Society Ummah

Love Thy Neighbor…or Fall

The Inseparable Link Between a Civilization’s Success and Its Ability to Coexist

Originally published in December 2009

Introduction

I am tired of the pictures forwarded to me in email and of the videos posted on Facebook, Youtube, and numerous other mediums of internet media displaying a gross cornucopia of atrocities against Muslims across the globe. There’s the visibly overwhelmed Muslim woman getting her hijab (headscarf) yanked off, the Muslim being malevolently run over by a car repeatedly, and the countless dead Muslim babies buried in rubble. I loathe it all. It has become a sickness amongst Muslims to find some perverted sense of satisfaction in displaying to the world, “Look! I am the victim!” It is as if our era of glory was an opiate, and now we use self-victimization to ease the withdrawal. Some have identified that self-empowerment, rather than self-victimization, is more constructive. Yet, they still just don’t get it.

Peruse any variety of Muslim media sources and one will find no shortage of laudatory narratives on how the Muslims pioneered modern technology while Europe languished in the “Dark Ages.” Hearing that, a 16 year old European Muslim drop-out can beam with pride and feel that he, himself, bested the magnificence of the monolithic “West.” The Frenchman is no better than he, for his ancestors gave the world Algebra… albeit 1,250 years ago.

137817077_d682ca71d7_oThis leads to the oft-posited, and often frustrating, question: How do we get those glory days back? While patting themselves on the back for those long dead laurels, many Muslim proselytes and those inebriated by their opiates often miss is that this era of Muslim ingenuity was not founded at the hands of those who thirsted for the blood of their enemies. It was founded by a people who would be more concerned with the scientific study of apes and pigs, than calling their non-Muslim enemies the “descendants of apes and pigs.” It was founded by men of loftier priorities and ideals.

How do we get those days back? Perhaps, we should first identify how we lost them in the first place. We should rather ask: Where did we go wrong? My hypothesis is that we have gone backwards in how we view and treat our non-Muslim neighbors. We have regressed far behind the noble principles of coexistence dictated to us by the Qur’an, which were conveyed and displayed to us by our exemplary Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him). All cases of greatness in Islamic history will also yield remarkable examples of compassion and benevolence towards the Muslims’ non-Muslim neighbors.

Articles about the Muslim world’s contributions to science will be rife with names like al-Khwarizmi and al-Biruni. Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni were both Persians of ancient Khwarezm who are iconic of the Muslim world’s contributions to science. The Prophet Muhammadﷺ had foretold that great knowledge was to come from the Persians 1 to whom the baton of Islamic learning quickly passed. Yet, aside from the facts that both were devout and learned Sunni Muslims and polymaths, excelling in a jaw-dropping variety of scientific disciplines, they also strove to achieve a better understanding of the non-Muslims they encountered.

Abu `Abdillah Muhammad bin Musa Al-Khwarizmi (780-850 CE) penned his Treatise on the Extraction of the Jewish History,2 which became the reference point for the later Jewish scholar Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, popularly known as Maimonides, in formulating the Hebrew Calendar which Jews all over the world use to this day. His work in this regard, and influence from al-Khwarizmi, is contained in his book Sefr Mishneh Torah.3 It is also worthy to note that Maimonides’ name is remembered today because of the freedom and liberty he enjoyed living under his Spanish and African Muslim rulers. Another famous Jewish scholar who used the works of al-Khwarizmi to codify the Hebrew calendar as it is known today was Abraham ibn Ezra,4 who in the process went as far as to fully translate Ibn al-Muthanna’s commentary of al-Khwarizmi’s Tables of Astronomy into Hebrew.

Another great Muslim genius who lived one hundred years after al-Khwarizmi was, likewise, a tremendous influence on Jewish scholars such as Maimonides and countless others from various non-Muslim demographics. He was Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Biruni (973-1048 CE). Al-Biruni became a patron of the medieval Turkic Sultan of Khorasan, Mahmud bin Sebuktekin of Ghazni, and accompanied him during his exploits into India. Rather than immersing himself in all the glory, valor and riches, al-Biruni immersed himself into the non-Muslim population’s culture, language and tradition. He learned Sanskrit to such a high level that the Hindu clergy bequeathed him with the title Vidyasagar meaning “Ocean of Learning.”5 Al-Biruni did not limit his studies to their culture, but also became versed to a scholarly degree in Hinduism. He is, to this day, known as the de facto founder of religious anthropology. He contributed not only to the Jewish calendars but also to a greater understanding of the calendar systems of all religions and civilizations in his work The Surviving Monuments of Past Centuries.6

Some historians have sought to remove credit from Islam for the magnanimity and tolerance of these two scholars and many others like them and attribute it instead to the inherent tolerance of the Persians. However, a glance into the tolerance mandated by God in the Qur’an, embodied in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and carried on in the manners of his closest Companions (radiAllahu `anhum – May Allah be pleased with them) may hold some answers.

The Qur’an

Though Muslims are commanded in the Qur’an to call towards the worship of One God without partner, they are also instructed to come to common terms with their non-Muslim neighbors and to refrain from slighting their religious sensibilities in the process. God instructs the Muslims to address the People of the Book: “Say, ‘O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you – that we will not worship except Allāh and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allāh.’ But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him]’” (3:64). The objective is to come to a mutual understanding. At the end of the day, we have to live with each other much to the chagrin of the extremists on all sides.

Furthermore, God instructs the Muslim believers in the Qur’an, “And do not insult those they invoke other than Allāh, lest they insult Allāh in enmity without knowledge”(6:108). Regarding this verse, the reputable Qur’anic exegete of Basra, Qatadah bin Di`amah, said, “The Muslims used to mock the idols of the non-Muslims, and the non-Muslims would, in turn, mock God. So God revealed the verse, ‘Do not mock those whom they call upon besides Allah…’”7 An atmosphere of mockery and derision is not something which God wants to foster between His devotees and those not privileged with a proper understanding of Him. Because the cycle is difficult to break, the Muslims are commanded to never initiate it. The late 13th century Islamic scholar, Ibn Taymiya, says about this verse, “It is known that the polytheists (of pre-Islamic Arabia) loved their pantheon of deities just as they loved Allah (as a part of it). Perhaps, they even loved their deities even more than they loved Allah and this is why they had no problem mocking Allah whenever their pantheon of deities was mocked. Hence, did Allah command, ‘Do not mock the ones they call upon besides Allah, for they will be driven in contempt to mock Allah in return out of ignorance.’”8

There is much in common between the three great Abrahamic religions . The Jews and the Christians know full well that “Allah” is the very same name of God, with slight variations, that they find in their sacred texts. The first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, calls God by a direct etymon of this sacred name. 9 When Christ was on the cross, he called out to God in the Aramaic etymon, “Allaha!” This was even evidenced in the film The Passion of the Christ (2004). These are not facts unknown to our Jewish and Christian friends, yet none of it will matter when the cycle of derision has been initiated. We must obey God’s command in the Qur’an and not start such divisive conflicts. If we are subjected to it we must respond with what is better as God also instructs in the Qur’an: “And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend” (41:34). God really does know His creation as he also says in the Qur’an, “Does He who created not know?” (64:14)

The Prophetic Traditions

Zaid bin Sa`nah was a leading Jewish Rabbi who was a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. His story has been authentically documented in the collections of Prophetic traditions, and it is a fine example of how Muslims should live with their non-Muslim neighbors. Rabbi Zaid related his own story to `Abdullah bin Salam, another Rabbi who had embraced Islam, who relates:

“Zaid bin Sa`nah said… Two or three days before the appointed time, the Prophet ﷺ went out for a funeral prayer of a man from the Ansar. With him were Abu Bakr, `Umar and `Uthman and some of his other Companions (ra). When he completed the prayer, he sought to recline against a wall upon which I grabbed a hold of him and gave him a mean-faced stare and held him by shirt and cloak. I said to him, ‘Repay me what is due, O Muhammad! By God, I have not known you folk from the clan of `Abdul Mutalib to be such procrastinators! Perhaps, my impression of you all has been wrong!’ So I looked at `Umar and his two eyes were beset wide on his face like planets! He then struck me with his stare and said, ‘O you enemy of God! Dare you speak to the Messenger of God ﷺ as I have heard and behave as I have seen?! By the One Who has raised him up with the Truth, if Iwere less God-fearing I would have struck off your head with my sword!’ The Messenger of God was looking at `Umar (ra) with serenity and an amiable smile and said, ‘O `Umar, he and I required something other than this from you. You should have instructed me to repay him in a better manner and you should have instructed him to follow up in a better manner. Go to him, O `Umar, and repay him what is due to him and exceed that by 20 extra measure of dates.'”

The narration in al-Bayhaqi’s Sunan ends here, but the narration in al-Tabarani’s Mu`jam goes on to detail the interaction that transpired when `Umar caught up with Rabbi Zaid. As it turned out the Rabbi had been following the Prophet Muhammadﷺ and was testing his behavior in the face of insolence. When the angry `Umar returned to him sober and friendly, he marveled at how the Prophet Muhammadﷺ could change this angry man into the docile character he was now dealing with. Rabbi Zaid embraced Islam and dedicated the rest of his life to its cause until he ultimately met his end at the Battle of Tabuk. He went from a widely reputed Jewish Rabbi to a hero of Islam, not because of any theological debates or polemics, but because of the goodness displayed by the Messenger of God ﷺ.

The Prophet’s Companions and Successors

This tradition of good conduct towards the non-Muslims carried on into the era of the Caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ after his passing. The Fourth Caliph of Islam, `Ali bin Abi Talib, lived in a time when the Persian Empire fell before the feet of the Muslims. He was reported to have actually met with the father of the earliest of the four great Sunni Imams, al-Nu`man bin Thabit, popularly known as Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa was from Kabul, Afghanistan,10 which was largely Zoroastrian prior to the Muslim conquests. Though they had become Muslims, the traditions and cultural practices remained. Imam al-Dhahabi, a highly regarded student of Ibn Taymiyyah, states about Imam Abu Hanifa in his voluminous work on the notables of Islamic history, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’:

والنعمان بن المرزبان والد ثابت هو الذي أهدى لعلي الفالوذج في يوم النيروز فقال علي نورزونا كل يوم وقيل كان ذلك في المهرجان فقال مهرجونا كل يوم

“Nu`man bin Marzban, the father of Thabit,11 was the one who gifted `Ali bin Abi Talib with Faluda on the day of Nawruz (the Persian New Year). `Ali said, ‘May every day be like Nawruz!’ It was also said, ‘This is done as part of Mehregan (a Persian harvest festival with origins possibly pre-dating Iranian culture).” So he replied, ‘May every day be as Mehregan!” 12

`Ali did not belittle their cultural practices, so he took the gift, but subtly hinted that, according to Islam, this day was like any other day. He did not endorse the significance of the day, but he did not revile their cultural practice either. He exercised wisdom. Similarly, the other Companions behaved the same towards the Zoroastrians they encountered. The Prophet’s ﷺ wife `A’isha (ra) instructed the Muslims to avoid meats offered to them as gifts on Nawruz but to feel free to eat from the fruits and vegetables. Yet, was this mostly due to the general ruling regarding the meat of the Zoroastrians and not so much having to do with Nawruz? Mujahid said that in general only fruits and vegetables of the Zoroastrians should be consumed, but nothing else from them.13 Their slaughtered meat was largely viewed as unsuitable for consumption by the Muslims.

A Dirham for Thought

It is said that a picture can equal a thousand words and, in this case, hard archaeological evidence can speak volumes. In the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the two great mighty empires whom the Muslims encountered were the Persian Sassanids and the Greco-Roman Byzantines. The Sassanids, at their height, ruled everything between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. They reigned from 205 CE until they finally met their end when defeated by the Muslims under the 2nd Caliph, `Umar ibn al-Khattab. After the era of the Four Pious Caliphs had passed, parts of the newly conquered Persian domains fell under the rule of the Umayyads, the loyalists of `Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and others. Yet, in spite of the turf wars that occurred between the various Muslim factions, one thing remained strikingly in common between them: the respect they showed to their newly conquered subjects. It was a time when all the splendor of the Persian Empire literally fell at the feet of the Muslims. This, like many of the events that transpired immediately after the passing of the Prophet Muhammadﷺ, was foretold by him. He warned the Muslims that, though they will have the power to do what they want over the Persians, they should not plunder them nor get tangled up in the priceless spoils they would acquire. Fortunately, the Companions listened, and those Persian lands are still Muslim today. It might have been different had the Muslims reveled in the riches and pounded the population into serfdom. The harrowing empty mosques of Romania, a land ruled by the Ottomans for hundreds of years yet yielding only a 0.3% of Muslim population today, bear a painful testimony to this.

So how did the Muslims treat their newly conquered Zoroastrian subjects? The story of `Ali ibn Abi Talib’s interaction with the Persian family of Abu Hanifa has already been told. Yet, there is more to be discovered when analyzing the archaeological evidence from the time period in question. One may be shocked to find that there are numerous extant Arab-Sassanid coins throughout the reigns of Uthman ibn `Affan, `Ali bin Abi Talib and Mu`awiyyah ibn Abi Sufyan with busts of Khosrow and the Zoroastrian fire altar.

IMG1

Similarly, coins were minted during the reign of `Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, a close Companion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in the regions of Persia loyal to him (Sistan) with a bust of Khosrow and Zoroastrian symbols.

IMG2

There are also instances of Arab-Byzantine coins from the newly conquered Roman territories where the crosses were very slowly and subtly removed from the coinage possibly over the period of a decade.

IMG3

The horizontal bar would gradually be removed from the crosses on all mintage leaving just a vertical pole, and the Muslim declaration of faith was added to the obverse margins. So the coins would go from the original Byzantine coin:

IMG4

To the coin following the Muslim conquests:

IMG5To, ultimately:

IMG6

These coins14 are not great rarities. They are so abundantly available that if you look hard enough you can buy them yourself over the internet. So let there be no doubt about this. The early Muslims went through such great pains not to offend the local non-Muslim populations whom they had quite thoroughly conquered. They could have done whatever they wanted to them. Yet, out of the fear of their Lord, they refrained from offending their non-Muslim subjects.” Compare that to how Muslims today, many of whom can barely even rule their own households, and treat those around them with respect – Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

Conclusion

Albert Einstein supposedly said: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”

With all the apocalyptic clamor about ruling by Shari`ah and re-establishing a Caliphate in our times, what is sorely missing in these Muslim revolutionaries is an insight into the hearts of those who set the standards for establishing a successful society that was truly Islamic. As the answer to where we went wrong becomes increasingly clear, we can then go back to the question, “How do we get those glory days back?” Much work is to be done to achieve that, but it won’t be by strength of arms. It must be in the classrooms, homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation centers, mentoring programs and other social and civic means by which Muslims can forge a better society wherein all mankind, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, can flourish. Only then will we have exemplified God’s description of the role we play in this world:

كُنتُمۡ خَيۡرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخۡرِجَتۡ لِلنَّاسِ تَأۡمُرُونَ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِ وَتَنۡهَوۡنَ عَنِ ٱلۡمُنڪَرِ وَتُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ‌ۗ

“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allāh.” (Qur’an, 3:110)


  1. “If religious knowledge were to be found at Pleiades, even so would a person from Persia seize it, as would one of Persian descent have, likewise, seized it.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
  2. رسالة في استخراج تاريخ اليهود ويليه اليهود في تاريخ الحضارات الأولى واليهود في التاريخ إلى عهد السيد المسيح
  3. ספר משנה תורה  הוא היד החזקה
  4. Abraham ibn Ezra, אברהם אבן עזרא
  5. Outlines of Islamic Culture – Volume I: Historical and Cultural Aspects, A. M. A Shushtery
  6. Religion, Learning and Science in the `Abbasid Period, M. J. L. Young, J. D. Latham, R. B. Serjeant, pp. 408-411.
  7. كان المسلمون يسبون أصنام الكفار، فيسب الكفار الله، فأنزل الله {ولا تسبوا الذين يدعون من دون الله}‏ Narrated by Qatadah bin Di`amah as recorded by `Abd al-Razzaq, `Abd bin Humayd, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and others.
  8. Majmu Fatawa – Ibn Taymiyyah, أن المشركين قد يحبون آلهتهم كما يحبون الله، أو تزيد محبتهم لهم على محبتهم لله؛ ولهذا يشتمون الله إذا شتمت آلهتهم، كما قال تعالى‏:‏‏{‏وَلاَ تَسُبُّواْ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ فَيَسُبُّواْ اللّهَ عَدْوًا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ‏}‏
  9. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1,1) This verse uses the name “Eloh” in pluralis majestatis, בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
  10. Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’
  11. Thabit was Abu Hanifa’s father
  12. Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’
  13. Ibid.
  14. More on these widely circulated and documented coins can be found at The Islamic Coins From 1-100 AH / 622-719 CE

About the author

Shibli Zaman

Shibli Zaman

Shibli Zaman was born in Summit, New Jersey and raised in Houston, Texas. Since his childhood, he has frequently traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Later in life, much of this time was spent studying Islamic jurisprudence in the Shafi`i and Hanbali schools of law. He has a deep appreciation for different cultures and is literate in several languages such as Arabic, Persian, Pashto and Urdu. Surprising for a Muslim, he is also adept in Hebrew and Aramaic. Having a proclivity for Semitic linguistics enabled him to study the Biblical texts from a unique perspective. He holds a gold medal in Bible Memory from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has contributed to one of the most significant websites defending Islam's textual sources and traditions from an academic perspective, Islamic-Awareness.org. He was an employee of Shaykh Salman al-`Awdah from whose inspiration he benefited tremendously and assisted in the early phases of his English website, Islamtoday.com.

25 Comments

  • Masha’Allah, very good article brother, very well written. I would say, organic in nature, rather than the regular dogmatic approaches to be found. How else can Islam transcend all racial, social, economical and political boundaries, except by being so malleable?

  • Jazakallah for this informative and wonderfully written article. This needs to be read by those of our brothers and sisters who take a more isolationist approach. I feel like us Muslims in America are closer (definitely not there yet) to a good coexistence with other faiths but the Ummah overseas is lacking. Aside from hostility due to religious differences, we now foolishly have nationalist differences where we hate simply due to the colors of the flag. They, the overseas Ummah, needs to hear this message loud and clear — after all they are the bulk of the Muslims. Good message — needs to be repeated more often. I’ve heard some scholars of the Mid-east say this. But it needs to be said more boldly and confidently.

  • I especially enjoyed the historical perspectives. Would you be able to please provide some historical references on how the early Muslims actually treated the Persians? Specifically those who followed Greco-Roman ideology instead of the Zoroastrianism.

    • Shrooki, thank you so much for an interesting question that undoubtedly leads to some interesting details. the Seleucid Empire ceased to exist in 63 CE and I am unaware of any other element of Hellenism in Persia that was extant during the era of the Pious Caliphs. However, there was a Greco-Buddhism in Bactria, Sogdiana and Ferghana and they formed a sizable minority along with Jews and Christians during the reign of Yazdegerd III who was defeated by the forces of `Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه). Regardless of what the legal texts say should or shouldn’t have happened, it appears that the Buddhists and Hindus of the Eastern reaches of Persia and its immediately outer-lying lands were given the option to pay taxes. There is record of the Hindus of Brahmanabad in Sindh requesting that the young Arab general and kin of Hajjaj bin Yusuf, Muhammad bin Qasim, allow them to repair their temple to which he acquiesced. According to a historical record of Sindh around the time of the Arab conquests called Chach-namah, this temple needed repair due to age and not because of any molestation by the Muslims. (See Religion and society in Arab Sind, D. N. Maclean). Again, I am merely relating the historical account of what happened and not attempting to draw any conclusions regarding what should or shouldn’t have happened according to Islamic law. Whether their magnanimity was due to their understanding of the Maqasid al-Shari`ah(The Objectives and Intent of Law), or whether it was due to their neglect of Shari`ah is a determination that is beyond my capacity and desire to delve in. Allah knows best.

  • This article provokes much thought and reflection in a time when our ummah must reflect and re-evaluate where we stand and if we are truly Allah’s vicegerents on earth and if we are truly following the Prophet (PBUH). We all must strive for Shari’ah and this was indeed the path of the Prophet (PBUH) without any doubt, but at the same time the means must be in accordance with the way of the Prophet (PBUH). Today there are many groups and we pray for hidayah for all. May Allah swt guide us all to the truth and protect us from following our hawa and desires. We must indeed be role models for humanity and the torch bearers of peace and love.

  • Mashallah brother Shibli – well written, well researched, and coherently expressed. Should we only have more who would articulate the right message on such a scholarly level.

  • One of the best posts yet, yah Shiekh Suhaib! If only there was a way to get this out to every Muslim! 🙁

    May Allah shower with blessings the brother who wrote this.

    • I think it is also imperative for North American Muslims to broaden our focus from ‘integration’ to include ‘constructive contribution’ to our society.
      Excellent article mashaAllah!

  • Jazzak Allahu Khayran brother Shibli for this excellent article.

    Just one small point which I think actually goes more to reinforce your argument. I would be a little careful about the statement that Maimonides enjoyed “freedom and liberty” under the Muslim rulers of Spain and North Africa during his lifetime. As you probably know but most Muslims probably do not, the relationship between Maimonides and the Muslims around him was both more interesting and more complicated than this description would probably suggest. Scholars disagree over what exactly happened to this day, but most indications are that the Al Muwahiddun (known as Almohads in the english literature) which was a ruling dynasty that was gradually conquering southern Spain and parts of North Africa during the life of Maimonides actually persecuted the Jewish populations in their territory and at some times even gave people the choice of conversion or death. As I said, the details are complex and I don’t want to distract from the main topic of your piece, but Maimonides relationship with Islam and Muslims is a fascinating topic on its own.)

    Still, it does go to demonstrate that throughout Muslim history Muslims have sometimes lived up to and most of the time not lived up to the wonderful normative teachings of our tradition. As you did in this article, I would focus on the guidance in Qur’an and Sunnah as understood by our great scholars throughout our history and realize that the “golden age” was the time of the Prophet (saw) and the earliest generations…they left an example that the rest of have been struggling to understand and implement in our times and circumstances.

    Again, Jazzak Allaahu Khayr.

    • Dear Brother Abu Noor, I’m afraid that what you state is a very incorrect understanding of the historical context within which Maimonides lived. I am aware of the Almohad persecution of the Jews, but that event in Maimonides childhood in no way counters the fact that he enjoyed great freedoms and respect from his Muslim rulers and peers.

      Maimonides was just 10 years old when the Almohads overran Cordoba. He spent the remaining 56 years of his life living with Muslims, primarily in Egypt. He continued studying their texts, musing with their scholars, and even defending Islam against a contemporary Jewish scholar who posited that Islam was a pagan religion. Maimonides declared:

      “The Ishmaelites (Muslims) are not idolaters at all, and idolatry is not uttered from their mouths, nor does it exist in their hearts, and they attribute the proper Oneness to God flawlessly.”
      [Kovetz Teshuvot Ha-Rambam, 448, קובץ תשובות הרמב״ם ואגרותיו http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1000&st=&pgnum=1&hilite=%5D

      Maimonides wrote this while he was in his prime, settled in Egypt where he lived and died with no desire to live amongst any other people. He got some serious heat for it too and was even accused of being a crypto-Muslim.

      Maimonides and the Jewish community of Egypt enjoyed great autonomy. Not only did they flourish as scholars of a community that existed with its own legal system and courts, they enriched themselves far more than the Muslims were able to. They did this by establishing critical trade routes to the diamond minds of Golconda, the only diamond mine in the world at that time. Maimonides’ brother used to trade diamonds from the mine on his behalf, but, sadly, he drowned during one such trip and this left Maimonides in a state of dejection and misery for the rest of his life. (See India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza, S. D. Goitein, Mordechai Akiva Friedman)

      So, you need not worry, my brother. Maimonides was in very good hands with the Muslims for the overwhelming majority of his life. In spite of the injustices exacted upon his family during his childhood, he had the goodness in him to still defend Islam when it was attacked by his own Jewish contemporaries.

      • As salaamu ‘alaykum Shibli,

        I don’t really see the benefit of arguing about this.

        Nor do I get any pleasure from exposing the faults and deficiencies of Muslims, past or present. I just think it is more fitting of sophisticated discussion, and as I said, of the point you originally made, that we do not fall into simplistic romanticized versions of history but try to understand history, as best we can, in all its complexity.

        I encourage people interested in the issue to investigate it for themselves.

        (I would start by looking into what the question was that was being investigated when Maimonides put forth his famous (and correct, obviously!) position that Islam in not idolatry.)

        Allaah Knows Best.

        • wa `alaykum as-salam, Brother Abu Noor.

          Brother, thank you for conceding that there was no need for you to be concerned. The reason why Maimonides entire life is not related herein is because that was not the subject of the article. If you have any evidence you’d like to share then I am always anxious to receive that.

  • how do we get those days back, infers to an assumption that the past is immutable and can be carried forward consciously without changing it. It also imagines the act of remembrance as a medium of retrieval and translocation where the authentic past then can be preserved for its various future enterprises. Past is always about our present and future, even if it is narrated in a past tense and third person. And the attempt to tell the past cannot make meaning to all as the alternative narratives that survives the sentences of time, or that of the dominant culture poses a threat of credibility to that ‘invented’ past.

    Can there be a productive remembering, which is not somehow qualifying the grand western narrative of what is useful knowledge-making? The European tradition of remembrance is to remember thing chronologically, in order, so the vanished can be given its proper place. That naming conventions, produced ways of knowing: economically (merchant world-views), socially (creating classes, races, gendered identities ), culturally ( particularizing linguistic, ethnic experiences) psychologically (as agents of behaviour), politically (to regulate group behaviour) — a universally accepted sense-making. the grand narrative of reclamation or European knowledge making enterprises invented a past, through cultural borrowing from others that gave them a textual past to relate with. The grecco-hellenistic civilization is as much a pure western imagination for modernity to make sense as our ‘golden age’ is for our present day notions of what is jahiliyah.

    If language is about sense-making using cultural symbols then the act of interpretation or representation becomes a ground of contended memory. We use our discursive strategies to tell the same story, without repeating ourselves. We invent historical markers to point at agreed upon custom in the past, so we could make sense, move forward. In the latin world this ideational movement is a relationship between subject and predicate with an action verb. In indian traditions communication is not directional but often circular, stories within stories, where each story is a pretext for the other. Making translations impossible to certain linguistic traditions but retaining flexibility to incorporate from them. The technologically dependent world is understood using concepts of ‘ayudhja puja’ (worshipping of arms) from ancient texts. The oral cultures of the indigenous people use narrative techniques to point at different stages in time, inventing and making sense of their past, as their present day reality changes.

  • JazakAllah khayran for this very thought-provoking and insightful article. This is the type of dialogue that Muslims need to be engaging in, especially considering the extreme scrutiny that we are constantly facing in today’s highly charged political world. I applaud Brother Shibli for his courage in writing this piece and hope that anyone who takes a position against what he’s said remembers to do so with adab and class, as was and continues to be the practice of the beautiful `ulema of our deen.

    Remember brother and sisters: when we have differing views, at the very least, we can agree to disagree.

    Barak’Allah feekum!

    • Hydtech, often times matters become ambiguated by dismissing them with “there’s a difference of opinion on that”. You will find a difference of opinion if you look hard enough in every matter. The question becomes: Is the difference of opinion significant enough to make the matter a gray area or is there a strong enough opinion that one can legitimately pick the opinion that is more conducive towards the betterment of humanity. Allah knows best.

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  • One has a non muslim neghbour, who is not sensitive to neighbourly requirements. They are busybodies who always want to know what we do. When they renovate their home, they even crossed the land boundary encroaching into our space. This they did despite being reminded not to do so! When we highlighted to them, they just acknowlege it without any apology. To them, doing wrong things like this does not warrant an apology! I was shocked and dissapointed at the same time. And i decided that I cannot continue with our good relations with them anymore. Wud appreciate views on this.

  • Thanks so much for the insightful article – as always found on this site. It is tiring to hear the negative talk about the ‘other’. As a convert I am astonished at fellow converts who live oustide the US who ask in wonderment and condenmation, “How can you go back to that kafir country?”, when I travel back to Dallas from Amman. I want to ask in what kafir land did they learn about their deen?! The much heralded and ‘liked’ The Deen Show constantly slanders the non-Muslim although our beloved Qur’an has admonitions not to do exactly that for fear we will be slandered by them (and it’s also just plain not polite nor clever. How did Musa (as) speak with Pharaoh? Politely and with respect!) We want to dispel the notion that Islam came by the sword yet fail to see how Islam spread by the character of Muslim traders and not through proselytizing of the faith. I pray this younger generation will ‘get’ it far better than the present one. Ya Rabb! This article and others like it give me hope. Barak Allahu fikum!

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