Shias, Sufis, Sunnis And Our Differences by David Arthur Walters

“Look at the travelers on the Path of Love, how each has a different spiritual state. The one sees in each atom of the world a Sun radiant and imperishable. Another directly witnesses in the mirror of existence the beauty of the hidden archetypes. And a third sees each one in the other, without veiling or defect.” Jami

Many of us had never heard of Sunnis and Shiites until neoconservative Christian regressives seized executive privilege in the United States and led what its commander-in-chief openly referred to as a “holy war” on Islamic extremists or Islamists in Afghanistan, in retaliation for Al-Queda’s retaliatory attacks on installations of the military-industrial-oil complex in the States, a complex that the president’s forebears had been instrumental in establishing, and then employed pretexts – in accordance with Carl Schmitt’s dicta that one must lie to a democracy to overcome its factious nature and get something done – to dupe frightened and angry people into participating in a preconceived, pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, to destroy its sovereign government, incorporate its oil fields, and establish a Western-style, democratic-capitalist bulwark against Islamism in the Middle East. Both military actions were in direct contradiction to the professed neoconservative ideology of not participating in “regime change.”

Until the other side of the “holy war” had been brought home to them, many United States citizens could not place Afghanistan or Iraq on the map, let alone the several states and cities of their own country. Still almost every American had a general notion of what Islam stood for, as opposed to Christianity, and mature Americans had studied some of its history before such studies had become increasingly irrelevant to making a living in America – of course histories were still read by history buffs, usually for entertainment, as if they were novels. A few people interested in current events followed the Iran-Iraq war instigated by Saddam Hussein, who was aided by President Ronald Reagan - President Reagan also supported jihadist Osama bin-Laden in Afghanistan. Sunnis controlled Iraq, where some of the holiest sites of Shiites are located, while the Shiites were dominant in Iran, so the Iran-Iraq war was viewed as a sort of religious or ethnic conflict between the two main Islamic cults. Still, few people knew much, if anything at all, about the religious difference between Sunnis and Shiites, especially since the difference was confused by regional politics.

As the United States was waging war in Iraq, newspaper columnists tried to distinguish between Islam’s two main branches because the difference had something to do with what was perceived as an unjust imbalance of power in Iraq. For example, Bill Tammeus, news editor and faith columnist for the Kansas City Star, wrote a useful article entitled, 'Centuries of strife split Sunnis and Shiites.'

It is indeed important for the public to understand that, despite Islam's professed universalism, and the apparent superiority of Islam’s monotheism in that regard, in comparison to the feel-good faith of Christianity that fosters international strife in the name of its own one-god, Muslims are not all of a piece or at peace with one another nor have they ever been. Neither are we, for that matter, and our own differences are so similar to their differences and to other people’s that we have good reason to hope to resolve them via a universal global accord with a common political-economic “theology” if not religious theology. The wars fought until then shall increasingly be revolutionary wars and civil wars, instead of world wars between powerful states – that is not to say that World War III is impossible. Iran’s totalitarian regime has most lately set itself up for a fall – a push from Great Satan shall not be required.

Mr. Tammeus did not support the difference he drew, with examples of the strife between the two main Islamic branches, so that we could compare the divisions with our own. He might have pointed out that the Shiite faith, given its expectation of the appearance of the Hidden Imam, and its hierarchical structure, is more 'compatible' with apocalyptic and catholic Christianity than the Sunni faith, which has its similarities with protestant and secular Judeo-Christianity.

To further our confusion, the Kansas City Star’s faith commentator brought Sufism into his discussion, parroting the widespread notion that "Sufism is the small but influential mystic branch of Sunni Islam." But Sufis worship saints – the various schools or paths were founded by various holy masters – and holy places and relics, which is anathema to orthodox Sunnis, the grossest infidelity as far as iconoclastic Muslims are concerned. That is not to say that the average Sunni cannot be tolerant, and submit to Allah’s judgment as to whether or not He is properly worshiped by someone or the other, or that the Sunni cannot at least be pragmatic whenever Sufis can be useful to them, especially in politics and war.

Sufis themselves have a reputation for tolerance wherever tolerance suits their purpose. They are famous for their professed love of God and their fervent desire for unity with the deity. The godhead is one thing if not no-thing or Nothing, and the religious forms of worship are something else, something secular or worldly. When in Rome we might do as the Romans do yet not lose our essential faith. The Romans required lip-service to the state religion, and a person could maintain his personal faith on his homely hearth. Christian martyrs, however, sacrificed themselves to be identified as bearing witness; yet Christians ultimately took up many of the Roman ways and became the state religion.

Why should not Sufi mystics be good Pythagoreans and observe whatever exoteric religion prevails while maintaining their esoteric preference? Indeed, Sufis have dared to claim that their mystical cult predates both Islam and Christianity. Classical Sufi author Moulana Nuruddin Abdorrahman Jami (Hakim Jami) of Herat, in his Alexandrian book of wisdom, identified esoteric Sufism with Western thinkers, naming Hermes Trismegistos, Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Plato as Sufis. As for that intelligence and learning from which we draw so many differences between ourselves, Jami said it is nothing to boast about, nor should people boast of their humility. He noticed that people have been taught to declaim dishonesty, but what they really abhor is hypocrisy.

Americans have enjoyed a romantic perspective on exotic Sufism since it was imported into the United States. Popular Sufism is associated with love and god, and with poetic, musical, and dance rituals that purportedly bring the devotee into harmony with the cosmos and unity with the godhead. Surely, we think, if everyone were a Sufi at heart our world would be peaceful. Or a mystical Hindu, or Christian, or Buddhist, et cetera; for the essence of true religion is the Supreme Being. Well, we may sing the same song and dance the same dance, but movement requires the exertion of force and harmony is born of conflict. If we in our particulars were the One, we would not be at all in our particulars. Religion may worship absolute power, but politics is required for its distribution. Religion has its politics in its practices. Although the morality of religion may be virtual suicide if it aims at the annihilation of the striving self, the struggle for life naturally goes on, for we would all endure forever without resistance if only we could, but if there were no resistance to our will, we would not exist as we are.

Mysticism may help the mystic get along in the world, to be at peace even when moving, to be blissful momentarily, and to tolerate human evil, or to be, at least in attitude, beyond good and evil. Yet there is nothing moral about being at one with an indefinite or infinite One. You are at one with God and you feel great, as if you were God Almighty. So what? What are you going to do about evil? He who ignores evil by transcending it or saying it is nothing but the absence of good is no good to anyone.

To wit: a mystic is not inherently good. A mystic may be an angel or devil or both. Sufi masters are not inherently good or holy simply because they practice mysticism and conduct the rituals of their preferred paths. They remain human beings in the world, a world necessarily political in its power struggles, and their regions of the world may be awful trying. To illustrate that fact and its consequences, our faith columnist and news editor might have, before he identified Sufism with Sunni Islam, proceeded with an investigation of the then current official status of Sufism in Uzbekistan, and the official persecution of religious dissidents, most of whom are Sunnis, with the cooperation of the United States in the “war on terrorism”, i.e. highly organized, well-equipped, uniformed terrorism against loosely organized, ill-equipped terrorists who also think they are fighting for “freedom.”

The Sufi persecution of dissident Sunnis in Uzbekistan is derived from the old policy of the U.S.S.R. Our faithful columnist might study the history Samarkand, and examine, for example, Tamerlane’s slaughter of reputed infidels in India. And he will find a history of sectarian violence in the mountain regions, especially those of Afghanistan and the Caucasus, once Sufi strongholds. He might note that the current leaders of the Naqshbandi sect of Sufism brag of their origin near Samarkand, and claim that they have always been peaceful - but they have always been politically involved and extraordinarily deceptive; by the way, their missionaries led the Chechen jihad against the Russians.

If in his historical journals the faithful student journeys south and west from the mountains, he will see that Sufi dervish cells were formed as a reaction to Sunni theocratic domination, a reaction against universalism and imperialism. He could conclude that Sufi spiritualism has more in common with Shism than Sunnism, instead of stating, "Sufism is the small but influential mystic branch of Sunni Islam." Sufis were tolerated for political reasons by both Shiites and Sunnis, but efforts were eventually made to stamp out their cells, which reacted with more secrecy. The cellular type of organization is well known to freedom fighters, regardless of their races and creeds, throughout the world.

Given human nature, we should not be at all surprised to hear that Sufis have enthusiastically fought on one side or the other. Of course they are better known for fighting against imperialism than for it. The fact that Sufis on the whole put themselves on the path of ‘tasawwuf’, the consciousness or spiritual state of being of the perfect man, in distinction to his outward actions and spoken laws (sunna), does not mean they will not, for instance, behead an infidel, and perhaps use his skin for their war drums – as was done with Russians in Chechnya, where the Sufi Death Song was still chanted by rebels in our time.

Fahad Ansari, a specialist in anti-terror legislation, a researcher and spokesperson for the Islamic Human Rights Commission, posted an informative article on the Web about Sufi Jahidis – ‘Remembering the Great Tradition of Sufi Jihadis in Muslim History’:

Mr. Ansari complains that even those Muslims who fight against injustice and oppression are labeled “extremists.” Only “moderate” Muslims are acceptable, that is, only those who are willing to compromise their values, to be assimilated into the Western culture, keep their religion to themselves, and otherwise embrace Western and secular values. He points out Westerners believe that Sufis, whose mystics have a reputation for universal tolerance, are moderates with whom alliances against extremism can be forged. But they neglect the fact that Sufis established a reputation for fighting both Eastern and Western imperialism. He refers to three modern Sufi jihadis:

Omar Mukhtar aka the ‘Lion of the Desert,’ a Sufi member of the Sanussiyah tariqah or path, “led the jihad against the Italian military occupation of Libya for over twenty years beginning in 1912. Although a teacher of Quran by profession, Mukhtar was not one of those about whom Allah says, ‘Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget to practice it yourselves, and yet ye study the Scripture.” Mukhtar said, “We fight because we have to fight for our faith and our freedom until we drive the invaders out or die ourselves.” He was captured in 1931 and shackled despite his old age (70). He recited sacred verses while tortured, and was finally hanged.

Abdul-Qadir al-Jazairi, an Islamic scholar and Sufi member of the Qadiri tariqah, led the jihad against the French invasion of Algeria. “Abdul-Qadir showed himself to be a leader of men, a great soldier, a capable administrator and a persuasive orator. He ultimately failed to defeat the French because of the refusal of the Berber tribes to unite with the Arabs against the French….” He was forced into exile, died in Damascus in 1860, and was buried next to the famous Sufi, Ibn Arabi.

Imam Shamyl aka ‘The Greatest Imam’, a Sufi follower of the Naqshbandi tariqah, imparted Islamic law to the pagan tribes of the Caucasus and led them against the Russian invaders. Shamyl was a powerful man and great warrior himself. He taught his followers war chants, some of them still used by Chechen rebels, including the famous Death Song. The Russians admired him, sparing his life and allowing him to retire – he died in Medina in 1871.

“Mukhtar, Abdul-Qadir, and Shamyl,” states Mr. Ansari, “are just three examples of how tasawwuf was not regarded as an obstacle to armed jihad but as an inspiration for it. There are countless other examples.”

The more we inquire into the differences between the people far from our peaceful shores, the better shall we understand ourselves, and the better we understand ourselves in our likenesses to them, the better we can serve the world by sharing with them the better things of life, instead of behaving like self-centered automatons. Sufi masters have considered the universe as a web of mutually supporting systems: a Kurdish Sufi reportedly said in ancient times, “Everything that exists maintains and is maintained by other existences.” Whether or not we are willing to give Sufis credit for discovering this law of reciprocal maintenance, we have an opportunity to pay down the debt of our existence, for we cannot progress on the spiritual path until we fulfill our obligation to our being on this planet. The least we can do after testifying to our good intentions with fine words is avoid the appearance of hypocrisy in our deeds.

_______________________________
Sunna – custom, the words and practices

Shia – following, or sect

Suffi – suf or wool, safa or purity, sophos or wisdom?

Gog, Magog, and Islam by David Arthur Walters

Chapter Eighteen of the Holy Koran, 'The Cave', refers to a great battle with Gog and Magog. Muhammad the Prophet provided the chapter in response to questions put to him by the powerful leaders of his tribe, the Quraish, who did not appreciate his disparagement of their polytheistic religion, and were accordingly persecuting believers in Allah, the Prophet’s one and only god. The Quraish leaders had sent deputies to the Jewish scholars in possession of the Torah and Gospel. The scholars happily supplied the Quraish delegation with questions designed to trip up Muhammad hence prove him to be a false prophet. One question appertained to Dhulqarnain, the ‘Two-Horned One’ – believed by some scholars to have been Alexander the Great. If Muhammad was a legitimate prophet, claimed the Jews, surely he would know about the great accomplishment of Dhulqurnain's legendary journey.

Dhulqarnain, the ancient story went, built a great barrier or wall to protect friendly foreigners from the barbarous northern invaders, Gog and Magog. After completing the structure, he purportedly took no credit for it, humbly stating that it existed by God's will, which would eventually lay it low, and then a great battle would ensue. Many imaginative People of the Book, dissatisfied with the world as it appears and hoping for an ideal future, believe the Gog and Magog battle, whether historical, legendary or mythical, is a true prophecy of the Final Conflict. In sum, Good and Evil are set apart by a Wall built by the Hero. The Wall collapses. A Final Conflict is fought. The Last Day is decisively won by the forces of Good, who are more than amply rewarded in Paradise, while the forces of Evil, of course, get their flaming deserts in Hell.

History foretells the future; the divorce proceeds from marriage; the conclusion is embedded in the premise: the original Armageddon is bound to recur, and on a global scale, to the extent that life as we know it on this Earth shall be extinguished.

God only knows when the Great Battle will break out. It appears that the more integrated individuals become through their selfish worship of Mammon or Money as the capital-god, and the more civilization becomes too big to fail, the more likely civilization shall collapse into the dust that made it, and individuals shall then become all-too familiar with the Almighty as they are crushed flat as matzo while pleading for mercy. Notwithstanding how civilized cosmopolitans and globally integrated people may become, at some point in time peoples shall yet again get sick and tired of being politically correct or tolerant and nice to each other in order to make a profit, and shall plunge the globe into an apocalyptic bloodbath, no doubt with some vague idea of a fine future in mind and a pleasing feeling of unity in risking their lives for something really worthwhile for a change, whatever that may be, instead of a condo, car and computer. No doubt that each conservative or liberal will have faith that he or she is fighting on the side of God or the Good, versus the Devil or Evil Adversary.

Naturally several variations of the popular tale developed as it was retold time and time again by different folk. There are different versions of the time, place and manner for the instantiation of the Supreme Ideal, the Totally Good; in sum, the Total. The flood shall turn the dust to mud, and man shall be reborn, remolded in his god’s image. Scriptures are bound to differ as to details, but almost all human beings, despite their suffering, have a will to persist hence the general desire for a Return to Paradise or a Progress to Utopia is unsurprising. Indeed, a sacred scripture that fails to exalt a necessarily indefinite, absolute ideal hardly has a holy future. As we know from the history of radical reformations and the Islamic reformation of our own time, the realization of the most perfect ideal on this earth is so seemingly impossible that it must be preceded by a facsimile of the Final Conflict on the Last Day.

Muslim and Jewish spirituals have cherished their differences about the Final Battle with Gog and Magog since Muhammad's time. Fortunately for the most blessed Christians and Muslims, they shall be lifted up and taken to a place where they will be spared from witnessing the horrible event. But several details of the Judeo-Christian vision do not jibe with Islam's, particularly as to the place it will occur and the people chosen by their deity to survive.

In Ezekiel's story, Gog appears as the last leader of the assault of the worldly powers on Israel, the Kingdom of God, which will bring about the Judgment before Jerusalem's walls, whereupon all the tribes shall return to a blessed state. Apocalyptic-minded people may believe that Russia and Islam will attack Israel and be soundly defeated. The Apocalypse says that Satan brings Gog and Magog together for a last time: just before the creation of a new heaven and earth, they are destroyed by fire from heaven.

A few Muslim scholars have speculated that the Final Conflict may recur where a similar battle between good and evil took place in ancient times, in or near northern Afghanistan – they opine that the Two-Horned-One is not Alexander the Great, but is Cyrus the Great, who ventured into the mountains there. Perhaps the primitive scene occurred at Derbent, Uzbekistan, the “Iron Gate” on the road north from Kabul, instead of Derbent, Dagestan, by the Caspian Sea, as surmised by other scholars – the natural “gate” at the Caspian Sea end of a Caucasus mountain range was in fact used by Persians to defend against “barbarian” (Turks, Arabs, et cetera) invaders. Northern Afghanistan, historically known as Aryana, was settled about 50,000 years ago, is believed to be one of the first places man domesticated plants and animals. It was home to Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism, a religion once called Dualism by British scholars. Thus, as Zarathustra spake of Good and Evil and of Man's jihad against the Devil, we speak from our roots with forked tongue, having enormous difficulty reconciling Monism with the logical development of our argument unto Doom’s Day, whereupon the Good Twin shall finally prevail, once and for all.

Gog and Magog are variously identified throughout history, in holy books and fantastic travelogues, as barbarian individuals or peoples, gigantic monsters, or places they reside. In Genesis, Magog is the second son of Japeth, between Gomer and Madai, a representative of a great people somewhere north of Palestine. Ezekiel refers to Gog as the prince of Magog, believed by Josephus and other classical writers to be an area northeast of the Black Sea inhabited by avaricious, war-loving Scythians famous for their immense cavalry, strong armor and excellent archers. The Cimmerians reportedly lived in that area. According to Homer, the mythical Cimmerians inhabited and guarded a misty land of perpetual darkness, namely, the Land of the Dead. Herodotus relates how the Scythians invaded Cimmeria. The Cimmerians, confronted with a superior force, split into two groups: one group fled, the other group stayed and fought to the death of the last man.

Modern historians have speculated that the enigmatic Cimmerians were descendents of Gomer, the son of Japeth and grandson of Noah, and that they swept across Asia and plundered Lydia after being defeated in B.C.E. 634 by the Scythians. Anne Katrine Gade Kristensen, a Danish scholar, believes that neither Scythians nor Cimmerians were originally barbarians from Russia, but were Israelite tribes that moved north and wound up as neighbors near the Black Sea before descending again to various places. Perchance the Cimmerians became Goths and Milesians. They may have ventured into Wales – she notices that Welsh names occur around Crimea.

Now we may never know the true identity of the legendary Dhulqarnain or where he fought his most famous battle. Whether or not it will be fought again on an apocalyptic scale that the wrath of the Terrorist Almighty may be uncovered to consume the Cosmos in Fire remains to be seen – may the Rapture save us from the sight. It may be our own wrath that we expect hence are most afraid of, and not the wrath of an all-too-human deity. Perhaps we may divine from scripture something other than the doom we harbor in hearts. It is to that end that we return to Muhammad Ali's translation of The Cave:

Section 11, Dhulqarnain: "And they ask thee about Dhulqarnain. Say: I will recite to you an account of him. We established him in the land and granted him means of access to everything. So he followed a course. Until when he reached the limit whither the sun set, he found it going down into a sea of black mud and found by it a people. We said: O Dhulqarnain! Thou mayest chastise or do them a good. He said: As for him who is unjust, we shall chastise him, then he will be returned to his Lord, and he will chastise him with severe chastisement. And as for him who believes and does good, he will have a goodly reward; and We shall speak to him an easy word of Our command. Then he followed (another) course. Until when he reached the limit where the Sun rose, he found it rising on a people to whom We had given no shelter from it. Even so! And We had a full knowledge of what he had. Then he followed (another) course. Until he reached (a place) between the two mountains, he found on that side of them a people who could hardly understand a word. They said: O Dhulqarnain! Gog and Magog make mischief in the land. May we then pay thee a tribute on condition that thou raise a barrier between us and them. He said: That in which my Lord has established me is better, so help me only with strength (of labor), I will make a fortified barrier between you and them. Bring me blocks of iron. At length when he had filled up the space between the two mountain sides, he said, Blow. Until when he had made (the iron red) as fire, he said: Bring me molten brass to pour over it. So they were not able to scale it, nor could they make a hole in it. He said: This is a mercy from my Lord, but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass He will make it level with the ground, and the promise of my Lord is ever true. And on that day We shall leave a part of them in conflict with another part, and the trumpet will be blown, so We shall garner them all together."

Section 12, Christian Nations: "Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My servants to be protectors besides Me? We have prepared hell for the entertainment of the disbelievers. Say: Shall We inform of the greatest losers in (their) deeds? (These are) they whose labour is lost in this world's life and they think that they are well-versed in skill of the work of hands. There are they who disbelieve in the communications of their Lord and meeting with Him, so their works are vain, and We will not set up a balance for them on the day of Resurrection. That is their recompense, hell, because they disbelieved and held My communications and My messengers in Mockery. (As for) those who believe and do good deeds, for their entertainment are the gardens of Paradise. Abiding therein: they will not wish change from them. Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely be consumed before the words of my Lord are exhausted, though We were to bring the like of that (sea) to add thereto. Say: I am only a mortal like you; it is revealed to me that your God is one God. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join anyone in the service of his Lord."


Source quoted:
The Quran, Transl. Muhammad Ali, Lahore-Pakistan: 1948

Reference Made:
Anne Katrine Gade Kristensen, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Vol 45, Denmark: 1988

Woman is the Camel by David Arthur Walters

I. "Woman is the camel...."

I LIKE TO PULL A WOMAN'S LEG once in awhile just to get her goat - by that I do not mean her behorned husband. Of course I do speak figuratively: ballerinas with jammed joints have asked me to literally pull their legs to unjam their joints as they held on to a post or to the barre.

"You know, women were traded like cattle in the old days, as a sort of basic barter or unit of exchange," I casually stated to Joanne, my favorite bartender at the Hi Life cocktail lounge on Amsterdam Avenue.

"Just goes to show you how smart those men were to know how valuable women really are," she retorted without pause.

As wise as I deemed myself to be at the time, I was suitably impressed by her sagacity. To enlighten her further, I went on to explain, in simple terms of shoe shiners exchanging shoe shines, why a dollar bill is a shoeshine debt given to shoeshine creditors who have faith in its value as an instrument of exchange: thanks for the shine; I owe you one; here's a buck; when your shoes get scuffed; you can get a shine anywhere. Joanne was awed by my intellectual prowess, or maybe she was just a good bartender and actress - she had in fact finished her first Hollywood movie but there was some doubt as to whether it would ever be released. Incidentally, her Halloween costume one year was the popular Dumber than Dumb fellow - I treasure my photograph of her disguised as same.

In retrospect I knew how rude I had been on that evening, likening women to cattle, then assaulting her with crude economics! Which gave me cause to wonder, What sort of creatures are men?

Anyway, I thought of Joanne while I was reading The Sabres of Paradise by Lesley Blanch many years later - last night - wherein women are likened to camels. As we know, camels are so highly valued by nomads that camels have served as exchange barter. For instance, a male slave was once valued at 10 camels, while a female slave was worth 20 camels; a dowry would cost the bridegroom at least 50 camels. Furthermore, camels have been used to settle blood feuds as follows: a death is paid for with 100 camels; testicle injuries were also once avenged with 100 camels; a broken arm or leg was valued at 25 camels, whereas a broken finger was worth only 10 and a broken molar maybe 8 - the incisor was worth only 5 camels.

Of course camels are more valuable than dollars since a dollar may get you nowhere when inflated - still, a camel can be like a white elephant to a humble city dweller who cannot maintain her even in the sparse manner she was accustomed to.

Be that as it may, and assuming there is no accident where Allah presides, I am moved to discuss the context provided by Lesley Blanch for her brief mention of the comparison of women to camels.

According to the Prophet, "Paradise is under the shadow of swords." Lesley's book is about the jihad carried out by the fierce warriors of Dagestan and Chechnya against the Russian "civilizers" in the Caucasus. The old conflict in that region between mountaineers and would-be "civilizers" goes on to this very day. The early eighteenth-century jihad was organized by Sufi fundamentalists of the Naqshbandi order. I was reading Lesley's romantic portrait of the great hero Shamyl, third Imam of Dagestan, who had been gravely wounded in battle. He was recuperating in the mountains, where he was visited by his slim and graceful wife Fatimat.

"Like all Caucasian women," Lesley wrote, "Fatimat was very slim and graceful...It was the custom for Caucasian girls to be laced into a tight corselets of deerskin which constricted and formed their narrow bodies... The corselet was put on, with ceremony, around the age of eight, and it was never removed until their marriage, generally at the age of fourteen, or thereabouts, when it was the bridegroom's privilege to rip open the seams with his kindjal." Or, he might ceremoniously untie knot after knot, and be ridiculed for any apparent impatience.

Now Fatimat's husband Shamyl was a preacher of Shariat, strict Muslim law, which was the Islamic demonstration of Caucasian unity against the Russian infidels. As a Sufi shaykh, Shamyl was committed to the disciplined ascetic life which fits in rather nicely with the life of a ghazi, warrior for the Faith. While he was nursing his wounds in the shepherd's hut, his sister visited him adorned with jewelry, treasure salvaged from the destroyed village where he was wounded; the sight of opulence caused his wounds to burst open. A few authors attribute the outrageous reaction to an old superstition among the mountain folk, that precious stones prevent wounds from healing, but Lesley tells the more popular story, that is, the politically correct one most probably insisted on by Shamyl himself:

"Later (after he suffered his relapse), when Shamyl insisted on miraculous powers and divine support, he used to declare his wounds had reopened in a protest directed by Allah against his sister's jewels, against her wanton display of earthly treasures wholly unacceptable to the Lord. And there was no one who cared to dispute it."

But apparently Shamyl was not altogether opposed to a modicum of luxury or lust where his beloved wife was concerned. Lesley says no doubt he loved to visit Fatimat between his campaigns. She was a Daghestani gentlewoman: Lesley describes her customary attire as rather elegant: "...loose, flowered silk trousers, almost hidden by a full-skirted, tight-wasted surcoat with wide, flowing sleeves and elaborate silver-braided fastenings. A great many gold and silver coins hung from the end of the long black braids... Fine muslin veils and coloured silk kerchiefs were wound round her head and across her face when she left the privacy of her quarters; and on gala occasions she wore a tall pointed cap or head-dress, from which more veils flowed. In summer, she went barefooted; in winter her slippers were protected from the mud and snow by high wooden clogs or pattens. Instead of the bourka which men wore against the piercing Caucasian winters, she was wrapped in an embroidered felt cloak lined with fox skins, or sables even."

I believe Fatimat's appearance at Shamyl's rude mountain hospital must have had a more beneficial effect on his wounds than that resulting from his sister's visit. Our author supposes that the respite the couple had together was a virtual paradise despite their spartan quarters: a hut made of rough stones piled together on the stark, barren mountain side, unchinked gaps open to the weather, with a thatched roof of twigs and boughs dragged up from a lower, vegetated elevation; upon the roof are cheeses patted into rounds, and bricks of dung used for cooking which impart to food its delicious Caucasian flavor.

Before Fatimat arrived at the hut, she was believed to have wandered around the mountains looking for her wounded husband, and to have been captured or killed by the Russians.

"After a while Fatimat was forgotten," Lesley reports. "Women were of little consequence, to the Faithful. They were chattels, scarcely held to have souls. Yet Shamyl loved his wife with so consuming a passion that once, during a battle, learning she lay at death's door, he abandoned everything to go to her."

Now we should know that a man does not have to be a Muslim to consider women and even men for that matter as chattels. In fact, if we pay close attention to the early history of Islam, we shall see Muslim women were actually treated relatively better than than they were previously handled according to Arab tribal law. Of course their status eventually deteriorated to virtual enslavement when men became frightened by their own desires, blaming women for their own lust and jealousy: the double standard certainly came in handy while elaborating stringent laws regarding adultery, polygamy, concubines and instant divorce for men. Unsold single women or those who had not been given away were by law relatively free, perhaps to starve or to be kidnapped pursuant to the ancient custom of wife-snatching.

Even the pre-Islamic Persian veil became ignoble evidence of male jealousy and fear of women's power rather than a sign of noble decency or at least discreet indecency. The veil once screened the decent gentlewoman or discreet concubine who did not have to work like a bare slave or a poor woman. Even today the head-to-toe purdah is fashionable in some quarters where women prefer to be judged as equals rather than as sex objects. For example, before the men of Afghanistan were recently frightened into fundamental totalitarian unity to save their identity, women wore purdahs over their miniskirts and high heels - one never knows when an atavistic warrior might ride by. Yet when all women became slaves to fearful fundamentalism, the purdah becomes mandatory garb everywhere, even for slaves laboring in the field. As for the concubines of the rich man's harem ("sacrosanct") which he secluded behind a tall curtain or wall (purdah) instead of sharing them at the central temple as was the custom elsewhere, he could treat them as well as his four wives differently according to divine revelations.

But never mind, after reading what Gandhi once referred to as a "sewer inspector's report" of particular short-comings, we should also keep in mind that men in general have always loved women more than they have hated them. Moreover, men seem to wind up in the long run as slaves of their slaves.

As for Shaykh Shamyl's piety, Lesley does not believe he was a fanatic about Sufi renunciation when it came to enjoying his wife; after all, the Koran states: "Woman is thy field, go then to thy field and till it." On the other hand, Lesley does not appreciate the following quote as much as the first one:

"Woman is the camel to help man though the desert of existence."

II. First Things First

I PREFER THE SECOND FIGURE of speech over the first one, and I know my favorite bartender at the Hi Life cocktail lounge would approve of my evaluation. Mind you, I do not believe the fertile ground of existence is any less important than the camel thriving on it, but a nomad must get to it over barren desert and bleak mountain trails. For that purpose his camel is indispensable, and, when he gets to where he is going, he looks forward to leaving.

Furthermore, I take the fundamental dirt for granted, at least more so than I do the romantic camel. In my romantic mood I have good company. Inspired by the camel, Lawrence of Arabia shifted from prose to waxing poetic, giving the lie to the notion that heroes love their horses but have no similar affectionate bond with their camels. Forsooth, 'camel' is rightfully a term of endearment for ordinarily docile creatures who will, in season, fly into fits of rage and spit in your face if their love is impeded - the males enjoy legendary notoriety for such fits: Aristotle said an enraged camel bit a man's head off. By the way, for those who are interested in courting, female camels flirt then resist, sometimes getting banged up pretty bad in the process.

Be that as it may, Muhammad enjoins men to treat camels well: "He said: Behold this she-camel. She hath the right to drink at the well and ye have the right to drink each on an appointed day; and touch her not ill lest there come on you retribution. But they hamstrung her, and then were penitent."

It is wrong to mistreat any animal including the human animal, but it certainly is no insult to camel or to woman to favorably compare woman with the camel, a creature even more sacred than the holy cow. The life of Arabs living in the desert steppes once depended on her milk as their primary food source: the scientific student shall find higher concentrations of intestinal lactase in Arabians whose ancestors relied on milk for generations. Muhammad himself had 20 milch camels acquired in a raid; he prized them for their daily production: two large skins of milk - the yield per milch camel ranges from 1 to 7 litres per day. In drought-stricken environments other animals bred for meat and milk die, but the camel survives and continues to produce calves and milk. Now taking into account the millions of people who starve annually, the camel is in fact capable of carrying man across the existential desert in more ways than one.

With that in mind, It certainly behooves us to briefly extend our cursory examination of the camel - time and space do not permit a thorough discussion of the camel's 40,000,000 years on Earth.

The attentive reader may notice I occasionally refer to the camel in general as a "her." I do so not only because I am weary of using "he" for humans, but because she is the mother ship, the "ship of the desert", the "land ship"; like all ships, the camel deserves a feminine pronoun. Of course man and woman share most qualities; there are distinctions to be made; the male/female division is arbitrary to a degree, yet we enjoy sex too much to dispense with it on the whole. In any event, please do keep the affinity of the sexes in mind instead of their battle when examining my camel, knowing full well no blatant sexism inheres in my descriptions. After all, Muslims say "Muhammed was a camel, loved the camel, and praised the camel." Furthermore, before proceeding with our little sketch, we should note that camels have not had their French Revolution, hence male camels have permission to dress just as gorgeously as females. That being said, we continue apace.

Camels originated in North America. Knowing that mankind would eventually need them in Asia, they embarked on the Great Camel Exodus across Alaska - completed nearly a million years ago - and familiarized themselves with the desert and mountain terrain of Asia. Their smaller kin - llamas, alpacas, guanacos, vicunas - headed south on missions to South America. Camels did not return to North America until just before the Civil War, to join the U.S. Camel Corps - camels were also introduced to Australia where 15,000 now run wild. Alas, despite their virtues and credentials including military service under the likes of Cyrus the Great, Hadrian and Napolean, certain exigencies and the development of the railroad caused the U.S. Army to desert them; a few ran wild in Arizona until 1910; domesticated camels now living in Texas will be glad to entertain your family.

The prehistoric Bactrian camel populated Turkistan; one was eventually sighted there drinking water from the river Bactrus in Bactria, an ancient area roughly corresponding to the province of Balkh in northern Afghanistan where Zarathustra (Golden Camel) eventually settled. The Bactrian camel developed two humps in anticipation of Zarathustra's religious Dualism, the Good and Evil Twins especially celebrated by Zoroastrians who love mountainous regions and pure Fire.

The Arabian or dromedary (dromus = running) camel developed a single hump for desert dwellers who prefer the one and only god. Of course the Arabian camel settled in Arabia and awaited man's convenience; ancient dumps reveal man was eating wild camels in southern Arabia around 3,000 B.C., where the transition from hunting to taming camels is believed to have occurred. No less an Asian despot than Solomon was once said to have fully domesticated the camel to expand trade and therefore advance civilization East and West. But Solomon, if priests told the true story, has rivals: Abraham, the father of Jews and Christians, allegedly traded his lovely wife Sarah to Pharaoh for some camels amongst other goods. Well, no doubt Solomon exploited the amazing prehistoric creature who was already becoming according to God's providence man's nourisher, means of transportation and medium of exchange.

Recall how the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon with treasure-laden camels to find out if he was as great as he was reputed to be, whereupon they held a royal potlatch to see who could outgive the other. Solomon apparently won: Sheba left with more than she arrived with - the gold she came with was alone worth millions of current dollars. Her legendary camel-riding career is certainly not to be ignored in any good camel essay. She was claimed by Ethiopa and, based on the rumor that she had a son with Solomon, whom Solomon made King of Africa, the emperors of Ethiopia from 1270 B.C. to 1975 A.D. have claimed descent from Solomon's father, David - curiously, the genuine Ark was supposedly secreted out of Jerusalem and taken to Ethiopia. Nigerians also lay claim to the Queen and her famous camels. Yet now it appears from excavations of the 3,000 year-old Mahran Bilqis (Temple of the Moon) in southern Arabia that the famous queen of Bible, Talmud and Koran presided over the cradle of Arab civilization, its capital being Marib in Yemen, on the main caravan route beside the Red Sea.

Still, only camels know for sure who the Queen of Sheba was or who was first to domesticate them - and do forgive me for virtually ignoring the Bactrian camel here, as I do so not from racial prejudice but from ignorance. Anyway, for Solomon's sake, suffice it to say the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet is gimel, representing the three-fold or holy mount. Yes, another letter of the alphabet symbolizes the bull - but never mind that, or the defamed ones who invented the alphabet.

As we know, nomadic Arabs depended on the camel for their existence. They also knew she would come in handy in the afterlife. It was customary to tie a camel to a man's grave - but not for long, since she might be stolen. The camel is one of the Prophet's ten animals in Paradise.

Allah was Muhammad's most important spiritual concern; however, according to one allegation, there was only one thing on Earth more valuable to Muhammad than a fine camel: the head of his worst enemy. A man must put first things first; for example, one must first live in order to love, and when his worst enemy is hiring assassins to interrupt his loving, he must attend to the priority. At the time of the Prophet's First Jihad, one of his worst enemies, Abu Jahl, was immediately available for execution at the battle at Badr.

According to Ibn Ishaq (85-151) who recorded the early allegations about the Prophet's life, on Friday morning, the 17th day of Ramadan (624), in the valley of Badr, the Apostle ordered his companions to attack, and retired to his hut. After two Muslims were killed, he came forth from his humble headquarters to encourage his men, promising Paradise for martyrs.

As the warriors on both sides advanced, Abu Jahl was hear to cry: "O God, destroy this morning him (Muhammad) than more than any of us hath cut the ties of kinship and wrought that which is not approved." Furthermore, as Abu fought that day, he was heard to say:

"What has fierce war to dislike about me,
A young he-camel with razor like teeth?
For this very purpose did my mother bear me."

Muhammad was overheard praying: "O God, don't let him escape me!"

Towards the end of the battle, the Prophet ordered his men to search for Abu among the slain. Some time prior, Muadh had fought Abu and cut off his leg. Then Abu's son nearly cut off Muadh's arm, but he went on fighting, dragging his arm behind him until he eventually stood on it with one foot and tore it off - he survived the battle. Another Muslim, Muawwidh, smote Abu and left him for dead - Muawwidh was then slain. Yet another Companion, Abdullah, complying with the Prophet's order to find Abu's body, found Abu nearly dead, cut off his head, and presented it to Muhammad:

"This is the head of the enemy of God, Abu Jahl," said Abdullah.

"By God than Whom there is no other, is it?"

"Yes," affirmed Abdullah, and threw Abu's head before Muhammad, who then gave thanks to God.

Now, then, where is the camel in this story? It is in another version of the story related by R.F. Dibble in his 1926 book MOHAMMED (Viking) and by several others such as Sir William Muir. Exulting over the victory, Muhhamad saw Abdullah approaching with Abu's head, and exclaimed:

"The head of the enemy of God! God! there is none other God!"

"There is none other!" agreed Abdallah, dropping his gory prize before Mohammed's feet; and Abdallah almost fainted from bliss when the Prophet continued, "It is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel in all Arabia!"

Thus has the legend been elaborated over the centuries. Incidentally, it is said that the first blow rendered by a Muslim on behalf of Allah was delivered during the 13 years of persecution that led up to the first jihad: infidels were throwing stones at praying Muslims; one injured man, As'd ben Abi Waqqas, seized the jaw-bone from a camel's carcass and beat his attacker with it.

III. Camel Characteristics

I AM INSPIRED TO SAY MORE about the camel's personal characteristics. Arab poets have owned her as a precious gem, the most beautiful woman of all, with silken cheeks, shapely falcon ears, and a long neck which is slender as a minaret. She has long, slender legs to boot - she rocks smoothly from side to side when she strides, making inexperienced men feel quite giddy. She admittedly enhances her stature with an illusion: she is not as tall as she looks. She has great lips and a large mouth full of teeth, hence Chesebrough Ponds might sign her for a Pepsodent commercial; be careful, camels bite! By the way, the camel's eyebrows are a bit bushy and her ears are cute and fuzzy.

Oh, yes, when she is really thirsty, Camel Woman can drink people under the table; although she is sure-footed, she has not been seen dancing on one - much to her credit in conservative lands. She is docile, but as we have seen, despite the legend that camels keep their affairs secret, she and her partners act up when feeling salacious.

Furthermore, she might eat you out of house and home, devouring both your blanket and your tent if you don't eat her first - only a fool would abuse a camel. She has keen vision and can spot a man at a distance; she can be skittish of men or pigs if she has not seen one for a long time or if a strange one approaches - a camel does tend to wander off in search of her original home -; nonetheless, she has remained calm under gunfire and beside speeding locomotives and automobiles even when she has not seen or heard them before.

In fact, her hearing is acute, although she tends to ignore commands. She is a very hard worker half the time. If worked over six months, she might have a breakdown. Every man gives different figures for how much weight she can carry and how far she can carry it in a day - I use "she" for all camels, so speak to a nomad before loading up your camels equally - say, to be safe, 330 lbs. for 8 hrs. at 3 mph; others say more. When the load is heavy, she will complain, groan and bawl when getting up to go to work; if she had her druthers, she would rather not work up a sweat, and would instead like to lay around in the shade.

This might surprise you: she always needs a new fur coat each winter. Kings and Penitents wear her old coats in sheer admiration of her royal and dignified bearing. St. John the Baptist wore with distinction his camel-hair dress. Long before the appearance of Jesus, those in the know knew the camel is the Ark of Civilization who carries the Seed from Oasis to Oasis. Occultists know her as the Desert Dragoness, the Eternal Chariot and Throne who bears the Sun Dragon from occlusion to occlusion across the desert of existence.

IV. Noble Camel Nomads

CAMELS ARE THE PRIDE AND JOY of the distinguished nomad. The noble nomad is fiercely independent and is free of urban foibles because of his confidence in God's greatest gift, the camel, a divine creature whose vigorous endurance is unmatched by any other creature; a creature not only beautiful but who, in accord with the old maxim "Handsome is as handsome does", went so far under heavy loads in desert and mountain terrain as to replaced the wheel, man's foremost progressive invention. For instance, by the seventh century A.D. carts and wagons were almost completely replace by the camel in North Africa. Not to mention that the Arabs would not have been able to save the world from the Dark Ages without the utilitarian camel.

In any case, if the nomad follows the camel's natural inclination to preserve the ecological balance by cooperating with it, he shall survive along with her. Of course the Iron Rod of Allah is not suspended, a case in point being the fate of the Lost Caravan of 1805: nearly two thousand people and a like number of camels missed the route between Timbuktu and Taoudent - they perished of thirst. Of course romantic people love a challenge, hence it is no wonder the shiek progeny of nomads who settled down for capitalism and its laborious divisions still have camels kept; they love to drive to their summer tents in a Mercedez; some keep a nice tent next to or on the roof of their palaces. Unfortunately, as eloquently revealed by the professor of jurisprudence Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) in his authoritative introduction to history, THE MUQADDIMAH:

"...Sedentary life constitutes the last stage of civilization ... the last stage of evil and remoteness from goodness ... Bedouins are closer to being good than sedentary people (who are) ... accustomed to luxury and success in worldly occupations and to indulgence in worldly desires. Therefore, their souls are colored with all kinds of blameworthy and evil qualities..."

We know sedentary men would walk a mile in expensive boots over burning sands for a camel. They would go much farther than that in the good life if they were not chained down to jobs and were not so short of breath from chain smoking - something Muhammad never did. But a hardy nomad who emulates his camel will upon occasion walk about for three months searching for his beloved camels, taking with him nothing more than a skin of water and faith in God's providence.

Alas, again I have given short shift to the two-humped Bactrian camel, perhaps because of my one-humped monotheistic conditioning - I shall do penance elsewhere and at length. Before closing, I must address a sensitive "issue" (i.e. a problem) of concern to camels in general, one that is problematic to the politically correct; namely, the camel's alleged stupidity.

V. Camels Ain't Stupid

HORSEMEN PREFER HORSES and insist their steeds are far more worthy, both as friends on the trail and in battle, than camels, whom they call - and it pains me to say this - "unresponsive and stupid." Yet the pride and prestige of "people of the camel" far exceeds that of horsemen. A few words of caution here: one must be careful about speaking highly of horses around camels, for camels hold grudges; a camel owner might throw down his shirt for the camel to trample on first so normal relations can be resumed.

To each his own prejudices and species. Still, I believe the objective man, taking everything into consideration, would favor the camel over the horse. I know some men who actually favor camels over women; they say they do so because women are more intelligent than camels, hence a discriminating man must take his camel and leave his wives and concubines at home - if he can afford their upkeep. You see, he discriminates between intelligence and wisdom, giving a greater weight to a camel's native wisdom than to a woman's cultivated intelligence - he does not deny intelligent women have some camel wisdom, a sort of homing instinct associated with Water.

Camels travel to return to the original Well, the Font of wisdom and Source of life across the existential desert. Herds will run towards distant rains. More mysteriously, the Arabs say a foal knows the well its mother drank from before it was born - camels will take off and show up where they were foaled, say, 30 miles or more away; nay, camels have been known to somehow arrive at their point of origin 1,000 miles away.

Our Ship of the Desert is a celestial vehicle as well, a flying camel no less adept than Airvarta, the Hindu god's flying white elephant. She is the sign of God's creative power. Sure-footed and calm in the valleys of death and on the mountain sides, she carries the spiritual seeker to his goal, the Divine Presence. If a pious Muslim builds a mosque, then, after he dies the mosque will transform into a white camel to carry him across the Bridge over Hell.

Finally, a story about Muhammad's favorite camel aptly illustrates the spiritual significance of the camel. I believe the foregoing along with the evidence hereafter shall finally prove it is no insult to compare woman with a camel and to say:

"Woman is man's camel across the desert of existence."

The Prophet had managed to escape from Mecca. A posse was on his tail: the Quraish had issued a Wanted Dead or Alive warrant with 100 camels as bounty. After hiding in the cave where he and his companion Abu Bakr were saved by a spider and a dove, they continued their Flight to Medina. Once Muhammad had arrived in Medina and rested, he mounted his white camel Al Kaswa and let go of the reins. Al Kaswa wandered about the streets as the crowd cheered Muhammad's safe return. Al Kaswa stopped and knelt under some date palms over an old burial ground, indicating the place where Muhammad built Islam's first mosque.

--XYX--

Muslim Intellectuals Please Join Us

MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS

PLEASE JOIN US

BY

DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS

---

By the very nature of their critical endeavor independent intellectuals are often at each other's throats. Figuratively speaking, of course, for intellectuals prefer metaphors and virtual battles to mayhem and murder.

I have on previous occasions called for an intellectual rebellion or jihad against the prejudices of brute ignorance. I was tempted to place my call under the motto, "Intellectuals of the World, Unite!" But nothing seemed more incongruous to me at the time than universal intellectual integration, since each independent intellect is disposed to be at odds with the others. However, on second thought there is due cause for unison in the mental field, the project and object of our enterprise; to wit, truth. Now we might question the nature of the truth; indeed, that is the good cause of our dissension; but I think we can agree on one thing: our project is the same although our methods slightly differ.

I say "slightly differ" because of one thing intellectuals can be certain, he who seeks the truth must have his all his doors wide open for it. The intellectual keeps his mind open with doubt, but he is not dogmatically skeptical; rather he is critical, and would resort to a criterion for criticism rather than regress to the blind faith of a beast. The criteria for physics and metaphysics, the scientific methods for the natural and "supernatural" sciences, differ in their destinies, for one has the object or world in mind, and the other has the subject or self in mind as the only available avenue to the supreme being that unites subject and object; yet both still proceed with an open mind and both must strive to keep it open to be worthy of the name, "science." Of course there is always the divisive question as to whether the metaphysical subject exists and if so whether it is a projected personal unity of consciousness of the objective world, or whether it is an impersonal substance, and so on. Yet both the physician of the body and the physician of the soul agree on the virtue of a reasonable or logical approach to the matter or spirit or both at hand. Although there are different logics or efficient mental means, they agree in throwing away error until the truth be known.

Now my monologue may be crude, but the professional professors amused by my intellectual dilettantism know very well that I struggle to unite intellects in a common pursuit no matter what their various interests may be and even in spite of their variance. For if science is to make any headway intellectuals must struggle together no matter how independent their research may be. Whatever the source of knowledge, whether from friend of foe, we should be grateful for it and share it with our colleagues. Even if we consider our competitors as strangers and enemies, then we should praise them for their virtues even more than we overlook the vices of our familiars and friends. The first great philosophical enthusiast of Islam, al-Kindi (d. ca. 866) put it this way:

"We should not be loath to value truth and acquire it from whatever source it comes, even it were to come from races distant and nations different from us. For nothing is more worthy of the seeker after truth than truth itself; and no one is disparaged through truth or belittled by it. Rather does the truth ennoble all."

Al-Kindi's statement is now platitudinous, but it was revolutionary in his time, an era plagued by cultural xenophobia and anti-intellectualism. Expressing gratitude for foreign intellectual contributions could and did get intellectuals killed, especially if the intellectual treatment challenged the leading authority. For example, Christian and Muslim intellectuals exchanged ideas in Damascus, capital of the Umayyad caliphate. Two scholars, Ghailan of Damascus (d. ca. 743) and Ma'bad al-Juhani (d. ca. 699) among others rejected orthodox predestination in favor of free will; it is no coincidence they were both martyred, because if the doctrine of free will were true, then a caliph would be personally responsible for his bad deeds.

The intellectual Majid Fakhry, our contemporary, wrote about al-Kindi, "the only major Islamic philosopher of pure Arab stock.... For al-Kindi, the search for truth, however, is an ardous task, and without the assistance of other searchers is virtually impossible. Our gratitude to our predecessors should, for that very reason, be great; they have paved the way for us and thereby made our progression towards truth so much easier. It is indeed obvious to us and to those pre-eminent in the study of philosophy among nations of foreign tongues, al-Kindi (says), that no one has been able to achieve through his own individual efforts any significant progress towards truth. Aristotle himself confirms this when he writes, as al-Kindi has paraphrased Metaphysics: 'We ought to be grateful to the fathers of those who have imparted to us a certain measure of truth, in so far as they have been the cause of their being, and the cause of our attaining truth.'"

As we know so well, Islam was unusually tolerant of foreign knowledge and adopted and developed Greek philosophy and natural science, Indian mathematics, Persian literature; by the ninth century, nearly the entire legacy of Greek philosophy and science had been translated into Arabic. Those works were later translated into Latin and became the basis for the European renaissance. Jacques Le Goff in his Intellectuals in the Middle Ages mentions the purely Arab contribution:

"And we must not omit the purely Arab contribution (to Western culture). Arithmetic with the algebra of al-Khwarizmi - while awating the first years of the thirteenth century when Leanardo Pisano would introduce the Arabic numerals, which were actually HIndu but brought from India by the Arabs. Medicine with Rhazi - whom the Cristians called Rhazes - and above all Ibn Sina or Avicenna, whose medical encyclopedia or Canon became the inseparable companion of Western doctors. Astronomers, botanists, agronomists, and especially the alchemists who provided the Latins with the feverish research for the elixir. Finally, there was philosophy, which, beginning with Aristotle, created powerful syntheses with al-Farabi and Avicenna. In addition to the works themselves, the Arabs gave the Christians words such as "number", "zero", and "algebra"; at the same time they gave them the vocabulary of commerce; douane [custom house], bazaar, gabelle [a tax on salt], check, etc." (translated from the French by Teresa Lavender Fagan)

And we must point out that the Arabs contributed the intellectual foundation of modern science, the inductive method that, as Engels and many others have noted, was introduced into England via Roger Bacon. Bacon learned Arabic and Arabic science at Oxford; he repeatedly declared that the knowledge of Arabic and Arab science was the only way to knowledge in his day. The experimental method of the Arabs was widely cultivated in Europe. That is not to say that Christian and Muslim scholars were locked in loving embrace; traditional cultures tend to consider wisdom as communal property, and if someone does not give it up it is another's duty to "steal" it - so Christians are quoted as urging their brethren to pirate and plunder the Arab knowledge just as the Hebrew god urged Moses' crew to grab whatever goods they could carry and make a run for it. In any event, no doubt there was a greater rapport between the intellectuals themselves than the spiritual authorities cared to preach.

Fakhry briefly mentioned a curious secret society, "Brethren of Purity" (Ikhwan al-Sufa), in his essay, a group that flourished in Basrah, Iraq, in the tenth century - other scholars date the founding at 983. I gleaned further information on this group from A History of Muslim Philosophy, edited by M.M. Sharif and from Professor Boer's The History of Philosophy in Islam. The Brethren, unlike the anti-rationalist believers often associated Islamist freedom fighters, somewhat analogous in the West to militant fundamentalist Christians who rely on faith alone and reject rational questioning of their faith, recognized no antithesis whatsoever between philosophy and religion:

"Its eclecticism was such that it adhered unconditionally to the maxim of the absolute harmony of all truth - Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Greek or Indian. The motto of its members was 'to shun no science, scorn no religious book, or cling fanatically to no exclusive need; since their own creed encompasses all other needs and comprehends all the sciences generally,' as the so-called Epistles of the Brethren have put it." (Fakhry)

Philosophical eclecticism has appeared, beginning with the Greeks, several times throughout history. In philosophy a dogmatic period is usually followed by a skeptical rebellion; when skepticism itself becomes dogmatic, refusing to recognized truth anywhere, except in its claim that there is no truth, an eclectical period responds, recognizing a little bit of truth everywhere. Eclecticism holds that there is some truth even in erroneous knowledge, hence the task of the eclectic is to use logic to discard error and by that means distil the truth. Those who deny that eclecticism is a legitimate philosophy say their claim is logically absurd because it is tantamount to equating error with truth. Furthermore, they insist, there must be a definition of truth before one begins the search. Of course that argument is rebutted by the eclectics, who claim that the criterion for finding the truth as set by their opponents - that it must first be defined - amounts to hiding prejudices in the premises, hence they find what they are seeking by ignoring contrary evidence; they beg their questions by answering them in advance. Wherefore we see in the Arab philosophers an early adumbration of the "inductive", bottom-up, pragmatic approach of empirical science, in contradistinction to the top-down deductive method. The contradistinction is analogous to that of democracy and tyranny in politics. Of course the methods can work well together. A possible symbol for the articulation of the two is the prehistoric emblem of David recently adopted by the secular state of Israel. The intellectual pilgrim ascends from the base of the mountain and approaches the summit, but he also descends from time to time for air that he may confirm his ascent with a clear head. The tyrant starts at any old peak and tries to coerce the mountain to conform. Be that as it may, some scholars have associated the Brethren's concept of ascent with Darwinism; Professor Boer says not:

"They have been represented as the Darwinists of the tenth century, but nothing could be more inappropriate. The various realms of Nature, it is true, yield according to the Encyclopedia (Epistles) an ascending and connected series; but the relation is determined not by bodily structure, but by the inner Form or Soul-Substance. The Form wanders in mystical fashion from the lower to the higher and vice versa, not in accordance with inner laws of formation, or modified to suit external conditions, but in accordance with the influence of the stars, and, in the case of Man at least, in accordance with practical and theoretical behavior. For providing a history of Evolution, the modern sense of the term was very far from the thought of the Brethren. For example they expressly insist that the horse and the elephant resemble Man more that the ape does. In fact in their system the body is a matter of quite secondary consideration; the death of the body is called the birth of the soul. The would alone is an efficient existence, which procures the body for itself." (Boer)

Eclecticism is obviously not a one-sided denial of spiritual pursuits. For example, during the early nineteenth century the eclecticism of the French philosopher Victor Cousin gained followers throughout the world including the New England Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists were eager to select the spiritual truth wherever they found it including Oriental sources; the term "transcendentalism", at first an epithet for unorthodox foolishness, was taken out of Kantian context and adopted to their own needs. Their version of transcendentalism was a protest against deadwood Protestantism and the Lockean rationalizations of its puritanically inclined authorities, who were predominantly Unitarians. Victor Cousin, however, like most eclectics was a moderate. He accepted the sensationalism ("sensualism") of Locke and Condillac, but he synthesized it with the idealism of Kant and Hegel, leading Hegel to say his friend Cousin had swiped his soup. Hence Cousin's rationalization of eclecticism was called Spiritualism. Eclecticism was attractive at that time to faithful people who wanted to be reasonable about their faith. And it was also attractive to Arab philosophers several centuries before Victor Cousin was born. Instead of withdrawing to the woods to speculate and to write, and meeting in the chambers of a transcendentalist club in New England to discuss the subjects appearing in their periodical propaganda organs with American names such as The Dial and The Boston Quarterly, Muslim eclectics withdrew to secret societies and discuss esoteric subjects set forth in anonymous tracts such as those compiled in the still popular Encyclopedia of the Sciences of the Brethren of Purity - that encyclopedia of fifty treatises is known as Rasail Iwan al Safa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. The Brethren met once every twelve days in their respective localities. There were rumors of partying but that sort of behavior was frowned on. A primary purpose for meetings was to cultivate sufficient wisdom in this world to build a Utopia in the next. The Brethren recruited young people because they are more docile than adults. Celibacy was encouraged; marriage was purportedly for the procreation of the race only.

Furthermore, the Brethren believed members must be free to choose their own religion and to change their religion at will, providing one person did not belong to contradictory religions at the same time. Islam however was considered superior by the Arab philosophers for the same reason it is considered the highest form of monotheism by impartial students of comparative religion in the West - particularly in respect to its simplicity and singular devotion. The Brethren of Purity believed thinking begins in the senses and continues in the mind. Since man is a microcosm of the cosmos, he may better know the cosmos by knowing himself; the only means available to know thyself is the mental faculty: the Brethren therefore were more fond of Psychology than Astrology, albeit they dearly loved both. Above all subjects they loved numbers, for they were frustrated Pythagoreans. They believed that every soul is potentially learned. Knowledge gained by the intellect from the senses must be reflected upon, confirmed by the senses, and imparted to students by learned teachers. The educational scheme proceeds with Grammar, Poetry and History, continues with Mathematics, Logic and Physics, ascends to Metaphysics, and culminates in the Godhead as the body dies and the soul is born into to the pure spiritual life.

"Praiseworthy is the free act of the soul; admirable are the actions which have proceeded from rational consideration; and lastly, obedience to the Divine World-Law is worthy of the reward of being raised to the celestial world of spheres. But this requires longing for what is above; and therefore the highest virtue is Love, which strives after union with God, the first loved one, and which is evinced even in this life in the form of religious patience and forbearance with all created beings. Such love gains in this life serenity of the soul, freedom of hear and peace with the whole world, and in the life to come ascension to Eternal Light." Furthermore, "Our true essence is the soul, and the highest aim of our existence should be to live, with Socrates, devoted to the Intellect, and with Christ, to the Law of Love. Nevertheless the body must be properly treated and looked after in order that the soul may have time to attain its full development." (Epistles)

Wisdom is normally obtained by the devoted student after the age of fifty, at which time the learned man does not rest on his laurels but should participate as a leader of his community. In any case, he will behave as divinely as he can: "... love for science as added to knowledge of the essence of all beings, gained as best as one can, together with profession and public behavior in harmony with that." (Epistles)

We cannot overstate the importance of the Arab philosophers' insistence that religion and philosophy are not enemies. This emphasis shocked medieval European intellectuals as they translated the Arabic texts into Latin, and the controversy that ensued gradually resurrected the dignity of reason for the theologically disposed thinkers as they pored over Aristotle's propositions that the Muslims had so carefully preserved and commented on both for and against. Arab intellectuals, as I have noted, had serious problems with the synthesis of faith and reason, or rational theology, with the caliphs and their supporters. Fakhry recapitulates the Arab philosopher's position:

"After all, religion is not a commodity to traffic in; by setting themselves against the study of philosophy in the name of religion, the proved their added irreligiousness. Rather, philosophy is the most secure avenue to truth, and he who opposes its study is actually opposing the acquisition of the knowledge of truth, which is the primary function of religion. Hence, to brand the study of philosophy as unbelief kufr is the highest form of unbelief - nor, as the previous argument implies, downright hypocrisy."

Fakhry concluded his particular essay with the following important remarks, after which I will conclude mine with a pointed question to all Muslims: "...neither in the field of translation nor in commentary have contemporary Arab philosophers and scholars achieved the same pre-eminence as their ancestors during the classical period. The profound intensity and seriousness with which Greek philosophical and scientific texts were translated, studied, and commented upon by those ancestors remain unequaled in modern times. This is a great tribute to that contingent of Arab scholars who not only kept the torch of ancient learning alive during Western Europe's darkest hours, but also pushed the frontiers further than any other nations had in antiquity since the Greeks."

Dear Muslim intellectuals, we are forever grateful for Islam's medieval contributions to "our" Western intellectual culture. We thank Muslim philosophers and scientists for acquainting us with the founding principles of the European renaissance, for introducing us to the humanist movement, the historical sciences, the inductive scientific method, and, most importantly, the harmony of faith and reason that shocked medieval Europe to its senses. But where are you now when we so urgently need you? Intellectuals of the World, Unite!

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References:

Majid Fakhry's essay appears in Arabic Philosophy and the West,

edited by Therese-Anne Druart,

Washington: Georgetown University, 1988A History of Muslim Philosophy,

edited by M.M. Sharif,

published in Karachi by the Royal Book Company,

an excellent resource, supported by ample citations.Intellectuals in the Middle Ages

by Jacques Le Goff

published by Blackwell in Cambridge.

Of special interest is the chapter, 'The Birth of the Intellectuals'The History of Philosophy in Islam

by T. J. de Boer,

translated by Edward R Jones,

London: Luzac, 1970, p.81 ff. 'The Faithful Brethren of Bazra'

© David Arthur Walters