Closing One’s Eyes to “See” More Clearly:
When the Blind Lead
By Dr. Bader Malek
Islamic law is not subject to change by current policies. What Islam teaches is that your way of life comes from the heart, through the study of the Koran. Whether you are disabled or not, the search of the soul is uppermost. Unfortunately, what has been written about or by (blind) scholars in Islamic countries such asSpain,Asia, andAfrica, has been obscured or ignored in the West to this day, despite the vast contributions to humanity that Islamic scholars, including the blind ones, have made throughout history.
From the very early days of Islam, God (Allah) commanded that the blind and disabled, as well as women, orphans, and the poor be treated with respect and full humanity. They also should have equal access to learning and teaching. Islam was demonstrating that these people were created by God, and this access is a human right. This happened even before the state of Islam was established politically.
Blind writers in Islamic history are prominent in most areas of literature, especially autobiographical works.
They started to write about their lives and their knowledge before 1000 A.D. Their contribution to Islamic civilization cannot be ignored. In some parts of Islam, blind citizens in these early years received financial help because of their disability, and blind scholars received additional monies in order to encourage them to continue their studies.
One of the great califs (president/leader) helped a blind scholar to wash his hands after eating to honor all blind scholars. Islamic history also records a teacher who taught more than 70 blind students. Another scholar, Is Al-Amidi, who died in 1312 A.D., is one of the blind scholars who used to teach and sell books, pricing the books with raised Arabic letters, so the blind could know the cost. This was before the Braille system was developed in 1824, approximately 700 years after Al-Amidi’s method.
Why this high regard for blind people, and especially blind scholars? In one of the classical Islamic books, the reason for this high regard is explained. Basically, the author talks about the power of closing one’s eyes in order to concentrate more completely, as blind people do by the nature of their blindness. In addition, according to the Q’uran (Koran), God blamed Prophet Muhammed when he delayed a blind person who came to him for help. Immediately, the angel Gabriel revealed to Prophet Muhammed that he should give more attention to that blind person. From that time, the Prophet gave extra attention to this person, and later this same blind person became a scholar and leader in Islamic history. Thus, the precedent was set.
Once we respect people not only because of the law or affirmative action, but because they are human beings, then true equality is served. For many thinkers, Islamic teachings of this nature illuminated the history of education. From this comes a bigger contribution from Islam, which is to accept scholars and students of all nationalities, races, religions, as well as, or perhaps especially those with physical limitations or challenges.
This concept is not just theoretical, but has been in practice for hundreds of years, the evidence being the contribution of scholarly books from the blind, the poor, the non-Muslim, and any other scholars who contribute to Knowledge
The history of Islam is one of respect and concern for all kinds of people from all walks of life. Blind scholars being acknowledged for their humanity as well as their contributions to education is just one dimensions of Islam’s humanistic legacy.
This assists enhance the muscle cialis online hop over to these guys tone in the walls of the penis.
If Prophet Muhammed wrote the Koran, as some people think, why would he write about something he did wrong?
Why would he mention his own mistakes? Thus, Muslims do not believe that the Koran was written by The Prophet, but rather by Allah.
Much of the literature of scholars from all branches of knowledge at that time was translated from Greek to Arabic. A great deal of the Greek literature of these scholars perished, and was recovered through translating their works from Arabic, because Islam treasured scholars from everywhere.
The purpose of these essays is three-fold:
First, I examine a piece of Islamic history as a foundation for a particular topic related to the Koran. Then, I give examples to make the piece of history more real and alive. Finally, I draw a conclusion as a way of transferring and sharing knowledge of Islam to a larger public to create greater global understanding.
Follow