Googoosh sings in Italian (Mi Son Chiesta Tante Volte)

I don’t know what this Italian song is about, but I like it. It’s sung by a famous Iranian singer, from the 70’s, Googoosh. (“Googoosh San Remo ‘73”)

(I think my taste in music has been changing lately. Because this wasn’t typical of the type of music I used to enjoy.)

The video isn’t a music video for the song. (I don’t know if there ever was one.) But just a compilation of Googoosh images.

The Inductivist did a little digging into World Values Survey and looked into the level of trust in “Islamic Counties”. Here’s the list he got….

Iran 65.3
Saudi Arabia 53.0
Indonesia 51.6
Iraq 47.6
Egypt 37.9
Pakistan 27.9
Morocco 23.5
Bangladesh 22.2
Azerbaijan 20.5
Turkey 12.6
Algeria 11.2

A word of caution. These are self-reported values. But if there is truth to them, this does have economic significance if you’ve read Francis Fukuyama’s book: “Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity”.

I’m not surprised that the values are all over the place. There isn’t a monolithic “Muslim world”. And there isn’t a single monolithic “Muslim culture”. There are a number of different cultures in which Islam has a major influence.

Here’s a quote…

In screening Persian Jews, Cedars-Sinai offers a model for fighting some diseases where they start — in genes.

(H/T Jason Malloy)

The article calls them all Arabs, but at least one of them (and maybe two of them) are Persians, and not Arabs.

Here’s a quote…

You’ve heard of Louis Pasteur and George Washington Carver, no doubt. And probably Joseph Priestley, one of the founders of modern chemistry. Names like Antoine Lavoisier, John Dalton, and Amadeo Avogadro may even bring a twinkle of recognition to the eye for their famous roles in establishing chemistry as a modern science. But what about Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (“Rhazes”)? Or Jabir ibn Hayyan (“Geber”)? Or Abu Jusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. Huh?

While reading the book, “The Economic Laws of Scientific Research” by Terence Kealey, I came across a couple paragraph about a Persian named Rashid al-Din (1247-1318).  In Kealey’s book, Rashid al-Din is noted for having come up with very similar ideas as those of Francis Bacon, although Rashid al-Din came up with them about 300 years before Francis Bacon.  Terence Kealey had this to say….

[Francis Bacon] was anticipated by the extraordinary Rashid al-Din (1247-1318). Rashid, in a remarkable career that paralleled Bacon’s in many ways, rose to become Vizier, or chief minister, to the Persian Empire. A scholarly man, he collected all the knowledge open to him in his vast Jami al-Tawarikeh (1302).
…
Unlike Bacon, however, Rashid left little lasting influence. He was executed for blasphemy…
…
His murderers then destroyed all the copies of this book they could find, and although some survived in the libraries of neighboring Muslim states, his work influenced neither them, nor Europe.
…
Although circumstances ensured that he would never assume Bacon’s importance, he retains one advantage; unlike Bacon, he was a decent man.
…
[Rashid al-Din] was a good, as well as a great, man.

Consulting Wikipedia… yeah, yeah, I know (Wikipedia isn’t the best place to consult, but anyways)… the name of Rashid al-Din’s “Jami al-Tawarikh” translates as “Compendium of Chronicles” or “Universal History”. And is said to be “the single most important historical source for the Il Khanate period” of Iran/Persia.  (The Il Khanate period of Iran/Persia is from about 1256 to 1335 when Iran/Persia was ruled by a Mongol Empire.)

According to Wikipedia, Rashid al-Din’s “Jami al-Tawarikh” is said to be made up of 4 sections…

1. The Ta’rikh-i Ghazani, the most extensive part, which includes:

• The Mongol and Turkish tribes: their history, genealogies and legends
• The history of the Mongols from Genghis Khan up to the death of Mahmud Ghazan

2. The second part includes :

• The history of the reign of Oljeitu up to 1310 (no known copy)
• The history of the non-Mongol peoples of Eurasia:
  • Adam [as in the Adam from “Adam and Eve”] and the patriarchs
  • the kings of pre-Islamic Persia
  • Muhammad and the Caliphs
  • the Islamic dynasties of Persia (Ghaznavids, shahs of Khwarezm, Ismailis)
  • the Turks,
  • the Chinese,
  • the Jews,
  • the Franks,
  • the Indians.

3. The Shu’ab-i panjganah (“5 genealogies, of the Arabs, Jews, Mongols, Franks, and Chinese”). This text exists in a manuscript in the library of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (ms 2937), but has only been published on microfilm.

4. The Suwar al-akalim, a geographical compendium. Unfortunately, it has not survived in any known manuscript.

Certainly an interesting read for any history fans out there.

I’m on the look out for an English translation of the parts of Rashid al-Din’s “Jami al-Tawarikeh” that survived.