On the 8th of September 2022 on the death of his mother Elizabeth II queen of the United Kingdom
prince Charles became king Charles III.
I want to do a video discussing the remarkable appreciation king Charles has for Islam. I am
not here to endorse or criticize the monarchy, I am just highlighting the refreshingly positive
writings and statements about Islam made by the new king when he was prince of Wales.
I think it is a matter of considerable public interest to know these facts.
in a speech entitled Islam and the West given at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies
he said and I quote "it is odd in many ways that misunderstandings between Islam and the West
should persist for what binds our two worlds together is so much more powerful than that
which divides us Muslims, Christians, and Jews are all peoples of the Book and here Charles uses a
Quranic expression Islam and Christianity share a common monotheistic vision a belief in one God.
In the transients of our earthly life in our accountability for our actions
and in the assurance of life to come we share many key values in common respect for knowledge,
for justice, compassion towards the poor and underprivileged, the importance of family life,
respect for parents, honor the father and mother is a Quranic precept too ladies and gentlemen. Charles
continues if there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam there is also much
ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Muslim world.
It is a failure which stems I think from the strait jacket of history we have inherited.
The medieval Islamic world from Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic was a world
where scholars and men of learning flourished, but because we have tended to see Islam as the
enemy of the West, as an alien culture society, and system of belief we have tended to ignore
or erase its great relevance to our own history. For example, we have underestimated the importance
of 800 years of Islamic society and culture in Spain between the 8th and the 15th centuries.
The contribution of Muslim Spain to the preservation of classical learning during
the dark ages that time of intellectual and cultural decline in the West and to the first
flowerings of the renaissance has long been recognized. but Islamic Spain said Charles was
much more than a mere larder where Hellenistic knowledge was kept for later consumption
by the emerging western world. Not only did Muslim Spain gather and preserve the intellectual content
of ancient Greek and Roman civilization, it also interpreted and expanded upon that civilization
and made a vital contribution of its own in so many fields of human endeavor in Science,
Astronomy, Mathematics, Algebra itself is an Arabic word, Law, History, Medicine, Pharmacology, Optics,
Agriculture, Architecture, Theology, and Music. Islam nurtured and preserved the quest for learning in
the words of the tradition the ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.
Córdoba in the 10th century was by far the most civilized city of Europe.
We know of lending libraries in Spain at the time. king Alfred was making terrible blunders with the
culinary arts in this country, it is said that the 400, 000 volumes in its rulers library amounted to
more books than all the libraries of the rest of Europe put together that was made possible because
the Muslim world acquired from China the skill of making paper more than 400 years before the rest
of non-Muslim Europe. Many of the traits on which Modern Europe prides it itself came to it from
Muslim Spain diplomacy, free trade, open borders, the techniques of academic research of anthropology,
etiquette, fashion, alternative medicine, hospitals, all came from this great city of cities.
Medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, now this is an insight
that Charles makes which is rarely appreciated in the West and I'm glad he is aware of it. medieval
Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time he says allowing Jews and Christians the
right to practice their inherited beliefs and setting an example which was not unfortunately
copied for many centuries in the West the surprise ladies and gentlemen is the extent to which Islam
has been a part of Europe for so long so Charles here is saying how crucial is we understand
Islam is a part of European history, it's not kind of an alien other from immigrants it's part of
the intrinsic history of Europe itself, first in Spain he says then in the Balkans and the extent
to which it has contributed so much towards the civilization which we all to think of wrongly as
entirely Western (non-Muslim). Islam is part of our past and present in all fields of human endeavor
it has helped create modern Europe, it is part of our own inheritance not a thing apart more than
this said Charles Islam can teach us today so he said this is the future king saying what Islam can
teach us as a non-Muslim country England Britain. Islam can teach us today a way of understanding
and living in the world which Christianity itself is poorer for having lost at the heart of Islam
and this is a great insight that Charles is making I think at the heart of Islam is its preservation
of an integral view of the universe, Islam refuses to separate man and nature, religion and science,
mind and matter, and has preserved a metaphysical and unified view of ourselves and the world around
us" end quote. That's just a fraction of the speech by the way I'll link to it in the description
below. In another speech at the sacred web conference now this is a Sufi Islamic kind of
conference which you can read online interestingly he praised a book by René Guénon "The Reign of
Quantity" and here is the book itself I do recommend it. Now he said about this book
intriguingly many find this teaching difficult the teaching of religion not least because he asks us
to question our very mode of being and perhaps because he asks us to question an ideology
in the form of modernism that has become so set in our minds that any other way of being seems
in some sense fanciful and unrealistic end quote. now what's interesting is really a French Muslim
convert he's a mathematician brilliant brilliant man in Paris he converted to Islam moved to Cairo
actually and was known as a traditionalist Sufi. Charles clearly agrees with many aspects of his
worldview if you read the speech you'll see other examples. He also quotes approvingly some of the
works of professor Seyyed Nasr. Seyyed Nasr is a very prominent now American professor in
the States he is originally Iranian a brilliant individual also Martin Lings now Martin Lings
is very interesting and I want to read a few lines from this book it's called "A Return to the Spirit" questions and answers by Martin Lings. it was published just after Martin Ling's death
and contained some of his writings plus a number of essays and appreciations by his admirers.
One of these admirers just happens to be the king Charles III. Who was Martin Lings by the way?
Martin Lings was an English convert to Islam a very well-known Sufi and he was the author of
a very famous book and this is what Charles says in the introduction is under the official
crest clarence house and he signed his name at the bottom, Charles. This is one sentence I want to read
to you: one of Martin Lings greatest legacies was his remarkable biography of the Prophet Muhammad
now this is the book in question I've done many many videos reading chapter after chapter from
this book (Muhammad his life based on the earliest sources) by Martin Lings many many people consider
this to be the greatest biography seerah of the Prophet Muhammad
upon him be peace in the English language. Not without its faults but it is a beautiful
literary work and I highly recommend it so does prince Charles he thinks this
is an amazing book so he's praising here a book written by a prominent English Muslim
about the last prophet sent to mankind Muhammad upon him be peace. So, that's what prince Charles
thinks about that book it was remarkable but just but Martin Lings as I said was a convert to Islam he
died some time ago and a very prominent Sufi so clearly Charles is attracted to Sufism rather than
other forms other expressions I should say of islamic spirituality or teaching.
Now just in conclusion, to be clear, I am not saying king Charles is a closet Muslim
but he is clearly literate in some aspects of Islamic thought and metaphysics.
This is unparalleled in the history of the British Monarchy. I am also not suggesting that Muslims
as Muslims should back the new king, my intention in this video is simply to give a glimpse
of what he thinks about Islam. so Muslims in the U.K. can decide for themselves
how best to engage king Charles III in dialogue and discussion insha Allah. Till next time.