Am Bratach No. 199
May 2008
editor@bratach.co.uk

by Kevin Crowe
Bookends

The Thistle and the Crescent” by Bashir Maan. Argyll Publishing 2008. £12.99.

Stereotypes of Muslims abound. Ever since 9/11, followers of Islam have been treated as potential terrorists, and most of the images we see in the media portray Muslims as either manipulative fundamentalists out to destroy civilisation and democracy or young men who willingly follow elderly Imams. Islam is portrayed as backward, puritanical, misogynist, lacking in culture, proselytising and violent.

This book — written by a Scottish Muslim who has been a councillor, magistrate, district court judge, deputy chairman of the Commission on Racial Equality, President of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations and recipient of the CBE — is a timely reminder of the fallacies of this racist propaganda.

When most of the West, following the collapse of the Roman Empire, was violent, illiterate and superstitious with short and brutal life expectations, there were highly cultured societies developing in the Islamic world. Astronomy, mathematics, cartography, fine art and design, architecture, medicine, philosophy, and organised political systems were just some of the achievements of these societies, which were marked by tolerance towards people of different religions and races. The numbering system, without which few if any later technological developments could have occurred, arose in the Islamic Arabic world. The word count for this article — 745 — would be an unwieldy DCCXLV in Roman numerals.

At its height, the Islamic Empire stretched from India to Spain, so it’s hardly surprising there were regular contacts between northern and western Europe and Islam. Prior to the crusades, these contacts were primarily concerned with the exchange of goods and information. Maan presents intriguing evidence that Muslim traders may have introduced coin minting techniques into these islands. One of the earliest coins discovered dates from the 8th century, with a Latin inscription on one side and the Arabic words for “there is no God but Allah” on the reverse, and appears to be an imitation of a dinar from Baghdad. Coins with Arabic inscriptions dating back to 9th century have been found in Orkney, Skye and southern Scotland.

During the Crusades, the Holy Land became the battle ground it remains today. However, according to Maan (who quotes both Islamic and Western sources), whereas Muslim leaders generally treated captured Crusaders with dignity and humanity, the Crusaders themselves would often murder and destroy whole villages and towns. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that during this period, it was Islam that was the more cultured and civilised, and the Christian west that behaved with savagery.

More positively he recounts the various scientific and cultural exchanges that occurred, as well as documenting many cases of western visitors to the East converting to Islam. He also documents cases of children of mixed marriages being brought to Scotland, suggesting that there are likely to be Scottish people who, unbeknown to them, have Islamic ancestors. However, when the British Empire was at its height, a more common practice was for a white man posted in countries like India to take a local “bride” and then leave her and the children behind when he returned to Scotland.

Coffee came from the Islamic world, and when it was first introduced in the seventeenth century it was known as the “Mahometan berry”. Soon coffee houses were common and became meeting places for writers and intellectuals. (The means by which whisky is distilled also came from Islam, though of course its eastern use in science, medicine and perfumes was rather different to its ultimate use in Scotland).

Maan completes his history by looking at Islam in twentieth century Scotland, when increasing numbers of Muslims moved to Scotland. He recounts how, as a result of racism, many Muslims were forced into earning a living as peddlers, travelling throughout the country. As they became more successful, some of them became wholesalers. He describes how, over a period of time, they developed communities and mosques and became involved in the running of the towns and cities in which they lived. He briefly describes the effects on Scotland’s Muslim communities of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks. His book ends with a chapter that debunks some of the common myths about Islam.

Both Islam’s Quran and Christianity’s Gospels have at their root a belief in peaceful co-existence, and yet so many of the more extreme elements of both religions continue to insist upon fighting each other. Maan’s book is a vital contribution to the process of different cultures in Scotland understanding and accepting each other.