Arabs

"Eight, or some say twenty-six thousand, men were put to the sword."

"[Within two years of the death of Muhammad bin Qasim ], the people of India rebelled, and threw off their yoke, and the country from Debalpur to the salt sea only remained under the dominions of the Khalifa."

"At Brahmanabad, after many people were killed, “all prisoners of or under the age of 30 years were put in chains… All the other people capable of bearing arms were beheaded and their followers and dependents were made prisoners.”"

"At the time of Muhammad bin Qasim’s invasion of Sindh the head of the State was the Caliph and prisoners taken in Sindh were regularly forwarded to him. Kufi, the author of the Chachnama, rightly sums up the position. Out of the total catch, four-fifths was the share of the soldiers, “what remained of the cash and slaves was… sent to Hajjaj (the Governor of Iraq )” for onward transportation to the Khalifa. In such a situation any special acquisition had to be paid for in cash. Muhammad bin Qasim who wished to possess Raja Dahir’s wife Ladi, avers the Chachnama, “purchased her out of the spoils, before making her his wife.” But the price he paid is not mentioned. Similarly, when Hajjaj sent 60,000 slaves captured in India to the Caliph Walid I (705-715 C.E.), the latter “sold some of those female slaves of royal birth”,5 but again their price has not been specified."

"Bricks are considered to be the first material created by human intelligence from the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. ...The great variety of designs and effects that artists of the past, especially the Arabs... were able to create in their brickwork, assembled with an element so monotonous... can be compared only with the beauty and attractiveness a romantic poet attained by adjusting his verses to the rigidity of a formal meter."

"Arabs are the most noble people in lineage, the most prominent, and the best in deeds. We were the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. We are Allah’s helpers and the viziers of His Messenger. We fight people until they believe in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protected his life and possessions from us. As for one who disbelieves, we will fight him forever in Allah’s Cause. Killing him is a small matter to us."

"These Bedouin tribes led predatory lives and on their minds there was nothing but greed, profit worship, and what satisfied their most primitive desires―never wandering beyond the material and the tangible. The moral principle that they boasted of was manliness, while even that meant nothing but vanity and revenge seeking. The bravery and freedom loving that has been attributed to the Arabs manifested itself in looting and seeking vengeance; their life’s sole interests were lust, wine, and fighting."

"Arab culture is full of great story tellers, and it is one of the favorite pastimes of Arab people. I think that there is a deep hunger in the human psyche for story and the nourishment it gives us. People don't live on one level chatter alone, rhetoric or just the conveyance of news. We need the threading and layering of a day that story gives us, and that's very much from the culture."

"One day those Arabs who have been brought to the Kurdish areas will have to be expelled. Syrian government policy has brought many Arabs to the Kurdish areas. All the villages where they live now belong to the Kurds."

"Ali Ibn Abi Talib, said: Verily the Prophet said: God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then He chose the Arabs from among the people, then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then He chose the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and from them he chose me."

"They did not move past these to take notice of meanings and values. They could not accept the customs and manners of a civilian life and brought ruin and sedition to their neighboring towns, as they despoiled and plundered. Out of savagery and ferocity, according to ibn Khaldūn, many a time they tore out stones from the foundation of a building to place under their cooking pots, or pulled out ceiling beams to prop up a tent."

"Present-day Egyptians speak Arabic, think of themselves as Arabs, and identify wholeheartedly with the Arab Empire that conquered Egypt in the seventh century and crushed with an iron fist the repeated revolts that broke out against its rule."

"Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France belongs to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs."

"Arabs only dominate the plains, because they are by their savage nature, people of pillage and corruption. They pillage everything that they can take without fighting or taking risks, then flee to their refuge in the wilderness, and do not stand and do battle unless in self-defense. So when they encounter any difficulty or obstacle, they leave it alone and look for easier prey. And tribes well-fortified against them on the slopes of the hills escape their corruption and destruction, because they prefer not to climb hills, nor expend effort, nor take risks. Whereas plains, when they can reach them due to lack of protection and weakness of the state, are spoils for them and morsels for them to eat, which they will keep despoiling and raiding and conquering with ease until their people are defeated, then imitate them with mutual conflict and political decline, until their civilization is destroyed. And Allah is capable of their creation, and He is the One, the Victorious, and there is no other lord than Him."

"Few are the nations that excelled the Arabs in civility. No nation has ever achieved the greatest number of inventions within the shortest time as the Arabs did. In fact, the Arabs established one of the strongest religions which prevailed in the world and whose influence is still more vital than that of any other religion. Politically, they founded one of the greatest states known in history and civilized Europe culturally and morally. Few are the ethnic groups which rose and declined like the Arabs. No ethnos like the Arabs could be fit for a living example of the influence of the factors lying behind the foundation, magnificence and decline of states."

"One of the strongest impressions I had when I lived with the Arabs, was the 'everyday-ness' of God. He ruled their eating, their travelling, their business, their loving. He was their hourly thought, their closest friend, in a way impossible to people whose God is separated from them by the rites of formal worship."

"These people were of all races, colors, and creeds. French were in the north and in the Carolinas. Dutch had built the town on Manhattan island, and their patroons' estates in the Hudson valley; now they were building their own cabins in the Mohawk Indian country that is now New York State. Germans had settled in the Jerseys and in the far west, beyond Philadelphia. Germans and Scotch-Irish were climbing the Carolina mountains; Swedes were in Delaware, English and French and Dutch and Irish were settled in Massachusetts, the New Hampshire Grants, Connecticut, and Virginia. Mingled with all these were Italians, Portuguese, Finns, Arabs, Armenians, Russians, Greeks, and Africans from a dozen very different African peoples and cultures. Black, brown, yellow and white, all these peoples were some of them free and some of them slaves. Also they were intermarried with the American Indians."

"In an era when great civilizations enjoyed full glory and grandeur, culture and refinement eluded these desert rulers entirely, and if they had any occupation besides murder and robbery, it was guarding trade routes and escorting commercial caravans. Thus although old empires such as those of Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Rome did not covet these wastelands, they took the desert rulers into their service for the sake of ensuring the safety of their own trade convoys."

"By God! You are a liar! By God! You are too lowly born! Such a thing is not for you, nor for him. No, by God! God would only let you do that if you left our faith and professed belief in another religion. You, your father and your grand-father have been guided by the religion of God, the religion of my father, the religion of my brother and my grand-father. You, a commander who has authority, are vilifying unjustly and oppress with your authority."

"I will lose a brother. Would that death had deprived me of life today! My mother Fatimah is dead, and my father Ali Ibn Abi Tālib, and my brother Hasan ibn Ali. O! You are the successor of those who have passed away and the guardian of those who remain!"

"By my father and mother, O Abū 'Abdallāh (i.e., Husayn ibn Ali)! You have exposed yourself to death. May God accept my life for yours!"

"O my grief! Your life will be violently wrenched from you and that is more wounding to my heart and harsher to my soul."

"There is always room for improvement in our lives. Are we willing to try?! Are we going to try?!"

"Each one of us should ask himself; Am I being the best I can be to my family? Am I being the best parent I can be? Am I being the best child I can be? The best friend? The best neighbor? The best for my brothers and sisters? The best for my society? The best for humanity? Where am I from the saying: “The best of people, is the best TO the people”?"

"Ethics are not theoretical! They are practical and affect our everyday life; at homes, in our neighborhood, at the road, at our work place."

"-Ethic- is especially important while conducting business, in law suits and trials, when people act rudely, etc."

"A true Muslim will surely strive to improve his manners and correct his condition, and purify his demeanor and his innermost feelings."

"The final level - of good ethics - is to deal with your enemy in the best kind of treatment as though he is a close friend!"

"Evil must not be countered with another evil but, rather, repelled by an act of goodness."

"Foil hatred with goodness and love and make those enemy your true friends!"

"Goodness is required even in thoughts and desires."

"Goodness is not only required in action, but also in speech."

"If you succeeded with patience, you should try to reach a higher state of morality; which is to counter evil with good."

"It is relatively easy to control your anger after a while, but to do that after facing such extremes and at the height of your troubles, when you are wearied and exhausted, when you are heart-broken and depressed, that is sublime morality and magnificent ethics."

"Imagine!, the two most important Sahabah in Islam, racing to help an old blind woman, at night and at the edge of the city!."

"Doing good to other people is not only a nice extra thing to do, but it is actually part of Emaan or the Faith; The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Whosoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be generous to his neighbor [treat his neighbor with kindness], and whosoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be generous to his guest”."

"Islam considers Ethics & Morals as a way to attain rewards and entitlement to Heavens."

"Ethic is the core of humanity and the foundation of civilization."

"Beliefs & practices are the core of Islam. Yet, Islam is not considered complete without ethics and morals."

"Islam has emphasized Ethics, good deeds and nice words in order to build a better world and an ideal society as it aims at bringing up the best in humans."

"The real concept of morality is benefiting people and avoiding harming them."

"A Muslim should live up to his character, and employ his powers in doing what is good, beneficial and helpful."

"Any intentional inequitable harm is a danger zone!"

"My dream is to see a Middle East region where everyone has access to the unique and rich tradition of learning that has such a strong place in our Arabic and Islamic heritage."

"It is not fair to accuse the Arabic language of being old-fashioned and static as if it were independent from what we mean and do, or unaffected by the outcome of our deeds. It is our language, and we are ultimately responsible for its static condition. It is our duty to restore it to its glory so that it can return to what it used to be hundreds of years ago – the language of science and literature, a language of building bridges to other civilizations, a language that affected others through its scientific and cultural achievements, pushing them to learn it."

"To give every child the chance to be educated is a gift of promise. A gift of wonderment. A gift that opens up possibilities that can transform lives and develop thinkers, leaders, and creators of great art."

"With her chiselled cheekbones, her glamorous floor-length gowns, and her unconventionally public role in the deeply conservative Gulf, 53-year-old Sheikha Moza has secured her legacy as the matriarch of modern Qatar."

"I support all militant groups that believe in Allah. Hamas, al-Qaeda and ISIS."

"'If I accepted you as the Messenger of God, I would not have been hostile to you. Write: Only your name and the name of your father'."

"'I do not know either 'The Merciful, or the Compassionate'. Write: 'In the name of God'."