It Is Finished...

    It is finished!  Well, “this week’s” book.  Which, in reality is the book I started three weeks ago?  So, the third and final installment of A History of the Arab Peoples.  In reality this book was more a story of the history of Islam and Islamic empires, the way in which these empires handled the Arab and non-Arab populations within them and how these empires dealt with their own natural ebb and flow as well as the ebb and flow of the non-Islamic world around them.

    As such, the book gave a good deal of insight into; early interactions between Muslims, Christians and Jews (quite civil in the early interactions but growing less so through history,) the kingdoms of the Andulsian period in what is now Spain and Portugal and the Ottoman Empire (which I knew little about but have come, through this work, to admire.)

    I did know, prior to my reading, that the Arab world (i.e. the Islamic world) was responsible for maintaining and further much of the early Greek thought and the after the Dark Ages in Europe much of the reflowering of thought in the West was due in no small part to the knowledge that had been preserved by Islamic scholars.  However, I was unaware of their contribution to medicine, specifically -

“It was as practitioners of the art of healing that Muslim doctors made their most important contributions.  They carried further the techniques of surgery.  They observed the course of diseases and described them; Ibn al-Khatib (1313-74) was perhaps the first to understand the way in which plague spread by contagion.  They studied the making of drugs from medicinal plants and their effects on human bodies, and the pharmacopoeia was extensive; it has been said that the pharmacy as an institution is an Islamic invention. They also understood the importance of those factors which could prevent that imbalance of the elements which, as they believed, led to illness: healthy diet, fresh air and exercise.”

    It simply amazes me that a culture which was, initially, so supportive of learning and maintaining and expanding knowledge could today be plagued by violent religious beliefs.  That said, we live in a country which would perhaps not benefit much from its citizenry being familiar with the less violent aspects of its enemies (be they military, political or economic.)  Bearing in mind, as well, that we would be judged just as harshly by outsiders who were familiar only with the fundamentalist Christians within our own borders.

    Of course this book has affected me in other ways as well.  I’ve been working on a fantasy novel for quite some time now, never quite sure where to go with it.  My brother, Garth, is an avid reader of SciFi and Fantasy and a dear friend of mine, Michael Bird (RIP,) was a writer of such things and encouraged me on more than one occasion to abandon (albeit briefly) my attachment to more literary endeavors and write something which I had always termed “fluff fiction.”  It took me several years to get around to it but I finally took him up on his request (though I did so after he would have been able to appreciate –or perhaps have second thoughts on – the effort.)  At any rate, I had been looking for a way to introduce one of the characters and had given thought to a long, drawn out, “kingly” introduction but was never quite sure how to go about it properly until seeing this, the title of an Ottoman ruler:

“His Majesty, the victorious and successful sultan, the ruler aided by God, whose undergarment is victory, the padishah whose glory is high as Heaven, king of kings who are like stars, crown of the royal head, the shadow of the Provider, culmination of kingship, quintessence of the book of fortune, equinoctial line of justice, perfection of the spring-tide of majesty, sea of benevolence and humanity, mine of the jewels of generosity, source of the memorials of valour, manifestation of the lights of felicity, setter-up of the standards of Islam, writer of justice on the pages of time, sultan of the two continents and of the two seas, ruler of the two easts and of the two wests, servant of the two holy sanctuaries, namesake of the apostle of men and of jinns, Sultan Muhammad Khan.”

    And, finally, a thought on modern Saudi Arabia by way of a quote concerning another Islamic society of the past:

“…the Ottoman Empire should acquire the strength of a modern state by changes in laws, methods of administration and military organization; the relationship of sultan and subject should be changed into that of modern government and citizen, and loyalty to a ruling family should be transmuted into the sense of membership of a nation, the Ottoman nation, which would include Muslims and non-Muslims, Turks and non-Turks.  All this could be done without disloyalty to Islam or the traditions of the empire, if only they were understood correctly.”

    Granted, Saudi Arabia has made many large strides in becoming less the fiefdom of the al-Sa’ud and more a modern country but it still has a ways to go.  However, I personally believe that when there comes a time in Saudi Arabia where there is no income from oil and people are no longer, effectively, wards of the state (i.e. the al-Sa’ud) and when taxes must be levied and such like things that most other countries have to deal with out of necessity for their day to day operation then, at that time, the “reforms” (if one can or should call them that) in Saudi Arabia will be complete.  It seems, of course, that they are marching that way on their own, however, and may reach “modern” standards long before the become necessary for survival. 

    My next book (which I have, thankfully, already begun) is a book written by Robert L. O’Connel entitled The Ghosts of Cannae concerning Rome’s greatest defeat at the hands of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.  So far a quite interesting and informative read, even to someone such as myself who has read and studied a great deal on Rome.

    I have also begun reading the Koran and am still (marginally) studying Arabic (which is to say I am working hard to not forget that which I already know and slowly adding words at random.)

    I am, as always, open to comments and questions and look forward to our next textual encounter.