Old Islamic Age Veeky Forums Thread

I was curious about this subject so i started to look into it more. And HOLY SHIT its like an untapped well of fascinating literature. Specifically these two.

>Shams al-Ma'arif or Shams al-Ma'arif wa Lata'if al-'Awarif (Arabic: كتاب شمس المعارف ولطائف العوارف, lit. "The Book of the Sun of Gnosis and the Subtleties of Elevated Things") is a 13th-century grimoire written on Arabic magic and a manual for achieving esoteric spirituality. It was written by The Sufi Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al-buni in Egypt, who died around 1225 CE (622 AH). The Shams al-Ma'arif is generally regarded as the most influential textbook of its type in the Arab and Muslim worlds,[1] and is arguably as important as, if not more than, the Picatrix in both hemispheres.

>Ghyatt Al-Hakim (Picatrix). Picatrix is a composite work that synthesizes older works on magic and astrology. One of the most influential interpretations suggests it is to be regarded as a "handbook of talismanic magic".[4] Another researcher summarizes it as "the most thorough exposition of celestial magic in Arabic", indicating the sources for the work as "Arabic texts on Hermeticism, Sabianism, Ismailism, astrology, alchemy and magic produced in the Near East in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D."[5] Eugenio Garin declares, "In reality the Latin version of the Picatrix is as indispensable as the Corpus Hermeticum or the writings of Albumasar for understanding a conspicuous part of the production of the Renaissance, including the figurative arts."[6] It has significantly influenced West European esotericism from Marsilio Ficino in the 15th century, to Thomas Campanella in the 17th century. The manuscript in the British Library passed through several hands: Simon Forman, Richard Napier, Elias Ashmole and William Lilly. According to the prologue of the Latin translation, Picatrix was translated into Spanish from the Arabic by order of Alphonso X of Castile at some time between 1256 and 1258.[7] The Latin version was produced sometime later, based on translation of the Spanish manuscripts. It has been attributed to Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti (an Andalusian mathematician), but many have called this attribution into question. Consequently, the author is sometimes indicated as "Pseudo-Majriti".

And there is so much more pieces of literature of a varying array of genres, written by authors from Spain to Delhi India.

Other urls found in this thread:

thequranblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ghazali-incoherence-of-the-philosophers.pdf
burtoniana.org/books/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Also a lot of quality poetry. One of my favorites by Al-Maari a blind irreligious poet, who was also a vegan:

>You are diseased in understanding and religion. Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth.

>Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up, And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals, Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young, not noble ladies.

>And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs; for injustice is the worst of crimes.

>And spare the honey which the bees get industriously from the flowers of fragrant plants; For they did not store it that it might belong to others, Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.

>I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I Perceived my way before my hair went gray!

A African Muslim Philosopher Al-Jahiz in Risalat mufakharat al-sudan 'ala al-bidan (Treatise on Blacks)

> Everybody agrees that there is no people on earth in whom generosity is as universally well developed as the Zanj. These people have a natural talent for dancing to the rhythm of the tambourine, without needing to learn it. There are no better singers anywhere in the world, no people more polished and eloquent, and no people less given to insulting language. No other nation can surpass them in bodily strength and physical toughness. One of them will lift huge blocks and carry heavy loads that would be beyond the strength of most Bedouins or members of other races. They are courageous, energetic, and generous, which are the virtues of nobility, and also good-tempered and with little propensity to evil. They are always cheerful, smiling, and devoid of malice, which is a sign of noble character.

> The Zanj say that God did not make them black in order to disfigure them; rather it is their environment that made them so. The best evidence of this is that there are black tribes among the Arabs, such as the Banu Sulaim bin Mansur, and that all the peoples settled in the Harra, besides the Banu Sulaim are black. These tribes take slaves from among the Ashban to mind their flocks and for irrigation work, manual labor, and domestic service, and their wives from among the Byzantines; and yet it takes less than three generations for the Harra to give them all the complexion of the Banu Sulaim. This Harra is such that the gazelles, ostriches, insects, wolves, foxes, sheep, asses, horses and birds that live there are all black. White and black are the results of environment, the natural properties of water and soil, distance from the sun, and intensity of heat. There is no question of metamorphosis, or of punishment, disfigurement or favor meted out by Allah. Besides, the land of the Banu Sulaim has much in common with the land of the Turks, where the camels, beasts of burden, and everything belonging to these people is similar in appearance: everything of theirs has a Turkish look.[11]

I rember liking al-Ghazli in school. We only read Rescuer from Error.

From what i have found regarding what islamic authors to read, Al-Ghezali and Ibn Arabi are constantly regarded as the top of the islamic literature.

>Picatrix

This book right here has so many conspiracy theories around it. Specifcally because of the Freemasons infatuation with it. I had no idea it was originally made by a muslim.

Maybe Allah is Maloch

good thread op, I'll check these guys out

>Al-Ghezali

This guy is who i believe led to the downfall of muslims. His book "Incoherence of the Philosophers" has proven to be one of the most destructive books in Islams history.

To get a good idea of what the book was about, read Averroes (ibn Rashud) response "Incoherence of the Incoherence"

>His most important original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against al-Ghazali's (AD 1058–1111) claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa).[53] Al-Ghazali had argued that Aristotelianism, especially as presented in the writings of Avicenna, was self-contradictory and an affront to the teachings of Islam. In particular he argued that three philosophical points (viz. a pre-eternal world, God only knowing universal—that is to say, Platonic—characteristics of particulars, and a spiritual rather than physical resurrection) constituted not just heresy, but rather disbelief in Islam itself.[54] Ibn Rushd's rebuttal was two-pronged: First, he contended that al-Ghazali's arguments were mistaken, arguing that the Qur'an actually commanded devout Muslims to study of philosophy.[19] Second, Ibn Rushd contended that he actually agreed with al-Ghazali in regards to a number of the latter's criticisms of Avicenna; Ibn Rushd argued that the system of Avicenna was a distortion of genuine Aristotelianism, and as a result, al-Ghazali was effectively aiming at the wrong target. Ibn Rushd thus argues that his own system is, as R. Arnaldez notes, "a reconstruction of the true philosophy, that of Aristotle himself, against the false, that of the neo-Platonic falāsifa, which distorted the thinking of Aristotle".[13]

>Whereas al-Ghazali believed that phenomenon such as cotton burning when coming into contact with fire happened each and every time only because God willed it to happen: "all earthly occurrences depend on heavenly occurrences."[55] Ibn Rushd, by contrast insisted while God created the natural law, humans "could more usefully say that fire cause cotton to burn—because creation had a pattern that they could discern."[9][10][11]

>In Fasl al-Maqal (Decisive Treatise), Ibn Rushd argues for the legality of philosophical investigation under Islamic law, and that there is no inherent contradiction between philosophy and religion

OP really hasnt posted any of the big ones. Guys like Averroes (Ibn Rashud), Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Ibn Arabi, Rumi, AL-Kindi, Rabbi Saadia Gaon (Jew that liven in Abbasid Caliphate), Al Farabi, Avempace (Ibn Bajja), Ibn Khaldun, Zhang He (If we're counting Chinese Muslims) and my absolute favorite Ibn Battuta.

Pic related is Ibn Battutas travel. He is considered the most well traveled person in history. Basically the Muslim worlds Marco Polo.

There really was a lot of interesting early muslims.

English copy of Al-Ghazali's "Incoherence of the Philosophers" for those interested.

thequranblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ghazali-incoherence-of-the-philosophers.pdf

>Ibn Battuta

Its said that he had a wife in China who bore him a son. The Ding family who are in the millions today claim that the first Ding came walking from the middle east to China. Ibn Battuta's nickname was "Shams ud-Din",which translates to "The Sun of Religion", due to his knowledge in Islam. In China Ding is pronounced "Din"

>Thus, in their first encounter, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) asks Ibn 'Arabi, as I am sure you all remember: “What kind of solution have you found through divine unveiling and illumination? Is it identical with what you have found through speculative thought? " and Ibn 'Arabi replies: "Yes - No. Between the yes and the no, spirits take wing from their matter and necks are separated from their bodies'.

> After the early exchange of only a few words, it is said, the mystical depth of the boy so overwhelmed the old philosopher that he became pale and, dumbfounded, began trembling.

I'm surprised no one brought up Omar Khayyám yet

fuck, imagine this man's life, everything he's seen...only to be washed away like tears in the rain

Lmao what did early Islamic /pol/ have to say about this guy

His life always makes me think of the "born to late to explore the world and born to early to explore space" quote to me. Its honestly pretty depressing.

I think that if you had the courage and iniative to travel the same routes it would be exiting enough even if the areas have been mapped. It's certainly more than staring at a Burmese carp fishing forum day after day.

its probably easier to travel now than ever
desu I'm living in Asia right now and have been all over the region by motorbike, train and bus

This is true, I'm planning on taking a motorcycle from Ireland to Jordan this winter for 4 months, should be pretty exciting. But I know it'll never be the same...to see the worlds cultures in its purest self in a truly alien land. Even making the trip 100 years ago would be pretty close, these last 20 years changed a lot. Though I'm excited about Africa's boom. The continent would be pretty fun exploring in the next ten years

But globalization and cultural dominance has made visiting other nations less exciting.

Imagine taking a pilgramige from Andalus to mecca, then going to syria, iraq, persia, india, china, SEA, when all these nations had a very unique and distinct culture. That is the beauty of his travels. Every border crossed was met with a brand new style of clothing, food, sights and smells. You really can't emulate that today.

Nowadays I go from China to Dubai to Mumbai to Shanghai and i see them same concrete jungles I would see in my hometown.

although if you notice every place he went had the same dance routines, it's like every time he stops somewhere he chills with the local richguy and (pretends to) passes out when the dancers do the flying routine or whatever, but only in china the guy is like "bro calm down its an illusion", so clearly culture was already pretty globalized, and if you look at the spread of bronze age technology like war chariots etc. it's clear there was a lot more cultural transmission than people who don't study history/archaeology believe

none of these cultures were "pure" then and they aren't any less "pure" now
I'd be careful travelling through the middle east right now, even as a man.

I've been through Cambodia into Thailand and Burma and that was pretty freaky when you reach the mountain borderlands and a big group of random people with guns come out of the forest to pull you over and question you for hours then take some of your stuff (luckily only a throw-away phone and some other replaceable junk)

>burtoniana.org/books/

dudes check this shit out, some dank tales of exploration in there, africa, south asia, all that shit

go outside of the big tourist areas of the cities
I can tell you that even these major cities are pretty unique if you're willing to leave the safe "nesting" area
I live in Vietnam and enjoy it a lot living on the outskirts of Saigon.
I found a copy of the Picture of Dorian Grey from the 1920s in English in some dusty old bookshop here just recently.

I'm Arabic(Christian but in some places I won't make that known) and have family in Jerusalem and Jordan so I should be good there. What I meant by "pure" is still retaining a truely unique identify and worldview. Trade obviousely occurred but the mentality of a craftsman living in Timbuktu or Badgad then now is alien to the more globally recognized and tested culturals of the present. The world definitely lost some type of wonder than it used to have. Not saying it doesn't exist now, but imagine viewing the rest the world you can actually travel to like how we view space today

people still have unique mentalities, they are just different
I suspect that 500 years ago people might have wondered what these people were like 500 or 1000 years prior

and ibn battutah travelled pretty much only within the Islamic sphere of influence so there was already loads of cross-cultural connection
he really only leaves it in his latter journeys deeper into Africa and Asia

I've been to jordan multiple times and i'd say any man or woman would be very safe as long as their not wearing a star of david or yamakka (due to Palestinan population).

It was honestly one of my favorite trips ever. Petra was mindbogglingly beautful. You can pay for a donkey to take you up the path, and they dress you up in a Shemagh. I also went to Wadi Rum where they let you camp out with bedouins for a night and they sing songs, dance, cook huge meals. And when the night comes and the kids go to sleep they brought out like hundreds of hookahs and belly dancers came out. It was honestly the biggest cultural shock i've ever had because i thought muslims were anal about that kind of stuff.

I also visited a lot of very old Crusader castles and Churches which were all well maintained and preserved.

Really nice country.

yeah but dude the whole north africa and levant was "globalized" since ancient times

desu I've never been to West Asia or much of Europe so I can't say what its really like.

only the Americas and East/SE Asia

This is making me excited for my trip, my family are Palestinian Jordanians but I was born in California so I never been to my home country or Jordan.

>night and they sing songs, dance, cook huge meals. And when the night comes and the kids go to sleep they brought out like hundreds of hookahs and belly dancers came out.

Yea lol, you should go to one of our weddings it's a kind of party most dont expect from Arabs due to the stereotypes but they go fucking hard

no way don't tell me the anti-semitic crank is actually a palestinian not a white nationalist, almonds activated

Oh I know they were part of a larger Islamic context, but each area retained its individual cultural much better than the pan arab/western capitalist countries of the present. Still, I'm going to enjoy the world I've been born in to the fullest extent. Also cant forget that untouched wilderness and fertile crescent before the desertification

what? Really dont get what you are saying here

The food was also one of the best parts of the trip. But you probably already know how good the food is.

The Chad Battuta

What the hell does Battuta even mean?

I made this thread earlier today and it's relevant to this general. Great stuff from those anons

>Open thread
>Expect a bunch of edgelords just shitting on Islam
>Get thoughtful discussion about Middle Eastern literature and culture

Anyone else enjoy reading full blown Islamic literature despite not being Muslim? I was born and raised Catholic and I still find pleasure in reading the Quran for entertainment and see legitimate wisdom in Islamic scriptures like al-Bukkari and Sahih al-Muslim.

bump

How the fuk are you guys able to experience so much in your travels?
Anytime I go anywhere, I don't do anything major outside going on the local trips which have already become tourist go-tos and walking around markets and museums.
Not that I don't like such things, but I've never had any real cultural shock by meeting new people. I don't think I'm even capable of doing that.

>tfw ywn live a comfy life in 11th century Baghdad together with the greatest scientists, philosophers and poets of Muslim history
i really hate the shitty times we live in