Why do we ignore Arab influence on the West?

Forgetting the influence of Islam and Arabic scholars on Western culture and demonising them is not very clever. We need to recall the fact that Christianity started in the Middle East – among the Semitic people (those very same people - Jews and Arabs that history now condemns) so why demonise them? They are part of us. If we complain that “they” think and do things differently from “us” remember that “we” think and do things differently from “them”! So who is right? And does it really matter?

The current rigidity of political agendas, media alignment or religious thinking – be it Islamic, Christian or Judaic and the rise of the fundamentalism,  is a strong indication of desperation and a lack of desire for change – even an inability to see the need for change. A “them or us” or the even  more divisive, “are you with us or against us” attitude is grounded in ideology, in ignorance and lacks common sense. This malicious talk gives rise to the false belief that “my” religion is better than yours – therefore yours is inferior to mine; therefore, by default, I am better than you. This is dangerous thinking and gives rise to many of the problem that beset the world today. What concerns me is the  injustice that this type thinking engenders which, unfortunately,  is prevalent everywhere.

What is the difference between extremists of whatever faith, Christian, Islamic or Jewish? There are none that I can see. All worship God – by that name or by any one of many “sacred” names. God is God, but they are all blind to the fact that life, in whatever form, is a dynamic process.

In the11^th century Pope Urban II promised Christians an “eternal” reward if they joined a crusade against the Muslims to help “restore” the Holy Land to Christianity!! I wonder where I have heard this before? Don’t forget that the current crop of Muslim clerics (some of whom advocate violence against the “great Satan” – America)  make the same promises for those who sacrifice their lives for the “cause”. Violence of any kind is the result of moral bankruptcy.

The 11^th Century Crusaders shouted “God wills it” as they attacked Arab fortifications – the current 21^st Century Muslim Jihadist shouts, “It is the will of Allah” as he detonates a bomb!

So what is new?

Did you know that about the year 960 AD the Arabs were performing successful cataract operations with sharpened fish bones; that their knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, agronomy and science in general was centuries ahead of the “West”? Similarly with their manufacturing skills and philosophical understanding – they were way ahead of us “Westies”.

At this same time in history Christian clerics where arguing about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin (I kid you not)!!

At this time in history (the 10^th Century) the favoured  “Western” form of justice was a trial by ordeal – a brutal and crude judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experiences. In some cases, the accused were considered innocent only if they survive the test or if their injuries healed.  At that period of history the Arabs had a complete legal system and while we might not agree with all aspects of the way it is interpreted and applied, it is still operating today.

Laws and institutions have to adapt with the developments in our understanding. As we become more enlightened in our thinking, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change according to circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.  To do otherwise is to condemn our “civilised” society to remain forever under the regimen of our (possibly) less enlightened ancestors.  Fundamentalists, with their avowed intention to “go back to basics” and apply religious dogma according to a strict, literal, interpretation of the written word are a road block to this progress. This is possibly what has happened in the recent history of the Arabs and Islam and the Catholic Church.

There is also the fact that human activity will always – over a period of time – revert to the mean. By this I suggest that the swings from extreme left wing political views to extreme right wing political views will, over time, become more moderate and revert to the centre.

Over time the same will happen with any human activity. Corrupt authorities will give way to extreme puritanical regimes, which will in turn, over a period of years, change to a less extreme and more tolerant form of governance. But without a revolution (the Arab Spring?) or enlightened leadership this will take generations.

Rigid thought patterns and fundamentalism is the same however it is practiced. Really there is no difference – human nature is, after all, human  nature!!

(I am indebted to the author Jonathon Lyons  and his interesting book entitled  “The House of Wisdom” – subtitled ‘how the Arabs transformed Western Civilization’  which vastly increased my knowledge on this subject.)

Why Fundamentalism holds people back.

Any individual, group, society or culture that claims to be the sole protector of the “truth”, be that truth Scientific, Statistical, Christian, Muslim, Communist or whatever – holds a fundamentalist view. In fact anyone with a fixed belief, is Fundamentalist. Fundamentalism constrains human innovation; fundamentalists want to revert to what the purveyors of the ideology consider a “cleaner’ more “pure” past. Or in the case of science (and my pet aversion, statistics) if it can’t be “proved” it doesn’t exist, it can’t work or else it is a figment of someone’s overactive imagination.

Fundamentalist either forget or ignore the human spirit, which cannot be constrained. The human spirit (however defined) needs to be free to seek, to strive and to find, in its own way - and not everyone is the same or wants the same things. Anyone who tries to hold back the human spirit, or attempts to direct it into one particular path is doomed to ultimate failure. To prove this point just take a look at what is happening in the Middle East and the hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the practices of financial institutions in American cities and it other cities around the world.

The possible exception here, to returning to the past, is the Scientific Fundamentalist who believes totally in the power and purity of scientific exposition and innovation – and there have been some wonderful inventions and discoveries. But the Scientific True Believer, in whatever field of science, has an absolute conviction that scientific “knowledge” is the basis for everything including Life itself. This scientific evidence, it is often claimed, can be proved statistically; that Statistical “facts” trump all else; that scientific concepts which are supported by statistical “proof” must therefore be true, and anyone who does not see this or who voices any opposition, is worthy of nothing but contempt.

Just recall the years of ridicule and isolation suffered by two Australian scientists, Robin Warren and Barry Marshall who in 1982 discovered that the main cause of stomach ulcers is the bacteria Heliobacter pylori. In their original paper, Warren and Marshall contended that most stomach ulcers and gastritis were caused by colonization with this bacterium, not by stress or spicy food as had been assumed before. They did not conform to current scientific thinking and were pilloried for their stand. Had they been scientific fundamentalist they would never have made this discovery and those suffering from stomach ulcers and medicine would have been the poorer. Stomach ulcers are now cured with a short course of antibiotics.

When the subject turns to Religious (or Political) Fundamentalism we delve into murky waters indeed. To my way of thinking religious or political fundamentalism (often considered one and the same when there is no division between “Church” and State) also holds back innovation by demanding (often on pain of death) that all people believe that they (the Leaders) alone know what is best for them – the populace – and that they (the fundamentalist leaders) are following God’s will. And generally fundamentalists of this ilk try to reduce the role of women to virtual slavery and to being totally dependent on the males in the family. Again, look at the Christian fundamentalists in America, the Jewish fundamentalists in Israel and the Islamic fundamentalists in many Muslim countries, particularly Iran and Saudi Arabia and then of course there is the basket case of North Korea.

I may be wrong (the favoured expression always used by someone who believes they are right!!), but by restricting education to learning the Koran and Sharia Law, or applying a strict interpretation of the Torah or the Bible, and by not educating women, these fundamentalists are holding back their citizens.

One needs to ask how fundamentalism, in any form, adds to the material or spiritual well-being of Mankind?