Umayyad

And let they feet millenniums hence be set in midst of knowledge.

Instead of tourists and pilgrims, the great courtyard of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus once held as many scribes and philosophers, hungry for knowledge, thirsting for light. The Qur'anic emphasis on ilm, the pursuit of knowledge, is perhaps the reason why the modern world has knowledge of Western Philosophy. This 'urge to know' spurred Muslim scribes to scour for the texts of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and transcribing them into bound volumes destined for great centres of learning like Al-Azhar in Cairo. Without this contribution, Western Philosophy as we know it today would have been lost and the world, a poorer place. The Islam that I read about and that I experience I travel is so different from the sensationalized version of Islam and Islamic Jihad. What seems like an absolutist form of belief upon deeper scrutiny reveals itself to be an enlightened and all encompassing faith. Islam seems to abhor all kinds of monopoly, of truth, power, wealth, knowledge and authoritarianism. Most of its general principles are designed to break down monopolies and subvert unquestioning authority. For even belief in Islam itself cannot go unqualified and blind, unquestioning faith is not appreciated.