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The Children of the Sun - Asia - 5

But suddenly the black, overthrew the Umayyad, the great Persian empire of the Sasanians, and defeated the Roman legions of the lower empires. one burst of enthusiasm , it was but a flash, and these black-skinned warriors went forth to conquer the world.

The result of this human convulsion was the total destruction of the northern empire and the establishment of the Abbasid caluphate. This vast empire extended from the Indus to the Atlantic and from the Caspian to the cataracts of the Nile. The capital was removed from Damascus to Bagdad, from which center radiated all that was grandest in Arabian history.For five centuries the caliphs of Bagdad reigned and their rule marked the beginning of a Moslem as opposed to an Arabian empire.

As an English authority speaking of this period, says: " It seemed as if the whole world from caliph down to the humblest citizen suddenly became students, or at least patrons of literature. In quest for knowledge men traveled over three continents and returned home, like bees laden with honey, to impart the precious stores which they had acumulated to crowds of eager disciples, and to compile with incredible industry those works of encyclopediac range and erudition from which modern science in the widest sense of the word, has derived more than is generally supposed."

It was under the rule of these dusky sovereigns that the Aribian Nights were compiled and rewritten, the Rubaiyat composed, that Hafiz flourished, and that the Romance of Antar was created.

Let me speak a moment of the Romance of Antar. I have searched in vain to find it quoted in any American book, although it is the greatest lyric poem of Arabia. Can it be because the hero describes himself as being black and swarthy as an elephant? Stranger still, Antar was not an Arabian born, but a negro slave, yet is chosenn among the Arabs as the fullest expression of their own ideas of a hero.

Even in the cities of the Orient today the loungers in their cups never weary of following the exploits of this black son of the desert, who in his person unites the great virtues of his people, magnanimity and bravery, with the gift of poetic speech. It is the Arabic romance of chivalry and to it is due the spread of romance and chivalry throughout medieval Europe.
 

Note, too, fact that Mohammed was of these black Arabs. When he appealed to the Arabians he called himself and " Arab of the Arabs, of the purest blood of your land, of the family of Hashim and of the tribe of Quryah." It was the family of Hashim that founded the House of the Abbasids, and thus are we brought face to face with the fact that a third of the world's greatest religions was founded by a man in whose veins flowed black blood.

This is one reason why Mohammedanism is so strong and will ever remain strong among the races of Africa.The religion preaches absolute equality and one of the precepts of the Koran reads, "If a negro is called to rule over you, hear him and obey him, though his head be like dried grapes." From what has been written of the Jews and Hindus it will readily be seen that the African is now as he was in the dawn of history, the founder of religion.

The spread of Mohammedanism included the whole of North Africa and, in time, penetrated Spain. It found Spain a desert and a wilderness and turned her into a garden of beauty. Never before nor since has she seen such glory as was hers when the Moors reached Toledo, Seville and Granada, the most beautiful cities of Europe. Cordova became the educational metropolis of civilization, Seville became the literary center of the world, and Granada was the triumph of wonderful architecture.

Spain was never anything until these Africans, Negroes if you will, made her a land of flowers, wine, music, art, beauty and love. Her history is all of them-the record of their glory and their fall.She became exquisite in the warm sun of Islam and withered away when the northerners conquered her. Read Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe and you will get some idea of the vast influence which these swarthy people exerted upon the civilization of Europe. To them was due the Rennaissance.

As this ends the survey of Asia. Fify years ago one would not have dreamed that science would defend the fact that Asia was the the home of the black races as well as Africa, yet it has done just that thing. Now when we gaze ypon the ruins of Assyria's palaces or stand in wrapt wonder before the fallen winged beasts which garded her gates: when we stand silently upon the spot that once was babylon and ponder upon the mighty walls built by this grand and wonderous mistress of the Euphratean plain or reverently uncover before the tumbled pillars of sanctuaries built in the long ago to forgotten gods:

When we marvel at the depth of love and the majesty of grief that built the Taj Mahal or scan the perfumed literatures of India and Persia and Arabia, let us not forget that the secret, like the secret of all things wonderfully and aesthetically beautiful, lies with Africa, the mother of civilization and of nations.

Reference: Children of the Sun: George Wells parker