Interesting Topics to Explore

Lately, I've been musing about some interesting topics about Islam which are worth exploring. And for this part, I will jot down some of them here, just so I could outline them for the meantime:

1. Fitrah - the innate nature of creation and humanity. Where did humanity came from (physically and spiritually), its origins, blueprint of nature, or essence? What are our basic natural inclinations? What are the forces that drive our character, behavior and motivation? Psychology within Islamic perspective. What is the significance of worship (Ibadah) to this Fitrah? How do we balance the belief in destiny and submission to the power of God with that of our will, abilities and control? Are we fully accountable with the outcome of our lives and with the consequences of our decisions?

2. Tolerance and differences of opinion. Differentiation of definition between Shari'ah (God's Law) and Fiqh (man-made legal opinion). How do Muslims handle differences? How to balance independent critical thinking with the guidance of God? How to deal with extremist blind (Taqlid) following of schools of thought or extreme veneration of 'scholars'' opinion? Making Ijtihad (independent judgment / decision) on matters not stated on the primary sources. Dealing with overzealous reaction / intolerance of differences and eventually of divisions among Muslims.  Negative passing of judgments. Conflicting groups. Harshness of conduct and loss of manners. Re-cultivating compassion and respect with sisters / brothers in faith in light of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Unity and dis-unity.

Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in the better way. Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who go aright. (16:65)

3. Bid'ah (innovation) in religion - both good and bad aspects and its effects. Stagnation or flowering of Islamic civilization on worldly science and arts along with Islamic religious knowledge. The immense task and responsibility of translation / interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah from the original Arabic to another language and the impact of individual perception to literal and figurative meanings.

4. Balancing between worldly affairs with working towards Hereafter. Developing a positive mindset and perception between both worlds.

That's it. There are many ones worth exploring, but God willing, other notes will follow later on.

The Creator

Allah is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. His signs are imprinted throughout the universe and all of the creation pronounces Him to be the Creator, the One with perfect qualities, and the only One Who deserves to be worshiped.

- Aidh Al Qarni

A Few Minutes Ago

At the other end is my chair and table. This is where I spend my day.

How Islam Created the Modern World

Front cover of How Islam Created the Modern World by Mark Graham (2006). The picture depicts al-Razi stained on a glass window in Princeton University Chapel.

Review of How Islam Created the Modern World by Mark Graham. Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 2006. Hardcover, 208 pages. ISBN-10: 1590080432 - ISBN-13: 978-1590080436.

For several centuries, corresponding to the European Middle Ages, Baghdad was the intellectual center of the world. It was there that a huge community of translators and scholars appropriated in Arabic culture the knowledge of ancient civilizations and combined it with the cultural traditions and imperatives of the Islamic context to create a scientific, mathematical and philosophical golden age. 

This golden age of Islam embraced all the products of human spirit practiced at that time, including different scientific disciplines, medicine, symbolic and artistic creation, social organization and material culture, including productive branches of applied knowledge in industry, architecture and the making of instruments.

These accomplishments were so numerous and original that they realised an unprecedented stage of civilization and occupied a high rank in human creation. Being unique and at the front of inventivity, they gained the admiration of other peoples who were aware of the existence of these treasures. Hence a dynamic process of transmission was set up between the Muslim and the Latin worlds all over the Mediterranean coasts.

This transfer process was progressive and uninterrupted for several centuries, mainly in the Andalus, but also in Sicily, Southern France and in the Middle East during the Crusades.

At the dawn of the Renaissance, Christian Europe was wearing Persian clothes, singing Arab songs, reading Spanish Muslim philosophy and eating off Mamluk Turkish brassware. This is the story of how Muslims taught Europe to live well and think clearly. It is the story of how Islam created the Modern World.

It is this story of civilization that Mark Graham describes in his book. Who would have thought an Edgar-winning mystery novelist could explain to us in clear, concise language that without Islam, western civilization as we know it might not exist? Underlying that dramatic proposition is an important thesis: The ongoing debate about a supposed "clash of civilizations" misses the reality that Islam and the West developed from essentially the same roots and, despite their rivalry, helped each other in profound ways along the path to "civilization". In fact, the West and Islam can be viewed as merely different faces of the same civilization. He explains how Arabic-speaking Muslims not only preserved the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the Greeks but also "made it their own", greatly extending and improving on it. For example, the newly developed concepts of Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) found their way into western universities, where they were viewed as challenges to church orthodoxy and ushered in the beginnings of the scientific method.

Muslim thinkers, poets and scientists set the stage for the European Renaissance: Graham points out specific borrowings in Dante's Divine Comedy from the works of the great Andalusian writer Ibn ‘Arabi, and shows how these intercultural transfers were likely mediated by Dante's mentor Brunetto Latini, who had brought back learning from the libraries of Toledo, where, even after the Christian reconquista Muslims and Christians continued to live together and to work along the same paths as when the Muslims were the rulers of the Iberian peninsula.

In other places of his book, Graham shows more concrete ways in which the West is indebted to Islam: A Mongol invasion of Europe was thwarted when Egypt's Mamluk army defeated the Mongols at ‘Ain Jalut, Palestine, in 1260. Imagine how different the West would be today if the Mongols had triumphed! As it turned out, the West never again faced the threat of Mongol invasion after ‘Ain Jalut, and the breather which thus provided Europe a chance to absorb what Graham terms "the other great gift of Islam—knowledge".

Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Foreword 11

Introduction 15

Chapter 1: Islam becomes an empire 17

Chapter 2: The House of wisdom 37

Chapter 3: Hippocrates wears a turban 51

Chapter 4: The great work 63

Chapter 5: Beyond the Arabian nights 77

Chapter 6: Islam's secret weapon 97

Chapter 7: A medieval war on terror 117

Chapter 8: The first World war 139

Chapter 9: Raiders of the last library 157

Chapter 10: Children of Abraham, children of Aristotle 175

Appendix 1: What the Qur'an says 183

Appendix 2: Arabic words in English 185

Further reading 189

Index 197

Source: Muslim Heritage

Compassion

It is compassion that opens the hearts of people to the truth. Hatred, only makes things worse. Do not be hard on people, be kind to them, inspire them, seek to understand them, and open their minds constructively without personal attack. If they don't know what they are doing, educate them, but do not treat them in a harsh manner, contempt or indifference.

Even the hardest stone can wear away with the gentle springing of water.

Doubtless to say, we live in a world where perversion and corruption is rampant. If we can't change this corrupt world, then at least let us do our part in avoiding what is already destroyed. To stay away from destruction.

Solace is found in the heart where faith and hope in the Almighty dwells.

The Garden Gate

The Garden Gate at Vetheuil by Claude Monet

Garden City

Salam and Hello!

I was absent for a few days, and I'm very excited to ease things a little bit. This will be the eighth installment of the Baguio travel series.

I wandered at the flowering parks and at the strawberry farm. Baguio City, located at northern Philippines, is its summer capital and tourists come over the beautiful landscaped city located on the high mountains of Benguet province. It is one of my most favorite places to go to because there are many, many flowers, pine trees, cool weather, strawberries, friendly people, and beautiful atmosphere. 

I told my mom that Baguio as a whole is a 'garden city'. Even the houses, no matter how simple they are, are beautifully landscaped everywhere. It was a one day travel only but it was definitely worth it. We went to Camp John Hay, had breakfast and lunch at Burnham Park, strolled at Botanical Gardens, and walked at the Strawberry Farm at La Trinidad Valley. I was not able to go to the rose gardens because by afternoon, rain began to fall. For souvenirs, I bought two pashmina shawls.

Science and Islam

Sea

Responsibility

It is hard to contest that blaming other people and circumstances for ones own shortcomings and failures preserves ones self-confidence. This is a universal psychological defense mechanism enlisted by people everywhere in an attempt to cope with hideous reality.

For many, however, this harmless phenomenon degenerated into a tremendous paranoia rife with conspiracy theories. From colonialism to the current socioeconomic malaise, to the political situation in Muslim countries and the "technological aggression" by Western cultural imperialists - all is quickly reduced to a monumental Western conspiracy against Islam. (...)

These psychological faultlines in the Muslim mind cannot be dismissed as harmless, for they effectively hinder any helpful acknowledgement of the Muslims' own mistakes and stifle proactive initiatives. In the final analysis, Muslims are thus responsible for their own fatalist mindset.

- Murad Wilfried Hofmann, Religion on the Rise

Tawheed at Shirk

* This is the first translation work I did about Islam.

It is a rendition on the Filipino language of the book by Ibrahim Hussain, originally entitled, Tawheed and Shirk. In sha Allah, it gets approved and then published in booklet form soon.

 

Le Fontaine

Fountains at SM Clark Angeles City, taken last December, while strolling alone before going to the coffee shop, and then later on, I was joined by my siblings and then my parents.

Currently Reading

Currently reading: Religion on the Rise by Murad Wilfried Hofmann. 

I was attempting to voice-record my reading, but I realized I was having problems with accent and in making mistakes with reading the words (my eyesight issues). I really need to have my glasses soon. Perhaps, if I will have time, I will get them this afternoon or tomorrow, in sha Allah. My optician is a good friend of mine. :)

Anyways, I recommend the book. It is an insightful work that touches into the issues that Islam and Muslims face in the modern world, and what Islam has to offer: its solutions to the problems of the current times, and what its future likely holds, most especially in the postmodernism era.

Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Destination: West
Chapter 2: Destination: East
Chapter 3: Many long and wretched Years
Chapter 4: Targeting the Media
Chapter 5: Blond, blue-eyed and Human Rights
Chapter 6: Democracy or Shuracracy
Chapter 7: Similar or Identical?
Chapter 8: Why Muhammad?
Chapter 9: Jesus dividing - Jesus uniting
Chapter 10: Colorblind
Chapter 11: What are they here for?
Chapter 12: In for a Change
Chapter 13: Petitioners or Partners?
Chapter 14: Islam in America
Chapter 15: What if they come?
Index
Bibliography

Caught My Eye

These flowers caught my eye just this morning.

At the background is a stair leading to the terrace garden I had been neglecting for perhaps a month now. 

The plants had been terribly missing me :(

Slavery (Al Ubudiyyah)

One of the books that made a significant mark on the way I understand Islam, and which greatly changed the way I see the concepts of worship, slavery, submission, and love - was the brief and concise book of a 13^th century Muslim scholar, Imam Ahmad Ibn ‘Abdul-Halim Ibn ‘Abdus-Salam Ibn Taymiyyah Al-Harrani (d. 728), titled Slavery. It was originally titled in Arabic as Al Ubudiyyah.

As a young child, I rummaged through my father’s books and the thin white book at that time, didn’t made such an impression on me because I thought that it was about the literal phenomenon of slavery – and even then, I might not even made a sense out of it due to my young age. The name of the author, whom at many times I heard from my father, as being a scholar of Islam – despite his immense encyclopedic knowledge and piety, he was subjected to persecution, imprisoned, and wrote books using charcoal while being alone at the bottom of a well - remained at the back of my mind. And thus, I conceived a deep respect for Ibn Taymiyyah, and I thought that one day I will be able to understand his writings, particularly the thin white book which intrigued me for a time I could hardly remember anymore.

When I was at one of the lowest points of finding meaning on to life while going through very tough trials, I tried to read the book, hoping to find enlightenment to the heavy burdens I was carrying in my mind. I was told by my parents that the book is a must-read and it carries with it a very concise message about the concept of slavery. As it turned out, it was not exactly how I thought it would be. It was not about people working as slaves in the literal sense of the word. It was about slavery to God.

Al Ubudiyyah is written in a very straightforward manner as was characteristic of Ibn Taymiyyah’s writings. The verses of the Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم‎ are elegantly integrated on the deductions of his insights. Reading the work, one can easily understand and connect with the message. It was from this book that my subsequent study and viewpoints are heavily influenced and drawn from.

It can be said that Ibn Taymiyyah is a polemicist and a very controversial figure during his time and until the present. He had many contributions in the field of Islamic scholarship, but due to his influence, and works on refutation, he earned many critics and enemies. But by becoming familiar with the background which he came from and the political and religious climate that had developed during his time, one can understand the reason why his work took on a polemical style.

He came from a family of religious scholars and was educated and mastered many of the Islamic sciences at a very early age. Eventually, he was qualified to issue religious verdicts (Fatawa) at the age of nineteen. He sought to establish certainty on the matters of religious creed (Aqeedah) at a time when various schools of thought, groups, and sects emerged wherein alien influences and innovations in religious teachings and practices appeared threatening the stability and unity of the Islamic world, including its pristine message brought by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Despite of that,

(...) Islam never suffered from Muslim equivalents to Saint Paul, John the Evangelist, Marcion, Saint Augustine, or the fake Dionysios Areopagita, i.e., people who drastically changed the teachings of Prophet Jesus. The credit for this relative immunity against deviations goes to a famous dispute among Islamic philosophers in 9th-10th century Baghdad. At that time, the speculative metaphysicians of the so-called Mu'tazila school of thought, strongly under Greek influence, were decisively defeated by the uncompromising critique of all metaphysics typical of the so-called Ash'ariyyah school. Flanked by popular scriptural literalism, traditionalism (muhadithun), and populist Islam (ahl as sunnah), a trend became victorious that is identical with today's orthodox Islam: intellectually fairly rigid and hostile to both philosophy and mysticism. This rejection of Hellenism - both in its extreme rationalism and intuitive gnosis - in the early Middle Ages has left its mark to this very day, for instance in the fundamentalism of the Hanbalite school, represented today by the Wahhabi reform movement in Saudi Arabia. ¹

He became famous for his knowledge of Hadith, and his knowledge of the Qur’an and its related sciences. He also attained expertise on Usul al-Fiqh and Fiqh, knowledge of the differences of opinions present among scholars, writing, mathematics, history, astronomy, psychology, and medicine. One of his students, Ibn al Qayyim said,

Allah knows, I have never seen anyone who had a better life than his. Despite the difficulties and all that expunges comfort and luxury, nay, things completely opposite to them; despite imprisonment, intimidation and oppression, Ibn Taymiyyah had a purer life than anyone could. He was the most generous, the strongest of heart and the most joyful of souls, with the radiance of bliss in his face. When we were seized with fear and our thoughts turned negative, and the earth grew narrow for us, we would go to him. No sooner did we look at him and hear his words, all these feelings would leave us to be replaced by relief, strength, certainty and tranquility. ²

Al Ubudiyyah draws its main theme on the first and foremost pillar of Islam: that there is no god but Allah (La ilaha illallah) - Tawheed, and in perfecting ones purpose of creation, which is worship (Ibadah). That the whole of life is meant for worship of Allah with submission and love, sincerity (Ikhlas), and everything intended solely for His sake.

The following are some of the passages from the book that struck me the most, and which changed the way I understand Islam, worship, slavery, submission and love:

For knowing the right and being too arrogant to accept it is a great torture to man…

So anyone who recognizes this truth and professes it but does not fulfill the religious reality which is the worship of God and obedience to Him and His messenger, - would be of the same kind as Iblis (Satan) and Hell dwellers…

If anyone thought that he is among the elite and among the people of religious knowledge and realization who think that God’s orders are cancelled concerning themselves he would therefore be among the worst rejecters and atheists…

If this is comprehended, then the perfection of a creature is in achieving his slavery to God. The better he achieves this slavery, the most perfect he will be. Those who think that a creature can get rid of this slavery in any respect or think that getting out of it is more perfect, are the most ignorant creatures, nay the most misled ones…

The more a servant is hopeful of the bounty of God to fulfill his necessities, the stronger will his freedom from the others will be…

Whoever interests his heart in the creatures for giving him aid and guidance will get his heart submitted to them even if seemingly, he is the chief who manages matters for them; but a wise man sees the truths not the appearances… Nay! The imprisonment of the heart is much more serious than that of the body; for he whose body is enslaved and imprisoned, would not care if his heart is at rest. But if the heart, which is the king of the body, is enslaved by, and fond of other things than God, this would be absolute enslavement, humiliation, imprisonment, and submitting slavery to what enthralled the heart…

We also see that anyone who craves for chief positions has a heart which may bow to any people who help him reach the position, though he might seem to be their boss, where in fact he is looking for their benefits, and being aware of their evils, he spends on them, grants them authorities, and forgives their mistakes so that they might obey and help him. Apparently, therefore, he is their indisputable master, whereas he is really an obedient slave to them…

God must be loved most by a slave and He must be the greatest of all in his sight. Nothing deserves love and complete submission except God. One who loves for the sake of anything other than God, his love is false…

If your love for someone is not for God, that love is wrong, and if your reverence for someone is without order from Him, that reverence is wrong…³

God is the Lord of the Worlds, their Creator and Provident, the Giver of their life and death, the Controller of their hearts and the Dispenser of their affairs; there is no lord, no master, no creator other than He, whether they accept it and acknowledge it or not. Only the Believers among them know this truth and acknowledge it, whereas those who do not know or do not acknowledge this truth deny these realities with arrogance and refuse to submit to Him, even though they may know that He is their Lord and Creator…⁴

Bibliography:

1. Religion on the Rise: Islam in the Third Millennium. (2001). Murad Wilfried Hofmann. Amana Publications.

2. Diseases of the Hearts and Their Cures. Shaykh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah trans. Abu Rumaysah. Birmingham. Dar us-Sunnah Publishers.

3. Slavery. Ibn Taimieh. Beirut, Lebanon. Al Maktab Al-Islam.

4. Ibn Taymiyyah Expounds on Islam: Selected Writings of Shaykh al-Islam Taqi ad-Din Ibn Taymiyyah on Islamic Faith, Life, and Society. (2000). Compiled and translated by Muhammad ‘Abdul-Haqq Ansari. Al Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University Imadat Al-Bahth Al-‘Ilmi, Riyadh, KSA. Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America.