Define and Dehumanize the Enemy: Jihadists as Nithings or Nidings
by Bill Levinson
It is an ancient principle of magic (which modern people recognize as stories that reflect a society’s culture and psychology) that knowledge of a person’s real or True Name delivers power over that person. What it really means is that, if you know the person’s psychology, you can gain an advantage over him. It is also well known that the side that controls the language of an argument controls the argument. As an example, Hamas terrorists and their enablers refer to Israel’s military as an “occupation force” and terrorisitic violence against civilians as “resistance.”
We have long sought a single word that strips the enemy of all humanity, and reduces him to something less than an animal that is worthy of nothing less than extermination. As far as we know, the English language contains no such word, although “dreck” (garbage or refuse) comes close. “Homo sapiens by BIRTH, subhuman by CHOICE” describes Islamic supremacists perfectly, but it is a phrase and not a word. We now propose to refer to Islamic supremacists as nithings or nidings: a Scandinavian word that strips its object of all humanity. Webster’s dictionary (1913) defines it as “A coward; a dastard; — a term of utmost opprobrium.”
We remind readers who object to the dehumanization of Islamic supremacists that those enemies are already attempting to dehumanize Jews, and to a lesser degree Christians, with images that could have come directly from Adolf Hitler. As they have chosen to sow the dragon’s teeth, our position is that they must now reap their rightful harvest: the complete hatred and loathing of all civilized human beings.
Nithing or niding was more than a common insult, because Scandinavian culture required its subject to fight a duel with the accuser or become an outlaw: totally devoid of rights, honor, and even recognition as a human being. Per the Wikipedia entry,
- The actual meaning of the adjective argr or ragr [= Anglo-Saxon earg] was the nature or appearance of effeminacy, especially by obscene acts. Argr was the worst, most derogatory swearword of all known to the Norse language. According to Icelandic law, the accused was expected to kill the accuser at once. …If the accused did not retort by violent attack yielding either the accuser to take his words back or the accuser’s death, he was hence proven to be a weak and cowardly nithing by not retorting accordingly.
A nithing was devoid of all human rights, and he was considered the enemy of civilized humanity: a perfect depiction of Islamic supremacists. The word therefore strips the enemy of all humanity, and degrades him to the status of a wolf or strangler (per Scandinavian tradition) or a virulent disease like the Black Plague. Black Plague is a deadly and contagious disease whose vector consists of plague-carrying rats, while the Green Plague of militant “Islam” is a deadly and contagious ideology that is spread by bipedal rats: nidings or nithings, non-humans that raise violent hands to all of civilized Humanity.
The immediate consequence of being proven a nithing was outlawing. The outlawed did not have any rights, he was exlex (Latin for “outside of the legal system”), in Anglo-Saxon utlah, Middle Low German uutlagh, Old Norse utlagr. Just as feud yielded enmity among kinships, outlawry yielded enmity of all humanity.[63] …”Yet that is but one aspect of outlawry. The outlaw is not only expelled from the kinship, he is also regarded henceforth as an enemy to mankind.”
The actual definition of a nithing is somewhat more involved and complex, and it gets into sexual perversions and zoomorphical transformations (Loki’s transformation of himself into a mare to have sexual intercourse with a stallion, and thus beget Odin’s horse Sleipner is probably an example), but the following line is pertinent: “The nithing used its malicious seid magic to destroy anything owned and made by man, ultimately the human race and Midgard itself[6], due to its basically unlimited envy, hate, and malice that were nith.”
“Destruction of everything owned and made by Man” (the Palestinians’ destruction of the greenhouses in Gaza comes to mind immediately) and “unlimited envy, hate, and malice” describe militant “Islam” perfectly, and further underscore the application of nithing or niding to describe it. The propensity for mindless destruction also appears in Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series, in which a supernatural enemy is known as the Unmaker: a personification of evil that is the total antithesis of God the Creator.
- The Unmaker is the main antagonist in Orson Scott Card’s alternate history/fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker. Never directly confronted, it is a supernatural force that breaks apart matter and aims to destroy and consume everything and everyone. …To make something is to oppose the Unmaker, but a point often made is that this is futile. By natural law the Unmaker can tear down faster than any man can build.
This also is an outstanding definition of militant “Islam” or Islamic supremacy: an ideology that seeks to destroy everything into which it comes in contact, and with which no reason, negotiation, or compromise is possible.
In summary, a nithing or niding is the enemy of Civilization, a subhuman (through its behavioral choices, and emphatically NOT due to its racial or ethnic origin) monster with total hatred and malice toward all human industry and arts, and worthy of nothing but extermination like any virulent disease. This is the word we will now apply to Islamic supremacists and their enablers, and we encourage others to do likewise.
The Emperor Manuel II was wrong to say that Islam brought nothing new except jihad. All ethical notions were formulated in antiquity, but new teachings appear continuously. Islam introduced many practical innovations and redefined many customs. Islam is not a groundbreaking theory, but a solid legal codex.
Pope Benedict was right. He illustrated his thesis of the strictly non-violent spread of religion with a pertinent quote. He brought a Byzantine Christian authority to testify against jihad.
The pope might seem politically incorrect, but religions are intolerant. There is no room for compromise. If Islam is right, then Christianity is wrong. The world was surprised by Dominus Iesus, but the future pope was only honest: he can’t but think Christianity is the only truth. Accordingly, other religions are lies, and Islam is a harmful lie. Fair enough. Jews didn’t protest.
Muslims expect special treatment. They act like mischievous children: praise me or I will misbehave. Go misbehave. Who cares? Break something and be punished. The West chooses appeasement.
Muslims of all ranks pour obscenities on Israel and America and call Christians crusaders at best. If Christians are crusaders, then Muslims are, guess who—jihadi. That part of the pope’s speech they didn’t like. Whatever.
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Re: “The pope might seem politically incorrect, but religions are intolerant. There is no room for compromise. If Islam is right, then Christianity is wrong.”
Religions can actually be tolerant, and there is a way to reconcile their theological differences.
Suppose several people are all trying to sail ships to the same destination (Right, Good, Natural Law, God, or whatever one chooses to call it). One navigator prefers to use the North Star as a guide, another a compass, and yet another a GPS system. They cannot contend that they seek different destinations (i.e. that the others are “evil” or “heretics”) or even that one way is better than another; e.g. the compass might work best for the compass-user, and so on. This attitude would be a good way to eliminate religious quarrels and hatred, while preserving the religions’ separate identities.
The militant “Muslim,” as the enemy of Civilization, will of course proclaim that chopping a hole in the bottom of his ship and that of everyone else within reach is the optimum approach, and he will cut the throat of anyone who does not agree. Such an individual was once known as a pirate, and was generally killed on sight by civilized mariners.
Bill I know your ideas based upon relativism and in the case example you use is not a cogent argument in countering the basic principle of all belief systems that ea in their turn hold the only and ultimate truth. No concession to the other is possible without weakening each systems core foundations.
Judaism maintains that in the physical world there is, first, the material make-up or “matter” of all things and that, second, there is the purpose or “form” of all things. In other words, there exists an external or physical aspect to everything that exists and an internal or spiritual aspect to everything that exists. Understand that the internal aspect is equivalent to the object’s purpose and/or its potential. The form resides, so to speak, within the matter and defines it through animating the matter. A dog is more than a dog by appearance; a dog behaves instinctually as a dog. It is a “package,” unique to its species, as unique as the package found in every material object or being. Our understanding that the physicality of an object or being is closely associated to its behavior is a product of classical philosophical thought. Judaism understands this fact as a given, while Aristotelian philosophy utilizes demonstration to argue its truth. Matter and form are the result of all things ultimately having been created by a deified creator; that a harmony of interlocking relationships exists and the purpose of all things have a discernable nature, for the most part, and role in the natural world.
Judaism can never reconcile to co-habitation with any form of paganism. Islam and Christianity much the same from their own perspectives. Jews may have a need to compromise living among the gentiles but Judaism doesn’t.
Individuals may be able to cooperate for mutual benefit but belief systems do not. Is Truth is an obsolete concept unless applied in the most relative terms of “my truth” and “your truth.”? Modern apostasy has replaced moral certitude with the “if it feels good, do it” ritual. Man is made void of a nature; for it is the greatest of mistakes to confuse what “feels” natural or nice with purpose. Man’s lack of purpose leaves him stilted as the beasts of the field “doing” without cognition. Imagine.
Islam is an example to the dilemma of modern apostasy which in all cases is Orthodoxy.
There is only one truth: G-d. All else is marut or the denial of His existence. Idolatry is less the worship of particular object than it is to hold the word exists without the Creator. Materialism is therefore a form of paganism and a lie. To take it further, the rejection of paganism and its bastard offspring begins with the acknowledgment of G-d and recognition the truth is absolute because He established it. It is not Man that knows what the truth is but rather the One who is the Source of all that exists in the world and of the world itself.
Yamit82 said…Islam introduced many practical innovations and redefined many customs…
As far as practical innovations, I do not find that to be true. Customs, maybe, but that is not unique to islam. Any group in any part of the world will define and redefine their customs as the world changes around them. And one noteworthy fact is that while most of the world has brought technology and custom together to make a better, safer product, islam continues to reject any and all attempts to use technology to it’s advantage. Through use of these technologies, the rest of the world grows older, is taller and has a smaller infant mortality rate. Islam can claim none of these things. While it is true that they have customs, it is not true that they have been redefined.
The claim that islam has brought innovations to the world does not stand up to scrutiny. When I was doing research for an article, I went to considerable trouble to find anything unique that islam had contributed to the world. I looked in the medical fields, the sciences and the literary world. Outside of poetry that only seems to be enjoyed by other islamists, I found nothing except empty claims. One thing that did stick out in my research was that islam is good at stealing other people’s ideas and claiming them as their own.
Some claimed that islam excelled at textiles. Yet none were as notable as say, the invention of silk or the cotton gin. Any country can claim a unique type of textile, but this is based on the materials at hand more that the unique skill of one country over another. Iran can claim to create some of the most beautiful rugs in the world, yet most other countries can make a thousand rugs to Iran’s one that are affordable, durable and attractive.
Most countries can point to achievements so significant that they changed the world as we know it. These achievements and innovations are recognized by scientists and entrepreneurs all over the world and the product is often named after the inventor to document his achievement. Yet the only innovations that I am aware of that are from the islamic community are suicide belts, airplane hijackings, Qassam and Katyushas rockets that constantly plague Israel. These may be innovations but they are hardly practical.
Yamit82, if you can show me that I am wrong, that the islamists can claim unique contributions to the world and more importantly, to their own people, I would like to see them.
Re: #5
The Katyushas are Russian in origin. The militant “Muslims” have to import even the explosives and guns they use for terrorist violence, because they are not capable of making anything more complicated than a rock or a club.
Re: #4
Truth, in terms of how people should behave toward one another, is absolute but belief systems (in terms of how people understand that Truth) can differ legitimately.
As an example, I explain certain industrial statistics concepts to people with mathematical backgrounds with equations. I explain the same concepts to people without math backgrounds with pictures. If we treat the two different explanations as religions, both seek or teach the same absolute truth, but the method in which they explain that truth is different. Christianity does not teach “if it feels good, do it” any more than Judaism does, for example.
I can live with the concept that God chose to express Himself to Hindus in one manner, Jews in another, and Christians in yet another. If everybody accepted this idea, there would be a lot less violence and distrust in the world, and a lot of horrible wars would have never happened.
Lets start with international trade and opening up trade routes on a global level. Then Paper and it various uses. Arabs invented the fiat standard of currencies. Arabs and Jews or Jewish Arabs invented the promissory note and paper cheques.
Mathmatics, applied to navigation, instruments for navigation. Medicine much of modern medicine is based on Arab and Muslin thought and practice. Astrology turned into later modern science used today.
The origins of capitalism and free markets can be traced back to the Islamic Golden Age and Muslim Agricultural Revolution, where the first market economy and earliest forms of merchant capitalism took root between the 8th–12th centuries, which some refer to as “Islamic capitalism”. A vigorous monetary economy was created on the basis of the expanding levels of circulation of a stable high-value currency (the dinar) and the integration of monetary areas that were previously independent. Innovative new business techniques and forms of business organization were introduced by economists, merchants and traders during this time. Such innovations included the earliest trading companies, big businesses, contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international trade, the first forms of partnership (mufawada) such as limited partnerships (mudaraba), and the earliest forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital (al-mal), capital accumulation (nama al-mal), circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue, cheques, promissory notes, trusts (see Waqf), startup companies, savings accounts, transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers, money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry bookkeeping system, and lawsuits. Organizational enterprises similar to corporations independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world, while the agency institution was also introduced. Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.
The systems of contract relied upon by merchants was very effective. Merchants would buy and sell on commission, with money loaned to them by wealthy investors, or a joint investment of several merchants, who were often Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Recently, a collection of documents was found in an Egyptian synagogue shedding a very detailed and human light on the life of medieval Middle Eastern merchants. Business partnerships would be made for many commercial ventures, and bonds of kinship enabled trade networks to form over huge distances. Networks developed during this time enabled a world in which money could be promised by a bank in Baghdad and cashed in Spain, creating the cheque system of today. Each time items passed through the cities along this extraordinary network, the city imposed a tax, resulting in high prices once reaching the final destination. These innovations made by Muslims and Jews laid the foundations for the modern economic system.
There is a lot more but I don’t have time to list it all like: literature , arts and architecture, agriculture, philosophy etc. Islam was a well developed religious, social and ethical, political economic and legal system.(SYSTEM MEANING ALL INCLUSIVE) and this When most Europeans were still living in caves and trees. Yes they went into decline and that is the backbone of the current resurgent militant Islamization movement Which is their desire to recapture what was.
SarahSue:
You judge others by your own standards. A Persian Carpet can cost as much as a hundred grand today. There are copies to be sure in other countries and cultures but none of the same quality and market value. A mass produced facsimile of a Persian Carpet, a few hundred dollars at most. You seem to believe that the ultimate goal of all humans is materialism and material comfort? Maybe but not to the extreme of western societies today. Some societies value more family and extended families(Hamulas and tribal affiliations) Respect for elders, charity, care for the poor and infirm etc.
Levinson the Arabs and Muslim countries produce a myriad of weapons. So they didn’t invent them. Did the Japanese invent any you can name? The Japanese by and large are innovators, they build upon what exists improved them and marketed them well.
Was it American science that produced the A bomb and sent the first rockets into space? Most of the Brains behind those projects belonged to either foreigners or foreign born Americans. A lot of inventions you credit America with are actually acquisitions by American companies of foreign inventions but rarely advertised. I have my own quarrel with Islam or they have with me to be more exact but conceding that I give them the respect even as an enemy and due not belittle the positive within their culture. Most of your critical arguments against Islam and Arabism could objectively be applied to Western Cultures as well.
Judaism has more in common with Islam and Islamic culture than with Christianity and Christian culture. We are related after all.
Sorry Bill but truth is truth or not truth and each belief system believes they hold the Truth. If Judaism is truth than Christianity and Islam and all other belief systems not based on Jewish Truths must be false by definition. You presuppose that all believe in the same G-d. not so. You as a non believer have no problem with a live and let live philosophy but so do most Pagan faiths. Past and present, and I include atheism as a Pagan belief. Pantheism, relativism, etc. for you there are no absolutes no immovable truths. You therefore are irrelevant to the basic premise of my argument that those who believe they hold the only truth can never compromise on that point without self inflicted destruction of their own beliefs. We Jews in the Land of Israel take a position of live and let live re: all peoples outside our domain but not within it. I wouldn’t cause a riot in London against Christians over their beliefs in virgin birth. In their home they may do what they please, so to in my home. I don’t want to see churches, crosses ,missionaries etc. in my Jewish Country. Muslims have the same rights to maintain their social and religious purity as they see fit. If Jews have a hard time in Gentile countries they have an option. Whether you agree or not, believe or not it will eventually come to this in any event.
.
I posted a rather detailed reply saw that it was accepted then later it disappeared. Maybe it will miraculously reappear if not I will repost a facsimile later.
Islam contributions are Immense. Today we follow most of Islamic contributions in our modern life.
1. Multiple cultivation of crops, two crops a year , three crops a year, largescale cultivation was possible through islamic innovations in irrigation. Islamic research helped what we can call today food sustainability.
2. Science was the subject which grew leaps and bounds in islamic world. Use of paper was introduced to western world by islamic world. Understanding the functions of eye was devised in this period, The camera means room in arabic, The arabic numerals were major contribution to maths, the surgical instruments which are in use till today by our surgeons, the concepts of hospitals, quarantine, Hygiene.
3. Arts and literature were developed in this period, the concept of money transfers across islamic world which stretched from spain to philipines was possible for traders, concept of credit cards was introduced. Concept of accounting, journal entries. Astronomy was at its height, the concepts like earth is round not flat was discovered and this concept helped a lot in astronomical predictions. The earth was not straight but tilted due to which we encounter seasons was discovered. There are other major contributions of islamic world which have eventually helped us today.
Contribution of Islam to the world’s civilization
as we know it.
Trigonometry, Sine, Tangent, Co-Tangent
The Arabs developed these functions in trigonometry and Ibn Moosaa’s
work Hisaab-Al Jab-Wal Muqaabala (The Calculation of Integration and
Equation) presented 800 examples in the 8th century CE. His work was
translated from Arabic into Latin and until the 16th century CE, it
was Europe’s main textbook on the subject.
Algebra and Geometry
Muhammad bin Moosaa Al-Khawaarizmi is considered to be one of the
founders of Algebra. The word ‘Algorithm’ or ‘Algorizm’ is a
corruption of his name or the name of the town Khwaarizm (Kheva), in
what is now Uzbekistan, where he was born. He adopted the use of
‘cipher’ (zero), that was devised in India some centuries earlier, a
numeral of fundamental importance, leading up to the so-called
arithmetic of positions and the decimal system. The very word ‘zero’
is a derivative of the Arabic ‘sifr’ or ‘cipher’. His pioneering work
on the system of numerals is well known as “Algorithm,” or “Algorizm.”
In addition to introducing the Arabic numerals, he developed several
arithmetical procedures, including operations on fractions.
Another great mathematician was Omar Khayyaam, who offered to the
world geometric and algebraic solutions of the second degree.
Naseeruddeen wrote the treatise on quadrilateral trigonometry, as well
as plain and spherical geometry.
Physics and Chemistry
Kamaaluddeen examined the refraction of sunlight in raindrops and
offered an explanation of the genesis of primary and secondary
rainbows. The story of the invention of the pendulum and the
presentation of a water clock to Emperor Charlemagne by Haaroon Ar-
Rasheed is well known.
The great historian Gibbons wrote in his Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire (Volume 5) that the science of chemistry owes its origin and
improvements to the Muslims.
Science of Mechanics
The development of the science of mechanics in Islam is an act of
genius. Moosaa bin Shaakir described one hundred pieces of mechanical
equipment in his book of artifices. Other outstanding Muslim treatises
included Al Kitaab Fi Ma`rifat Al-Hiya Al-Handasiyyah (The Book of the
Knowledge of Ingenious Geometrical Contrivances) by Abul Fiaz bin Al
Raz and Al Kitaab Meezanal-Hikmah (The Book of Balance and Wisdom) by
Al-Khazini. He also did work on accurate weighing, and determination
of the specific gravity of substances.
Camera Obscura
In the field of optics, Camera Obscura was invented by Ibn Haytham in
1038 CE.
Theory of Relativity
Qaadhi Abu Bakr had developed the theory of relativity in the 8th
century CE in terms of time and space by means of mathematical
equations and astrophysics. Imagine, Einstein was not even born in the
Western world, who propounded the same theory of relativity much later
in the 20th century CE.
Geography
As far as geography was concerned, Muslim scientists established that
the world was round in the 9th century CE, and the first map of the
globe was made during the Caliphate of Ma’moon.
Paper Making
This was one of the earliest skills attained by the Muslims. As early
as the 8th century CE, high quality paper was being manufactured in
Samarqand. Egypt was known to have its first paper mill in the year
900 CE. The earliest Arabic manuscript written on paper that has been
discovered is the Ghareeb Al Hadeeth by Abu ‘Ubayed, dated 837 CE. It
can be seen in Holland preserved in the library at the University of
Leyden.
Advances in Industry
Under Islamic rule, Spain was an industrial center. It was one of the
wealthiest and most thickly populated of the European countries.
Muslims were leading in weaving wool, producing silk, pottery,
jewelry, leather and perfume industry. In the Middle Ages, world trade
was commanded by Muslims and Baghdad, Bukhaara and Samarqand remained
centers for world fairs until the 16th century CE. The Bayt Al-Hikmah
at Cairo contained two million books, the library at Tripoli contained
some three million, but this library was burned down by the Christians
during the first Crusade.
Part 2
While Europe was in the midst of darkness, it was the Muslims, spurred on by the light of
their new Deen who picked up the torch of scholarship and
science. It was the Muslims who preserved the knowledge of
antiquity, elaborated upon it, and finally, passed it on to Europe.
Muslim scholars began obtaining Greek treatises and started
their study and translation into Arabic a few centuries after
the Hijrah (622 A.D.) They critically analyzed, collated , corrected
and supplemented substantially the Greek science and philosophy.
After this period began what is known as the Golden Age
of Islam, which lasted for over two centuries. It is here we find
many of the great scientists of Islam who literally left behind
hundreds and thousands of books on the various branches of science
Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina, universally known
as Avicinna (980-1037), alone wrote 246 books, including
Kitab-al Shifa (The Book of Healing) consisting of 20 volumes and Al-
Qanun fit Tibb (The Canons of Medicine) . The Qanun was the chief
guide for medical science in the West from the twelfth to the
seventeenth century. Dr. William Osler, who wrote The Evolution of
Modern Science, remarks “The Qanun has remained a medical Bible for
a longer period than any other work”. Containing over
a million words, it surveyed the entire medical knowledge available
from ancient and Muslim sources, and including his own original
contributions. Muslims made many advances such as the idea of circulation of
blood and quarantine and the foundation of the first apothecary shops
and the earliest school of pharmacy.
part 3
Muslim physicians set up the earliest dedicated hospitals in the modern sense, known as Bimaristans, which were establishments where the ill were welcomed and cared for by qualified staff, and which were clearly distinguished from the ancient healing temples, sleep temples, hospices, assylums, lazarets and leper-houses which were more concerned with isolating the sick and the mad from society “rather than to offer them any way to a true cure.” These contrasted with hospitals in Christian Europe which were more concerned with prayer. The Bimaristan hospitals later functioned as the first public hospitals, psychiatric hospitals and diploma-granting medical universities. One of the features in medieval Muslim hospitals that distinguished them from their contemporaries and predecessors was their significantly higher standards of medical ethics. Hospitals in the Islamic world treated patients of all religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds, while the hospitals themselves often employed staff from Christian, Jewish and other minority backgrounds. Muslim doctors and physicians were expected to have obligations towards their patients, regardless of their wealth or backgrounds. The ethical standards of Muslim physicians was first laid down in the 9th century by Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi, who wrote the Adab al-Tabib (Conduct of a Physician), the first treatise dedicated to medical ethics. He regarded physicians as “guardians of souls and bodies”, and wrote twenty chapters on various topics related to medical ethics.
George Sarton, the father of the history of science, wrote in the Introduction to the History of Science
Scientific method
Like in other fields of Islamic science, Muslim physicians and doctors developed the first scientific methods for the field of medicine. This included the introduction of mathematization, Avicenna,(senna) considered the father of modern medicine, introduced experimental medicine and systematic experimentation and quantification in physiology, discovered the contagious nature of diseases, and described many medical treatments, including anesthetics and medical and therapeutic drugs, in The Canon of Medicine.
Part 4
The age of discovery was made possible by Muslim/Jewish astronomers, mathematicians,philosophers, nautical inventions,map making,ship design, and a knowledge of the world unknown to Christian Europe. Fiat standard currency and the invention of the cheque allowed easy and safe international trade with little or less risk. They introduced paper and the craft of paper making which allowed for books and archives and contracts and even the cheque itself. The Moors were known to have been and explored both North and South America centuries before Columbus and many of Columbus’s crew were Muslims , probably escaping the inquisition.
Islam was a vibrant and one time progressive civilized culture at a time when Europeans were living in caves and trees. Guess what? Islamic libraries destroyed by Christians like the Alexandrian Library destroyed finally by Christians in AD391. So much ancient knowledge destroyed by both Mongol and Christian invaders was lost forever and after the reconquista, Islam entered into decline. Much of todays militancy in Islam is the hope of someday reclaiming that age when Islam was the supreme and most progressive of the worlds civilizations.
I have only scratched the surface in outlining Islamic contributions to world civilization and It is not accurate nor fair to depict one of the worlds major contributors to Human enlightenment as something other. The reasons for Islams decline are myriad but all civilizations peak, then decline some eventually die. Just as Europe went through its dark age so I think is Islam.
Yamit, Islam is dying today because it is soaked in death. No sane person wants to join it. It expands simply by outbreeding the West – but as a moral force to the world, it doesn’t have an appeal. So whatever it once had, the truth is jihad is not sufficient to reverse its road to extinction.
Not true. In fact alot of inventions that the Japanese are credited with originated in American research labs. The Japanese are good at
This is a myth. Islam has always been backwards. Why do you defend islam Yamit?
The Golden Age of Islam is a Myth http://frontpagemag.com/articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5BB95390-5AA5-4F74-ACD5-BCCE6E77931C
http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=4205&sec_id=4205
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Myths-of-Islam.htm#science
Laura:
I don’t think I am defending Islam. Sarah Sue challenged me to show examples where Islam or Muslims affected the worlds civilization in any positive manner. I submitted examples to show that even Muslims at some point in their history influenced and generated knowledge and invention that where later used by others for the advancement and betterment of mankind. I never said that those individuals or their product was totally original or specifically related to Islam the religious faith and belief. All cultures and civilizations borrow and build upon others. Nothing new here and that does not disturb or contradict my postulate. I am very versed in medieval Spanish History and much of the criticisms you listed are correct. Even if there is controversy and there is, as to who influenced whom more and who received the final credit or not, one thing is for sure The Moors in Spain along with primarily the Jews for a few hundred years had access to texts from the Latin, Greek and Persian cultures and by translating them into all relevant languages of the time,and with translations into Arabic were in turn used by talented Individuals mostly Moor and Jew. Western civilization you seem so fond of would not exist today in it’s present form, were it not for those contribution, not less than the preservation of ancient knowledge. If you think the European tribes were any less brutal than the Berbers, think again. As much as you and others want to see Islam in the most unfavorable light mostly deserved those who were the foundational European tribes who make up White Europeans in the modern era were no better, and possibly even worse.
During the Muslim conquests of the 7th and early 8th centuries, Rashidun armies established the Islamic Empire, which was one of the ten largest empires in history. The Islamic Golden Age was soon inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to the Persian city of Baghdad illustrating the strong Persian presence in the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur’anic injunctions and hadith such as “The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs” (Considered a weak hadith by Al-Bani Hadith No./4832) stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became the unrivalled intellectual centre for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world’s knowledge into Arabic. Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been forgotten were translated into Arabic and later in turn translated into Turkish, Persian, Hebrew and Latin. During this period the Muslim world was a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Iraqi, Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek and Byzantine civilizations. Rival Muslim dynasties such as the Fatimids of Egypt and the Umayyads of al-Andalus were also major intellectual centres with cities such as Cairo and Córdoba rivaling Baghdad.
A major innovation of this period was paper – originally a secret tightly guarded by the Chinese. The art of papermaking was obtained from prisoners taken at the Battle of Talas (751), resulting in paper mills being built in the Persian cities of Samarkand and Baghdad. The Arabs improved upon the Chinese techniques of using mulberry bark by using starch to account for the Muslim preference for pens vs. the Chinese for brushes. By AD 900 there were hundreds of shops employing scribes and binders for books in Baghdad and even public libraries began to become established, including the first lending libraries. From here paper-making spread west to Fez and then to al-Andalus and from there to Europe in the 13th century.
From the Jewish perpective the very fact the the Jews sided initially with the Muslim invaders of Spain as Liberators( even fought alongside them) should give you the hint that things seemed to them much worse under the German tribes. That the same Muslims then turned around and slaughtered the Jews gives meaning to the term caught between a rock and a hard place.
I don’t have quarrel with Muslims they have one with me that puts me automatically on the sides that oppose them.
Re: #14
All this is true, and there was a time when you were a LOT better off with a Muslim doctor than a Christian one.
At that time, the so-called “Christians” burned books (and their authors) instead of reading them, while the Muslims read as many books as they could get their hands on.
Today, matters are reversed; the militant “Muslims” burn the books while the Jews and Christians read them. That is why militant “Muslims” are dirt-ignorant primitive savages, and the enemies of all Civilization.
Re: #18
And, had Henry Ford set up a formal management system to preserve his methods, and had his son not died relatively young, the Toyota Production System would be known as the Ford Production System, because that is where the Japanese learned about it.
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yamit82 Thank you for the tremendous amount of information. It is always a pleasure to talk to a student of history.
Bill, Laura:
Knowledge and invention are universal and none have sole proprietorship. All invention and knowledge is a progression built upon what was known and existed before and this includes that which can only be theorized. Much thought, through practice and invention we credit with the modern age is not new there are references to primary origins in the Talmud, and other older Jewish sources, Muslim sources, Greek, Persian, Chinese and Hindu. The more contact man has with other man the more knowledge is exchanged and hopefully preserved and applied. Laura it matters little that the transistor was invented in America, they never applied its function at that time because Americans are short term thinkers. The Japanese not only saw the potential, they invested long term and created the myriad of applications that the Americans later would consume. Most invention is useless without application extension and in this America is a follower and not a leader.
Using Israel only as an example: some few of Israeli inventions created in Israel but later purchased by non Israeli corporations and Israels contribution is not advertised except maybe by Israel herself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3xOqibQ5qI&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYXk16Xnp6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXyJrFKwjrc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dwQdI0jZ0&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKAMDZ-SCpk&feature=related
Yamit you just provided a number of reasons why the Arabs hate Jews. The Arab world is jealous of those various achievements and don’t want the masses to reflect on their own failures so they divert the masses attention to hating the Jews.
What material goods and services they enjoy is the result of them buying and not developing.
Am I wrong?
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Most people in and out of Israel have yet to understand Israels abilities and as yet untapped potential. With American and world economic problems we will be affected as well but as I have stated many times on many threads here we will survive and come out of all of this faster and stronger than just about any other country. This is for those who seem to write Israel off through mostly ignorance of just how far we have come in 60 years. American aid in dollar terms is a drop in the bucket for us today and in fact based on the devaluation of the dollar and the ever increasing prices of American weaponry it seem most prudent and economical as well as political to bite the psychological bullet and decide to go it alone.
See just some of our capabilities to that end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p87GTx7pNHg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uemxtJ6WeIw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtlG-KEPico&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8vI73-lNUk&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWVxFZp-ZLc
See who is now producing the Israeli Lavi after America forced us to give up the project in favor of F-16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYmrVqlbamM&feature=related
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