Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
Dr. Hossam Badrawi writes: Ibn Rushd and religions.. and me
https://alhorianews.com/jikc
Ibn Rushd’s student (born April 14, 1126 AD, Cordoba – died December 10, 1198 AD, Marrakesh) cried while the Arabs were burning his teacher’s books, so the teacher turned to him and said: “If you are crying over the condition of Muslims, know that the seas of the world will not suffice your tears, but if you are crying over the burned books, know that ideas have wings and fly for their owners.”
This means that the conditions of Muslims (in the twelfth century AD, in which Ibn Rushd lived) were such that we should cry over them. One of the tragedies of the age is that we can repeat Ibn Rushd’s words as if they were said today, even though their author died hundreds of years ago! Some people rave about our reality and say that our conditions are bad because of others, criminals, and conspirators. Here is Ibn Rushd talking about bad conditions that deserve to be cried over before any colonialism and conspiracy.
Then these thoughts came to my mind while I was enjoying the Olympics, the matches and the beautiful sports competition in Paris, and comparing the players and their wonderful performance, I found that when we look at the bodies of players in different sports, we are amazed at the difference in their physical composition depending on the type of sport they practice. Marathon champions are characterized by extreme thinness, small size and weight, and 100-meter runners, who are the fastest, have a body full of muscles with clear anatomical formations, while discus throw champions differ from swimming champions who have a different shape from football players, and so on. Every practice is reflected in the shape of its players. Likewise, every culture is reflected in the content and way of life of its people. But culture may be the result of human capabilities and formations from one generation or more and affect subsequent generations in values, behaviors, customs and so on. As for the influence of religion as a form of culture imposed on societies because it is not made by humans, it remains influenced by its practitioners and the peoples to whom it belongs to a certain extent, so its matter is confusing. If peoples who practice the same religion differ and yet share characteristics, values and customs, then this or that religion must be the driving force behind this harmony, just as every human culture and every physical sport has an impact on the form and content of those who belong to it. If peoples over time share extremism in thought, severity and violence in imposing their beliefs, and killing their just leaders, as well as their economic and political backwardness, then there must be a common factor that unites them. I may not be right, but Islam is looming over me at this moment in a big way, and it is looming over Christianity before the separation of religion and state with all its tragedies against science and scientists in the Dark Ages of Europe, and it is looming over Judaism all the time. Because I see the best in people, and because I see the truth in what I read because I search for it, I see in Islam reason, tolerance, love, knowledge and compassion, but it appears that I am a minority in the group because the Islamic peoples as a cumulative and historical group do not act according to these values but rather the opposite, and they reflect an aspect of religion that I sometimes see between the lines representing negative trends as I described, such as severity, violence, domineering opinion and the use of religious vocabulary to reach power and remain in it. As for me, I choose other aspects that I see above the lines, such as love, reliance on reason, knowledge, tolerance and passion for the beauty of life and humanity and their appreciation. But if all these Islamic nations agree on the opposite and are backward and their poverty, ignorance and violence increase, then I sometimes doubt that I am the one who is wrong in understanding and appreciation, and my belief in separating religion from state and politics increases, because history clearly tells us that the extremists of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are no different from each other, and the peoples that survived are those who separated religion, which is a relationship between man and God, and between politics and governance.
https://alhorianews.com/jikc
Ibn Rushd’s student (born April 14, 1126 AD, Cordoba – died December 10, 1198 AD, Marrakesh) cried while the Arabs were burning his teacher’s books, so the teacher turned to him and said: “If you are crying over the condition of Muslims, know that the seas of the world will not suffice your tears, but if you are crying over the burned books, know that ideas have wings and fly for their owners.”
This means that the conditions of Muslims (in the twelfth century AD, in which Ibn Rushd lived) were such that we should cry over them. One of the tragedies of the age is that we can repeat Ibn Rushd’s words as if they were said today, even though their author died hundreds of years ago! Some people rave about our reality and say that our conditions are bad because of others, criminals, and conspirators. Here is Ibn Rushd talking about bad conditions that deserve to be cried over before any colonialism and conspiracy.
Then these thoughts came to my mind while I was enjoying the Olympics, the matches and the beautiful sports competition in Paris, and comparing the players and their wonderful performance, I found that when we look at the bodies of players in different sports, we are amazed at the difference in their physical composition depending on the type of sport they practice. Marathon champions are characterized by extreme thinness, small size and weight, and 100-meter runners, who are the fastest, have a body full of muscles with clear anatomical formations, while discus throw champions differ from swimming champions who have a different shape from football players, and so on. Every practice is reflected in the shape of its players. Likewise, every culture is reflected in the content and way of life of its people. But culture may be the result of human capabilities and formations from one generation or more and affect subsequent generations in values, behaviors, customs and so on. As for the influence of religion as a form of culture imposed on societies because it is not made by humans, it remains influenced by its practitioners and the peoples to whom it belongs to a certain extent, so its matter is confusing. If peoples who practice the same religion differ and yet share characteristics, values and customs, then this or that religion must be the driving force behind this harmony, just as every human culture and every physical sport has an impact on the form and content of those who belong to it. If peoples over time share extremism in thought, severity and violence in imposing their beliefs, and killing their just leaders, as well as their economic and political backwardness, then there must be a common factor that unites them. I may not be right, but Islam is looming over me at this moment in a big way, and it is looming over Christianity before the separation of religion and state with all its tragedies against science and scientists in the Dark Ages of Europe, and it is looming over Judaism all the time. Because I see the best in people, and because I see the truth in what I read because I search for it, I see in Islam reason, tolerance, love, knowledge and compassion, but it appears that I am a minority in the group because the Islamic peoples as a cumulative and historical group do not act according to these values but rather the opposite, and they reflect an aspect of religion that I sometimes see between the lines representing negative trends as I described, such as severity, violence, domineering opinion and the use of religious vocabulary to reach power and remain in it. As for me, I choose other aspects that I see above the lines, such as love, reliance on reason, knowledge, tolerance and passion for the beauty of life and humanity and their appreciation. But if all these Islamic nations agree on the opposite and are backward and their poverty, ignorance and violence increase, then I sometimes doubt that I am the one who is wrong in understanding and appreciation, and my belief in separating religion from state and politics increases, because history clearly tells us that the extremists of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are no different from each other, and the peoples that survived are those who separated religion, which is a relationship between man and God, and between politics and governance.
