The debate revolves around light and darkness, that is, between those who poison the mind and those who treat the poisoning, around several issues, including sanctity, which, in historical and epistemological circumstances, managed to transform into a loose, fundamentalist robe that managed to stifle development and progress, despite resistance from critical thought, which was unable to triumph over a mythical, desert-like, illusory consciousness such as the myth of leadership and guidance, which was the shroud that wrapped the body of the best nation, The defeat was also in the face of the feudalism of the tribal, religiously fanatical Bedouin spirit, which even stifled Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Rushd, and others, The stifling was done with the noose, the rope of faith, the unseen, sanctification, excommunication, and the withdrawal from thinking, i.e., ignorance!

Despite the fact that humans were created with minds, Ibn Rushd wondered, “God cannot give us minds and then command us to shut them down,” Some consider Ibn Rushd’s statement to be a product of religion, based on the assumption that religion is logical and ethical! But was Ibn Abdullah’s Islam consistent with Ibn Rushd’s statement? Ibn Abdullah’s Islam was devoid of reason because it forbade questioning (“Do not ask”) and imposed obedience (“Obey me!”), It prioritized tradition over reason and considered anything new an innovation, and every innovation heresy and misguidance, You may ask about the punishment for heresy! The answer will be deadly for the one who asks the question.

The acknowledgment of the increasing decline to the point of even losing food security among non-petroleum believers forces us to admit our own responsibility for the decline and for the triumph of the mentality of Al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah and their ilk, Here we acknowledge the shortcomings, negligence, laziness and indolence that allowed the human beast to occupy people’s minds and thus damage these minds, and cause social, political and economic crises, then the shortcomings of scientific research and critical thinking, and the addiction to obedience and submission, then making a living by flattering and loyalty to the ruler appointed by God, the one with the final and absolute command.

Despite the distortion and falsification of history, it was theoretically possible, with the help of figures like Ibn Khaldun, to understand the scale of the cemetery created by the conquests—a cemetery as vast as the homelands themselves, The conquering Bedouin relied on a raiding economy and abandoned the duality of production and subsistence, consequently depending on tribute, plunder, and pillage to cover the costs of life, This became evident after the fifth century AH, that is, after the conquests ceased and the Bedouin had tightened their grip on the colonized peoples, Even the simple question about the source of the treasury’s funds was not raised, and it is expected that it will not be, Those who believed that war spoils were perfectly legitimate would not ask such questions., Those who believed in the saying, “My sustenance is in the shadow of my spear,” would not ask such questions, Those who boasted of Harun al-Rashid’s threat to the clouds that they could not escape him—wherever they rained, the proceeds would return to him—would not ask any questions about the source of the wealth amassed in the treasury. Even in this era, there was no effective implementation of the anticipated punishments for corruption. As for the corrupt and the thieves, the law of “Where did you get this from?” remained just ink on paper.

The only compensation for the depletion of the treasury’s contents was the ferocity of tax collection from the inhabitants of the conquered lands, who suffered from increasing poverty due to the extinction of agricultural production, The inhabitants of the Levant and the Nile Valley worked, innovated, and produced under Roman rule, which cared for agriculture and dug irrigation canals, such as the longest irrigation canal in the world, the Gadara Canal, or the Decapolis water tunnel between southern Syria and northern Jordan, which reached a length of 170 km, and irrigation projects in the Daraa region called the Al-Muzayrib Irrigation Project, the Al-Ash’ari and Ain Al-Abd networks, and many others, Then, roads were built and bridges were erected over rivers, the most famous of which was the one built over the Khabur River, which is still in use today, Everything built in the 700 years of Roman rule has no relation to the conquests and the conquerors, The situation did not change in the 400 years of Ottoman rule, which were characterized by ferocity of tax collection and weakness to the point of non-existence of agricultural production!

Neglecting agricultural production and then increasing the severity of taxation led to the impoverishment of the peoples and to a rise in the level of oppression and tyranny, In order to maintain the colonies, it was necessary to use the Bedouin characteristics or barbaric values ​​of the Bedouin minds, such as the fondness for killing, practicing violence, theft, revenge, etc., which explains the absence of revolutions in those ten centuries, which were filled with wars between people and the use of henchmen as fuel for those wars, which have not stopped until now, Backwardness did not fall from the sky, but was born on the open land at the hands of the conquerors!