The Islamist Call To Westernize The West’s Call To Islamize: Tracing The Origins Of Western Intellectual Thought
Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem
The tools and methods used to dismantle the old civilizations of the world during the 19th century were the same, a call to Nationalism carried out by the Elite in each nation aided by small groups of influential people, this occurred around the world relatively during the exact same period, all of which outlines and displays the motives of this ‘world wide network’ as the prime minister of England Benjamin Disraeli put it. How else could a small Island take the world’s largest Empires, like China, India and eventually the Islamic Khalifah, it was from this sedition as John (ra) correctly called it that we saw the birth of the British Empire, a call to fake nationalism and sectarianism in order to isolate people so a world power could divide and conquer, this was followed by a propaganda campaign that caused people to follow a single world culture they perceived is far more dominant and superior, again as John (ra) foretold, people could not even imagine that anyone could defeat them or surpass them as they worked “wonders” in front of the world simply to drive their new found belief “home”.
Although the British Empire is now gone, America, again as John (ra) foretold is using the same methods through new technology to do the exact same thing. Hence tracing the origins of Western and European intellectual thought (the terms are interchangeable in this context) will demystify the nature of these civilizations, this is the core advice of Allah given to man through the companion of Jesus, John (ra) “This calls for wisdom (advice): let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man (human)” in other words demystify how you view them.
The American Founding Fathers and Islam
One of the most influential figures on the founding fathers of America was John Locke (d.1704), he was a philosopher and physician, regarded by the west as one of the most influential thinkers and known as the “Father of Classical Liberalism”. He helped western civilization finally come out of the Dark Ages Europe was relatively still in by that time, it had to move away from the rule of the totalitarian Church that rejected science and advancement in order to preserve it’s power over the world, this was achieved by relying on the works and intellectual thought of various figures through history, John Locke was one such figure.
In John Locke’s Biography, to the intellectual origins of American society, the most influential individual on Locke’s life was Edward Pococke, he was the teacher at Oxford for Arabic and Islamic studies.
After the Dark Age Europe was in, the very first edict of toleration occurs in the 17th century in Budapest, it was done by a transelvanian unitarian ruler (a christian who did not believe in the trinity), he was directly under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, he paid the Jizya tax for protection from other European nations in a time when the threat of war as very real and they still conquered each other. Essentially he was calling for the very same policies the Ottomans where using in their states, and he was the first ruler to freely allow protestants to come into his land when they where being persecuted through out Europe.
The Ottoman muslims offered refuge to protestants who where being persecuted under catholic rule, they also offered refuge to the jews in sarajevo and those who fled Spain from the inquisition and went to Morocco. Historically they where treated very well in Muslim lands and reached many positions of influence, for example Rabbi Musa Bin Maimun (Maimonides) who was considered one of the greatest Rabbi’s in Jewish history was the personal Physician of Salah al Deen Ayubi (Saladin in the west) who defeated the crusaders and won back Jerusalem from Richard the king of England.
John Locke and Isaac Newton were both Unitarians or Socinians, and were influenced by Muslim philosophical thought, they in turn were among the great influences on the Founding Fathers of America, like Thomas Jefferson.
Much of what is found in the American constitution is borrowed from Islamic philosophical thought, this can be established by John Locke’s influence upon them. John Locke was Arian, Socinian and what is termed today as Unitarian, not only was he directly influenced by muslim scholars he was accused of being a muslim in his time. John Locke and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) where friends and graduates of Oxford University, and like Locke Newton was also Unitarian and accused of being a muslim in his time.
Both Locke and Newton taught at Oxford university, when they where teaching they hid their positions on many issues because of the persecution that others suffered before them. Both had a friendship with Henry Stubbe (1632-1676) who as a result of apposing the monarchy and the rule of the Church along with the establishment, went and studied christian theology only to later revolt against it, and their position on how they imposed authority on people, it was after he challenged them that he began studying Islam, which unlike Europe had a diverse community of people peacefully living alongside each other within it’s borders.
During that time of studying Islam, reading and having a copy of the Quran was a crime, hence they hid where they were taking all of there information from and what the sources where, they wrote books on the prophet Muhammad (saws), about the myth that Islam was spread by the sword, and how Islamic theology was the original and correct monotheistic theology, relied upon by earlier Christian Saints like Saint Augustine and other influential Christian Theologians, ‘it had come to purify the corruption that was caused by the Church and the Christians from the third century onwards’.
This corruption occurred when the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine (d 337AD), adopted Christianity as the state religion, He then decided through the council of Nicaea in 325AD, what the nature of the “Son of God” was, the label itself is a Jewish term for prophet’s, existing for thousands of years before hand and was never exclusive to Jesus (ra) but the Emperor wanted a way to bring the christian God into the pantheon of Roman gods so the Roman people could accept it more easily hence according to their reading of the bible the term “son of god” posed a problem for them because in the Roman religion they already had a trinity and this sounded the same.
The pagan outcome of this council then shouldn’t be surprising considering that none of the earlier religions of Allah, had claimed this pagan Roman Trinity which already existed in the Roman Religion, the religion of Abraham was entirely monotheistic right back to the first days of Man. Constantine through this same council would then decide which books to include in the Bible and which to exclude, all other books were subsequently burned and their followers massacred, as later archeological evidence would show.
These Unitarian Christians wrote to Muslim Khalifs and ambassadors, that, we are closer to you than our closeness to established Christianity, this occurred after the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.
The hole of the 17th century was marred by the controversies of the Socinians, and between the Church and Monarchy. John Locke who was a major influence on the American constitution itself, studied the Islamic work “Hayy bin Yaqzan” by the muslim philosopher Ibn al Tufail (d.1185) which caused him to conclude that whatever Christianity and monarchy where offering where against human nature, a concept now known as Tabula Rasa (that man was born with a blank slate) was developed and he became the father of empiricism, (that knowledge only comes from sensory perception), along with materialism and the modern sciences.
In contrast to Tabula Rasa St. Augustin viewed man as originally sinful being born with a disposition, the Cartesian position holds that man innately knows basic knowledge, that we are born with innate ideas. Tabula Rasa and innatism, or the idea of a blank slate became very common in the european world from the beginning of the thirteenth century through the translations of Islamic texts, innate means something which is in the nature of the human being, and in Islam this was termed “Fitrah”, man was born with the innate belief in God, but was otherwise a blank slate.
Thomas Jefferson was to be the lead author of the American Declaration of Independence from the British Empire, the declaration was to outline their beliefs regarding man and the reason for their split from the church controlled Monarchies. Jefferson and therefore the Declaration of Independence, was heavily influenced by John Locke, it can be seen from the list of reasons given to separate from the British Empire, Locke’s words, ideas and theories coming into play.
John Locke had given the four inalienable (Maqasid) rights of Man in his writings, Locke’s own treatises provide everyone with a right to defend their life, health, liberty or possessions.
One of the most noticeable instances of direct Islamic influence is in the preamble, where the Declaration of Independence proclaims the right of every man to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Maqasid is an Islamic term for goals and purpose, after imam Shafii developed the science of Usul al Fiqh (principles of jurisprudence), many later scholars, from the 8th century onwards, began to write works of legal theory on the Maqasid of Shariah, or the aims and intents of Islamic Law, through these the rights and liberties of Man were clearly outlined and among the most famous scholars was Imam al Ghazali (d.1111).
The Maqasid of the Shariah aim to achieve the greater good by opening, or blocking, certain means that lead to Harm or away from it. “Maqasid al Shariah” are also the group of divine intents and moral concepts upon which the Islamic law is based, such as, justice, human dignity, free will, magnanimity, facilitation, and social cooperation.
After the era of the companions, the identification and classification of maqasid (objectives of Islamic Law) began. During the first three centuries, the idea of purposes/causes (Arabic: Hikam, ilal, munasabat, or ma’ani) appeared in the works of the Imams of the classic schools of Islamic law, such as reasoning by analogy (qiyās), juridical preference (istihsan), and interest (masalah). Purposes themselves, however, were not subjects of separate monographs until the end of the third Islamic century. Then, this work was further developed and elaborated into ‘levels of necessity’ by Imam al-Juwaini (d.478 AH/ 1085 CE).
“For a number of Islamic Scholars, maqasid are an alternative expression for masalih (people’s interests). For example, Imam Abdul-Malik al-Juwaini (d.478 AH/ 1185 CE), one of the earliest contributors to al-maqasid theory as we know it today used al-maqasid and public interests (al-masalih al-ammah) interchangeably. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.505 AH/1111 CE) elaborated on a classification of maqasid, which he placed entirely under what he called ‘unrestricted interests’ (al-maslaha al-mursalah). Fakhruddin al-Razi (d.606 AH/1209 CE) and al- Amidi (d.631 AH/1234 CE) followed Imam al-Ghazali in his terminology. Imam Najmuddin al-Tufi (d.716 AH/1316 CE), defined maslaha (people’s interests) as, ‘what fulfills the purpose of the Legislator.’ Al-Qarafi (d.1285 AH/1868 CE) linked maslaha (people’s interests) and maqasid (the objectives) by a ‘fundamental rule’ that stated: ‘A purpose (maqasid) is not valid unless it leads to the fulfillment of some good (marsalah) or the avoidance of some mischief (mafsadah).’ Therefore, a maqasid, purpose, objective, intent, goal, end, or principle in the Islamic law is there for the ‘interest of humanity.’”
Jefferson in the declaration summarized Locke’s “Maqasid” into three and preferred to include what other earlier muslim scholars thought should be part of the Maqasid, and that is the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence explains the reasons for splitting with the British Empire, it borrows heavily from Locke’s Second Treatise, which is noticeable in the almost identical preamble, but also the idea of a Natural Law (or Locke’s state of nature). Their reasons for absolving Great Britain rule was mirrored in Locke’s idea of Representative Government, which was translated into their form of Democracy.
One of the first to detail the idea of Democracy in Islam was al Farabi (d.950), he devised the different kinds of governments and concluded that the Democratic government was the government which is ruled by the people for the sake of the people, using this expression.
Thomas Jefferson himself incorporated many of the ideas from the European enlightenment which was inspired by Islamic text that were being translated on Mass to Europe to fuel these new thoughts in order to rid it of the Dark Age it was in. The right of the people to “alter or to abolish” unjust governments; the idea that it is the governments job to secure “unalienable rights”; the idea of popular sovereignty, governments derive their power from the “consent of the governed”; the idea that “all men are created equal”; these are all ideas that the enlightenment thinkers shared.
Many of the issues raised by John Locke and Thomas Jefferson are the exact terminologies or translations of the Quranic words, basically huquq al Insan, consent of the governed, and all men are created equal, are taken from the work of Ibn Tufail. John Locke believed there existed a social contract between government and its citizens as government derived its power from the consent of the governed and that people should rebel against a government that violated their natural rights; the natural rights referred to are “life, liberty and possessions.”
By this time in history the Maqasid of Shariah, Islamic Law, where well developed and three out of the famous “five Maqasid of Islamic Shariah” were used by John Locke in the Declaration of Independence. The declaration interchanges “possessions” with pursuit of happiness which some muslims Scholars believed should be included in the five Maqasid of Shariah.
The ideas that Jefferson adopted from Islam became central to the United States Government, they would eventually be incorporated into the constitution and then ground the argument of future revolutionaries both in the United States and around the world. The Declaration of Independence was paraphrased from John Locke’s 1693 work “Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government”, Presidents Adams and Madison later acknowledged that these truths where already present and borrowed from elsewhere and that “the objective (of the declaration) was to assert and not discover truth”.
Al Farabi’s (872-950) wrote on the ideal state in a book called “al Madina al Fadila”, An Ideal State, in it he divided the states into the ideal muslim states, beginning with the prophetic state, then the democratic, then comes the dictatorship (oligarchy and monarchy), he then says the best of these is the Islamic State in which the prophet or the leader (Imam) is a philosopher and a righteous person guided by Allah (swt), the second best is then the Democratic state.
The best state for Al Farabi is one that is comprised of true justice, proportionate equality, and a body of citizens who are willing to fulfill the tasks (skills) naturally endowed to them.
Al Farabi explains the most important principle of Democracy to be its freedom and that of the six Government types, including tyranny and oligarchy, the regime of Democracy occupies the privileged position of supplying the most solid and the best starting point for the establishment of the virtuous human beings. A Democracy promotes the concept of “rule by the people” which are the exact words of al Farabi. Democracy is the last step towards the Ideal state where Human beings enjoy freedoms, where everybody has a role not because they have to earn money or because of political influence but because this is their human right given to them by Allah. The best of the rulers are the ones who give the upmost freedoms to every individual in the state. And the best human beings are those who use their freedoms to accomplish to the best of their ability.
Al Farabi used the word Democratic (Democratiya) in the 9th century which originally came from Greek but its etymology doesn’t agree with its modern understanding; “The Democratic city is one in which each one of the citizens is given free reign and left alone to do whatever he likes. Its citizens are equal and their laws say that no man is in any way at all better than any other man…And no one…has any claim to authority unless he works to enhance their freedom…those who rule them do so by the will of the ruled, and the rulers follow the wishes of the ruled.”
The Etymology of democracy (n.) as western historians traced, goes back to the 1570s, from Middle French démocratie (14c.), and from Medieval Latin democratia (13c.). It can’t be traced any further with it’s current definition except through Islamic works which took it from the Greek word demokratia “popular government”, the word comes from two Greek words demos meaning “common people”, but whose originally ancient Greek meaning was “district” (see demotic), and kratos “rule, strength”. To the Greeks the word did not represent Democratic rule this definition was given to it by Al Farabi because that was the outline of his Book in which he used it as the second best form of government after prophetic government.
Al Faraby in the 9th century was addressing the issue of rulers, who thought they where an exception to the rule of Shariah, Al Farabi said that the Islamic state of the present day was better than the other models being used such as Monarchy and Alegharchy but the ruling class was not accountable to those they ruled, they where not following the islamic injunction of Shura (consultation with the people), mentioned in the Quran in the chapter entitled al Shurah (the Consultation) and they were restricting freedoms, this eventuated when the original Islamic Khalifah founded upon Shura or a democratic vote was turned into Dynasties.
In the Islamic state there was much freedom, you could say what you wish and express your self freely but the exception was don’t address the ruling class. Al Faraby was addressing this issue and suggesting that to them they have not reached the level of the democratic state, and ruling by the wishes of those ruled. He suggested to the rulers that they should follow the Democratic state and then move towards to ideal state of the Prophetic Khalifah that originaly existed in Madina. The first four Khalifahs of Islam known as the rightly guided Khalifahs, al Rashidun throughout history, where known and characterized by their Shura (consultation) with the people, while later Khalifs, although they applied the laws of Shariah they where closer to a Monarchy in how they governed.
Al Farabis three Principles for Democracy were
1) Al Musaawa, Equality, All Human Beings are equal.
2) Itq or Liberty, Freedom
3) La-ikrah, there is no compulsion in religion (2:256), Financial and Social Freedom
Three of the five objectives of Islamic Law (Maqasid al Shariah) were used in the American constitution. These are translated from al Faraby into english as, Human Equality, Liberty and Freedom of Expression. From the 9th century until the 17th century these were the ideas being incorporated by the intellectual scholars of Europe.
The problem in Islamic lands at the time was that the ruling class where not responsible to the common people, the Oligarchy of the Ottomans was criticized by Rasul Allah (saws) himself, they put an end to the other major Khalifahs in the world and hoarded power until their eventual decline.
These three ideals were understood from the earliest days of Islam, that if man’s basic needs where not taken care of and secure he could not pursue higher forms of knowledge, man needed to be free in his life in order to be capable of dedicating it and perfecting his pursuits. Imam Abu Hanifah (d.767) the founder of one of Islam’s four legal schools of thought understood this clearly, he was himself wealthy because of his trade and on account of this understanding he used to take care of the basic needs of his students so they where not distracted by securing a livelihood, they could dedicate themselves fully to knowledge and religion.
Al Farabi enjoys the concept of Equal opportunity for happiness because he believes citizens should be able to equally engage in whatever they may choose, “the actions that are determined and directed toward happiness strengthen the part of the soul that is naturally equipped for happiness, and actualise and perfect it to the extent that the power resulting from the perfection is achieved through political activities”. (Al Farabi, On Political Science, Jurisprudence and Theology, P.38) This is the source of the pursuit of happiness of Thomas Jefferson, and is one of the objectives that some scholars thought should be included in among the five main Maqasid of Shariah.
Freedom and Equality; The Foundation of “rule by the People” and equal engagement are the two principles that define the basis of Al Farabi’s authoritative powers; “Authority is justified only on the basis of the preservation and promotion of freedom and equality”.
Thomas Jefferson who adopted these ideas wrote about Roger Bacon, John Locke and Isaac Newton…“I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences”.
Regarding Tabula Rasa, Locke’s “theory of the mind” is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He Postulated that the mind was a blank slate or Tabula Rasa.
John Locke’s formulation of Tabula Rasa in an Essay concerning human understanding was influenced by a 17th century translation, “Philosophus Autodidactus”, published by Edward Pococke, of the Arabic philosophical novel “Hayy ibn Yaqzan” (Lit. “Alive, Son of the Awake”), by the 12th century Andalusian Islamic Philosopher and novelist Ibn Tufail (d.1185) also known as Abubacer or Ebn Tophail in the west.
The word Tabula Rasa is used by Ibn Tufail whom they took it from, the word “Ra’s” means head, “tabula” means cabinet, and was originally a latin term. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, He maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception.
Ibn Tufail demonstrated the theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment through his Arabic Philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in which, he depicted the development of the mind of a wild child “from a Tabula Rasa to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society” on a desert island through his experience alone, the Island is what gave the child the blank slate that freed him from the preconceptions of society and was a discussion on the Islamic concept of Fitrah.
In a number of famous Ahadith, narrations, the prophet (saws) discussed Fitrah, or mans natural disposition when he is born. Abu Hurairah said that the prophet (saws) said, “No one is born except upon natural instinct, then his parents turn him into a Jew or Christian or Magian. As animals produce their young with perfect limbes, do you see anything defective? Abu hurairah said, “Recite the verse if you wish: Direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth, the nature of Allah upon which He has created the people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.”(30:30). (Bukhari and Muslim)
Philosophus Autodidactus inspired the concept of Tabula Rasa, which was developed in “An essay concerning human understanding” (1690) by John Locke, he was a student of Pococke, and who referred to his translation of the novel as a “novelty”. Philosophus Autodidactus also inspired Robert Boyle, another acquaintance of Pococke, to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, called “The Aspiring Naturalist”.
The First english translation of Hayy Ibn Yakzan was published by George Ashwell in 1686, based on Pockoke’s latin translation. The first translation of the Arabic original, entitled “The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the life of Hayy Ebn Yakdhan”, was published shortly after by Simon Ockely in 1708, followed by two more English translations. Baruch Spinoza also read the work and soon encouraged a Dutch translation published by his friend Johannes Bouwmeester in 1672. Another Dutch translation, De natuurlijke wijsgeer, was published by Adrian Reland in 1701.
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677) was a jew living in Holland, among the jewish scholars, he was thought to have one of the most critical minds and applied the same thoughts upon Jewish Theology and scriptures, (see Darwin and his family who read this work). To modern man and society Spinoza was almost like a prophet, and to Jews he is an Athiest because he revolutionized their theology. He was the one who first requested the translation, two into the German language and another into Nederland. He also distributed it all over the region including Paris, France, where it was received by Sorbonne University, the most powerful university in France and was the centre of the french revolution, for which they where thankful and delighted with it, the work was Praised as an excellent example of classical Arabic Philosophy.
Many early and modern European scholars and writers were also influenced by “Philosophus Autodidactus”, they included Melchisedech Thevenot, John Wallis, Christian Huygens, George Keith, Robert Barclay, the Quakers, Samuel Hartlib, Karl Marx and Voltaire, these are the scholars and leaders of the enlightenment. The English translation of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan was known to the Royal Society and the New England Company in North America by 1721, when Cotton Mather’s the Christian Philosopher cited Hayy Ibn Yaqzan as an influence. Despite condemning the Mahometans as infidels, Mather viewed the protagonist of the novel, Hayy, as a model for his ideal ‘Christian Philosopher’ and monotheistic scientists’. Mather also viewed Hayy as a noble savage and applied this in the context of understanding the Native American “indians” in order to convert them to puritan Christianity.
After Locke changed his ideas and beliefs because of the work, he began to write books and was accused of being Socinian (Unitarian Christian). Unitarians where impressed by the Ottoman civilization and the concept of oneness of God, and Jesus as his prophet along with Islamic theology, they where accused of everything including being turkish or Mohamedans. Unitarians (see the Council of Rimini and Arianism), were declared heretic by the council of Nicaea in 325, before this time there where ebionites, the first Christians were the Jews who believed that Jesus was the Jewish messiah. They used an early Gospel of Matthew, and their beliefs are in accordance with the earliest reports of the gospels of Luke and Matthew, and with Jewish prophecy, they were also known as “Nazarene” the very first followers of Jesus were called the Nazoreans, (a term Used in the Quran).
In the 17th century there where people who wrote many books saying the original christianity was Nazrean and called for a stop to the corruption and to follow the Nazrean monotheistic faith or to go back to Arianism. The church accused newton and the Unitarians of being muslim, they accused them of not following the bible but the Quran, and called for their deaths, these are the same people who now influenced modern Philosophy and science. (Source: This section is primarily based on the work of Zulfikar Shah).
Darwin and Islamic Evolution
To understand where their theories on Evolution began that fueled modern ideas like Eugenics and Elitism, both of which existed in the west during the 19th century but in a quitter form than in Germany, we should look at what Islamic Scholars said before their time.
Imam al Ghazali who died in 1111AD predating Darwin presented opposing views about creation and evolution;
“According to Mutakallimun (Scholastic theologians), the creation of strange creatures depends upon the will of the Creator in any form He wills. Even philosophers do not deny the possibility of the resurrection of bodies, as they are unanimously of opinion that all created things originate from the revolution of the heavenly bodies (attributing creation more directly to the Universe), which are living beings composed of bodies and souls and that the higher and lower beings differ from one another in their attributes and functions (this is how Philosophers saw the world).
They also believe that bodies are governed by the heavens, the heavens by the souls, the souls by the various orders of the angels, and the angels by the “Light of Lights,” who has dominion over the whole universe. It is not necessary that every preceding revolution of the celestial bodies should resemble the one following it. They believe that it is possible that such a revolution (event in the universe) might take place, as has no parallel in the history of the celestial revolutions. This is the reason why such strange animals have been created in extraordinary times as have no resemblance whatsoever with others in the Animal Kingdom. It is also possible that the revolutions of the heavenly bodies may be suitable, but the beings which they create may be unexpectedly different.” (Taken from Imam al Ghazali’s Mysteries of the human Soul.)
This is the essence of the Theory of Evolution, creatures are created from the Universe, except the Atheist version adds scientific explanations regarding the process itself but then cuts off the connection to Allah who created the Universe, just like the tribe of Thamud in Surah al Shams (91) that worshiped the celestial bodies denying their creator.
Looking at other works in History;
“Al-Razi’s twenty-volume book, Kitab al-Hawi (The Comprehensive Book), which covered all branches of medicine and was translated into Latin, was “probably a highly respected and frequently used medical textbook in the white world for several centuries” and was one of nine books used at the University of Paris in 1395. Another famous figure is Abu Ali al-Husein ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037), whose books were encyclopedias of knowledge that included studies in mathematics, physics, physiology, hygiene, therapy, pharmacology, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, economics, politics, and music. His books were taught as main texts in “the universities of Montpellier and Louvain till the middle of the seventeenth century.” Two other Muslim physicians who influenced Europe and European medicine were Abu Bakr ibn Tufail (Abubacer) (1107–1185) and his student Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126–1298). Ibn Rushd wrote an encyclopedia of medicine (Kitab al-Kulliyat fil-tibb) that was translated into Latin and taught in Christian universities.
All (or many) Muslim physicians were (Monotheistic) evolutionists, and Western historians have acknowledged the fact that books of medicine written by physicians of the Golden Age of Islam served as the standard textbooks used in all medical schools in Europe until the eighteenth century. Therefore, Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882), grandfather and father, Erasmus and Robert Darwin, both physicians, were undeniably influenced by the above-mentioned textbooks.”
(It is more accurate to say Some or Many and not All physicians, since most muslim Scholars themselves did not adhere to this belief, it was not a relevant issue to be considered in everyday life so it can not have spread among the wider community as we see it today, but some minor sects did hold the belief in evolution such as the Mutazila).
“The first Latin translation of Abu Bakr ibn Tufail’s The Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan (which means The Journey of the Soul), The publication of many editions and different translations of this book in England and other parts of Europe in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries suggest that it was a very popular book; the probability is great, therefore, that Charles Darwin, his father, and his grandfather, all read it. Moreover, Abu Bakr ibn Tufail’s The Story of Hai bin Yaqzan is an allegorical tale of the theory of evolution of life and human society. Erasmus Darwin’s, The Temple of Nature, is mostly a poetic rendition in English of Tufail’s work. Clearly, Erasmus and Robert Darwin learned about the Muslim theory of evolution from the translations of Muslim books.”
Ibn Khaldun, the famous Muslim historiographer and social scientist, who wrote his Muqaddimah
“One should then look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs, and seedless plants. last stage of plants such as palms and vines is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power to touch. The word ‘connection’ with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group. The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man (after the world of monkeys). This is as far as our observation extends.”
(Ibn Khaldun was inspired by the following verses in the Qur’an to study creation, “Say: “Roam the earth and observe how the creation was initiated.” (29:20), “God created you in diverse stages” (71:14), the term “You” in the verse is plural, “Allah has created every animal out of water . Of them (is a category which) walks upon its belly, (another which) walks upon two legs, and (a third which) walks upon four . Allah creates what He wills. Allah is Able to do everything (He wants).” (24:25), “Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the Earth were of one connected entity, then We separated them and We made every living thing out of water? (A primordial liquid) Will they not then believe?”(21:30))
Ibn Khaldun further mentions, “Physical circumstances and the environment are subject to changes that affect later generations; they do not necessarily remain unchanged.”
“The essences at the end of each particular stage of the worlds are by nature prepared to be transformed into the essence adjacent to them. This is the case with the simple material elements; it is the case with the palms and vines (which constitute) the last stage of plants, in their relation to snails and shellfish, (which constitute) the (lowest) stage of animals. It is also the case with monkeys, creatures combining in themselves cleverness and perception, in their relation to man, the being who has the ability to think and to reflect. The preparedness that exists on either side, at each stage of the worlds, is meant when (we speak about) their connection.”
(Excerpts from The Islamic Theory of Evolution, T.O. Shanavas)
Ibn Khaldun was above all else a Muslim, It is more accurate to understand his words along this line, as Allah’s creation progressed over time, He granted one creation more ability and capacity than the previous one. Ibn Khaldun was not making a physical connection between the creation of Adam and monkeys but the observation instead, unless the translators in Europe had a similar education to him, in order to be able relate to his Islamic background and ideas, the subtleties in his thinking could not be perceived with exact accuracy in order to translate his works precisely, hence this would have been a source for confusion among them.
There are many more critical examples of Islamic knowledge being implemented by Europe to take it out of the dark ages it was in, like Accounting and the fact numbers were called Arabic numeral’s in the west even past WW2, it wasn’t that long ago Europe was using Roman numeral’s which hindered any form of advancement in mathematics and physics for a long time, but since there was a systematic attempt to hide the origins of what advanced Europe from the ideas of the Church it isn’t easy to trace by simply looking at the references.
The Mess Science Was In By 19th Century Europe and It’s Consequences
“When Ibn al haythams books were translated into Latin as the Spanish conquered Muslim lands in the Iberian Peninsula, he was not referred to by his name, but rather as “Alhazen”. The practice of changing the names of great Muslim scholars to more European sounding names or removing them altogether was common in the European Renaissance as a means to discredit Muslims and erase their contributions to Christian Europe”, this also was evident in it’s barbaric laws that Europe wasn’t a place of understanding or toleration, but rather fear and prejudice.
This misinformation was the Jumbled mess of science at the turn of the 19th century, and it’s supposedly untraceable origins except as they claimed miraculously back to the greeks, it’s origins skipping a thousand years or so by them somehow preserving a dead heritage in a place that had trouble even acknowledging the earth was round or having libraries to even contain the books in, needless to say their science was full of truths, half truths and fallacies.
Psychology for example was a branch of Philosophy until 1870 when it became an independent discipline in Germany and the United States, this origin would fate it to be no more than pseudo science until the modern era when through the advancements of technology and other fields of medicine like neuroscience they would correct and throw out all of their old misconceptions and beliefs about man. The tragic state of psychology would unfortunately shape the modern era through countless misconceptions about man, none more severe than the Nazi policy of Eugenics and their ideas regarding the Aryan race.
Through psychology and philosophy a new form of Atheism would be born fueled by what can only be termed today as pseudo science, Germany eventually adopted Communism under Hitler and America Capitalism first then Atheism as secular thought increased globally through them. At the time Communism and Capitalism where being introduced to the world, after World War One, both were nothing but a new form of Atheism being conceptualized, they separated the existence of the soul, a subatomic substance, from its connection to the heart and placed the entire sphere of human behavior and it’s causes in the realm of the brain and chemical reactions we produce in our body, completely oblivious to what influences the causes of these emotions the heart to them having no role whatsoever, ask any women where she feels love and she won’t say in her head but western men would jump at telling her she is delusional.
Rather than advancing man to higher issues he faces in life they reduced him to his physical components alone and today this is seen as common sense.
Had they been after scientific truths alone, instead of the science to prove their preconceived belief’s and supremacy, they would not have had issue seeing that it wasn’t a case of either or, but a bigger picture in the body that needed to be seen and all pieces fit and work together, today we have many fields of science dedicated to studying what was once considered ludicrous by these same people but unfortunately these are the same people who shaped the modern world.
Religion cant cure physical illness normally but it rather cures what causes them, and these are the harmful lifestyles that people live, this is a few steps higher in the psychology “food chain” than chemical reactions, what doctors today term preventative measures. Jamal al Deen al Afghani and his occult groups thought they had all the answers through the pseudo science that existed at the turn of the 19th century and many of these now archaic groups still employ the same outdated understanding of the world, they instead cut of what religion was about and came to deal with from having any relevance or role in the life of Man. Even acupuncture is a proven form of medicine today curing man through his nervous system which controls more than just the chemical reactions in the human body, this to is a few steps higher in the psychology “food chain” than just chemicals and has been available to man for a few thousand years now.
The body naturally relies on the heart, not just to pump blood but what it feels is connected to our inner eye or imagination, this is what influences man through out his life, in other words his perception, today science is still baffled by how a placebo (fake) pill can still cure man simply because he thinks he is receiving medicine, the human body has it’s own way of healing itself, man has to simply start it.
Man’s body is a large interconnected system that is then connected with the spiritual world, or the subatomic part out the universe in modern terms, mans vision in himself is shaped and influenced by Allah who grants him depth of perception we translate as intelligence and wisdom. The chemical reactions are only a small part of that whole equation not the extent of the matter as they assumed for a long time, this was the driving force behind modern Atheism and the theory evolution despite the fact many historical islamic physicians themselves discussed evolution at length and accepted it, unlike modern Atheists who sought to impose there preconceived ideas before actually proving them, muslim physicians attributed evolution to the One who created the Universe and not simply the Universe itself.
They replaced the causes, effects and relationships that Allah outlined in the Qur’an between harmful acts (sin) and human sicknesses. So then you end up losing the wisdom of the ages (religion) and replacing it with an almost useless knowledge to the laymen about the reactions of the Human body, which he has no immediate control over beyond some shallow dietary restrictions, man finds wisdom in understanding the bigger picture.
The simile for this is of a man who goes to a Doctor to cure his addiction to alcohol, so the Doctor gives him a pill to cure him of the addiction, except the man doesn’t give up drinking so he continually relies on the pill and the Doctor never deals with the actual cause of the addiction, his life. He instead fills his mind with knowledge about how the body reacts to chemicals and how the pill affects the reaction, making you rely on knowledge that wont benefit you beyond why you are taking the pill, and giving up on what Allah has told you about what benefits and harms Man in greater scheme of things.
This type of knowledge is similar to what Rasul Allah (saws) said about poetry, The Prophet said, “It is better for a man to fill the inside of his body with pus than to fill it with poetry.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)
He (saws) didn’t ban Poetry, many poets existed in his time, but to utterly fill yourself with this kind of knowledge leaves no room for anything else in your life until it misguides you as it shapes your mind.
The Prophet (saws) said, “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them.” (Bukhari and Muslim) and to fill your self with a false incomplete world view which rejects the matters Islam has spoken about in the Qur’an will cause a person to eventually become one of them, lost.
The natural qualities of the Human being can no longer be seen underneath the modern clothes we wear, just their design, in this way our mind and society is quietly shaped by fashion, John (ra) warned about adopting the image of “Babylon the Great”.
In a very similar way Islam warned about Idol worship, not simply because of its false gods but the science behind how it worked, specifically the impact this act had on the human self, and because of this Rasul Allah (saws) forbade even the drawing of any living creatures or making statues of them, this prohibition then links the behavior an idol worshiper displays in his attachment to a stone Idol with what we are doing when admiring a picture or painting. In other words the mechanisms behind idol worshiping are exactly the same behind following a Pop Idol or Movie Star, both are deliberately set up so the crowd follows and mimics them unthinkingly.
This behaviour in our time is understood by Psychologists very clearly and deliberately manipulated to create a different type of Idol in the mind whose purpose isn’t for us to worship as a false god, but to be enslaved by it’s persona and product.
Western Advertising, the Movie, Music and Entertainment industries along with the Major Corporations that manufacture everything, have spread this corruption on earth, this corrupt culture they spread the prophet (saws) called the civilization of destruction while John (ra) called Babylon the Great, it has replaced religion and the materialism they promote through it has enslaved mans senses, this is the “image” John (ra) warned about.
They have come to understand what the verses of the Qur’an mention about the nature of Man, they hire Psychologists to develop methods of breaking down mental resistance to their products and ideas, in this way Psychology in our time has become the biggest fitnah (strife) on earth giving the devil access to the minds and hearts of man.
The image of these Movie and Pop idol’s they own, is worshiped by man in as subtle a way as a person enjoying a painting, this nature in man Allah (exalted is He) mentioned, when He said: Have you seen him who chooses for his god his own lust?. (25:43), this is the Idol of the mind today, materialism, we place no value on the spiritual meaning that exists in life, we stay enslaved until our inner vision and heart are completely blind to their existence incapable of even paying attention to their reality.
This blindness occurs whether by punishment from Allah or a habit we can’t break, “For indeed it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow blind” (22:46).
The Prophet Muhammad (saws) explained, “Shall I not tell you of which I fear for you more than I fear of the Antichrist?” They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah”, he said, “Hidden shirk (hidden attachments of the heart), where one beautifies his way of praying only because another one is looking at him.”
This is the shirk (attachment of the heart) of a practicing muslim, he beautifies his spiritual acts for the sake of others, Allah will say to him you prayed for other than my sake. Similarly with culture and trends we are chasing other than Allah and have set these things up to dominate our heart, while the heart is the place for Allah’s presence, as the saintly men said “Qalb al Insan Arsh al Rahman”, the heart of man is the throne of the merciful, and the body is a temple meant to be kept pure in the words of Isa (as), this is why we no longer have a connection to Allah when we corrupt our heart.
Allah said: “Consider the human self, and how it is formed in accordance with what it is meant to be, And (he) inspired it (with) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it. To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity (Zakaha), and truly lost is he who buries it [in darkness].” (91:7-10)