The Muslim Anarchist Charter rejects absolutely: all forms of violence and political coercion; all forms of racism and prejudice, including Islamophobia, homophobia and neurelitism.
Though Christians in the West typically associate the name Allah with Islam, it was, in fact, Christian in origin. Arab Muslims borrowed the name from Arab Christians who had been praying to Allah for centuries before Muhammad was born.
With hue like that when some great painter dips His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse.
Then black despair, The shadow of a starless night, was thrown Over the world in which I moved alone.
In Medinah, the Prophet provided that, in the just society every man has a right to capital without interest.… This means that in the pursuit of justice, the power of capital as well as the power of land are available to every member of society freely. The limits of differences are the limits imposed by the man’s own capacity to work and to use factors of production. [“The Theory of the Economics of Islam: The Economics of Tauhid and Brotherhood,” an English condensation of his book The Islamic Economic Theory , 1960.]
Now I've been happy lately Thinking about the good things to come And I believe it could be Something good has begun. Oh, I've been smiling lately Dreaming about the world as one And I believe it could be Someday it's going to come.
The Middle East is certainly the nexus of turmoil for a long time to come -- with shifting players, but the same game: upheaval. I think we will be confronting militant Islam -- particularly fallout from the Iranian revolution -- and religion will once more, as it has in our own more distant past -- play a role at least as standard-bearer in death and mayhem. - Bobby R. Inman, Admiral, USN, Retired, former director of Naval Intelligence, vice director of the DIA, former director of the NSA, deputy director of Central Intelligence, former chairman and CEO of MCC.
By the declining day, man is a state of loss, save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance.
But Balaam's ass had suddenly spoken. The subject was a strange one. Grigory had gone in the morning to make purchases, and had heard from the shopkeeper Lukyanov the story of a Russian soldier which had appeared in the newspaper of that day. This soldier had been taken prisoner in some remote part of Asia, and was threatened with an immediate agonizing death if he did not renounce Christianity and follow Islam. He refused to deny his faith, and was tortured, flayed alive, and died, praising and glorifying Christ. Grigory had related the story at table. Fyodor Pavlovitch always liked, over the dessert after dinner, to laugh and talk, if only with Grigory. This afternoon he was in a particularly good-humored and expansive mood. Sipping his brandy and listening to the story, he observed that they ought to make a saint of a soldier like that, and to take his skin to some monastery. "That would make the people flock, and bring the money in."
Cool, if you’re two miles from the airport and want to identify Aunt Nelda’s actual plane before she lands. Not so cool if you’re a terrorist with a stinger missile who wants to send Aunt Nelda to hell for posting a photo of pork-laced bullets on her Facebook page (I’m not making this up about the pork-laced bullets. A company in Idaho coats bullets in pork-infused paint for those who not only want to kill Islamic terrorists, but also prevent them from entering paradise).
If adapted to the unique requirements of various regions and peoples of the world, such economic pluralism could have a greater global impact over the next fifty years than the collectivist economics of Marxism and neo-Marxism have had during the half century just past. [“New Directions for American Foreign Policy,”, Orbis , Summer 1969, Published by Foreign Policy Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania.]
In the East, on the other hand, there was more mental activity, and the religious teachers who came from Medina had to be prepared to meet with many questions. The wits of the Moslems were sharpened by daily contact with Christians, Buddhists, Manichaeans and Zoroastrians. Hasan ul-Basri (q.v.), who has been claimed as one of the first mystics, also as one of the first systematic theologians of Islam, was remarkable alike for his personal piety and his orthodoxy. Yet it was among his pupils that the great rationalist movement originated. Its founder was Wasil ibn `Ata, who separated himself (whence his followers were called Motazilites, strictly Mu`tazilites, "Separatists") from his teacher and founded a school which became numerous and influential. The Mu`tazilites objected to the attributes of God being considered in any way as entities beside God; they explained away the anthropomorphisms used in speaking of the deity; they regarded the Koran as created and as a product of Mahomet writing under the divine influence. Briefly, they asserted the supremacy of reason (_`aql_) as distinct from faith received by tradition (_naql_). They also called themselves "the people of justice and unity" (_Ahl ul-`adl wat-tauhid_). Such a faith as this naturally found favour rather with the thinking classes than with the uneducated multitude, and so went through many vicissitudes. At the time of its appearance and until the reign of Ma`mun its adherents were persecuted as heretics. After discussions among the theologians Ma`mun took the decided step of proclaiming that the Koran was created, and that a belief in this dogma was necessary. Other Mu`tazilite doctrines were proclaimed later. Mu`tazilites were appointed to official posts, and an inquisition (_mihna_) was appointed to enforce belief in their doctrines. This movement was strongly opposed by the orthodox and especially by Ahmad ibn Hanbal (q.v.). By him the founding of theology on reason was rejected, and he suffered persecution for his faith (see W. N. Patton, _Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna_, Leiden, 1897). Mu`tazilism retained its sway until 849, when the caliph Motawakkil again declared the Koran uncreate and restored orthodoxy. It was during the early years of the Abbasid rule that the four legal schools of Abu Hanifa (d. 767), Malik ibn Anas (d. 795), ash-Shafi'i (d. 819) and Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) came into existence (see MAHOMMEDAN LAW). As the bases of religion and law were the same, so the methods applied in the treatment of the one affected the other. Abu Hanifa depended little on tradition, but referred back to the Koran, making use of individual opinion (_ra`y_) as controlled by analogy (_qiyas_) with a written ordinance. Malik Ibn Anas supplemented the Koran and Sunna by customary law founded largely on the custom (_ijma`_) of Medina, and by what he conceived to be for the public good (_istislah_). Shafi`i recognized tradition as equal to the Koran, and even as being able to supersede its ordinances, while he also recognized the universal custom (_ijma`_) of the Moslem world as divine and binding. His four bases of religion--Koran, sunna, qiyas and ijma`--have been generally accepted in Islam (see above). Ibn Hanbal's position has been already mentioned. All these four schools are reckoned orthodox, and all orthodox Moslems belong to one or another of them. Another teacher of this time, who founded a school which did not succeed in being recognized as orthodox, was Da`ud uz-Zahiri. Trained as a Shafi`ite, he became too strict for this school, rejected analogy, restricted _ijma`_ to the agreement or custom of the companions of Mahomet, and accepted the whole of the Koran and tradition in the most literal and external sense. His followers were called Zahirites (i.e. externalists). After Ash`ari's time these principles were applied to theology by Ibn Hazm (q.v.) see I. Goldziher, _Die Zahiriten, ihr Lehrsystem und ihre Geschichte_ (Leipzig, 1884). Entry: 4
Other men, such as Tabari, the historian and commentator, have had dreams that they, too, might join the Four Imams (see IMAM) as founders of legal rites, but none has succeeded. The Four remain the ultimate exponents of this canon law, and under the banner of one or other of them every Moslem must range himself. As there is a principle of unity in Islam, expressed in the alleged prophetic saying, "My people will never agree in an error," so there is a principle of variety, also expressed in an alleged prophetic saying, "The disagreement of my people is a mercy from God." The four rites may differ upon many points, yet the adherents of one never dream of regarding the adherents of the others as outside the Church of Islam; they are not "dissenters" in the English sense. God is merciful to his creatures, and gives them so much liberty of choice. Yet in practice this liberty is not great. The principle of swearing to the words of the master is a dead hand laid upon Islam. A man's legal rite is generally settled by the place and other conditions of his birth, and after he has once accepted a rite, he must, if good and pious, follow it in all its details. Only the avowed sceptic or the recognized eccentric can be an eclectic. Entry: MAHOMMEDAN
_History._--What is now the native state of Cochin formed, until about the middle of the 9th century A.D., part of the ancient Chera or Kerala kingdom (see KERALA). Its port of Kodungalur (Kranganur, the ancient Muziris), at the mouth of the Periyar, was from early times one of the chief centres for the trade between Europe and India; and it was at Malankara, near Kodungalur, that the apostle Thomas is traditionally said to have landed. The history of Cochin is, however, like that of the Kerala kingdom generally, exceedingly obscure previous to the arrival of the Portuguese. The rajas of Cochin, who are of pure Kshatriya blood, claim descent from the Chera king Cheraman Perumal, the last of his race to rule the vast tract from Gokarn in North Kanara to Cape Comorin. About the middle of the 9th century this king, according to tradition, resigned his kingdom, embraced Islam, and went on pilgrimage to Arabia, where he died. Towards the end of the century the Chera kingdom was overrun and dismembered by the Cholas. It was in 1498 that Vasco da Gama reached the Malabar coast; and in 1502 the Portuguese were allowed to settle in the town of Cochin, where they built a fort and began to organize trade with the surrounding country. By the end of the century their influence had become firmly established, largely owing to the effective aid they had given to the rajas of Cochin in their wars with the Zamorin of Calicut. The Syrian Christians, forming at that time a large proportion of the population, now felt the weight of Portuguese ascendancy; in 1599 Menezes, the archbishop of Goa, held a synod at Udayamperur (Diamper), a village 12 m. south-east of Cochin, at which their tenets were pronounced heretical and their service-books purged of all Nestorian phrases. In 1663, however, Portuguese domination came to an end with the capture of Cochin by the Dutch, whose ascendancy continued for about a hundred years. In 1776 Hyder Ali of Mysore invaded the state and forced the raja to acknowledge his suzerainty and pay tribute. In 1791 Tippoo, son of Hyder Ali, ceded the sovereignty to the British, who entered into a treaty with the raja by which he became their vassal and paid an annual tribute of a lakh of rupees. On the 17th of October 1809, in consequence of an attempt of the hereditary chief minister Paliyath Achan, in 1808, to raise an insurrection against the British without his master's knowledge, a fresh treaty was made, by which the raja undertook to hold no correspondence with any foreign state and to admit no foreigners to his service without the sanction of the British government, which, while undertaking to defend the raja's territories against all enemies, reserved the right to dismantle or to garrison any of his fortresses. In 1818 the tribute, raised to 2½ lakhs in 1808, was permanently fixed at 2 lakhs. Since then, under the rule of the rajas, the state has greatly advanced in prosperity, especially under that of H. H. Sir Sri Rama Varma (b. 1852), who succeeded in 1895, was made a K.C.S.I. in 1897, and G.C.S.I. in 1903. Entry: COCHIN
Kafiristan, which literally means "the land of the infidel," is the name given to a tract of country enclosed between Chitral and Afghan territory. It was formerly peopled by pagan mountaineers, who maintained a wild independence until 1895, when they were finally subdued by Abdur Rahman, the amir of Kabul, who also compelled them to accept the religion of Islam. The territory thus ill named is included between 34° 30´ and 36° N., and from about 70° to 71° 30´ E. As the western and northern boundaries are imperfectly known, its size cannot be estimated with any certainty. Its greatest extent is from east to west at 35° 10´ N.; its greatest breadth is probably about 71° E. The total area approximates to 5000 sq. m. Along the N. the boundary is the province of Badakshan, on the N.E. the Lutkho valley of Chitral. Chitral and lower Chitral enclose it to the E., and the Kunar valley on the S.E. Afghanistan proper supplies the S. limit. The ranges above the Nijrao and Pansher valleys of Afghanistan wall it in upon the W. The northern frontier is split by the narrow Minjan valley of Badakshan, which seems to rise in the very heart of Kafiristan. Entry: KAFIRISTAN
The harem system is, of course, wholly inconsistent with any high ideal of womanhood. Certain misapprehensions, however, should be noticed. The depravity of the system and the vapid idleness of harem life are much exaggerated by observers whose sympathies are wholly against the system. In point of fact much depends on the individuals. In many households there exists a very high degree of mutual consideration and the standard of conduct is by no means degraded. Though a woman may not be seen in the streets without the _yashmak_ which covers her face except for her eyes, and does not leave her house except by her husband's permission, none the less in ordinary households the harem ladies frequently drive into the country and visit the shops and public baths. Their seclusion has very considerable compensations, and legally they stand on a far better basis in relation to their husbands than do the women of monogamous Christian communities. From the moment when a woman, free or slave, enters into any kind of wifely relation with a man, she has a legally enforceable right against him both for her own and for her children's maintenance. She has absolute control over her personal property whether in money, slaves or goods; and, if divorce is far easier in Islam than in Christendom, still the marriage settlement must be of such amount as will provide suitable maintenance in that event. Entry: HAREM
The ceremonial use of lights in the Christian Church, with which this article is mainly concerned, probably has a double origin: in a very natural symbolism, and in the adaptation of certain pagan and Jewish rites and customs of which the symbolic meaning was Christianized. Light is everywhere the symbol of joy and of life-giving power, as darkness is of death and destruction. Fire, the most mysterious and impressive of the elements, the giver of light and of all the good things of life, is a thing sacred and adorable in primitive religions, and fire-worship still has its place in two at least of the great religions of the world. The Parsis adore fire as the visible expression of Ahura-Mazda, the eternal principle of light and righteousness; the Brahmans worship it as divine and omniscient.[1] The Hindu festival of Dewali (Diyawali, from _diya_, light), when temples and houses are illuminated with countless lamps, is held every November to celebrate Lakhshmi, the goddess of prosperity. In the ritual of the Jewish temple fire and light played a conspicuous part. In the Holy of Holies was a "cloud of light" (_shekinah_), symbolical of the presence of Yahweh, and before it stood the candlestick with six branches, on each of which and on the central stem was a lamp eternally burning; while in the forecourt was an altar on which the sacred fire was never allowed to go out. Similarly the Jewish synagogues have each their eternal lamp; while in the religion of Islam lighted lamps mark things and places specially holy; thus the Ka'ba at Mecca is illuminated by thousands of lamps hanging from the gold and silver rods that connect the columns of the surrounding colonnade. Entry: LIGHTS
MAIMONIDES, the common name of RABBI MOSES BEN MAIMON (1135-1204), also known from the initials of these last words as RAMBAM, Jewish philosopher. His life falls into three epochs, which may be typified by the towns in which they were passed, viz. Cordova, Fez and Cairo. He was born in Cordova on the 20th of March 1135, the eve of Passover; he had a brother, David, and one sister. His early years were spent in his native town, which had then just passed the zenith of its glory. The Arab rulers had fostered the development of science, art, medicine, philosophy, literature and learning. All these influences played their part in the education of Maimonides, whose father, besides training him in all branches of Hebrew and Jewish scholarship, implanted in the youth a sound knowledge of these secular studies as well. In 1148 Cordova was taken from the last Fatimite caliph by the victorious Almohades, who had spread over Spain from N. Africa. These militant revivalists strove to re-establish Islam in what they considered its primitive simplicity. They laid great stress on the unity of God, and tolerated neither schism within the faith nor dissent without. The position of the orthodox Spanish Jews became intolerable, and Maimon, after ten years of hardships, wanderings and escapes, decided to take his family out of the country. He settled in Fez. The years which Maimonides spent there (1160-1165) were memorable for his friendship with Abdul Arab Ibn Muisha--a Moslem poet and theologian--and for the commencement of his literary activity. His energies were diverted towards stimulating the religious feelings of his brethren and combating assimilation. In consequence he became alarmed for his own safety, and in 1165 left for Egypt, where he settled after a passing visit to the Holy Land. Cordova taught him the humanities; Fez humanity. Cairo, besides giving him prominence at court and in the Jewish community, was the centre of the almost world-wide influence which he exercised over Jewry by his monumental writings and dominant personality. By 1177 Maimonides was the recognized chief of the Cairene congregation and consulted on important matters by communities far and wide. Here he was joined by his most famous disciple, Joseph Aknin. But his early life in Egypt was fraught with deep sorrow. His father died soon after their arrival, and Maimonides himself suffered severely from prostration and sickness. His brother David, jointly with whom he carried on a trade in gems, was shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean. With him perished the entire fortune of the family. Forced to earn a livelihood, Maimonides turned to medicine. The fame of his skill eventually brought him the appointment of body physician to Saladin, to whom, it is said, he was so attached that when Richard I. wrote from Ascalon, offering him a similar post at the English court, Maimonides refused. He married the sister of Ibn al Mali, one of the royal secretaries. In 1186, his son Abraham was born. His remaining years were spent in ceaseless activity and in controversy, which he sought to avoid. He died amidst universal sorrow and veneration. Entry: MAIMONIDES
All the great rivals of Abdalmalik having now disappeared, he was no longer like his predecessors _primus inter pares_, but _dominus_. Under his rule the members of the Omayyad house enjoyed a greater amount of administrative control than had formerly been the case, but high office was given only to competent men. He succeeded in reconciling the sons of 'Amr Ashdaq, and also Khalid b. Yazid, to whom he gave his own daughter in marriage. He himself had married 'Atika, a daughter of Yazid, a union which was in all respects a happy one. He took great care in the education of his sons, whom he destined as his successors. His brother Abdalaziz, governor of Egypt, whom Merwan had marked out as his successor, died in the year 703 or 704, and Abdalmalik chose as heirs to the empire first his son Walid, and after him his second son Suleiman. He himself died on the 14th Shawwal 86 (9th October 705) at the age of about sixty. His reign was one of the most stormy in the annals of Islam, but also one of the most glorious. Abdalmalik not only brought triumph to the cause of the Omayyads, but also extended and strengthened the Moslem power as a whole. He was well versed in old Arabic tradition and in the doctrine of Islam, and was passionately fond of poetry. His court was crowded with poets, whom he loaded with favours, even if they were Christians like Akhtal. In his reign flourished also the two celebrated rivals of Akhtal, Jarir and Farazdaq. Entry: 5
The age also was unique, though the two great events which made the 15th century a turning-point in the world's history--the invention of printing and the discovery of the new world (to which might perhaps be added the intrusion of Islam into Europe)--were still far in the future. But the age was essentially one of great men; of free thought and free speech; of brilliant and daring action, whether for good or evil. It is easy to understand how Dante's bitterest scorn is reserved for those "sorry souls who lived without infamy and without renown, displeasing to God and to His enemies." Entry: DANTE
i. _Ancient Oriental._--Although the numerous discoveries of monuments, sculptures, wall-paintings, seals, gems, &c., combine with the evidence from inscriptions and from biblical and classical writers to furnish a considerable accumulation of material, the methodical study of costume (in its widest sense) in the ancient oriental world (western Asia and Egypt) has several difficulties of its own. It is often difficult to obtain quite accurate or even adequate reproductions of scenes and subjects, and, when this is done, it is obviously necessary to refrain from treating the work of the old artists and sculptors as equivalent to photographic representations. Art tended to become schematic, artists were bound by certain limitations and conventions (Egypt under Amenophis IV. is a notable exception), and their work was apt to be stilted. In Egypt, too, the spirit of caricature occasionally shows itself. But when every allowance is made for the imperfections or the cunning of the workman, one need only examine any collection of antiquities to see that there was a distinct appreciation of foreign physical types (not so much for personal portraiture), costumes, toilet, armour and decoration, often markedly different from native forms, and that a single scene (e.g. war, tribute-bearers, captives) will represent varieties of dress which are consistently observed in other scenes or which can be substantiated from native sources.[2] Important evidence can thus be obtained on ethnological relations, foreign influences and the like. Speaking generally, it has been found that the East as opposed to the West has undergone relatively little alteration in the principal constituents of dress among the bulk of the population, and, although it is often difficult to interpret or explain some of the details as represented (one may contrast, for example, worn sculptures or seals with the vivid Egyptian paintings), comparison with later descriptions and even with modern usage is frequently suggestive. The vocabulary of old oriental costume is surprisingly large, and some perplexity is caused by the independent evolution both of the technical terms (where they are intelligible) and of the articles of dress themselves. In reality there were numerous minor variations in the cut and colour of ancient dress even as there are in the present day in or around Palestine. These differences have depended upon climate, occupation, occasion (e.g. marriage, worship, feasts), and especially upon individual status and taste. Rank has accounted for much, and ceremonial dress--the apparel of the gods, their representatives and their ministers--opens out several interesting lines of inquiry. The result of intercourse, whether with other Orientals, or (in later times) with Greeks and Romans, naturally left its mark, and there have been ages of increasing luxury followed by periods of reaction, with a general levelling and nationalization on religious grounds (Judaism, Islam). All in all the study of oriental costume down to the days of Hellenism proves to be something more than that of mere apparel, and any close survey of the evidence speedily raises questions which concern old oriental history and thought. Entry: I