Initially published on 18th October 2006 in Buzzle
Excerpt:
Focus must be made on the long fight between civilization and barbarism within Islam (a phenomenon that occurred in all milieus and environments throughout History):
1. the conflict between the Aramaeans (the indigenous nation of Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Southeastern Anatolia, Southwestern Iran and Persian Gulf coasts) and the nomadic, uncivilized and only superficially Islamized Arabs of Hejaz and the desert. The Aramaeans, by accepting Islam, transferred within the context of the early caliphates their civilization, knowledge and wisdom, sciences, Letters and Arts, as they were the real heirs of the Mesopotamian–Babylonian cultural and scientific achievements. It is known that Bayt al Hikmah (House of Wisdom) in Abbasid Baghdad was mainly formed out of the library, the scholars and the scientists of Sassanid Academy of Jond-e Shapur (also spelled as Gondishapur), but few are aware that the outright majority in both institutions were Aramaeans