The Preservation of Culture

which are of a purely worldly nature, will not be subordinated to religion. They will instead be subjected to academic research and be judged by experience. Those which satisfy academic criteria will gain general acceptance as standard concepts and practices. This will include the various disciplines ranging from agriculture to horticulture, as well as all the departments of engineering and history. The preservation of historical legacies will fall within the province of academic research rather than that of religion. Supposing that a non-Muslim cultural heritage, considered at variance with Islamic interests, exists in some Muslim country, the people of that country are not authorized to destroy it, simply by virtue of their being in political control. They should rather hand over the concrete Symbols to whichever countries that wish to preserve them. The demolition of the Buddhist statues in Bamiyan in Afghanistan was totally against Islam. It was an act of extremism, and according to both the Quran and the Hadith, extremism has neither basis nor sanction in Islam. To sum up, the principles of Islam and their practical applications both demonstrate that, in matters regarding the preservation of cultural or historical heritage, the stance adopted by Islam is the same as that of other traditions and disciplines. Conversing with God More and with men less Thaur ibn Yazid tells of how in the course of his reading, he came across an interesting dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. “Converse with God more and with people less” admonished Jesus. “How can we converse with God more? His disciples asked him, “By prayer and supplication to Him in private” answered Jesus. (Abu Nuaym)