Excess meaning from the mission to the collapse of the two world trade towers

Armstrong tried to get her hands on the history of Islam from the formation of the mission of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to the collapse of the two world trade towers in New York.

It takes us in a historical narrative in which equity and analytical ability embraced, and the manifestation of Islam to the West in a form different from the narratives prevailing among them.

Since the publication of the book, the British orientalist Karen Armstrong, born in 1944, "The Brief History of Islam", I have been looking forward to owning it for several reasons, the most important of which is the impartial scientific history that characterizes the writer.

Then the content of the book that I am interested in looking at in the current period, and finally the translation of the late Dr. Osama is the patron saint of Mr. Three reasons, each one supporting the other, all three of which prompted me to acquire it as soon as it descended.

The book is an intellectual document

The book was organized in five stages, beginning with the beginnings and ending with the stage of the opponents of Islam.

The book, from its title, may initially be thought of as a historical narrative book for the most important eras in the history of Islam, but this is not the case. The book is deeper than a mere historical narrative. Rather, it is an intellectual document and a history of the formation of ideas through a chronological sequence that flows smoothly and flows from the principle of the Muhammadan mission to our modern era.

It will not be hidden from you as soon as you finish it, that you are standing in front of a fair writer who was not affected by the narrations of the blond man from her people, and this appeared in more than one case, which seemed to me to be more precise and noble than some Muslim writers!

For example, I was careful to consider her position while talking about the path of the first prophecy. I was careful about her treatment of the story of the Jews of Banu Qurayza, as there were many abuses in it and a suspicion that perplexes the contemporary Muslim from the horror of the brutality that emerges from the shadows of the meanings of the ruling that was inflicted on Banu Qurayzah. Then it seemed to me how a woman from the West, writing to the West that believed in the fundamentalism of Islam and its Prophet, with the tinge of violence that had adhered to it falsely and slanderously, looked at her about the betrayal of Banu Qurayza who tried to uproot the emerging nation. The society was virgin, and the Muslims themselves had only survived the complete extermination a little before that, and if Muhammad had confined himself to banishing the Qarazis, he would have magnified his opponents from the Jews in Khaybar, and they would wage another war against the nation that would contribute to its eradication in a desire to erase it from the spot in which he resided.

Then she adds: "Moreover, no Arab leader, in the seventh century and in the Arabian Peninsula, was able to show mercy towards traitors like the Banu Qurayza. In the fight against the Qarazites there was a bitter message to the Jews of Khaybar, and it also contributed to suppressing pagan opposition. In the city, because the pagan chiefs were allies of the Jewish rebels. It was a battle to the death, in which every party knew the dangers were great."

You can find clarity in her speech as she deals with a thorny issue in which some opponents find a grim incident that condemns Islam from its early days, as some Muslims approach it with some shame, trying to absolve Islam from the stigma of brutality at times, and some of them base the standards of the current era on that history, then come out with a description Prophetic guidance with violence and “violation of human rights standards”, since their harassment of the Quraish convoy through the incident of Bani Qurayza and ending with the events of September, all these events stand behind the idea of ​​violence that surrounds Islam, according to their claim!

Life as a whole is sacred worship

This deep understanding that Armstrong’s visions included does not stop at some of the thorny issues that were known in history, but rather the extent of her understanding of the realities of Islam and the contrast of the Muhammadan religion with other ancient and modern models, and for this she says: “According to the Qur’anic perspective, there is no separation between the sacred, the divine and the secular. Nor between sex and worship, for life as a whole can be sacred, and it is necessary to work in it according to the divine approach. And monotheism was the goal behind that.” .

Fairness goes with it to talk about the marriage of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and refute the allegations that refer to the Prophet, peace be upon him, in relation to his marriage to nine women, and refute the statements opposing the Prophet of Islam, describing him as the person who “only brought peace to the Arabian Peninsula after the wars fought it,” and in an apparent report on the Prophet’s victory. Peace be upon women since the advocacy appeared, Armstrong says: “The emancipation of women was a matter beloved to the heart of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the Qur’an also granted her the right to inheritance and to divorce centuries before Western women attained these two rights.”

This is a statement that may be said by others in a consumerist nature, aiming at the elevation of Islam in ready-made terms to honor “women in Islam,” but Armstrong proceeds from an advanced understanding of the major principles of Islam, and for this you find it often consistent with these concepts that are often confused, especially from the other who looks to Islam and invite it with some apprehension.

This does not mean that we accept the writer in everything she went to, as it seemed to me that one of her most important mistakes was her conception of the philosophy of battles and wars that the first generation fought, and starting from a materialistic interpretation of history, as she explains the conquests that were in the era of Farouk Omar as a kind of fullness The vacuum created by Islam’s prohibition of invasion among Muslims themselves, as was the case before the era of the Message, and that is what prompted them to go abroad to benefit financially and alleviate the problems that arose from the new Islamic peace in the Arabian Peninsula. system, and the outlaw elements had to be controlled, and the obvious solution was a series of invasions of non-Muslim societies in neighboring countries.” I have wasted all the values ​​of conquest that Islam carried, and narrowed the focus of vision to return its facts to economic reasons.

Then in another place, the evidence for this idea was expanded more clearly than before, saying: “Umar did not believe that he had a divine mandate to conquer the world, but his goal was entirely pretexts, to take advantage of them.” Although the writer denied the spread of Islam by the sword, it was attributed to Muslims go out and jihad for the sake of this world.

I was delighted to respond to the translator’s response to her doctrine, as he, may God have mercy on him, said: “And in this is the dwarfing of religion, it hardly reaches the rank of the simplest moral school of nobility of purpose, honor of purpose and depth of impact. And the matter was as the writer said, so why were Muslims presenting Islam first. On the people of the conquered countries, and they knew that if these people converted to Islam, their blood, money, and liberation would be deprived, and they themselves became part of the economic problem, instead of being the best solution to it. And its doctrine in this case is the apparent invalidity when considering the totality of major concepts such as jihad, da’wah, martyrdom, the afterlife, and others.

I took it easy to say, and I do not want to prolong the presentation of what stopped me in the whole book, but it is sufficient for me to move to the bench of the conclusion, which is the last chapter that I titled “Anti-Islam”, the arrival of the West to the helm of leadership and the decline of the Muslim nation, and an explanation of the conflicting ideas and philosophical concepts that led the world to what It came to him in our time, and for a slow look at this civilized phenomenon that paved the way for the age of enlightenment and was known as modernity, so it filled the world and occupied people, and then what this phenomenon involved in changing the direction of the modern world from heaven to earth. It is a chapter worth reading and studying.

Armstrong concluded her book on the impact of the events of September 11 on Islam and its followers.(Khaled Barah)