Adnan Rashid – Is Islam Barbaric? Book Recommendations

			But to simply stop and say, Islam is just about peace and there is nothing more to explore. That is
just ridiculous. And that should be self evident after all these years, we need to have an honest
conversation about this sickness in some parts of the Islamic community. So the problem is, notice
the problem is not religious extremism.
		

			Okay? Because extremism is not a problem if your core beliefs are truly non violent.
		

			The problem isn't fundamentalism,
		

			which we often hear that said, these are euphemisms. I mean, the only problem with Islamic
fundamentalism,
		

			or are the fundamentals of Islam.
		

			Islam is barbaric. Islam is backward, it causes degeneration of the mind. It is regressive. Islam is
causing oppression around the world. Islam causes terrorism. Islam promotes indiscriminate violence,
Islam, therefore, ISIS, this is what it boils down to, when we hear this on the news, when we hear
some pseudo intellectuals, on many platforms out there, when we, when we look at Christian
missionaries, and Islam haters in general, when they talk about Islam, these are the terms they use.
This is the language they use about a faith that produced the great the magnificent Islamic
civilization. The reason why people talk like that is twofold. Number one, they talk like that,
		

			because they're being paid plainly. It is a multi million dollar business now to promote hatred
against Islam,
		

			to peddle Islamophobia, and they get money for for that they make a lot of money. A lot of these
people they know what this thing is, it's all a bunch of a pack of lies. But they keep doing it
because they are being paid handsomely.
		

			So that may include extremist atheists that may include extremist Christians, missionaries, for
example. Not all of them. Of course, I'm talking about those extremists, those bigots who see
nothing but hate and darkness in Islam. And that may include people like BJP
		

			activists in India, okay. That may include other for example, agenda driven activists around the
world. So it's a lot of people doing the same thing around the world pumping hatred against Islam,
because they get paid. It is a multi million dollar industry at the same time, the second reason
people peddle hate against Islam or misconceptions against Islam is because they are simply
ignorant. They haven't studied the history of Islam and its civilization. And today, I will be doing
some book recommendations for people. In particular, for those who are peddling hate against Islam.
I'm pretty sure most of you won't read this books, because you don't want to change your view of
		

			Islam. I'm not talking to those people, those people who do not want to look into the sources I will
recommend today, I'm talking to those people, the minority out there that is actually interested in
knowing the truth. They really want to know the truth about Islam, what Islam has done, historically
speaking. So if Islam is what caused groups like ISIS to arise, or if Islam is behind all the
terrorism around the world, which is, by the way, geopolitical in nature, terrorism is taking place
from all sorts of people. It is coming from all types of people. Okay, Islam doesn't have a monopoly
on that. And this is another question completely a different question, which I cannot address in
		

			this video, because my video today is about the Muslim civilization.
		

			So I'm not going going to go into geopolitical causes for what's happening today in the Middle East
and beyond. Right. I can talk about that another time. I've talked about that many times in my other
lectures and debates, and, and in other media performances. Today I'm going to talk about what the
Muslim civilization is whether it can be accurately fairly justly equated with groups like ISIS and
other things. Okay. So, if Islam produces that result, as people claim, then what happened in London
was what happened during the Ottoman period when Muslims made immense progress in fields like
philosophy, literature, poetry, art, calligraphy, okay. observatories made for astronomical
		

			observations, right? Muslims are the manufacturers of astrolabes, an instrument that was being used
around the world to measure lens and distances and for traveling purposes. Okay. And optics for
example, medicine.
		

			Okay, can we
		

			All these fillings Muslims had mastered them. So why don't we attribute all these results to Islam?
Also, if you claim that Islam has caused what is happening today in the Middle East and beyond, and
you blame entirely the Muslim population, or Islam for that matter, then you have to be fair. And
you have to attribute all of this we will be talking about in due course, to Islam. Also, you have
to attribute all of this all these achievements. I have just mentioned briefly to Islam, if you have
to be fair. So when something bad happens, you want to attribute it to the religion, but all the
good production, all the good results, all the good outcome for over 1000 years of Muslim hard work.
		

			Do you know what do you not want to attribute that to Islam? Would that be fair? Would that be a
fair thing to do? I appeal to the human side of people out there. I appeal to the human side, the
good side. Okay. The Justice side, you know, there is justice inside all of us. I know. We have
goodness inside all of us. Sometimes, of course, the bad side overpowers the good side. Okay. But we
all have, there is a corner of our brain. There is something inside us. That makes us think Hold on,
maybe I'm being unjust. Maybe I am not being honest. Maybe I'm biased. Maybe I'm prejudiced. Maybe
I'm a bigot, for example, right? Maybe I need to change my views. I am appealing to that good side,
		

			I'm invoking that good side, that goodness inside you so that you can actually look into the history
of Islam itself independently without listening to haters. Paid haters paid islamophobes, who have
nothing to do in life, but to make money out of spreading hate against vulnerable people. And then
what happens as a result is global Islamophobia. You get the Rohingya case you get what's happening
in China, you get what's happening across the world, where Muslims are being attacked for their
faith. What's happening in India today, for example, what the BJP government is doing in India, all
of this happens because some haters are getting paid some little money for causing hundreds of 1000s
		

			of people to either die or suffer in silence. Okay, so Islam, Islam emerged as a power in seventh
century as a new religion, although we know Muslims believe it's not a new religion is the same
religion preached by Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah, and Adam. Right? We believe that it was the same
message which was La ilaha illAllah. There is no god worthy of worship,
		

			worthy of being worshipped, except Allah, one God. Allah is the same God who was worshipped by
Jesus, who was worshipped by Moses who was worshipped by Abraham, Noah and Adam. So this is the
message, right? So the same message came with Prophet Mohammed. And the Prophet Muhammad delivered
the message of the Quran. And the core of the Quran was the concept of mercy. In chapter 21, verse
107, the prophet of Islam was told in the Quran that we have sent you not, except as a mercy for the
words, oh, Mohammed, you have been sent as a mercy for the words. So spread this mercy around the
world. And this is exactly what Muslims did. from Spain to China Muslim created a magnificent
		

			civilization. This civilization dominated the world in the fields of science, literature, poetry,
and all the other things I mentioned earlier.
		

			For over 1000 years, for over 1000 years, the best scientists were in the Muslim world. The best
thinkers were in the Muslim world. The best points were in the Muslim world. The best observatories
were in the Muslim world, the best instruments, surgical instruments, scientific instruments,
whatever was available at the time. Of course, of course, science has made a lot of progress
recently, science has moved on quite a bit. Okay, so all the theories of Isaac Newton, for example,
or Galileo, or possibly, you know, I'm not going to say all the theories, but much of the science
has been outdated. Now, it is outdated. Science has moved on. Likewise, science, science has moved
		

			on from the time of Islam. And the Muslim scientists and the Muslim scientists were the dominant
scientists in the world. Science has moved on quite a bit from that period. Okay. So I'm not saying
what they were doing. Was science sticking to this, strictly speaking by today's standard? No, I'm
not saying that. I'm saying they are on top of
		

			the scientific research of their own time, whatever science was, in that period, the Muslims were on
top of it. Okay. And all of this civilization, are we going to attribute this achievement to Islam
or not? Are we going to say that the Quran was at the bottom of this? Are we going to say that
Muhammad and his
		

			teachings sallallahu alayhi Salaam are behind this magnificent civilization that that stretched from
China to Spain. Right? And all the universities, schools, colleges, all the magnificent roads,
street lamps and Cordova, for example, six centuries before they were found in London. Okay, all the
books written on all the great subjects for human development. Are we going to attribute those to
Islam or not? Does Islam forbid that science? Does Islam forbid the study of the natural phenomena?
Does Islam forbid the study of great thinkers of the past? Absolutely not. In fact, the Quran
commands to study the natural phenomena the Quran has versus for example, how to be lamely chatango
		

			regime of Allah yonder una lalibela kafer Holika Illa sama ek furusiyya what Allah Jabari k fenosa
but what a lot of dk fossati. What do you not see how we created the camel for example, you the
Arabs, you can see camel, every single leg? Do you not see how we created it? Do you not see how the
heavens are raised high? Do you not see how the mountains were pegged? deep into the ground? Do you
not see how the planet Earth was made for you? All these things? Do you not see them? So God
Almighty is actually invoking that spirit within the human mind to study to study the natural
phenomenon? And you will see how powerful God is your Creator. Okay, so the Muslims are doing that
		

			for over 1000 years. Okay? And what was the outcome? The outcome was the great Muslim civilization
books have been written on these topics. So these are my book recommendations on the study of the
Muslim civilization one book to begin with, so that you understand how Islam was actually spread.
How Islam expanded so rapidly in such a short span of time in the seventh century and beyond. How
was this civilization or the landmass? carved? Okay, from China to Spain? How did that happen?
There's a very, very important book. I want you all to read and study it. It is an encyclopedia of
information. the preaching of Islam by Professor Thomas Arnold. This particular edition was
		

			published in 1913. Now a lot of you may be thinking it is outdated, it is old. No, it is not
actually, the evidence still stands. The evidence he presented for his arguments, still stands is
very, very powerful. the preaching of Islam.
		

			History of the propagation of the Muslim faith, Tw Arnold,
		

			London, constable and Company Limited 1930. In this edition, you may not find this edition online,
you will find a recent reprints and please get hold of this book and study it the preaching of
Islam. It is also called the spread of Islam erroneously by some of the publishers who have been
reprinted it. Thomas Arnold, who was not a Muslim, he was a British philosopher, who had taught in
India in Indian colleges and universities returned to Britain. And he worked for four to five years
in the British Library collecting evidence to write this book. In this book, he argues that Islam
was
		

			actually a blessing. Islam liberated a lot of oppressed people in the land of Syria, Egypt and
beyond. In fact, one of the reasons Islam spread so fast was because of the mercy and the Justice
and the tolerance, tolerance Islam brought with it. So Professor Thomas Arnold talks about that in
this book very powerfully, with a lot of historic evidence, this book is mind blowing, I recommend,
I recommend this particular book for all people out there Muslims and non Muslims, and in
particular, for those who are spreading hate against Islam and Muslims, whether you are paid or
whether you are simply simply ignorant, please go and study this book. And you will see a lot of the
		

			reasons how Islam spread so fast in the southern century, and what happened after that sprint, what
are what arose as a result, okay. Another book I have already recommended
		

			for studying is the hidden debt to Islamic civilization. Okay. This book is important, because once
you understand how Islam spread so fast from China to Spain, having read this book, the preaching of
Islam by Thomas Arnold, then you have to understand what happened afterwards after the spread what
occurred and this is what occurred, hidden debt to Islamic civilization a very powerful book se
alleges that ad Algis it spelt a bit funny. Al hyphen DJ A Zed a I ri Okay, this is the spelling of
the author's name I just saw ad. Okay. Hidden debt to Islamic civilization is an encyclopedia of
information about 500 pages. And this gives you information as to what the Muslim civilization
		

			having spread after taking all that landmass? What happened then some of you is
		

			Some of you some of you may be asking as to why this took place in the first place. Why were the
Muslims taking all this land in the first place? Again, the answer is to be found in this book, the
spread of Islam or the preaching of Islam by Professor Thomas Arnold. By the way, he didn't die a
Muslim, he was not a Muslim. He simply put down the history as he found it. write another book, I
would strongly recommend to study the history of the Muslim civilization or the Islamic civilization
is a very important book studies in Islamic civilization, the Muslim contribution to the Renaissance
very important book, okay. It is authored by Ahmed Isa with Manali. Okay, two authors have written
		

			this book, in collaboration. And this is a very powerful book that talks about much history of
Islam. So I don't think I have time to read the contents. But some of the contents mentioned, for
example, fields like
		

			agriculture and technology, flowering of planning, learning, the sciences, medicine, Arabic
literature, Persian literature, the arts,
		

			Ottoman contribution to the Islamic civilization, Islamic impact on the Renaissance. So this will
give you a lot of powerful evidence on the civilization of Islam. Can we attribute this information
to Islam? This achievement, Islam, all of this, can we attribute fairly justly to all of this to
Islam? Did Islam have any role in that? Okay, is the question. People will accuse Islam of all those
things I mentioned in the beginning of this video, I asked you a question. And I invoke the spirit
of justice inside you. Can we attribute fairly justly all of this to Islam and Muslims? Did the
Muslims ever achieve this? For over 1000 years Muslims dominated these fields? Okay, Muslims are
		

			beacons of light beacons of civilization, beacons of good manners, beacons of good behavior. Muslims
facilitated the coexistence of the Jews and the Christians. For centuries, the Jewish people
survived extinction because the Muslims protected them for over 1000 years. Where did the Jewish
people go when they were kicked out of England? In the 13th century by Edward The first is the
question, Where did they go? Where did the Jews go when they were kicked out of France by Philip?
		

			This at the same time, they ended up in a London office in Spain. And the Jewish people flourished
in Spain, they produce some of the best points. Thus philosophers, best thinkers, best theologians
and a Londolozi in Spain during the Spanish Golden Age. This is what the Jewish scholars tell us.
And I will do a separate video on my book recommendations on Jews and Islam. So that you can look
into that with Sharla.
		

			So this is another book science in medieval Islam, and illustrated introduction by Howard R. Turner.
This has been published by the Texas University Press. OK, if I'm not mistaken, yeah, University of
Texas press, Austin.
		

			Science in medieval Islam. Okay. A very interesting book, you must read it. If you happen to be
British or English in particular, there is one book I strongly recommend is this book, The matter of
araby in medieval England, by Dorothy messalonskee, Dorothy messalonskee. She specifically talks
about what the Arabic science did in medieval England in particular, not Germany, not France,
England, in particular, whereby English scholars had learned the Arabic language to study the
Islamic sciences, sciences, such as philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and other, for example,
mathematics, Islamic instruments made in Islamic Spain, and all of that, of course, the religion was
		

			put aside because the Catholic clergy at the time were very hostile to Islam and Muslims. And if you
want to understand that hostility and where it came from, I strongly recommend another book, which
is titled by Norman sorry, which is titled, Islam in the West making of an image. The title of the
book is Islam and the West, making off an image. It is authored by Norman, Daniel Norman. Daniel has
written that book and you will understand where the hostility came from and how Islam image was
distorted throughout this period, for almost 1000 years, the Catholic Church and the clergy. Even
the Protestants later on, were deliberately tarnishing the name of Islam as late as the 18th
		

			century. It was only in the 19th century when some European scholars realized Hold on, enough is
enough. We have said a lot of
		

			book was about Islam and the prophet of Islam, so we need to put the record straight. Hence.
		

			works such as an apology for Mohammed and the Quran were produced by john
		

			Devonport john Davenport, he wrote this book titled an apology for Muhammad and the Quran. And there
were other authors who had written similar works in the 19th century, praising the civilization of
Islam and Muslims. In fact, it started the process started in the 18th century, during the lightened
min period, whereby some enlightenment philosophers and founding fathers were writing works praising
Islam. For example, one of those examples was Adam Smith, you can find him on the back of the 20
pound note to this day. Okay, Adam Smith was born in 1723, and died in 1790, was the author of the
famous book The Wealth of Nations, right, he had paid lavish tributes to the Muslim civilization, in
		

			his essays on astronomy, for example.
		

			Another author, I would like to mention is Edward Gibbon, the author of the decline in the fall of
the Roman Empire, he praised the Muslim civilization, although he criticized a lot of it as well,
but at the same time, he praised the Muslim civilization for his achievements, right. So this
process had started during the Enlightenment period, praising Islam before that could amount to
losing your life, right. So European scholars started to break free from the Catholic and the
Protestant and, and Strictly speaking, Christian traditional Islam and started to read books, they
read Islam and the history of Islam on its own terms. And they,
		

			they found more reasons to be sympathetic, and more reasons to be objective. Another book, which is
a short book, by Montgomery Ward, Montgomery Ward has written his book, The influence of Islam on
medieval Europe, the influence of Islam on medieval Europe very important work for you to understand
how Islam influenced
		

			the European or the western civilization. Much of the Western civilization is highly indebted to
Islam, and what Muslims had done in those 1000 years, I'm talking about another very powerful
important book, although quite complicated, technical, and detailed, very academic, is the
enterprise of Islam. Sorry, the enterprise enterprise of science in Islam. Okay, new perspectives,
the enterprise of science in Islam, okay. And this particular book has been published by if I'm not
mistaken, again,
		

			the publisher is the MIT Press, the MIT Press is an academic work, very, very powerful, very
important. And here scholars discuss the enterprise of science in Islam if
		

			and this is another book, finally, very powerful Britain and the Islamic world. I want you to read
this book. It is written or co authored by Gerald McLean. And Bill matar, very good authors,
academic authors. So having looked at this briefly, of course, I cannot describe the contents of
these books in one video, that's not going to be possible, I invite you to choose one of them and
start reading and see what the Muslim civilization achieved in those centuries, for over 1000 years,
and that
		

			that achievement continued, until I would say, the 16th century, okay.
		

			Until the 16th century, Muslim works were being studied in Europe, Muslim scientist continued to
work in the Ottoman lands, and occasionally in the Mughal Empire. And then there was a slight
decline in Muslim science. Now, why that happened, is very important for us to know there were a
number of reasons because of economic reasons. Because the Muslims have very rich, they have a very,
very rich, very powerful, the Ottomans and the moguls are the richest people in the world. Sometimes
they didn't simply need the fee, you know, they didn't feel the need to actually go and start
looking into
		

			scientific works or produce works on science because they didn't need it. In Europe, why science
took off is because Europe was very poor. This is why European merchants, traders, they were
exploring, and through this exploration, they actually colonize the world, or whatever power they
acquired the European powers from Renaissance onwards, they went and they colonized the entire
world. Okay. This happened after the fall of Granada in Spain, the last stronghold of the Muslims in
Al Andalus. In Spain, Grenada, it fell in 1492. And the result was Christopher Columbus leaving
Spain, going looking looking for an alternative route to India and he finds the Indians who were not
		

			actually Indians, these are Native Americans, and he landed in the Americas, and lo and behold, the
destruction of the Native Americans thenceforth right. And then the rest of the world
		

			was also colonized North Africa and some parts of sub Saharan Africa, also India, okay, all of these
lands are colonized after the Renaissance, Renaissance powers or the European powers acquired that
wealth of knowledge through science, right. But the Muslims at that time, they were rich, they were
powerful. They didn't, they didn't see the need to invent more things, and start looking into these
things. And, unfortunately, but in the 18th century, we have individuals or individual governments,
individual states making immense
		

			contributions and advancement in these fields. I gave an example of people soltanto earlier in
another video, where people Sultan made immense,
		

			you know,
		

			leaps in
		

			making technological progress, for example, he produced his own weapons in his factories, and
saranga put him in his capital in South India, he governed a state called Missouri government from
1780 to 1799, almost 20 years. And in that period, he made immense progress when it comes to
science, technology. And he amassed a library of 2000 books. He was reading, reading French works,
he was communicating with, you know, American founding fathers of,
		

			you know, the War of Independence, for example, people like Thomas Jefferson, he had received an
embassy pupils hold on Napoleon Bonaparte, the Turkish Sultan, and Afghan King and the Iranian king,
he was Saddam was communicating with all these people trying to find ways to make progress. And the
East India Company in India was trying to suppress his influence. The East India Company wanted to
destroy the coastal town in the state, because they feel they felt threatened that if he becomes
powerful, it he gets hurt. If he gets his hand on science and technology, then we will be in
trouble. Our colonial rule will end in India. And I can go on and on and on talk about a lot of
		

			this. So the bottom line is the basic facts I have discussed in front of you, if you attribute all
these unpleasant events today in the Middle East, and elsewhere, or even the poverty of some of the
Muslim nations not that all Muslim countries are poor. We have Qatar, we have Dubai, we have
Malaysia, we have other examples. Of course, there are good examples. Turkey, for example, is a very
powerful nation now, thankfully,
		

			and God bless them all.
		

			But if you want to look at the Muslim lands today and say, Okay, this is because of Islam. Okay, if
you see any corruption there, if you see poverty there, you cannot actually do that to Islam. You
cannot, because when Islam came, these very downtrodden, underdeveloped, semi barbaric or semi
civilized people of Arabia became the most civilized people in the world. This is what the fruit of
Islam was when they took Islam seriously. So all of you out there,
		

			whether you are islamophobes, extremist atheists, okay, whether you are pseudo intellectuals,
whether you are Christian missionaries attacking Islam and Muslims,
		

			when you actually build all these unpleasant events around the world to Islam, can you also please
fairly and justly, in your videos and in your lectures in your talks? Start to attribute the fruits
of the Muslim civilization for the last 1000 years to Islam also, this is my request. I hope you
will fulfill it Assalamu alaikum. More will be coming. Until then. Bye.