Islam and Cultural Exchange

Traveling the middle east can be exciting and yet frustrating, let's say a double edged sword. The readings and remnants of a great culture, empire and legacy have been fragmented into artificial boundaries that run within the very veins of society at times. No doubt there are great people as with every nation and I myself have many weaknesses also but simply the mention of other countries or other groups (ethnically, religious) can spark immediate negative reaction (not agressive or violent) even religion is nationalized. Sometimes traveling you get the feeling Karl Marx was correct when he said, "Religion is the Opium of the Masses", perhaps he was relating to the state of church vs. renaissance (state) fierce discussions taking place during his time. Perhaps all societies have this inate response or subconcious for a nation or people (whether defined as race, tribe, etc.) and at times this unity or response is necessary as elaborated by Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddamah, one of the earliest and pioneering works in sociology.

Returning back to the cultural imperative, there is no ignoring the formation of nation states with the simultaneous transformation from agrarian (agricultural) to industrial/technological societies has shaped and engraved our mentality (Read Structure and Change in Economic History by Douglass C. North) For the current generation to flourish our mentality must be in line with classical age and mentality and utilize what means (technological, etc.) for the advancement of this purpose.

The view of the ummah as only a group of people adhering to a specific creed (in the specific sense not general) limited to certain geographical location (Muslim Lands) must be transformed into a global vision with no boundaries. This view is in sharp contrast from the the early generations and great historians/scholars of Islam who contributed to humanity (Ibn Khaldun, Tabari, Ibn Kathir) and Prophet Muhammad (SAW). According to a tradition in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad a person asked the Prophet (SAW), "Oh Messenger of Allah, How many messengers were there, the Prophet (SAW) replied, 124,000 Prophets and from them 315 Messengers."
قال قلت يا رسول الله كم وفى عدة الأنبياء قال مائة ألف وأربعة وعشرون ألفا الرسل من ذلك ثلاث مائة وخمسة عشر جما غفيرا

Although the name of the Prophets are not mentioned and only 25 are mentioned in the Quran it is not inconceivable that certain philosophers or great sages may have been influenced to some extent or been exposed to revelation of a Prophet. When the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was exhorting the companions to constantly be concerned of the Ummah was it only in relation to the few thousand and later on over 100,000 companions (at the end of his lifetime) or to entire mankind. I would strongly go for the later as the entire humanity is one ummah beginning from Prophet Adam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) vision was of entire mankind as an Ummah.

When we read the titles and skim through the works of great Muslim Historians, Ibn Kathir, Tabari and Ibn Khaldun we notice the span of the history covered was from the time of Adam to their respective periods. Tabari author of tarikhal-ummum wa al-maluk, History of nations and Kings, discussed all civilizations from the time of Adam to his respective era. Similar works of Ibn Kathir (nihaya wa bidaya), Ibn Khaldun (Muqaddamah) and the great historian Masoodi document the chronicles history and the achievements/advancement of entire civilizations. It was clear Classical Muslim historians understood the concept of Ummah and reminded previous nations of the fitrah (natural) belief in the Prophets sent down to mankind. Masoodi writes the Persian Empire had established a very organized and systematic administration and Muslims, who did not conquer in the sense totally destroy the Persian Empire, rather utilized the Persian Adminstration System, hence early Muslims grasped the mentality that all nations were sent Prophets and utilized knowledge that may benefit mankind and were not the "Chosen People". Similarly, Muslim Civilizations in Spain and Baghdad (The house of hikmah during the Abbasid Caliphate) was not religiocentric Muslim Adnvancement but an amalgation of knowledge from China (gunpowder and printing) to Greece (Mathematics, Medicine, etc.) Classical Muslim civilization encompassed the very essence and greatness of history from the time of Adam to their respective periods.

Ibn Khaldun in his pioneering work in sociology 'al-muqaddamah' gives an objective view of civilizations existing from the beginning of mankind and Ibn Kathir devotes the same in his works (Nihaya wa Bidayah).

In another tradition upon related to the Isra and Miraj (the Night Journey),

Abu Hurayra said: Allah's Messenger said:

My Lord has preferred me over everyone else (faddalani rabbi):He has sent me as a mercy to the worlds and to all people without exception, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; He has thrown terror into the hearts of my enemies at a distance of a month's travel; He has made spoils of war lawful for me while they were not lawful for anyone before me; the entire earth has been made a ritually pure place of prostration for me; I was given the words that open, those that close, and those that are comprehensive in meaning (i.e. I was given the apex of eloquence); My Community was shown to me and there is none of the followers and the followed but he is known to me; I saw that they would come to a people that wear hair-covered sandals; I saw that they would come to a people of large faces and small eyes as if they had been pierced with a needle; nothing of what they would face in the future has been kept hidden from me; and I have been ordered to perform fifty prayers daily.

The words in bold state the Prophet (SAW) regarded the entire earth as 'sujood' (a prostrating place) and not limited to any artificial boundaries. The formation of modern industrialized, technological and classical liberal transformation are subjects that deserve due attention and require much researh. Thus with this inagural blog please read the following article and pamphlet, which Dr. Umar Farooq has researched extensively in this field and a short pamphlet compiled by some concerned muslims regarding our role as Muslim Americans.

http://nawawi.org/downloads/article3.pdf

http://salika.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/what-does-it-mean-to-be-muslim-american/