Armenians in the Muslim world, There was a time when the world was divided and ruled under religious banners… Christian Europe had its religious sectarian squabbles… Catholics against Protestants…European Jews crushed in between! The Levant had Sunnis against Shiites among others… Arab Jews happily igniting hatred wherever they could! Contrary to Christian Europe… Islam allows all ethnicities to reach power and govern the Muslim “UMMA”… therefore, historically conflicts rose only between competing parties for power… and not between minorities versus dominating theocratic oligarchies that monopolized power! Muslim Mamluks, of every different ethnicity and faith, rose to reach highest governing posts… many of them became Sultans! Slavery, though contrary to Islamic teachings was an accepted fact of life! Western historians write that these young bought slaves were “Converted to Islam!”… Wrong!! A child’s existence precedes his identity and faith… human beings are born free from religious dogmas and their prejudices… they learn them later from their families and environment! Hence, Mamluks, who grew among Muslims in a totally Muslim environment automatically became Muslims!! Armenian tribes had a rich history that dates back to 1600 BC… their kingdom once stretched from Mount Ararat to Mount Lebanon… a vast region contested by several dominating powers! It passed from one rising power to the next! First, to the Roman Empire… It changed hands with the Muslim Caliphate…later with the Ottoman Empire! It is ludicrous for any ethnic group to lament the fact that they once ruled here or there!! Armenians developed close social, cultural, military, and religious ties with nearby Crusader States; it would be futile to blame Muslims for holding a grudge against their close relations with European invaders! However; they eventually succumbed to Mamluk invasions…and, in the 16th century, Eastern Armenia was conquered by the Turco-Persian Safavid Empire…while Western Armenia fell under Ottoman rule! In the 1820s…they each spoke a different language! Parts of historic Armenia… under Persian control centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan …were incorporated into the Russian Empire, but Western Armenia remained in the Ottoman Empire… All this is ancient history… Armenia today is what exists of it near the Russian Federation…reviving its past history is akin to reviving past Arab glory in Andalusia!! Those Armenians who live in Arab countries are full fledged citizens; enjoying the same rights and privileges as the rest of the population… what is completely unacceptable to my mind is that most of these lovable and talented people still transpose their hatred of Muslim Turks to hatred towards all Muslims!! Especially towards Arab Muslims!! Forgetting that they are a majority that sheltered them in their hour of distress and need!! Ever since they acquired a state of their own…their existence outside their homeland stopped being a political issue for Muslim hosting nations! It is regrettable that rather than truly attempt to integrate within their adopted homeland… they still tend to allocate themselves apart from the population that hosts them… estranging themselves even from Arab Christians! Our history books are very lacking in analyzing the true relationships between different Levant minorities! They speak so briefly and evasively about the last 800 hundred years of the history of this land that most Syrians today know more about the French Kings than about Mamluk Sultans that ruled Syria during that period!! The chauvinistic Ba’ath party history books veiled the Mamluk era with incongruous generalities… afraid that Kurds might be credited with triumphs of such great Muslim leaders as Salah el Dine… rather than Arabs !! It is generally believed that the Armenian saga in the Arab world started only when they emigrated to Syria and Lebanon after their tragic persecution by the Turks!! Not So!! Local historians seem to neglect that minorities formed an integrated part of the Muslim Caliphate to the extent that quite a few Armenian Mamluks actually ruled the land as Muslim Monarchs!! This seems to have occurred without fuss or antagonism!! Here are some names of those notable Muslim Armenians… Caliphate and Imamate of Al-Mustansir…was ethnically an Armenian, he was purchased by a Syrian… Badr al-Din Lu’lu’ (died 1259) was the first mamluk to transcend servitude and become sultan. Lu’lu’ was an Armenian convert to Islam, in the household of the Zangid ruler Nur al-Din Arslanshah I. Al-Amir Ali Ibn Yahya Abu’l Hassan al-Armani… governor of Egypt in 841 and 849, was appointed by the Abbasid Caliph, the spiritual and political guide and leader of Muslims at Baghdad. The courage of Amir Ali Ibn Yehia, “who was versed in the science of war,” is praised by the mediaeval Islamic historian Ibn Taghribirdi. Al-Afdal, the son of Badr al-Jamali… was nicknamed Jalal al-Islam (“glory of Islam“) and Nasir al-Din (“Protector of the Faith”). Ibn al-Qalanisi describes him as “a firm believer in the doctrines of Sunnah, upright in conduct. Bahram al-Armani… who ... after restoring order and peace in the country at the request of Caliph al-Hafiz, was appointed by the latter as the vizier in 1135. Baha al-Din Karakush… an eunuch and a Mamluk of the Kurdish general Shirkuh who in 1176 constructed a fortress, the Citadel, on the southeastern ridge of the Muqattam Hills and enclosed the new and old capitals, Cairo and Fustat, within a wall protected by the Citadel. Amir Suleyman Bey al-Armani… held the position of Governor of Munnifeya and Gharbiyya provinces in 1690 and was so wealthy that he had Mamluks at his service. Ali al-Armani and Ali Bey al-Armani Abul Azab served as regional commanders. Mustafa Jabarti …Muhammad Kehia al-Armani … an incorruptible leader who in 1798 was sent to negotiate with Napoleon Bonaparte in Alexandria to spare the population of Cairo. Napoleon was so impressed by the conciliatory tone, the political astuteness, and the diplomatic skill of the Mamluk of Armenian descent that he later appointed him the Head of Cairo’s Political Affairs Administration. Now that Israel was concocted from bits and pieces assembled from all over the world and established as an almost world power in the region… It was time for the West to establish more separate regional powers to enhance its existence as a Jewish state… Thus the race for partition among Arabs began by creating conflicts among minorities living over the same underground oil reserves!! Jews, in an attempt to assert their individuality as the “Chosen People” attempted to mix Religion with Nationality…Ashkenazy Jews would have easily made a bid at belonging to a Supreme race… had they not been blocked by the presence of tanned oriental and black African Jews among them ! It is amazing that few people care to analyze the intellectual nature of a “Faith”… and its right place in the mind! After all… Faiths…Religions… are simply spiritual dogmas…ideas… not biological facts!! They cling to one’s mind because of their spiritual flavor but can never aspire to become physically a part of it! Judaism is a Faith…the Ten Commandments… a spiritual dogma… plus a series of much contested metaphysical beliefs, principles, and literal Dialogues with God… ludicrous miracles… a Covenant with God signed by cutting the prepuces of men’s penises!! That is all what there is to it!! One has to be of a mind four thousand years old to really accept the “modernity” of all this!! “Armenian” is a semantic appellation of tribes that were the first to adopt Christianity… it is a name…not a biological blood group!! Adding “ian” to Armenian family names …is an unnecessary Stamp!! Again…!! “Judaism” is the name of a faith… not the color of skin or a blood group!! “Islam” is the same…a name of a faith that believes in One Creator, his prophet, and a certain way of life!! These beliefs, to a certain extent, are like computer programs that start being fed to the mind since childhood; the only difference is that a computer reacts automatically… giving back the exact information that was installed in its system, whereas the mind is a creative organ that can come out with infinite Variations on the same theme!! People inherit all sorts of idiosyncrasies from their tribal ancestors…they may even start resembling each other physically… this does not affect, or alter their DNA… or make them intrinsically different from other human beings!! Reasonable people should realize that Glorifying Ethnicity… digging up false or semi-true arguments to enhance differences between Ethnic groups to achieve chauvinistic aims are simply outdated ideals! They are concepts invented by Nazi propagandists no more real than the invention of the “Ethnic Semitism” that had no place in history before it was transformed from a Semantic science… to a racial doctrine!
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:36:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015