Page 8 - Pakistan Link - July 16, 2021

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 16, 2021 OPINION

n By Sahibzada Riaz Noor The Golden Age of Islam and Its Relevance Today a prescriptive analogue to Hegelian-
Pakistan ism in the growth of various poles
of present day religious and social

The Flying Man: The Golden
Age of Islam: Its Relevance To-
‘day’ is a book written by Dr Ak- “ THE
THE
THE
bar Ahmed, described by BBC as
the “world’s lead- FLYING
ing authority on
contemporary Is-
lam”, holding the MAN, ”
Ibn Khaldun Chair
of Islamic Studies Aristotle, and the Philosophers of the
at the American Golden Age of Islam: Their Relevance Today

University, Washington, DC. The
text may be aptly described as a
continuum in the scholastic tradi-
tion that the author can be rightly
proud of in initiating and promot-
ing the placement and understand-
ing of Islam in its historical and ex-
istential modern day context and
proper perspective. While the in- AKBAR AHMED
ternal, doctrinal, theological sub-
stance of Islam forms an essential
part, it is more the relational and amana publications
Publishers of
consanguinity aspect vis a vis the “The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an” by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali
modern world, more particularly
its place in relation to collective

human thought and other present contributions were not made. make any significant contributions corpus grounded upon the water- intolerance. These take their com-

religions, that the author strives to This vigorous intellectual well- to human thought and knowledge? shed work of St Thomas Aquinas pass unfortunately, from mistaken

highlight in this as well as his other spring of activity, spread over nearly There is no doubt whatsoever that who frequently refers to Averroes, in perception of the extreme fringes

valuable books. 700 years, extended over vast geo- Islamic made profound accretions to his Suma Theologica, respectfully as present in any religion or ideology as
It is a simultaneously a continu- graphical spaces extending from the store of human aufklarung and “the Commentator”. representative of their vastly tolerant

ation of the moral endeavor to cor- Cordoba and Seville to Damascus, enlightenment. It was thinkers like The Aristotelian idea of the and humane cores of their belief sys-

rect and dispel the rather facile and Baghdad, Balkh and Bukhara with Avicenna, Averroes and Al Ghazali indivisibility of body and soul had tems. This phenomenon is peculiarly
distortionary impression given out names like Ibne Sina ( Avicenna), who resolved the apparent antith- posed philosophical and theologi- stark among the belief systems of the
by certain quarters of Islam being a Ibne Rushd (Averroes), Al Ghazali ( esis between reason and revelation, cal difficulties for the concept of three Abrahamic religions. Through

retrograde and moribund phenom- Algazel), Al Khwarizm (Algorithmi), the hereafter and the subsistence of mutual understanding of the com-

enon that has nothing valuable to Al Haytham ( Alhayzen), Al Farabi In historical perspective the soul after human corporal ex- mon value and normative foun-

contribute to human thought and (Alfarabius), Al Kindi (Alkindus), the West – Muslim tinction. Avicenna’s Flying Man or dation of these religions, coupled

knowledge. That somehow Islam Al Idrissi (Dreses), Al Jabir Hayyan Floating Man mental experiment led with well-directed educational and
and its believers stand in contradis- (Geber), Al Razi (Rhazes) et al. relationship is generally to proving the perception of the divi- cultural interactions, there should

tinction to human values of inviola- The translations into Latin of viewed in an adversarial sion between matter and mind, body evolve an elevated synthesis of mu-
bility of human life, freedom, pursuit their works provided the essential and soul. Besides its intrinsic value tual respect and reverence between
of knowledge, respect for law and bridge between classicalism and re- context harking back to on its own, the idea led to confirm- the three main religions of this tra-

established political structures. The naissance. There are many more lu- the crusades and other ing the belief in the soul living in the dition i.e. Christianity, Judaism and

golden age of Islamic scholarship minaries, Muslims, Jews, Christians hereafter after the death of a person. Islam.

that further developed and promot- and Sabiens of the golden age of Is- combats while papering Avicenna’s Flying Man experiment With globalization, informa-
ed human thought in all its myriad lam who participated in a mutually over the contributions in a way also presages by nearly 600 tional connectivity and movement of
dimensions, becoming the intellec- collaborative and intellectually toler- years Rene Descarte’s cogito ergo populations across borders an Anda-
tual inheritance infusing modern ant period of enlightenment without of Islamic thought to sum dictum to prove self-existence lusian, convivencia-like, inter com-

Western civilization and forming considerations of creed, race or col- modernity. This is part through innate, conscious, self- munal coexistence partaking from
the basis of a tolerant and humane or. Without taking into account this of the problem of lack of doubt. and based upon understanding and
cultural milieu, categorically falsifies golden period of Islam, the story of Viewed from the Hegelian respect for shared beliefs and values,

such tenuous conjectures. the rise, subsequently, of the Western inter-faith harmony and standpoint the author’s book postu- a unity in diversity, is the need of the

On a different plane the book civilization remains incomplete and tolerance which can lend lates a dialectic, as it were, between hour. The shared human predica-

untangles the apparent riddle that unexplained. In historical perspec- the past and present, a past in which ment facing the current worldwide
scholarship confronts when the tive the West – Muslim relationship itself to improvement Islam played a major role in the re- epidemic of covid which does not

Middle Ages from about 500-1400 is generally viewed in an adversarial through better education finement and transmission of Greek distinguish between rich or poor,
AD, viewed from the Western per- context harking back to the crusades and Indian corpus of knowledge to race or creed, should in itself be a
spective, appear as the dark ages, but and other combats while papering and understanding later times, upon which Europe built sobering lesson that humans share
that contemporaneous with this pe- over the contributions of Islamic an edifice of flowering of human similar threats and dangers which

riod one notices an era in the Islamic thought to modernity. This is part Aristotelian philosophy and religion thought in all its myriad dimen- demand greater levels of dialogue,

world of profuse, basal contributions of the problem of lack of inter-faith by showing that the divine was in- sions. Viewed in retrospect it may be empathy and respect for the com-
in various fields of knowledge and harmony and tolerance which can herently rational; that prophet-hood viewed as a historical phenomenon mon humanity.

thought giving rise to a glorious Is- lend itself to improvement through represented the most profound which ushered in a synthesis that [Sahibzada Riaz Noor is the
lamic civilization. There was hardly better education and understanding. manifestation of the highest form of materialized into a European renais- former Chief Secretary of the KP

any area of reflection, be it philoso- Was the golden pe- riod a philosophic cogency coupled with sance, later seeding formidable roots Province in Pakistan and author of
phy, mathematics, algebra and algo- mere preservation and transmittal virtue and wisdom. This along with towards the emergence of enlighten- two English books of poetry viz. Th e

rithm, astronomy and medicine or of antiquity to post-medieval Eu- other insights proved to be a corner- ment and science. Dragonfly and Other Poems (2019)
optics, in which rich and elemental rope? Did the golden age of Islam stone for the Christian theological On another plane there appears and (2020)]

Biden Resumes Obama’s Efforts against Domestic Oil Production
n By Dr Mark W. Hendrickson reprieve from such policies during also cancelled all 2021 second quar- vast hydrocarbon reserves, it has on June 23, The Wall Street Jour-

PA the Trump presidency, President ter lease sales.” a strong ideological reason for do- nal reported that the US Fish and
Biden has wasted no time reinstat- On June 16 a federal judge is ing so: Team Biden, like the hard- Wildlife Service is resurrecting

n watching President Joe ing Obama-era restrictions and, if Biden Resumes Obama’s Efforts core environmentalist movement, a dubious Obama maneuver to ex-
Biden’s initiatives to curb anything, expanding upon them. against Domestic Oil Production is fanatically opposed to the idea of ploit the Endangered Species Act
IAmericans’ access to oil and President Obama canceled and sued a preliminary injunction that Americans having access to abun- to restrict fossil fuel development
natural gas, I thought of the late suspended oil and gas leases on fed- has paused Biden’s pauses on drill- dant and affordable domestic sup- on millions of acres of land. (Actu-

Yogi Berra’s famous eral lands and waters just one month ing. Responding to a lawsuit chal- plies of reliable energy. That overall ally, the greater danger to winged

quip, “It’s déjà vu all into his presidency. Biden one- lenging the Biden ban filed by Loui- bias comes into focus if one looks at wildlife are wind and solar energy
over again.” upped Obama by signing Executive siana Republican Attorney General other Biden energy policies. installations.)

Twelve years ago, Order 14008 after only one week in Jeff Landry and officials in 12 other On his very first day in office, In my previous article, I

during the first half- office. EO 14008 included these ac- states, US District Judge Terry Biden issued an EO that scuttled wrote about Biden’s intention of re-

year of the Obama tions: “Immediately, 2021 first quar- Doughty’s ruling declared that the the Keystone XL Pipeline that was viving Obama’s failed economic pol-
presidency, I wrote ter lease sales in several states were Biden EO failed to provide “any ra- to transport Canadian crude oil to icies. His various initiatives against

a piece titled, “Economic Stran- cancelled; the Gulf of Mexico Outer tional explanation” for canceling the American refineries. On June 1, fossil fuels is, to use a loaded word,
gulation: The Environmentalist/ Continental Shelf lease sale set for lease sales. Biden banned drilling for oil in the a “carbon” copy of Team Obama’s

Democrat War Against Energy.” March 2021 was cancelled; and Judge Doughty’s frank words Arctic Wildlife Refuge. (In a case of hostility to fossil fuels. Recall the

It documented the various ways work on environmental review for point directly to the nub of the is- tone-deaf timing, that ban was an- disdain that Obama’s first secretary
in which the Obama administra- an Alaska Outer Continental Shelf sue. While the Biden administration nounced on the same day that the of energy, Steven Chu, displayed to-
tion suppressed domestic produc- sale scheduled for later this year was has no “rational” reason for imped- price of oil rose above $70 per barrel ward American motorists when he

tion of oil and natural gas. After a halted. On April 21, 2021, the BLM ing the development of the USA’s for the first time in two years.) And BIDEN, P28

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