(8 of 43) Islamic Theology And the Status Of Non-Muslims 1) The Mutazili school of Islamic theology taught the use of reason and rational thought. Mutazili is an Islamic school of theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad during the 8th to 10th centuries. It asserted that Allah is perfect and the Quran was created by Allah. Therefore, Allahs commands of what behavior is obligatory or forbidden are to be found by inquiry into the Quran and rational thought, not in sacred precedent of sharia law. 2) Al-Ashari of Basra was a Mutazalite until the year 914 at age 40 when he had a series of dreams in which the prophet Mohammed told him to support the hadiths and reject the rationalism of the Mutazila. Al-Ashari then founded the Ashariyya theological school in Sunni Islam, teachng that reason must be subordinate to revelation. 3) Shiite Ismailis (often called the Seveners) considered Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far to be the legitimate 7th imam, and sought to use reason to find the meaning of the Quran. For example, Shiite Seveners did not take literally the Quran verses saying the stars are lamps in the lowest heaven, but instead were able to accept the Greek concept that stars are very far away. [Scholarly sources such as Encyclopedia Britannica do not accept Sevener as a synonym for Ismaili, and instead insist that the word Seveners should only be used to describe a no-longer-existing sect related to the Ismailis.] Ismailis ruled Egypt during much of the Muslim Golden Age, and briefly ruled Persia during the first half of the 10th century. Some of the scientists and scholars of Damascus were Ismailis. Later, many Mongols became Shia Nizari Ismailis. Most of the Ismailis of today are the 15 million Nizaris, who recognize Aga Khan as the 49th imam. Bohras are also Ismailis. The Ismailis are not the majority in any country today. The Alawites (who are a minority in Syria but control the government of Syria that the Saudis and President Obama are attempting to overthrow) and the Druze are related to the Ismailis i-cias/e.o/seveners.htm 4) Nestorian Christians, fleeing persecution by otber Christians in the Byzantine Empire, had fled to Persia in pre-Islamic times, bringing with them knowledge of Byzantine medicine and the writings of Galen of Pergamon. A hadith says the prophet Mohammed had been treated by a Christian physician trained in Persia. 5) The Islamic Golden Age of the Abbasid Caliphate lasted from about the year 750 until 1258, when its capital of Baghdad was sacked by Mongols. 6) Muslims in Shiite Sevener (Ismaili) Egypt, in Persia, in Islamic Spain, and what is now Turkey also played a major role in the Islamic Golden Age. 7) The acquisition of the former Roman colony of Alexandria in the year 641 by the Rashidun Caliphate also contributed to the Islamic Golden Age. 8 ) Al-Rashid permitted Christians and Jews who paid the jizya tax to practice their religion, but in 807 issued a decree that Jews must wear a yellow belt and that Christians must wear a blue belt. 9) Muslim Spain was not a tolerant multicultural pluralistic society. Although there was one instance in Grenada of 2 Jews being appointed to positions of authority over Muslims, this was immediately followed by the Muslims rioting in the year 1066 and destroying the Muslim quarter of Grenada. The 2 Jews were assassinated and 5000 Jews in Grenada were murdered because the entire Jewish community was held responsible for the 2 Jews having violated the terms of the contract of dhimmitude requiring Jews (and often Christians) to be subservient to Muslims. 10) Toward the end of the Islamic Golden Age, what is now called Turkey was connected by trade routes to Muslim Spain, Genoa, Egypt, Syria, the Byzantine Empire, Iraq, Persia and India. Women in Turkey did not wear veils. The wives of rich Turks had many servants and slaves. 11) The 14th century traveler Ibn Battuta was a guest at a social gathering in a city in Turkey where a Jewish physician sat at the table where the Quran scholars sat. Ibn Battuta was very angry that a Jew sat at the table of honor, and berated the Jewish physician for being too uppity, causing the Jew to leave. 12) Treatment of Christians and Jews during the Islamic Golden Age and now: newenglishreview.org/Norman_Berdichevsky/The_Myth_of_the_Golden_Age_of_Tolerance_in_Medieval_Muslim_Spain/ and this video of a lecture about convert, die or accept the “dhimma contract“ vimeo/20484756
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 11:14:04 +0000
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