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Islam Online: Muslim Personals |
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Muhammad Bin Qasim |
| Muhammad bin Qasim ( 695 Events - 715 ) was an Arab general who captured Sindh and started the Islamic era in South Asia, and more specifically the Indian subcontinent.
Muhammad bin Qasim was born around 695, his father died when he was young, so his education was handled by his mother. One of his close relatives was the Umayyad governor Hajjaj bin Yousef who was instrumental in teaching Muhammad bin Qasim about warfare and governing.
With Hajjaj's patronage, he was made governor of Persia where he put down a rebellion. At the age of seventeen, he was sent by caliph Al-Walid I to lead an army into India, in what is now the Sindh area of present day Pakistan. The Umayyad reasoning for this attack was to rescue some pilgrims that were taken captive by pirates. Though this explanation is held by many experts to be highly suspect and a mere ploy.
Bin Qasim was successful, rapidly taking all of Sindh and moving into southern Punjab up to Multan. The forces of Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahar, and took his daughters captive (they were sent to Damascus ). On his arrival at the town of Brahminabad between 6,000 and 16,000 men died in the battle that ensued.
After the violence Qasim attempted to establish law and order in the newly-conquered territory by allowing a degree of religious tolerance. He was countermanded by Hajjaj who insisted on a more hardline policy. As a whole, populations of conquered territories were treated as people of the book and granted religious toleration of Hindu religion in return for payment of the poll tax (jizya). Brahmin caste system was tolerated and no conversion of conquered populations was attempted.
He also began preparations for an attack on Rajasthan. In the interim though, Hajjaj bin Yousef died, as did the caliph al-Walid I. The new caliph, Suleiman was a political enemy of Hajjaj and recalled Muhammad bin Qasim using the claims of Raja Dahar's daughters as a pretense (they claimed that bin Qasim had not treated them right - the validity of this claim is questionable). Bin Qasim was wrapped in oxen hides and returned to Syria. He could have very well not followed the caliphs order, but he did. Muhammad bin Qasim died in jail, at the age of twenty.
Bin Qasim's rapid gains at such a young age have led many scholars to speculate on how much he could have achieved had he been given the chance. Some have written that he may have taken all of South Asia, but whether or not this is valid is debatable. |
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Musa Bin Nusair |
Musa bin Nusair (640—716) was a Yemeni Muslim governor and general under the Umayyads. In 698 he was made the viceroy of North Africa and was responsible for putting down a large Berber rebellion. He also had to deal with constant harassment from the Byzantine navy and he built a navy that would go on to conquer the islands of Ibiza, Majorca, and Minorca.
In Spain there was internal fighting among the Visigoths. Among the factions were the sons of a recently deceased king who felt that they had unfairly been stripped of power. They appealed to Musa to intervene in their civil war, and Musa agreed. He sent his deputy, Tariq bin Ziyad to Spain whose armies landed at Gibraltar on April 30 , 711, from whence they proceeded to take most of Spain. Their major victory came in September of the same year when the Muslim armies defeated Roderick at the Guadalete River. Musa joined Tariq in 712 and led armies into Southern France, where he annexed some land. Musa was planning an invasion of the rest of Europe when he was recalled to Damascus by Al-Waleed. Al-Waleed would die soon after and Musa would be jailed by his successor, Suleiman who would have Musa executed in 716. The reasoning behind this was that Suleiman saw Musa as a threat. But perhaps it was a personal vendetta.
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Imam Shamil |
Imam Shamil (1797 - March 1871 was a Checheni Avar political and religious leader of the Muslims of the Northern Caucasus. He was important in the anti Russian national liberation movement of the Caucasian peoples in and was the third Imam of Daghestan and Chechnya. Imam Shamil was born in 1797 in the small village of Gimry which is in current day Daghestan. His father was a free landlord, and this position allowed Shamil to study many subjects including Arabic, logic and other areas. Shamil also joined a Sufi order, and established himself as a well respected and educated man among other Muslims of the Caucasus. He made a pilgramige or hajj to Mecca in 1828 and there he met Abdel Kadir, from whom he learned guerilla war tactics.
Shamil was born at a time when the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus were at war with the armies of Russia. Since the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Russian empire had begun to expand and eventually took control of the region from the Ottoman Empire. As time progressed, the Muslims of the region began to feel that their way of life was threatened, and they were continually at war with the Russians. Some of the earlier leaders of Muslim resistance were Sheikh Mansur and Ghazi Mollah. Shamil was actually childhood friends with Mollah and would become his disciple.
At the battle of Ghimri, Mollah died and Shamil took his place as the premier leader of Muslim resistance in the Caucasus. He would come to be known as al-Imam al-Azam or leader of all the Caucasus. He was effective at uniting the peoples of the mountains to fight the Russians and won many victories against the Russians from 1817 until 1859. He made effective use of guerilla warfare tactics and the resistance was only ended when the Russians deployed half a million troops and reduced the forces of Shamil down to the hundreds. On August 25, 1859 Shamil and his family were jailed in the Daghestan village (aoul ) Gunib.
After being defeated by the Russians, Shamil was sent to Moscow to meet the Tsar and then he was exiled to a town Kaluga outside of Moscow. In 1869 he was given permission to retire to the holy city of Mecca and he travelled there through Istanbul. He died in Medina in 1871 while visiting the city and was buried the Jannatul Baqi which is also the site where many important personalities from Islamic history are buried.
Shamil continues to be revered in the Caucasus for his resistance to the Russians, and is held up as a role model by those leading the current fight against Russian control of the region. The Chechen guerilla leader Shamil Basayev is named for him. |
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Abu Bakar (Razi Allah o Anho: First Caliph of Islamic State |
Abu Bakr (Razi Allah O Anhoo) was born in Mecca, a Quraishi of the Banu Taim clan. According to early Muslim historians, he was a merchant, and highly esteemed as a judge, as an interpreter of dreams, and as one learned in in Meccan traditions. He was one of the last people anyone would have expected to convert to the faith preached by his kinsman Muhammad peace be upon him. Yet he was one of the first converts to Islam (see below) and instrumental in converting many of the Quraish and the residents of Mecca.
Originally called Abd-ul-Ka'ba ("servant of the house of God"), on his conversion he assumed the name of Abd-Allah (servant of God). However, he is usually styled Abu Bakr (from the Arabic word bakr , meaning a young camel) due to his interest in raising camels. Sunni Muslims also honor him as Al-Siddiq ("the truthful", or "upright"). His full name was Abd-Allah ibn Abi Quhaafah.
He was one of Messenger Muhammad's constant companions. When Muhammad fled from Mecca in the hijra of 622 , Abu Bakr alone accompanied him. Abu Bakr was also linked to Muhammad by marriage: Abu Bakr's daughter Hazarat Aisha (Razi Allah o Anha) married Muhammad peace be upon hm soon after the migration to Medina. Once a wealthy man, he was known to have impoverished himself by purchasing the freedom of several Muslim slaves from polytheist masters.Abubakar , Abi Bakr , Abu Bakar ; 573– August 23, 634 ruled as the first of the Muslim caliphs (632 – 634). |
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Mughal Empire: Indian Sub Continent |
| The Mughal Empire, (Mughal Baadshah, alternative spelling Mogul) was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled parts of Afghanistan, Balochistan and most of the Indian Subcontinent between 1526 and 1857. The empire was founded by the Mongol leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. The word "Mughal" is the Indo-Aryan version of "Mongol." The religion of Mughals was Islam.
The empire was largely conquered by Sher Shah during the time of Humayun, but under Akbar, it grew considerably, and continued to grow until the end of Aurangzeb's rule. Jahangir, the son of Akbar, ruled the empire between (1605-1627). In October 1627, Shah Jahan, son of Jahangir, "succeeded to the throne", where he "inherited a vast and rich empire" in India; and "at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world". The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, commissioned between (1630 - 1653), the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India.
After Aurangzeb died in 1707, the empire started a slow and steady decline in actual power, although it maintained all the trappings of power in the Indian subcontinent for another 150 years. In 1739 it was defeated by an army from Persia led by Nadir Shah. In 1756 an army of Ahmad Shah looted Delhi again. The British Empire finally dissolved it in 1857, immediately prior to which it existed only at the sufferance of the British East India Company. |
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Abu Rehan Biruni:
Al Biruni |
Abu Raihan Biruni (September, 973 | December, 1048) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, physicist, scholar, encyclopedist, philosopher, astrologer, traveler, historian, pharmacist, and teacher, who contributed greatly to the fields of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and science.
He was born in Khwarazm, presently in Uzbekistan. He studied mathematics and astronomy under Abu Nasr Mansur.
He was a colleague of the Central Asian philosopher and physician Ibn Sina, the historian, philosopher and ethicist Ibn Miskawayh in a university and science center established by prince Abu Al Abbas Mamun Khawarazmshah. He also traveled to Pakistan and India with Mahmud of Ghazni, who also became his patron and accompanied him on his campaigns there learning the language and studying the religion and philosophy and wrote Tarikh al Hind "Chronicles of India". He also knew the Greek Language, Sanskrit, possibly Syriac and Berber. He wrote his books in Persian and Arabic, but his native language was Khwarezmian.
Some of his notable achievements included:
* At the age of 17, he calculated the latitude of Kath, Khwarazm using the maximum altitude of the sun.
* By th age of 22, he had written several short works including a study of map projections, Cartography which included a methodology for projecting a hemisphere on a plane
* By the age of 27, he had written a book called Chronology which referred to other work he had completed (now lost) that included one book about the astrolabe, one about the decimal system, four about astrology and two about history.
* He calculated the radius of the Earth to be 6,339.6 kilometres (this result was replicated in the Western world in the 16th century).
Biruni's works number more than 120.His contributions to mathematics include:
» Theoretical and practical arithmetic
» Summation of series
» Combinatorial analysis
» The rule of three
» Irrational numbers
» Ratio theory
» Algebraic definitions
» Method of solving algebraic equations
» Geometry
» Archimedes' theorems
» Trisection of the angle
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Prophets Of Islam |
The Quran identifies a number of men as prophets of Islam. Such individuals are believed by Muslims to have been assigned a special mission by God ( Allah Almighty ) to guide mankind. In the Quran, prophets such as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad peace be upon him are appointed to spread the word of Allah Almighty (Divine Message). Many of these prophets are also found in the holy texts of Judaism and Christianity (see Similarities between the Bible and the Quran)
Each of these prophets is believed to have been instructed by God to warn his community against evil and urge his people to obey God and those prophets are considered "messengers". Of all the thousands of prophets, a tiny minority of these are believed to be messengers, or rasul. Only Muhammad peace be upon him is regarded as having undertaken a prophetic mission addressed to all of humanity rather than a specific populace.
Traditionally, five prophets are regarded as especially important in Islam: Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad. Although it offers many incidents from the lives of many prophets, the Quran focuses with special narrative and rhetorical emphasis on the careers of the first four of these five major prophets.
Prophets in the Quran
The following are listed as prophets in the Quran; their Biblical names are given in parentheses.
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Adam |
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Musa (Moses) |
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Idris (Enoch) |
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Harun (Aaron) |
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Nuh (Noah) |
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Zulkifl |
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Hud (Heber) |
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Daud (David) |
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Saleh (Shelah) |
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Sulayman (Solomon) |
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Ibrahim (Abraham) |
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Ilyas (Elijah) |
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Lut (Lot) |
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Al-Yasa (Elisha) |
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Ismail (Ishmael) |
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Yunus (Jonah) |
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Ishaq (Isaac) |
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Zakariya (Zechariah) |
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Yaqub (Jacob) |
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Yahya (John) |
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Yusuf (Joseph) |
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Isa (Jesus) |
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Ayub (Job) |
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Muhammad |
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Shoaib (Jethro) |
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Muslim Architecture |
Muslim Architecture is the entire range of architecture that has evolved from Islam as a social, cultural, political and religious phenomenon. Hence the term encompasses religious buildings as well as secular ones, historic as well as modern expressions and the production of all places that have come under the varying levels of Islamic influence.
Classification of Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture can be classified according to
* Chronology
* Geography
* Building Typology
Elements of Islamic style
* large domes
* minarets (towers)
* large courtyards often merged with a central prayer hall
* the use of iwans to intermediate between different sections
* use of geometric shapes and repetitive art (arabesque)
* extensive use of decorative Arabic calligraphy
* use of symmetry
* ablution fountains
* a mihrab inside mosques indicating the direction to Mecca
* use of bright color
Influences
A specifically Islamic architectural style developed soon after the Prophet Muhammad. From the beginning the style drew from Roman, Egyptian, Persian/Sassanid, and Byzantine styles. An early example may be identified as early as AD 691 with the completion of Qubbat al-Sakhrah (Dome of the Rock) in Jerusalem. It featured interior vaulted spaces, a circular dome, and the use of stylized repeating decorative patterns (arabesque).
The Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq, completed in AD 847, combined the hypostyle architecture of rows of columns supporting a flat base above which a huge spiralling minaret was constructed.
Moorish Architecture
Construction of the Great Mosque at Cordoba beginning in AD 785 marks the beginning of Islamic architecture in Spain and Northern Africa.
Ottoman Architecture
The architecture of the Ottoman Empire forms a distinctive whole, especially the great mosques by and in the style of Sinan, like the mid-16th century Suleiman Mosque.
Mughal Architecture
Another distinctive sub-style is the architecture of the Mughal Empire in India in the 16th century. Blending Islamic and Hindu elements, the emperor Akbar constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri, located 26 miles west of Agra, in the late 1500s. The most famous example of Mughal architecture is the Taj Mahal. |
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Tariq ibn Ziyad |
Tariq ibn Ziyad known in Spanish history and legend as Taric el Tuerto was a Berber Muslim and Umayyad general who led the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711. He was initially the deputy of Musa ibn Nusair in North Africa, and was sent by his superior to the Iberian Peninsula in order to intervene at the request of the heirs of the Visigothic King, Wittiza in the Visigothic civil war.
On April 30, 711, the armies of Tariq landed at Gibraltar (the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic name Jabal Tariq , which means mountain of Tariq ). Upon landing, Tariq is said to have made the following speech, well known in the Arab world to his soldiers (supposedly after burning his boats according to some: There is nowhere to flee! The sea is behind you, and the enemy before you: so by God, you have only sincerity, bravery and patience.
The so-called Moorish armies swept through Iberia and, in the summer of 711, won a decisive victory when the Visigoth king Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19th at the Battle of Guadalete. Afterwards Tariq was made governor of Hispania for awhile but eventually returned to Morocco. |
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The Ghaznavid Empire |
The Ghaznavid Empire was a state in the region of today's Afghanistan that existed from 963 to 1187. It was created under Turkish Khan Sebuk Tigin with the city Ghazna (Ghazni) as capital, replacing the Samanids. Sebuk Tigin made himself lord of nearly all the present territory of Afghanistan and of the Punjab. In 997 Mahmud the son of Sebuk Tigin, succeeded his father upon his death, and with him Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty have become perpetually associated. Issuing forth year after year from the capital, Mahmud carried fully seventeen expeditions of devastation through northern India and Gujarat, as well as others to the north and west. From the borders of Kurdistan to Samarkand from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna, his authority was acknowledged.
The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (e.g. Abolfazl Beyhaghi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conquerors munificent support of literature. Mahmud died in 1030, and his son Masud was unable to control the conquered lands and lost the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1040. Even though there was some revival of importance under Ibrahim (1059-1099), the empire never reached anything like the same splendour and power. It was soon overshadowed by the Seljuk Turks of Persia. The Ghaznavid Empire ended in 1149 with the capture of Ghazna by the Ghurids. Ghaznavid power in northern India continued until the conquest of Lahore in 1187.
The Ghaznavid Dynasty
- Alp Tigin 963 - 977
- Abu Mansur Sebük Tigin Khan 977 - 997
- Ismail 997 - 998
- Yamin ud-Dawlah Mahmud 998 - 1030
- Jalal ud-Dawlah Mehmed (Mohammed) 1030 - 1031
- Shihab ud-Dawlah Masud I 1031 – 1041
- Jalal ud-Dawlah Mehmed (Mohammed) (second time) 1041
- Shihab ud-Dawlah Mawdud 1041 - 1050
- Masud II 1050
- Baha ud-Dawlah Ali 1050
- Izz ud-Dawlah Abd ul-Rashid 1053
- Qiwam ud-Dawlah Togrül (Tughril) 1053
- Jamal ud-Dawlah Farrukhzad 1053 - 1059
- Zahir ud-Dalah Ibrahim 1059 - 1099
- Ala ud-Dawlah Mas'ud III 1099 - 1115
- Kemal ud-Dawlah Shirzad 1115
- Sultan ud-Dawlah Arslan Shah 1115 - 1118
- Yamin ud-Dawlah Bahram Shah 1118 - 1152
- Muizz ud-Dawlah Khusrau Shah 1152 - 1160
- Taj ud-Dawlah Khusrau Malik 1160 - 1187
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Atheism as a Concept |
Atheism , in its broadest sense, is characterized by an absence of belief in the existence of gods, thus contrasting with theism. This definition includes both those who assert that there are no gods and those who have no beliefs at all regarding the existence of gods. However, narrower definitions often only qualify the former as atheism, the latter falling under the more general (but rarely used) term nontheism.
Although atheists often share common concerns regarding evidence and the scientific method of investigation and a large number are skeptics, there is no single ideology that all atheists share. Additionally there are atheists who are religious or spiritual, though many of these would not describe themselves as atheists.
In English, the term atheism is the result of the adoption of the French atheisme in about 1587. The term atheist in the sense of "one who denies or disbelieves" actually predates atheism, being first attested in about 1571 (the phrase Italian atheoi is recorded as early as 1568). Atheist in the sense of practical godlessness was first attested in 1577. The French word is derived from athee "godless, atheist" which in turn is from the Greek atheos .
Although the actual term atheism originated in 16th Century France, ideas that would be recognized as atheistic today existed even before Classical Antiquity. Epicurus proposed theories that can be classified as atheistic, such as a lack of belief in an afterlife, though he remained ambiguous concerning the actual existence of deities. Before him, Socrates was sentenced to death partly on the grounds that he was an atheist, although he did express belief in several forms of divinity, as recorded in Plato's Apology . This criminal connotation attached to atheistic ideas (heresy) would remain, at varying levels of severity, until the Renaissance, when criticism of the Church became more popular and accepted. By the 20th century, along with the spread of rationalism and secular humanism, atheism had become common, particularly among scientists. In the 20th Century, atheism also became a staple of the various Communist regimes, helping return some of the negative connotations of atheism, especially in the United States, where the term became synonymous with being unpatriotic during the Cold War.
In Islam, atheists are categorized as kafir, a term that is also used to describe polytheists and that translates roughly as denier or concealer. The noun kafir carries connotations of blasphemy and disconnection from the Islamic community. In Arabic, atheism is generally translated ilhad, although this also means heresy. |
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Tenets of Islam
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Islam's most fundamental tenets are referred to as the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims agree on the following statements, which term the Five Pillars of Islam.
* Shahadah : Questions about the nature of God, the creation of the Universe, the creation of mankind, the purpose of creation and the relationship of humans to God,
and that Muhammad peace be upon him is his messenger (Nabuwwah)
* Salaat : Islam is the name of obeying the Divine Laws in every walk of life; it is the complete submission to these laws. Salaat - Prayer, in this way, is the practical admittance and concrete manifestation of subservience to these Laws from the deepest recesses of the human heart.
* Zakat : The economics of zakah and its relevance to modern times is a hotly debated issue among both religious and liberal Muslims.
* Saum : Fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan.
Is fasting just a ritual or does it have some other significance?
* Hajj : The Pilgrimage (Hajj)to Mecca during the month of Dhul Hijjah, which is compulsory once in a lifetime for one who has the ability to do it.
* Jihad : The concept of Jihad in Islam has been grossly misunderstood, rather
distorted. In the West, where it has been presented as barbarism, as
aggressive use of brute force.
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Islamic calligraphy |
Islamic calligraphy is an aspect of Islamic art that has co evolved alongside the religion of Islam and the Arabic language.
Arabic & Persian calligraphy is associated with geometric Islamic art (the Arabesque) on the walls and ceilings of mosques as well as on the page. Contemporary artists in the Islamic world draw on the heritage of calligraphy to use calligraphic inscriptions or abstractions in their work.
Instead of recalling something related to the reality of the spoken word, calligraphy for the Muslim is a visible expression of the highest art of all, the art of the spiritual world. Calligraphy has arguably become the most venerated form of Islamic art because it provides a link between the languages of the Muslims with the religion of Islam. The holy book of Islam, al Quran has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language and by extension calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet.
The North Arabic script which was influenced by the Nabatian script, was established in north eastern Arabia and flourished in the 5th century among the Arabian tribes who inhabited Hirah and Anbar. It spread to Hijaz in western Arabia, and its use was popularized among the aristocracy of Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him by Harb ibn Ummayyah.
Under the Ummayads and Abbasids, court requirements for correspondence and record keeping resulted in many developments to the cursive scripts, and several styles were devised to fulfill these needs.
Islamic calligraphy is often displayed in Muslim art because it serves as an inspiration. The practice of calligraphy is a topic of much Islamic philosophy. When used decoratively the writing is so ornate and complex as to be almost unreadable.
Thus, the art of calligraphy became very important in the Muslim world, and today it is still a major art form calligraphers are held in great esteem. The aesthetic of their art which allows for the teaching of the Quran is a unifying aspect of Islam.
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Muslim Scientist -
Ibn al Haythen |
Alhazen was born at Basra then part of Buwayhid Persia now part of Iraq and probably died in Cairo, Egypt.
One account of his career has him summoned to Egypt by the mercurial caliph Hakim to regulate the flooding of the Nile. After his field work made him aware of the impracticality of this scheme and fearing the caliph's anger, he feigned madness. He was kept under house arrest until Hakim's death in 1021. During this time he wrote scores of important mathematical treatises.
Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al Haitham was one of the most eminent physicists, whose contributions to optics and the scientific methods are outstanding. Known in the West as Alhazen, Ibn aI-Hautham was born in 965 A. D. in Basrah. Thereafter he went to Egypt where he was asked to find ways of controlling the flood of the Nile. Being unsuccessful in this, he feigned madness until the death of Caliph al Hakim. He also traveled to Spain and during this period he had ample time for his scientific pursuits which included optics, mathematics, physics, medicine and development of scientific methods on each of which he has left several outstanding books.
He made a thorough examination of the passage of light through various media and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. His book Kitab at Manazir was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages as also his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena like shadows,eclipses, the rainbow and speculated on the physical nature of light. He is the first to describe accurately the various parts of the eye and give a scientific explanation of the process of vision. He also attempted to explain binocular vision and gave a correct explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon. He is known for the earliest use of the camera obscura. He contradicted Ptolemy's and Euclid 's theory of vision that objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes according to him the rays originate in the object of vision and not in the eye. Through these extensive researches on optics he has been considered as the father of modern optics.
The list of his books runs to 200 or so very few of which have survived. Even his monumental treatise on optics survived through its Latin translation. During the Middle Ages his books on cosmology were translated into Latin, Hebrew and other languages. He has also written on the subject of evolution a book that deserves serious attention even today.
In his writing one can see a clear development of the scientific methods as developed and applied by the Muslims and comprising the systematic observation of physical phenomena and their linking together into a scientific theory. This was a major breakthrough in scientific methodology as distinct from guess and gesture and placed scientific pursuits on a sound foundation comprising systematic relationship between observation, hypothesis and verification. Ibn al Haitham's influence on physical sciences in general and optics in particular has been held in high esteem and in fact it ushered in a new era in optical research both in theory and practice. |
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Islamic History Discussed Crusade |
| The origins of the crusades lie in Western developments earlier in the middle ages, as well as the deteriorating situation of the Byzantine Empire. The breakdown of the Carolingian Empire in the later 9th century, combined with the relative stabilization of local European borders after the Christianization of the Vikings, Slavs, and Magyars, meant that there was an entire class of warriors who now had very little to do but fight amongst themselves and terrorize the peasant population. The Church tried to stem this violence with the Peace and Truce of God movements, forbidding violence against certain people at certain times of the year. This was somewhat successful, but trained warriors always sought an outlet for their violence.
One later outlet was the Reconquista in Spain and Portugal, which at times occupied Iberian knights and some mercenaries from elsewhere in Europe in the fight against the Islamic Moors. In 1063, Pope Alexander II had given papal blessing to Iberian Christians in their wars against the Muslims, granting both a papal standard (the vexillum sancti Petri) and an indulgence to those who were killed in battle.
The Crusades were in part an outlet for an intense religious piety which rose up in the late 11th century among the lay public. This was due in part to the Investiture Controversy, which had started around 1075 and was still on-going during the First Crusade. Christendom had been greatly affected by the Investiture Controversy, as both sides tried to marshal public opinion in their favor, people became personally engaged in a dramatic religious controversy. The result was an awakening of intense Christian piety and public interest in religious affairs, which would manifest in the overwhelming popular support for the First Crusade, and the religious vitality of the 12th century.
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Islamic Society & Its Aim |
Reason alone is not enough to solve the problem of life. Reason needs revelation (Wahee) - Just as eyes need the light of the sun. This revelation is preserved in the Quran in its final and complete form. Mankind, therefore, cannot reach its desired destination without the Quran.
» The Quran is the criterion for judging between truth and falsehood. Everything that agrees with the Quran is correct. That which is at variance with it, is false.
» The Messenger Muhammad peace be upon him has attained the pinnacle of beautiful character and conduct. Foreign conspiracies, however, vitiated our history by alloying it with things that are a blot on the Messenger peace be upon him escutcheon, that is a stain on his honor. These sections of our history in whatever books they may appear are altogether wrong and fabricated. The Holy Qur'an is the ONLY criterion for judging the Messenger Muhammad peace be upon him character.
» From the viewpoint of the Quran, all human beings inhabiting the earth, are individuals belonging to one universal brotherhood. The practical aspect of establishing this brotherhood would be that all mankind may lead their lives according to ONE dispensation.
» This universal organization of life may be formulated in such a manner that people of every era according to the requirements of their time - may compile the details of law in the light of the Quran, and by mutual consultation. This would be done in the light of the immutable principles of the Quran. (These are called SHRIAH LAWS). The details of the law will keep changing according to circumstances, but the principles of the Quran shall forever remain unalterable.
» From the point of view of such an organization, the Quran envisages a society in which the latent abilities of ALL individuals are developed, and no one in such a society will be deprived of his life's necessities. (This is interpreted as the preservation of the masses, or the fostering of mankind)
» For the attainment of this supreme objective of the preservation of the masses (from the Quranic viewpoint), it is indispensable that the sources of subsistence should be controlled by society, instead of being left in the hands of individuals. This will ensure that the distribution of the means of living, would be in accordance with the needs of every one. Thus no human being will be at the mercy of another human being. This is called the QURANIC ORGANIZATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MANKIND. Our aim is that the Quranic approach may prevail so that in the light of Divine Attributes every human being's latent abilities may develop fully. The world will thus become resplendent with the Light of the Eternal Nourisher (God Almighty).
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Muslim Civilization |
Islam was destined to become a world religion and to create a civilization which stretched from one end of the globe to the other. Already during the early Muslim caliphates, first the Arabs then the Persians and later the Turks set about to create classical muslim civilization. Later in the 13th century both Africa and India became great centers of Muslim civilization and soon thereafter Muslim kingdoms were established in the Malay-Indonesian world while Chinese Muslims flourished throughout China.
Islam is a system for all people from whatever race or background they might be. That is why Islamic civilization is based on a unity which stands completely against any racial or ethnic discrimination. Such major racial and ethnic groups as the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Africans, Indians, Chinese and Malays in addition to numerous smaller units embraced Islam and contributed to the building of Islamic civilization. Moreover, Islam was not opposed to learning from the earlier civilizations and incorporating their science, learning and culture into its own world view as long as they did not oppose the principles of Islam. Each ethnic and racial group which embraced Islam made its contribution to the one muslims civilization to which everyone belonged. The sense of brotherhood and sisterhood was so much emphasized that it overcame all local attachments to a particular tribe, race, or language, all of which became subservient to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam. The global civilization thus created by Islam permitted people of diverse ethnic backgrounds to work together in cultivating various arts and sciences. The scientific climate was reminiscent of the present situation in America where scientists and men and women of learning from all over the world are active in the advancement of knowledge which belongs to everyone. The global civilization created by Islam also succeeded in activating the mind and thought of the people who entered its fold. As a result of Islam, the nomadic Arabs became torch bearers of science and learning. The Persians who had created a great civilization before the rise of Islam nevertheless produced much more science and learning in the Islamic period than before. The same can be said of the Turks and other peoples who embraced Islam. The religion of Islam was itself responsible not only for the creation of a world civilization in which people of many different ethnic backgrounds participated but it played a central role in developing intellectual and cultural life on a scale not seen before. For some eight hundred years Arabic remained the major intellectual and scientific language of the world. During the centuries following the rise of Islam, Muslim dynasties ruling in various parts of the Islamic world bore witness to the flowering of muslim culture and thought. In fact this tradition of intellectual activity was eclipsed only at the beginning of modern times as a result of the weakening of faith among Muslims combined with external domination.
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