Page 9 - Pakistan Link - March 23, 2018
P. 9

OPINION                                                                                                          MARCH  23,  2018  –  PAKISTAN LINK  –  P9


        n By Prof Dr Nazeer Ahmed, PhD   Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam                                  so, many perished on the road,
                 Concord, CA                                                                                                    caught in the unpredictable desert
                                                                                                                                sand storms, or attacked by ban-
              airo at that time had a pop-  50. The Rehla of Ibn Batuta - Part 2 of 3                                           dits. It took almost a year to per-
              ulation in excess of half a                                                                                       form the Hajj and from some parts
        Cmillion, which was more                                                                                                of Africa, such as Mali, it took al-
        than fifteen times that of the city                                                                                     most two years. Yet they came, the
                    of London, three                                                                                            sons and daughters of Adam, from
                    times that of the                                                                                           all corners of the earth, to the hal-
                    city of Tabriz, twice                                                                                       lowed sanctuary of Mecca, to cel-
                    that of the city of                                                                                         ebrate the Name of the Creator and
                    Delhi. It was the                                                                                           to cement the pristine brotherhood
                    capital of the Mam-                                                                                         of humankind.
                    lukes.                                                                                                          The rites of Hajj have not
            The  Mamlukes,  like  their                                                                                         changed in the fourteen hundred
        counterparts in India, originated                                                                                       years since the Prophet perfected
        from European and Central Asian                                                                                         them. A pilgrim today would ex-
        slaves who were bought and ad-                                                                                          perience the same emotions and
        opted by the Turks, accepted Is-                                                                                        express  himself  the  same  way,  as
        lam, married into noble families                                                                                        did Ibn Batuta in the year 1326.
        and through their sheer resilience                                                                                      Approaching from the north,
        rose up to become kings. The                                                                                            the  caravan  from Damascus  first
        Mamlukes of Egypt were called                                                                                           stopped in Madina, the City of the
        Bahri Mamlukes because some of                                                                                          Prophet. There, surrounded by the
        them inhabited the islands in the                                                                                       radiance of the Prophet’s Mosque,
        River Nile. They displaced the ail-                                                                                     Ibn Batuta prayed, remember-
        ing Ayyubid dynasty in 1250 and                                                                                         ing often the name of the beloved
        brought Egypt, Syria and the Red                                                                                        Apostle of God. At Dhul Halifa, he
        Sea coasts of Arabia and the Sudan                                                                                      discarded his urbane attire, donned
        under their control. The Mamlukes   teachers gave  lectures, and  eager   schools and felt that the Qur’an had   200 years, since the advent of Euro-  the Ihram and marched forth with
        proved themselves to be excellent   students learned the Qur’an, Fiqh,   to be understood in its literal sense,   pean colonialism, that the Islamic   his companions reciting Talbiya:
        administrators and outstanding   Arabic grammar, mathematics,   as emphasized by Imam Shafi’i. Ibn   world has once again turned to   “Here I am, O Lord, Here I am!
        patrons of learning. Ibn Batuta ar-  medicine and philosophy, although   Taymiyah fought a life-long strug-  the ideas of Ibn Taymiyah to find   Indeed, Thee alone is worthy of all
        rived in Cairo during the reign of   the study of more secular sciences   gle to alert his generation against   some answers to the challenge of   Praise. Thine is the Bounty. Thine
        Sultan  Al  Nasir  Muhammed  ibn   such as mathematics, medicine and   the risks that he felt lurked in the   the West.  is the Sovereignty. Here I am at
        Qalawun who ruled from 1293 to   philosophy was not available in all   Sufi approach. He urged Muslims   Damascus was the second   your Command, O Lord!”. Emo-
        1341. A great builder, Al Nasir built   schools.                                          capital of the Mamlukes and was   tions swelled in him as he first
        more than thirty mosques and nu-  The hajj caravan with whom                              a great city in its own right. Dur-  saw the Haram (the word Haram
        merous schools and hospitals. The   Ibn Batuta was traveling was de-  Madrasas (schools)   ing the struggle between the Mam-  is used only for the sanctuaries
        great mosque of ibn Qalawun still   layed. Impatient to reach the Hejaz,   were attached to the   lukes and the Il Khans of Persia-  around the Ka’ba in Mecca, the
        stands in the old city of Cairo. The   Ibn Batuta took the southern route   mosques. The concept   Iraq (1258-1315), Damascus had   Prophet’s Mosque in Madina and
        Mongol plunders in Persia, Iraq   down the River Nile and through                         suffered. With the onset of peace   the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem),
        and Central Asia had pushed a   the desert to the Sudanese port of   of a mosque-madrasa   between the two dynasties in 1315,   circled by thousands, invoking the
        large number of scholars, Sufis, po-  Aydhab. He described the Nile val-  grew out of Masjid al   the city had regained its former   name of God in a hundred different
        ets, linguists, architects, fuqahah,   ley as a veritable garden, full of life            preeminence as a pivotal station   tongues. He melted into the human
        mathematicians, philosophers and   and vitality, serving as the bread-  Nabawi, the mosque   in the trade routes linking Egypt   mass, completing the circles.
        doctors into Cairo.           basket  for  the Mamluke  Empire.   of the Prophet, in      and North Africa to the Black Sea,   Thereafter,  he  marched  forth
            Cairo had become the pre-  Aydhab was a sultry harbor town,                           Persia, China and India. It had a   to the hills of Safa and Marwa, re-
        eminent center of culture, art and   dusty, hot, without water, crammed   Madina. The idea   population of over 250,000 and was   calling the struggle of Hajira to find
        learning in the Islamic world. Af-  with import-export merchandise.   found patronage at the   known  for its  high-quality  steel,   water in the desert, after Prophet
        ter the destruction of Baghdad   Forced by inhospitable weather,                          called Damascus steel, which was   Ibrahim left her there with her in-
        (1258), a surviving member of the   Ibn Batuta turned back to Cairo   highest level during   valued and sought after the world   fant son Ismail. He remembered
        Abbasids had been installed as the   and from there he traveled through   the intense rivalry   over.                   that  moment  when  Divine  mercy
        Caliph in Cairo and the city had   the Sinai to Palestine and Syria. He                       The trade in iron and its pro-  intervened to answer the supplica-
        become the seat of the Caliphate   prayed at the mosque of Abraham   between the Fatimids   cessing provides one illustration   tion of a mother and caused wa-
        and hence the focus of Islamic po-  in al Khalil (Hebron) and spent   and the Abbasids (969-  of how Islam had welded together   ter to gush forth from a rock. The
        litical life. The hospital (maristan,   several days at Masjid al Aqsa in                 the old world into a single trading   mother, Hajira, cried out, “Zumi,
        as it was called) of Qalawun was   Jerusalem. By 1326, Jerusalem had   1100). Both Cairo and   block. Iron ore was exported from   Ya Mubaraka” (Stop! O, blessed
        a marvel of the age. It contained   ceased to be a bone of contention   Baghdad became great   East Africa to Gujrat in India where   water!). After traversing the hills of
        more than 300 wards for patients   between the Christians and the                         it was smelted into pig iron and re-  Safa and Marwa seven times, Ibn
        and was equipped with the most   Muslims. The Crusades in Palestine   centers of learning. Al   exported to Syria. In Damascus, it   Batuta drank to his heart’s content
        advanced surgical tools of the era.   had ended and the chief attraction   Azhar grew in Cairo   was re-smelted, alloyed and formed   from the well of Zamzam. (The
        The hospital was well staffed with   of the city was its pilgrimage sites                 into steel, using a process that was   word Zamzam derives from Zumi,
        doctors, surgeons and attendants.   for Muslims, Christians and Jews.   and the Nizamiya   only re-discovered in the 1960s and   the exclamation of Hajira when she
        There were lecture rooms, baths,   Ibn Batuta spent several nights in   College flourished in   is referred to as super-plasticity.   saw water burst forth from a rock).
        libraries and dispensaries attached   prayer at Masjid al Aqsa and at the                 Ibn Batuta records that the bazaars   From Mecca, he proceeded to
        to the building. Recitations from   Dome of the Rock, recalling the   Baghdad. The example   of Damascus were thriving with   Mina and on to the great gathering
        the Qur’an soothed the soul. Music   events of Isra and Meraj. He also   of these two capital   imported goods which included   at Arafat. On this plain stood the
        was played to help the healing pro-  spent many days at the zawiyah of                    spices, gems, embroidery, per-  children of Adam, black and white,
        cess. Treatment was free. Rich and   Sufi Shaykh Abdul Rahman ibn  cities was copied by the   fumes and medicinal herbs from   rich and poor, Arabs and Turks,
        poor were treated alike.      Mustafa who belonged to the Rifai   provincial centers of   India,  porcelain from  China,  furs   Persians and  Spaniards.  Where  in
            Madrasas (schools) were at-  order.                                                   from the Black Sea area and Turk-  this gathering were the kings and
        tached to the mosques. The concept   After receiving his ijazah (lit- Merv, Nishapur, Bukhara,   ish horses from Central Asia. The   where the mendicants? All were
        of a mosque-madrasa grew out of   erally meaning permission, also a   Samarqand, Damascus,   nobility in Damascus, emulating   equal in the sight of God and equal
        Masjid al Nabawi, the mosque of   diploma) from Shaykh ibn Musta-                         the  example of  the  Sultan  in  Cai-  in the sight of man, in supplication
        the Prophet, in Madina. The idea   fa, Ibn Batuta moved on to Damas-  Fez, Timbuktu and   ro, had built numerous mosques,   before the Creator, celebrating only
        found patronage at the highest level   cus, where he met the well-known   Cordoba, as well as   schools, hospitals, rest houses  for   His Name, invoking His mercy and
        during the intense rivalry between   reformer Ibn Taymiyah (d. 1328).                     travelers, canals and public baths.   His munificence. From Arafat, Ibn
        the Fatimids and the Abbasids   The two were on different wave-  the cities that came     He spent a great deal of time at the   Batuta returned to Muzdalifa and
        (969-1100). Both Cairo and Bagh-  lengths. Ibn Batuta was a  man  of   under Islamic influence   magnificent Umayyad mosque of   on to Mina and Mecca to complete
        dad became great centers of learn-  the new Sufic age. Indeed, wherever                   Damascus, learning among other   the rites of the Hajj and joined
        ing. Al Azhar grew in Cairo and   he went, he sought the company of   in later centuries   subjects, the Hadith according to   h i s fellow Hajjis in celebration
        the Nizamiya College flourished in   well-known Sufis. By contrast, Ibn   such as Delhi, Tabriz,   Shaykh Bukhari.      of this blessed opportunity. He had
        Baghdad. The  example of these   Taymiyah foresaw inherent dangers                            In September 1326, Ibn Batuta   now fulfilled the goal he had set for
        two capital cities was copied by the   in the Sufic approach, which had   Istanbul and Lahore  finally set out to perform his Hajj.   himself when he set out from Tang-
        provincial centers of Merv, Nisha-  no empirical proofs and lent itself                   Modern conveniences that Hajjis   ier, but farther horizons beckoned
        pur, Bukhara, Samarqand, Damas-  to exploitation by pretenders. The   to return to what he felt was the vi-  take for granted these days did not   him.
        cus, Fez, Timbuktu and Cordoba,   Sufis would respond to this charge   brant, outward, empirical Islam of   exist and the 800 miles from Da-   (The author is Director, World
        as well as the cities that came under   by asserting that the best empirical   the Umayyad and the Abbasid pe-  mascus to Mecca were a trial for   Organization for Resource Devel-
        Islamic influence in later centuries   proof of their approach was the no-  riods. Needless to say, the two men   the hardy. Pilgrims usually traveled   opment and Education, Washing-
        such as Delhi, Tabriz, Istanbul and   ticeable transformation of human   did  not  see  eye  to  eye.  As  history   in large caravans, some as large as   ton, DC; Director, American Insti-
        Lahore. Ibn Batuta records that the   character that it brings about. Ibn   would have it, the Islamic world   30,000, with full provisions for the   tute of Islamic History and Culture,
        schools in Cairo were too numer-  Taymiyah was very much against   embraced the Sufis and relegated   journey, led by an emir (leader), ac-  CA; Member, State Knowledge
        ous to count. Each mosque-madra-  the  allegorical  interpretations  giv-  Ibn Taymiyah to scholars respected   companied by imams, judges, doc-  Commission,  Bangalore;  and
        sa had courtyards wherein great   en to the Qur’an by certain Sufi   but forgotten. It is only in the last   tors and protected by soldiers. Even   Chairman, Delixus Group)
                                                                       www.PakistanLink.com
   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14