrary, the two endemic principal obstacles against the present time spread of Islamic enlightenment are:

The "sufficiency" and ignorance of others. Early Islam had spread in less than one century
from the Indus to the Pyrenees not by means of military conquest, but because it knew how to integrate all other great previous cultures, to draw from them an unprecedented creative synthesis, and because the millions of believers of all religions have identified themselves with it. Today, Islam cannot resume its course unless it is open to all wisdoms and all creeds that it can contain.

The "triumphalism": meaning the mortal pretence of having complete ready-made answers,
formulated one thousand years ago by its jurists and their traditions.

Saying that the Qur'an has "omitted nothing'', means that it has given us eternal "guidance'', that it has designated the ultimate and absolute ENDS of our actions. This does not exonerate in the least man's respon- sibility to discover, in each era, the MEANS to realise these ends. To pretend that the Qur'an comprehends a complete ready-made economic system or political constitution or an encyclopedia, would be demeaningly reducing the eternal message to institutions or to passing theories. The revealed message does bring infinetely much more : the ends, the eternal immutable orienting principles that guide our inner life and all our activities, public and private, in order to elaborate in every era the answers to the economic, political and cultural problems of our time by means of new insights into these eternal principles.

These principles are simple ones:

in the economic field: God alone possesses; in the political field: God alone commands; in the cultural field: God alone knows.

GOD ALONE POSSESSES:

" ... all that is in heavens and on earth belongs to God ...'' (II,116 also II,284 and III,109 etc.). Man is God's khalif on earth; he is comissioned to manage this property in the way of God and according to His directives. This concept is contrary to that of the Roman law which defines owner- ship as the "right to use and abuse''. Man, the responsible manager of the property of God, cannot dispose of it according to his own desires: he cannot destroy it according to his whims and caprices, he cannot squander it or neglect it. Without ob- taining its usufruct trough his work, he cannot accumulate it. "...And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of God : announce unto them a most grievous penalty '' (IX,34).

One of the worst condemnations in the Qur'an is that addressed to Abu-Lahab and to his wealth:

"Perish the hands of Abu-Lahab! Perish he! Neither his wealth, nor his gains are of any avail to him!'' (Qur'an,CXI,1-2).

All Qur'anic prescriptions, especially Zakat, being a social transfer of wealth as a religious requirement, and the prohibition if Riba and un-earned incomes, i.e. the prohibition of all increase of wealth without work in service of God, - all such prescriptions tend to prevent the accumulation of wealth in one sector of the society leaving another in misery. God, in the Qur'an, radically excludes every social regime in which money establishes a political hierarchy.

God, on the contrary says without equivocation: "When We decide to destroy a people, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress..." (Qur'an,XVII,16).

GOD ALONE COMMANDS:

The Prophet had created at Medina a radically new type of community. It was not founded on blood or race, nor on ownership of land, nor on market relations, nor even on common culture or history; in one word, on nothing that flows from the past or could be an inherited legacy. It was a community exclusively founded on the belief: the un- conditional response to the call of God of which Abraham had given the eternal example. Such a community is OPEN TO ALL without consideration of origin. For example, nothing is contrary to the spirit of this Islamic "Ummah'' then the Jewish Western idea of "nationalism'', i.e. of a market protected by the State and justified by the racial, historical or cultural mythology which tends to make from the "nation'' an end in itself, and which contradicts the concept of human unity (which concept is a particular aspect of Tawheed - unity of God - the corner-stone of all the Islamic vision of the world). As well, the Qur'anic concept of "Shura'' (consultation) requires that, in every domain and on all levels, the members of the community must be consulted in view of participating under the sight of God, in the elaboration and application of the decisions on which their destiny depends. This

principle excludes at once all despotism of one man, of one class or of one party, as well as all forms of purely STATISTICAL, delegated and alienated "democracy". As for the economy, it is for us to discover the MEANS to attain these ENDS, to apply these immutable principles in the unprecedented historical conditions of our societies, combating the technocratic positivism, the political Machiavellism, the confrontations of archaic and perverse nationalisms, the unequal exchanges, the polarisations of blocs and the equlibrium of terror.

GOD ALONE KNOWS:

We must as well fend against the sterilizing triumphalism and the illusion that we can find in the past - without exerting effort for thinking and research - economic solutions to all our present time problems, or a ready-made political constitution. Thus, it would be childish to reduce the Qur'an to nothing more than an encyclopedia that saves us the strenuous effort of scientific and technical research which made the Islamic world the center for radiating enlightenment to the world when the University of Cordova flourished. Consequent upon an immense effort of translation and assimilation of all the great cultures of the past : of Greece and Rome, of Persia and India, and in compliance with the Islamic exhortation to seek knowledge "as far as China'', a genuine synthesis and an Oriental Culture were simultaneously born. The basic principle is that as long as God alone possesses and God alone commands, God alone knows. It is that which excludes the pharaonic pretention to usurp all God's powers or the illusion of keeping an absolute perfected knowledge which reaches out for the knowledge of the first causes and the ultimate finalities. The example of the Islamic University of Cordova in the tenth century constitutes, from this point of view, a model of which it would be commendable to revive the spirit in order to develop, in our time, the sciences in such a manner that they are not harnessed for the destruction of man, but for his growth in the way of God. From the Muslim University of Cordova, and from the 10th to the 13th centuries, rays of culture in its widest form have flooded three continents: - In SCIENCE: by creating therein the experimental method for discovering the relations of things among themselves and the sequence of causes.

- In WISDOM: such as the reflection on the meaning of everything in its relation to God in one harmonious world where life has a significance and an objective. - In BELIEF: such as admitting that science will never reach the first cause, nor can wisdom reach the ultimate finality; belief as awareness of our limits and our postulates, and belief as reason without frontiers.

Such a concept of science and technique would enable us - and it is that which makes its actuality - to prevent all sciences and techniques from dragging us towards planetary suicide. These Ahadiths and Quranic verses are about Oppressors and the one who is Oppressed. The oppressor could be a leader, husband, king of the occupied state or anyone who oppresses others in any circumstance. These Ahadiths and Quranic verses are about reward which the oppressed will get and the punishment which oppressors will get.

Narrated Ibn Abbas (R.A): The Prophet (pbuh) sent Muadh to Yemen and said, Be afraid, from the curse of the oppressed as there is no screen between his invocation and Allah. Volume 3, Book 43, Number 628: Sahih Bukhari. Narrated Abu Huraira (R.A): Allahs Apostle (pbuh) said, Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no money (to compensate for wrong deeds), but if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him.Volume 3, Book 43, Number 629: Sahih Bukhari. We will reserve the houses of the hereafter exclusively for those who do not seek self-glory in this life and do not cause oppression and corruption to spread. The final outcome belongs to those who fear (Allah). [028:083: Al Quran] Say, In fact, my Lord has forbidden all kinds of lewd and obscene acts whether committed openly or in secret: (all sorts of) sins and wrongful oppressions, associating anything (or anyone) with Allah for which He has revealed no sanction, and attributing to Allah that about which you know nothing. [007:033: Al Quran]

And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allh, and for those weak, illtreated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help. [004:075: Al Quran] Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri (R.A): Allahs Apostle (pbuh) said, When the believers pass safely over (the bridge across) Hell, they will be stopped at a bridge in between Hell and Paradise where they will retaliate upon each other for the injustices done among them in the world, and when they get purified of all their sins, they will be admitted into Paradise. By Him in Whose Hands the life of Muhammad is everybody will recognize his dwelling in Paradise better than he recognizes his dwelling in this world. Volume 3, Book 43, Number 620: Sahih Bukhari. Narrated Abdullah bin Umar (R.A): Allahs Apostle (pbuh) said, A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, so he should not oppress him, nor should he hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever screened a Muslim, Allah will screen him on the Day of Resurrection. Volume 3, Book 43, Number 622: Sahih Bukhari. Narrated Anas bin Malik (R.A): Allahs Apostle (pbuh) said, Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. Volume 3, Book 43, Number 623:Sahih Bukhari. Narrated Anas (R.A): Allahs Apostle (pbuh) said, Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, O Allahs Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor? The Prophet said, By preventing him from oppressing others. Volume 3, Book 43, Number 624:Sahih Bukhari. Allah knows the Best.

No hate. No violence Races? Only one Human race United We Stand, Divided We Fall

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Zionism Judaism Jewish Power The World Islam Revisionism Specials About Radio Islam

ARAB CIVILIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE WEST

By

Dr. ABDULLAH MOHAMMAD SINDI

(Ph.D. International Relations)

Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi is a native of Saudi Arabia where has was a Professor of Political Science at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. He now lives and works in the US where he has also taught at 4 universities and colleges in Southern California: The University of California at Irvine, California State University at Pomona, Cerritos College, and Fullerton College. Dr. Sindi has published several articles in different scholarly periodicals both in Arabic and English. His book The Arabs and the West: The Contributions and the Inflictions is sold on Amazon.com.

INTRODUCTION

I
Arab Civilization before Islam 1. The Kingdom of Saba (or Sheba)

2. The Kingdom of Himyar 3. The Nabataean Kingdom 4. The Kingdom of Tadmor (or Palmyra) 5. The Kingdom of Kindah 6. The Kingdom of Lakhmid 7. The Kingdom of Ghassan 8. The Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Arabia)

II
Arab Civilization after Islam 1. The Golden Arab Abbasid Civilization 2. The Glorious Arab Andalusian Civilization of Europe

III
The Legacy of Arab/Islamic Civilization and Its Impact on the West 1. Mathematics 2. Astronomy 3. Chemistry 4. Physics 5. Medicine 6. Pharmacy and Pharmacology 7. Zoology and Veterinary Medicine 8. Agriculture

9. Philosophy and Metaphysics 10. Geography 11. Sociology 12. Literature 13. Music 14. Art 15. Architecture

IV
The Horrors of the Spanish Inquisition after the End of Arab Andalusian Civilization

Notes

INTRODUCTION
It is in these hard times of post September 11 when Arabs and Muslims are being bashed throughout the West that it becomes imperative to explain the various valuable Arab contributions to the West. In fact, unlike any other region in the entire world, the Arab region provided the West (and the rest of humanity) with 3 major contributions: 1. The Arabs Semitic ancestors in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt produced 5 brilliant ancient civilizations, which benefited the earliest Western civilizations of Greece and Rome. These 5 are: the Iraqi Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations; the Egyptian Pharaonic civilization; the Lebanese Phoenician civilization; and the Palestinian Canaanite civilization. 2. The 3 Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were all born in the Arab region.

3. The Post-Islamic Arab civilization (which is the subject of this article) contributed handsomely to the European Renaissance.

I Arab Civilization before Islam

Contrary to some popular Western misconceptions propagated by many Western "experts" and "authorities" on the Arab world alleging that Arabs did not have any civilization before Islam, or that Arabs were nothing more than a collection of nomadic warring primitive tribes, confined solely to the Arabian Peninsula, who spent most of their existence looking for food and water, the historical record proves otherwise. In fact, centuries before the birth of Islam, the Arabs had several civilizations, not only in the Arabian Peninsula itself, but also in the Fertile Crescent, some of which were highly advanced with elaborate development and culture. Although Arab civilization before Islam might not have had a noticeable impact on Greece and Rome, it is nonetheless important to briefly mention here the following pre-Islamic Arab civilizations in order to dispel this wrong conventional Western notion that Arabs had no civilization before the birth of Islam, were nothing but wandering nomads, and were confined only to the Arabian Peninsula.

1
The Kingdom of Saba (or Sheba)
One of the earliest and most important of all pre-Islamic Arab civilizations is the Qahtani Kingdom of Saba or Sheba (10th century BCE 7th century CE), which had an elaborate civilization, legendary in its reputation of prosperity and wealth. The Kingdom of Saba was located in the southwestern mountainous rainy parts of the Arabian Peninsula in what is known today as the regions of Aseer and Yemen. Envious of its wealth, the Romans named it Arabia Felix (fortunate or prosperous Arabia). The Sabaean capital, Ma'rib, was located near San'a, today's capital of Yemen, which was reportedly founded by Noah's eldest son Shem (or "Sam" in Arabic) from whose name the word "Sami" in Arabic or "Semitic" in English comes. In addition to their domains in the Arabian Penisula, the Sabaean kings controlled for a long time some parts of the East African coast across the Red Sea where they established the Kingdom of Abyssinia, which is Eritrea today. It should be indicated here that the name Abyssinia comes from the Arabic word Habashah. One of the most famous rulers of the Sabaeans was Queen Balgais. This mystic Arab Queen of Sheba was well known for her beauty, grace, wealth, charm, and splendor. She reportedly had a famous impassioned encounter with the Hebrew King Solomon when she took a special trip to Jerusalem

The Sabaean Kingdom produced and traded in spices, Arabian frankincense, myrrh, and other Arabian aromatics. The Sabaeans excelled in agriculture and had a remarkable irrigation system with terraced mountains, incredible huge water tunnels in mountains and great dams including the legendary Ma'rib Dam, which was built around 2000 BCE. This Arab dam was considered to be one the greatest technological wonders of the ancient world. However, the tragic breaking of the Ma'rib Dam around 575, as indicated in the Qur'an, was an event of very traumatic proportions in the collective consciousness of all Arabs at the time and of later generations.

2
The Kingdom of Himyar
The Arab Kingdom of Himyar (115 BCE to 525 CE), which was also located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, had a sizable number of Arab Christians and Arab Jews (not Hebrews). The most prominent Arab Jew of this kingdom was King Dhu al-Nuwas who persecuted his Arab Christian subjects. He reportedly incinerated some of them alive in retaliation for their persecution of Arab Jews in neighboring Arab Christian Najran. From their capital city, first at Zafar and later at San'a, the powerful Himyarite kings executed military plans which resulted in the expansion of their domains at times eastward as far as the Persian Gulf and northward into the Arabian Desert. However, internal disorder and the changing of trade routes eventually caused the kingdom to suffer political and economic decline. In fact, after several unsuccessful attempts, the African Abyssinians finally invaded the Arab Himyarite Kingdom in 525. In 570, the year Prophet Mohammad was born, the Abyssinian governor Abraha sent an army of elephant-borne troops in an unsuccessful attempt to attack the city of Makkah (Mecca) and destroy its Ka'bah. In 575 the Persians invaded Himyar and ended the Abyssinian presence in Himyar. But the Persians did not last long there either. Soon thereafter Islam swept the entire Arabian Peninsula.

3
The Nabataean Kingdom
The Arab Nabataean Kingdom was established in the 6th century BCE. It was located south of the Dead Sea and along the eastern shores of the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern parts of the Hejaz. The Nabataeans had their capital city in Petra that was a flourishing center of commerce and civilization. The Nabataeans great achievements and culture are still echoed in the magnificent carved-in-the-mountains monuments they left behind. Thousands of tourists from all over the world are attracted every year to this Arab region to see these monuments not only at Petra in Jordan but also in Saudi Arabia's Mada'in Salih (i.e., Prophet Salih who warned the Thamud Arab Kingdom to worship Allah before the birth of Prophet Mohammad). The small

Arab neighboring Kingdoms of Ad, Thamud, and Lihyan - all also with brilliant monuments and achievements mentioned in the Qu'ran - came under the Nabataean suzerainty for a while. The Arab Nabataean Kingdom, which at its zenith ruled much of the Syrian interior including Damascus, later became a vassal Roman state and eventually fell victim to European colonialism when it was absorbed into the Roman Empire as the "Provincia Arabia" in 195 CE. In fact, the Roman Emperor Philip, who ruled from 244 to 249, was ethnically an Arab from this Arab Nabataean region. Incidentally, this Roman Emperor who was known as "Philip the Arab", was preceded to the Palatine Hill in Rome by a series of Arab empresses, half-Arab emperors, and the fully Arab Elagabulus of Emesa. It is also believed by some scholars that Philip the Arab was really the first Roman Christian emperor (244-249 CE) rather than Constantine I who ruled the Roman Empire (312-337 CE) 63 years after him.

4
The Kingdom of Tadmor (or Palmyra)
Another important Arab civilization before Islam was the famous Kingdom of Palmyra (or Tadmor in Arabic), which is now Hims in Syria. Although mentioned in some history books as early as the 9th century BCE, Tadmor became only prominent in the 3rd century BCE when it controlled the vital trade route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. The Tadmorians had a great civilization and excelled in international trade. However, like the Nabataeans, they eventually came under the control of the expanding Roman imperialism by becoming another client Arab state of Rome. In 265 the Tadmorian Arab King Udhayna (or Odenathus) was rewarded by the Romans to become a vice-emperor of the Roman Empire because of his assistance in their war against Persia. However, King Udhayna's widow Zainab (aka az-Zabba or Zenobia), the famous strong Arab queen wanted nothing less for Palmyra than a complete independence from Rome. She succeeded in temporarily driving the Roman invaders out of most of the Fertile Crescent and proclaimed her son Wahballat (or Athenodorus) to be the true emperor of a new independent Arab Palmyra. Queen Zainab's Arabian independent spirit, however, deeply angered the Romans and eventually resulted in the destruction of the Tadmorian Kingdom in 273 by a powerful force of the Roman imperial army. As part of the Roman victory celebration, queen Zainab was brutally taken to Rome in golden chains.

5
The Kingdom of Kindah

Kindat al-Muluk (or the Royal Kindah) was a famous Arab kingdom, which originated in the southern Arabian Peninsula near Yemen's Hadramawt region. Its capital city, al-Fau, was excavated northeast of Najran in Saudi Arabia in 1972 by Saudi archaeologists from King Saud University in Riyadh. The Kingdom of Kindah became prominent around the late 5th and early 6th centuries CE when it made one of the earliest and successful efforts to unite several Arab tribes under its new domain in Najd in central Arabia. The traditional founder and ruler of Kindah was Hujr Akil al-Murar. However, the most renowned of all Kindah kings was al-Harith ibn Amr, Hujr's grandson, who extended his kingdom's domain north by invading Iraq and temporarily capturing al-Hirah, the capital city of the Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid. But in 529 al-Hirah was liberated by its Christian Arabs who killed King al-Harith along with 50 members of his family. After al-Harith's death, the Kindah Kingdom split up into four factions - Asad, Taghlib, Kinanah, and Qays - each led by a prince. The famous pre-Islamic Arab poet Imru' al-Qays (who died around 540) was the prince of Qays. The continuing feuding between these Arab factions, however, eventually forced the Kindah princes by the middle of the 6th century to withdraw to their original place in southern Arabia next to Yemen. Nevertheless, after Islam was established throughout the Arabian Peninsula, many descendants of the Royal Kindah continued to hold powerful political positions within the Islamic state. In fact, one branch of the Royal Kindah was even successful in gaining great political influence in far away Arab Andalusia in the European Iberian Peninsula.

6
The Kingdom of Lakhmid
The Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid, which originated in the 3rd century CE, reached the height of its power during the 6th century under King al-Munthir III (503-554). Its domain covered from the western shores of the Persian Gulf all the way north to Iraq where its capital city, al-Hira, was located on the Euphrates River near present day Kufah. Working in close cooperation with the Zoroastrian Persian Sasanian Empire to which the Lakhmid Kingdom was a vassal state, al-Munthir III raided and frequently challenged the pro-Byzantine Arab Kingdom of Ghassan in Syria. His son King Amr Ibn Hind was patron of the legendary Arab poet Tarfah Ibn al-Abd and other poets associated with the seven Mu'allaqat (the Suspended Odes") of preIslamic Arabia (see "The Jahiliyyah" below). The Lakhmid dynasty eventually disintegrated after the death of its great Arab Christian King an-Nu'man III in 602.

7
The Kingdom of Ghassan

As the Lakhmid Arab Kingdom was Christian so was its Arab neighbor to the west, the Kingdom of Ghassan, whose capital city was Damascus. This Syrian Ghassanid Kingdom was prominent in the 6th century and was an ally of the Byzantine Empire. It protected the vital spice trade route from the south of the Arabian Peninsula and also acted as a buffer against the desert bedouins. The Ghassanid King al-Harith Ibn Jabalah (reigned 529-569), who was a Monophysite Christian, supported the Christian Byzantine Empire against the Zoroastrian Sasanian Persian Empire and successfully opposed the Arab Kingdom of Lakhmids, which sided with Persians. As a result, King al-Harith was given the title of Patricius by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Like the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids patronized the arts and many literary geniuses such as alNabighah al-Thubyani and Hassan Ibn Thabit. Great Arab poets like them were frequently entertained in the royal courts of the Ghassanid kings. After the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, most inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ghassan became Muslim. One of the most prominent poets of the Kingdom of Ghassan was Hassan Ibn Thabit. Ibn Thabit, who espoused Islam, wrote several famous and beautiful poems in praise of Prophet Mohammad.

8
The Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Arabia)
Even in the period of Jahiliyyah (or "the ignorance" of pre-Islamic Arabia 500-622) the Arabs also had a great cultural literary civilization. Its great classical belles letters could very easily be compared to the best literary treasures developed during the later golden age of the Arab/Islamic civilization of the Abbasids and Andalusia. The Jahiliyyah era witnessed a vibrant golden age of Arab poetry and odes. Among the top pre-Islamic Arab poets, whose poems are still studied in college and pre-college curricula throughout the Arab world, are the seven legendary poets of the Golden Odes, known as the Seven Mu'allaqat ("the Suspended Odes"). These seven pre-Islamic Arab poets who belonged to different Arab tribes included: Prince Imru' al-Qays of the Kindah Kingdom; Tarfah (by far the greatest pre-Islamic Arab poet); Zuhair; Labid (who became so overwhelmed by the power and elegance of the Qur'an that he refused to compose any poetry for the last thirty years of his life); Antar (the greatest cavalier warrior of pre-Islamic Arabia); Amru' Ibn Kalthoom; and al-Harith Ibn Hillizah. Each one of these seven great Arab poets wrote magnificent lengthy poems accentuated with passion, love, eloquence, courage, and sensuality. Their seven golden odes, considered to be the greatest literary treasure of pre-Islamic Arabia, were accorded the highest honor by the critics of the times in the annual poetry fair in Ukaz near Makkah. Their works were inscribed in gold letters and hung (or "suspended") on the door and walls of the Ka'bah for the public to read, enjoy, and appreciate. To these seven incomparable Jahiliyyah Arab poets one must add the following four geniuses in poetry: an-Nabighah alThubyani, Hassan Ibn Thabit, al-Hutay'ah, and al-Khansa' (a female). Although most of pre-Islamic Arabia during the Jahiliyyah period was largely nomadic and tribal where bedouin wars and conflicts were the norms among the disunited Arab tribes and where most people believed in pagan religions and superstitions, the two important cities of the Hejaz,

Makkah and Ukaz, stood as shining spots in the entire Arabian Peninsula. In fact, Makkah was the religious, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural center of pre-Islamic Arabia. The Ka'bah in Makkah and Mount Arafat outside it (both of which were later incorporated in Islam) had been important religious sites for annual pilgrimage centuries before the coming of Islam.

II Arab Civilization after Islam

Within a very short period of time after the birth of Islam in the 7th century, the Arabs built a vast empire that stretched from Spain and Portugal (Andalusia) in the west all the way to the Indian subcontinent in the east. Covering almost half of the old known world, the Arab empire was one and a half times the size of the Roman Empire at its peak. Unlike earlier civilizations, the Arab civilization dominated the Mediterranean and made it practically an Arab lake. The Arabs occupied Spain and Portugal in 711 and were on the verge of engulfing all of France in 732 when Charles Martel stopped their advances in the heart of Western Europe in the Battle of Tours, about 100 miles south of Paris. Between the 7th and 15th centuries, the Arabs established a brilliant civilization the like of which was not contemporaneously found anywhere in the world. However, since Islam united all Arabs for the first time in their history, and rejected nationalism and secularism (Islam united Arabs and non-Arabs under the banner of Islam), Arab civilization and Islamic civilization were one and the same. The two could not be separated. Several Arab powerful states were established each with its own distinct Arab civilization. The most important of these are the following three, the last two of which are considered to be the Arab golden age. These are: The Omayad State with its capital city in Damascus (661-750); the Abbasid State with its capital city in Baghdad (750-1258); and Arab Andalusia (711-1492) in the European Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal (a continuation of the Omayad State) with its capital city first in Cordoba and later in Granada. For centuries Arab Andalusia represented Europe's main cultural center. Although the Arab Abbasid State of the east and Arab Andalusia of the west existed at the same time, they were not united because of the rivalry between their Arab leaders. In all of the above-mentioned three major Arab States, Arabic was the official language and Islam was the official religion. However, Arabs, half-Arabs, and non-Arabs of all the three Semitic religious faiths lived together in racial and religious harmony. There was a great deal of tolerance towards Christians and Jews whether they were Arabs or not. Within all Arab/Islamic empires, Arabs played the major role in all of the political, economic, social, cultural, educational, and scientific affairs. Non-Arabs were deeply Arabized both emotionally and culturally. In short, these three Islamic civilizations (Omayad, Abbasid, and Andalusia) were by and large Arab. However, after the destruction of the Arab Abbasid State in 1258 at the hands of the Mongols and their ruthless leader Hulagu (a crushing defeat that the Arabs have never completely

recovered from), the Muslim Turks took over the leadership of the Muslim world. In an affirmation of the political unity of the Islamic nation or Ummah (because Islam rejects nationalism), the Turks established their Muslim Ottoman State (1258-1922) with its capital first in Bursa and later in Istanbul (Constantinople), the former capital city of the Holy Eastern Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire). It was only in this last major Muslim Turkish State, which did not include either Persia or Andalusia, that the Arabs did not play a dominant role in the political or cultural affairs of the Islamic State. Nor was Arabic the official language of the Ottoman Empire in its last days. Nonetheless, inspired by numerous exhortations of Prophet Mohammad to Muslims such as: "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave"; "Search for knowledge, even if you must go to China to find it"; and "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr", the Arabs excelled in science and art and provided the world with a brilliant and unique civilization. Arab civilization contributed a great deal to the world in general and to the West in particular by helping bring about the European Renaissance, first in Spain and Portugal and later in Italy. As will be explained shortly, the West is immensely indebted to the Arabs for many scientific, technological, and artistic inventions as well as philosophical concepts. As the contemporary Western civilization has enlightened the world, so did the old Arab/Islamic civilization. However, while the brilliant ancient civilizations of Iraq and Egypt, and the Jewish and Christian religions that emerged from Palestine, are all acknowledged in the West but only as a part of what is strangely called "Western civilization", the great Arab/Islamic civilization (like Islam itself) that emerged from the same Arab region is either ignored in the West or, if mentioned, distorted and belittled by many European and American "scholars" and "experts". In fact, these so-called "Arabists" or "Orientalists" cannot hide their hatred, resentment, racism, and patronizing attitudes towards the Arabs and Islam. [1] Because Arab civilization - especially that of the Abbasid State - included some contributions from half-Arab and non-Arab Muslims as well as from Arab Jews and Arab Christians, many American "scholars", who like to demean or insult the Arabs, downplay the vital Arab role in the Arab/Islamic civilization. They argue that Arab civilization was copied from the Greeks and/or was nothing more than the civilization of Persians, Turks and other non-Arab Muslims. Even the so-called American "left" and "open-minded scholars" argue in a racist way that Arab contribution to the Islamic civilization was minimal. For example, the following citation is a typical example of Western distortion of Arab contribution to Islamic civilization. In an address given at a symposium on the history of philosophy of science held at Boston University on September 22, 1994, Mr. Dirk Struik said the following, which appeared in the American Monthly Review, the so-called "left-wing and socialist" periodical: "Incidentally, we often speak of the Arabs. But these "Arabs" were Persians, Tadjiks, Jews, Moors, etc., seldom Arabs [My underlining]. What they had in common was their use of the Arabic language." [2] Also, Mr. Struik wrongly referred to the Jews as a distinct nationality, forgetting the elementary fact that "Jews" are nothing but the adherents of the Jewish faith regardless of their race or language, and disregarding the basic fact that Arab Jews have always existed even up to the present time. He also wrongly implied that Moors are not Arabs, dismissing the simple fact that Moors are indeed Arabs. In addition, Mr. Struik even ridiculed and belittled Arab contribution to human

civilization by saying: "...the Arabs, who were so kind [my underlining] as to keep the torch of Greek science ablaze to pass it over to the Europeans..." [3] However, unlike Mr. Struik and the many Western "scholars" like him who distort Arab intellectual and scientific contributions to humanity, Professor Briffault in his book Making of Humanity simply stated the basic facts: "Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world." [4] In addition, historians Edward Burns and Philip Palph concluded that: The intellectual achievements of the [Arabs] were far superior to any of which Christian Europe could boast before the twelfth century." [5] They also correctly acknowledged that: "In no subject were the [Arabs] farther advanced than in science. In fact, their achievements in this field were the best the world had seen since the end of the Hellenistic civilization." [6] In addition, Burns and Palph wrote that Arabs: "were brilliant astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and physicians. Despite their reverence for Aristotle, they did not hesitate to criticize his notion of a universe of concentric spheres with the earth at the center, and they admitted the possibility that the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun... [The Arabs] were also capable mathematicians and developed algebra and trigonometry... [Arab] physicists founded the science of optics and drew a number of significant conclusions regarding the theory of magnifying lenses and the velocity, transmission, and refraction of light...[Arab] scientists were the first to describe the chemical processes of distillation, filtration, and sublimation...The accomplishments in medicine were just as remarkable...[The Arabs] discovered the contagious nature of tuberculosis, described pleurisy and several varieties of nervous ailments, and pointed out that the disease can be spread through contamination of water and soil." [7] In fact, the Arabs were the world's pioneers in establishing the first major institutions of higher learning. Arabs established the oldest universities in the world. The University of Qeirawan in Fez, Morocco was founded in 859, and the al-Azhar Mosque-University was established in 970 in Cairo. On the other hand, the oldest university in Europe is the University of Bologna in Italy, which was founded in 1088.

1
The Golden Arab Abbasid Civilization
Arab civilization reached its golden age during the Abbasid era (750-1258). Baghdad, the seat of the powerful Abbasid State - which the USA brutally and illegally occupied in 2003 - was the proud Arab capital city and the world's major center for the arts and sciences. Abbasid's Baghdad was not only the largest city in the world in size, about 100 square kilometers, but was also the world's most crowded city, containing about 2 million people. During its heyday, Baghdad was the center of the richest and most powerful country in the entire world. It contained two of the world's oldest and greatest universities, the Nizamiyah and the Mustansiriyah.

Baghdad was also the seat of the legendary Bait al-Hikmah or ("the House of Wisdom"), the most widely-respected "think tank" and the major research center in all of the vast Abbasid Empire. From it came various important translations of Greek and other earlier non-Arab scientific manuscripts; major breakthroughs in many scientific and artistic fields; and different discoveries in various scientific fields that enriched Arab civilization and in turn benefited the West and the rest of the world. Moreover, Baghdad had many banks, where the world's first checking accounts were established, with various branches all over the world even as far as China; an enormous free general public hospital; a thousand physicians; many pharmacies; a large number of schools and higher institutions of learning; a very well-organized postal service; countless libraries and bookstores; an excellent water-supply system; a comprehensive sewage system; and a great paper mill. Even though paper was invented in China, it was the Arabs who introduced it to the West. The Europeans, who up to the 12th century used only parchment for writing, learned for the first time the art of manufacturing paper from straw after the brutal Crusaders invaded the Arab world. [8] Among the great Arab inventions was the clock. Some Arab clocks had their timepieces moved by water, others by burning candles or mercury. A beautiful Arab water clock was given in 807 as a gift by the great Arab Abbasid Caliph Haroon ar-Rasheed (786-809) to the French King Charlemagne who was totally impressed by it. In fact, the 13th century Abbasid Arab genius, Ibn ar-Razzaz al-Jazari, invented impressive arrays of water-operated monumental clocks such as the famous automated Peacock Fountain and the Castle Water Clock. The Abbasid Arab leaders, or Caliphs, were the most opulent rulers in the entire world. Their palaces, halls, parks, and treasures were highly ostentatious. For example when a diplomatic Byzantine delegation arrived in Baghdad during the reign of the Caliph al-Muqtadir (908-32), they were highly impressed to see the outstanding treasures in the store-chambers and the magnificent armies of elephants caparisoned in peacock-silk brocade. The Byzantine delegation saw Caliph al-Muqtadir arrayed in brilliant clothes embroidered in gold and sitting on an ebony throne which was surrounded on both sides by nine hung collars of gems and other fabulous jewels. [9] In his elegant Room of the Tree, they observed: "a tree, standing in the midst of a great circular tank filled with clear water. The tree has eighteen branches, every branch having numerous twigs, on which sit all sorts of gold and silver birds, both large and small. Most of the branches of this tree are of silver, but some are of gold, and they spread into the air carrying leaves of different colours. The leaves of the tree move as the wind blows, while the birds pipe and sing." [10] In fact, the Arabs were so advanced in all of the scientific and artistic fields over the West that they considered the Europeans to be inferior barbarians with uncouth manners. In a language similar to the current racist propaganda perpetrated by many Europeans and Americans against non-Europeans, especially Blacks, the famous 10th-century Arab geographer/historian Abu alHasan al-Mas'udi of Baghdad (died 956) wrote the following about the Europeans: "The peoples of the north are those for whom the sun is distant from the Zenith... cold and damp prevail in those regions, and snow and ice follow one another in endless succession. The warm

humour is lacking among them; their bodies are large, their natures gross, their manners harsh, their understanding dull and their tongues heavy... their religious beliefs lack solidity...those of them who are farthest to the north are the most subject to stupidity, grossness and brutishness." [11] In addition, in the 11th-century, an Arab judge from Toledo in Arab Spain made even more racist remarks than al-Mas'udi's about the "stupidity" of the Europeans and their lack of civilization. He wrote: "their bellies are big, their colour pale, their hair long and lank. They lack keenness of understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and foolishness, blindness and stupidity." Even as late as the 14th century the great Arab sociologist and philosopher, Ibn Khaldun, made contemptuous remarks about the Europeans. [12] Before the European Renaissance (the start of the current Western civilization from 1350 to 1650), most of Europe was living in the feudalism of the Dark Ages. Europeans lived in poverty, ignorance, hunger, diseases, violence, treachery, squalor, and intolerance. Most Europeans lived in mud huts with filth, practically like animals. Dirty roadside ditches throughout Europe, filled with stagnant water, served as public latrines. [13] In fact, most Europeans did not even wash their own bodies with water for fear of damaging their skins and health.

2
The Glorious Arab Andalusian Civilization of Europe
Arab entrance into Europe began with an "invitation". The governor of an outlying province in the Iberian Peninsula sent his daughter to Toledo for schooling. She was supposedly under the protection of King Rodrick (one of the Germanic ruthless Visigoth occupying rulers in Spain) who instead of protecting her, violated and impregnated her. As a result, her father appealed to the Arabs in North Africa for a redress of this injury. [14] The Arabs complied, and thus began almost 8 centuries of Arab occupation and civilization in Europe's most southwestern part. To be exact, the Arabs stayed in Europe 781 years during which they introduced to the West a wonderful civilization; religious tolerance; racial harmony; public baths; and the novel idea of cleanliness expressed in public and personal hygiene by washing the human body with water. While most Westerners of the Dark Ages lived in filth, poverty, and ignorance, the Arabs had a brilliant civilization in Andalusia, Europe's Iberian Peninsula. From 711, when Tariq Ibn Ziyad landed with his Arab conquering army at Gibraltar (so named after him from the Arabic words Jabal Tariq or "the Mountain of Tariq"), to 1492 when the Arab presence in Europe ended, Andalusia was the most enlightened, civilized, racially and religiously tolerant place in all of the West. Before the Arabs arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, the barbarian Germanic occupying Visigoths viciously persecuted Spanish and Portuguese Jews. The Arabs not only treated local Jews with

kindness and respect, but also treated their fellow Christians with the same kindness and tolerance that Islam called for. In fact, the Iberian Jews welcomed the Arab conquering army as a liberating force and joined it against the Visigoths. [15] The intolerant Germanic Visigoths also heavily taxed and ruthlessly treated the poor Iberian peasants, rendering them practically as slaves. The Arabs, on the other hand, humanely treated the local peasants and drastically reduced their taxation. As early as the 10th century, the Arab Andalusian capital, Cordoba, was a magnificent metropolitan center of progress. The pride of the Arabs in Europe, Cordoba had a half million people living in it at a time when no European city could claim a population of even 10,000. Indeed, Arab Cordoba was the largest and most cultured city in all of Europe. Its jewelry, leather work, woven silk and elaborate brocades were highly prized throughout the world. Cordoba's Arab women copyists excelled far better than most European Christian monks in the production of religious works. A travelling German nun by the name of Hrosvitha, who died in 1002, was highly impressed by Arab Cordoba. She referred to it as "the jewel of the world". She wrote: "In the western parts of the globe ... there shone forth a fair ornament ... a city well cultured ... rich and known by the famous name of Cordoba, illustrious because of its charms and also renowned for all resources, especially abounding in the seven streams of knowledge, and ever famous for continual victories." [16] Arab Cordoba was truly the jewel of the entire world. In contrast to the dust and mud which would remain familiar features of the streets of London and Paris for 7 centuries to come, Cordoba had miles of paved streets; street lights (even seven hundred years later there was not so much as one public lamp in London); 113,000 houses with lavatories and water drainage (even poor houses had them, something which was not found at the time in most other European cities); 700 mosques; 300 public baths; 70 public libraries; numerous bookstores; parks and palaces; [17] and two major magnificent treasures unequal for their sophistication in the known civilized world. The first treasure was the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the most extraordinary religious shrine, second in size only to the Great Mosque of Makkah. It was completed in 976 and took 200 years to build. This Great Mosque, which is still a major tourist attraction in Spain today, is a vast rectangle with a deep sanctuary divided into 19 aisles by a forest of 870 marble columns. The interior of this marvelous religious shrine was beautifully decorated with gold; silver; precious stones; mosaics; colored tiles; contrasting green and red marbles; carved plater; wall paintings; Qur'anic calligraphy; and 8,000 oil lamps, to provide light, hung from two hundred chandeliers. The scent of burning aloes and the perfumed oils in the lamps drifted through the arches of the long naves. The Mosque's spacious seven-sided mihrab (the prayer niche which directs worshipers toward Makkah) was lined with gold mosaics and marbles. Next to the mihrab stood the beautifully carved minbar (or pulpit) with its several straight steps for the Imam to climb up in order to give his Friday sermon. This wonderful unique pulpit, which took eight talented craftsmen seven years to make, was laced with rails of gold and silver and made of ivory, ebony, sandalwood, and citron wood. Unfortunately, this magnificent pulpit was cut into pieces when the Spanish Christians took over Cordoba in 1236. Today this great mosque is the Catholic Cathedral of Cordoba.

The second treasure in the Arab Andalusian capital city of Cordoba was the outstanding enormous public library. Completed around 970, this wonderful library alone had over 440,000 books, more than all of the books in all of France at the time. In addition to this gigantic public library, there were 69 other public libraries in Cordoba. These Arab libraries had been using paper for over 200 years at a time when the few Europeans, who could read or write, were still using animal skins for writing. Just outside Cordoba, in the city of al-Zahra, the Arab ruler Abdul-Rahman III built his famous magnificent Palace of Madinat al-Zahra. One of the great wonders of this extraordinary Arab palace was the Room of the Caliphs, which had a gilded ceiling and walls of multi-colored marble blocks. On each side of the hall were eight splendid doors, which stood between columns of clear crystal and colored marble, decorated with gold and ebony and inlaid with precious stones. In the center of this beautiful room was a large pool filled with mercury, which produced dazzling reflections from the walls and ceiling every time the sunrays shone on it. When the surface of the pool was quivered, the whole room was shot through with rays of light, giving the impression that the room was floating away. All experts and writers at the time agreed that the magnificence of this Arab hall had never been equaled anywhere in the world. [18] After the fall of Cordoba to the Spanish Christians, the Arabs moved their capital city to Granada - in the south of the Iberian Peninsula - which also became famous as an Arab center of arts and learning. Arab Granada was also renowned for its wealth and trade especially in silk. To immortalize Grenada, its Andalusian Arab rulers built the magnificent Palace of al-Hamra ("the red") or Alhambra Palace. This unique palace has two splendid courts, the Court of the Lions and the Court of the Myrtles, considered to be the most magnificent and glorious of all Arab monuments in Spain. The Alhambra Palace, which was also an Arab fortress, took about 100 years to build and is today a major tourist attraction attesting to the beauty and genius of Arab architecture. In addition to Cordoba and Granada, Seville and Toledo also served as the greatest houses of Arab Andalusian knowledge. In fact, Toledo was the main center of scientific translation from Arabic to Latin. The Andalusian Arabs also produced several exotic agricultural products (see Agriculture below) and developed many great manufactured products, which were all exported to Western Europe and the rest of the world. These industrial products include: textiles; paper; silk; baked tile; glazed cups, dishes, and jars which rivaled Chinese porcelain; pottery; sugar refining; gold; silver; ruby; silk; various crafted metals; marble; ceramics; and the much-admired Cordovan ("cordwain") leather-work. The sciences that the Andalusian Arabs excelled in and were taught at their universities, which helped educate several generations of Western scholars and students from all over Europe, included: mathematics, geometry, astronomy, physics, chemistry, architecture, optics, meteorology, engineering, pharmacology, medicine, biology, botany, anatomy, zoology, and philosophy. It should also be mentioned here that Arab students in Andalusia were the first to use the cap and gown worn today by students all over the world during graduation ceremony.

III
The Legacy of Arab/Islamic Civilization and Its Impact on the West
Thanks to Islam and Arab civilization, Arabic has become the richest of all Semito-Hamitic languages (so-named after Noah's two eldest sons Sam and Ham), and one of the world's greatest languages in history. As a major language of scripture and civilization, Arabic has deeply influenced several world languages both in the East and the West such as Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese, Malay-Indonesian; some African languages like Hausa and Swahili; and to a lesser extent even the English language (see below). The Arabic alphabet, which contains 28 letters (2 more letters than the English alphabet), is now - like the Latin alphabet - one of the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world used in the writing of the languages of Muslim countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Between the 9th and 15th centuries, during the zenith of Arab civilization, Arabic was the international language of science to a degree which has since never been equaled by any other language including English. Arabic was not only the language of the Arab people, but also the language of many other peoples and faiths. Neither Greek, nor Latin, nor even English has ever attained the far-reaching unique historical dominance over human civilization as Arabic had. Arabic was so important as the language of science that European scholars had to learn it as they learned Latin. Today, Arabic is one of only six official languages of the United Nations along with French, English, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish. Arabic is also the Worlds fourth most popular language after Chinese, English, and Spanish. And as the language of the important Arab oil-producing countries, Arabic has also achieved a prominent status in the world of international finance and economics. In fact, the profound impact of the Arabs and their civilization on Western civilization can be found in the many Arabic words that became part of the everyday language in the West. While it is obvious that the influence of Arabic is much greater on Spanish and Portuguese, both of which contain many thousands of Arabic words, than on any other European language, at least some 4% of the English language came from Arabic. [19] The following is a group of words from several scientific and cultural areas - presented in alphabetical order - used today in English that originally came from the Arabic language: [aba, abelmosk, abutilon, Achernar, acrab, admiral, adobe, afreet (or afrit), albacore, albatross, alcalde, alcazar, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, Aldebaran, alembic, alfalfa, alforja, algarroba, algebra, Algol, algorism (or algorithm), alidade, alkali, alkanet, Allah, almanac, alphabet, Altair, amalgam, amber, ameer (or amir), aniline, antimony, apricot, ardeb, argan, ariel, arrack, arroba, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, atabal (or attabal), attar, aubergine, average, azimuth, azure ... baldachin, banana, barberry, bard (or barde), bark, barkentine, bedouin, benzoin, berseem, Betelgeuse, bint, bonduc, borax, buckram, bulbul, burnoose (or burnous) ... cable, cadi (or kadi or qadi), calabash, caliber (or calibre), caliph, caliphate, camel, camise, camlet, camphor, canal, candy, cane, Caph, carafe, carat, caravan, caraway, carmine, carob, carrack, Casbah (or Kasbah), check (from the Arabic word "sakk"), checkmate, chiffon,

cinnabar, cipher, civet, coffee, coffer, coffle, colcothar, Copt, cotton, crimson, crocus, cubeb, cumin, curcuma ... dahabeah, damascene, damask (from Damascus), damson, darabukka, Deneb, dhow, dinar, dirham, djin (or djinn or djinni), dragoman, drub, durra ... elixir, emir, emirate ... fakir, fedayee (or fedayeen), fellah, fennec, fils, Fomalhaut, fustic ... gabelle, galingale, garble, gauze, gazelle, genet, genie, ghibli, ghoul, Gibraltar, ginger, giraffe, grab, guitar, gundi, gypsum ... haik, hajj, hajji, hakim, halva (or halvah), hamal (or hammal), hardim, harem, hashish, hazard, hegira (or hejiara), henna, hookah, houri, howdah ... imam, imamate, imaret ... jar, jasmine, jebel, jerboe, jereed, jessamine, jihad, jinn (or jinni), jubba (or jubbah), julep ... Kaabah, kabob (or kebab), Kabyle, kafir (or kaffir), kantar (or qantar), kaph, kat (or qat), kef, kermes, khamsin, khan, khanjar, kismet, kohl, Koran (or Qur'an)... lacquer, lake, lapislazuli, latakia, leban (or leben), lemon, lilac, lime, lute ... magazine, Mahdi, majoon, mancus, marabout, marcasite, marzipan, mascara, mask, massage, mastaba, mate (as in checkmate in Chess), mattress, mecca (after Makkah or Mecca), mezereon, minaret, Mizar, mizen (or mizzen), mocha (from Mocha, Yemen), mohair, monsoon, mosque, muezzin, mufti, mullah, mummy, Muslim, muslin (from Mosul), Mussalman (or Mussulman), myrrh ... nabob, nacre, nadir, natron, nizam, noria, nucha, nuchal ... oka (or oke), olibanum, orange, Ottoman, oud ... pandore, pistachio, pherkard, popinjay ... qintar, quintal ... racket, realgar, ream, rebec (or rebeck), retem, retina, rial, ribes, Rigel, rice, risk, riyal, rob, roc, rook, rotl... safari, safflower, saffron, Sahara, Sahel, sahib, saker, salam, salamoniac, salep, saloop, saluki, sambul, santir, saphena, sash, satin, sayyid, scallion, senna, sequin, serendipity, sesame, shadoof (or shaduf), shaitan, shallot, sharif, sheik (or sheikh), sherbet, sherbert, sherif (or sheriff), shishkebab, shrub, simoom (or simoon), sinologue, sirocco, sirup, sloop, soda, sofa, spinach, sudd,

Sufi, Sufism, sugar, sultan, sultana, sultanate, sumac (or sumach), sumbal (or sumbul or sumbal), sura, Swahili, syce, syrup ... tabby, tabla, tabor (or tabour), taffeta, talc, talisman, tamarind, tambour, tambourine, tangerine, taraxacum, tarboosh (or tarbush), tare, tariff, tarragon, tazza, timbal (or tymbal), traffic, tutty, typhoon ... ulama (or ulema) ... Vega, vizier ... wadi ... xeba, xebec ... yashmac (or yashmak) ... zaffer (or zaffre), zareba (or zariba), zenith, zero, zibet (or zibeth) ...] However, more important than the above Arabic words are the actual scientific contributions and foundations that the Arabs provided for the West. As indicated earlier, the European Renaissance was deeply indebted to the Arabs and their civilization. From the Arabs the Europeans took the basic scientific, technological, philosophical, and cultural foundations that put them on top of the world and eventually led them in their global colonization of the non-European world, which started with Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Western Hemisphere in 1492. In fact, one of Columbus's main sea navigators was an Arab Muslim who upon sighting the land of the New World joyfully shouted in Arabic: "Allah Akbar" (or God is the Greatest). [20] Indeed, as will be revealed shortly, major works in various philosophical and scientific fields were borrowed and/or copied from the Arabs by a number of leading European scholars and scientists before, during, and after the European Renaissance. The following is a brief summary of the Arab contribution to Western and human civilizations in 15 major scientific and artistic disciplines. Only the top Arab and Muslim scientists (as well as some occasional Arab Jews and Arab Christians) both from the Abbasid and Andalusian civilizations are mentioned in this survey.

1
Mathematics
The Arabs and Muslims contributed more to the field of mathematics, the basic foundation of modern civilization, than any other people in history. To the magnificent Arab civilization the world owes algebra, algorithm (logarithm), arithmetic, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, the decimal system, and the brilliant "zero". The revolutionary "zero", which gave us what is

referred to in the West as the Arabic decimal numeration system, did not originate in India as some Western historians claim but was rather developed in ancient Iraq by the Neo-Babylonians maybe as early as 500 BCE. [21] American mathematics Professor Karl J. Smith indicated in his textbook, The Nature of Mathematics, that while the ancient Indians developed mathematical digital symbols, their numeration system offered no advantage over other earlier systems because it did not contain a "zero" or use a positional system. [22] Although the Arabs Semitic ancestors in ancient Iraq developed the zero, it was only through the great post-Islamic Arab civilization that it was incorporated into the main body of the general mathematical theory. It took Europe almost 300 years to finally accept the "zero" as a gift from the Arabs. The Arabic numerals were simultaneously expressed in somewhat two different figures or forms, one Abbasid (the eastern style which most Arabs currently use) and one Andalusian (the western style which is used today in the Arab Maghrib countries of Northwest Africa). It was this Arab Andalusian form of numerals (i.e., 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) that the West and the rest of the world eagerly adopted; hence the worldwide label "Arabic numerals". Mohammad al-Khawarizmi (780-850), the giant genius scientist who was born and died in Abbasid Baghdad, created modern algebra and made brilliant contributions in the field of mathematics. In fact, the word "algorithm" is derived from his name, and the Arabic word al-jabr (or "algebra" in English) comes from the title of his major work, Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabalah ("The Book of Integration and Equation"). Served for a number of years as the Executive Director of the prestigious "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad, al-Khawarizmi was also the first scientist in history to explain how passing light through water particles creates rainbows. Another Muslim genius in mathematics, also from Abbasid Baghdad, is Abu Arrayhan al-Biruni (973-1048) who was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, physicist, chemist, geographer and historian. He was probably the greatest scientist in all of medieval Islam. Another great mathematician is Naseer al-Din at-Tusi (1201-1274). It was in the super work of at-Tusi that trigonometry achieved the status of an independent branch of pure mathematics, thus making it an invention of Arabic science. At-Tusi's contribution was to combine the results of earlier investigators and to replace Menelaus' complete quadrilateral by a simple triangle, thus freeing trigonometry from spherical astronomy. [23] Practically all of the advanced trigonometrical work in the world during the 12th and 13th centuries were made by Muslim mathematicians and published in Arabic. Arabic influence in this major scientific field did not only impact the West, but also other parts of the world. It seemed that even the Chinese trigonometry as used by Kuo Shouching at the end of the 13th century was also of Arab origin. [24]

2
Astronomy
The most important figure in this scientific field is the Arab Abu Abdullah al-Battani (aka Albategius: 858-929) from the Abbasid era. He was the best-known Arab astronomer in Europe

during the Middle Ages. Al-Battani refined existing values for the inclination of the ecliptic, for the length of the year and of the seasons, and for the annual precession of the equinoxes. He showed that the position of the Sun's apogee is variable and that the annular eclipses of the Sun are possible. Al-Battani also improved the Greek Ptolemy's astronomical calculations by replacing geometrical methods with trigonometry, thus becoming the chief responsible scientist for the first notion of trigonometrical ratios as they are in use to the present day. He carried out many years of remarkably accurate observations at ar-Raqqah in Syria. One of al-Battani's major works in astronomy - a compendium of astronomical tables - was translated into Spanish and was published in 1537 under the title De motu stellarum ("Our Stellar Motion"). [25] The Abbasid mathematician al-Biruni also made valuable contributions in astronomy by accurately determining the latitudes, longtitudes, geodetic measurements, specific gravity, and the magnitude of the earth's circumference. In addition, the astronomer Ahmad al-Farghani published a comprehensive treatise on astronomy from which the famous Italian Alighieri Dante heavily borrowed both in his Vita Nuova and his Convivio. [26] The great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) also quoted several Arab scientists in his famous De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium - especially the great Arab astronomer and instrument-maker al-Zarkali (aka Arzachel) of Andalusia. Al-Zarkali not only invented a revolutionary astrolabe and wrote a major treatise about it that influenced the entire astronomical sciences of the Middle Ages, [27] but also built a fascinating water clock capable of determining the hours of the day and night and indicating the days of the lunar month. [28]

3
Chemistry
The word "chemistry" itself comes from the Arabic word alchemy (or al-Keem'ya'). There is no bigger name in the field of Muslim chemistry than the great alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan (aka Geber: 721-815), the "father of Arab chemistry" of the Abbasid era. More than 2,000 works are attributed to Jabir Ibn Hayyan. [29] Many of the chemical terms used in English today come from Ibn Hayyan: "alkali", "antimony", "realgar" (red sulphide arsenic), and "sal-amoniac" which he discovered. He was also the author of an important work in chemistry on the use of manganese dioxide in glass making; the dyeing of leather and cloth; the waterproofing of cloth; and the preparation of steel. When European scientists began to turn their attention to chemistry, they accepted Ibn Hayyan as their mentor. In 1144 the Englishman Robert of Chester translated Ibn Hayyan's Book of the Composition of Alchemy into Latin, and Gerard of Cremona also made another translation of Ibn Hayyan's other important work Book of the Seventy. Ibn Hayyan's 17th century English translator, Richard Russell, called him: "Geber, the Most Famous Arabian Prince and Philosopher". [30] Also, the world's first explosive developed in the field of gunpowder known as black powder which is a mixture of salt petre (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal (carbon) - was originally

invented by the Arabs and not by the Chinese [31] as it is commonly believed in the West. The Chinese took this invention from the Arabs, and by the 10th century used it in their fireworks and signals. The Arab-invented black powder was eventually adopted by the Westerners, (during the 14th century primarily for use in firearms), who gradually discontinued it use in the middle of the 19th century in favor of the guncotton (the first smokeless powder) and other forms of nitrocellulose. In addition, around 1304 the Arabs invented the world's first real gun, a bamboo tube reinforced with iron that used a charge of black powder to shoot an arrow. [32]

4
Physics
In the fields of physics and optics, no Arab scientist comes close to the legendary Abu Ali alHasan Ibn al-Haytham (aka Alhazen: 965-1039) who was born in Iraq and died in Egypt during the golden Abbasid era. Ibn al-Haytham made the first significant contributions to optical theory since the time of the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. In his book On the Burning Glass, he revolutionarized the nature of focusing, magnifying, and inversion of the image. Ibn al-Haytham was the world's first scientist to give an accurate account of vision, correctly stating that the light comes from the object seen to the eye, and not the other way around as was previously believed (i.e., from the eye to the seen object). [33] Also, In his widely-acclaimed treatise on optics, translated into Latin in 1270 under the title Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni Libri VII, this great Arab physicist/optometrist published revolutionary theories on reflection; refraction; binocular vision; focussing with lenses; the rainbow; atmospheric refraction; spherical aberration; parabolic and spherical mirrors; and the apparent increase in size of planetary bodies near the Earth's horizon. In fact, so complicated and so advanced were Ibn al-Haythams theories in physics that for a long time both Western and Eastern scientists were afraid to adopt them. But when he was finally proven to be correct, Ibn al-Haytham's scientific pre-eminence throughout the world was no longer in doubt. [34] The English Roger Bacon (1242-92) was not the only Western scientist on optics to admit his indebtedness to Ibn al-Haytham. Both the great Italian Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) were also deeply influenced by the scientific findings of this Arab genius.

5
Medicine
The great Persian Muslim scientist Abu Bakr al-Razi (aka Rhazes: 865-925) of Abbasid's Baghdad was the greatest medical authority in the entire Islamic civilization. His major works were translated into Latin. A pioneering physician, al-Razi was the first to describe pupillary

reflexes; gave the world's first account of smallpox and measles; discovered the contagious characters of diseases; and differentiated among colic pain, kidney-stone pain, and the pains of the ileus. His ten-part treatise in Arabic on clinical and internal medicine, at-Tibb al-Mansuri that was translated into Latin under the title Medicinalis Almansoris, was widely influential in the West throughout the Middle Ages. In it, he discussed drugs; diets; skin diseases; child and mother care; mouth hygiene; toxicology and epidemiology; climatology and the effect of environment on health; a regiment for preserving good health; and general medical theories and definitions. In his brilliant treatise on psychic therapy written in Arabic, at-Tibb ar-Ruhani ("Psychic Therapy"), and in his comprehensive medical encyclopedia, al-Hawi fi at-Tibb, al-Razi provided considerable insight into the scope, methods, and applications of the clinical, internal, and psychiatric medicine as well as the interpretation of the general health precepts. Another medical genius was Abu al-Qasim Az-Zahrawi (aka Albucasis: 936-1013), an Arab from the great Arab Andalusian civilization. Az-Zahrawi is considered to be Islam's greatest medieval surgeon who single-handedly shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance. His 30-part medical encyclopedia, At-Tasrif ("The Method"), which contained over 200 surgical medical instruments he personally designed, was a surgical treatise that had a tremendous influence on Western medicine. Translated into Latin in the 12th century by the Italian scholar Gerard of Cremona, at-Tasrif stood for nearly 500 years as the leading textbook on surgery in Europe, preferred for its concise lucidity even to the great works of the classical Greek medical authority Galen of Pergamum. A third Muslim medical giant, from the Abbasid's Baghdad era, is the Persian Abu Ali Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna: 980-1037). Perhaps the most famous and influential philosopher-scientist in all of Islam, Ibn Sina added to al-Razi by discovering the contagious character of disease (e.g. through water). Ibn Sina wrote many medical volumes in Arabic, the most important of which are the following two, both of which were translated into Latin. The first is Kitab ash-Shifa ("The Book of Healing"), a vast encyclopedia that included the science of psychology and is probably the largest work of its kind ever written by one man. The second is an encyclopedia by the name of al-Qanun fi at-Tibb ("The Canon of Medicine"), the most famous single book in the history of medicine in both East and West. The Canon became the medical authority not only in the Islamic world where it was used as a major reference until the 19th century, but also in the Western world where it was used for more than 500 years. [35] Arab and Muslim medical science came to a climax in the two famous treatises on the plague by two great Arab physicians: Ibn al-Khatib (1313-1374) of Granada, and his contemporary Ibn Khatima. Ibn al-Khatib who wrote more than fifty books on different subjects, used some revolutionary medical terms for his time in his treatise on the plague. On the other hand, Ibn Khatima's treatise on the plague was considered to be "far superior to all the numerous plague tracts edited in Europe between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries". [36] The Arabs founded the worlds first hospitals as well as travelling hospitals during the Abbasid era. While hospitals were well established and widespread throughout the Arab and Muslim world as early as the 9th century, they did not come into existence in the West until the 13th century. As late as the 16th century medical studies in the West were still largely based on the findings of Arab scientists. Actually it was due to contacts with the Arabs that medical schools

began to appear in the West. Even in the 17th century we still find some Western scholars from France and Germany relying on Arab medical writings rather than on any other. [37]

6
Pharmacy and Pharmacology
As a recognized profession, pharmacy is an Arab/Islamic institution. Under the patronage of the Arab Abbasid rulers around 800 CE, pharmacology achieved the status of an independent science, separate yet closely related to medicine. The first privately owned and managed pharmacies in the world (where drugs, herbs, and spices were sold) were established in Baghdad in the early part of the 9th century. Shortly thereafter, pharmacy shops started to appear throughout the Muslim world. [38] In pharmacology (or "as-Saydalah" in Arabic), the Arabs produced some of the best pharmacists in the world at the time. The most famous pharmacist/botanist was an Andalusian Arab by the name of Ibn al-Baytar (died 1248) who wrote the greatest of all medieval books on botany called Collection of Simple Drugs and Food. Ibn al-Baytar collected plants and drugs from all over the Muslim world and described over 1,400 medical drugs and their use. For hundreds of years, European dispensaries relied heavily on recipes prepared by Arab pharmaceutists and took to the West some of the Arabic medical terms such as sirup (sharab) and julep (gulab). [39] In fact, Arab pharmacology in the West survived until the early part of the 19th century. [40]

7
Zoology and Veterinary Medicine
Depending on animals for food, war, and transportation, the Arabs and Muslims raised the basic interest in animal husbandry to the level of a science. The first important comprehensive zoological study of animals in Arabic was Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of Animals), written by Abu Uthman Amr Ibn Bahr al-Jahiz (776-869) from Basrah, Iraq. Covering animals in and around Iraq with their characteristics, this pioneering book was written in an eloquent and interesting literary style. In it, al-Jahiz described the various diseases that afflict animals and their treatments. Another important work in this field was The Uses of Animals, written by an Arab doctor named Ibn Bakhtishu. This 11th century book is a comprehensive account of the medicines that could be extracted from animals for human use. However, the greatest medieval work in veterinary medicine is the comprehensive work by Abu Bakr al-Baytar of Cairo (died 1340) entitled Kamil as-Sina'atayn. This famous work in Arabic covers animal husbandry, birds, breeding, horsemanship, and knighthood. In it, al-Baytar also

detailed animal diseases, the methods and drugs used in their treatment, and the use of animal organs in therapeutics. Also, during the 14th century, another Arab scientist from Egypt by the name of Kamal al-Din ad-Damiri (died 1405) provided the world with a brilliant work in zoology and animal husbandry entitled Hayat al-Hayawan (The Life of Animals). In this most comprehensive major work, alDamiri (who was also a philosopher/theologian) arranged and discussed animals in alphabetical order. He listed their characteristics, qualities, habits, and the medical values of their organs for humans. In addition, this brilliant work by al-Damiri along with other Arabic texts on animals and natural sciences - which were written over four centuries before the famous 1859 Origins of Species by the English Charles Darwin (1809-1882) - contained rudimentary concepts of evolutionary theory, including the doctrine of survival of the fittest and natural selection. [41]

8
Agriculture
Arab Andalusia had a highly advanced system of agricultural engineering, an elaborate irrigation canal system, and fountains - the likes of which was not found anywhere in Western Europe at the time. The Arabs made the Iberian land produce more and better crops and introduced to Europe such exotic and valuable agricultural products as oranges, cotton, eggplants, saffron, pomegranates, apricots, rice, sugar cane, artichokes, peaches, date palms, and mulberry. The Andalusian Arabs were the leading agricultural practitioners in all of Europe who also developed the most advanced systems in canal and irrigation, land drainage, and siphoning. Thanks to them, Spain was agriculturally the richest and most advanced country in Europe. According to one American author, agriculture and horticultural improvements "constituted the finest legacies of Islam, and the gardens of Spain proclaim to this day one of the noblest virtues of her Muslim conquerors." [42] The Arabs of Andalusia also produced some of the world's finest agricultural scientists who benefited humanity. For example, during the second half of the 11th century, an Arab scientist from Toledo by the name of Ibn al-Bassal wrote a brilliant book on agriculture, which in 1955 was edited with a Spanish translation and notes under the title Libro de Agricultura. [43] In addition, an Arab scientist from Seville named Ibn al-Awwam wrote the most important agricultural treatise during the golden age of Arab Spain in the 12th century. It was entitled Kitab al-Filahah ("Book of Agriculture") and was translated from Arabic into both Spanish and French in the 19th century. Ibn al-Awwam's brilliant book contained 35 chapters and covered 585 plants. It dealt with agronomy, cattle and poultry raising, and beekeeping; made important observations on soil, manures, plant grafting, and plant diseases; and covered such agricultural topics as medical plants, farming techniques, husbandry, plant sex life, fertilization, tillage, sharecropping, gardening, and landscaping. [44]

9
Philosophy and Metaphysics
Western Christian philosophy and theology owe a great deal to Arab thinkers and philosophers. For example, The Italian theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-74) copied liberally from the Arabic writings of Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes: 1126-98), the Arab Muslim genius of Cordoba who is considered to be the greatest philosopher in all of Islam.The Summa of St Thomas, which was considered to be the very citadel of Western Christian theology, was deeply influenced by the writings of Arab philosophers, especially Ibn Rushd. The French philosopher, Rene Descartes (1596-1650), was also deeply influenced by Ibn Rush. Also, St. Thomas' great Dominican's most essential doctrines were copied practically word by word from the Arabic work of an earlier great Turkish Muslim philosopher by the name of Abu Nasr al-Farabi (878950) of Abbasid's Baghdad. [45] In addition, Italy's greatest poet, Dante (1265-1321), who hated Prophet Mohammad and Islam, plagiarized his greatest work, the Divine Comedy, by copying from the works of the mystic Arab genius Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) of Arab Andalusia, and also from Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness) written by the great Arab philosopher and poet Abu al-Ala' al-Ma'arri of Syria (973-1057). Dante's Divine Comedy's fundamental concepts of Heaven and Hell very closely resemble Ibn al-Arabi's account of Prophet Mohammad's ascent to Heaven from Makkah via Jerusalem. [46] Ironically, however, the unthankful plagiarist Dante consigned Prophet Mohammad to the lowest level of Hell in his Divine Comedy. On the other hand, the Spanish mystic Ramon Llull (1235-1316) was also highly influenced by Arabic philosophy and Islamic mysticism produced by such Muslim mystics as al-Hallaj (858-922) of Abbasid's Baghdad. Actually Arab influence was so obvious on Western philosophy that many European scholars and theologians openly admitted their great indebtedness to the Arabs. One of those who admitted his gratitude to the Arabs is the Scottish theologian John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) who was deeply influenced in his intellectual activities by the Fons Vitae which was originally written in Arabic by a great Arab philosopher of Jewish faith (not a Hebrew) from Cordoba by the name of Abu Ayyub Ibn Gabirut "or Gabirol" (aka Avicebron: 1022-70). [47] Other great Andalusian Arabs of Jewish faith may include such scholars as the philosopher/poet Abu Haroon Moussa (aka Moses Ibn Ezra: 1060-1139), and the philosopher/physician Abu Imran Moussa Ibn Maymun (aka Moses Maimonides: 1135-1204), the personal physician of the great Salah ad-Din who liberated Palestine from the Crusaders.

10
Geography
Many Arabs and Muslims made valuable contributions in the field of geography. Abu al-Hasan al-Mas'udi of the Abbasid era (died 956) - a geographer, historian, and traveler - was the author

of more than twenty major voluminous works many of which were translated into Latin. He was the first Arab to combine history and scientific geography in his widely acclaimed historicalgeographical encyclopedia, The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems. Al-Mas'udi's encyclopedia was one of the finest and richest medieval sources not only in geography but also of geographical and anthropological information. Al-Mas'udi also wrote another 30-volume encyclopedia on world history entitled Akhbar az-Zaman ("The History of Time"). The Arabs who occupied Sicily, prior to its occupation by the Normans (Vikings) in the 11th century, made it major center of Arab sciences. Even during the occupation by the Norman Kings, Sicilian coins were minted with Arabic inscriptions and Islamic dates; many of the Sicilian records including those of the courts were written in Arabic; and it was also fashionable for Christian Sicilians to dress like Arabs and to speak Arabic. [48] When the Christian Norman King Roger II of Sicily (1130-54) needed a compendium of the then known world, he entrusted no other geographer in the world except a Moroccan descendant of Prophet Mohammad by the name of al-Sharif Abu Abdullah al-Idrisi (1100-1166), the greatest of all Arab geographers. AlIdrisi produced for King Roger II not only a brilliant construction of a celestial sphere but also a disk-shaped map of the known world (i.e., the world's Eastern Hemisphere), both of which were made of solid silver. The silver map, which was one of seventy accurate maps he produced, was based on his encyclopedic work, The Book of Roger, translated into Latin in Paris in 1619. After the death of King Roger II, al-Idrisi stayed on at the court in Palermo and wrote, for his son King William I, another geographical treatise, The Garden of Civilization and the Amusement of the Soul. [49] Al-Idrisi also wrote one of the greatest works of medieval geography, The Pleasure Excursion of One Who is Eager to Traverse the Regions of the World. However, in the area of travelling and exploration no Arab geographer achieved the fame of the legendary Moroccan Mohammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Battutah (1304-1369). Ibn Battutah documented his famous travels that covered over 75,000 miles in 28 years throughout Africa, Arabia, Persia, India and China. In addition, the Arab geographer Hassan al-Wazzan (aka Leo Africanus: 1485-1554) produced a major work titled, A Geographical Historie of Africa, which was translated into Latin around 1600 and subsequently appeared in 14 different editions. This scholarly work by al-Wazzan served Europe almost up to the modern times as its main source of knowledge on Africa. [50]

11
Sociology
The Arab legendary Abdulrahman Ibn Khaldun, sociologist and philosopher of history (13321406) from Tunis, was an amazingly original genius. He was the world's first historian to develop and explicate the general laws that govern the rise and decline of civilizations. Ibn Khaldun wrote many books the most important of which is his brilliant seven-volume encyclopedia on history and societies. This encyclopedia's first volume is entitled alMuqaddimah ("Introduction"), which gives a profound and detailed analysis of human society

and its cultural components. In it he fathered the sciences of sociology, economics, anthropology, and political science. Ibn Khaldun's greatest contribution to human civilization is found in his "positive" philosophy of history and social evolution. It is to him that we owe the systematic elaboration of a full-fledge theory of sociological determinism. Ibn Khaldun's study of the nature of society and social change, as well as his deference to empiricism in general, enabled him to develop "the science of civilization" which he clearly saw as a new science. It was a totally new science without any parallel in the history of ancient and medieval thoughts. Indeed, Ibn Khaldun had founded the discipline of Sociology over 4 centuries before the French Auguste Comte (1798-1857) who is credited in the West with its establishment. Ibn Khaldun called his new science Ilm al-Umran ("the science of culture"), which he defined as: "This science ... has its own subject, viz., human society, and its own problems, viz., the social transformations that succeed each other in the nature of society." [51] Robert Flint once eulogized Ibn Khaldun as follows: "As a theorist on history he has no equal in any age or country until Vico [the great Italian philosopher of history Giambattista Vico: 16681744] appeared, more than three hundred years later. Plato, Aristotle and Augustine were not his peers..." [52] The great 20th-century British historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) stated that Ibn Khaldun has founded: "a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place." [53]

12
Literature
Not only did the West learn from the Arabs the arts of making paper books, as indicated earlier, but also the typically beautiful Arab art of leather binding with its luxurious ornamentation in "gold tooling" and its flap that folds over to protect the front edges of a book. [54] In addition to the thousands of Arabic words that entered the various Western languages, especially Spanish and Portuguese, the rich Arabic literature itself has left some of its general imprints upon Western literature. Among the great works of Arabic literature that have impacted the West is the multi-volume Alf Laylah wa Laylah ("The Thousand and One Nights" or "The Arabian Nights") from the golden Abbasid era which is composed of a large collection of famous Arab entertaining stories narrated by queen Scheherazad to her husband Scheherayar. These include such famous legends as "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", and "The Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor". The Arabian Nights was translated early in the 18th century into many Western languages and immediately introduced a distinct new element to Western fiction writing. For example, "The Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor" became an inspiration for Gulliver's Travels published in 1726 by the Irish author Jonathan Swift. The Arabian Nights was also a source of inspiration for many other Western writers and poets. These include: the French writer

Voltaire (1694-1778) who modeled his famous work Zadiq on it; the English Samuel Johnson (1709-84) who was influenced by it in his Rasselas; the English poet George Gordon Byron (1788-1824); the English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850); and the Argentinean poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). [55] In fact, the influence of Arabic literature on Europe was so pervasive and widespread that we find echoes of it in the Grail-saga, in the old French romance Floire et Blanchefleur; in the allied German Rolandslied and the French Chanson de Rolandl and in the more famous Aucassin et Nicolette, the name of whose male hero derives from the Arab name Qasim. Obviously, both the oriental tales in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer's Squieres Tale are of Arab origin. Also, the Arabic apologies came to play an important role in medieval and later Western literature, especially the Spanish and Portuguese literatures. For example, Arabic influence is very clear on Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote published in 1605. [56] The two best-known Arab characters in English literature are found in William Shakespeare's Othello and The Merchant of Venice. While Othello is an Arab with all the pride, passion, and nobility of his own cultural identity, the Prince of Morocco, in The Merchant of Venice, is an Arab with a high distinction of soul and appearance hardly matched by the Western characters against whom he was pitted. [57] Moreover, Professor H. A. R. Gibb indicated that Arabic poetry contributed in some measure to the rise of the new poetry of Europe [58], especially the Provencal troubadours whose poetry and music owed so much to the Arabs. Arab poetry was cultivated in the court of Alfonso the Wise of Castille and of the Norman kings and of Frederick II of Sicily. The Arab poet Shushtari provided literary themes to many Western writers such as St. John of the Cross and Ramon Lull. The Arabic poetry of ghazal ("love and romance"), especially as reflected in the idealized legendary love passion of Qays and Layla, left a profound mark on the Western love lyrics of many European writers such as the French communist poet Louis Aragon (1897-1982). [59] Also, the love traditions of Jamil and Umar made their way into the French Provencal courtly love whereby the Arabic word TaRiBa became TRoBar and TRouBadour. The great Arabic literature of the genius Abu Mohammad Ibn Hazm of Cordoba (994-1064), especially his chivalric love in Dove's Necklace, deeply influenced the French writer Andre Le Chapelain's The Art of Courtly Love, published in 1185. [60] In fact, we find Arabic and Islamic influences and elements in the works of many other and more recent European authors and poets such as in the English author William Beckford's (1760-1844) Vathek, published in 1786; in the English author Daniel Defoe's (1660-1731) Robinson Crusoe, whose inspiration clearly came from the beautiful Arab novel Hayy Ibn Yaqzan ("Living, Son of Awake") written by the great Arab Andalusian philosopher/physician Mohammad Ibn Tufayl (1109-85); in the German poet Johann Goethe's (1749-1832) West-ostlicher Divan, published in 1819; and in the works of other great German poets of the 19th century such as August Platen (1796-1835) and Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866). [61]

13
Music
Even though orthodox Islam does not approve of music, it was with the advent of Islamic mysticism, such as Sufism, that the Arabs and Muslims began to develop a great deal of musical art, especially for religious observation. A talented Arab musician by the name of Zaryab (died 850), who moved from Baghdad to settle in Andalusia, established Europes first conservatory in Cordoba. Zaryab became a great singer, lute player, and music teacher. The influence of the Arab music on European music can also be found in the musical instruments the Arabs invented and/or introduced to the West. For example, in 942, the Arabs introduced kettledrums and trumpets to Europe. In fact, the West did not only adopt Arab musical instruments but also took their names as well. These include such instruments as the lute (al-ude), pandore (tanbur), and guitar (qitara). [62] The origins of many other Western musical instruments, such as the oboe, trumpet, violin, harp and percussion instruments, can also be traced to Arab Spain. In addition, the Arabs and Muslims produced a large amount of literature on music, mostly of scientific nature. For example, the great Arab philosopher/mathematician Abu Yousif al-Kindi (801-873), known as "the philosopher of the Arabs", wrote important works on the theory of music, including more than 270 works on different musical subjects many of which were translated into Latin. Others who also wrote in Arabic on music include the great Turkish alFarabi and the brilliant Persian Ibn Sina. Actually, al-Farabi's Grand Book on Music in Arabic was superior to anything produced anywhere at the time. The Arab and Muslim writers on music not only influenced the West, but also Africa, India, and the Far East. [63] After the 12th century few of the Western authors, from the Spanish Domingo Gundisalvo to the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Kilwardy, Lull, George Reish, and Adam de Fulda, omitted to quote from al-Farabi's musical writings in Latin translations, especially his De Ortu Scientiarum and De Scientiis. Both Roger Bacon and Adelard de Bath, of the 12th century, advised their fans and followers to abandon their Western schools for those of the Arabs. [64] Another major Arab contribution to Western music was the mensural music and rhythmic modes such as the famous and beautiful Andalusian Arab Muwashshahat, strophic poems performed with music. Arab music was spread all over Europe through the wondering medieval minstrels, echoes of whose music have survived for hundreds of years in Gypsy music. Many Arab musical terms are still used today in Spanish such as huda, nourisca, zamra, and zarabanda. In fact, not only the famous Spanish flamenco music and dance originally came from the Arab music of Andalusia, but also even the English Morris dancers were deeply influenced by Arab music. Actually the word Morris means Moorish or Arab. [65] There are many outstanding Western musicians and composers, from the 19th and 20th centuries, who found inspiration in Arab music and were influenced by it. These include four French: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Charles Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Jules Massenet (18421912), and Claude Debussy (1862-1918); one French-Belgian: Cesar Franck (1822-1890); four

Russians: Aleksander Borodin (1833-1887), Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) who composed the famous symphonic suite Scheherazad in 1888; and two Spanish: Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) especially in his musical production Alhambra, and Enrique Granados (1867-1916), especially in his songs Chansons Arabes and Mauresques. [66]

14
Art
Because Islam forbids the portrayal of human figures and animals (for man must not compete with God who alone has the power to create), Arab civilization produced not only the beautiful and distinguished artistic forms of Arabic calligraphy, but also the famous "arabesque", a unique stylish form of Arab art. Arabesque is a most perfect style of decoration characterized by an elaborate interlocking plants and abstract curvilinear motifs as well as intricate geometrical designs. Because it represents visual art in its purest form, arabesque was copied throughout Europe from the time of the Renaissance and up to the 19th century. European artists used arabesque, as the Arabs did, for the decoration of walls and ceilings; plaster panels; woodcarving; metalwork; pottery; textile; furniture; and illuminated manuscripts. In fact, the Italian Renaissance used the term "arabesque" to mean intricate design. European artists, particularly in Spain and Portugal eagerly adopted the famous Arab art of using the alphabet letters for purely decorative purposes, calligraphy. The European Gothic script was used in the same fashion as Arabic calligraphy. Sometimes Christian art itself used the actual Arabic letters as a form of decoration. For example, Arabic artistic writing in Western art could be found in the paintings of the following three great Italian painters: Giotto Di Bondone (12661337), Fra Angelico (1400-1455), and Fra Lippi (1406-1469). In Lippi's great painting of the "Coronation of the Virgin", housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, the yard-long scarf held by the angels has Arabic words written all over it. The Andalusian Arabs introduced to the West many beautiful artistically handcrafted industries such as the unique Arabian jewelry; the manufacture and painting of ceramics, including tiles; and the manufacture of crystal, a process discovered by the Arabs in Cordoba in the second half of the 9th century. [67] Also, an 11th century Spanish Catholic prince by the name of Alfonso VIII ordered the minting of a decorative coin in which not only the inscriptions were written in Arabic, but also he referred to himself on the coin as the "Ameer of the Catholics" and the Pope in Rome as the "Imam of the Church of Christ". [68] During the Renaissance, Arabian turbans and other articles of Arab apparel appeared in many Western paintings, some of which even displayed Christian Saints looking like Arab and Muslim notables. [69] Arab artistic influence could also be easily seen as late as the 19th century in the

great paintings of the French Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) who lived in Arab North Africa and was influenced by his experiences there. In reality, the beautiful Arabian textiles; silk; damasks; inlaid tables; wood carving; colored glass wares; lamps; bottles; enamelled glass; beakers; metal and leather works; book-binding; and decorative colored glazed pottery were all considered great objets d'art throughout Europe. They were copied and sometimes poorly imitated by European artists, especially in Italy. Also, what was identified in Europe as the "Chinese Blue" pottery, which was copied especially in Holland and Denmark, was in reality the Islamic pottery known in China as the "Mohammadan Blue" which the Chinese potters themselves had learned from the Arabs. Further, at the Canterbury Cathedral, the mother-church of English Protestantism, the artistically made 13th century Arabian silk bags were used to hold the seals of documents. [70]

15
Architecture
The style of Arab architecture was popular in the West and was copied by both European and American builders. Both the plain Andalusian horseshoe arch and the more complex cupsed arches of the mosques of Cordoba and Samarra in Iraq as well as at those of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, served as models for many arches in Perpendicular and Gothic churches in England and France. The beautiful Arab brick tracery of the facades of both the well-known Islamic Giralda Tower in Seville, as well that of its sister-minaret, the Kutubia in Morocco, were copied with some minor variation in much of Gothic tracery throughout Europe, especially on the Bell Tower at Evesham in England. [71] Many churches both in Sicily and Southern Italy have a deep Arab architectural influence such as the church of Capella Palatina in Palermo. The medallions of Christian saints that adorn its arches bear Arabic writings of the Kufic style. Many European arches and battlements, such as the Palazzo Ca' d'Oro (one of the greatest of 15th century palaces in Venice), also reflect Arab architectural influence. The Italian cities of Siena and Florence provide the best available examples of the Arab architectural influence of alternating white and black marbles on the facade of churches. Other examples elsewhere include various churches and academic buildings in England, such as Cromer Church in Norfolk and Christ Hall in Oxford. [72] However, the very best example of the profound impact of Arab architecture on the West is provided by the campanile that is nothing but a clear adaptation of the tall graceful slender minaret. This adaptation can be found in the campaniles of the Torre del Commune in Verona, the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and the Piazza San Marco in Venice. [73] Arab architectural influence touched even the early American city architecture; especially those buildings designed by the great American architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), the spiritual father of modern U.S. architecture. In fact, the interest of American architects both in long ornamental friezes and in

the severity of American exteriors is due to the influence of Arab monuments, especially those of the Madrasah ("religious school") of Sultan Hasan in Cairo. [74]

IV
The Horrors of the Spanish Inquisition after the End of Arab Andalusian Civilization
In January 1492 Granada surrendered to the Christian Spanish forces of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. Although there was no final battle, but rather a final surrender, the Pope declared their victory to be a "holy war" - a crusade against Islam. Ironically, after almost 800 years of brilliant Arab civilization and presence in Europe's Iberian Peninsula, the Christian Spaniards resorted back to the old Western uncivilized religious and racial intolerance. By brutal and barbaric acts of racism and religious intolerance, the Spanish "Christians" initiated the horribly violent Inquisition (or holocaust) against both Muslims and Jews whether they were Arab or not. The terrorist Inquisition in Spain, which was officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church and the Papacy in Rome, was actually a continuation of the general European Inquisition against non-Christians, which started some 200 years earlier during the violent European Crusades against the Arabs and Muslims of the East. In fact, the barbaric European Inquisition that started with the beginning of the Crusades in Toulouse, France, in 1229 continued for over 600 years all over Europe. This Western terrorism that included the horrors of witch-hunting and the killing and torturing of non-Christians and Christians, as well as the censoring of scientific ideas, finally came to an end in Spain in 1834. The Spanish violent Inquisition of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries resulted in the widespread killing and burning of Jews and Muslims; their brutal torture and deportations from Spain; their denial to hold any public office whatsoever; and their forced conversion to Christianity. In fact, even those who had been forced to convert to Christianity (i. e., the "Moriscos") were also expelled from Spain. In all, over three million Muslims were deported from Spain. [75] It was believed that all Hispanic names that ended with "ez" were originally Arab-Muslim families who were "converts" to Christianity and who fled the Spanish Inquisition to find new hopes in the New World. In fact, the voyages of Christopher Columbus (who was an inquisitor, a slaveowner, and a slave-trader) to the New World were financed with the revenues from the confiscated properties of Muslims and Jews who had been brutally deported from their homes in Spain. [76] Armand-Jean du Plessis (1585-1642), the famous French Cardinal and Duke of Richelieu - who served as the chief minister to the French King Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642 described the expulsion of the Arabs and Muslims from Spain in his memoirs "as the most barbarous act in human history." [77] During the Spanish Inquisition, many Christians also resorted back to the old dirty European habit of avoiding washing their bodies with water, this time in order not to imitate the heretic expelled Muslim Arabs! After the "uncivilized" Arabs were expelled from Spain, all public baths were closed. The Spanish Christians rejected all forms of bathing, public or private, because they associated them with Islam and regarded them as "a mere cover for Mohammedan ritual and

sexual promiscuity." [78] In fact, even until today people throughout the civilized Western world, whether in Europe or in the Americas, still clean up with only toilet papers after using the toilet bowl, whereas all Arabs and Muslims have always used water to wash and clean up afterwards. In addition to the sudden disappearance of the virtues, such as personal and public hygiene, religious and racial tolerance, which the Arabs had introduced to the West, intellectual academic freedom in Spain also suffered a major setback. In 1499 in Granada the Spanish Cardinal and Grand Inquisitor, Francisco Jimenez (or Ximenes) de Cisneros (1436-1517), ordered the public burning of over 80,000 Arabic treasure books, and denounced Arabic as: "the language of a heretical and despised race." [79] The Spanish Inquisition's violent ethnic cleansing outlawed Muslims and Jews (Arab and non-Arab alike) from Spain until the 1890s. However, not all Spanish people hated the Arabs. There were, and still are, many Spanish who were grateful to the Arabs, for their religious and racial tolerance, and for their wonderful civilization. The great Christian Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) once lamented the loss of Arab civilization and its religious and racial tolerance in his own country by writing: "It was a disastrous event, even though they say the opposite in schools. An admirable civilization and a poetry, architecture and delicacy unique in the world - all were lost..." [80]

Notes:
1. For detailed information on Western "Orientalist scholars", see Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979). 2. Dirk Struik, "Multicluturalism and the History of Mathematics," Monthly Review, 46, No. 10 (March, 1995), 30. 3. Ibid., p. 28. 4. Quoted in Rom Landau, Arab Contribution to Civilization (San Francisco: The American Academy of Asian Studies, 1958), p. 9. 5. Edward McNall Burns and Philip Lee Ralph, World Civilizations: From Ancient to Contemporary. Their History and Their Cultures, 2 volumes (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1964), p. 397. 6. Ibid., p. 398. 7. Ibid., pp. 398-99. 8. Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. Translated by Jon Rothschild (New York: Schocken Books, 1984), p. 54.

9. Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 34. 10. Ibid., p. 34. 11. Bernard Lewis, The Arabs in History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 180. 12. Ibid., p. 181. 13. David E. Stannard, American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 58. 14. Catherine Young, An Introduction to Islamic History: A Teacher's Resource Book Grades 712 (Fountain Valley, California: Council on Islamic Education, n.d.), p. 1 of the section on Spain. 15. Lewis, The Arabs, pp. 131-32. 16. Duncan Townson, Muslim Spain (Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1979), p. 24. 17. Ibid., p. 17. 18. Ibid., p. 19. 19. Mohammad T. Mehdi, Islam and Intolerance: A Reply to Salman Rushdie (New York: New World Press, 1989), p. 21. 20. Ibid., p. 61. 21. Clifford N. Anderson, The Fertile Crescent: Travels in the Ancient Footsteps of Ancient Science (Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Sylvester Press, 1972), p. 94. 22. Karl J. Smith, The Nature of Mathematics (5th ed.; Monterey, California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1987), p. 176. 23. Abdelhamid I. Sabra, "The Exact Sciences," in The Genius of Arab Civilization: Source of Renaissance, ed. by John R. Hayes (3rd ed.; New York: New York University Press, 1992), p. 186. 24. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 36. 25. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1989, vol. 1, p. 962. 26. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 35-36. 27. Ibid., p. 37.

28. Paul Lund, "Science in Al-Andalus," Aramco World Magazine (a Special Aramco Knoxville World's Fair Issue, 1982?), p. 22. 29. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1989, vol. 6, p. 451. 30. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 50-51 31. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1989, vol. 5, p. 571. 32. Ibid., p. 571. 33. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 267. 34. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 46-47. 35. Hayes (ed.), The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 226. 36. Quoted in Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 42-43. 37. Ibid., pp. 47-49. 38. Sami K. Hamarneh, "The Life Sciences," in Hayes, The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 213. 39. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 44. 40. Ibid., p. 49. 41. The entire section on "Zoology and Veterinary Medicine" is drawn from Hamarneh, "The Life Sciences", p. 213. 42. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 52-53. 43. Hamarneh, "The Life Sciences", p. 217. 44. Ibid., p. 217. 45. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 24. 46. Mounah A. Khouri, "Literature," in Hayes, The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 66. 47. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 25-26. 48. Lewis, The Arabs, p. 130. 49. Hayes (ed.), The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 266.

50. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 39-40. 51. Quoted in Encyclopedia Britannica, 1989, vol. 6, p. 222. 52. Quoted in ibid., p. 222. 53. Quoted in ibid., p. 222. 54. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 58. 55. Khouri, "Literature", p. 70. 56. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 55-56. 57. Ibid., p. 57. 58. Cited in ibid., p. 55. 59. Khouri, "Literature", p. 56. 60. Ibid., p. 67. 61. Landau, Arab Contribution, pp. 56-57. 62. Ibid., pp. 59-60. 63. Ibid., pp. 60-61. 64. Ibid., p. 61. 65. Ibid., pp. 61-62. 66. Ibid., p. 62. 67. Ragaei and Dorothea El Mallakh, "Trade and Commerce," in Hayes, The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 259. 68. Landau, Arab Contribution, p. 65. 69. Ibid., p. 65. 70. Ibid., pp. 66-67. 71. Ibid., p. 68. 72. Ibid., p. 68.

73. Ibid., pp. 68-69. 74. Oleg Grabar, "Architecture and Art," in Hayes, The Genius of Arab Civilization, p. 112. 75. Audrey Shabbas, "Living History With a Medieval Banquet in the Alhambra Palace," Social Studies Review, 34, No. 3 (Spring, 1996), 25. 76. Ibid., p. 25. 77. Quoted in Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (New York: The New American Library, 1965), p. 115. 78. Stannard, American Holocaust, p. 161. 79. Quoted in Desmond Stewart, Early Islam: Great Ages of Man (New York: Time Incorporated, 1967), p. 143. 80. Quoted in Shabbas, "Living History With a Medieval Banquet," p. 25.

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All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon whom Allah sent as a mercy to the Worlds, upon his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection. The word "Secularity" - (Al-'Ilmaaniyya) in the Arabic language - is a term that has absolutely no relation with the word "Science" ('Ilm) or its derivations. From the political point of view, secularity means "Irreligious power" (i.e. religion should not be involved in power). It is commonly defined in many Islamic books as "The separation of religion from the state". However, this meaning is limited and does not state the reality of secularity, which involves the individual and the behavior that have no relation with the state. This is why we can express it differently in a more conformable way to the reality of secularity, which is "The establishment of an irreligious life". Regardless the fact that secularity, whose doctrine and philosophy emerged under the protection of the western civilization, was influenced by the falsified Christianity[1] and socialism, the irreligious secularity is a worldly ideology aiming at isolating the religious influence on life. It calls to set up life on material basis in its different domains: political, economical, social, ethic, judicial and others, also on the bases of the absolute worldly knowledge, under the power of reason and experimentation, taking into consideration interest, by adapting the principle of utilitarianism over all the domains of life, in power, politics and ethics based on the Machiavellian principle "The end justifies the means". Thus, far from the religious recommendations and prohibitions which are restricted in the individual's mind and do not go with them beyond his personal and private relation between him and his Lord. Furthermore, he is not allowed to express himself, but only in matters of religious rituals and ceremonies, which consist of weddings, festivals, funerals and others. Secularity, which is based on the materialistic tendency, is soon emanated from the irreligious doctrine, whose utmost aim is fighting religion and removing it from all fields of the public life, in addition to excluding people of religion and its protectors and limiting their influence by isolating them from educational domains, institutions and scientific institutes, and preventing religious knowledge. So, its highest aim is to establish a state and a society where religion is confined to the individual level, and make people of the Islamic society feel brotherhood in state, regardless the fact that they are not brothers in religion. Nevertheless, the truth is not really perceived by those who divide secularity, on the one hand, into atheistic one, which radically denies the existence of the Creator and does not at all recognize something in matter of religion, and on the other hand, into non-atheistic secularity that believes, theoretically, in the Creator but rejects any relation between Allah and the men's life. It calls to isolate religion from the world and life, and rejects, explicitly or implicitly, the legislation of Allah. Because atheism is the nature of secularity in all its forms since atheism is to depart and to deviate from Allah's religion and legislation including all leaning or tendency towards religion. This is what essentially leads to incredulity in Allah, the association to Him in what is illicit, transgress something forbidden by Him, and leave any of the

recommendations of Allah[2]. Besides, the origin of atheism is all what contains the association to Allah in His general Lordship, and denying Allah's Names, attributes or Acts. The predication of secularity represents a huge danger to the religion of Islam and to Muslims, and the majority of the Muslims are not aware of its reality because it disguises behind different masks such as patriotism, socialism, nationalism, and others. As well as, it hides behind destructive theories like Freudianism, Darwinism, or Evolutionism[3] and others. Its partisans pretend relying on attested scientific arguments whereas they are just weak, deficient and specious arguments rejected by reason and reality: The meaning of the verse: As the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of the houses is the spider's house did they but know [Al-'Ankaboot (The Spider): 41]. Especially, the one that gives the appearance of a partisan to the religion in order to confuse and to lead ordinary Muslims astray. In fact, it does not prevent the pilgrimage and prayer in the mosques. On the contrary, it contributes in their construction, it takes part in celebrations and festivals, it offers rewards and gifts for the imams and those who learn the Koran by heart, and show neither struggle nor antagonism against religion but with very fervent attempts to restrict religion in mosques and isolate it from the domains of life. Among the aspects and domains of secularization which are kept off from religion: - Politics and power, the adaptation of secularization in these fields is apparent and not hidden from the observers. - Secularization of teaching and its methods, a fact not refuted by those who are reasonable. - Secularization of economy and financial structures, clearly known by experts. - Civic, social and ethic laws are undoubtedly secularized. In fact, secularism makes of the spiritual values negative ones. In this manner, it makes the way free to the spread of atheism, westernization, libertinism and ethic anarchy. It calls for the women's liberation according to the western style that does not condemn illegal relations between the two sexes. This is what helps to open widely the doors to shameful practices that, consequently, lead to the destruction of the family's existence and to its disunion. Thus, with such practices, generations are formed with an irreligious education, in a society where neither an impediment or a religious barrier nor a voice of a living consciousness exist, which are substituted by agitations of worldly passions like interest, covetousness, the struggle for life, and other material hopes regardless of spiritual values. It is this kind of secularity that is spread in the Muslim and Arab world, through the effect of colonialism and the campaigns of Christianization and evangelization. Also, because of the improvidence of our compatriots, deluded with illusions, who brandished its slogan, and executed the plans of those who have drawn them and supported them to confuse ordinary people with specious arguments and pretensions of extreme disorientation that founded their predication, which consists of: - Slandering the Noble Quran and making the prophecy doubtful. - Pretending that the revelation is inactive and unable to adapt itself with civilisation, and Europe progressed only after getting rid of religion. [ : 41].

- Pretending that Islam neglects the pursuit of the evolution of life, calls for repression, and persecutes the freedom of thought. - Pretending that Islamic religion has already completed its aims and remains in it only a set of rituals and spiritual practices. - Pretending that the Arabic language lacks or takes a long time to adapt itself with science and progress, and it is unable to pursuit civilization and development process. However, even if Arabic is the official language in Muslim countries, but still it is marginalized in the majority of administrative institutions, in universities and medical fields, especially in North African countries where the French language has replaced it and really becomes the practiced language of speaking and of communication. Nevertheless, the Arabic language has gradually regressed and loses ground according to plans already prepared and studied after knowing that Arabic is the language of the Quran and the key of the revelation sciences. - Pretending that the revelation has already been practically applied at the level of politics, power, and in other domains. Because, they pretend that the Islamic jurisprudence draws its prescriptions from the Roman law. - Pretending the harshness of the revelation in its retributions such as: lex talionis, amputation, being stoned to death, flagellation ... and decide on retributions that are more appropriate by taking irreligious laws and methods from the West, by imitation, which are considered more clement and more lenient. Eventually, these are the set of pretensions that secularists rely on, who work in order to interrupt the revelation of Allah by different means such as personalities, magazines, journalism, and other plans. In addition to this, they want to separate the authentic religion from the social life, and reduce it in the narrowest limits and domains according to the leanings and practices of the West who aims at breaking the commandments of Islam and releasing it from all its obligations and values. Besides, they want to alter the Muslim identity, cut them off from their religion, and lose their loyalty to it and membership to their community through the alliance to the West full of hatred, and by interchanging the values, notions, terms and authentic Islamic conceptions with western ones, in a manner that the lifestyle will be changed to that of the West, and by changing the way of thinking and acting so that it suits the thinking and deeds of the West. They also aim at changing the ethical and social behavior with the allegation that it is a modernization of the legislative, juridical and penal systems; and this in a manner that goes with the civilizational way, by imitating the western systems and legislations, all this under the banner of development and renewal. Many individuals of the Islamic nation were deeply influenced by secularity, and this is obvious in the fields of institutions, power, Sharia, jurisprudence and education. This influence is due to what was spread of ambiguities around Islam, its language, Quran and Prophet, as we previously mentioned. Many social and political institutions were influenced by these pernicious notions and proceeded to develop their countries by focusing on secularizing the state, whether under the guise of nationalism, socialism, patriotism or others. As for the other institutions with Islamic tendency, they are also influenced by secularity - save those whom Allah Has protected by His mercy - they have of religion a limited conception since they restrict it to its civilizational aspect. Islam, religion and state rejects categorically this duality, which consists of making a strong barrier between the material and the spiritual world; it is considered an apostasy. Moreover, Islam, within its sane and pure nature, its correct dogma and morality, does not accept the spread of the western social evils such as atheism, libertinism, ethic anarchy, and other vices, ideological and moral impurities which bring the destruction of the doctrine's unity, the family and the society existence. In fact, Islam commands to Muslim to be entirely to Allah in all domains of life: his deeds, his words, and his behaviors. His life as well as his death belongs to the Allah : * [ :

162-163]. The meaning of the verse: Say (O Muhammad ) : "Verily, my Salaat (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allaah, the Lord of the 'Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists) He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims [Al-An'aam (The Cattle): 162-163]. The perfect knowledge belongs to Allah. Our last prayer is all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon our Prophet , his Family, his Companions and Brothers till the Day of Resurrection. ---------------------------------------------------------

[1] One of the Christian proclamations: Give to Caesar the power of state and to God the power of the church. Starting from this, it has emerged the principle of "The separation of religion from the state", a principle attributed to 'Issa (Jesus) when he said: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (Gospel of Luke 20:25) It is in this way that Christianity agrees with secularism. However, religion and power, in Islam, are made originally to Allah and devoted to Him. They do neither admit the separation between religion and State, nor between religion and society, because Islam, as religion and system, is different in its origin from Christianity, which is a set of testaments, and it is also different from it when applied in the Roman societies where religion were for God and power for Caesar. [2] See "Adhwaa' Al-Bayaan" of Ash-Shanqeeti (5/59-58). [3] The Darwinist theory, in reference to Charles Darwin, a British researcher, who published the book "On the origin of species" in 1859, which deals with a series of assumptions. He supported his theory of apparition and evolution which assumes that the evolution of life in organic creatures is that it evolved from a simple and primitive life to a more complex and subtle one and that it graduated from archaic to more sophisticated life. He considered that the origin of life is a cell which was in a swampy marsh some million years ago, then it had developed and had undergone many steps, among them, that of the ape which became a human. Darwin thus, considered the human as being close to the ape; he even assumed that the real ancestor of the human race is a small cell that lived in a swampy marsh. His aim by this is to eliminate the creed of the people of the truth, that the human race is descended from Adam and Eve. This theory caused general discomfort and a feeling of upset and perdition. Distraught and disarrayed generations who were characterized by spiritual vacuum have appeared then. Among the results of this theory, the materialistic and Marxist theory which proclaimed the materialistic aspect of the human being who is subjected to the laws of matter, thus neglecting the spiritual aspects. This theory has also an effect on the birth of Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. Freud drew from the theory of Darwin the idea of the animality of the human being, that he is an animal guided by the sex drive; otherwise he will be in the grip of a harmful inhibition with bad effects on the nervous system. That is how Freud considered the evolution theory as an explication of the existence of religion by linking it to sexual urges. Many theories drew from the theory of Darwin destructive ideologies, as the existentialism of Sartre and the contemporary parapsychology of Bergson; they based their theories upon that of Darwin in its

explication of the human race, life and behavior. The experimental sciences proved that Darwin's theory is false with irrefutable proofs. His theory is not even considered a scientific theory, especially after the discoveries of Mendel's law on inheritance and genes. The Quran establishes that the human being is created out of an extract of clay, then he was placed as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging (womb of a woman). So, the matter of creation of all creatures at the origin is water. [ : 45].

The meaning of the verse: Allaah has created every moving (living) creature from water. Of them there are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs, and some that walk on four. Allaah creates what He wills. Verily! Allaah is Able to do all things. [An-Noor (The Light): 45]. The human stays a human, with all his constituents, his form, his characteristics and his mind, without evolution or change. This fact is a proof that the Creator is one. The meaning of the verse: Who made everything He has created good, and He began the creation of man from clay. Then He made his offspring from semen of worthless water (male and female sexual discharge). [As-Sajda (The Prostration): 7-8]. source: http://ferkous.com/eng/M13.php . [ : 7-8].