Islamic
history revealed shows different sides
of the story
Asad Raza
A religion should not be judged by its followers, but by its preaching and its
values. In today’s world, people believe Islam preaches violence, intolerance
and hatred towards people of other beliefs. I am going to attempt to rebut those
misconceptions through a historical journey of the Islamic Empire.
When Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) passed away, the Islamic Empire, which was
at that point mostly centered throughout Arabia, began to fall apart. It was
the power of his message that kept the Arab tribes together, who for generations
associated their religious beliefs with idols.
At one point after the Prophet’s death, the Islamic Empire stretched from
Jerusalem to as far as the borders of China, the shores of the Iberian Peninsula
and down to Egypt. Some of the greatest scientific achievements were made by
Muslim and non-Muslim scholars who resided within this very empire.
The Islamic world was home to some of the greatest philosophers of all time who
studied Greek philosophy in great detail and advanced it further, always giving
the author his credit, something that has not been the case when it comes to
Muslims being given the credit for their contributions to the world today.
One thing common among these scholars was that they held their religion in high
regard, and always relied on God to guide them. They never crossed the boundaries
of morality or religion, and stuck to their paths.
All this, of course, was abolished and burnt to the ground with the invasion
of the Christian Crusaders sanctioned by the Papacy itself. The Christians were
hell-bent on capturing the holy land of Jerusalem through a military venture
against the Jews and the Muslims in that region.
In addition, the hordes of Genghis Khan came, which were proceeded further by
his grandson, Hulagu Khan, who exterminated entire dynasties, states and caliphites.
His armies raped, pillaged and incinerated libraries, places of worship and academic
structures to the ground without a shred of mercy.
Hulagu Khan obliterated the greatest capital of culture, literacy, arts and philosophy,
and later, his people converted to the very same religion whose empire they collapsed.
From that point on, the Christian Crusaders conquered Islamic lands. They were
followed by the emergence of the colonialists who further carved up the Muslim
lands into different states, which later gained independence, only to be recognized
as autonomous nations.
This systematic division and the elimination of a formerly glorious empire is
what has angered today’s scholars and preachers, some of whom are not entirely
educated in religion itself to comprehend the true message of Islam.
The golden era of literacy, discoveries, inventions and progression was forever
halted by the swords of the Mongols and the Christians.
These so-called “preachers” systematically select portions of the
Quran that deal with war and defense of one’s lands and use them to create
a message of death and destruction through aggression, which is tantamount to
the message delivered by the Papacy during the Christian Crusades.
Using the common idea that Islam preaches violence, it can also be said Christianity
too is a religion of hatred, intolerance and militancy because it was the invasion
of the Crusades and the bloody Spanish Inquisition that is responsible for the
state of the Muslims today, and in fact is also in a profound way responsible
for their violent attitudes today.
Such hasty generalizations and faltered logic are the reason behind today’s
misinterpretation of Islam and its message. This generalization of a population
of nearly a sixth of the entire world is fundamentally erroneous and should be
abandoned.
Unfortunately, the golden ages of education and literacy never blossomed again
after the European Renaissance of arts, science and culture, which was preceded
by the Dark Ages of Europe. It was an era of ignorance, hatred, intolerance,
and violence, which seems to have besieged the mentality of many people today.
Asad Raza is a senior electrical engineering major.
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