aammar
03-02-2013, 08:24 AM
The sufferings of Muslims in Europe with religious intolerance and prosecution did not stop with the end of the medieval ages and the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe. The catastrophe of Muslims in the Balkans, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, represents clear evidence of the intensity of the hatred that is deeply ingrained in the hearts of some Europeans until the present time.
The Berlin Conference that was held in 1878 gave Austria and Hungary the interim administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to topple the Ottoman State there. By the year 1908, Muslims in that region came under the authority of Austria. Although the Treaty of Berlin stipulated that the rights of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be respected without discrimination, Muslims underwent continuous ethnic liquidation at the hands of Serbian and Croatian militias that terrorized Muslims with support from Austrians and Hungarians.
The ugly scenario of persecuting Bosnian Muslims did not stop at that point. During World War II, Nazi Germany helped its ally Croatia to conquer Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tito formed an interim government in 1943 that paved the way for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia included six republics: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnia-Herzegovina was in 1945 one of six new Yugoslav republics within the borders.
Communist rule was not a happy time for Bosnian Muslims either. The Communists banned all Islamic Da‘wah activities in the country. Despite the emergence of a glimmer of hope when the communist state recognized Islam as a national religion in the 1974 Constitution, this recognition did not abolish Serbian extremism or curb their greed to seize the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to build a Greater Serbia.
When Yugoslavia started to decline, especially after the death of Tito and the collapse of communism in
Eastern Europe in 1988, the six Yugoslav republics broke free from Yugoslavia. The parliament of Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia) declared the independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15/10/1991, and the Bosnian government held a referendum and 99% voted for independence. ‘Alija Izetbegovic declared the independence of the Republic officially on 04/03/1992. Serbia aimed at forming a new Yugoslavia that included Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the situation exploded in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 09/03/1992 when the Serbs launched a war against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbs headed to Bosnia and Herzegovina with armored vehicles and tanks, which were inherited from the disjointed Yugoslav armed forces, as most of them were Serbs.
The United Nations sent troops in its peacekeeping operations on 23/03/1992 to stop the Serbian attacks on Croatia and Bosnia. The Serbs stopped their assaults on Croatia but continued their attacks on Muslims and even widened the scope of that unequal fighting to all the cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, Bosnia began a bloody phase in its history.
The Serbs killed Bosnian Muslims pitilessly with a clear objective, ethnic cleansing. They resorted to the most horrible and meanest methods of torture and did not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Their horrific massacres targeted even Bosnian children. Thousands of Muslim girls and women were raped in order to spread terror and panic, forcing Muslims to flee and leave their homeland. The estimated number of Muslim girls and women, who were raped, at the least estimations, was twenty thousand. Mass graves, which were dug by the Serbs for the Muslims in order to efface their horrible crimes, are still being discovered until this very day.
No one knows the secret behind the deep and extreme hostility that is harbored by some Europeans towards Islam, as if it is an old vengeance. One is held in awe upon pondering on these painful historical facts. There is no record in history of a more civilized, humane and refined treatment of a victorious and conquering army than the record of the Islamic armies throughout the ages. The whole world, and Europe in particular, benefited from the Islamic conquests in all walks of life and this is a fact that no one can deny.
The introduction of Islam into the continent of Europe had the greatest impact on Europe, according to the acknowledgment of the Europeans themselves. The best evidence on this is what the famous French Orientalist Gustave Le Bon said in his book The Civilization of the Arabs. He clearly stated that Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries AD was lost in ignorance and backwardness. The European rulers were proud of being illiterate. This European barbarism lasted a very long time. On the contrary, the Islamic civilization in Spain was bright and shining. When Europe sought liberation from the shackles of ignorance and backwardness, the Europeans turned to the Muslims, who were the most informed and par-excellence scientists of their time.
Then, Gustave Le Bon admitted that the Crusades were not the reason behind the introduction of science into Europe. The sciences were introduced to the European continent through Spain, Sicily and Italy. The Andalusian city Toledo witnessed the beginning of the translation movement, through which the most important books of Muslim scientists were translated from Arabic into Latin. The West spared no effort in translating the Muslim scientists’ books throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD. All the books of great Muslim minds such as Ar-Raazi, Ibn Seenaa and Ibn Rushd, and many others, were translated into Latin.
Europe did not know anything about the ancient Greek scientists such as Galenus, Aristotle, and Archimedes except through the translated books of Muslims. During the tenth century AD, there was no other country in the whole world where seekers of knowledge could study except Al-Andalus and the countries of the Islamic Orient. There was no scientist in Europe who did not depend on the translated Muslim books until the fifteenth century AD. These books remained, for almost six centuries, the only source of teaching at the universities of Europe.
[Gustave Le Bon: Civilization of the Arabs, translated by ‘Aadil Zu‘aytir, the Egyptian General Book Organization, 2000 AD, p. 567-569]
The Berlin Conference that was held in 1878 gave Austria and Hungary the interim administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to topple the Ottoman State there. By the year 1908, Muslims in that region came under the authority of Austria. Although the Treaty of Berlin stipulated that the rights of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be respected without discrimination, Muslims underwent continuous ethnic liquidation at the hands of Serbian and Croatian militias that terrorized Muslims with support from Austrians and Hungarians.
The ugly scenario of persecuting Bosnian Muslims did not stop at that point. During World War II, Nazi Germany helped its ally Croatia to conquer Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tito formed an interim government in 1943 that paved the way for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia included six republics: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnia-Herzegovina was in 1945 one of six new Yugoslav republics within the borders.
Communist rule was not a happy time for Bosnian Muslims either. The Communists banned all Islamic Da‘wah activities in the country. Despite the emergence of a glimmer of hope when the communist state recognized Islam as a national religion in the 1974 Constitution, this recognition did not abolish Serbian extremism or curb their greed to seize the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to build a Greater Serbia.
When Yugoslavia started to decline, especially after the death of Tito and the collapse of communism in
Eastern Europe in 1988, the six Yugoslav republics broke free from Yugoslavia. The parliament of Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia) declared the independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15/10/1991, and the Bosnian government held a referendum and 99% voted for independence. ‘Alija Izetbegovic declared the independence of the Republic officially on 04/03/1992. Serbia aimed at forming a new Yugoslavia that included Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the situation exploded in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 09/03/1992 when the Serbs launched a war against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbs headed to Bosnia and Herzegovina with armored vehicles and tanks, which were inherited from the disjointed Yugoslav armed forces, as most of them were Serbs.
The United Nations sent troops in its peacekeeping operations on 23/03/1992 to stop the Serbian attacks on Croatia and Bosnia. The Serbs stopped their assaults on Croatia but continued their attacks on Muslims and even widened the scope of that unequal fighting to all the cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, Bosnia began a bloody phase in its history.
The Serbs killed Bosnian Muslims pitilessly with a clear objective, ethnic cleansing. They resorted to the most horrible and meanest methods of torture and did not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Their horrific massacres targeted even Bosnian children. Thousands of Muslim girls and women were raped in order to spread terror and panic, forcing Muslims to flee and leave their homeland. The estimated number of Muslim girls and women, who were raped, at the least estimations, was twenty thousand. Mass graves, which were dug by the Serbs for the Muslims in order to efface their horrible crimes, are still being discovered until this very day.
No one knows the secret behind the deep and extreme hostility that is harbored by some Europeans towards Islam, as if it is an old vengeance. One is held in awe upon pondering on these painful historical facts. There is no record in history of a more civilized, humane and refined treatment of a victorious and conquering army than the record of the Islamic armies throughout the ages. The whole world, and Europe in particular, benefited from the Islamic conquests in all walks of life and this is a fact that no one can deny.
The introduction of Islam into the continent of Europe had the greatest impact on Europe, according to the acknowledgment of the Europeans themselves. The best evidence on this is what the famous French Orientalist Gustave Le Bon said in his book The Civilization of the Arabs. He clearly stated that Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries AD was lost in ignorance and backwardness. The European rulers were proud of being illiterate. This European barbarism lasted a very long time. On the contrary, the Islamic civilization in Spain was bright and shining. When Europe sought liberation from the shackles of ignorance and backwardness, the Europeans turned to the Muslims, who were the most informed and par-excellence scientists of their time.
Then, Gustave Le Bon admitted that the Crusades were not the reason behind the introduction of science into Europe. The sciences were introduced to the European continent through Spain, Sicily and Italy. The Andalusian city Toledo witnessed the beginning of the translation movement, through which the most important books of Muslim scientists were translated from Arabic into Latin. The West spared no effort in translating the Muslim scientists’ books throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD. All the books of great Muslim minds such as Ar-Raazi, Ibn Seenaa and Ibn Rushd, and many others, were translated into Latin.
Europe did not know anything about the ancient Greek scientists such as Galenus, Aristotle, and Archimedes except through the translated books of Muslims. During the tenth century AD, there was no other country in the whole world where seekers of knowledge could study except Al-Andalus and the countries of the Islamic Orient. There was no scientist in Europe who did not depend on the translated Muslim books until the fifteenth century AD. These books remained, for almost six centuries, the only source of teaching at the universities of Europe.
[Gustave Le Bon: Civilization of the Arabs, translated by ‘Aadil Zu‘aytir, the Egyptian General Book Organization, 2000 AD, p. 567-569]