Muslim's Lost in History

My name is Emaan Idris and I am 13 years old. A few weeks ago, I was doing my Social Studies homework and we were studying the fall of the Roman and Persian Empires. A few days later our family was watching a series about Omar (RA). I realized that in my text book, there was no mention about how the Muslims conquered the greatest empires and brought peace to the land.

  I watched the series and they showed how after the death of RasulAllah and even before his death, Muslims were conquering different parts of the Arabian Peninsula until they conquered all of Arabia. Soon a Muslim commander by the name Al Muthanna ibn Haritha started raids in southern Iraq and I thought “Well, that doesn’t come in my Social Studies text book”. Then I saw the part when Abu Bakr (RA) sent him reinforcements and they started to have battles with the Persian army. Inside Persia there was also fighting for power. But, in history books, you only see that there was fighting over the throne. The writers only tell half of the story and don’t give Muslims credit for bringing justice to the lands the Persian Empire once ruled.

          After conquering Iraq, Khalid ibn Al Waleed (RA), the commander of the Muslim army, took a large number of the soldiers and marched to Syria. He left a small force with Al Muthanna (RA) to keep the land of Iraq in control. Khalid ibn Al Waleed used his military tactics and decided to do a surprise attack on the Byzantines in Damascus. He planned carefully and that night, him and a small number of the troops, scaled the walls that protected the city of Damascus. They achieved their goal and conquered a decisive city which would help the Muslim army in conquering Syria. Soon he faced a large Byzantine force and after a six day bloody battle, also known as the Battle of Yarmouk, the Muslims won and conquered Syria.

          In text books that we children read at school, there is no mention of how the Muslim army brought peace to the land. We are often taken out of the picture and people only think of us as terrorists and people who are violent. Yes, we do have some people that are violent, but that doesn’t mean all Muslims are violent. We as children are being threatened and made slaves of the media. Our thinking is shaped by the media and slowly if we don’t change, the next generation will be thinking of themselves as terrorists and will leave Islam. We need to know about where our religion came from and its accomplishments so we can learn from the past. We had our golden age and we can bring it back.

          I would like to request you to watch these 2 movies and educate yourselves and your children about our past as Muslims.

Omar Series: (Original episodes in Arabic, English subtitles can be found on Dailymotion and Vimeo)

Islam: An Empire of Faith (Can be found on YouTube)

Please help in saving this generation of Muslim children!