Lost Islamic History

[T-123456]

In 1908, the #Ottoman caliph Abdülhamid II opened up an Islamic university in #Beijing to educate #China's Muslims.

@asad71 was Beijing under Ottoman? @T-123456 @Neptune

In those days and before many religions opened schools in China.
The Ottomans(Muslims) were late.
Many different Christian countries did before the Ottomans.

 

[asad71]

In 1908, the #Ottoman caliph Abdülhamid II opened up an Islamic university in #Beijing to educate #China's Muslims.

@asad71 was Beijing under Ottoman? @T-123456 @Neptune

1. Muslims were in Beijing in early days also. I have offered salat in a Beijing mosque locals claim to be one of the oldest in our history. This mosque and the one at Canton are definitely pre-Ottoman.

2. The Turks do have a history in China marred by Turkey's participation in the Korean War and it's total support to the East Turkestan movement. Very recently, in keeping with China's shift to align with the Muslim states, both countries have closer.

First East Turkestan Republic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of Islam in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kublai Khan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[krash]

After the conquest of Jerusalem,the Caliph went for a visit. When he was in this very church it was time for one of the prayers. The chief priest came forward and invited the Caliph to offer sa'lat in the church. Instead the Caliph had gone outside the church and spread his musallah to say his prayers. He had explained, had he said his prayers in the church then the conquering Muslims would convert all non-Muslim places of worship into mosques.

A tad inaccurate. When the Muslim forces laid siege to Jerusalem, they sent their usual conditions to the city's rulers:

1) Surrender and live under their protection freely

2) Convert and you'll be left alone

3) Prepare to fight

Receiving these conditions the head priests of the city asked for the description of the Khalif. After realizing that the description matched that foretold in their prophecies they replied that they would surrender the city under the condition that the Khalif (Umer) himself came over and accepted it. So he came over and they handed the city over to him (this is also the incident when Umer's slave was riding the camel while he himself was walking) and that is when they invited him to pray in that church but he declined, explicitly stating that if he accepted the offer then the Muslims would take that as an excuse to convert that church into a mosque.

Its not gross propaganda.
Maybe propaganda is fed to you in Pakistan that Muslims had a very pleasant rule in India.
There are hundreds of mosques in India which were built after razing temples there. Notably in UP and Bihar. That or they removed the upper structure of temple and used temple foundations to build over mosques.

Dont try to pull wool over what they have done.

Such good acts were not done in India. Some of the Muslims who destroyed numerous mandirs and converted them to mosques.

Had that been the case there would not be any of those thousands of years old Hindu temples that you see in our countries. Apart from the fact that Hindus pretty much flourished under Muslim rule. I'm not out-rightly refusing your claim that some temples were converted but your statement "Such good acts were not done in India." is a bit too far away from the truth.

 

[Contrarian]

Had that been the case there would not be any of those thousands of years old Hindu temples that you see in our countries.

The important ones were the ones who got the shaft.
Plus I mentioned that not all Muslim rulers were like that.

Those that were however were pretty much like modern day Taliban. Examples even range to the fact that Hindus had to keep shifting one of the few statues that were held in high esteem again and again as Aurangzeb kept sending forces after it.

Apart from the fact that Hindus pretty much flourished under Muslim rule. I'm not out-rightly refusing your claim that some temples were converted but your statement "Such good acts were not done in India." is a bit too far away from the truth.

Thats beyond stretching the truth.
Hindus did not flourish. Their status oscillated between being equals to being second class citizens depending on the bigotry or lack of it of the ruler. Some Muslim rulers were equally good to all.

Plus the fact that almost half the people of ancient India became Muslims does not exactly convey a sense of 'flourished'.

Secondly, the fact that Muslim rulers demolished temples to build mosques on them is not a 'claim' that you can accept or reject on convenience. It is based on history - and verifiable facts - the least of which is ASI(Archeological Survey of India) findings and reports on the issue.

Gold in temples was carted away, the idols were melted and inlaid on to form the steps of the entrance to the mosque.

So despite what is taught in Pakistan, history absolutely reject that Muslims always acted in a dignified or morally superior manner in relation to other faiths.
This is what one chap tried to project in this thread to which I replied.

Many more of similar cases of 'tolerance' and 'high morals' were shown by some Muslim rulers in India.

As I said, not all Muslim rulers were like that. Some most definitely were.

 

[Mugwop]

In the year 889, Khishkhash ibn Said ibn Aswad Al-Qurtuby of Cordoba set sail from the port of Palos in Spain and reached a certain land in the west. He returned home with huge treasures. He drew a world map calling these areas in the Atlantic Ocean “the unknown land”. The Muslim geo-historian Al-Masoudy records this in his book “Muruj-al-Dhahab wa Maadin Aljawhar”956 AD.

Is it America he's talking about in his book?

@Zarvan @Talon @Leader

 

[AhsanAmin]

Some of the most important developments in Muslim History that we always forget to mention was the systematic phenomenon of spread of knowledge in an environment which encouraged inquiry, learning and scholarship created by the Abbassid Caliphs usually called Muslim Golden age which ended with the conquest of Baghdad by Mongols. Their guiding principle was one saying of the Holy Prophet which states,"Ink of a scholar's pen is holier than blood of a martyr."
If the Mongols did not destroy baghdad, a city state at that time but seat of Abbassid caliphate, I can see that Rennnaissance in European nations would have occurred in Muslim nations. Most of the muslim scholars we know and cite here, and whose books were taught in European universities several hundred years later, were from Abbassid times. Unfortunately, muslim rulers of later times, Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals were not that keen about fostering an environment in which excellence in then nascent sciences would be encouraged.
Ottomans, at their peak, though good warriors, could not remain in pace with Europeans in adoption of new sciences. The belated attempts of several Ottoman kings at reformation were successfully thwarted by clergy until they became so weak that Turkey became almost a puppet in hands of strong European powers.

Here read my blog about what we have to do in Pakistan of today to become a Modern prosperous state. ahsanamin2999 | Smile! You’re at the best WordPress.com site ever

 

[Leader]

In the year 889, Khishkhash ibn Said ibn Aswad Al-Qurtuby of Cordoba set sail from the port of Palos in Spain and reached a certain land in the west. He returned home with huge treasures. He drew a world map calling these areas in the Atlantic Ocean “the unknown land”. The Muslim geo-historian Al-Masoudy records this in his book “Muruj-al-Dhahab wa Maadin Aljawhar”956 AD.

Is it America he's talking about in his book?

@Zarvan @Talon @Leader

maybe, Its quite possible. many have discovered it before..

an old map drew by Chinese also show a land in far west, which looks like America. also that when AlBiruni calculated te circumference of the earth, he assumed a land in west (america etc) and gave amazingly accurate measurement of earth. (just 20 miles off the actual).

 

[MohitV]

“Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly,” said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci’s hundreds of years later, said Hassani.

 

[Dubious]

In the year 889, Khishkhash ibn Said ibn Aswad Al-Qurtuby of Cordoba set sail from the port of Palos in Spain and reached a certain land in the west. He returned home with huge treasures. He drew a world map calling these areas in the Atlantic Ocean “the unknown land”. The Muslim geo-historian Al-Masoudy records this in his book “Muruj-al-Dhahab wa Maadin Aljawhar”956 AD.

Is it America he's talking about in his book?

@Zarvan @Talon @Leader

Well, the truth is even before Columbus, someone had found America, more than once...Otherwise I dont think the Red Indians grew on trees and also there are some accounts of Vikings going there and other accounts...Not sure who was first but there is a possibility!

 

[Srinivas]

Hindus had physically destroyed Buddhism to be rediscovery British army engineers in the19th century. Hindu rulers, harassed by powerful priests, were in the habit of inviting Afghan-Persian and sack the gold/gem stuffed temples.One cast would destroy or forcibly occupy the temples of another.

I wonder why people are thanking this post ..... Buddhism is a religion of for some rulers, common people always followed Hinduism in majority in India. Reason why temples are more and monasteries are very less even in ancient ones.

 

[Chak Bamu]

Its not gross propaganda.
Maybe propaganda is fed to you in Pakistan that Muslims had a very pleasant rule in India.
There are hundreds of mosques in India which were built after razing temples there. Notably in UP and Bihar. That or they removed the upper structure of temple and used temple foundations to build over mosques.

Im sorry but thats bull$hit reason you are giving. As if idol worshiping is a sin and the Muslim rulers were justified.
To us, what you do bend over 5 times a day to Mecca is a sin and a joke. Doesnt mean we go over and destroy Mecca or Muslim places of worship.

If its idol worship or table worship or fire worship. As long as people's temples were destroyed by Muslim rulers, people of India will hate them. They did the same in Iran. Thousands of fire temples were destroyed by Muslim rulers. Its almost systematic wherever Muslims rule, they demolish other people's places of worship.

Dont try to pull wool over what they have done.

1. Here is a reference to an excerpt of an interview of Richard Eaton, shared by Truth Finder:
The big temples that were politically irrelevant were never harmed. Those that were politically relevant — patronised by an enemy king or a formerly loyal king who becomes a rebel — only those temples are wiped out. Because in the territory that is annexed to the State, all the property is considered to be under the protection of the State. The total number oftemples that were destroyed across those six centuries was 80, not many thousands as is sometimes conjectured by various people. No one has contested that and I wrote that article 10 years ago.
Last words of Aurangzeb on his death-bed | Page 2

I hope you understand that your claim of Hundreds of temples being destroyed is absurd. It is not unreasonable to surmise that the rest of your claims are also of similar quality.

2. You may also note from the above that the temples that were destroyed suffered for their role as political opposition, not as places of worship.

3. Where ever Islam went, people converted peacefully. As example of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Turkish nations attest, Islam's spread did cause abandonment of older religious establishments. You can not call it destruction as such.

PS>
4. In India, some temples were converted to mosques. In my view, their status should be reversed, since it was wrong to begin with.

 

[Khan_patriot]

Mashallah it was beautiful to read this!

Sir, thank you so much for the share...

 

[AhsanAmin]

So despite what is taught in Pakistan, history absolutely reject that Muslims always acted in a dignified or morally superior manner in relation to other faiths.

This is a very serious problem with history of many many nations. I think when history is taught, they should emphasize mistakes of our earlier generations, so we do not repeat those mistakes again. Pakistanis in the western part were really unjust and unfair to Bengalis, but in textbooks, we put all the blame of fall of Dhakka on Bengalis and India and that is why we are repeating the same story in Balochistan. If everybody understood the true reasons behind the separation of East Pakistan, we would be really fair to Balochis. There are no roads, hospitals, or schools there and instead of giving them these basic rights, we are trying to subdue their voices by force.

History has to be openly analyzed and discussed so we could understand the causes behind turns and twists in our and other nations' history.

 

[Leader]

The Muslim Who Was China’s Greatest Explorer – Zheng He

When people think of great explorers, they think of the usual names: Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Evliya Çelebi,Christopher Columbus, etc. But not many know of one of the most interesting and influential of all time. In China, he is well known, although not always recognized or glorified. He is Zheng He, the Muslim who became China’s greatest admiral, explorer, and diplomat.


Origins
Zheng He was born in 1371 in the southern China region of Yunnan to a Hui (a Muslim Chinese ethnic group) family. His birth name was Ma He. In China, the family name is said first, followed by the given name. “Ma” is known in China as short for “Muhammad”, indicating Zheng He’s Muslim heritage. Both his father and his grandfather were able to travel to Makkah and complete the Hajj, so Zheng He came from a practicing Muslim family.

At a young age, his town was raided by the Ming Dynasty’s army. He was captured and transported to the capital, Nanjing, where he served in the imperial household. Despite the oppressive and difficult circumstances he was in, Zheng He actually befriended one of the princes, Zhu Di, and when he became the emperor, Zheng He rose to the highest positions in government. At this time, he was given the honorific title “Zheng” and was known as Zheng He.

Expeditions
In 1405, when emperor Zhu Di decided to send out a giant fleet of ships to explore and trade with the rest of the world, he chose Zheng He to lead the expedition. This expedition was massive. In all, almost 30,000 sailors were in each voyage, with Zheng He commanding all of them. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led 7 expeditions that sailed to present day Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Kenya, and many other countries. It is probable that during one of his journeys, Zheng He was even able to go to Makkah to complete the Hajj.

A map showing the routes taken by Zheng He on his 7 expeditions in the 1400s


Zheng He was not the only Muslim on these expeditions. Many of his advisors and were also Chinese Muslims, such as Ma Huan, a translator who spoke Arabic and was able to converse with the Muslim peoples they encountered on their journeys. He wrote an account of his journeys, titled the Ying-yai Sheng-lan, which is an important source today for understanding 15th century societies around the Indian Ocean.

Seeing these expeditions must have been an event that people did not easily forget. The ships Zheng He commanded were up to 400 feet long, many times the size of Columbus’s ships that sailed across the Atlantic. For hundreds of years, people thought that the giant proportions of these ships were exaggerations. However, archaeological evidence from the shipyards where they were built in the Yangtze River prove that these ships were in fact even larger than modern football pitches.

Everywhere they sailed, they commanded the respect (and sometimes fear) of the local people, who offered tributes to the Chinese emperor. Because of this tribute and trade with all the peoples they encountered, Zheng He would sail back to China with exotic goods such as ivory, camels, gold, and even a giraffe from Africa. The expeditions sent one message to the world: China is an economic and political superpower.


Spreading Islam
Economics and politics were not the only effects of this great fleet that was commanded by Zheng He. He and his Muslim advisors regularly promoted Islam wherever they traveled. In the Indonesian islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo and others, Zheng He found small communities of Muslims already there. Islam had started to spread in Southeast Asia a few hundred years before through trade from Arabia and India. Zheng He actively supported the continued growth of Islam in these areas.

A replica in Dubai that compares the size of Zheng He’s ships with those of Columbus


Zheng He established Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang, and along Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These communities preached Islam to the local people and were very important to the spread of Islam in the area. The fleet built masjids and provided other social services the local Muslim community would need.

Even after the death of Zheng He in 1433, other Chinese Muslims continued his work in Southeast Asia, spreading Islam. Chinese Muslim traders in Southeast Asia were encouraged to intermarry and assimilate with the local people on the islands and Malay Peninsula. This brought more people to Islam in Southeast Asia, as well as strengthened and diversified the growing Muslim community.


Legacy
As an admiral, diplomat, soldier, and trader, Zheng He is a giant of Chinese and Muslim history. He is seen as one of the greatest figured in the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, after his death, the Chinese government changed its philosophy to a more Confucian one which did not support such expeditions like Zheng He’s. As a result, his accomplishments and contributions were mostly forgotten or overlooked for hundreds of years in China.

His legacy in Southeast Asia, however is quite different. Numerous masjids in the region are named after him to commemorate his contributions. Islam spread in Southeast Asia through many forms, including trade, travelling preachers, and immigration. Admiral Zheng He was also a major part of its spread in that region. Today, Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any nation in the world, and much of that could be attributed to the activities of Zheng He in the region.

Sources

Aqsha, D. (2010, July 13). Zheng he and islam in southeast asia. The Brunei Times. Retrieved from Zheng He and Islam in Southeast Asia | The Brunei Times

Ignatius, A. (2001, August 20). The asian voyage: In the wake of the admiral read more. Time Magazine, Retrieved from


The Muslim Who Was China’s Greatest Explorer – Zheng He | Lost Islamic History

 

[Leader]

The University of Central Asia - The Mir Arab of Bokhara