Islamabad : Dr Aslam Syed from Centre for Religious Studies, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, has said that ultimately man will be accused of destroying this world in an age when his capacity to derail human progress coupled with weapons of mass destruction and tactics of deception and mockery of human values is unprecedented.
Dr Syed who is a former Chairperson, Department of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, was answering a question in the debut online episode of series of ‘Weekends of discourse on history with Prof Aslam Syed’ organised by National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research here. Dr Sajid Awan conducted the proceedings.
Dr Syed said that like flora and fauna contribute to human beings, we should also contribute to history converting thereby the planet Earth into Paradise which is within horizon.
Earlier in his lecture, he said that St Augustine was first to write World History in “City of God” and cities into virtue and evil.
Dr Syed said that unlike others, Muslim historians started with Hazrat Adam as the history existed before the period of historians. He said that poems, music and paintings also depicted history. He said that linear concept of history saying humanity had a genesis and will also have an end is a major contribution of Islam to history. He mentioned Ibn-e-Khaldoun’s Muqqaddama as a landmark book in this respect.
In his fascinating talk, Dr Syed said that no history is old or useless. He said that China, Iran, India, Egypt and Iraq had history books when Europe was slumbering. He said that these played wrote in compiling universal history.
He said that the process a man goes through makes him to think that he is going to betterment and progress. He said that human beings want to move to a world of equality and justice dreamt by Thomas More to Karl Marx and Imam Mehdi is believed to realise.
He said that wave of history never stops but we name ancient, medieval and modern history only for convenience.
