Karen Armstrong Quotes
If we could view Muhammad as we do any other important historical figure we would surely consider him to be one of the greatest geniuses the world has known.
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, p. 52.
Ataturk wrote this manual personally. Religious Turks took violent offense to Ataturk’s proclamation that Turks were great without Islam.
Amr ibn Al-'Aas was one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. In 2005 an Egyptian writer, Usama Anwar Ukasha, criticized the companion’s role for causing dissention and divisiveness in Islamic history. Some called for his legal punishment for slandering a holy figure and a law case was brought to force him to divorce his wife—so that she would not be “contaminated” by his heretical thoughts. Some Egyptians argued that anyone should have the right to analyze and criticize the role of any historical figure—except for The Prophet (see {585045})—but Dr. Shahin explained that under Islamic Law (Sharia) such criticism may not be permitted and the state should punish the offender.
This is another of De Tocqueville’s prescient statements that in retrospect seem so amazing given the time. This quotation could serve as an op ed in a newspaper of any of the industrial democracies of the early 21st century. However, he did not have the information of the details we have today that showed Islam as the pinnacle of scientific, philosophical, literary and medical achievement at the beginning of the second millennium, while the Christian nations of Europe were mired in the Dark Ages. It was the same Koran but a very different interpretation and framework that led to the decadence while it was the Protestant Reformation that triggered a Christianity that was hospitable to modernity and enlightenment.
The Spanish Military Dictator Francisco Franco had supporters despite his Civil War that was the destruction of democracy in Spain and the slaughter of many of Franco’s opponents. He allied with Nazi Fascist Germany and Italy and allowed the German Air Force to test the aerial bombing of populated cities for the first time in history. The Spanish Aristocracy and the Roman Catholic Church were strong supporters of Franco while volunteers came from every other country in Europe to try and defeat the Fascists as WWII was around the corner if they were not stopped. An entire brigade of Americans—the Abraham Lincoln Brigade—came to support the Spanish Republicans but Franco and his Fascist allies had much more modern weaponry including total air supremacy thanks to Nazi Germany.
Karen Armstrong OBE FRSL is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical Christian faith. She attended St Anne's College, Oxford, while in the convent and majored in English. She left the convent in 1969. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance of compassion and the Golden Rule.
