This is a continuation of the abstracts from an excellent article by Mahnoor Khan, posted by Pak Tea House, Lahore and forwarded to me by Barrister Dr Muhammed Javed Iqbal Jafree of Salarpur, a professor and a very versatile personality.
Dr Jafree has now informed me that the article was culled from a blog ‘Pak Tea House’ which was started, and is being quite liberally run, by Raza Rumi. Here follows the remaining part of the extracts and my comments thereto.
Mahnoor Khan (MK): I have come to the conclusion that failure to analyse Muslim history critically has been one of the root causes of the Muslims’ present plight. We must understand how different rulers used religion as a tool for their own purposes. How it was used to ensure strict confinement of women under the guise of protection requires a separate article, but needless to say, all laws and customs were designed to keep women under control.
The rulers kept multiple wives and hundreds of concubines, but were incredibly jealous of any possibility of their women going astray. So the guards and overall administrators of harems were castrated soldiers/slaves. The head of the harem guards was known as a khawaja saraa in the Subcontinent. By the way, castration is condemned in Islam, yet it was practised for the benefit of the ruling class.
DK: It is disgusting to learn how Muslim rulers misused religion to commit such atrocities. If one goes to Turkey and visits Topkapi Museum, one can see the Sultan’s harem where women, both local and foreign, were confined to small, dungeon-like cells. In some Muslim countries, young girls were circumcised to make them sexually insensitive, a custom still performed in many African Muslim countries. Many Middle East rulers are known to womanise and drink.
MK: Another ugly aspect we hardly read about in our textbooks is the rampant racism and slavery. There was open racism against blacks and preference for whites. In the slave market, white slaves, normally captured from Central Asia, were much more pricy than slaves captured from Africa. The blacks were given more menial tasks as compared to whites.
The slave traders of the Americas and Europe are maligned so much, but in some parts of the Muslim world, slaves were traded until the early 20th century. Racism still exists within us against blacks right here in Pakistan, just ask the Makrani community.
DK: We like to blame the west for the slave trade, conveniently omitting the dirty role played by the Arab Muslims in hounding, capturing and selling millions of Africans to the white traders. These ‘hunters’ chained or tied their captives to take them to the ports for selling. Much of the guilt of the slave trade lies on the shoulders of the Muslim traders.
The purpose of this article is not to deny the good points of those eras. The Muslim empires, particularly in their heydays, promoted arts, sciences and architecture, built public infrastructure, set up effective administrations and armies, and had reasonably well functioning courts. Tolerance towards people of other faiths was much better than what was practised in Christian countries at those times.
The point is that we should not omit to mention the darker aspects of the past, otherwise we will make false analyses. History will show that what makes a nation accomplished and respected in the world is its ability to put in place a superior governance system and its adaptability to changing times. It would also tell us that excessive patronising of religion by the state ends up compromising the process of innovation and adaptability.
DK: The problem with us in Islamic countries is that most of the rulers are dictators or pseudo-democrats. There are always, not only a few, but a large number of sycophants who manage to surround these dictators and feed them with all kinds of lies and distorted facts, even twisting history in an effort to project them as exemplary rulers.
It was, as pointed out so courageously and clearly by Mahnoor Khan, the rotten, decadent system of the rulers that resulted in the collapse of such vast and powerful empires within a relatively short span of time.
Sadly, we have not learnt anything from history and are repeating the same mistakes, even in the 21st century. For the common people, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Our young generation is not being taught true, historic facts as far as the past achievements and failures of our ancestors are concerned and are, consequently, wandering into blind alleys.
Now a few words about history. According to the Oxford dictionary, the word ‘history’ is defined as: “The study of past events, the whole series of past events connected with some nation, someone or something continuous, typical chronological record of past events or trends”.
Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi, in his excellent three-volume book ‘Tareekhe Islam’ (History of Islam), has defined history as “The accumulation of human beings living together, forming a city, town and their events described by subsequent generations and collected together forming a lesson for future generations”.
Reading and knowing about history enables one to understand the causes of glory and/or disgrace. Wise people learn from history and try to avoid the same mistakes while the less wise simply continue making the same mistakes over and over again.
A nation that is fully conversant and accepting of its history is usually a proud and graceful nation. It is rather sad that, while most of the non-Muslim nations recognise the abilities and weaknesses of the ancestors and glorify them for their good deeds while writing their history, Muslim historians often don’t seem to recognise the importance of history.
What they harp back on are, often contorted, achievements while trying to recreate circumstances to duplicate such achievements without consideration of changing times.
As Mahnoor Khan has pointed out, they have been dishonest in writing our history, conveniently omitting the negatives or distorting facts that displease them or the rulers. Truth often hurts, but it is the best lesson for a mentally healthy nation.
My sincere thanks to Mahnoor Khan for touching upon this very important topic and bringing it under public notice. Concluded
Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com
Dr. A. Q. Khan, "Islamic history," The News. 2014-05-12.Keywords: Social sciences , Social aspects , Islamic history , History , Muslims , Slavery , Akbar Shah Khan , Mahnoor Khan , Raza Rumi , Dr Muhammed Javed