Baghdad in the memory of Muslims
by Abdul Malik Mujahid
When Muslims think of Baghdad, they
don't think of Saddam Hussain. Tyrants like him come and go.
When Muslims think of Baghdad, they
think of their glorious past: the legends of Caliph Harun Rashid; the
libraries of this great city, which were the largest in the world; literary
classics like the 1001 Arabian Nights; scholars like al-Kindi, al-Razi,
Al-Farabi and, one of the greatest Islamic scholars of all time, Imam
Abu Haneefa.
They also remember the blessed Prophet
Abraham, peace be upon him, as well as the grandson of Prophet Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him, stood up to the tyranny of kings.
For most Americans, Baghdad represents
a land of despotism, tyranny, suffering, backwardness, and danger. While
most Muslims sadly acknowledge that these characteristics can be found
in this great city today, their memories are much, much longer.
Baghdad is about beyond the present.
I have yet to find a Muslim who cares
for Saddam Hussain or his regime. But the great memories of the Islamic
civilization based in Baghdad are a part of Muslim consciousness, folklore,
and historical identity throughout the contemporary Islamic world.
After its destruction by Mongols,
Baghdad never fully recovered its past glory. But the memories survive
not just as history, but as an example of an ideal cosmopolitan society
which Muslims aspire to achieve once again.
In this historical context, although
Muslims on the streets of the Islamic world were relatively silent about
the latest American attack on Iraq, their hearts and minds were devastated
. This is the first Arab "TV war" since the advent of the independent
Al-Jazeerah satellite television. The war and occupation will not only
be interpreted as the continued Western undermining of Arab interests,
but the resentment will have a historical depth to it resulting in the
worst interpretations of the true motives for the attack.
When this city was established about
1300 years ago by the first Abbasid caliph, it was named Daras Salam or
Abode of Peace. There were many small villages in that area. One of those
small villages was called Baghdad which eventually became the name of
this historic city.
It was Baghdad where, according to
scholar and Georgetown University Islamic Studies professor Dr. Seyyed
Hossein Nasr, "Islam became heir to the intellectual heritage of all the
major civilizations before it save that of the Far East, and it became
a haven within which various intellectual traditions found a new lease
upon life." Dr. Sayyid Hossein Nasr.
Its beauty and splendor can be gleaned
from the tales of the famed 1001 Arabian Nights. The stories are a reflection
of Baghdad at its height, during the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid,
who had diplomatic relations with Charlemagne and the Emperor of China.
Baghdad was the city where the famed
Baitul Hikmah (House of Wisdom) was located. This was a famous research
institute where books and manuscripts from China, India, and Greece, among
other civilizations, were brought in and translated, discussed, debated,
and republished. Many of the Western classics reached the West through
the translation work done by Baitul Hikmah during the eighth and ninth
centuries.
Baghdad in fact was the main link
of transmission between Graeco-Alexandrian knowledge and the modern day
West. Hippocrates, known in Arabic as Buqrat, is still a household name
in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu cultures.
Baghdad is where Muslims built the
first hospital. It is where the first office of the Chief Justice was
established in human history.
Imam Abu Hanifa was auditor for the
construction material for Baghdad as it was built in 762 AD. Abu Hanifah
was an industrialist, a banker, who financed his Islamic law research
institute on his own, without government subsidies or support. His students
rose to become the first chief justices in human history.
Abu Hanifa's institute included at
least 40 of the greatest scholars of the time from different Islamic disciplines
of knowledge. The scholar never wanted to be a government employee while
the Caliph wanted him to be a judge. He refused and was punished by being
assigned the duty of counting the construction material for Baghdad. Abu
Hanifa also established a great tradition in Baghdad of standing up against
tyranny.
Named after Imam Abu Hanifa, the Hanafi
school of Islamic thought became the law of the land. Almost all Muslim
governments for centuries followed the Islamic laws developed by his research
institute. Today, most of the 1.2 billion Muslims of the world follow
the Hanafi school of Islamic living in matters sacred and profane, from
prayer and almsgiving to business and family affairs.
Muslims also remember Baghdad, and
by extension Iraq, as the place where Prophet Abraham started his struggle
for monotheism. Although Christians and Jews also believe in and respect
Prophet Abraham, most of the world doesn't know how central he is to Islam.
The greatest of Islamic festivals, Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha, are not about
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. They are about the
patriarch of the three faiths. The rites and rituals of the incredible
Hajj journey that every Muslim must strive to make, have a direct historical
and ritualistic connection with Prophet Abraham and his family. Every
year Muslims relive that struggle of the patriarch and Prophet of three
major revealed religions.
Karbala, another city in Iraq, is
known for the principled stand taken by the Prophet Muhammad's, peace
and blessings be upon him, grandson Hussain against the illegitimate kingship
of Yazeed. Muslims throughout the world admire and interpret the martyrdom
of Hussain as a principled struggle against the tyranny of illegitimate
governments. Ironically, the war started right in the month in which Hussain
was killed. May Allah be pleased with him.
But Baghdad's beauty, civilization,
and splendor, like all things in this temporary world, ended. And Muslims
remember that too.
The destruction of Baghdad by Mongols
in 1258 AD was a loss not just for Muslims, but the world. Its great libraries
were burned down while its citizens were slaughtered. It is said that
the rivers of Dajla and Farat were either blackened by the ashes of the
burning books in those days or were red because of the blood of its people.
Baghdad never regained its height of scholarship and dynamism after the
Mongol attacks.
The last Abbasid caliph of the city,
al-Mustasim was wrapped in a carpet and trampled to death by horses. Almost
everyone in the Muslim world knows about what invaders did to Baghdad.
One can find the echo of Baghdad's
civilization, as well as its destruction, throughout the literature of
the Muslim world. This is especially true as Muslims struggled to free
themselves from European colonial domination. You can hear this in the
poetry of Hali and Iqbal in Persian and Urdu. It is in the fiction of
Naseem Hijazi. You find it in the works of Ibn Khaldun, the world's first
sociologist, and Ibn Taymiyyah, an Islamic scholar of that time. Their
works are still read by Muslims.
That brings us to today, almost eight
centuries since the destruction of beautiful Baghdad.
Ask any Muslim who the last Abbasid
caliph killed by the Mongols was, and barely a handful will be able to
tell you his name without looking it up. That's what will happen to Saddam
Hussain. No Muslim cares for him today and he will be forgotten tomorrow.
But the danger today is that in the
Muslim psyche and historical memory, Americans might find their place
as the new destroyers of Baghdad in the perception of Muslims. America
may get accused as the Mongols of the 21st century by Arab
columnists an pundits who trust Al-jazeerah
Arab TV more than BBC or CNN in this war. Contrast this with the Middle
Eastern view that under the fascist tyranny of Saddam Hussain, Baghdad
did regain its position among the cities of the Middle East for the first
time after Mongols destroyed it. Iraq also became the first Arab country
with almost 100 percent literacy before the first Gulf War. In 1989, Iraq's
literacy rate was 95%; and 93% of the population had free access to modern
health facilities. Since the Gulf War I all of these numbers have changed
for worse although its women are 20% more literate than men. The point
is that the "Operation Iraq Freedom" may not be perceived by
Muslims and Arabs as the US would like them to see. We have not even seen
the warm welcome
by "a grateful Iraqi" people who were suppose to jump at the
chance of liberation by the American army.
Historically, Muslim scholars have
considered Iraq to be one of the most difficult countries to govern. If
it is difficult for Arabs to rule Iraq, for Americans, it may be even
difficult. Kurds, with the historical memory of Salahuddin Ayubi or Saladin,
the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem still strong, and with the recent memories
of Americans abandoning them to Iraqi chemical weapons in the last Gulf
War, will not be a permanent allies. Shias, who make up a majority of
Iraq's population, have emotional and spiritual ties to Iran, which has
its own bitter memories of the past American interventions. They will
not be grateful allies. As for Saddam Hussain and Iraq's Sunnis, who we
are pursuing, they will be the most bitter people. How are we going to
stay there? These tensions are already evident as the US
supported Iraqi dissendents are already in disagreement with the US
strategies.
In the wake of 911, America asked,
"why do they hate us?" With this latest destruction of Baghdad, once the
home of Islamic civilization and splendor we are giving another reason
for Muslims and Middle East to hate us. And with almost the whole world
opposing us in the first peace movement of the internet age, we have lost
all the sympathy we gained after 9/11. It is time to rethink the way we
deal with other nations. The US is most likely to win this 12 year long
war against Saddam Husain sooner or later. But we are set to loose big
in the days to come unless we change the way we deal with others. Since
we do not have money for our domestic agenda, we cannot afford a Marshal
plan for Iraq while Afghan president is finding it hard to collect the
money we promised him.
"After all my experience, I have
come to hate war. War settles nothing." President Dwight D. Eisenhower,
the General who led the World War II concluded. The earlier we come in
agreement with our Warrior President the better.
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