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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (47708)	1/28/2005 5:52:34 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

< Bosnian and Najdi Islam> It is actually also termed commonly as ‘Monsoon and desert Islam.’ Auster has a point in highlighting the two branches of extremism and moderation tracing their roots in cultures and traditions of the regions. Hospitable terrains have produced more moderate version, inhospitable war torn martial race regions saw a more extremist resurgence. This was considered as one of the subordinate cause of bifurcation of Pakistan, the type of Islam’s being practised varied so much and so were temperaments of people.. ‘The bifurcated Pakistan that existed from August 1947 to December 1971 was composed of two parts, or wings, known as East Pakistan and West Pakistan, separated by 1,600 kilometers of Indian territory. Observers pointed out, however, that the people of the two wings were estranged from each other in language and cultural traditions: that the Bengali "monsoon Islam" of the East Wing was alien to the "desert Islam" of the West Wing.’ < The Auster view of premodern Islam ("the glories of medieval Islam are largely a myth. It was a parasite civilization whose achievements were mainly the work of its subject peoples such as Byzantines, Jews, and Indians, and it declined when it eventually killed off its host") is a superficial projection backwards of today's problems. Indeed, its very premise ("a parasite civilization") is oxymoronic. There was a true and vital civilization of Islam and (to take a convenient date) in 1005 it represented the best that humans had attained at that time in terms of learning, governance, and general advancement. I suggest that Auster ground himself more in this civilization before dismissing it.> I have dealt with this issue slightly differently from Auster and more in line with Pipes < The appeal made by theologian Imam Ghazali turned the religious tide back to orthodox belief. In a masterful philosophical argument, most clearly stated in his book, The Destruction of Philosophy, Imam al-Ghazali declared reason and its entire works to be bankrupt. Experience and the reason that grew out of it were not to be trusted; they could say nothing meaningful about the reality of Allah. Only direct intuition of God led to worthwhile knowledge. In a direct rebuke to Al-Razi, who was a philosopher and a mathematician as well as a physician, and al-Kindi, the first Muslim philosopher to use Aristotelian logic to support Islamic dogma, and leading Islamic Golden Age philosopher, Al-Farabi, who wrestled with many of the same philosophical problems as al-Kindi and wrote The Perfect City, Imam Ghazali declared that "Philosophy was a snare, leading the unwary to the pits of Hell". By the time of his death in 1111, free scientific investigation and philosophical and religious toleration were phenomena of the past. The schools in Baghdad limited their teaching to theology. Scientific progress came to a halt. Al Razi, Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, ibn al-Haytham and Abu Jafar-Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi since that edict were never again to regain familiarity to the Muslim masses. The clergy on one hand banned reason and thinking that, on the other, the destruction in 1256 of Baghdad wrought by the Mongol hordes served a deathblow to all cultural and intellectual movements in the world of Islam. The cultural treasures amassed during centuries of intellectual pursuits were reduced to ashes. Nearly during the same period, the European Crusades (1097-1291) assailed Islam militarily. Cordoba fell to Spanish Christians in 1236. When the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1256 the Islamic Empire never recovered. > Rise and fall Islamic apathy vs 400 years of forgotten renaissance iranian.com