An accurate diagnosis of a problem is an important part of the solution. It is precisely for this reason that the Regional Bureau for Arab States has commissioned a group of distinguished Arab intellectuals to produce the Arab Human Development Report. The wealth of unbiased, objective analysis it contains is part of our contribution to Arab peoples and policy-makers in the search for a brighter future.

This was written by Arab intellectuals, so it wasn’t necessarily another Orientalist view of how the Arabs have screwed up. Upon reading some of it, it generally acknowledges that the Arabs have done quite a bit to help themselves, but that there is still much to be done.

This entire report is not the subject of this post, because I’m sure many other have covered it and my analysis would be entirely useless as I am not knowledgeable about Arab States at all. Hence I will not be writing any analysis, I will only point out two pages of this article. These two pages give me great pride as they refer to an Arab leader from the past whom I personally believe was the most just ruler of his time and his future, including today. I believe there has yet to be a ruler of his caliber to lead that many people. There have been many who led less or more people, but nobody with his amount of power was nearly as just.

I’m not referring to the whole pages either, but simply two boxes within them. Box 5.6 on page 82 (page 96 of the PDF) and Box 7.3 on page 107 (119 of the PDF). These boxes hold quotes from the leader’s book on knowledge and governance, respectively. All these quotes are taken from a book that is the compilation of all his letters to his governors and his sons across the Middle East.

Here are just a few lines from those boxes:

“No vessel is limitless, except for the vessel of knowledge, which forever expands.”

“Knowledge is superior to wealth. Knowledge guards you, whereas you guard wealth. Wealth decreases with expenditure, whereas knowledge multiplies with dissemination. A good material deed vanishes as the material resources behind it vanish, whereas to knowledge we are indebted forever. Thanks to knowledge, you command people’s respect during your lifetime, and kind memory after our death. Knowledge rules over wealth. Those who treasure wealth perish while they are still alive, whereas scholars live forever; they only disappear in physical image, but in hearts, their memories are enshrined.”

“Knowledge is the twin of action. He who is knowledgeable must act. Knowledge calls upon action; if answered, it will stay; otherwise, it will depart. “

“No good can come in keeping silent as to government or in speaking out of ignorance.”

“The righteous are men of virtue, whose logic is straightforward, whose dress is unostentatious, whose path is modest, whose actions are many and who are undeterred by difficulties.”

The Report contains more, and the book itself contains many, many more. This is a book that I strongly wish to read soon, and I would recommend based on its author to anyone looking into knowledge, truth, and governance. This book is called the Nahjul Balagha, translated to The Peak of Eloquence, and the contents are written by Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first infallible Imam of the Shia.

Side note: This book, Nahjul Balagha, is not necessarily 100% accurate, as the Shia’ who compile this book and other books do not claim any of them are 100% accurate. Instead, they leave everything in as they might have some esoteric meaning or may later be proved accurate.

Seeing the current “tensions on campus” and the rhetoric from all sides, this quote can show you who did the offending and who was offended. This quote is derived from someone else’s saying, but sadly I don’t know the source any more.

The offenders will quickly say whatever happened is in the past, or that they’re “old wounds” as if they are being the better ones by getting over the event first. It is easy to punch someone and then act like it was insignificant, yet it is hard to punch someone and both admit fault and beg forgiveness.

Using this quote, one can also discern the ones who are twisting the story, and in many cases fabricating an entirely new one, to make themselves seem blameless and possibly gain victim status again. When they do so, they also claim that the event is over and should be left off the table of discussions because they are over it. This is the offender forgetting easily, not the offended forgiving.

I hope this helps people sort the truth from the lies and mistruths that have been spread around in the past few weeks on campus. It is a sad world when stories are fabricated and people swear by them, despite eye witness accounts given by partisans and non-partisans alike to the contrary.

Violent ain’t what I wanna be, but this violence follows me.
Never had money for a PhD, now I get money when i make these beats.
Give to my hood, renovate these streets.
Speak from my heart, motivate my peeps.
Everyday a struggle, tryin’ to find some peace.
Never had sh*t, never be sh*t, but I keep my head up.
N**** gotta get that cheese. Livin’ the dream.
It’s alright, but it ain’t all good. We misunderstood.
So bound to repeat the same ol’ things, same ol’ ghetto.
20-inch rims on the whip, gol’ chains and a diamond ring

There’s more, but soon after that point I start being unable to transcribe the lyrics. I’m pretty bad at transcribing, so feel free to download the song and fix it up. If you do so, please send me the updated lyrics, as I’d love to have them.

Basically, these lyrics are of the type of lyrics one would see in early hip hop and the small branch of hip hop that remains from that era. This is not endorsing blood diamonds in the form of bling, it isn’t endorsing spending money on spinning 20-inch rims on the “whip”, instead it’s endorsing a change from the bottom. Not Obama’s change, I’m talking about the type of change that Malcolm X wanted and died for, the type MLK truly dreamed about not the crap we got, the type Freddy Hampton was gonna force out of America when he was assassinated by that very same America. The self-help change that arises with no external forces in a community of otherwise good people. I miss this sort of hip hop, this sort of hope, this sort of change.

This is a quote that I believe would stop a lot of the suffering in an Ummah that otherwise has worse problems to deal with than back-biting and prejudice. These two things slow our progress as a community and can be easily stopped or slowed on a personal basis.

I understand that I am not immune to the behavior the quote above is about, and that is why I am speaking to myself first and foremost. I hope to cut down and stop my own prejudices toward others, and I hope that others will do so as well. Not just in my local community here, but also across city, state, nation and continental boundaries. We are an Islamic Ummah, not any particular Islamic nation, race, tribe or circle of friends.

–5/18/08

I made a follow-up comment in regard to Muslims. Of course, it can be altered for any other faith that has a book or guiding message:
“The book is the book given to us by God (Qur’an), but very few stay within the book, let alone the lines.We get to choose the colors, but we must strive to keep them within the lines set out by God and morality in general.”

It’s also important to know what you believe about a situation before you enter into it. If you know you’re going to make a choice in the course of the next week, think about it beforehand so you make your choice based on more information than comes to mind at the moment of the question.

Of course, I may add a quote or two by an important person that is not in the mainstream. Here’s an example:

“Speech is like a medicine, a small dose of which cures but an excess of which kills.”
-Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib