Uncleanliness Quotes



The distrust and perception by many Muslims of non-Muslims is a practical and ethical problem. To many fundamentalist Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Animists—all non-Muslim Human Beings—are not only wrong but filthy and disgusting—in the same category as urine and feces. What is amazing however, that despite this paranoid view of ‘others’ Islamic nations have produced so many great physicians who compassionately have contact with impure non-believers every day. It also illustrates that most Muslims do not hold all the beliefs of their more fanatic co-religionists.


At the time, most Muslims and Jews of Andalusia lived together very amicably. Ibn Hazm was a brilliant scholar of philosophy, law, theology, and science and the leading Islamic intellectual of Andalusia. However, he had one major rival, a Jew named Samuel ibn Naghrela who was just as brilliant a scholar, but also one of the best military leaders, and physicians of the kingdom. (See {623786} & {623774}) Ibn Hazm was very jealous and tried to turn the Muslim Berber King Habbus al-Muzaffar against ibn Naghrela and other Jews. The king however made Samuel ibn Naghrela his hajib (prime minister / vizier) of Grenada in 1037. He was also made military commander and excelled at both areas while continuing his scholarly activity. Samuel ibn Naghrela held his political and military positions for 17 years and both these intellectuals wrote brilliant books in several field which added to the reputation of this era as the Golden Age of Islamic Spain.