The Islamic Review October 1935

Under the Abbasides Baghdad was known as " the capital of Islam the eye of Iraq the seat of Empire the centre of beauty culture and the arts. [...] It was related of him that once he was summoned before the Qazi of Medina at the instance of the camel-owners and recognising the equality of all in the eyes of the law he personally attended accompanied only by his chamberlain. [...] The cause of this remarkable and revoltionary change was the teaching of Islam whose Founder once said " The ink of the scholar is more precious than the blood of the martyr." As one modern writer puts it :- Would the boat of human knowledge have been stranded if there had been for it the hospitality of Arab waters ? Yes ; one has to thank the Arabs who salvaged the precious cargo (Greek li [...] In short Allah is all in all which is the significance of the saying that the whole of the Qur-án is embodied in Sura Fatiha; and the whole of the Sura is encompassed in the word Allah. [...] Such is a traditional characteristic of Eastern monarchs but the nations of the West on the other hand regard everything merely from the business point of view ; and since kings are in the Eastern saying the shadows of God " on the earth and even an ordinary individual can be called a " perfect man " when he possesses the characteristics of the Divine Attributes this " business " spirit of