Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
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history, people all over the world have been denied
this basic freedom. “Ancient society was essentially
intolerant” (p. 743). This meant that the thinking of
the common man had; of necessity, to bow to the
thinking of the ruling classes.
The
Encyclopaedia Britannica
also devotes eight
pages to the intellectual censorship, which was
universally prevalent in antiquity. As a case in
point, it cites the notorious example of how Chinese
citizens were denied freedom of thought by Shin
Huang Ti, the Emperor who built the Great Wall of
China. In the year 213, he ordered all books to be
burnt, saving those dealing with harmless subjects
such as medicine and agriculture. Five hundred
scholars were executed and thousands were
banished. The punishment for failure to burn
proscribed books within 30 days was branding and
condemnation to forced labour.
79
Other peoples who suffered similar oppression
were the Spartans, and the early Romans, Jews and
Christians. According to Plutarch, in
The Ancient
Customs of the Spartans,
the Spartans learned to read
and write for purely practical reasons, and all other
