The Muslim Months of the Lunar Year

١- مُحَرَّم - Muharram

٢- صَفَر - Safar

٣- رَبِيْعُ الأَوّل - Rabi al-awwal

٤- رَبِيْعُ الثَّانِي - Rabi al-thani

٥- جَمَادِي الأَوّل - Jumadi al-awwal

٦- جَمَادِي الثَّانِي - Jumadi al-thani

٧- رَجَبْ - Rajab

٨- شَعْبَان - Shaaban

٩- رَمَضَان - Ramadan

١٠- شَوَّال - Shawwal

١١- ذُوالْقَعْدَة - Dhu al-Qaada

١٢- ذُوالْحِجَّة - Dhu al-Hijja

Useful Everyday Words Conversational Arabic

يَوْم - Yaum - Day

أُسْبُوع - Usboo - Week

سَاعَة - Saah - Hour

سَنَة - Sanah - Year

أَمْس - Ams - Yesterday

غَدَاً - Ghadan - Tomorrow

بُكْرَة - Bukrah - Tomorrow

طَبْعاً - Tabaan - Of course

بِالْعَكْس - BilAks - On the contrary

أَيْضاً - Aidhan - Also

أَحْيَاناً - Ahyaanan - Sometimes

قَلِيلاً - Qaleelan - A little

كَثِيراً - Katheeran - A lot

كُلّ - Kull - Every

شَيْء - Shai - Thing

أشْيَاء - Ashyaa - Things

صَبَاحَ الْخَيْر - Sabah Al Khair - Good Morning

مَسَاءَالْخَيْر - Masaa Al Khair - Good Night

أَهْلاً وَ سَهْلاً - Ahlan wa Sahlan - Welcome

إِلَي الِّلقَاء - Illal Liqaa - Until we meet again

مَعَ السَّلاَمَة - Maasalamah - With peace

ألسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُم - Assalamu Alaikum - Peace be upon you

تَعَال - Taal - Come here

إذْهَبْ - Izhab - Go

خُذْ - Khuz - Take

Arabic Numbers and Days of the Week

Numbers 1- 10
وَاحٍدْ - ١ - Wahid - One

إِثْنَيْن - ٢ - Ithnain - Two

ثَلاَثَة - ٣ - Thalatha - Three

أَرْبَعة - ٤ - Arbaa - Four

خَمْسَة - ٥ - Khamsa - Five

سِتَّة - ٦ - Sitta - Six

سَبْعَة - ٧ - Sabaa - Seven

تِسْعَة - ٨ - Tisaa - Nine

عَشْرَة - ١٠ - Ashra - Ten

Days of the week

يَوْمُ الأَحَدْ - Yaumul Ahad - Sunday

يَوْمُ الإِثْنَيْنْ - Yaumul Ithnain - Monday

يَوْمُ الثُّلاَثَاءْ - Yaumuth Thulatha - Tuesday

يَوْمُ الأَرْبِعَاءْ - Yaumul Arbiaa - Wednesday

يَوْمُ الْخَمِيْسْ - Yaumul Khamees - Thursday

يَوْمُ الْجُمْعَة - Yaumul Jumuah - Friday

يَوْمُ السَّبْتْ - Yaumus Sabt - Saturday

The Last Knight of the Last Caliphs

Without going into the question of the legitimacy of their title to the caliphate the last Ottoman sovereigns to combine the office of sultan and caliph were Muhammad Rashad and Muhammad Wahid ud-Din. The latter succeeded the former on 3 July 1918 at a dark moment in Ottoman history, only four months before the Ottoman Empire finally lost the war with Britain and sued for peace terms.

Meanwhile one of the Empire's most colourful generals, 'Umar Fakhr ud-Din Pasha, had been besieged in Medina since the outbreak of the Arab revolt in June 1916. The story of his tenacious defence of the city for seventy days after the signing of the armistice at the end of October 1918 merits a shining page in the annals of Ottoman, and indeed Islamic, history. The demise of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of a secular Turkish republic in Anatolia overshadowed-even for professional historians-the Fakhri Pasha episode. This short article is a record of the main facts, a contribution to history as well as a tribute to him who deserves to be called the last knight-defender of the caliphate, worthy of the meaning of his name-'the glory of religion'.

This is not the place to give even a summary of the antecedents of the Arab revolt which was proclaimed by Husain ibn 'Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, in June 1916 against the Ottoman Empire which was then allied to Germany and at war with Britain and her allies. The Sultan asserted his claim to be the caliph of all Muslims and declared a holy war (jihd) against Britain and her allies. Husayn was reluctant to publish the proclamation in Mecca on the not implausible plea that it would provoke a blockade, which would starve the people of Hejaz, dependent as they were on pilgrims and donations and provisions from Egypt. He had, in addition, the secret intention of revolt in return for a British promise of recognizing Arab independence.

The Turkish high command were not entirely ignorant of the Sharif's designs. Partly to thwart them and partly to send reinforcement to Yemen, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Arab revolt, the garrison of Hejaz was reinforced with the Twelfth Army Corps under Fakhri Pasha, and a company of German machine gunners was dispatched to Medina, the terminal of the Hejaz Railway from Damascus, on the way to Yemen. Generalissimo Enver Pasha himself, together with Jamal Pasha, com-mander of the Fourth Army in Syria with jurisdiction over Sinai and Hejaz, visited Medina soon after the arrival of these reinforcements. They were accompanied by Faisal, the third son of the Sharif, who was more or less a hostage.

Faisal's dramatic escape, followed by the proclamation of the revolt in Mecca by his father, is briefly described by T. E. Lawrence."1" It was Faisal's lot with his elder brother 'Alt to face these formidable forces of regular troops in Medina. The Arab assault with no more than muzzle-loading guns was easily beaten off by Fakhri Pasha who terrified Beduin irregulars with salvos from his artillery. It was immediately plain that tribesmen, with no military training and poor weapons, could not capture a fortified city from a modern army under an able general.

After six months of skirmishing Fakhri Pasha held an entrenched line well outside the city, and made sure that the railway to the north was garrisoned and patrolled. Despite stories to the contrary, the line was never permanently cut off till the final phase of the war in Palestine. The dynamiting of sections of it by Lawrence and his men simply led to its being repaired.
Having lost Mecca to the Arabs in 1916 and Jerusalem to their British allies in 1917, even 'godless' men like Enver and Jamal were loath to abandon Medina as was repeatedly urged on them by their German allies. Jamal did actually censure the Sharif, and held his revolt respon-sible for the fall of Jerusalem. Perhaps the sentiment was more political than religious, for the loss of Medina would have deprived the Sultan-Caliph of the prestige of being the guardian of the three holy mosques in Islam.

The Turks remained hopeful of a reconciliation with the Arabs as brother Muslims. Overtures with favourable terms continued to be made until within two months of the armistice."2" In September 1918 the British War Office sent a report to the Foreign Office that the Sharif (by then King Husain) was ready to settle with Turkey on the basis of recognizing his 'temporal' authority while he recognized the Sultan's 'spiritual' authority, and asked what Britain's attitude would be. The Foreign Office rejected the idea of a separate peace between the Sharif and Turkey but suggested another approach be made to Fakhri Pasha to induce him to surrender. "3"


A Turkish author asserts that Fakhri Pasha did actually refuse to obey an order from his superior, Jamal Pasha, to evacuate Medina and withdraw to Trans-Jordan. We are told that Jamal then turned to a younger general, Mustafa Kamal Pasha (later Ataturk), who also refused to undertake the task on the ground that he did not wish to go down in history as the soldier who gave up Medina.

There is little doubt that Fakhri Pasha had such a sentiment i n mind when he clung to his position even when the Turks were driven out from southern Palestine east and west of the River Jordan, thus completely cutting off the railway link with Medina. He managed to get supplies from Najd and elsewhere, for to the east of Medina he was virtually free.

Some of his officers saw the futility, from a military point of view, of continued resistance. But his steadfastness remained unshaken. The available evidence shows very conclusively that he was animated by religious motives with little or no regard to military strategy or political expediency. According to the same Turkish author, who quotes an eye-witness account, one Friday in the spring of 1918, after prayers in the Prophet's Mosque, Fakhri Pasha ascended the steps of the pulpit, stopped halfway and turned his face to the Prophet's tomb and said loud and clear:

'Prophet of God! I will never abandon you!' He then addressed the men: 'Soldiers! I appeal to you in the name of the Prophet, my witness. I command you to defend him and his city to the last cartridge and the last breath, irrespective of the strength of the enemy. May Allah help us, and may the spirit of Muhammad be with us.

'Officers of the heroic Turkish army! O little Mubammads"4" Come forward and promise me, before our Lord the Prophet, to honour your faith with the supreme sacrifice of your lives'."5"

Such was Fakhri's resolve when in August 1918 he received another call to surrender. The call ought to have been made by the Amir Abdul-lah, the second son of the Sharif, who then commanded the Arab forces round the city, but it seems to have come from his father. King Husain. Only Fakhri Pasha's reply survives in a poor English translation. It is apparently addressed to Husain himself from 'Fakhr-ud-Din, General, Defender of the Most Sacred City of Medina. Servant of the Prophet'. The text as preserved in the British Public Record Office "6" it given below, slightly amended:
'In the name of Allah, the Omnipotent. To him who broke the power of Islam, caused bloodshed among Muslims, jeopardized the caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful, and exposed it to the domination of the British.
'On Thursday night the fourteenth of Dhu'l-Hijja, I was walking, Tired and worn out, thinking of the protection and defence of Medina, when I found myself among unknown men working in a small square. Then I saw standing before me a man with a sublime countenance. He was the Prophet, may Allah's blessing be upon him! His left arm rested on his hip under his robe, and he said to me in a protective manner, 'Follow me " I followed him two or three paces and woke up. I imme-diately proceeded to his sacred mosque and prostrated myself in prayer and thanks [near his tomb].

'I am now under the protection of the Prophet, my Supreme Com-mander. I am busying myself with strengthening the defences, building roads and squares in Medina. Trouble me not with useless offers.'

It is difficult to imagine Husain, himself a descendant of the Prophet, not to have been moved by Fakhri Pasha's vision. To the Pasha the legitimate caliph was the Sultan of Turkey, and Husain (even after his assumption of kingship) was no more than a rebel. His rebellion was the more reprehensible because it disrupted Islamic unity and aided the enemies of the Sultan-Caliph.

Fakhri Pasha's vision must have been the culmination of prolonged meditation. After this experience his actions conformed to no military or political rules. They were clearly inspired by his religious conscience.
The crisis was soon upon him. In accordance with the terms of the armistice of October 1918, a British High Commissioner was installed in Istanbul and all Turkish forces were required to surrender to the nearest British or allied commanders. Fakhri Pasha received his government's order to surrender, 'wirelessed en clair'. He refused to obey. The seventy days' drama until his final surrender is worthy of more detailed study.

At one time King Husain and his British allies suspected that Fakhri might surrender the city with his arms and supplies to Ibn Sa'ud. At another, it was rumoured that he intended to blow himself up in the Prophet's Mosque, which would have resulted in incalculable harm to British interests in the Muslim world. After a month of futile exchanges between Istanbul and Cairo the British High Commissioner became impatient even with a subservient Turkish government. He threatened to demolish the forts at the Dardanelles if Medina were not surrendered. He demanded the issue of clear and peremptory orders to ensure Fakhri's surrender by 15 December, six weeks after the signing of the armistice. The orders were sent with a senior Turkish officer from the Ministry of War who was carried on a British destroyer to Port Said and from there by aeroplane to Yanbu', the port of Medina.


Meanwhile FakhrI Pasha had, according to a British intelligence report, sent three cipher messages, two to the Minister of War and one to the Grand Vizier. To the former he said he doubted the authenticity of orders conveyed to him through enemy agencies in Cairo and Hejaz. The Minister of War must report to the Sultan that Fakhri would continue to hold Medina under the Sultan's flag until he received an order from him as Caliph to surrender it. To the Grand Vizier the message was simply confirmation of those to the Minister of War.

The emissary could not leave Yanbu' before the morning of 15 December, the date of the expiry of the ultimatum. However, Fakhri Pasha found a new excuse. He pointed out to the emissary that the order was addressed to 'the officer commanding the Hejaz force' and that did not relieve him of the duty as 'the officer responsible for the Prophet's tomb to the Sultan'.

The British High Commissioner had already extended the period of the ultimatum by seventy-two hours. Since Fakhri's reply was still negative the Turkish government was informed that a state of war again existed. On 29 December 1918, two months after the signing of the armistice, the High Commissioner demanded that a more senior army officer be sent to Medina who might supersede Fakhri if he refused to obey the new orders. These were to be 'final' orders from the Minister of War signed by the minister himself and a letter from the Sultan's chief secretary confirming that the minister's orders were in accordance with the Sultan's wish. The emissary was also to carry, in reserve, an imperial irade from the Sultan dismissing Fakhri if he failed to obey.

The last precaution proved unnecessary. The comprehensive orders satisfied all of Fakhri's scruples. Before the fateful day he prayed near the tomb of the Prophet and laid his sword by it"7". On 10 January 1919 the lion came out of his den and at Bir Darwish surrendered to the enemy with 456 officers and 9,364 men.
According to The Times correspondent in Cairo, Arab troops took over the city on 11 January and the Amir 'Abdullah made his formal entry two days later.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1955 ed.), pp. 52ff. 1969), pp. 259-62; 264-5.
2 On Jamal Pasha's overtures to the Arabs see A.L. Tibawi, A Modern History of Syria (London, (Turkey), under date.
3 Publlic Record Office, London. F. O./371
4The Turkish diminutive 'Mehmetcik' is name of the Turkish private soldier, like 'tommy' for the British private soldier
5 Emel Esin, Mecca The Blessed, Medinah The Radiant (London, 1963), p. 190
6 From which the details given below are culled. F.O./ 371 (Turkey)
7On the other hand it is reported by a Turkish eyewitness still living in Medina that a sword was handed over to the representative of the Sharif but there is now no trace of it in Medina or elsewhere.

The Islamic Quarterly, London ,October- December 1971

NASIRI DUA

This highly potent du'a by the renowned Sufi Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Nasir, was recited across Morocco and inspired resistance to the French Occupation. So powerful was it that the French President had to issue an order banning its recitation from the mosques. Moroccans date the movement to return King Muhammad from that outlawing of the du'a. It is appropriate to the present state of the 'Umma.
O You to Whose mercy one flees!
You in Whom the one in need and distress seeks refuge!
O Master, You Whose pardon is near!
O You Who help all who call on Him!
We seek Your help, O You who help the weak!
You are enough for us, O Lord!
There is nothing more majestic than Your immense power
and nothing mightier than the might of Your force.
Kings are humbled to the might of Your domain
and You lower or elevate whomever You wish.
The entire affair returns to You,
and the release or conclusion of all matters is in Your hand.
We have presented our affair before You,
and we complain to You of our weakness.
Have mercy on us, O You Who know our weakness
and continue to be merciful.
Look at what we have experienced from people!
Our state among them is as You see.
Our troops are few and our wealth is little.
Our power has declined among groups.
They have weakened our solidarity and strength
and diminished our numbers and our preparation.
O You Whose kingdom cannot be pillaged,
give us shelter by Your rank which is never overcome!
O Succour of the poor, we trust in You!
O Cave of the weak, we rely on You!
You are the One on Whom We call to remove our adversities,
and You are the One we hope will dispel our sorrows.
You have such concern for us that we cannot hope
for protection which comes through any other door.
We rush to the door of Your bounty
and You honour the one You enrich by Your gift.
You are the One Who guides when we are misguided.
You are the One who pardons when we slip.
You have full knowledge of all You have created
and encompassing compassion, mercy and forbearance.
There is no one in existence more lowly than we are
nor poorer and more in need of what You have than us.
O you of vast kindness! O You Whose good encompasses all mankind,
and no other is called on!
O Saviour of the drowning! O Compassionate!
O rescuer of the lost! O Gracious Bestower!
Words are lacking, O Hearing, O Answerer!
The cure is difficult, O Swift! O Near!
To you, our Lord, we have stretched out our hands
and from You, our Lord, we hope for kindness.
Be kind to us in what You decree
and let us be pleased with what pleases You.
O Allah, change the state of hardship
for ease and help us with the wind of victory.
Give us victory over the aggressors
and contain the evil among those who asked for it.
Overpower our enemy, O Mighty, with a force
which disorders them and crushes them.
Overturn what they desire and make their efforts fail,
defeat their armies and unsettle their resolve.
O Allah, hasten Your revenge among them
They cannot stand before Your power.
O Lord, O Lord, Our protection is by Your love,
and by the might of Your help.
Be for us and do not be against us.
Do not leave us to ourselves for a single instant.
We have no power of defence
nor have we any device to bring about our benefit.
We do not aim for other than Your noble door,
we do not hope for other than Your encompassing bounty.
Minds only hope for Your blessing
by the simple fact that you say 'Be" and it is.
O Lord, O Lord, arrival is by You
to what You have and seeking the means is by You!
O Lord, You are our high pillar of support!
O Lord, You are our impregnable fortress.
O Lord, O Lord, give us security
when we travel and when we remain.
O Lord, preserve our crops and herds,
and preserve our trade and make our numbers more!
Make our land a land of the deen
and repose for the needy and the poor.
Give us force among the lands as well as respect,
impregnability and a polity.
Appoint it its might from the protected secret,
and grant it protection by the beautiful veiling .
By sad, qaf and nun,
place a thousand veils in front of it.
By the rank of the light of Your noble Face
and the rank of the secret of Your immense kingdom,
And the rank of 'la ilaha illa'llah'
and the rank of the Best of Creation, O our Lord,
And the rank of that by which the Prophets prayed to You
and the rank of that by which the Awliya' pray to you,
And the rank of the power of the Qutb and the Awtad
and the rank of the Jaras and Afrad,
And the rank of the Akhyar and the rank of Nujaba'
and the rank of the Abdal and the rank of the Nuqaba',
And the rank of every one worshipping and doing dhikr
and the rank of everyone praising and giving thanks,
And the rank of everyone whose worth You elevated
both those who are concealed and those whose renown has spread,
And the ranks of the firm ayats of the Book
and the rank of the Greatest Supreme Name,
O Lord, O Lord, make us stand as fuqara'
before You, weak and lowly.
We call to You with the supplication of the one
who calls on a noble Lord who does not turn aside those who call.
Accept our supplication with Your pure grace,
with the acceptance of someone who sets aside the fair reckoning.
Bestow on us the favour of the Generous,
and show us the kindness of the Forbearing.
O Merciful, extend Your mercy over us
and spread Your blessing over us, O Generous.
Choose for us in all our words
and select for us in all our actions.
O Lord, make it our habit to cling and devote ourselves
to the resplendent Sunna.
Confine our manifold desires to You
and grant us full and complete gnosis.
Combine both knowledge and action for us,
and direct our hopes to the Abiding Abode.
O Lord, make us follow the road of the fortunate
and make our seal the Seal of the martyrs, O Lord!
Make our sons virtuous and righteous,
scholars with action and people of good counsel.
O Allah, remedy the situation of the people
and, O Allah, make the reunification easy.
O Lord, grant Your clear victory to the one
who takes charge and empowers the Deen,
And help him, O You Who are forbearing, and help his party
and fill his heart with what will make him pleasing to you.
O Lord, help our Muhammadan deen,
and make it end mighty as it began.
Preserve it, O Lord, through the preservation of the scholars,
and raise the minaret of its light to heaven.
Pardon, grant well-being, make up for our deficiency
and forgive our sins and the sins of every Muslim, O our Lord.
O Lord, bless the Chosen one with your perfect prayer of blessing _
Your prayer is that which grants success in his business
as befits his lofty worth.
Then bless his noble family and glorious Companions
and those who have followed them.
Praise belongs to Allah by whose praise
those with an aim completely fulfil that aim.

ANGER AND EGO

The Holiest of Holy Prophet, Rasool Allah (saws) stated in one Hadith:

There are 3 conditions/status of anger among humang beings,
first one 'those who get angry quickly and cool off lately,
Second one who becomes angry lately and cools off rapidly,
the third one who becomes angry lately but also cools off lately. The best of them is the one who gets angry lately but cools off quickly and worst among them who get angry quickly but cools off lately'.

What causes anger? Its mostly to do with Egoism. In Islam, we have been ordered/told to consider every thing from Allah and unto Allah, nothing for us, nothing belongs to us, success or failure all from Allah swt.

One day, Syeda Rabia Basri (ra) was going some where, Syed Khaja Hasan Basri (ra) who had the great Honor of drinking the milk of Ummul MOmineen and blessed by Rasool Allah (saws), asked her "bibi, where are coming from? She replied 'from Allah swt' upon which he asked her 'and where are you going? She replied 'towards Allah'.

One day, Khaja Hasan Basri (ra) said to his 'Mureeds'
(follower/disciples)'you are like the Suhabas of RAsool Allah (saws), the 'mureed' becomes ecstatic. "but I did not mean to say your Amaal and Ikhlas were like Suhabas. If you had seen them, you'd have thought they are mad, if Suhabas see u, they will never consider you as Muslims'.

At the eve of the Battle of Qadisiya-Muharram, 14AH

After Omar bin Khattab(RA) accepted Khilafat he deputed Saad bin Abi Waqqas, the maternal uncle of the Prophet (SA) to retake Persia.Yezdgird was the Persian ruler at that time.Yezdgird once told the delegation of muslim emissaries before the Battle of Qadisiya :

"O Arabs, not very long ago no people on earth were so wretched or rotten as you. The smallest favor from us was enough to win you. Whenever you did a mischief, we wrote to a frontier chief and he set you right. I advise you to give up your whims of conquest. If you do not have enough food or other necessities, let us know. We will send you supplies. We will also appoint a good ruler over you, that he may treat you kindly."

When the king had finished, Mughira bin Zarara rose and spoke back:
"O king, we were certainly as wretched as you have said; perhaps worse. We ate dead animals, wore skins and slept on the bare ground. But ever since Allah's chosen Prophet appeared among us, we have totally changed. His wonderful teachings and his lofty example have made us leaders of the world. Even proud kings like you fear us now."

"O king, any further talk is useless. Either accept the chosen Prophet of Allah and bow before his blessed teachings or agree to pay the jizya. If you accept neither of the two things, then wait for the sword to decide."

Mughira's words made the king lose his temper. "By Yazdan," he roared in anger, "if it were not against the law to shed the blood of envoys, I must have got you beheaded. But I am sending Rustam to deal with you.

Later Mughira bin Shaaba met Rustam. Rustam did all he could to dazzle the eyes of the Arab envoy. He sat on a throne of gold with a crown of diamonds on his head. The whole court was decked with brocades, gold and diamonds.

Mughira got down from his horse and walked straight to Rustam's throne. He climbed onto it and sat by Rustam's side. All present were taken back. The guards ran forward and made Mughira get down from the throne.

Mughira remained cool. Addressing the courtiers, he said:

"O nobles of Iran, I thought you were wise. But you have proven quite silly. We Muslims do not raise men to the position of gods. The weak among us do not believe in the overlordship of the strong. I thought you also followed the same practice. I never knew that the strong among you were raised high and were worshipped by the weak. I never knew that you did not believe in the equality of men. If I had known that, I would never have come to your court. But let me tell you that you cannot save your empire by these methods. Unrest among the weak will turn the tables against you."

Mughira's speech ended the peace talks. But his words continued to ring in the ears of the Iranian nobles.

INSOMNIAC: Mathnawi VI: 255-260

The spirit is like an ant, and the body like a grain of wheat
which the ant carries to and fro continually.
The ant knows that the grains of which it has taken charge
will change and become assimilated.
One ant picks up a grain of barley on the road;
another ant picks up a grain of wheat and runs away.
The barley doesn't hurry to the wheat,
but the ant comes to the ant, yes it does.
The going of the barley to the wheat is merely consequential:
it's the ant that returns to its own kind.
Don't say, "Why did the wheat go to the barley?"
Fix your eye on the holder, not on that which is held.
As when a black ant moves along on a black felt cloth:
the ant is hidden from view; only the grain is visible on its way.
But Reason says: "Look well to your eye:
when does a grain ever move along without a carrier?"

WHISPERS OF LOVE

Lover whispers to my ear,
"Better to be a prey than a hunter.
Make yourself My fool.
Stop trying to be the sun and become a speck!
Dwell at My door and be homeless.
Don't pretend to be a candle, be a moth,
so you may taste the savor of Life
and know the power hidden in serving."

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) of Persia

Avicenna, or in Arabic, Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina or simply Ibn Sina (980 - 1037). A physician, philosopher, and scientist, he was the author of 450 books on many subjects, many on philosophy and medicine.Born in Bukhara, Persia, he became physician and adviser to sultans and princes. His Canon of Medicine, written at the age of 21, was the best-known medical text in Europe and Asia for several centuries. He authored over a hundred works in medicine and philosophy that have inspired innumerable commentaries. His most important books in philosophy were The Healing (al-Shifa) and Demonstrations and Affirmations. He died in Hamadan in northern Persia.


Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam), was the most influential Jewish thinker since the Moses of the Bible or Torah.He was born in 1135 in Cordoba, the greatest centre of Jewish learning and Islamic culture at the height of the 'Golden Age' of the Jews and Muslims in Spain. He received the best education in theology, philosophy and medicine as well as Arabic and Islamic philosophy.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/5–1274), called the Angelic Doctor, was the foremost Christian philosopher in history.Born to noble parents, he became a monk in the Dominican Order in 1243. He studied under Albert Magnus and taught at the University of Paris. Before he died at the age of fifty, he authored numerous works of philosophy and theology that came to some 8 million words. The Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles are his two most celebrated books.

(Ibn Abi Ya'la, Musnad; al-Tabarani, al-Awsat)

" What will become of you when you do not enjoin the right and forbid the wrong?" he asked. [Those around him asked in amazement:] "Will that truly happen?" "Yes, and even worse!" he replied, and went on to ask: "What will become of you when you enjoin the wrong and forbid the good?" Those around him were astonished: "O Prophet! Will that also happen?" "Yes, and even worse!" he replied, and continued: "What will become of you when you regard good as evil and evil as good?" The people around him asked: "O Prophet! Will that also come to pass?" "Yes, it will," he replied."

The hadith states that good is totally confused with evil in societies that are far removed from religious values. People are regarded as naïve for doing what is right and exhibiting proper moral values, and those who trample on others' rights in their own interests are regarded as clever and competent. This situation, which is completely opposed to the Qur'an's moral values, has become a fixed concept in many present-day societies

Mathnawi VI: 255-260

Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance,
for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
Noble birth also is of small account,
for many become fools of money and horses.
Many a nobleman's son has disgraced his father by his wicked deeds.
Don't court a person full of talent either,
even if he seems exquisite in that respect:
take warning from the example of Iblis1 Devil.
Iblis had knowledge, but since his love was not pure,
he saw in Adam nothing but a figure of clay.