By Kamran Cheikh on
4/18/2009 3:20 AM
Quite possibly one of the greatest humanist and scientists of our times Al Jahiz (al-Jahiz = the goggle-eyed) established himself as a renowned scholar throughout the 9th century Muslim world. As a politio-religious polemic, literary author, theologian, biologist and zoologist he became a revolutionary figure in the Abbasid Caliphate era that sparked a movement of science that would have an immense impact in the realm of biology and zoology for centuries to come. Al-Jahiz produced more than 200 works, of which approximately 30 survive, and was one of the first Muslim scholars to write on scientific subjects in the language of laymen. Inspired by the statements in Qur'an about the origin and devolpment of life , he composed his most famous work Kitab al-hayawan (Book of animals) and recieved credit for establishing the first theory of human evolution and natural selection , 1000 years before Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection a fact which is not widely known. Among the topics addressed in this seven-volume...
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By Kamran Cheikh on
4/14/2009 2:06 AM
The question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy has been a highly debated issue for both the West and the Muslim majority world since the beginning of the 20th century. Scholars of history have often argued that there has been a clash of civilizations between Western and Muslim civilizations throughout history and that Islam will always be in conflict with secular democratic principles. The increase of globalization has also made this issue more important as coherent relations between Western and the Muslim majority societies have become increasingly vital in maintaining global prosperity.
Despite, the commonly held view by historians that Islam is incompatible with democracy, scholars of Islam in Western societies have been able to argue the contrary, and that the relationship between Islam democracy goes back farther than most historians have recognized. In Professor John Esposito’s work Islam and Democracy he states that the notion of Islam being incompatible...
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By Kamran Cheikh on
4/11/2009 1:23 AM
With the current global economic crisis, many nations have been reconsidering their current philosophy of economic policies. Additionally, ethical theorists of economics have recognized that the current form global capitalistic economy needs to be reconstructed with more emphasis placed on global social welfare. This rising form of economic thought has led many theorists to views that are drawing quite closely to the Qur’anic view of economic and social welfare. One of the biggest proponents and developers of this line of thought is world renowned Australian Philosopher Peter Singer, who has written numerous works on issues of global poverty and the need for the affluent nations to change their current economic policies. In his most famous work, “Famine, Affluence and Morality” he argues that affluent persons and nations are morally obligated to donate far more resources to humanitarian causes than is considered normal in modern capitalistic societies. The essay was inspired by the starvation of Bangladesh Liberation...
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By General on
4/6/2009 12:47 PM
Romanes Lecture at Oxford University, held on December 2, 2008
Vice Chancellor Dr John Hood, members of the faculty, students, distinguished ladies and gentlemen :
I am very honored to be invited to deliver the Romanes Lecture at the world famous Sheldonian Theater at Oxford. It is indeed a privilege for me to become a part of this great, hundred- year old tradition at Oxford University. Thank you for inviting me here.
I have chosen today as the title of my speech "A Poverty Free World- When? How?" because I believe that not only is poverty the most pressing issue of our time, I also believe, at the same time, that it is a problem that we have fully the capacity to tackle and overcome within the first half of this century - if only we choose to do so.
I am a compulsive optimist as far as poverty is concerned. I am an optimist because I am convinced that poverty is not as difficult or complex an issue as we are constantly told it is. After all, poverty is about people. I have always said that the ingredients for ending poverty comes neatly packaged within each person. A human being is born in this world fully equipped not only to take care of him or herself, but also endowed with the ability to enlarge the well being of others in the world....
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