ece of introduction to history. Muslims also contributed to what is called ‘ilm al-kalam i.e. rational theology.
The world would have been much poorer but for these thinkers who blended Islamic teachings with the best knowledge then available in the world and enriched the world through their contribution. They neither practiced violence nor ever talked of violence. Why then the west only attributes of violence to Islam? Is it not politically motivated? It is deliberately done to denounce Islam and glorify west as the only civilized region of the world. This began from colonial era itself. It was done to hide their own greed, lust for power and wealth and violence they used to achieve all that.
But for Islam would the world have seen Sufis like Rumi and Ibn Arabi? Maulana Rum (popularly known as Rumi) was philosopher of love and peace. When he died his coffin was accompanied by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. They were wailing and beating breasts in sorrow and reciting from their respective holy books and saying today our prophet has died. He was so tremendously popular among all communities. He was perfect model of Muslim.
He was one who said my only identity is love. And world would have been poorer without sufi like Ibn Arabi who said my Din and Sharia is love and he contributed richly through his scholarly works. These Sufis believed in conquering inner world than outer one and hence shunned violence in all forms and instead subjugated their selfish desires and controlled their lust.
They remained in the world and yet were not of the world. They did not renounce the world as Islam does not permit it but were never absorbed in it. They were not conquered by the world but they conquered others’ hearts and souls. They did not live in borrowed world but created world of their own which was more spiritual than material. Among these Sufis was Junaid who is said to have become restless when he saw in his room an ant crawling and became restless lest someone should crush it under the feet until he picked it up gently and put it in a vessel containing wheat flour.
Though Persia had a rich civilization before Islam but once Islam entered Persia it enriched every walk of its life. It produced a syncretic culture much richer than it had before. It produced Hafiz and Sa’di both from Shiraz. The ghazals (love poetry) of both these poets has survived for centuries and would continue to delight humanity for centuries to come. The ghazal poetry of Persia in post-Islamic era is without parallel in the world. These are just two names among hundreds who made great names for themselves.
Also, the world would have been much poorer but for the grandeur of Islamic architecture like Asfahan. It is rightly said that Asfahan nisf jehan i.e. Asfahan is like half the world in grandeur. It’s architecture is indeed without parallel. Than who can ever forget the glory of Taj Mahal. Lovers of whole world desire to once come and see this jewel of architecture.
This is not all. There are many more architectural wonders around the Islamic world in Central Asia, especially Tashkent, Bukhara and several other places. Muslims also developed the art of calligraphy to its perfection and hundreds of thousands of books written are delight to readers’ eyes. Also, calligraphy became part of Islamic architecture and several buildings have Qur’anic verses inscribed from Qur’an on these buildings are as beautiful as on paper.
It was Islam in medieval ages which spread the light of knowledge. The Qur’an calls knowledge light and ignorance as darkness. The Prophet (PBUH) said and which is often quoted by Muslims that a scholar’s ink is more sacred than a martyr’s blood. The myth of jihad is exposed by this saying of the Prophet. Jihad never means, as popularized by vested interests a fight with weapons but, as its root meaning suggests, to strive for spreading goodness sincerely. And for Sufis the greatest jihad (jihad-i-akbar) is to suppress ones desires, greed, anger and personal ambitions
If these base sentiments are suppressed where is the question of fighting