NO SUCH THING AS FREEDOM

A few days ago I was reading a paper on neuropathic disorders, where the parts of your body that you don't control (involuntary organs), the heart, lungs, kidney etc. become dysfunctional because of neurological problems between your brain and the involuntary organ. This resurfaced a thought in my head that I haven't thought of in a very long time. We don't have freedom. We don't even control something as intimate to us as our heart, how can any one say we have freedom?

However, we live in a society built on the foundation of freedom and liberty. Our country (America) bombs freedom and democracy into other countries. All of us are free! Free to do what we want, free to dress, eat, spend, build, speak, and anything else we desire. This leads to a better society, a wealthier society. Look at what 300 years of freedom and liberty has done. It built America, the greatest darn country in the history of the universe.

Let's take a step back and ask, are we really free? No, I don't mean free from the NSA or Obama. I mean, is there such a thing as "freedom" in a metaphysical sense. Today, I had the freedom to drink two cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, or did I? About four years ago, I made the choice with all of my freedom and might to attend college, or did I?

Did I choose to be born on planet earth? Did I choose to be born in march? Did I choose to be born at all? Do I have freedom in any of these regards? I didn't choose my family, my ethnicity, gender, height, body shape, tone of color, DNA, brain, heart, lungs. I didn't choose any of these things. The lack of freedom in the entities I just mentioned is obvious. We have no freedom in that regard. But let's look at something more elusive, somewhere else where we also think we have freedom. I decided to attend college. But did I really?No. My parents chose for me, society chose for me. I was taught that without college I'm worthless, that I have to go to college. I have friends who hate education in general, but they are in college. Why? They are all adults. Don't they have the choice to just stop, since we're drowning in freedom and liberty? I don't think so.

If you go to a typical high school. You would notice that almost all of the kids are dressed the same. The emos all have the same brand of clothes and attitude, so does the jocks, the cool kids, and nerds. They all look like each other. Why is that? Don't they have a choice?

So, does freedom really exist?

The ironical part is that even though freedom doesn't exist, we think we have the freedom to do what we want. And this ultimately leads to us losing our freedom and becoming slaves to our whims and desires. If not whims and desires, we become slaves to society, for example, the high school kids, or me going to college (however, I do enjoy college).

This is one of the reasons I decided to start practicing Islam. We don't have freedom, we are slaves to either ourselves or society. The only true freedom is being a Muslim, a slave of Allah. Following the guideline of the Perfect, the Creator of everything, the Most Knowledgeable, and the Most Seeing, is true freedom. Following the commands of Allah means you free yourself from following the commands of men. And that is true freedom.

GREAT ISLAMIC CITIES: BAGHDAD

This is the first of a series of posts about great cities of the Muslims, from the past, of course. I'll mainly focus on the science and learning of these cities, and less on politics and military might. The reason is obvious, this blog is called "Lost Science." Given the recent turmoil in Iraq, I think it's suitable to start off with Baghdad. Baghdad is by far, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, cities of the Islamic Golden Age.

The region of Baghdad, then under Persian rule, was conquered by Khalid ibn Waleed (one of the only two generals in history to never have lost a battle) in 634 A.D. in the name of the Caliph of the time, Umar ibn Al-Khattab. During Umar's rule, two great neighboring cities shadowed the importance of Baghdad, Basrah and Kufah. Baghdad only became important in the 8th century under the Abbassid dynasty.

In about 762 A.D, the Abbasid family (tracing back to the prominent uncle of Prophet Muhammad) overthrew, frankly massacred, the Umayyed family (tracing back to another uncle of Prophet Muhammad) in a coup d'etat. The ruling Abbasids then moved the capital of the Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad. From that point on, Baghdad flourished as the greatest city in the world until the Mongols ransacked the city, destroying its glory, never to have recovered again. 

Under the Abbasids, for five centuries, Baghdad would become the world's center of education and culture. This period in Islamic history is known as the "Golden Age." During this period, Muslims preserved and expanded the scientific knowledge of the world while Europe suffered under the "Dark Age." In Baghdad, they built great hospitals, libraries, museums, and mosques. However, the most prominent of these institutions was the Baytul Hikmah (The House of Wisdom), a place for research and scholastic excellence. An academy in its true sense. In this Academy, translators, scientists, scribes, authors, men of letters, writers, authors, copyists and others used to meet every day for translation, reading, writing, scribing, discourse, dialogue and discussion. Many manuscripts and books in various scientific subjects and philosophical concepts and ideas, and in different languages were translated and created there. 

The languages which were spoken, read, and written there were Arabic (as the lingua franca), Farsi, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek and Latin; also occasionally Sanskrit, which was used to translate the old Indian manuscripts in astronomy and mathematics (MJ & AS, p. 130). A remarkable feat for Medieval times!

Baghdad became a city that would attract people from France, England, Spain, China and the rest of the world. Truly, one of the most interesting and magnificent cities of Islam. However, not as remarkable as the House of Wisdom, perhaps I will write an entire post dedicated to this academy some day.

SCIENCE IS MODERN IDOL WORSHIP

I was watching a trailer for an upcoming movie about the life of the great Stephen Hawking on Youtube, and as most people, I skimmed through the comment section. From the trailer, the movie seemed to be more about a love story than science (...disappointingly). Surprisingly, the comments were not about science or love, they were about the evils of religion. The followers of science (sciencists?) were expressing their hate for religion, and how great and lovely science is. Science brings almost nothing but good, and all religion does is bring evil. I've always wanted to write a post about this topic, that it makes no sense at all. But I'll leave it for the next one. For now, let's talk about why science is the new idol that people worship.

No doubt, the human race has advanced tremendously due to science. We have the atomic bombs, mortars, laser guided rockets, drones, warships, smart phones, GPS, and the internet, all due to the collective intelligence of Muslims, Christians, Jews and Pagans. At the same time, for as long as mankind has been on this planet, we have worshiped something, be it rocks or an Almighty that we can't see. Today, though, we have people who claim to not worship anything at all. They believe in the science that created the atomic bomb and the internet. They think they're above the rest of the human race, they are intelligent and sophisticated enough to figure out all on their own, that there's no deity at all. There's no super natural force. There's nothing. But us...and aliens (this is for another post). We don't need a deity, we have science. We can answer anything we want through science. Thus, replacing science for a deity. Science guides us in life. It gives us peace and tranquility. Science is the way the truth and the life. Science is almighty. It can not be questioned, if science says it, then it is the truth.

Sounds like a god doesn't it?

Just to make the point even more clear. Think of when, let's say, a Christian converts to Islam. He realizes that Jesus is not the real God. That Islam has better logic and evidence for their being only one God, without any partner or son. So he rejects Jesus' divinity and accepts Allah as his lord. Similarly, imagine a Christian who converts to atheism. He realizes that Jesus is not a God, just a Jewish man from Palestine. He sees that science has better answers for his life than does Jesus. So accepts science and becomes a so called atheist. Essentially, making science his new deity in life.

Sciencists, by rejecting all other deity and submitting themselves to the way of science, get so attached to it, that they start spewing hate for religion, turning into the people that they claim to dislike themselves. It all turns into an hate mantra. Just read the Youtube comments to see how much hate non-believers have for believers and how much love they have for science, just like when a Muslim hates a Christian or vice versa.

To summarize, people today have become so attached to science, claiming it to be above all, that they essentially turn it into a deity like the Christians turned Jesus into a deity. They submit to it, believes it to be the truth, defend it, protest for it, and write books to defend it, or offend religionists. Then there are these extremists who publish Youtube videos, Youtube comments, blogs, etc. that spew hate about other beliefs, mainly religions.

HOLDING THE WEST AS THE MORAL STANDARD

An ancient Mosque in Cordoba, Spain, a remnant of Muslims
before they were ethnically cleansed (80% of the population
then) from Spain by Elizabeth and Ferdinand.

Today, almost everywhere in the world, Islam is in constant need of defense and justification. Defense and justification against Western moral values. The Islamic political thinkers, the bloggers, the activists, all have to defend Islam against Western values. Often, many of us turn apologetic, trying to match up a particular Islamic moral with the counter or parallel Western moral. As if though, the Western moral system is the standard of morality for humanity, and for any ideology to have legitimacy, it must match up to this said moral system.

For example, one of the most controversial Islamic moral guideline is stoning of the adulterer. Many Muslims in their zeal to sound modern and make Islamic law valid and acceptable to Westerners, either water down this punishment, or say that there is a difference of opinion on the matter, and some will go as far as to deny the well accepted law, or call for a reinterpretation of the text (such as, the Oxford University professor Tariq Ramadan, listed on Times' 100 most influential people), all in an effort to defend and justify Islam.

I'm sure we all do this with good intention. However, this method is ineffective. It turns into a vicious cycle of apologizing for Islam in an effort to gain approval of the Western audience. In return, the reaction of Westerners usually is, "eh, I guess Islam isn't as bad as CNN makes it out to be." So, they walk away, with no effect at all, while making ourselves sound inferior to their values.

We need to step back, go back to the drawing board, and ask some very fundamental questions: Why should we defend Islam? Why does Islam need to match up to Western values to gain validation? Who's to say that Western morals are the correct morals, and we need to match up to those morals? Who decides morality? The West? The governments? The will of the people? So if any ideology wants to gain validation it must match up to the people's expectation?

Where's the foundation for morality?

In Islam, the foundation for morality is God. We, as Muslims, believe Islam to the be the ultimate guide from God. It is perfect, without any flaws, whether our limited minds understand its wisdom or not. Thus, naturally, the Islamic moral guideline is superior to any other guideline in the world. Is a moral guideline set by the people superior or the one set by God?

Islam is the truth, so, obviously it's superior. Also, let's not forget, we, Muslims, believe in salvafic exclusivity. We're the ones with the truth, why should we have to defend, water down, or be apologetic about our religion? Why do we deny, shy away from, call to reinterpret fundamental parts of Islam just to match up to Western values? We, Muslims have to remember that the Qur'an and the Sunnah are the ultimate truth, where we derive our moral guidelines from. Whatever they say is the truth, and we follow that truth.

The reason, however, Muslims become so apologetic is because we suffer from this inferiority complex, where we subconsciously think that Westerners are someway, somehow, better than us. Maybe it's because Westerners are better educated, more advanced in science and technology, have stable governments, strong militaries and an abundance of wealth? Also, let's not forget that they physically colonized us for centuries and trained our ancestors to think inferiority (part of the reason our Muslim majority societies are so dysfunctional). Now, the West isn't colonizing us physically, however, they do have our minds colonized.

How do we break out of this cycle of the inferiority complex? Education. Muslims need to go back to the drawing board. Learn our history. Our rich and diverse 1400 year old history. Once we do that, we will realize that for 1300 years of that history, Muslims dominated the world. We were at the forefront of science and technology. We had the mightiest militaries and empires. We were the ones giving refuge to persecuted Europeans. And we were the ones that were a bunch of Arab desert dwellers who erased the corrupt Persian empire from the map, and brought the Roman empire to its knees. We are the Muslims, the ones with the truth.

[Disclaimer: I am not advocating for a West vs Muslim mindset. I am a Westerner myself by culture, but Muslim in religion, and this place is my home. What I am trying to provoke through this post is that we, Muslims, need to embrace our identity and heritage as Muslims, and stop acting so inferior by imitating things that Islam despises. The West is a pluralistic society. And Muslims are as much part of it is as are the Jews, Christians, and Atheists. And of course, we, Muslims, need to constantly give Dawah by explaining the virtues of our laws, not by denying or watering down our seemingly controversial values.]

ABDUR-RAHMAN IBN AWF- AN EXEMPLARY STARTUP ENTREPRENEUR FROM THE SAHABA

Recently I entered the world of entrepreneurship as the co-founder and CEO of NexHealth (nexhealthdoc.com). The world of entrepreneurship is harsh, an uncertain path with high ups and extreme lows. Having role models to follow helps.

The reason I'm writing about Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) is that his journey as a prominent businessman is similar to the journey of a startup founder. A startup is defined as a company that faces extreme uncertainty. And there is no one else in history I know of who faced bigger uncertainty with his business than Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf.

Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf immigrated to Madina with nothing, fleeing the persecution of his own people from Mecca. He gained the brotherhood of Sad ibn ar-Rabi'ah, who, upon seeing ibn Awf's condition, said, "My brother! Among the people of Madinah I have the most wealth. I have two orchards and I have two wives. See which of the two orchards you like and I shall vacate it for you and which of my two wives is pleasing to you and I will divorce her for you."

Ibn Awf, being the man that he was, in reply said, "May God bless you in your family and your wealth. But just show me where the market is." And upon this statement, he took some dried yogurt and butter, headed to the hostile Jewish marketplace. There, he was able to scale and grow his market (from some scrap yogurt and butter!). Just to provide some context: The Jews were wealthier than the Arabs at the time; they were the only ones who possessed a marketplace, and thus, they thought the Arabs to be inferior. So, it is even more astonishing that he was able to scale in a market like this.

From this yogurt and butter, he bought and sold, and his profits grew rapidly. After a few days he went to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Seeing Abdur-Rahman well dressed, the Prophet exclaimed "Mayharn [an expression in Arabic said out of a pleasant surprise], O Abdur-Rahman!" Then Abdur-Rahman explained that he got married. When asked about his gift to the bride, he said one date (the fruit) size in gold as mahar (dowry)! Obviously, he was a gifted entrepreneur.

From there on he became one of the richest Arabs of his time. And let's not forget his greatest virtue, generosity. His generosity is legendary amongst Muslims and Arabs. It is said that all of Madina would live on the money of Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf. For more on this virtue, check out this short video by Imam Omar Suleiman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdRwKRqC_KU
 
To conclude, the main reason I am writing this post is not because of my entrepreneurship, it is to show how perfect this religion of Islam is. Everything one needs in life, is there. Muslims have examples of entrepreneurs! Now, of course, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a merchant himself, but I thought it would be better to use a Sahaba (some context if you're not aware: It is part of Sunni Islamic theology to respect and follow all of the companions of Prophet Muhammad) whose full time job was entrepreneurship. I hope, from this brief example we can at least appreciate how encompassing this religion is.

IBN SINA- THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICINE

Ibn Sina, or as he is known in the West, Avicenna, is a role model for both Muslims and non-Muslims. He memorized the entirety of the Qur'an by the age of 10, and began practicing medicine by the age of 16. He wrote 450 works in topics that ranged from philosophy to medicine to physics. His most famous works include, The Book of Healing, a vast scientific and philosophical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine, the standard medical textbook in Europe until the Enlightenment. Ibn Sina is regarded as the most famous polymath of the Islamic Golden Age, and the father of modern medicine.

He was born in Bukhara, 940 CE, in the town of Afsan. His father, a governor, made sure that he received a good education at an early age. Besides memorizing the Quran at the age of 10, he also studied mathematics and Hanafi fiqh. According to his biography, as a teenager, whenever he would face an obstacle in his studies, he would perform wudhu (ablution), go to the masjid (mosque), and pray until light broke on his problems. 

It is said that he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle forty times until the words were imprinted in his mind; but he could not grasp their meaning, until one day he found illumination from the commentary of Farabi (another giant Muslim polymath), which he bought for three dirhams. So great was his joy at the understanding that he gave thanks to Allah by giving charity to the poor.

He started to pursue medicine at the age of 16. Not only did he master the medical knowledge of his time, but he discovered new methods of treatment. According to his own words, "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The young physician's fame spread quickly and he treated patients without payment.

Going back to the Canon of Medicine, this book contained all of medical knowledge of the time. Ibn Sina documented all known illnesses and their proper treatments into one book. The book's influence lasted in Europe from the 12th century to the 17th as the primary source of medical knowledge. And thus, the foundation upon which modern medicine is built.

However, as is evident, Ibn Sina was not only a man of science and medicine; he was also a devout Muslim. He sought to reconcile philosophy with Islamic theology. The young doctor wrote five treatises commenting on Surahs (chapters) from the Qur'an. One of these texts included the Proof of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Quran in high esteem.

The primary lesson that we can derive from the life of Ibn Sina is that science and Islam can co-exist. In an age of science and technology, Muslims should not hesitate to pursue both. In fact, it is possible to pursue both, and ibn Sina is an example of that. However, as individual Muslims, we will only succeed when we stick to Islam.

QURAN AND SUNNAH IS TO ISLAM LIKE MATH IS TO SCIENCE

Recently I read an article that prompted an interesting thought. The article was about the validity of math when it comes to science. What makes math the universal language of science? Is math made up or discovered?

Whatever the answer is to these questions, the fact is that we accept math to be the universal language of science. For example, Einstein's Theory of Relativity is valid because he was able to show it mathematically. Einstein's theory of mass-energy equivelance is also valid because he has the math to show it, E=MC^2.

The interesting thing is that most of us blindly accept that if the math is there, it's valid. And why wouldn't we? There's practical value to it and it has worked for us for hundreds of years. We intellectually and practically figured out that math works and that it is the truth. So, if any science has accurate math in it, it also must be true.

Now, here's the thought: this relationship between science and math is equivalent to the relationship between the Qur'an-Sunnah and Islam. The Qur'an and Sunnah are the math of Islam. So, if there's a ruling that a scholar derives using the Qur'an and Sunnah, then it is valid. Just like if there's a theory that a physicist derives using math, it is valid.

In summary, we intellectually figure out that the Qur'an and Sunnah are the truth, then whatever is derived using the Quran and Sunnah, we must accept it. The comparison would be to Einstein coming up with the Theory of Relativity (in Islam let's say the theory is that it is forbidden to terrorize), and then him using math to prove it (in Islam it would be using Quran and Sunnah to prove that terrorism is forbidden). If the math works, then the theory works, if Quran and Sunnah work, then Islam also works.