Ahmad Bin Muhammad Quotes
Who colonized the other – us or them? Did Algeria colonize France, or vice versa? Did Egypt colonize England, or vice versa? We are the victims...
Ahmad Bin Muhammad, Algerian Professor of Religious Politics, Debate with Wafa Sultan, Al-Jazeera TV, July 26, 2005
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Earl of Cromer
The “We” to which he was referring were the British officials and civil servants who governed all of India as a colony of the British Empire.
The Arabs have a long history of arrogant and disdainful treatment by others given the British Colonial history in the Middle East, the French (who invaded Egypt under Napoleon), the Islamic Ottoman Empire which controlled the Middle East before that, and others. Along with the arrogance that usually comes with empire, Western support of the only democracy and modern state in the Middle East—Israel—was even more resented by the Arabs. Historically, there was a general feeling by much of the world that if the Arabs had no oil, no one would pay much attention to them. The Arabs naturally resented these attitudes. It was not until Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sedat, came to government in Egypt and King Hussein reformed Jordan, that Western attitudes began to change towards the Arab nations. The Western change was not because of any Arab “lesson” but the result of new, exceptionally capable leaders who have been reforming the Arab nations.
On July 7, 1898 the United States annexed Hawaii through a transparent aggression posing as a revolution.
There are many who disagree with Say’s claim that the ancient system of colonization produced more friends then the system was at the beginning f the 19th century. Alexander the Great may have been the only large conqueror in world history where the conquered people thought they were better off than before. Certainly the Romans did not make friends, and the French Normans who conquered England were never considered “friends” by the Saxons.
The Mamlukes were Turks from the Caucasus and Georgia who were taken prisoners of Genghis Khan, who sold them as slaves to the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt. The Sultan trained them as soldiers, and eventually they became his palace guard. They actually took over Egypt at one point in the 13th century. When the Ottoman Turks took over the Middle East, they kept the Mamlukes as elite troops and they were a major political and military force in Egypt. Napoleon’s logic was that his Frenchmen had just as much right to control Egypt as did the Mamlukes.
The speech was never actually delivered, but instead the Bishop published it. It received wide distribution including in America where it was published by the Maryland Gazette on September 29, 1774.
In most of the world this is an accepted truism. However, where there is judicial independence as in the United States, Israel, Norway, England and other countries, those who appoint judges have little or no control over a judiciary that has lifetime tenure and a tradition of non-interference. The influence is limited to the appointment of a judge with a particular philosophy. However, in some countries, not only do the courts follow the lead of the government but if they do not the judges themselves might be jailed or worse. Borelli’s principle therefore holds there.
He was a German physician and explorer who had converted to Islam. Nonetheless, he was caught up in the Arab uprising of the Madhists, who had conquered much African territory.
