John F. Kerry

William C. Chittick, Ph.D.: The Islamic Notion of Beauty

...lol i know this doesnt seem like the type of article i would like at first either.

but this article piqued my curiosity and i thought several of my yahookan friends would find it interesting as well in shallah.


it got me to thinking about how the arabs of the 11th 12th centuries were etc.

like look at all the buildings in persia and iraq and other places from that time,

and also how muslims preserved and expanded on the knowledge of the greeks and romans and preserved it for a long time.


it got me to thinking about a couple points.


first, one of the reasons islam spread so far in the 10th century and thereabouts is probably because of these kinds of things- the love of knowledge, the love of beauty, of enjoying fragrant plants and having beautiful gardens and symetrical fountains... THATS the kind of stuff that not only would spread to other people nearby, but would get brought back and amazed at with wonder by western explorers who saw it then.

its pretty strange in this day and age to think of islam as being "progressive" but in those days thats exactly what it was- islamic scholars spent there days not issuing fatwas for the death of danish cartoonists, but in deducing the properties of the eye and how it could perceive images, in developing ellaborate poetry and gardens, in expanding knowledge of science and medicine, etc...

kinda like how in the 60s the soviets were seen as progressive for some of the things they did like space exploration and anti colonialism...

each of this groups , (and us today) , won peoples hearts and minds, not by their own principles or by following either islam, communism or western liberal democracy.... but by having an aura of being the progressive force in the world.... so peoples aspirations and love of knowledge and beauty could be directed into that group- its like, if you want to make the most out of your life then find the group that is doing the most and go with them....

another interesting part of this is it shows the way for someone like china to take the lead if they truly want to- its not better war machines that will cause people to eventually "respect" them - but if china and its million man engineering squad come up with cures for cancers and develop new medicines or technologies to make daily life better.... like clear energy, or artificial organs, etcetc... then people would flock to praise them, even despite what some might regard as other problems still existing with them.


this article made me think about all that and more but this post is getting too long so ill end it here...

just kinda amazing how islam was actually not just about knowledge and beauty and stuff but was actually a progressive force in the world at one point- this also shows a really good way for muslims to have a renaissance in their own culture where they go back to the building up of knowledge and understanding again and turn away from terror and violence.

its just crazy to think that in the 12th century some arab dude in kirkuk thought allah really wanted him to figure out how the human eye worked and disseminate that info to other people.... and today 8 centuries later these dudes think allah wants them to blow themselves up outside western universities where they try to further the work begun by that arab dude in the 12th century....

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Nasa under Obama

SageTree

Hey John thanks for sharing and speaking in a way in which I can see the wheels turn. While I would embellish or add to some of what you said, I'd like to leave it on a positive note and just share this with you.

This is a doc I watched a couple years ago that I thought was nice and concise. PBS I believe, is who put this out.





Insha'allah you enjoy them. I know I learned some interesting things from them, like how Muslim history evolved the world and also was evolved by the world.

In kind,
SageTree

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SageTree

Oh Terry.... that reminds me. I asked HijabiHippie about this book and she said she really thought it was valuable and that the Authors critiques are valid and even welcomed, speaking as a progressive Muslim. I don't want to add more because I can't remember 100% what she said, but I just wanted to mention that she thought more people should read it and she herself thought it was a good book.

Sorry I forgot to tell you that sooner.

Cheers.

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my_scatterheart

imagine that!

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Be mindful even if your mind is full. -J. De La Vega

SageTree

Some back log worth noting is that Terry-son asked me to ask HH about the book. I wasn't bringing this up willy nilly

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Roach

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enclosed is another of those marvelous embed codes that disappear when posted @ YaHooka

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לזיין את הקופים