Thursday, November 26, 2009

Finding the Native Americas by Muslims

by Ammaar ibn Walid
The Star Trail Lines Writer

The 26th of November 2009, Thursday
The 9th of Dhulhijja 1430 (Day of Arafa)

I had asked a question about Muslims finding both American Continents on Yahoo! Answers some time ago, and the question and best answer I chose are below.

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"What would have happened if the Muslims found both American Continents?
How would have history changed if it was the Muslims who sailed and found both North and South America? How would they have treated the natives of both continents? Would they wipe them out, or something else?

Be aware, I mentioned 'found' not 'discovered'...

... Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
When Muslims conquered Persia & 2/3 of Byzantium, & Iberia (Spain & Portugal) the did number of things including the following:

- They give people the choice to embrace Islam or to keep their religion. Remember the Golden age of Jewish culture was the time when the Jews lived in Muslim Spain.

Therefore, Muslim would never wipe out the Native Americans as the white man did. Remember when Granada had fallen to the Spaniards, they launched the inquisition & burned many Muslims & Jews to the stake. Later the Spanish & Portugese had brought the inquisition to the new world


- Muslims would use the knowledge of the native Americans & try to advance it, Just as they preserved the knowledge of the Greek & incorporate with the knowledge of the Persians, Greek, Indians, & others

- Muslims would develop the economy of both Americas & link them to the rest of the world. They would build new cities & make them centers of learning & bring them prosperity, just as they built Cairo & Baghdad during the golden age of Islamic civilization.

But of course Muslims are no angels. If the corruption that had spread in the Muslim world today (especially among rulers, scholars, & intellects) reached the new world the Americas would be as bad as the rest of the Muslim world today.

... Thank you. You are the only one who took the question seriously and put up possible stuff that might have happened. Congrats on your best answer..."

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There were some other answers to the question. For more information about the other answers: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aj7p6_a8pJJA6l.UZYdk6Zfty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080618090630AAy3Mrg.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Strong Fan of Al-Andalus

by Ammaar ibn Walid
The Star Trail Lines Writer

The 7th of November 2009, Saturday
The 19th of Dhulqo'dah 1430

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful...

(Originally written on "Jaacto Times" on the 7th of August 2009.)

This might not be the only post of mine in this journal of mine about Al-Andalus. There is a lot of history about Al-Andalus, and I know of different pieces of the puzzle of the history of Al-Andalus, as I don't know everything about it.

Since I don't know everything about it, I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. It was through a clip that I came to understand something that was wrongfully spreading the internet. It was spreading amongst Muslims to be more precise.

I had, one way or another, received messages through groups I'm in about not using the words such as "mosque", and use the original, which is "masjid". Some brethren were amazing in responding to such posts.

It is said not to use the word "mosque" because it is similar to "mosquito". Only Allah knows, but I think I understand the source of the whole "mosquito"/"mosque" issue, and it probably could be traced back to Andalusia.

Andalusia is the southern province of Spain, which was the last part of Al-Andalus that Muslims were kicked out of brutally through the Spanish inquisition. Al-Andalus wasn't always only Andalusia. Al-Andalus covered most of the Iberian Peninsula.

Anyhow, back to the "mosquito"/"mosque" issue. There is a famous landmark built by the Muslims in Cordoba during Al-Andalus era. The landmark is a large mosque, and in the 500s a Cathedral was built in the middle of it.

It's known in Spain as the Cathedral, where as locally it was known as the Mosquito. Linking mosquito and mosque together, and that's where the misunderstanding about mosquito and masjid comes from most likely.

I've indirectly learned of this through a clip about Al-Andalus history on YouTube.

That's in my opinion only though. Al-Andalus has numerous names, including Land of the Vandals; Islamic Spain, and Moor Spain. I prefer the title of Al-Andalus. Led first by Tarek ibn Ziyad, who was the first Muslim leader to open the Iberian Peninsula, and then followed later by Musa ibn Nusair.

The opening was from the land which is currently known as Morocco. A worthy note of attention is that there was some territory in Morocco that the Muslims couldn't get to, and that was Ceuta, or known as Sapta (سبتة) in Arabic.

With help from the Christian leader of that place, the Muslim army, led by Tarek ibn Ziyad, was able to open the Iberian Peninsula. That was the first opening the Muslims had in Europe.

The second came centuries later through the Ottoman Khilafa, and the opening of the Balkans. That's a whole other issue together. Al-Andalus wasn't always in unity during its era of existence. The unity came at different separate times.

One of those that united Al-Andalus was a survivor of the Umayyad Khilafa, who fled to Al-Andalus. He was Abdurahman. It was through him that the Umayyad family continued, even though the Khilafa under its rule was destroyed.

It was destroyed by the Abbasids, who became the new Khilafa for the Islamic Nation. I know of certain famous Muslims that came from Al-Andalus, or somehow were relevant to that Islamic land. I know of Ibn Sina. There is also Yusuf ibn Tashfeen.

Others include Abdurahman Al-Ghafiqi, who was a military commander, who died in the battle of بلاط الشهداء. After he was martyred, the Muslims were divided and without one strong commander, and so they lost in Poitiers in 732.

An interesting thought is that even with all the divisions amongst the Muslims, being fans of Al-Andalus could be a key to help unite the Islamic Umma. There are Sufi fans of Al-Andalus and Salafi fans of Al-Andalus.

Some day I would like to go visit southern Spain, or Andalusia. I would love to see what the Muslims during Al-Andalus period made and constructed with my own eyes. Al-Andalus isn't commonly known as "Al-Andalus".

Even if the Muslims get back Al-Andalus somehow in the future, I don't think it could ever be like the Al-Andalus of the past.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Zionists pressure YouTube over removal of pro-Islamic Videos

by Ammaar ibn Walid
The Star Trail Lines Writer

The 18th of September 2009, Friday
The 28th of Ramadan 1430

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful...

Today I've found out something really hateful. It's nothing new, but why it sparked my interest more than others is because of its type.

I'm talking about YouTube's unreasonable removal of certain videos and clips on its website. I can understand the Zionists pressuring YouTube to remove videos that are anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian. Not surprisingly the site responded and removed such videos... Videos which are sensitive...

The videos I'm mentioning here aren't sensitive videos. They are videos that I found out -only today- that have been removed. The only possible reason behind their removal is because the Zionists didn't like it.

The videos were parts of a BBC documentary about the Islamic History of Europe. The videos gave historical information -which happened centuries ago- in some countries in Europe that were once Muslim countries. It's important to mention that the accounts that uploaded such videos have been suspended.

I've downloaded some of the parts of the documentary onto my computer before they were removed, and I intend to spread the videos back onto the internet, but not back onto YouTube for sure. It's too clear that removal of such videos won't stop anytime soon.

YouTube isn't the only site on the internet being pressured by the Zionists. Another site that is being pressured by the Zionists, is being pressured in a similar method. The Zionists pressure this well known site to not only remove sensitive videos, but also sensitive photos and accounts.

Under numerous reports against certain groups on this site, a site admin had removed some groups reported. The groups are pro-Palestinian groups. Other things unreasonably removed on this site included fan pages.

The site I'm speaking about is Facebook, where over 100 million users are registered on. Besides the removals, Facebook was pressured by one group to change the location of some Israeli residents of Golan Heights to that of Israel.

The reaction from Syria is known too well. It decided to boycott Facebook because of it. Some Israeli citizens live in Syria, and this is something well known to me. In spite of all these kinds of removals and pressure from the Zionists, it appears that such pressure comes from them being threatened.

I don't think the Zionists would be threatened to go to such measures unless it was serious for them. The reason behind them being threatened is because of the revival of Islamic Umma (Nation).

The Zionists are trying to control the internet, but aren't succeeding -and won't succeed- in doing that! Such videos -whether they are sensitive or not- would eventually stay on the internet one way or another. The photos and groups would appear elsewhere as well.