JOOTUBE IS AGAIN FILTERING MY COMMENTS! THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING ALL THE TIME, LATELY! 11/7/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwPiSlljry0

All I read in their own "history" ("White Western Supremacist") is that their leaders were all thieves, plunderers, liars, racists, and mass murderers!

1. They stole all non Western science (knowledge) like Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, As-Syrian, and Arabian and made everything coming from "Greece", a term not well defined geographically, historically, and even ethnically!

2. The Greeks were so intelligent that they HAD TO come to Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia to show how advanced they were in all domains!

3. At the time of the Muslim Golden Age, they even stole all known science and philosophy of the time, and made them into Greek Science and philosophy, and destroyed most of the originals!

4. Check the works "of Copernicus" and of other much acclaimed scientists!

5. Rome took even a heavily corrupted Arabian Palestinian religion, destroyed most of the old manuscripts, and made it into racist Western Roman Catholicism!

6. Read the book by Sigrid Hunke "Allahs Sonne über dem Abendland" (1960; "Allah's sun over the Occident"), one of the most ignored and even boycotted book ever written!

7. See how Alexander (the Accursed) tried to stop their racism!

BAFS

"As pointed out here by the author, when Europe was struggling with ignorance and fanaticism in the Middle Ages, scientists like Khawrazmi, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Razi, Avicinna, Khayyam, Ibn al Haytham and Ibn al Nafis, and hundreds of other scientists emerged in the Muslim world and served it."

ALLAH'S SUN SHINES OVER THE OCCIDENT (THE WEST) by SIGRID HUNKE

“Allah’s sun over the Occident”

Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident - Sigrid Hunke

Published on 8 Mar 2014

"Il ne s'agit pas seulement d'élargir notre horizon historique mais encore, en un temps où nous cherchons dans l'ennemi d'hier l'ami de demain, de franchir les vieilles barrières édifiées par la religion, de faire preuve d'une plus grande tolérance et, par-dessus les questions de croyance, de porter notre attention sur les êtres humains." Sigrid Hunke

"Du destin du monde arabe, qui une fois déjà a changé la face du monde, peut-être le nôtre va-t-il très bientôt dépendre étroitement. Ne serait-il pas temps dès lors de nous interroger, au-delà de ce qui nous sépare, sur ce qui nous lie, sur ce que nous avons en commun?" Sigrid Hunke

"Cet ouvrage a pour but de s'acquitter envers le monde arabe d'une très ancienne dette de reconnaissance. Et si, pour ce faire, il traite d'un grand nombre d'influences directes ou indirectes de la civilisation arabe - quoique ne pouvant évidemment les citer toutes - cela ne signifie pas pour autant que nous lui devions tout! Et cela ne signifie pas non plus que nous songions à négliger ou à minimiser l'importance considérable des influences grecque et romaine, chinoise, indienne ou juive. Pas plus d'ailleurs que nous ne songeons à nier l'évolution propre et la vigueur du génie des peuples germaniques et romains qui surent puiser dans les apports étrangers de quoi se réaliser eux-mêmes. Beaucoup de mains tissent le grand tapis de la civilisation. Chacune d'elles contribue au travail commun et a droit de ce fait à notre gratitude." Sigrid Hunke

"La vie n'est pas un vide à remplir. C'est une plénitude à découvrir." Christoph Eberhard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5iBnKeWl0

Charlemagne et les Arabes 1

Uploaded on 23 Oct 2009

Un marchand juif explique la civilisation arabo-musulmane à Charlemagne

Charlemagne et les Arabes 2

(See further down - ANTI-ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA)

Le soleil d’ALLAH brille sur l’occident | Sigrid Hunke (fiche de lecture)

27 février 2013 admin 1 Commentaire

Imprimer | PDF

Arabesques andalouses “Le soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident” pages 382-383 – Sigrid Hunke

"Et voici la teneur du dernier poème qu'un Arabe d'Andalousie ait osé composer;
ce poème tomba entre les mains des autorités en même temps que la lettre destinée à appeler à l'aide les frères d'Afrique du Nord :

Je me dois de crier à l'univers comment
Notre célèbre Andalousie
Sous le joug d'infidèles, pêcheurs et mécréants
Est odieusement asservie.
Nous vivons comme autant d'agneaux épouvantés
Cernés par la horde des loups
Qui veulent notre mort et nous criblent de coups
Sans cesse avec férocité.
Ils veulent par violence obtenir que nos frères
Se soumettent à leur loi,
Que devant leurs idoles, à genoux, nos prières
Nous convertissent à leur foi.
Nous vivons dans la peur qui torture notre âme
Et les tourments perpétuels.
Pour nous faire adorer leurs images infâmes
Leurs clochers lancent leurs appels.
Ils veulent notre mort, et chaque espion nous guette
Comme guetterait un vautour.
Emploie pour louer Dieu la langue du Prophète :
Tu disparaîtras sans retour.
Pour traquer tout suspect, ils emploient tant de sbires
Que fût-il à cent lieues un beau jour il est pris !
Dans un cachot sinistre on le jette, ô martyre !
Où sans cesse on lui crie :"Réflechis, réfléchis!"
Ce mot vrille encor le tympan du malheureux
Etendu sur le sol, des larmes plein les yeux.
Dans son cachot obscur gisant jour après jour,
Son infinie patience est bien son seul recours.
Il lui paraît qu'un gouffre hideux va l'engloutir
Quelque océan sans fin qu'il ne saurait franchir.
Voici qu'on le traîne à la chambre de torture,
Lié au chevalet, le supplicié endure
Le broiement affreux de ses os.
Les chrétiens méprisants se rassemblent bientôt
Place Attaoubin où ils ont dressés très haut
Le plus effroyable échafaud.
Nommant ce jour celui du jugement dernier,
De jaune ils vêtent ceux qu'ils n'ont pas condamnés.
Précédés de statues, les autres prisonniers
Vers le feu du bûcher en troupeau sont menés,
Ce bûcher où les guette une mort effroyable.
Dans un cercle enflammé le danger nous enserre,
Il n'est pas de tourment, hélas ! sur cette terre,
Qui jour et nuit ne nous accable !

Par la furie de l'autodafé et par des bannissements massifs, on dépeupla rapidement le pays le plus prospère du continent; en peu de temps il redevint un désert. La victoire sur le monde arabe était consommée."

Le soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident -
Auteur : Sigrid Hunke

Sigrid Hunke (1913-1999) était une historienne des religions et écrivain allemande, spécialisée dans l’étude des religions, théoricienne de l’universalisme unitarien (mouvement de retour aux religions païennes). Elle a travaillé sur le mysticisme nazi avant d’atteindre la reconnaissance pour ses ouvrages sur la civilisation islamique et sur le néopaganisme dont elle était partisane.

Elle publia « Le soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident » en 1960. Son parcours et ses idées expliquent en grande partie la forme de son ouvrage mais, cela étant, n’enlèvent rien à la réalité exprimée dans son ouvrage et à l’apport énorme de la civilisation islamique à l’Occident. Dans un premier temps je rendrai compte de la pensée de Sigrid Hunke puis dans une deuxième partie je commenterai ces passages.

Ce premier texte traite uniquement de l’introduction de son ouvrage, les autres chapitres étant fichés de la même manière dans d’autres textes à venir in sha Allah.

Introduction :
L’auteur débute son ouvrage par une introduction de 3 pages, expliquant ainsi le but de son ouvrage, les objectifs poursuivis.

Sigrid Hunke entame son oeuvre en donnant une nouvelle perspective, une nouvelle historiographie qui tente de sortir de l’ethnocentrisme, de la vision européo-centrée de l’Histoire. Cet ethnocentrisme se décline sur plusieurs points développés par l’auteur :

- la certitude que l’Occident et son histoire sont les seuls à influer sur la marche du monde et de l’histoire, à l’influencer ; également elle dénonce l’ethnocentrisme des intellectuels occidentaux et de leurs travaux :
« l’univers actuel ne se compose plus de la seule Europe. Et l’histoire de l’Europe ne constitue plus aujourd’hui à elle-seule l’histoire de l’univers » (1) ;

« toutefois, [...] nous continuons à évoquer le passé sous la forme d’une »mappemonde » médiévale uniquement constituée par une Europe que cerne l’Océan, une Europe dont les foyers spirituels, l’Hellade et Rome, occupent en quelque sorte la place du Paradis »(2) ;

« en dépit de quoi et sur cents traités historiques que vous feuilletterez, vous n’en trouverez guère plus de deux qui mentionnent son nom (nb : la civilisation arabe). »

- l’absence quasi totale du terme »arabe » dans tous les manuels scolaires occidentaux :

« Aujourd’hui encore pour tout écolier occidental, l’étude de l’histoire du monde – celle de la littérature, de l’art et des sciences – débute par un examen superficiel de ce que furent l’Égypte ancienne et Babylone pour s’arrêter longuement sur la Grèce et Rome puis, après un rapide coup d’œil jeté vers Byzance, passer aussitôt au Moyen Age chrétien et de là enfin aux temps modernes. »(3)

L’auteur critique cet état de fait, de surcroit lorsque la civilisation arabe a été la civilisation de la redécouverte du savoir grec, la civilisation qui a permis la Renaissance en Europe, entre autres. La civilisation arabe qui fut le dépositaire et le porte-flambeau du savoir, du raffinement et de la culture. Loin d’être, comme le font croire les intellectuels occidentaux pour réduire le rôle de la civilisation arabe, de simple vecteur de la pensée grecque, ils ont appris, compris, assimilé, corrigé et dépassé les Grecs et leur savoir :

« qu’en ce temps là, aux portes même de l’Europe, les Arabes aient porté pendant les trois quarts d’un millénaire le flambeau de la civilisation, qu’ils aient donc connu une période de splendeur deux fois plus longue que celle des Grecs, qu’ils aient en vérité influencé l’Occident plus directement et plus diversement que ces derniers, qui s’en soucie ? »

« ce sont eux qui ont transmis le savoir des anciens. Cette simple phrase qui prétend rendre hommage au service que les Arabes ont rendu à l’Occident ne réussit en fait qu’à les amoindrir en réduisant leur rôle à celui de simples intermédiaires tout en passant sous silence l’essentiel de leur oeuvre. »
Sigrid Hunke explique cette ingratitude occidentale par l’opposition multi-séculaire entre le monde arabe et le monde occidental, hérité du Moyen-Age, et qui est encore très présente chez les intellectuels occidentaux. L’auteur appelle à un changement des mentalités en conformité avec l’évolution des relations entre monde arabe et monde occidental (commentaire : effectivement il devient urgent à l’occident de changer leur point de vue car la civilisation est passée d’ennemi à … ).

« La nature des rapports entre l’Occident et le monde arabe depuis la proclamation de l’Islam jusqu’à nos jours montre de façon exemplaire à quel point les sentiments et les passions peuvent dicter la façon d’écrire l’histoire. Mais ce point de vue, valable au Moyen-Age ne devrait plus avoir cours aujourd’hui. Or il est certain qu’une sorte de malaise d’origine religieuse, inconscient mais profondément enraciné en nous, limite notre horizon et nous indispose à l’égard d’individus auxquels la propagande a conféré l’aspect d’incendiaires, d’idolâtres et de sorciers. »

« Du destin du monde arabe, qui une fois déjà a changé la face du monde, peut-être le nôtre va-t-il très bientôt dépendre étroitement. Ne serait-il pas temps dès lors de nous interroger, au-delà de ce qui nous sépare, sur ce qui nous lie, sur ce que nous avons de commun ? »

Sigrid Hunke explique son choix délibéré d’appeler la civilisation arabe « arabe » et non islamique ; elle affirme que l’on doit qualifier d’arabe cette civilisation et non d’islamique car tous ne sont pas musulmans dans l’empire (présence de minorités chrétiennes, juives, zoroastriennes, bouddhiste si l’on compte le sous-continent indien). En revanche, les arabes sont mis en valeur et elle fait mention de leurs qualités présentes avant l’arrivée de l’Islam ; également l’assimilation des populations qui ont au fil du temps adopté l’arabe comme langue, prouve, selon l’auteur, que c’est la dominance arabe qu’il faut prendre en compte et non la religion :
« cet ouvrage parlera des »Arabes » et de la civilisation »arabe » et non de la civilisation islamique, car il est notoire que non seulement des chrétiens, des juifs, des parsis, et des Sabéens ont contribué à cette civilisation mais qu’encore bon nombre des plus éclatantes réalisations de celle-ci se sont précisément effectuées contre l’Islam orthodoxe. En effet, bon nombre des éléments qui constituent le génie spécifique de cet univers spirituel existaient déjà dans le caractère de l’Arabe préislamique. »

Sans nier l’apport des autres civilisations dans la création, le développement et l’épanouissement de la culture occidentale, Sigrid Hunke souhaite par le biais de cet ouvrage rendre hommage et « s’acquitter envers le monde arabe d’une très ancienne dette de reconnaissance ».

Commentaire concernant Sigrid Hunke :
Les idées et croyances de Sigrid influencent grandement son écriture – ce qui en soi est tout à fait normal mais malheureusement ne reflète en aucun cas la réalité historique. En effet, la civilisation n’est pas arabe mais bien islamique ; l’ensemble des minorités chrétiennes juives, zoroastriennes voire bouddhistes sont totalement intégrées dans l’empire islamique, sous le statut Dhimmis (protégés). Ces minorités sont utilisées par et pour la civilisation islamique : exemple des moines chrétiens qui traduisent les textes grecs pour les savants arabes. L’appartenance de l’auteur au mouvement unitarien et son aversion pour les religions monothéistes (visibles dans ses écrits concernant le christianisme) expliquent son penchant pour le terme arabe au détriment de la religion. Également son adhésion aux thèses nazies expliquent également sa vision racialiste du monde et l’étude par le prisme des théories raciales ; le philoarabisme nazi explique de la même manière les éloges faites aux Arabes de la Jahiliyya. De plus, elle est influencée par le contexte dans lequel elle écrit son ouvrage, les années 60, en plein triomphe du panarabisme au Moyen Orient. L’ensemble de ces remarques nous permettent de mieux comprendre le choix de Sigrid Hunke de traiter de la civilisation arabe et non de la civilisation islamique malgré l’évidence historique !

Commentaires concernant l’introduction de l’ouvrage :
(1) : On peut remarquer que l’auteur, de manière implicite, affirme que l’Europe a été durant un moment donné, la seule histoire qu’il fallait transcrire, les autres n’étant finalement d’aucune influence sur le monde. Ceci est récurant de la part de la majorité des intellectuels occidentaux. C’est absurde d’affirmer qu’un peuple ou une civilisation constitue la seule aire géographique qui influe sur l’histoire mondiale même si l’Occident fut en effet à l’origine de beaucoup de bouleversements depuis la chute de Grenade en 1492 qui annonce le mouvement de « découverte »/conquête occidentales à travers le monde et la genèse de leur domination ;

(2) : Arrêtons-nous sur cette parabole faite par l’auteur ; elle fait référence ici aux cartes produites par les « occidentaux » (le simple terme « occidental » suppose de définir ce que signifie ce terme, ce qui n’est pas une mince affaire… le terme « Latin », « Etat Latin » serait le plus juste pour désigner les États chrétiens d’Europe, en opposition aux byzantins) qui représentaient l’Europe au centre du monde. Les cartes, loin d’être de simples instruments de localisation traduisaient également la vision du monde de leur concepteur, une vision représentant le continent européen, « l’Heliade et Rome », la Grèce antique et la Rome impériale comme étant à la source de la Civilisation en général et de la civilisation occidentale en particulier. Ce sujet est très bien traité dans cet article qui montre que l’élaboration des cartes est significatif de la vision du monde et porteur d’un message fort, preuve en est du modèle « classique » des cartes, le Mercator : http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/vero-…a-cartographie ;

(3) La teneur des programmes scolaires met en évidence l’ethnocentrisme de l’enseignement donné en Europe et en Occident en général. Plus grave, cet ethnocentrisme est enseigné comme étant la vérité historique aux jeunes générations d’occidentaux participant à la réduction de leur vision du monde et de leur esprit critique. En cela les programmes scolaires concernant l’histoire que nous donne l’auteur montre jusqu’à quel point l’ethnocentrisme est présent dans la société occidentale, n’épargnant pas les jeunes écoliers. Ceci finalement étant totalement compréhensible au vu de l’importance de l’enseignement dans une société, constat valable aussi pour l’histoire.

Le soleil d’ALLAH brille sur l’occident | Sigrid Hunke (fiche de lecture)

27 février 2013 admin 1 Commentaire

Imprimer | PDF

Le soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident ;
Auteur : Sigrid Hunke

Sigrid Hunke (1913-1999) était une historienne des religions et écrivain allemande, spécialisée dans l’étude des religions, théoricienne de l’universalisme unitarien (mouvement de retour aux religions païennes). Elle a travaillé sur le mysticisme nazi avant d’atteindre la reconnaissance pour ses ouvrages sur la civilisation islamique et sur le néopaganisme dont elle était partisane.

Elle publia « Le soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident » en 1960. Son parcours et ses idées expliquent en grande partie la forme de son ouvrage mais, cela étant, n’enlèvent rien à la réalité exprimée dans son ouvrage et à l’apport énorme de la civilisation islamique à l’Occident. Dans un premier temps je rendrai compte de la pensée de Sigrid Hunke puis dans une deuxième partie je commenterai ces passages.

Ce premier texte traite uniquement de l’introduction de son ouvrage, les autres chapitres étant fichés de la même manière dans d’autres textes à venir in sha Allah.

Introduction :

L’auteur débute son ouvrage par une introduction de 3 pages, expliquant ainsi le but de son ouvrage, les objectifs poursuivis.

Sigrid Hunke entame son oeuvre en donnant une nouvelle perspective, une nouvelle historiographie qui tente de sortir de l’ethnocentrisme, de la vision européo-centrée de l’Histoire. Cet ethnocentrisme se décline sur plusieurs points développés par l’auteur :

- la certitude que l’Occident et son histoire sont les seuls à influer sur la marche du monde et de l’histoire, à l’influencer ; également elle dénonce l’ethnocentrisme des intellectuels occidentaux et de leurs travaux :
« l’univers actuel ne se compose plus de la seule Europe. Et l’histoire de l’Europe ne constitue plus aujourd’hui à elle-seule l’histoire de l’univers » (1) ;

« toutefois, [...] nous continuons à évoquer le passé sous la forme d’une »mappemonde » médiévale uniquement constituée par une Europe que cerne l’Océan, une Europe dont les foyers spirituels, l’Hellade et Rome, occupent en quelque sorte la place du Paradis »(2) ;

« en dépit de quoi et sur cents traités historiques que vous feuilletterez, vous n’en trouverez guère plus de deux qui mentionnent son nom (nb : la civilisation arabe). »

- l’absence quasi totale du terme »arabe » dans tous les manuels scolaires occidentaux :

« Aujourd’hui encore pour tout écolier occidental, l’étude de l’histoire du monde – celle de la littérature, de l’art et des sciences – débute par un examen superficiel de ce que furent l’Égypte ancienne et Babylone pour s’arrêter longuement sur la Grèce et Rome puis, après un rapide coup d’œil jeté vers Byzance, passer aussitôt au Moyen Age chrétien et de là enfin aux temps modernes. »(3)

L’auteur critique cet état de fait, de surcroit lorsque la civilisation arabe a été la civilisation de la redécouverte du savoir grec, la civilisation qui a permis la Renaissance en Europe, entre autres. La civilisation arabe qui fut le dépositaire et le porte-flambeau du savoir, du raffinement et de la culture. Loin d’être, comme le font croire les intellectuels occidentaux pour réduire le rôle de la civilisation arabe, de simple vecteur de la pensée grecque, ils ont appris, compris, assimilé, corrigé et dépassé les Grecs et leur savoir :

« qu’en ce temps là, aux portes même de l’Europe, les Arabes aient porté pendant les trois quarts d’un millénaire le flambeau de la civilisation, qu’ils aient donc connu une période de splendeur deux fois plus longue que celle des Grecs, qu’ils aient en vérité influencé l’Occident plus directement et plus diversement que ces derniers, qui s’en soucie ? »

« ce sont eux qui ont transmis le savoir des anciens. Cette simple phrase qui prétend rendre hommage au service que les Arabes ont rendu à l’Occident ne réussit en fait qu’à les amoindrir en réduisant leur rôle à celui de simples intermédiaires tout en passant sous silence l’essentiel de leur oeuvre. »

Sigrid Hunke explique cette ingratitude occidentale par l’opposition multi-séculaire entre le monde arabe et le monde occidental, hérité du Moyen-Age, et qui est encore très présente chez les intellectuels occidentaux. L’auteur appelle à un changement des mentalités en conformité avec l’évolution des relations entre monde arabe et monde occidental (commentaire : effectivement il devient urgent à l’occident de changer leur point de vue car la civilisation est passée d’ennemi à … ).

« La nature des rapports entre l’Occident et le monde arabe depuis la proclamation de l’Islam jusqu’à nos jours montre de façon exemplaire à quel point les sentiments et les passions peuvent dicter la façon d’écrire l’histoire. Mais ce point de vue, valable au Moyen-Age ne devrait plus avoir cours aujourd’hui. Or il est certain qu’une sorte de malaise d’origine religieuse, inconscient mais profondément enraciné en nous, limite notre horizon et nous indispose à l’égard d’individus auxquels la propagande a conféré l’aspect d’incendiaires, d’idolâtres et de sorciers. »

« Du destin du monde arabe, qui une fois déjà a changé la face du monde, peut-être le nôtre va-t-il très bientôt dépendre étroitement. Ne serait-il pas temps dès lors de nous interroger, au-delà de ce qui nous sépare, sur ce qui nous lie, sur ce que nous avons de commun ? »

Sigrid Hunke explique son choix délibéré d’appeler la civilisation arabe « arabe » et non islamique ; elle affirme que l’on doit qualifier d’arabe cette civilisation et non d’islamique car tous ne sont pas musulmans dans l’empire (présence de minorités chrétiennes, juives, zoroastriennes, bouddhiste si l’on compte le sous-continent indien). En revanche, les arabes sont mis en valeur et elle fait mention de leurs qualités présentes avant l’arrivée de l’Islam ; également l’assimilation des populations qui ont au fil du temps adopté l’arabe comme langue, prouve, selon l’auteur, que c’est la dominance arabe qu’il faut prendre en compte et non la religion :

« cet ouvrage parlera des »Arabes » et de la civilisation »arabe » et non de la civilisation islamique, car il est notoire que non seulement des chrétiens, des juifs, des parsis, et des Sabéens ont contribué à cette civilisation mais qu’encore bon nombre des plus éclatantes réalisations de celle-ci se sont précisément effectuées contre l’Islam orthodoxe. En effet, bon nombre des éléments qui constituent le génie spécifique de cet univers spirituel existaient déjà dans le caractère de l’Arabe préislamique. »

Sans nier l’apport des autres civilisations dans la création, le développement et l’épanouissement de la culture occidentale, Sigrid Hunke souhaite par le biais de cet ouvrage rendre hommage et « s’acquitter envers le monde arabe d’une très ancienne dette de reconnaissance ».

Commentaire concernant Sigrid Hunke :

Les idées et croyances de Sigrid influencent grandement son écriture – ce qui en soi est tout à fait normal mais malheureusement ne reflète en aucun cas la réalité historique. En effet, la civilisation n’est pas arabe mais bien islamique ; l’ensemble des minorités chrétiennes juives, zoroastriennes voire bouddhistes sont totalement intégrées dans l’empire islamique, sous le statut Dhimmis (protégés). Ces minorités sont utilisées par et pour la civilisation islamique : exemple des moines chrétiens qui traduisent les textes grecs pour les savants arabes. L’appartenance de l’auteur au mouvement unitarien et son aversion pour les religions monothéistes (visibles dans ses écrits concernant le christianisme) expliquent son penchant pour le terme arabe au détriment de la religion. Également son adhésion aux thèses nazies expliquent également sa vision racialiste du monde et l’étude par le prisme des théories raciales ; le philoarabisme nazi explique de la même manière les éloges faites aux Arabes de la Jahiliyya. De plus, elle est influencée par le contexte dans lequel elle écrit son ouvrage, les années 60, en plein triomphe du panarabisme au Moyen Orient. L’ensemble de ces remarques nous permettent de mieux comprendre le choix de Sigrid Hunke de traiter de la civilisation arabe et non de la civilisation islamique malgré l’évidence historique !

Commentaires concernant l’introduction de l’ouvrage :

(1) : On peut remarquer que l’auteur, de manière implicite, affirme que l’Europe a été durant un moment donné, la seule histoire qu’il fallait transcrire, les autres n’étant finalement d’aucune influence sur le monde. Ceci est récurant de la part de la majorité des intellectuels occidentaux. C’est absurde d’affirmer qu’un peuple ou une civilisation constitue la seule aire géographique qui influe sur l’histoire mondiale même si l’Occident fut en effet à l’origine de beaucoup de bouleversements depuis la chute de Grenade en 1492 qui annonce le mouvement de « découverte »/conquête occidentales à travers le monde et la genèse de leur domination ;

(2) : Arrêtons-nous sur cette parabole faite par l’auteur ; elle fait référence ici aux cartes produites par les « occidentaux » (le simple terme « occidental » suppose de définir ce que signifie ce terme, ce qui n’est pas une mince affaire… le terme « Latin », « Etat Latin » serait le plus juste pour désigner les États chrétiens d’Europe, en opposition aux byzantins) qui représentaient l’Europe au centre du monde. Les cartes, loin d’être de simples instruments de localisation traduisaient également la vision du monde de leur concepteur, une vision représentant le continent européen, « l’Heliade et Rome », la Grèce antique et la Rome impériale comme étant à la source de la Civilisation en général et de la civilisation occidentale en particulier. Ce sujet est très bien traité dans cet article qui montre que l’élaboration des cartes est significatif de la vision du monde et porteur d’un message fort, preuve en est du modèle « classique » des cartes, le Mercator :

http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/vero-…a-cartographie ;

(3) La teneur des programmes scolaires met en évidence l’ethnocentrisme de l’enseignement donné en Europe et en Occident en général. Plus grave, cet ethnocentrisme est enseigné comme étant la vérité historique aux jeunes générations d’occidentaux participant à la réduction de leur vision du monde et de leur esprit critique. En cela les programmes scolaires concernant l’histoire que nous donne l’auteur montre jusqu’à quel point l’ethnocentrisme est présent dans la société occidentale, n’épargnant pas les jeunes écoliers. Ceci finalement étant totalement compréhensible au vu de l’importance de l’enseignement dans une société, constat valable aussi pour l’histoire.

Le Soleil d'Allah Brille sur l'Occident (1ère Partie)

Au Xème siècle, un médecin de Kairouan, en Tunisie, avait acquis une certaine notoriété. Le sultan de Boukhara (aujourd'hui dans la république soviétique d'Ouzbékistan), qui avait un fils de santé fragile, lui écrivit pour lui proposer de venir s'installer à sa cour. Le médecin calcula qu'il lui faudrait 400 chameaux pour emmener avec lui sa bibliothèque, dont il ne pouvait évidemment se séparer, et il refusa. L'ensemble de sa bibliothèque pesait en effet dix tonnes.

Un autre médecin de Kairouan, Ibn al-Jazar, laissa, à sa mort, 250 quintaux de parchemins qu'il avait recouverts de son écriture : toutes ses observations cliniques. C'était l'époque où le calife fatimide du Caire al-Aziz Billah possédait un million six cent mille volumes, dont 6 500 traitaient de mathématiques et 18 000 de philosophie. En lui succédant sur le trône, son fils fit aménager et remplir dix-huit nouvelles salles.

Mais en pays musulman, à cette époque, une telle accumulation du savoir n’est pas au seul usage des princes. Un voyageur qui se rend à Baghdâd en l'an 981 raconte à son retour qu'il a dénombréplus de cent bibliothèques publiques dans la ville. La plus modeste cité d'Orient a la sienne, où n'importe qui peut venir consulter les ouvrages. Celle de Nayah, par exemple, une petite ville d'Irak, comporte 40 000 volumes.
En Occident, à la même époque, les monastères, seuls à détenir les livres, en ont une vingtaine tout au plus. Et parce qu'ils sont si rares, ils sont enchaînés et gardés jour et nuit... En l'an 1386, c'est-à-dire quatre siècles plus tard, la Faculté de médecine de Paris ne possédera encore qu'un seul livre: l'ouvrage encyclopédique du fameux médecin persan Ar-Razi, dont le titre est "Le Réservoir de la médecine (Al-Haoui)". Traduit en latin, ce monument s'appelle "Continens".
Lorsque le roi Louis XI veut l'emprunter pour pouvoir le lire à son aise chez lui, il doit verser à la Faculté une caution de douze livres d'argent et cent écus d'or...

Tels sont les anecdotes et les chiffres étonnants qui mesurent l'écart des connaissances entre l'Europe chrétienne, à cette époque-là, qui va être celle des Croisades, et l'Orient musulman.

Pourquoi ? La réponse est lourde de sens alors que ce même Orient musulman voit aujourd'hui se lever en son sein les forces d'un fanatisme religieux qui n'est pourtant pas dans sa tradition. La réponse est qu'au temps où les sultans et les califes font régner un despotisme éclairé de l'autre côté de la Méditerranée, l'obscurantisme religieux règne en maître sur les esprits de l'Occident, anéantissant toute recherche scientifique possible, pour des siècles.
Galilée, ne l'oublions pas, ira en prison en 1636 pour avoir découvert que la terre tourne autour du soleil et ne sera absout de ce crime par les tribunaux du Vatican que de nos jours...

Au XIIe siècle, un notable musulman, hôte des chevaliers francs de l'Ordre de St-Jean, se rend à Jérusalem alors capitale du royaume chrétien de ce nom. On lui fait visiter l'hôpital tenu par les chevaliers de l'Ordre. Il voit que les blessés graves qu'on y amène, ayant d'être admis à recevoir le moindre soin, doivent se confesser et manger le pain de la communion, quelle que soit l’urgence de leur état. Il s'en s'étonne et demande des explications.
On lui dit que le Synode de Nantes, en l'an 895, a légiféré une fois pour toutes à ce sujet : « Le corps d'aucun malade, celui-ci fût-il délirant de fièvre, ne doit recevoir de soins avant son âme. » Cette règle n'est pas une erreur passagère commise par les évêques bretons du Xème siècle. Elle sera confirmée en 1215 au sommet de la hiérarchie catholique européenne, c'est-à-dire au concile de Latran, qui ordonne, après de longs débats : « Sous peine d'excommunication, il est interdit à tout médecin de soigner unmalade si ce dernier ne s'est pas au préalable confessé. Car la maladie est issue du péché. Si le malade se décharge par la confession du poids de celui-ci, alors, la cessation de la cause entraînera la cessation de l'effet, et la souffrance physique disparaîtra. »
La science médicale est donc rayée d'un trait de plume, au profit de l'interventio

n divine permanente dans les affaires du corps humain. Et c'est, en conséquence toute la science qui est paralysée, et rendue inutile. Le texte du Concile ajoute pour ne laisser aucune échappatoire : « Quiconque s'avisera de se faire soignerpar un médecin juif ou Sarrazin sera frappé d'excommunication. Car le salut de son âme serait alors directement menacé... »

Cependant, de l'autre côté de la Méditerranée, Ibn Ridouan, directeur du corps médical du Caire, lui, a édicté depuis longtemps la règle suivant laquelle « le médecin doit soigner ses ennemis dans le même esprit, avec le même intérêt et la même sollicitude que ceux qu'il aime ».

Au temps où principautés franques et émirats Sarrazins vivaient côte à côte en Syrie et en Palestine, l'émir de Cheisar prêta un jour au seigneur chrétien, qui régnait sur la casbah voisine de Mounaïtira, son médecin nommé Thabit. Il y avait en effet dans la garnison franque de nombreux malades qu'on ne parvenait pas à guérir. Mais Thabit revint très tôt à Cheisar, effrayé de ce qu'il avait vu.
« On m'avait amené un cavalier qui avait un abcès à la jambe, raconta-t-il à l'émir, et une femme atteinte d'une fièvre hectique. Je pose un emplâtre suppuratif sur la jambe du soldat. L’abcès crève et la guérison semble certaine. Mais arrive le médecin franc, qui s'écrie que je n'y connais rien. "Veux-tu vivre avec une seule jambe, demande-t-il au cavalier, ou mourir avec les deux ?" "Vivre avec une seule", répond l'autre, qui n'avait pas confiance non plus dans ma science, une science d'infidèle, comme ils disent.

Le médecin franc fait venir un homme avec une hache et lui ordonne de trancher la jambe du malade sur un billot de bois. L'homme à la hache, peu versé en chirurgie, doit s'y prendre à deux fois pour trancher la jambe, et le malheureux cavalier meurt presque aussitôt... Quant à la femme, poursuit Thabit, je lui avais prescrit, comme il se doit, un régime alimentaire exclusivement compose de légumes, qui pouvait seul lui permettre de se rétablir. Mon adversaire l’examine, et annonce : "Ce cas est clair. Un démon s'est épris d'elle, et il s'est logé dans sa tête. Coupez-lui les cheveux !"
On rase le crâne de cette femme, elle recommence à manger la nourriture de tout le monde, avec force ail et moutarde. Bien entendu, sa fièvre monte. Le médecin franc revient et déclare : "Le démon s'est transporté au cerveau !" Il enlève avec un rasoir une portion du cuir chevelu qu'il taille en forme de croix. L'os crânien apparaît. Il le frotte de gros sel. La malheureuse femme entre bientôt en agonie. J'ai pensé, conclut Thabit, que je ne pouvais pas être très utile là-bas... »

Au-delà des Pyrénées, en ce temps-là, les Arabes sont maîtres de l'Espagne : la ville de Cordoue compte cinquante hôpitaux battant le record de Baghdâd qui en a plus de quarante, construits sur l’ordre d'Haroun al-Raschid, le sultan des Mille et une nuits. Selon des lettres écrites par des malades à leurs familles, et qu'on a retrouvées, on sait que tous ces hôpitaux fonctionnaient comme les hôpitaux modernes d'aujourd'hui.

Ils étaient divisés en services spécialisés, qui comptaient même un service de psychiatrie, alors qu'en Occident les fous se trouvaient enchaînés dans les prisons. Ce n'est qu'en 1751 qu'on envisagera de les soigner en Angleterre, et en France en 1792, quand le médecin Pinel arrachera à la Convention un décret qui tirera les aliénés des geôles pour leur donner un statut de malades.

A Baghdâd comme à Cordoue, au XIIe siècle, les professeurs de médecine font la ; tournée des lits des malades chaque matin, entourés des élèves. « Les lits sont moelleux, les draps blancs, les couvertures aussi douces que le velours, écrit un jeune homme à ses parents. Chaque chambre a l'eau courante. On chauffe lorsque les nuits sont fraîches... »

La perle de tous les hôpitaux est l'hôpital Nouri du Caire, avec ses pavillons différents pour chaque service, au milieu de jardins ombrages. Al-Mansour Qalaouin, jeune général égyptien, y sera guéri de ses coliques hépatiques. Il fait vœu alors d'édifier un hôpital encore plus beau s'il devient sultan. Arrivé au pouvoir, il fait bâtir à grands frais l’hôpital Mansouri entre les deux citadelles du Caire, qui devient le plus bel établissement du monde.

Tous les patients y sont soignés gratuitement et, après leur convalescence, ils partent avec des vêtements neufs et plusieurs pièces d'or. Les directeurs de ces hôpitaux tiennent des registres où toute dépense est consignée, et ces registres nous sont parvenus. Les médecins n'y exercent qu’après avoir subi des examens sévères. ar-Razi, avant de devenir le médecin-chef du plus grand hôpital de Baghdâd, doit se mesurer avec plus de cent postulants. Il dispose après sa nomination d'un état-major de vingt-quatre spécialistes qui dirigent les différents services. Tous travaillent entourés d'étudiants, qui apprennent ainsi leur art comme de nos jours, tandis que dans les facultés occidentales d'alors on dispense savoir purement livresque et qu’il est formellement interdit de disséquer les cadavres.

Dans les Etats des sultans et des émirs, un médecin n'est autorisé à exercer art sans avoir reçu un diplôme délivré ces hôpitaux. La mesure a été décidée en l'an 931 par le calife Al-Mouktadir de Baghdâd, après qu'un patient soit mort la faute professionnelle d'un médecin.
Cette année-là, Al-Mouktadir institue un « Ordre des Médecins », dont Sinar Ben Thabit reçoit la présidence. Il y a bientôt 860 médecins diplômés à Baghdâd, qui ne peuvent exercer que dans leur spécialité. Et ce n'est qu'après les Croisades, qui donnent aux Francs l'occasion d'apprendre ce qui se passe chez les musulmans, qu'on bâtira en Europe des hôpitaux réservés aux malades, au lieu des hospices qui recueillaient indistinctement voyageurs, enfants abandonnés, infirmes et miséreux au milieu de ceux qui souffraient d'une infection.

L'Hôtel-Dieu de Paris sera un des premiers. Par des témoignages du temps, on sait que les malades y étaient couchés dans la paille, les pieds des uns près de la tête des autres, enfants, vieillards, femmes et hommes mêlés. Une femme accouchait à ôté d'un typhique, un nourrisson se débattait dans des convulsions à côté d'un tuberculeux qui crachait. Les infirmiers circulaient avec une éponge imbibée de vinaigre devant la bouche, à cause de l’odeur pestilentielle. Les cadavres restaient longtemps au milieu des malades avant d'être emportés, tout cela dans un nuage de mouches. Nous avons vu plus t comment étaient tenus les hôpitaux Baghdâd...

Ar-Razi, médecin-chef de l'hôpital du plus grand établissement de cette ville, mourra en laissant l'œuvre énorme que nous avons mentionnée, celle que Louis XI voulut lire, faite de toutes les observations recueillies pendant des dizaines d'années et des traitements qu'il avait conçus. Sa sœur Chadicha ayant gardé ces manuscrits dans des nombreux coffres, un vizir du Sultan les lui rachètera, réunira tous les médecins qu'ar-Razi a formés et les chargera de classer tout cela. Toutes les maladies y sont décrites : la malaria, le cancer, la coxalgie, et cent autres, montrant que la médecine de Baghdâd est aussi bien informée que la médecine moderne. On y trouve un Traité de la rougeole et de la variole, alors qu'en Occident, on voit dans ces affections épidémiques des fléaux divins. Ar-Razi a expérimenté un nombre extraordinaire de médicaments en utilisant pour cela des chiens et des singes. Il professe qu'un médecin doit soigner jusqu'au bout les incurables, en leur laissant ignorer la gravité de leur mal, afin de les

aider à lutter. Le grec Hippocrate, lui, vénéré pourtant comme un des fondateurs de la médecine, déclarait que « celle-ci exige qu'on ne s'approche pas de ceux que la maladie a déjà vaincus, car elle est impuissante... »

On reconnaît à cette phrase malheureuse l'esprit philosophique des Grecs, qui va être la cause des erreurs dans laquelle la médecine occidentale va s'enfoncer, avant d'être victime de la religion. En effet, Hippocrate s'est empressé à adopter la théorie d'Empédocle sur les quatre éléments, puisqu'il faut bien adopter une théorie. Il décide en conséquence que « le corps humain est composé de quatre humeurs, le sang, la pituite, la bile et l'atrabile, et que Ta maladie résulte d'une altération des proportions harmonieuses du mélange de ces quatre éléments ».

A suivre ...

D'après le Livre : Le Soleil d'Allah Brille sur l'Occident

Sigrid Hunke

(Edition Albin Michel)

Le Soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident

Le Soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident…..je ne sais pas ce que vous inspire ce titre, mais je vous avoue que moi la première fois que je l’ai entendu (c’était en 2009 je crois), j’assistais à un cours de Sira (donné par M. Autourdelislam

) et il a été brièvement fait mention de cet ouvrage.

Rien qu’à l’énoncé des mots qui composent son titre……Le Soleil+ d’Allah + Brille + sur l’Occident… j’ai été immédiatement interpellée, séduite carrément. C’est clinquant comme titre, non ? Surtout à l’heure où, à cette époque comme aujourd’hui d’ailleurs, il n’était pas bon d’être musulman. Nous assistions à des polémiques sur le voile, sur l’islam radical en France, et nous étions en plein débat sur l’identité nationale… Bref, une fois rentrée chez moi, j’ai fait une petite recherche sur un site de librairie en ligne, histoire de lire le résumé du livre. Et ça a conforté ma première impression, ça m’a parlé, comme on dit ! J’ai donc passé, aussitôt, commande.

L’ouvrage est découpé en sept parties (livres), ce qui en facilite grandement la lecture. Lecture faite, le contenu représente une riche introduction à l’étude de la civilisation arabo-musulmane, un vrai délice pour la culture générale. L’auteur nous dresse un magnifique exposé de la contribution et du rôle déterminant de cette civilisation arabo-musulmane à la civilisation occidentale, notamment à l’époque de l’Andalousie. C’était vraiment une véritable découverte de la richesse de cette culture arabo-musulmane, et de son influence sur l’Occident dans tous les domaines, aussi variés que les mathématiques, l’astronomie, la littérature, la poésie…. et bien d’autres domaines que nous étayerons plus tard !

Cet ouvrage, qui plus est, écrit par une occidentale, et de manière objective je trouve, apporte vraiment un regard nouveau sur l’histoire occidentale, européenne, sur notre histoire, sur leurs liens intrinsèques et leurs évolutions. Surtout à l’heure où nos moindres faits et gestes sont diabolisés, stigmatisés, il est bon de connaitre l’Histoire! Et ce livre est un véritable outil d’évaluation des apports de la civilisation arabo-musulmane aux occidentaux! Franchement, c’est un ouvrage que je recommande à tous. Il est très instructif, se lit très bien, et le style employé par l’auteur ne fait que rendre cette lecture encore plus agréable; C’est un ouvrage très vivant.

L’auteur :
Sigrid Hunke est née à Kiel en 1913 et décédée à Hambourg en 1999. D’origine allemande, cet écrivain a grandi dans une famille d’éditeurs et a étudié de nombreuses matières telles la théologie, la philosophie, la psychologie, l’histoire et la philologie. Personnalité engagée religieusement, elle était surtout connue pour ses ouvrages sur les religions, et publia, en 1960, l’ouvrage qui nous intéresse ici, Le Soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident, ouvrage qui fut traduit en sept langues.

Le livre : Le Soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident

L’auteur a su scrupuleusement rassembler de nombreux éléments qui attestent de l’influence qu’a exercée la civilisation arabo-musulmane sur l’Occident notamment au Moyen-âge, lors de ce qu’on appelle l’âge d’or de la Sicile et de l’Espagne, qui étaient musulmanes à cette époque.
Cet ouvrage est structuré en sept chapitres : sept livres, eux-mêmes subdivisés en sous chapitres.

Livre Premier : L’assaisonnement du quotidien
Ici, il est question des emprunts des européens à la civilisation arabo-musulmane, dans notre vie quotidienne. On y découvre par exemple, les apports linguistiques de l’arabe au français. Par le biais d’une mise en scène, l’auteur a très bien su mettre en valeur, en quelques phrases, un nombre important de termes de racine arabe, mais aussi d’objets d’origine arabe dont le vocable pour les désigner a changé. Je n’avais pas idée de l’importance des mots d’origine arabe, que nous, comme les européens d’ailleurs, employons au quotidien.

Pour vous faire une petite idée, je vais vous citer un petit extrait :
« Mais vous accepterez certainement une tarte aux abricots et aux bananes ! Mais bien sûr, cher ami, vous êtes aujourd’hui mon invité ! Puis-je vous offrir, pour commencer, un sorbet à l’orange ? Je crois que des artichauts feraient une entrée forte agréable. Et que penseriez-vous d’un chapon accompagné de riz et de barquettes aux épinards ? Pour le dessert je ne saurais trop vous recommander ce gâteau à la sauce d’arak. Et pour clore le repas, un moka… Mais, je vous en prie, installez-vous sur le divan….. Savez-vous que nous désignons encore sous son nom arabe de laque, le vernis dont nous couvrons nos ongles, que l’aniline, la gaze, le talc et la ouate sont autant de noms arabes?».

Dans ce chapitre, en abordant la question des emprunts linguistiques, l’auteur fait également un joli clin d’œil à l’Histoire. Elle nous fait par exemple un rappel sur les échanges commerciaux, les grandes routes commerciales. On peut également y découvrir que le mot «Al- barqûq, abricot » a traversé de nombreuses civilisations ; Il a gardé en espagnol son article arabe, et a été emprunté par les arabes au latin, qui l’a lui-même pris au grec qui l’a laissé en Syrie.

Livre II : La numération écrite universelle
Dans ce chapitre, l’auteur nous parle particulièrement des mathématiques, de l’histoire des chiffres. On y découvre que les arabes ont emprunté aux indiens leur système de numération et d’écriture de position des nombres. Les arabes désignèrent ainsi le chiffre 0 « ssifr » qui remplacera le point qui était utilisé pour écrire des nombres à plusieurs chiffres. Puis ce 0 « ssifr » traversa les frontières et devint ensuite le « zéro » en Français. L’auteur nous apprend également que dans l’histoire des mathématiques, bon nombre d’inventions sont d’origines arabes ; Le savant Al-Khovaresmi par exemple est à l’origine du terme « algorithme ». On en découvre bien d’autres dans ce chapitre.

Livre III : Le ciel au dessus de nos têtes
C’est à travers le personnage de Moussa, astronome, géomètre et ami du calife de Bagdad Al-Mamoun, et plus particulièrement ses trois fils : l’un mécanicien, l’autre astronome et le troisième mathématicien, que l’auteur nous plonge dans le domaine de l’astronomie et du rôle déterminant des arabes. Dans ce chapitre, l’auteur nous rappelle également la grande signification religieuse de l’astronomie, notamment en terme de preuve de l’Unicité d’Allah, de Sa Grandeur, Sa Puissance, Sa sagesse, Sa perfection. Soulignant également le fait qu’Allah a Lui-même incité l’homme à observer le ciel.

A des fins plus pratiques, les savants musulmans se sont inspirés de l’astronomie persane, l’ont étudiée et l’ont améliorée, pour permettre par exemple, de calculer le début et la fin du ramadan d’après la révolution de la lune, déterminer les temps de prière ; C’est d’ailleurs aux arabes que l’on doit l’invention de nouvelles techniques tel que l’astrolabe puis les cadrans solaires… . En plus de ces diverses inventions, on apprend que des savants arabes, avant même la théorie de Copernic, avait déjà affirmé l’hypothèse de la rotation de la Terre autour du soleil.

Livre IV : Les mains qui guérissent
Alors que les occidentaux prônaient la force de la foi, l’exorcisme comme seuls mode de guérison (ne faisant donc pas de la recherche en médecine leur priorité), nous découvrons dans ce chapitre, que les arabes sont les instigateurs de la recherche médicale. L’auteur nous dresse un magnifique tableau de plusieurs grands médecins arabes pionniers et personnages clés de l’histoire de la médecine ainsi que leurs travaux ; Comme Ar-Rasi, Ibn al-Nafis, Aboul-Qasim, et Ibn Sina plus connu sous le nom d’Avicenne. Elle passe en revue les différents apports de la civilisation arabo-musulmane à la médecine : en passant de l’organisation, de la réglementation des hôpitaux et de la profession, au listing des symptomatologies et pathologies associées, ainsi que de nombreuses découvertes dans des domaines aussi variés que la pharmacologie, l’ophtalmologie, la psychiatrie…..

Livre V : Les glaives de l’esprit
Ici, il est question de l’engouement des musulmans pour la lecture. Cette ardeur qui touchait toutes les catégories sociales n’était animée que par une seule chose l’Islam, la foi. Tout musulman avait cette soif d’apprendre, de savoir écrire, savoir lire.

Contrairement aux occidentaux, où la lecture du livre saint était réservée aux membres du clergé, et même interdite aux laïques, « Tout musulman doit pouvoir lire et réciter le Coran en arabe ». C’est ce qui ouvra la porte aux premières écoles publiques, à l’instruction à domicile par le biais de précepteurs, à de nombreuses bibliothèques, et encore à de nombreuses traductions et conservations de livres grecs anciens.

Livre VI : Trait d’Union entre l’Orient et l’Occident
Ici nous sommes à l’époque de la reconquête normande de la Sicile qui était jusqu’alors, et ce depuis plus de deux siècles sous la domination musulmane. Dans ce chapitre, il n’est pas question de conflits, bien au contraire, mais de cohabitation avec la communauté musulmane ; Les musulmans ont gardé des liens avec les représentants d’organisations chrétiennes malgré les hostilités, ils étaient tolérants envers eux même s’ils ne partageaient pas leur croyance. Et on voit même, que contrairement à ce que voudrait l’Histoire, que les vainqueurs chrétiens ont pris pour modèle le mode de vie des musulmans, les vaincus.

Ce chapitre met, par exemple, en valeur l’inventivité artistique des musulmans, ou encore, leurs méthodes d’administration et leur législation qui ont été empruntées par les occidentaux. A travers la reconquête normande, l’auteur nous offre ici un autre regard sur le passé concernant les rapports entre l’Europe occidentale et la civilisation arabo-musulmane ; Qui ne se résume pas, comme on a pu si souvent l’entendre ou apprendre, à une succession de conflits et de guerres. Sigrid Hunke souligne plutôt les influences mutuelles, dans des domaines comme l’art, la littérature, la poésie par exemple.

Livre VII : Arabesques Andalouses
L’auteur commence ce chapitre en relevant l’art qu’avaient les arabes pour exprimer leurs émotions en poésie, évoquant l’art d’aimer des arabes par exemple. Ensuite, elle aborde l’influence fondamentale de la civilisation arabo-musulmane sur l’Espagne, à travers l’histoire de l’Andalousie. Elle cite par exemple les vestiges architecturaux des Pyrénées espagnoles, la très connue mosquée de Cordoue. Puis s’en suit de larges et belles descriptions et explications des arts arabo-musulmans qui ont largement orné l’Andalousie, tels que la calligraphie, l’arabesque, l’ornementation géographique, la poésie lyrique.

Sigrid Hunke termine ce chapitre et son ouvrage par la fin de la reconquête Espagnole, qui a principalement rimé avec la destruction des trésors scientifiques et littéraires arabes sacrifiés pour une seule raison : la haine !

La lecture de cet ouvrage fait émerger l’influence et la large contribution de la civilisation arabo-musulmane dans toutes ces disciplines, aussi diverses soient-elles, à l’Occident. Et s’il y a bien une leçon à en tirer, c’est de faire preuve de curiosité, d’observer, de regarder, d’analyser, d’étudier et de faire appel à notre créativité.
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Science in Islam: Importance and Value

http://en.islamstory.com/the-experimental-method-in-the-islamic-civilization.html

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Value of Science

The first fact that appeared on earth when Gabriel (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (pbuh) for the first time was that the new religion (Islam) is based on science and rejects false beliefs and delusions as a whole. The first verses revealed in Quran were almost about a single issue. It is the issue of science. Allah, Exalted be He, says: {Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful, He Who taught (the use of) the pen, taught man that which he knew not.} [Al-Alaq:1-5].
This first revelation in this manner was marvelous due to several reasons; it is marvelous because Allah chose a certain topic from among thousands of topics in the Quran to start with although the Messenger of Allah, to whom Quran is revealed, is illiterate. Therefore, it seemed that such a first topic was a clue to understanding this religion, this world and even the hereafter to which all people will go back.
This is also marvelous because it was revealed to handle an issue that was not of much concern for the Arabs at such times. Their entire lives were controlled by myths and falsehoods. They were lacking in science in all fields, except in the field of rhetoric and poetry; it was the field in which they excelled. The most marvelous point was that the Quran was revealed to challenge them in the field they mastered, declaring that it calls for science and excellence in all fields, including that they master.

Islam and Science

The emergence of Islam was considered a real scientific revolution in an environment that had never been accustomed to the spirit of science to the extent that the pre-Islamic times were known as the days of Al-Jahiliyah. The catachrestic of ignorance is linked to pre-Islamic times. Thus Islam emerged to start science and enlighten the world with the light of divine guidance. Allah says: {Do they then seek after a judgment of (the days of) ignorance? But who, for a people whose faith is assured, can give better judgment than Allah.} [Al-Maeda:50].
There is no room in this religion for ignorance, conjecture, doubt or suspicion.

Quran and Science

It was not only the beginning in that miraculous book (Quran) that handled the value and importance of science in Allah's saying "Read". Rather it was a constant approach in such an eternal constitution. Almost all chapters spoke about science, either directly or indirectly.

Surprisingly, by counting how many the word ilm (science) and its derivatives were mentioned in the Book of Allah, we found that the number, without exaggeration, is 779, i.e. almost seven times in each chapter!
This is the case with the word ilm (science). However, there are other words that mean science like certainty, guidance, reason, thinking, contemplation, discretion, jurisprudence, evidence and sign, in addition to other meanings that come under the meaning of science or promote it. As for the Prophet's Sunnah, the count is almost impossible.

Furthermore, it is noticed that Quran's interest in the issue of science was revealed not only in the beginning of revelation, but also since the beginning of creating man just as it came in Quranic verses. Allah, Exalted be He, created Adam and made him a vicegerent on earth, and ordered angels to prostrate themselves to him. And Allah honored and glorified him, putting him in a superior position. Allah then mentioned to us and to the angels the reason for such honor, glorification and superior position, saying it is ilm (science) or knowledge. Allah says: {Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not." And He taught Adam the nature of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and said: "Tell me the nature of these if ye are right." They said:

"Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none, save what Thou Hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom."

He said: "O Adam! Tell them their natures."

When he had told them, Allah said: "Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know what ye reveal and what ye conceal?" And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith.} [Al-Baqarah:30-34]

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration when the Prophet (pbuh) said in a hadeeth that this entire world is valueless – but even damned – unless it is ornamented with science (or knowledge) and invocation of Allah. The Prophet said: "This world is cursed and what is in it is cursed, except for the remembrance of Allah and what follows it, or a scholar or a learner."[1]

This had a far-reaching effect in the Islamic countries as it was conducive to large-scale scientific activity in various fields of science and knowledge. Such an activity has been unprecedented in history, so Muslim scientists achieved great civilizational prosperity and provided the human heritage with marvelous scientific material the entire world remained indebted to.

[1] Al-Termidhy: Book of Asceticism, chapter of what was said in how this world is low for Allah (2322), saying it is a good strange hadeeth. Al-Darmy (322). Al-Tabarany in Al-Awsat (4072). Al-Bazar (1736). Al-Baihaqy, Divisions of Faith (1708). Al-Albany said: good. See: Sahih al-Jamia (1609).

Status of Science in Islam and Christianity

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Written by Islamstory

Status of Science in Islam and Christianity

If we draw a comparison between the status of science in Islam and that in distorted Christianity, we will find out that the church in the Middle Ages was completely against science. Since its start in Rome, the Christian church isolated itself from the Hellenic and Roman cultures. The Roman civilization was about to die when it was raided by the Goths. When the Catholic Church was in its prime, it persecuted pagan philosophers and scientists, closed Athens School, was very tough with the Hellenic philosophy in Alexandria and saw that the only way to purify soul is its way to God and that deviation is the search for fact in any place other than the Holy Book and contemplation in mundane matters[1].

German Orientalist Sigrid Hunke’s View

Such a fact is confirmed by German Orientalist Sigrid Hunke[2] when she compared between science in the eyes of Islam and in the eyes of Christianity in the European West during the Middle Ages. She talked about how the Prophet advised each believer, either male or female, to seek knowledge and made that a religion obligation. She said the Prophet saw in his followers’ deep study of creatures and their wonders a way to know the might of the Creator, making them focus on sciences of all peoples. She said: “To the contrary, Paul the Apostle admitted: Did not Lord describe mundane knowledge as stupidity?”[3]

She also mentioned Saint Augustine’s[4] definition of the axis of knowledge, saying: “As for Lord and Soul, I want to know them. Searching for fact is the search for God. This does not necessitate external help; the sole source of such knowledge is the Holy Book.”[5]

Hunke demonstrated how they got deeper in this to the extent that they regarded whoever calls for a new scientific idea – such as earth’s sphericity for example – as a stray infidel. She cited writings of Lactantius[6], a church teacher, when he commented on sphere-earth advocates, saying: “Is it logical? Is it logical that people are so mad; they believe that countries and trees are hanging down on the other side of earth and their feet are above their heads?” Cursed is he who is convinced of or accepts scientific explanation of natural events. Whoever explains reasons for the emergence of a star or floods is in disobedience of Lord and so is whoever scientifically explains the cure of a broken leg or woman’s miscarriage; all that are punishments from God or the Devil or they are miracles that are too large to be realized[7].

Conflict between Religion and Science

A conflict broke out between the religion and science in Europe in mid-sixteenth century, during which the scientific movement was paralyzed. Such a conflict stopped only at the beginning of the European scientific renaissance and revolution and revolt against the church.

Examples of this include that Copernicus[8] proved in 1543 the revolution of earth and that the sun is the center of the universe not the earth, as it was believed before that. However, such a scientific conclusion was tantamount to a catastrophe in Europe. The Church rejected that, saying it is incompatible with their beliefs because the earth turning from being the center of the universe to be a small spot in such a universe is not a mere scientific discovery, but a knockout blow to the core of the Christian faith that says God is embodied in this earth to grant its people salvation. Therefore, the church could not believe that the earth turns into a merely small particle among others that may be bigger in size, not to mention being subordinate to the sun. Thus, “the theory of central earth fit a theology that dictates that all things were created to the benefit of the humans. But now, such humans felt that they are reeling over a small planet whose history was reduced to a small paragraph in the history of the universe… when the people paused to contemplate the meanings included in the new theory they should have wondered about the trueness of the saying that the creator of this tremendous organized universe sent his son to die on such a medium-sized planet. It seemed that all beautiful Christian poetry rose as smoke (as Goethe[9] said later) under the touch of that Polish priest. The astronomical theory saying that sun is the center of the universe compelled people to imagine the creator in a new narrow-minded and lowly-embodied low profile. The theology faced the strongest challenge in the history of religion[10]. “Copernicus was then persecuted and was unable to counter such fierce opposition and lived far away. He died in the same year when his book was published after one of his admirers was enthusiastic about it and after he introduced some changes to the book acknowledging that his theory is just assumptions that might be wrong[11]. But, when Bruno[12] adopted the theory of Copernicus, 80 years after the latter's death, the Inquisition hastened to ban the reading of Copernicus's[13] books and sentenced Bruno, who developed and added to Copernicus's views, to death by burning in a public square[14]. Copernicus's views were the start and basis of those of Galileo[15] and for such views he was tried while he was near 70 years old. Such a trial deliberately humiliated him till he gave up his views. He was then sentenced to life jail and forced him to read penitential psalms on a daily basis for seven years[16].

Such examples are just the tip of the iceberg, as the matter is not limited to the trials of Copernicus, Galileo and others. They expanded in the formation of inquisition against scholars. The tribunal executed its duties very well. During a period of 18 years from 1481 till 1499, this tribunal sentenced 10220 people to death by burning and 6860 others to death by hanging after defaming them, and issued various penalties against 97320 people[17]. It also issued decrees prohibiting books of Galileo, Giorda Nwirno and Newton[18], who spoke about the law of gravity. The decrees also ordered the burning of their books. Cardinal Ximenes Cisneros had already burnt 8000 books in Granada due to contravening the Church's views.[19]

That horrible and gloomy reality Europe experienced long centuries ago was called the Dark Ages and also the Middle Ages. The period covered some one thousand years. Such a reality established a fact for scientists, philosophers, like Descartes[20] and Voltaire[21], and ordinary people that there was no hope for seeking science (knowledge) and innovation without diminishing the power of the Church and completely wiping out religion from the hearts of the people, as well as opting for atheism in every sense of the word. They frankly announced opposition of holy books such as Bible and Old Testament for their contents incompatible with scientific facts and because they thought that religion encompasses persecution against science and scientists, which means imposing restrictions on one's thinking. They called then for giving mind a high status against principal texts, arguing that mind can realize scientific facts and distinguish between the good and the evil.

The French National Assembly backed that emancipation in the wake of the French Revolution by issuing in 1790 resolutions that broke the back of the Church, as whereby monks and nuns were laid off and clergymen were forced to be subject to the civil constitution. The Assembly took up the task of appointing clergymen instead of the Pope. In 1905, the French government endorsed a law separating religion from the state on the basis of difference between them, announcing the state's neutrality towards religion, which came as another blow that encouraged anti-church personalities to freely criticize the holy book and the church. Such a law also forced clergymen to pledge allegiance to the people, the king and the new civil constitution. Successive decisions came later to be generalized in entire Europe, thus diminishing the church's role from attempting to control science and politics to only preaching and singing hymns[22].

However, the Islamic religion has never been like the church, nor did it oppose or obstruct Muslims seeking science or knowledge, either in theory or practice. Rather, it called for learning and urged followers to seek knowledge, giving mind a free rein to contemplate apart from the control of customs and traditions or whims and inclinations. Allah, the Exalted, honored mind by speaking to it and assigning tasks to it.

Therefore, there was a wide gap between the Islamic thought that is based on freedom of thinking and relationship between Allah and believers without any mediators – such thought glorifies and speaks to mind – and the Christian thought in the Middle Ages, which confiscated the freedom of thinking and placed the church power between God and worshippers. This clearly shows why the European civilization in the West needed one thousand years before achieving gradual prosperity although it had a suitable chance to begin that two or three centuries before the Islamic Arab civilization. It built its development afterwards on the shoulders of Muslims[23].

[1] Nadia Husny: Al-Ilm wa Manahij al-Bahth [Science and Research Methodologies], p13.

[2] Sigrid Hunke: (1913-1999) is a German orientalist born in Hamburg and studied fundamentals of religions, comparative religions, psychology and journalism. She got her PhD in 1941. She visited many Arab countries. Among her publications are Shams al-Arab Tastua Ala al-Gharb [Allah’s Sun over the Occident] and Allah Lais Kadhalik [Allah is not So].

[3] Sigrid Hunke: Allah’s Sun over the Occident, p369.

[4] St Augustine: (354-430 AD), he is one of the most important personalities in the history of Christianity with all its denominations. He grew in North Africa as a Christian. He embraced Manichaeism and then returned to Christianity. He was promoted to a bishop till his death. Some historians regard him as a decisive personality in the history of Christianity.

[5] Sigrid Hunke: Allah’s Sun over the Occident, p370.

[6] African Lactantius: is one of the most famous Christian saints. He was born in Africa in the second half of the third century. He was known for his defense of Christianity. He tried to prove it through philosophy and logic. Emperor Constantine assigned to him taking care of his elder son.

[7] Sigrid Hunke: Allah’s Sun over the Occident, p370.

[8] Nicolaus Copernicus: (1473-1543AD). He was born in Toruń, city, Prussia. He studied in Poland and completed his studies in Bologna University in Italy. He was the first astronomer to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.

[9] Goethe: (1749-1832) is one of the most renowned German men of letters. He was influenced by the Arab literature thought. He had a poem entitled (Immigration) and a collection entitled (West-Eastern Divan)

[10] See Will Durant: The Story of Civilization, 27/pp138-139

[11] Op. cit., 27/pp131-134.

[12] Bruno: Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was one of the most famous Western, Italian philosophers in the European Renaissance age. His thinking is a mixture between philosophy, mysticism and magic. His spiritual concern and thinking criticism led him to skepticism in the church teachings, so the Inquisition sentenced him to death in 1600 and he was burnt in Rome.

[13] See Will Durant: The Story of Civilization, 27/p138

[14] See Will Durant: The Story of Civilization, 27/pp288-300

[15] Galileo: (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer and physician. He was called the founder of the contemporary experimental sciences. The Roman Church summoned him twice to launch inquiry with him regarding the trueness of his support for Copernicus's theory. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633.

[16] See Galileo story in: The Story of Civilization, 27/pp264-280

[17] Imam Muhammad Abdu: Persecution in Christianity and Islam, an article at Al-Manar Magazine, Vol. VI, p401.

[18] Newton: Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was an British mathematician and astronomer, who discovered the theory of earth's gravity, as well as the secrets of light and colours. He innovated a branch of mathematics called Calculus.

[19] - Manea ibn Hamad Al-Gehny: Concise Encyclopedia of religions 2/604

[20] Descartes: Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist, called father of modern philosophy. He innovated analytical engineering and was the first philosopher to make a description of the material universe in terms of material and movement.

[21] Voltaire: (1694-1778) was one of the most famous French writers and philosophers and the most influential among them. His book "Candide" (1759) was regarded as his masterpiece, as it was translated into more than one hundred languages.

[22] Concise Encyclopedia of Religions, Ideologies and Contemporary Parties, compiled by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, a chapter entitled "Catholics", 2/pp 604-605.

[23] See Sigrid Hunke, Allah's Sun over the Occident, pp 372-373.

Manifestations of Islam keenness on Seeking Science

In pre-Islamic times, scientists were isolated from the public and there was a big gap between them. Scientists in Persia, Rome or Greece lived in complete isolation, holding debates and discussions and inheriting science from each other while the public lived in complete ignorance and were away from any form of science. However, Islam was something else.
The Prophet said: “Seeking science (or knowledge) is obligatory to each Muslim.”[1] This hadith made the issue a religious obligation and a public one imposed on everybody. Everybody has to seek knowledge to be educated. The matter includes both men and women.
The Prophet carried out the practical application of such an approach when he agreed to release prisoners of war in the Battle of Badr after each one of them teaches ten people from Medina reading and writing. This was a form of civilizational thinking that had never been known in the world at that time or even centuries later.

Islam Keenness on and Encouragement of Science

Islam Keenness on and Encouragement of Science

Islam ordered its followers to make science a fundamental issue in their lives and to put scientists (or scholars) in a high position mentioned in the Prophet’s saying: “If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, the inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the knowledge-seeker. The superiority of the knowledge-seeker over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor dirham (money), leaving only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion.”[2]
Such a popular scientific movement continued after the Prophet’s death and its marvelous effects and manifestations became clear. It was like dreams for the Europeans. The following are only three manifestations of such a popular scientific movement, which Islam established:

1- Public Libraries:

Building on such prompting and encouragement, which have become essential in religion, Muslims set up public libraries, where the public can read books for free and copy whatever they want of such books. Furthermore, caliphs and emirs used to host knowledge-seekers from different countries in such libraries and spend on them from their own pockets. Such libraries were widespread ion each city in the Islamic world[3]. The most famous of such libraries were: Baghdad, Qurtubah (Cordoba), Eshbilih (Seville), Al-Qahera (Cairo), al-Quds (Jerusalem), Demashq (Damascus), Tarabuls (Tripoli), Medina, Sana’a, Fas (Fes) and al-Qayrawan.

2- Emergence of Huge Scientific Meetings:

In pre-Islamic times, there were no scientists who spoke with the public. However, after the emergence of such a great religion, scientific meetings were widespread all over the Islamic world. Their number was sometimes astronomical. The meeting of Ibn al-Jawzy[4], for example, was attended by more than 100,000 people and all of them were from among the public. The same applies to the meetings of al-Hassan al-Basry, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, al-Shafie, Abu-Hanifa and Imam Malik. Moreover, there was more than one meeting inside each mosque at the same time; one was about Quran exegesis and others about fiqh [Islamic jurisprudence] the Prophet’s Hadith, doctrine and medicine, etc.

3- Regarding Spending on Science as Charity and a Way of Seeking Allah’s Favor: This made well-off Muslims spend their funds on building schools and places of learning. They also made many endowments to taking care of students, building libraries and developing schools. Therefore, spending on science became a way of charity for economist alike, not only knowledge-seekers.
Accordingly, the issue of science was a public one that concerned everybody. As seeking knowledge is obligatory to each Muslim, libraries and scientific meetings spread and illiteracy was almost eliminated.

[1] Ibn Maja (224). Abu-Yaala (2837). Al-Siyouty in al-Jamia al-Saghir (7360). Sheikh al-Albany said: authentic. See Sahih al-Jamia (3813).

[2] Abu-Dawud: Book of Science, chapter of urging knowledge seeking (3641). Al-Termedhy (2682). Ibn Maja (223). Ahmad (21763). Ibn Habban (88). Shuayb al-Aran’ut said: Good hadith. Al-Albany said: authentic; see Sahih al-Jamia (6297).

[3] We will review that in a special chapter about education and libraries in the Islamic civilization.

[4] Ibn Al-Jauzy: he is Aboul Farg Abdul Rahman Ibn Aly Ibn Mohamed Al-Qurashi (510- 592 AH). A Hanbali (followed Ibn Hanbal school) jurisprudence and historian. Born and died in Baghdad. See: Al-Zahabi: Seyar Alam Al-Nobalaa) 21/365.

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The Experimental Scientific Method.. Important Islamic Addition

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Muslim Scientists' Role in Discovering the Experimental Method

The Experimental Method in the Islamic Civilization

Reaching the rational experimental scientific method – based on induction and measurement, as well as sighting, experiment and representation – is considered an important Islamic addition to the march of science worldwide.

Such a method is completely different from that of the Greek, Indians or others, as such civilizations used often to content themselves with assuming theories without attempting to scientifically prove them. They were almost theoretical philosophies that are not applied in most cases even if they were true. This led to mixing between true and false theories. Following the emergence of Islam, Muslims were the first to introduce the experimental method in dealing with scientific and universal givens around them. This resulted in establishing rules of the experimental scientific method, which is still used in contemporary modern science.

Muslims' application of the experimental method in previous theories, paying no attention to the theory's owner whatever he might be, led to the discovery of many mistakes passed down by scientists over successive centuries.

Muslim scientists were not only satisfied with criticizing and testing such theories, but also introduced new assumptions. They also tested such assumptions to turn into theories if they approached truth. They afterwards tested the theory to finally prove that it became fact not merely a theory. To achieve that, they enthusiastically carried out many experiments.

Examples of Muslim Scientists who Approved Experimental Method

Among the Muslim scientists who exerted many efforts in such an area were Jaber Ibn Hayyan[1], al-Khwarizmi, al-Razi[2], al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham[3], Ibn al-Nafis[4], and others.
Jabber Ibn Hayyan, the father of chemistry, says “… and the perfection of that making is science and experiments; he who did not work or carry out experiment never won anything.”[5] In the book “Al-Khawas al-Kabir” [The Great Book of Properties], he said: “We mention in these books the properties of what we saw only not what we heard, read or were told after examining and testing it. We published only what came true and rejected what was false. And what we concluded ourselves, we compared it to the conditions of such people.”[6]

Therefore, Ibn Hayyan was the first to introduce the laboratory scientific experiment into the scientific research method, the rules of which he established. Sometimes he called experiment “the experience”; he said “He who was experienced was a real scientist and he who was not so was not a scientist. In all industries, the experienced maker is skillful while the inexperienced is idle.”[7]

Therefore, Ibn Hayyan made greater progress in laying down experiment as a basis of work than that made by Greek scientists who preceded him. Qadry Toqan said: Ibn Hayyan excelled other scientists by being topping those who carried out experiments on a scientific basis, which is used today in laboratories. He called for taking interest in experiment and called for carrying out experiment with accurate observation. He also called for deliberateness, saying: the duty of the chemist is work and carrying out experiments, without which knowledge could not be reached[8].
Al-Razi may be the first physician worldwide to use that experimental method through carrying out his experiments on animals, especially monkeys in order to test new methods of treatment before applying them to humans. This is a splendid scientific method, which the world acknowledged only a short period ago. About his method, he said: “When the fact we saw was incompatible with the prevailing theory, the fact must be accepted, even if everybody adopted the prevailing theories as a kind of support for famous scientists.”[9] He acknowledged that everybody might admire the views of famous great scientists and contemplate their theories, but experiment sometimes runs counter to the theory. In this case the theory should be rejected, even if it was laid down by the most famous scientists, and the fact and experiment should be accepted, analyzed and made use of.

Due to the experimental method, Ibn al-Haytham’s writings included criticisms of Euclid[10] and Ptolemy[11] in spite of their great scientific status. His method was obvious in the introduction of his Book of Optics, in which he briefly showed the method he reached and described as the best method in research and adopted in all his researches. He said: “… we start in the research process by extrapolating facts, examining optics, distinguishing the properties of particles, conceiving what relates to sight in case of sighting, and what is steady, unchanged, and apparent and then elevate in research and measurement gradually with criticizing introduction and preserving results. We should adopt justice in what we extrapolate not whims. And we should investigate all what we distinguish and criticize in search of fact not inclining to views.”[12]
In his researches, Ibn al-Haytham adopted induction and syllogism and paid attention in some researches to analogy. These are the elements of contemporary scientific researches. As one of Muslim scientists who laid down the experimental method, Ibn al-Haytham did not only precede Francis Bacon[13] in his way to induction, but also remarkably excelled him and was more broad-minded than him even if he did not pay much attention to theoretical philosophy as Bacon did.
Mr Mustafa Nazif[14] said: “Ibn al-Haytham deepened his thinking to a degree greater than it seemed to be at the first sight. He realized what the 20th century modern philosophers said after Mac and Karl Pearson[15] and others. He also realized the true position of the scientific theory and its real function in the modern meaning.”[16]

Moreover, Muslim scientists regarded writing as inaccurate if it was not preceded by experiments. Al-Jildaki[17], one of the 8th AH century (14th AD century) prominent chemists, said about famous chemist al-Taghra’i[18] (died in 513 AH), as saying: “Al-Taghra’i was a man of great intelligence, but he carried out a few experiments, which made his writings inaccurate.”[19]
Accordingly, Muslims reached the experimental scientific method, through which the humanity learned how to reach scientific fact in a confident and reliable way apart from, doubts whims and illusions.

[1] Jaber Ibn Hayyan: is Abu Musa Jaber Ibn Hayyan Ibn Abdullah al-Kufi (200 AH/ 815 AD) from Kufa and his origin was Khurasan. He was a philosopher and a chemist. He was known as al-Sufi. He died in Tus. See: Ibn al-Nadim: Al-Fihrist, pp498-503; and al-Zirikli: Al-Aalam, 2/103

[2] Al-Razi: is Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria al-Razi (251-313 AH/ 865-925 AD). He was a renowned philosopher and physician who was born in al-Rayy and died in Baghdad. His books included "Al-Hawi fil-Tib". See: Ibn al-Nadim: Al-Fihrist, pp415-417; and al-Safadi: Al-Wafi bil-Wafayat, 3/62.

[3] Al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham: is Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham (354-430 AH /965-1039 AD). He was nicknamed Ptolemy the Second. He was a mathematician, engineer, physician and sage, and was born in Basra and died in Cairo. See: Ibn Abi Asbayah: Uyon al-Anbaa 3/372-376; and Kahala: Muajam al-Muallifin, 9/225-226.

[4] Ibn al-Nafis: is Alaa al-Din Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi (died in 687 AH/1288 AD). He was the most knowledgeable in medicine in his era. He was from Qarsh (Transoxiana). He was born in Damascus and died in Egypt. See: Ibn al-Imad: Shazarat al-Dhahab, 5/400-401.

[5] Jabber Ibn Hayyan: Book of Al-Tajrid, among a collection revised and published by Holmyard under the title: Collections in Chemistry by Sage Jaber Ibn Hayyan, Paris, 1928.

[6] Jaber Ibn Hayyan: The Great Book of Properties, p232.

[7] Jaber Ibn Hayyan: The Book of Seventy, p464.

[8] Qadry Touqan: Maqam al-Aql ind al-Arab [Status of Mind for Arabs], pp217-218.

[9] Ibn Abi Usaibia: Tabaqat al-Atibba [classes of Physicians], 1/77,78

[10] Euclid: (325-265 BC) was a Greek mathematician and was considered the founder of geometry. His most famous book is “Elements”.

[11] Ptolemy: is Claudius Ptolemy (83-161 AD). He was the most famous Greek astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. He was known as “the wise man”. He had a Greek or Egyptian ancestry. His masterpiece was “Almagest”.

[12] Ibn al-Haytham: Al-Manazir [Book of Optics], revised by Abdul-Hamid Sabrah, p62.

[13] Francis Bacon: (1561-1626) was an English philosopher, statesman and writer. He was known in the West as the founder of experimental science based on observation and conclusion. He rejected the logic of Aristotle as fit for scientific judgment.

[14] Mustafa Nazif: (1893-1971) was one of the most prominent Egyptian scientists in the 20th century. He specialized in medicine and physics and was interested in the scientific heritage of the Islamic Civilization. He paid special attention to the heritage of al-Hassan Ibn al-Hatham and was among the first who called for Arabizing sciences.

[15] Karl Pearson: (1859-1936) was an English lawyer and mathematician and was considered the founder of statistics. He founded the first statistics department worldwide in London College in 1911.

[16] Qadry Touqan: Maqam al-Aql ind al-Arab [Status of Mind for Arabs], p223.

[17] Al-Jildaki: (died after 742 AH- 1341 AD) is Izz al-Din Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Aydmir al-Jildaki. He was a philosopher and one of the most famous chemists. He was named after Jildak in Khurasan. His books included “The Treasure of Specialization in Knowing Properties”. See: Haji Khalifa: Kashf al-Zonun, 2/1512, and al-Zirikli: Al-Aalam, 5/5.

[18] Al-Taghra’i: is Abu Ismail al-Hussein Ibn Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Isbahani (453-513 AH/ 1061-1119 AD). He was nicknamed al-Taghra’i. He was a man of letters and an expert in chemical industry. He was born in Isbahan or Isfahan and took up the department of information. He was killed. See Ibn Khallikan: Wafayat al-Ayan [Deaths of Elites], 2/pp185-190; and Al-Safadi: Al-Wafi bil-Wafayat, 12/pp268-296.

[19] Ibn Abi Usaibia: Tabaqat al-Atibba [classes of Physicians], p218

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ANTI-ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA

“Allah’s sun over the Occident”

By Eeyore | November 20, 2010

This from the Brussels Journal with a H/T to AA to bringing it to my attention.

"A Multicultural Conference Hijacked By Islamists"

From the desk of Luc Van Braekel on Tue, 2010-11-09 10:56

During the last weekend of October, a conference in Antwerp got a lot of resonance in the Arab world. The same conference was virtually ignored in Belgium, even within the local Muslim community. “The place of Islam in the new Europe” was the title of the conference which was widely reported on Al Jazeera (see video below this article) and the Moroccan newspaper Le Matin. In Belgium, only Gazet van Antwerpen published a short article on the local pages in three of its six regional editions. Make no mistake: this was a conference to promote multiculturalism en mutual understanding between the Islamic world and Europe. The conference was organized by the Institute for Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies of the University of Antwerp, abbreviated as “IMaMs“.

CHAOTIC

The conference was announced as a big event, but its course was chaotic. Jacques Attali was announced as the keynote speaker, but he didn’t come. The program and the panelists were very different from what was announced in the invitation, and a complete schedule was distributed on paper only halfway through the conference. What should have been a conference on an academic level, turned out to be an event with very few high-level scholars and with very few references to scientific studies, statistics or serious references.

REFERENCE TO NAZI SCIENTIST

Already at the opening session, the first blunder was heard, even though most of the audience never noticed it. Speaker Muhammad Bensalah highlighted the contribution of Islam to European civilization, and suggested that few Western scholars fully recognized the Islamic contribution without covering it up. He named three: the American John Esposito, the German Sigrid Hunke and the Belgian George Sarton. Now, Sigrid Hunke was an employee of the scientific department of the SS under the Nazi regime, where she was researching racial psychology. In that position she came in contact with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who openly advocated the extermination of the Jews. In her book “Allahs Sonne über dem Abendland” (“Allah’s sun over the Occident”) she asserted that the roots of European civilization were not Christian, but are a mix of Islamic, pagan-Celtic and Germanic elements. She illustrates this argument with now discredited theories like the sea map of Piri Reis allegedly used by Columbus, and the fact that in German and Dutch one does not say “twenty three” but “three twenty” (Dreiundzwanzig, drieëntwintig), because in Arabic, one reads from right to left.

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Allah and the Occident

How Islam Came to Germany

By Ursula Spuler-Stegemann

The history of Islam in Germany goes back as far as the 8th century. From the reign of Charlemagne, to Goethe's literature, to the Turkish guest workers who arrived in the 1950s and 60s and made a home here, the Muslim religion has been a part of German culture for hundreds of years.

DPA

The sun sets behind the Yanidze complex in Dresden, the mosque-inspired former home to a tobacco factory.

The history of Islam in Germany is believed to date back to the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In the fabled tales of "1001 Nights," al-Rashid is said to have wandered the streets of Baghdad at night dressed as a merchant in order to learn about the needs of his subjects. Various sources relate that Charlemagne established diplomatic relations with this Abbasid ruler in the year 797 or 801. Both sides reportedly guaranteed freedom of belief for members of the other religion in their respective empires. It is in any case an established historic fact that the elephant Abul Abbas died in 810. This magnificent animal had been sent by the caliph to Charlemagne in Aachen as a token of his friendship.

The Spread of Islam in Europe

At the time of Charlemagne, most of the Iberian Peninsula was already under the control of the Moors, who ruled over this part of Europe for nearly 800 years until the final stage of the reconquista -- the Christian reconquest of Spain and Portugal -- in the year 1492. Additional military advances by the Muslims in Europe were stopped -- exactly one century after the death of the Prophet Muhammad -- in 732 at Tours and Poitiers and in 759 in Narbonne and Nimes in France.

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Between the 8th and 10th centuries, Arab Muslims carried out raids on Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and even Rome. Islamic forces advanced from the south and the west via Piemont and Burgundy into the Rhone Valley. They occupied alpine passes and parts of Switzerland, where they remained from 952 to 960. The last great onslaught came from the east. When the Ottoman Turks captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople (today Istanbul) in 1453, it spelled the end of the Eastern Roman Empire and this final bastion of Christianity in Asia Minor. Afterwards, the Ottomans expanded their realm of influence and made incursions in 1529 and 1683 throughout the Balkans and as far as the gates of Vienna, and Islamized Bosnia and Albania.

Cultural Influences

While successive Islamic military campaigns rolled over large parts of Europe for over a millennium, the areas that make up modern Germany remained largely unaffected. There were, however, cultural influences from occupied Spain. The synergy of Islamic, Jewish and Christian learning spread the seeds of knowledge and shaped Western civilization. Treasures of antiquity, such as the works of Galen, Euclid and Plato would have been lost forever were it not for Arab translations, most of which were rendered into Latin under the orders of Archbishop Raimundo in the 12th century. Above all the commented translation of the writings of Aristotle by Ibn Rushd -- better known in the Latin West as Averroes -- enjoyed considerable influence on medieval scholasticism.

In order to better understand the "Koran of the Turks," church reformer Martin Luther called for the printing of a complete Latin translation of the Islamic holy book in the Swiss city of Basel. In his treatise, "On the War Against the Turk," he didn't mince his words when summarizing his opinion that "the Muslim is possessed by the lying spirit" and "where the lying spirit holds sway, the murdering spirit is present as well." Although he granted that the Turk had a number of admirable characteristics, he opined that -- just like the Pope -- he was a "servant of the devil." For many years, Europeans widely believed that Islam was a Christian sect, the Koran was a Turkish bible and Muhammad was an epileptic, a swindler and a charlatan.

Acceptance of Islam

Up until the 17th century, the "Turkish threat" and fear of the Turkish wars overshadowed interactions with Muslims. It was not until 1701 that the situation began to change. That was the year when Sultan Mustafa II conveyed his congratulations to King Frederick I of Prussia on his coronation. This led to more or less open diplomatic relations between the two powers. When the Duke of Kurland presented King Frederick William I with 20 Muslim Tatars as prisoners of war, the German monarch saw to it that they received a prayer room, but ordered by decree that they hold their day of rest not on Friday, as dictated by Islam, but on Sunday.

During his rule between 1712 and 1786, Frederick II ("The Great") also showed tolerance towards other religions. In reference to the state and the civil rights of Catholics, he said: "All religions must be tolerated and the crown must ensure that none is detrimental to the other, for each must be allowed to worship in their own way." Furthermore, he said: "All religions are equal and good when the people who profess them are honest people; and should Turks and heathens come to populate the land, then we shall endeavor to build mosques and churches for them."

In order to create a counterweight to the Habsburg crown, Frederick II sought and found a loyal ally in the Ottoman Empire. Official diplomatic relations to the Sublime Porte -- the court of the sultan -- were established, and on Nov. 9, 1763 the first Turkish envoy, Ahmed Resmi Efendi, arrived in Berlin with an exotically dressed entourage of 73 aides who were greeted by the cheering inhabitants of the city. Deeply impressed and evidently slightly confused by this emphatic reception, the diplomat wrote to Sultan Mustafa III that "the people of Berlin recognize the Prophet Muhammad and are not afraid to admit that they are prepared to embrace Islam."

When a successor to the envoy died in 1798, Frederick William III, who ruled from 1770 to 1840, ordered that he should be buried in accordance with Islamic rites. This required a royal bequest, and thus the first Turkish-owned property on German soil was the Islamic cemetery in Berlin.

The Exotic Orient Comes to Germany

The history of Islam in Germany and German views of the religion were strongly influenced by the Enlightenment. One of the key figures of the day was Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who lived from 1729 to 1781 and was the most important German poet of the period. He argued for the right to freedom of thought, even in matters of religion, and for tolerance of other religions. His famous "ring parable" leaves open the question of whether Christianity, Judaism or Islam possesses the sole truth.

The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the leading advocate of German Idealism, was also fascinated by Islam and characterized it as the "religion of grandeur."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had outstanding knowledge of Islam, which he brought into play in his "East-West Divan," a collection of works published in 1819 that emulate Sufi and other Muslim poetry. Thanks to his high regard for their religion, many Muslims would just as soon adopt the great German poet as one of their own.

Muslim life was often viewed with the tunnel vision of prisoners of war and travelers. Tales of splendid royal palaces, extravagant harems and Turkish baths ignited male fantasies, including those of French painters Eugene Delacroix and Jean Auguste Ingres and their German colleague, the much acclaimed Adolf Seel. The rhythms and instruments of the military musicians of the Janissary corps, which always rode ahead of the Ottoman army and "made the earth tremble," had a profound influence on European music, and inspired Christoph Willibald Gluck to compose his Turkish operas -- "The Pilgrims to Mecca" in 1764 and "Iphigenia in Tauris" in 1779. Viennese classical composers were also fond of music "alla turca:" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart included these exotic sounds in the overture to his comic opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" -- about the escape from a Turkish harem -- and the "Turkish March" in Piano Sonata No. 11. Joseph Haydn and later Ludwig van Beethoven also succumbed to the irresistible charm of oriental music.

Even the armchair travel accounts of famed German author Karl May (who lived from 1842 to 1912) -- with his tales of the Ottoman Empire starring the protagonist Kara Ben Nemsi (i.e., Karl, son of Germany) -- have lost none of their appeal over the years, and probably prompted many a young German to pursue Oriental studies. Secular buildings constructed in a mosque style, like the "Red Mosque," which was built between 1780 and 1785 and set in the midst of the "Turkish Garden" at Schwetzingen Palace near Heidelberg in southern Germany, and the Yenidze tobacco factory, which was built in the early 20th century in Dresden and now serves as the venue for the "1001 Nights Festival," must seem like mockery to devout Muslims. The builders certainly never intended to offend anyone; they were merely fascinated by the foreign and exotic elements and the architectural beauty.

In 1889, just one year after his ascendance to the throne, Kaiser William II traveled to Istanbul and nine years later journeyed to Jerusalem and Damascus, both of which belonged to the Ottoman Empire. In Damascus, the Kaiser visited the grave of Saladin, who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. In his speech delivered on Nov. 6, 1898, the German monarch declared: "May his majesty the Sultan and the 300 million Muslims who live scattered across the globe (…) rest assured that the German Kaiser will be their friend at all times." Thereafter, the local religious leader intoned "in the name of the world of Islam, may Allah's blessing be on the Kaiser, the German Empire, and all Germans." Relations could not have been better.

During World War I the Germans and the Turks were allies. The multinational Muslim prisoners of war of the Entente were held in two camps in Zossen and in Wünsdorf near Berlin, where they were provided with a beautiful mosque in 1915, which was demolished, however, after the camp was closed.

Part 1: How Islam Came to Germany
Part 2: The Founding of Germany's First Islamic Religious Communities

In the Name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate
Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies

Islam Denounces Violence	Islam: Legacy of Peace	Islam's Influence on the World	Wisdom (Al-Hikmah) (A Fresh Look at Islam)
Qur'anic Mis-Interpreted Verses	Saladin (Salahu ad-Deen)	Muslim's Alliance	Purification (al-Tazkiyah)
Prophet Muhammad and the Lunar Dates	Where Lies the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad	Focus on Early History of Islam (A Refrishing Look at the Sirah)	Woman's Status Reform

Judeo-Christian Titles

Two Faiths - One God

The Abrahamic Religions

Saladin (Salahu ad-Deen)

Historical Event

My Trip to Syria

Qur'anic Mis-Interpreted Verses

Penalty In Islam

Islam: Legacy of Peace

Muslim's Alliance

Woman's Status Reform

Wisdom (Al-Hikmah) (A Fresh Look at Islam)

Reading the Musim Mind

The Ideal Society

Common Religious Ground

Focus on Early History of Islam (A Refrishing Look at the Sirah)

Islam's Influence on the World

Hate Crime vs. Freedom of Speech

Islamic Titles

Where Lies the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad

The Wisdom of Prophet Muhammad and the Lunar Dates

The Sunnah of Planning

Purification (al-Tazkiyah)

The Sunnah of Itqan

Wisdom (Al-Hikmah) (A Fresh Look at Islam)

Sunnah of Careful Consideration

Counceling and Figh

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Scientific Experimental Method

Observation and Scientific Advance
Observation and experiment are the two sources of scientific knowledge. Aristotle was the father of the Greek sciences, and has made a lasting contribution to physics, astronomy, biology, meteorology and other sciences. The Greek method of acquiring scientific knowledge was mainly speculative, hence science as such could make little headway during the time of the Greeks.

The Arabs who were more realistic and practical in their approach adopted the experimental method to harness scientific knowledge. Observation and experiment formed the vehicle of their scientific pursuits; hence they gave a new outlook to science of which the world had been totally unaware. Their achievements in the field of experimental science added a golden chapter to the annals of scientific knowledge and opened a new vista for the growth of modern sciences.
Europe's scientific advances during the Dark Ages (5th to 15th century) were handicapped.

The narrowly dogmatic view of some conservative churches that led to the sentencing of Galileo was responsible for this setback.
Unlike the teachings of some church in removing reason from the equation of belief, observation, reason and intellect are integrated into the fabric of the Islamic belief. For Muslims, the first word revealed to Prophet Muhammad was "Read." Thus, intellect and religion work together. There are hundreds of verses in the Holy Qur'an inspiring its readers to observe and reflect. Here are some examples:
"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alteration of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies and the life which He gives there with to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that he scatters through the earth; in the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth;... (here) indeed are signs for people who have sense." Qur'an, 2:64.

"And do they not see that We do drive rain to parched soil, and produce therewith crops, providing food for their cattle and themselves? Have they not the vision?" Qur'an, 32:27.
"Say: 'travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before you.'" Qur'an, 30:42.
"On earth are signs for those of assured faith, as also in your own selves: will you not then see?" Qur'an, 51:20.
"Say: 'are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?'" Qur'an, 39:9.
"Is this then a fake, or is it you that do not see?" Qur'an, 52:15.

"Thus God brings the dead to life and shows you His signs: Perchance you may understand." Qur'an, 2:73.

Muslims consider the universe a visible sign of God. To understand God's Omnipotence, it is necessary to investigate all the aspects of this universe. This belief was manifested in a wealth of Muslim scientific advances that lead to the formation of the renaissance. George Sarton in his book “Introduction to the History of Science” gave a tribute to an array of Muslim scientists who at the roots of this scientific revolution during the Middle Ages, he said:

"It will suffice here to evoke a few glorious names without contemporary equivalents in the West: Jabir ibn Haiyan, al-Kindi, al-Khwarizmi, al-Fargani, al-Razi, Thabit ibn Qurra, al-Battani, Hunain ibn Ishaq, al-Farabi, Ibrahim ibn Sinan, al-Masudi, al-Tabari, Abul Wafa, 'Ali ibn Abbas, Abul Qasim, Ibn al-Jazzar, al-Biruni, Ibn Sina, Ibn Yunus, al-Kashi, Ibn al-Haitham, 'Ali Ibn 'Isa al-Ghazali, al-zarqab, Omar Khayyam. A magnificent array of names which it would not be difficult to extend. If anyone tells you that the Middle Ages were scientifically sterile, just quote these men to him, all of whom flourished within a short period, 750 to 1100 A.D."

It is absolutely wrong to assume that experimental method was formulated in Europe. Roger Bacon, who, in the west is known as the originator of experimental method, had himself received his training from the pupils of Spanish Moors, and had learnt everything from Muslim sources. The influence of Ibn al-Haitham on Roger Bacon is clearly visible in his works.
Europe was very slow to recognize the Islamic origin of her much advertised scientific (experimental) method. In his book, “The Making of Humanity,” Briffault states,

"It was under their successors at the Oxford School that Roger Bacon learned Arabic and Arabic science. Neither Roger Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be credited with having introduced the experimental method. Roger Bacon was no more than one of the apostles of Muslim science and method to Christian Europe; and he never wearied of declaring that the knowledge of Arabic and Arabic science was for his contemporaries the only way to true knowledge.
Discussions as to who was the originator of the experimental method......are part of the colossal misrepresentation of the origins of European civilization. The experimental method of Arabs was by Bacon's time widespread and eagerly cultivated throughout Europe....Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. Not until long after Moorish culture had sunk back into darkness did the giant to which it had given birth, rise in his might. It was not science only which brought Europe back to life. Other and manifold influences from the civilization of Islam communicated its first glow to European life.
For although there is not a single aspect of European growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the permanent distinctive force of the modern world, and the supreme source of its victory-natural science and the scientific spirit..,
The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence....The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigations, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to the Greek temperament.
Only in Hellenistic Alexandria was any approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical world. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs."'

In his outstanding work “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,” Dr. M. Iqbal, the poet of Islam writes,
"The first important point to note about the spirit of Muslim culture then is that for purposes of knowledge, it fixes its gaze on the concrete, the finite. It is further clear that the birth of the method of observation and experiment in Islam was due not to a compromise with Greek thought but to prolonged intellectual warfare with it. In fact the influence of Greeks who, as Briffault says, were interested chiefly in theory, not in facts, tended rather to obscure the Muslim's vision of the Qur'an, and for at least two centuries kept the practical Arab temperament from asserting itself and coming to its own."
Thus the experimental method, reason and observation introduced by the Arabs were responsible for the rapid advancement of science during the medieval times.

Ibn Hazm
Andalusian scholar-Physician-Surgeon (993-1064)

al-Ghazali

al-Razi

Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm
Andalusian scholar-Physician-Surgeon (993-1064)

The Celestial Globe

Scientific Measuring

ISLAMIC BACKGROUND OF WESTERN RENAISSANCE (1)

The nomadic Arabs, who rose from their desert tents, founded in remarkably short space of time, the mightiest empire of the Mediaeval era, which stretched from the shores of the Atlantic in the West to the Great Wall of China in the East. Their success in the field of territorial conquests was no more spectacular than their achievements in the realm of knowledge.

In fact they brought about the greatest revolution in the history of mankind-a revolution which embraced all aspectsof human activity. The memorable words of the Holy Prophet of Islam, "Go in quest of knowledge even unto the distant China'', awakened a spirit of enquiry among the Arabs which, hitherto lay dormant in them, The Muslims, who were the pioneers in all branches of knowledge during the Mediaeval times provided the necessary link between the ancient and modern civilizations. The light of knowledge which illuminated the lands of Moors in Spain and Sicily, was greatly instrumental in dispelling the gloom of ignorance that had enveloped the Mediaeval Europe. "It was under the influence of Arabian and Moorish revival of culture", writes Robert Briffault in his well-known work The Making of Humanity, "and not in the 15th century, that the real renaissance took place. Spain and not Italy, was the cradle of the rebirth of Europe. After sinking lower and lower in barbarism, it had reached the darkest depths of ignorance and degradation when the cities of the Saracenic world Baghdad, Cairo, Cordova, Toledo, were growing centres of civilization and intellectual activity. It was there that the new life arose which was to grow into a new phase of human evolution. From the time when the influence of their culture made itself felt, began the stirring of a new life". Another great orientalist Philip K. Hitti, acknowledges the greatness of Arab culture when he writes in his History of the Arabs "Moslem Spain wrote one of the brightest Chapters in the intellectual history of mediaeval Europe. Between the middle of the 8th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, as we have noted before, the Arab speaking peoples were the main bearers of the torch of culture and civilization throughout the world. Moreover they were the medium through which ancient science and philosophy were recovered, supplemented and transmittedin such a way as to make possible the renaissance of western Europe. In all this Arabic Spain had a large share".?

The quest of knowledge was not confined to intellectuals only. Even the great Caliphs and their courtiers vied with each other in the patronage and pursuit of knowledge. "In the midst of all this luxury", writes John William Draper, in his The Intellectual Development of Europe, which cannot be regarded by the historian with disdain, since in the end it produced a most important result in the South of France, the Spanish Caliphs emulating the example of their Asiatic compeers, and in this strongly contrasting with the Popes of Rome, were not only the patrons, but the personal cultivators of all the branches of human learning. One of them was himself the author of a work on polite literature in not less than fifty volumes, another wrote a treatise on algebra. When Ziryab the musician came from the East to Spain, the Caliph Abdur Rahman rode forth to meet him in honour" Another reputed Western historian says, "The incorruptible treasures and delights of intellectual culture were accounted by the princes of Baghdad, Shiraz and Cordova, the truest and proudest pomps of their courts. But it was not a more appanage of princely vanity that the wonderful growth of Islamic Science and learning was fostered by their patronage. They pursued culture with the personal ardour of an overmastering craving. Never before and never since, on such a scale, has the spectacle been witnessed of the ruling classes throughout the length and breadth of a vast empire given over entirely to a frenzied passion for the acquirement of knowledge. Learning seemed to have become with them the chief business of life. Caliphs and Amirs hurried from their Diwans to closet themselves in their libraries and observatories. They neglected their affairs of State to attend lectures and converse on mathematical problems with men of science".'

Western historians have purposely avoided acknowledging the debt which their modern civilization owed to the Muslims and till the beginning of the 18th century A.D., the factors which brought about the renaissance in Europe were shrouded in mystery. The greatness of Muslim achievements in diverse branches of learning was hidden behind the thick cover of Western partisanship. Writing in his celebratedwork, The Intellectual Development of Europe, John William Draper says, "I have to deplore the systematic manner in which the literature of Europe it has contrived to put out of sight our scientific obligation to the Muhammadans. Surely they cannot be much longer hidden. Injustice founded on religious rancour and national conceit cannot be perpetuated for ever.....The Arab has left his intellectual impress on Europe, as, before long, Christendom will have to confess; he has indelibly written it on the heavens, as anyone may see who reads the names of the stars on a common celestial globe". The fair minded Robert Briffault has more convincingly exposed the game of early historians who totally ignored the influence of Muslim culture on the revival of the West. He says, "The debt of Europe to the 'Heathen Dog', could, of course, find no place in the scheme of the Christian history, and the garbled falsification has imposed itself on all subsequent conceptions". Even Gibbon treated Islam depreciatingly, an instance of the power of conventional tradition upon its keenest opponents. Until the last century there did not even exist anything approaching accurate knowledge of Saracenic history and culture. 'These accounts of Muhammad and Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning of the 19th century are now to be regarded simply as library curiosities'. (Prof. Bevan--Cambridge Mediaeval History). The history of the rebirth of Europe from barbarism is constantly being written without any reference, whatsoever, except to mention, the 'triumphs of the Cross over the Crescent', and 'the reclamation of Spain from the 'Moorish Yoke', to the influence of Arab Civilization--the History of the Prince of Denmark without Hamlet. Dr. Osborn Taylor has even achieved the feat of writing two large volumes on The Development of the Mediaeval Mind without betraying by a hint the existence of Muhammadan culture. That a brilliant and energetic civilization (of the Muslims) full of creative energy should have existed side by side and in constant relation with populations sunk in barbarism (the Christian West), without exercising a profound and vital influence upon their development, would be a manifest anomaly...... "It is highly probable that but for the Arabs modern European civilization would never have arisen at all; it is absolutely certain that but for them, it would have not assumed that character which has enabled it to trascend all previous phases of evolution. For although theres not a single aspect of European growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the permanent distinctive force of the modern world and supreme source of its victory--natural science and the scientific spirit".l

Thus Christian Europe was rather slow to recognize the greatness of Islamic learning and its influence on the Revival of the West. Westerners like John Davenport, Stanley Lane Poole, M.P.E. Berthelot and more recently Holmyard, Max Meyerhof, George Sarton, Philip K. Hitti, Robert Briffault and John William Draper have gratefully acknowledged the part played by Muslims in the advancement of learning and the awakening of Europe. "Down to the 15th century", writes a western historian, "Whatever scientific activity existed in Europe was engaged in assimilating Arab learning without greatly adding to it."

Islamic Institutions
The Muslim State of Spain had cultivated a great civilization and a high degree of culture. Its well planned cities and well organised public works including the well laid out streets, parks, schools, colleges and hospitals made it a model State in the West whose phenominal cultural, industrial and social progress was viewed with wonder by the Christian visitor. The Moors had introduced beneficial irrigation systems and new crops in Spain. The high class fabrics manufactured in their textile factories were used in the Royal Houses of Europe. Cordova, the Capital of Moorish Spain was the most cultured city of Europe. With its 113,000 houses, 21 suburbs, seventy big libraries and numerous colleges, mosques, palaces, parks and gardens it had acquired international reputation. With its well-illuminated streets, Cordova provided a striking contrast to the European cities and according to John William Draper, "Seven hundred years after this time there was not so much as one public lampin London....... In Paris, centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud".' When the student of the University of Oxford abhorred baths as heathen custom the Moors enjoyed baths in luxurious establishments. Whenever the Christian rulers of European States needed an artist, physician or technical hand, they applied to the Cordova Government. "The fame of the Muslim Capital penetrated as far as the distant Germany where a Saxon nun (Hrosvitha) styled it as 'The Jewel of the World'.' The great social and cultural progress of Cordova inspired awe and admiration in the hearts of European travellers"

The Muslims of Spain had taken long strides in almost all branches of knowledge and had evolved an educational system which embraced all sciences and arts. A large number of educational institutions had sprung up in the four corners of the State including in Cordova, Granada, Toledo and Seville, where learned teachers imparted lessons in the sciences and arts. These Islamic institutions of Muslim Spain and Sicily were the cradle of modern European civilization and the training ground of persons like Roger Bacon and Gerbert Aurillec who ultimately paved the way for the renaissance of Mediaeval Europe. The Christian students enjoyed absolute religious tolerance and complete social freedom in Muslim Spain, which attracted large number of Christian students from all parts of Europe, who after completing their studies in Moorish Schools went back to their native places and taught new theories to astonished people. "From all parts of Europe", says Robert Briffault, "numerous students betook themselves to the great Arab seats of learning in the search of light which only there was to be found. Alvaro, a Cordovan Bishop, writes in the 9th century A.D. 'All the young Christians who distinguished themselves by their talent, know the language and literature of the Arabs, read and study passionately the Arab books, gather at great expense great libraries of these, and everywhere proclaim with loud voice how admirable is that literature'."' The celebrated Gerbert of Aurillec who studied in Moorish school, brought from Spain some rudiments of astronomy and mathematics, and taught his astonished peoples from terrestrlaland celestial globes. His great knowledge which in the word of William of Malmesbury was 'Stolen from the Saracen', had made him as Pope Sylvester II.

The Jews, who soon mastered the Saracenic sciences and arts carried the Muslim theology and philosophy to the distant Benedictine monasteries and the metropolitan house of Monte Cassino, According to Alvaro, the Bishop of Cordova in the 9th century A.D., a large number ‘lamented that, during his stay in Spain he had seen troops of students from Germany, France, England, flocking to the Moorish seats of learning'. In spite of the strict restrictions imposed by the orthodox Christian missionaries on the diffusion of Islamic learning in Europe it penetrated as far as distant Germany and far off England. Frederik II, the Emperor of Italy and Sicily was accused of being a Muslim due to his patronage and love of Islamic learnings. Muslim Sicily did not lag behind in the cultivation of a high standard of civilization including the founding of big institutioas for teaching sciences and arts. Even after the fall of the Muslim State, the Norman kings of Sicily continued to patronise Muslim learnings, for which they were condemned by the Pope.

Gradually the Arabic sciences and arts made their way into Europe, which led to the opening of a number of institutions in France, Germany and even in .England where Arabian sciences were taught by teachers who had learnt them in Muslim Spain and Sicily. Montpellier in the 14th century A.D., was the principal centre for the teaching of Arabian medicine and astronomy in France. "By the close of the 13th century", writes Philip K. Hitti, "Arabic science and philosophy had been transmitted to Europe, and Spain's work as an intermediary was done. The intellectual avenue leading from the portals of Toledo through the Pyrenees wound its way through Provence and the Alpine passes into Lorraine, Germapy, and Central Europeas well as across the Channel into England".' It was in Marseilles, a French port on the Mediterranean that in 1140 A.D. Raymond prepared planetary tables based on those of Toledo. The famous Abbey of Cluny in southern France which housed a number of Spanish monks in the 12th century A.D. became an important centre for the diffusion of Arabian knowledge. As early as the 1Oth century A.D. Arabian sciences were introduced in Lorraine, which after two centuries grew into an important region for scientific study. Cities like Liege, Cologne, and Gorze provided the most congenial atmosphere for the growth of Arabian knowledge. "From Lorraine it radiated into other parts of Germany and was transported into Norman England by men born or educated in Lorraine. Embassies between German kings in the North and Muslim rulers in Spain were frequent and intellectually fruitful. As early as 953 A.D., Otto the Great, King of the Germans, sent as an envoy a Lotharingian monk, John by name, who resided in Cordova for nearly 3 years, probably learned Arabic and brought back with him scientific manuscripts. Thus did Spanish Arabic learning premeate all Western Europe".'

The translated works of Arab scientists in botany, zoology, physics and alchemy were taught in European universities specially those of Northern Italy and France. Jews, after Muslims,were the great exponents of Arab learning and founded schools along Spanish lines at Bari, Salerno, Tarentum and other places. Bartholo Ceuse had named 4,000 Jewish scholars scattered all over southern and western Europe who had imbibed Arab civilization and culture and were well versed in Arabian learning. According to the Right Honourable Lecky, the author of Rationalism in Europe, "Jewish learning and Jewish genius contributed very largely to that bright, but transienf civilization which radiated from Toledo and Cordova and exercised so salutary an influence upon the belief of Europe". The educated Jews, whose medium of education in Spain was Arabic, took a leading part in the translation of Arabic works into Hebrew and other European languages. The Jewish teachers disseminated Arabian medicine and other sciences in the medical schools of Salerno and other European countries.

The Jews who enjoyed complete tolerance in Muslim Spain took a lively interest in the development and popularisation of Arabian learning both during and after the Moorish regime. They were scattered all over Europe after the Ahmohadeen conquest and became the ambassadors of Arabian culture wherever they went. French and German monks including Hildegard and Hrosvitha, the literary nuns of the Thuringian convent, learnt Arabian sciences from them. The wandering Jews founded numerous schools such as those of Kimhic and Ben Esra of Norbonne, where the diffusion ofGrabian learning was carried on through translation and teaching. A large number of these Jews accompanied William of Normandy to England where they established the first English school of science at Oxford, in which Arabian sciences were freely taught. It was in this school that Roger Bacon learnt Arabic sciences from Jewish teachers.

Translations
The Christian Scholars who had studied in the institutions of Muslim Spain translated several important works of Arab writers into European languages which provided the firm ground on which the stately edifice of Western learning was raised. During the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. the process of the diffusion of Arab sciences assumed massive scale and there were several centres in southern France for the dissemination of Arabian Culture. Constantine, an African monk (1087 A.D.), who had acted as secretary to Robert Guiscard, translated several Arabic works including the theoretical part of Ali Ibn Abbas, al-Kitab aLMaliki.

The surgical part of the book was translated into Latin by John, a disciple of Consrantine. Gerard of Cremona was one of the greatest exponents of Arabian learning. He spent more than 50 years in Muslim Spain devoting himself to the pursuit of Arabic learning and translated more than ninety Arabic works including Al-IZanun, the monumental medical works of-Ibn Sina, Almagest of Ptolemy, Tasrif of Al-Zahrawi, ;rlI-Mansuri of Al-Razi and the astronomy of AlHaitham. Faraj ben Salim, the Sicilian Jew, translated in 1279, Al-Hawi, the well-known medical work of Al-Razi as well as Taqwim al-dbdan, written by Ibn Jazlah. Europe is chiefly indebted for its knowledge of Arabic medicine to Constantine, Gerard of Cremona and Faraj hen Salim whose translations paved the way for the growth of medical science in the West. Adelard of Bath, attached for a considerable time to the house of Benedictine was the greatest Arabist of England who popularised Arab learning in France and England. He brought a large number of books from Cordova, which he translated and popularised in England. Of his many translated works, the outstanding are theElements ofEuclid, the astronomical tables of Majriti (1126 A.D.), the astronomical tables of AlKhwarizmi, the astronomical tables of Abu Ma'sher Jafar and many other astronomical and mathematical treatises. Toledo, after its fall into Christian hands in 1085 A.D. became an important centre for the transmission of Arabic literary treasures to the West.. Under the guidance of Archbishop Raymond I (1126--51 A.D.) there arose a regular translation deparment in which Michael Scot, Robert Chester and Gerard of Cremona made valuable translations of important Arabic works. Michael Scot (1236) who is considered as one of the founders of Latin Averroism later became the court astrologer of Frederick II of Sicily.. He translated among other works Al-Hai'a (Bitruji's astronomy), Adstotle's De Coelo et-Mundo, with Ibn Rushd's commentary, and many Arabic works on zoology. His translations of Ibn Rushd's works greatly influenced the later European philosophers. Robert Chester made the first translation of Al-Khwarini's algebra in 1145 A.D. In 1143 he along with Hermann, the Dalmatian, completed the first translation of the Holy Quran. Gerard of Cremona was the most prolific of Toledo translators., Leorardo Fibonacci, who travelled extensively in Spain and Algeria learnt Arabic mathematical science and translated the great work of:-Al-Khwarizmi on algebra. His translated works greatly influenced later writers, hence he is considered the founder of modern mathematics in Europe.. He greatly. popularised the perfected decimal notation in Europe. Daniel de Morley who studied astronomy and mathematics in Cordova, published a number of works and lectured at the Oxford School. Theodore of Antioch translated into Latin, an Arabic work dealing with hawking, which is considered as the first modern natural history. Abraham Ben Ezra(1167 A.D.) a Jew of Toledo translated al-Beruni's commentary on Khwarizmi's Tables. John of Seville translated among others the medical and philosophical works of al-Farghani, Abu Mahsar, Al-Kindi and Al-Ghazali. Plate and Tivoli translated the astronomy of AlBattani as well as other mathematical works. Companus of Novara who had studied mathematics at Corodva taught the subject in Vienna. Alfonso, the sage had established schools at Toledo for the translation of Arabic works. Stephens of Egypt who received his education in Muslim Sicily translated the important medical work of al-Majusi in 1127 A,D.

Sicily stands next to Spain in the diffusion of Arab culture. Muslim learning was transmitted to Europe from Spain and Sicily. Even after the conquest of Sicily at the hands of the Normans in 1091A.D. the Christian rulers exercised great tolerance towards Muslims and contrary to their counterparts in Spain patronised Muslim culture. The superior culture of the conquered race had won the hearts of the conquerors, so much so that Roger, the first King of Sicily and his successors were accused of being more Muslim than Christian. Sicily, which even in the Christian era continued to be a great centre of Muslim civilization, played a vital part in the awakening of Europe. The civil administration of Sicily served as a model for Europe. It was Thomas Burn, who introduced the English fiscal system during the reign of Henry II, which he had learnt in Muslim Sicily. Sicily, with its central position served as an intermediary between the two cultures, Christian and Muslim. It provided an ideal centre for the dissemination of Arabic civilization. There was continuous intercourse between the two Norman States of England and Sicily which was instrumental in bringing many elements of Muslim culture to distant Britain. Emperor Frederick II, in spite of strong opposition from-the orthodox quarters, continued to be the greatest patron of Muslim culture in Europe. "Its great far-reaching influence reached its height when the kingdom passed into the hands of the great Italian born Emperor Frederick II," writes Robert Briffault, "whose radiant figure filled the Middle Ages with wonder. If the name of any European sovereign deserves to be specially associated with the redemption of Christendom from barbarism and ignorance it was not that of Charlemagne, the travesty of whom in the character of a civilizer is a fulsome patriotic and ecclesiastical fiction, but that of the enlighted and enthusiatic ruler(FrederickII) who adopted Saracenic civilization and did more than any sovereignto stimulate its diffusion" The Jews of Sicily played a vital role in the diffusion of Arabian learning in Europe. Of them Farragut of Sirgent, Mese of Palermo and Faraz Ben Salem are noteworthy. The first two translated the astronomical and mediCal works of Arabs into Latin. Southern Italy which was ruled by the Norman Kings of Sicily considerably assisted in diffusing Arab culture to nor them Italy and even to central Europe. A number of translators worked in western Italy, Burgundio of Pisa (1130 A.D.) translated ten books of Galen; Bonacosa, a Jew translated the colliget of Ibn Rushd at Padua and Paravisius translated the Taysir of Ibn Johral at Venice. Due to a lack of appropriate wards, Arabic technical words and scientific terms were adopted in Latin. Thus the Arabic words alchemy, alcohol, azure, cipher, elixir (al-Taksir) were introduced into the vocabulary of Europe and are still in use.

The work of translating Arabic works continued unabated till the middle of the 17th century A.D. Great attention was paid to the translation of Arabic chemical works. Andrea Alphago of Baluno of Italy (1520 A.D.) translated the biographical dictionary of Ibn Kifti as well as some of the important works of Galen, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd. A work of Abdur Rahman on music and the Pyramids was rendered into Latinby Piyare Vattier of Orleans in 1664 A.D.

The period of translation was followed by a period when Arabian knowledge was systematised, assimilated and the ground prepared for the creative works which brought about the renaissance in Europe. The systematisers arranged the vast material obtained through Arabian sources and paved the way for the intellectual growth of Europe. Among the foremost systematisers were Alexander of Halle (1245 A.D.), Robert Grosseteste (1255 A.D.), St. Thomas Acquinas (1225-75 A.D.) Albertus Magnus (1193-1290 A.D.)., Roger Bacon (1214-94 A.D.), Amold of Villanova (1255-1320A.D.), and Peter of Abano (1250-1320 A.D.). "The impulse of this intellectual activity", writes Campbell, "was derived in the main from the Arabian writers and Albertus Magnus and Rager Bacon were the eminent types of Arabo-Scholastics of the period who derived the basis of their learning from Arabian sources."

Roger Bacon (1214-94 A.D.) is considered the father of the European renaissance. He was educated by Jewish teachers in the Oxford School which was established, for the propagation of Muslim science by Jews who had been driven out of Spain by the Christians and had reached England along with William of Normandy. According to M. N.. Roy,"Roger Bacon was a disciple of Arabs".. Roger Bacon, who in the West is known as the originator of the experimental method in Europe had himself received his training from the pupils of Spanish Moors and had learnt everything from Muslim sources, The writer of the article "Roger Bacon" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica claims that it is beyond all doubt! that Rager Bacon was profoundry versed in Arabian learning and derived from it many of the germs of his philosophy." The influence of Ibn Haitham (Alhazen) on Roger Bacon is clearly visible in his works. Europe was rather slow to recognise the Islamic origin of her much advertised scientific (experimental) method. Writing in the Making of HumaaitY, R. Briffault admits that "It was under their successors at the Oxford School that Roger Bacon learned Arabic and Arabic science.

Neither Rager Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be credited with having introduced the experimental method. Roger Bacon was no more than one of the apostles of Muslim science and method to Christian Europe; and he never wearied of declaring that the knowledge of Arabic and Arabic science was for his contemporaries the only way to true knowledge". As a reward for his love of Arabic science, Roger Bacon was thrown into prison as a sorcerer and he died shortly after his release from 10 years imprisonment.

The Crusadeb were partly responsible for popularising Puiuslim learning in Christian Europe. The direct contacts of the Christian west with Muslims in Palestine made the Christian scholars like Raymond Lull of Catalonia (1235--1315 A. D,X realise the futility of conquering Islam by brute force and attempt to win their hearts by peaceful means. This necessitated the learning of Arabian sciences and of training Christian missionaries in Arabic culture. Such a training centre was established in Toledo in 1250 A. D. Raymond the Martin, who was the principal scholar of this school, founded a monastic college at Miramar in 1276 A.D. Probably it was Martin who influenced the ecclesiastical council of Vienna in 1311 A.D. to adopt a Resolution to create the chair of Arabic language at the Universities of Paris, Louvain and Salamanca. According to Lec Clerc, "The contacts of the Arabs with southern Italy and the Crusades contributed to the spread of Arabian medicine and culture generally in the west of Europe". Campbell also testifies to the above view when he says, "the crusaders were undoubtedly influenced by the medical and philosophical doctrines of the Arabians". The superior culture and advanced knowledge of the Arabs in several branches of learning greatly influenced the Christian crusaders when they came in direct contact with the Arabs and the works of persons like Hermon the Cripple bear testimony to this inffuence of Arab culture.

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Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident

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Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident

par Invité le Sam 15 Jan 2011 - 17:08

Auteur:Sigrid HUNKE Editions:Albin Michel Année:2000 ISBN : 2226093583

Au regard d’une actualité dénigrante du fait « arabe » et « musulman », il est essentiel de lire le merveilleux ouvrage d’une occidentale, Sigrid Hunke, qui relate, grâce à un récit fourni et vivant, les liens intrinsèques de l’Orient et de l’Occident à travers la formidable aventure humaine, scientifique et culturelle de la civilisation arabo-musulmane, à la lumière des immenses réalisations des savants musulmans.

Il n'est en effet pas question de religion mais de civilisation. L'auteur précise dans l'introduction:
"Cet ouvrage parlera des "Arabes" et de la civilisation "arabe", non de la civilisation "islamique", car il est notoire que non seulement des chrétiens, des juifs, des parsis et des Sabéens ont contribué à cette civilisation mais qu'encore bon nombre des éclatantes réalisations de celle-ci se sont précisément effectuées contre l'Islam orthodoxe. En effet, bon nombre des éléments qui constituent le génie spécifique de cet univers spirituel existaient déjà dans le caractère de l'Arabe des temps préhistoriques."

Présentation par l'éditeur:
Alors que l'Europe se débattait dans un Moyen Âge de conflits et de blocages, le monde arabe était le théâtre d'une admirable civilisation fondée sur les échanges économiques, intellectuels et spirituels. Dans toutes les disciplines mathématiques, astronomie, médecine, architecture, musique et poésie, les Arabes multiplièrent les plus prodigieuses réalisations. Venant d'Italie, de Sicile, d'Espagne et autres territoires soumis à la domination ou à l'influence arabe, passant par l'entremise de grands princes, comme Frédéric II de Hohenstaufen ou par le canal de nombreux voyageurs (négociants, pèlerins, croisés, étudiants), les réalisations de cette prestigieuse civilisation ont peu à peu gagné l'Europe où elles jouèrent un rôle déterminant dans l'éclosion de la civilisation occidentale. Sigrid Hunke brosse un tableau saisissant de cette rencontre entre l'Orient et l'Occident . L'influence décisive de la civilisation arabe sur celle de l'Europe, influence trop souvent passée sous silence sinon ouvertement contestée, est enfin mise en pleine lumière.

Sigrid Hunke conclut par ces mots:
« La haine religieuse et l’intolérance ont toujours été les pires conseillères des peuples, leur fomentation l’ennemi de toute vie et de tout progrès. Que les peuples ne puissent, au contraire, atteindre leur plus grand épanouissement sans des échanges et une considération réciproque, sans l’ouverture de toutes leurs frontières et une amicale concurrence, voilà ce que ne manque pas de confirmer l’histoire étrange (marquée à la fois par la répulsion et l’attirance, l’hostilité et l’envoûtement) des relations entre le monde musulman et l’Occident, relations, qui en dépit de la méfiance et de la haine ont été pour l’univers un immense bienfait ».

En complément à ce livre, je recommande
"Frédéric de Hohenstaufen" de Jacques Benoist-Méchin.
Cet empereur et savant méconnu joua un grand rôle dans l'ouverture sur la civilisation arabo-musulmane qui conduira à la Renaissance. Grand connaisseur de l'lslam, il fut deux fois excommunié par le pape et diabolisé comme Antéchrist parce qu'il avait obtenu l'accès des Lieux Saints aux chétiens par la négociation sans verser de sang. Il fut condamné à l'oubli après sa mort et toute sa descendance fut cruellement exécutée tant le Saint-Siège ne cessa de vouloir effacer son œuvre et son nom.
J'ai pu constater moi-même lors d'une visite à la cathédrale de Palerme, que son sarcophage reste inaccessible et que la guide évitait d'en parler.

Monday, 21 August 2017

Ian Greenhalgh - THERE IS NO GOD AND THE MOON IS ARTIFICIAL! FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Does the solar eclipse prove the moon is artificial? LOOKS LIKE IT!

There is no God, but we cannot prove a negative either! Or can we?

By Ian Greenhalgh on August 21, 2017

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Saturday, 12 February 2011

ALLAH'S SUN SHINES OVER THE OCCIDENT (THE WEST) ​Allahs Sonne über dem Abendland 1960 by SIGRID HUNKE

JOOTUBE IS AGAIN FILTERING MY COMMENTS! THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING ALL THE TIME, LATELY! 11/7/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwPiSlljry0

ALLAH'S SUN SHINES OVER THE OCCIDENT (THE WEST) by SIGRID HUNKE

“Allah’s sun over the Occident”

Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident - Sigrid Hunke

Charlemagne et les Arabes 1

Charlemagne et les Arabes 2

(See further down - ANTI-ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA)

Le soleil d’ALLAH brille sur l’occident | Sigrid Hunke (fiche de lecture)

Le soleil d’ALLAH brille sur l’occident | Sigrid Hunke (fiche de lecture)

Le Soleil d'Allah Brille sur l'Occident (1ère Partie)

Le Soleil d’Allah brille sur l’Occident

Science in Islam: Importance and Value

http://en.islamstory.com/the-experimental-method-in-the-islamic-civilization.html

Value of Science

Islam and Science

Quran and Science

Status of Science in Islam and Christianity

Status of Science in Islam and Christianity

German Orientalist Sigrid Hunke’s View

Conflict between Religion and Science

Manifestations of Islam keenness on Seeking Science

1- Public Libraries:

2- Emergence of Huge Scientific Meetings:

The Experimental Scientific Method.. Important Islamic Addition

Muslim Scientists' Role in Discovering the Experimental Method

Examples of Muslim Scientists who Approved Experimental Method

“Allah’s sun over the Occident”

"A Multicultural Conference Hijacked By Islamists"

Allah and the Occident

How Islam Came to Germany

From the Magazine

Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident

Le soleil d'Allah brille sur l'Occident

About Me

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

ALLAH'S SUN SHINES OVER THE OCCIDENT (THE WEST) Allahs Sonne über dem Abendland 1960 by SIGRID HUNKE