Masood A. Khatamee, Pasha Amir Khan, H. Rubin and Keon Shahab<\/p>\n
The cloning of the ewe in Scotland brought the entire world into surprise and controversy.
\nAn editorial by Charles Krauthammer 1, after an extensive description of human cloning, included a philosophical statement which had an astonishing resemblance to a verse from Sa\u2019adi, a revered Persian poet, a philosopher and scholar in the Eleventh Century, born in 1184 A.D. and died in 1291 A.D. 2.
\nCharles Krauthammer wrote, \u201cCloning is a second chance at life. There is the opportunity to pour all the accumulated learning of your life back into a new one, to raise your exact biological double, to guide your very flesh through a second existence 3.\u201d
\nSa\u2019adi, in one of his many Eleventh Century proverbs, says:<\/p>\n
\u201cA wise enlightened man embellished with knowledge
\nand prudence retorted
\nwe should live twice in this era
\nwith one life to learn experience
\nwith the other apply that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
This analogy of philosophical attitude toward a discovery with enormous magnitude encouraged me to delve further into the Persian scholarly prophecies and to find more of the same. In this scientific breakthrough, a major fundamental biological question was answered: embryonic, fetal, adult cultured cells can produce offspring and secondly, differential phenotype can occur. I was astonished to discover the more I read, the more I realized nothing in this universe is new \u2013 that someone, even in the darkest days of history, had an understanding of ideas that technology has made a reality today.
\nIt is interesting to note that although civilization has a ten thousand year history, and humans have existed for two hundred thousand years, real progress has only been uncovered in the last one hundred years of human existence.
\nDonald N. Wilber 4, in a book Iran, refers to this point. He states that early man, Homoerectus, lived almost half a million years in absolute darkness. To consider an imaginary scale of fifty inches and consider each inch ten thousand years, mankind began cultivation in three quarters of the last inch. It took one half of an inch to start to write and civilization as we know it was brought about only in the last three quarter of an inch of this scale.
\nHomosapian Habilis followed the Homosapian Erectus. This type of human species has been found in the mountains Zagrous between Iraq and Iran, Khorasan and Kermanshahan (carbon 14 dating). In the Paleolithic period of human existence, samples have been found to exist in the region of the Caspian Sea forty-four thousand years ago and eight thousand five hundred years ago in Kermanshahan. After the Paleolithic period, comes the Esolethic and Neolithic period of human existence.
\nThe cradles of civilization are considered to be Egypt, Greece, India, Iraq, and Iran or old Persia. Earlier civilizations than these are considered to be during the Confucius in Southeast Asia era (551-479 B.C.) and the Socrates era (470-399 B.C.).
\nSocrates
\nSocrates was born in Attiq and died in Athens. His mother, Phuinarete, was a midwife. Socrates was a great thinker, and said: \u201cMy mother delivers children and I deliver their thoughts.\u201d Unfortunately, neither books nor writings have been contributed directly from him. Our knowledge of him comes from the writings of others.<\/p>\n
Plato
\nPlato was born in 427 B.C. and died in 347 B.C. Fedone Banquet and Republic are considered to be masterpieces. His philosophy carried through until the French Renaissance in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.<\/p>\n
Aristotle
\nAristotle followed Plato (384 B.C. \u2013 322 B.C.). Fifty-two books are attributed to him.<\/p>\n
Razi
\nAfter the birth of Mohammad and the introduction of Islam around 400 A.D., Zakaria Razi was born (860 A.D.). Razi wrote The Book on Smallpox and Measles in which, for the first time, he referred to the measles and smallpox and was able to differentiate the two with a differential diagnosis that is still used today. He practiced sterilization techniques and used dressings on wounds. He is also known to have discovered alcohol.
\nAlthough he is referred to as an Arab scholar, he is Iranian.
\nHe appeared during the time Iran was invaded by Arabs. In Western literature, Avicena and Razi are referred to as Arab scholars.
\nIn a church in Princeton University, a color glass etched picture of Razi is displayed, titled \u201cArab Scholar,\u201d a misnomer that should read \u201cPersian Scholar.\u201d Razi died in 923 A.D.<\/p>\n
Ferdowsi
\nAfter Razi\u2019s era comes the most revered Persian poet\u2019s era, Hakim Abolgasem Ferdowsi (940-1021 A.D.), similar to Homer. 5,6 Ferdowsi was the supreme architect of the Persian cultural revival in the Tenth Century. His monumental magnum opus, the Shahnameh or The Book of Kings, remains one of the greatest works of the Persian literature and is a strong pillar of the Persian identity.
\nShahnameh is a compendium of Iranian myths and epic legends from the beginning of time to the Kingship of Kayumrs, through the fall of the Sassanian dynasty in the Seventh Century.
\nFerdowsi was born into a family of local landowners in the village of Paz near Tus in the Province of Khorasan. He embarked on the composition of Shahnameh in his middle years (980 A.D.). Ferdowsi died in poverty and was buried in his own land.
\nThe magnificence of his work, however, has immortalized Ferdowsi\u2019s name in the Persian history.
\nFerdowsi\u2019s greatest contribution to today\u2019s medicine is the flawless explanation of Cesarean Section. The oldest document of cesarean birth and anesthesia is written in Ferdowsi\u2019s book. This procedure is one of the most common surgical procedures; today in America, twenty percent of all deliveries are by Cesarean Section.
\nAccording to a publication by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) by Jane Eliot Sewel, this procedure is contributed to the birth of Julius Caesar 7 (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillius).
\nIt is stated in Shahnameh that Roudabeh was married to Zal and shortly after, Roudabeh got pregnant. The baby she conceived was Rostam, the powerful figure who fought ills and evils. Roudabeh has a very troubled pregnancy and developed jaundice. Further into her pregnancy, her condition deteriorated and, near the birth of Rostam, she became comatose. Her mother, Sindokht, was at her bedside at all times. Zal, Roudabeh\u2019s husband and Rostam\u2019s father thought of a solution. In his desperation, he seized a piece of feather of Simorgh, a legendary griffin, and glasses of wine to anaesthetize Roudabeh.
\nHe brought a physician with a dagger and Roudabeh\u2019s abdomen was opened and Rostam was delivered. The abdomen was sutured and vegetable antiseptic was applied to the wound.
\nFerdowsi wrote:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (high priest) slit the flank of the Goddess of beauty
\n(Roudabeh) and the head of the boy came into view.
\nThe boy (Rostam) was brought out of the womb magnificently without harm
\nNo one had seen this wonder up to then
\nThe Icon-like child entered this world
\nand flank of that Goddess was filled with blood.
\nHigh priest said the agony and ordeal is over,
\nand the boy was named Rostam (then Hercules\u201d)7.<\/p>\n
It should, therefore, be suggested that Cesarean Section is a misnomer and should be referred to a Rostam Section.8<\/p>\n
Avicenna (Abu Ali-Sina)
\nAbu-Ali\u2019sina\u2019 \u2013 (Avicenna) was an Iranian astronomer and a physician, who again is referred to as an Arabian scholar in Western literature. Avicenna was born in 980 A.D. in Afshineh near Bokhara, now in Afghanistan, then a part of old Persian Empire, and died in 1037 A.D. in Hamedan where his mausoleum is visited by millions in Iran. He wrote the first book on meteorology 9.
\nHis most important contribution to medicine was without question his book, The Canon of Medicine, a timeless masterpiece. The translated versions of The Canon of Medicine into major languages were taught in medical schools all over the world until the mid Eighteenth Century. Avicenna was also a great poet and the following is a notion he particularly referred to:<\/p>\n
\u201cThought my heart in the wilderness of the world
\nrecognized so many problems
\nEven my heart did not have one iota of matter\u2019s knowledge
\nBut delved carefully in the question of particle
\nBut thousand sun discovery is parked and
\nScintillated in my heart and not comprehend the secret of the atom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avicenna, being disappointed for not being able to split the atom, went on to write another book, Shafa, which is the encyclopedia of knowledge and philosophy.
\nHis other masterpiece was a book on meteorology. For many years, this book was erroneously attributed to Aristotle.
\nAvicenna treated his patients directly. He used the word \u201ckline\u201d (clinic); he recognized meningitis, acute fever, allergies, pleurisy, and epilepsy. He was the father of the renaissance of medical science. It is unfortunate that Avicena and Razi are both recognized in the West as Arab scholars.<\/p>\n
Hatef Esfahani
\nHatef Esfahani, born in the Iranian province of Isfahan, was an 18th century poet and a talented man of many trades. In addition to his poetry, Esfahani studied mathematics, medicine, and was fluent in Turkish and Arabic. Another reference to the atom is contributed by Hatef Esfahani in one of his poems:<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen thy eye in order to see the essence of life
\nWhatever is unseen, will be visible and clear
\nIf you splinter the core of every particle,
\nOr analyze the heart of matter,
\nYou will see a luminous sun in the center.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hatef Esfahani died in his hometown of Isfahan in 1783.<\/p>\n
Omar Khayyam
\nOmar Khayyam was a Persian poet and astronomer. He was born in the Nishapur province of Khorasan in 1048 and died in 1131 A.D. The name Khayyam translates as \u201ctent-maker,\u201d possibly his vocation before turning to scientific research. Sultan Malik Shah offered the poet a position at court, but instead he chose to retire and devote himself to the pursuit of knowledge. Accordingly, he received a pension and pursued researches, most notably in mathematics and astronomy, subsequently being named Royal Court Astronomer.
\nHe was appointed by Malik Shah to reform the Muslim calendar, a task comparable to Pope Gregory XIII\u2019s revision of the Julian calendar, though some authorities judge Khayyam\u2019s revision to be the better work. He published a series of astronomical tables, known as Ziji Malikshahi; and some of his early mathematical writings, such as his study of The Difficulties of Euclid\u2019s Definitions, still survive.
\nHis work on algebra was the most notable contribution of his age to the study of mathematics; Khayyam was the first to make an attempt to scientifically classify equations of the first degree and to consider cubes from the standpoint of the general equation10.
\nThis philosophy he set forth in Rubaiyat (quatrains), of which, according to convention, the first, second, and last lines rhymed (the rhyme being in many cases even quintuple), while the third line was for the most part blank, but rarely followed the rhyme of the other lines. He seems to have been of changeful mood, sometimes humble before Allah, again defiant; hopeful and fatalistic; and rebellious.
\nOmar Khayyam questions the reason for existence, and the birth and death of mankind and asks the creator for the reason:<\/p>\n
\u201cExhilarated for sometimes that we seek a teacher or master
\nGleeful and merry for sometimes that
\nwe are a teacher or master
\nSee what happened at the end of brilliant discourse
\nTo dust we belong and to dust we return.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently scientists discovered, via Hubbell telescope, the creation of stars. We have also witnessed the formation of embryos in a laboratory, as well as cloning of a human being. We have witnessed this explosion of technology in the past decade or two. Khayyam\u2019s analogy is a contrast to what we have noted:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mystery of eternity is neither known to you or me
\nYou or I cannot resolve the perplexity
\nBehind the curtain of life is dispute about either you or me.
\nWhen the curtain is raised survive neither you nor me.\u201d<\/p>\n
By all means, Khayyam is the most revered and famous Iranian poet in the world and his book has enjoyed being published in most major languages. The most notable is the work of Edward Fitzgerald who made a select portion of Omar\u2019s translation.<\/p>\n
Sa\u2019adi
\nSa\u2019adi (real name Musleh-ud-din) was the greatest Persian critic, poet, and philosopher. He was born in Shiraz about 1184 A.D. and died there in 1291 A.D. After completing his studies and spending many years travelling he settled in Shiraz where he enjoyed the favor of several Persian rulers. The Persians esteemed him exceedingly on account of his golden maxims, which they consider a treasure of true wisdom, and also on account of his pure, simple and elegant style.
\nHis works comprise: 1. a collection (Divan) of lyric poems in the Arabic and Persian languages; 2. Gulestan (Rose Garden) (1258), a didactic work composed both of prose and verse, in eight books; 3. a work in verse called Bustan (Fruit Garden) (1257), containing a collection of histories, fables and moral instructions. The complete works of Sa\u2019adi were published in Persian at Calcutta (1791-95).
\nHis books, Gulestan and Boostan, have been translated into major languages. At the early 16th Century, they were translated into Chinese. He is considered as the Western Confucius.
\nHis books cover all aspects of human life and are full of advice and guidance. Reading his books today brings many poems and references to modern life and technology. His mausoleum is in Shiraz, a city in south of Iran, which is visited by millions of tourists every year11. He has commentary on issues that pertain to advanced technology of today\u2019s life. He refers to the genetic implication of matters. In a lyric under \u201cbad or defective principle which reflects genes\u201d, he states:<\/p>\n
\u201cLowbred boorish individuals are refractory
\nand unmanageable
\nWild and violent being hard to discipline and coach
\nAs it is laborious to keep a walnut on a dome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the relationship between education and knowledge of people and family size and fertility, he says:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wealthy man, that God bestowed upon him knowledge, opulence,
\nSupplicated two hundred times
\nFor offspring, but he was denied
\nThat mendicant that was needy of a morsel
\nOf crumb, the heavenly father, grants him
\nTwins or triplets with a glance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a different context of flight of human being in the Seventh Century he predicts the flight of mankind soaring, he states:<\/p>\n
\u201cLow and behold how bird flying high in sky
\nLiberate thee self from carnal passion and lust
\nThen see the soar and height of humanity and virtues.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wisdom and insight regarding the essence of humanity and the fact that the human being is exhaulted Supreme, he even considers the man even above the angelica straita.\u00a0 As mentioned in Cloning and Advanced Reproduction Technology, we are asked by theologians and ethicists, \u201cThen what? How far can we or should we go?\u201d Sa\u2019adi makes a very fascinating and beautiful analogy. He states,<\/p>\n
\u201cMan soar to a new height that he sees everything
\nbut God uphold the magnitude of human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rumi
\n\u201cJelaluddin Balkhi,\u201d known in the United States as Rumi, was born September 30, 1207, in Balkh, Afghanistan, then part of the Great Persian Empire. He died December 17, 127312 in Konya, Turkey, where he is now buried. During the invasion of the Mongolian army of Persia, he fled to Konya, hence the name Rumi (Roman Anatolia).
\nIn the past decade in the United States, there has been a great surge in Rumi\u2019s publications. His popularity encouraged many countries to take pride in Rumi\u2019s ethnicity. The most flagrant false attribution has been the statement by Mr. Choppra that Rumi is a Hindu \u2013 not only a Hindu, but a hippie as well8. Although Rumi was born in Balkh, Afghanistan, and buried in Konia, Turkey, neither country has ever claimed him.
\nRumi gained popularity among the notable and elite of Hollywood \u2013 the most popular being \u201cThe Love of Rumi\u201d by Madonna.
\nRumi was a devout Muslim who originated the sect of Islamic Sufism. He had union with God in a most startling manner, freeing his soul by praying to God with whirling dervishes, which up to this date is still practiced by a large group of Sufis around the world. Rumi\u2019s meeting with the Shams of Tabriz ended in everlasting spiritual love and affection.
\n\u201cMathnawi,\u201d his masterpiece, shifts fantastically from theory to folklore to humor to ecstatic poetry.13<\/p>\n
\u201cYou insane, me inebrious, who will guide us home
\nI mentioned to you hundred of times
\nto drink a few goblets less.
\nThere is a community of the spirit.
\nJoin it, and feel the delight
\nof walking in the noisy street, and being the noise.
\n\u201cDrink all your passion, and be a disgrace.
\n\u201cClose both eyes to see with the other eye.\u201d
\n\u201cAn eye is meant to see things.
\nThe soul is here for its own joy.
\nA head has one use: for loving a true love.
\nLegs: to run after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hafiz
\nHafiz was Persia\u2019s greatest lyric poet and one of the renowned lyrists of the world.
\nHe was born in Shiraz about 1325 and died about 1388. For nearly six centuries, the Odes of Hafiz have received universal acknowledgement as masterpieces in the lyric vein.
\nHafiz was a native of southern Persia. While the Persian name Hafiz is really only a title meaning \u201cgifted with a good memory,\u201d as bestowed upon him as a pupil who knew the whole Koran by heart, it has clung to him by fame instead of his real name which was in full Shams ud-din Mohammed, or \u201cMohammed, the Sun of Religion.\u201d
\nHafiz lived to a fairly ripe old age, and allusion is made in his lyric verses to sons born from his marriage.
\nIn the environs of Hafiz\u2019s beloved city of Shiraz lie his remains in an enclosed tomb that is still a place of pilgrimage, including visits as tributes from lovers of poetry in the West.
\nHafiz, in a similar fashion as Khayyam, questions the significance and the meaning of existence.<\/p>\n
\u201cO heavenly bartender serve me goblet of wine
\nThat divine mysterious holy grave<\/p>\n
Has designed and created wonders<\/p>\n
That is not clear to us in the curtain of mystical creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
His strong stand against deceit and the institutions of hypocracy and religion is evident in this poem:
\n\u201cO, Hafiz, be tippler, reveler and merriment
\nbut weave not the web of deception, hypocrisy as those
\nwho make reciting Holy Book Quranto
\nto cover their fabrication.\u201d<\/p>\n
The burden of his lyric verses in love, wine, the nightingale, and the rose:<\/p>\n
\u201cBring me secret goblet of wine,
\nthat my heart is weeping blood,
\nfrom the turquoise heaven
\nin my lush state I will unravel the
\nperplexity in turquoise colored goblet.\u201d
\nHe also states:<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I pass away from this desolate and lonely world
\ncleanse me, from my sin by limped vine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wonder if Razi would have not invented alcohol, where would Hafiz be without his magnificent and divine poetry ?
\nThe review of the above, in the mind of a physician and an educator who ascends in thoughts and philosophy can reflect modern advancements of technology as something that had been hinted by models and poems and philosophy down through history.
\nAs Sa\u2019adi proclaimed in the Seventh Century:<\/p>\n
\u201cMan soar to a new height
\nthat he sees everything but God
\nuphold the magnitude of human beings
\nLo and behold, the lofty and stately position of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
\nAND SPECIAL THANKS
\n1. Massih Hakami, M.D., Translation of all Persian poems
\n2. Professor Said Fatemi, Professor Comparative Literature, Tehran University
\n3. Nancy Rich, M.D., Reading and editing manuscript<\/p>\n
REFERENCES
\n1. Krauthammer, Charles. Special report on cloning.
\nTime Magazine, Vol. 194; No. 11; March 10, 1997; p 60-61.
\n2,3. Encyclopedia Americana.
\n4. Wilber, Donald N. Iran, past and present Princeton University Press 1981
\n5. Lattimore, Richard. The odyssey of Homer. Harper and Rowe Publisher. NewYork, NY.
\n6. Iliad of Homer, MacMillan and Co., Ltd, London 1929.
\n7. Sewell, Jane Eliot Ph.D. Cesarean section \u2013 a brief history American college of ob\/gyn brochure to accompany an exhibition on the history of Cesarean Section at the National Library of Medicine 30 April 1993 – 31 August 1993.
\n8. Khatamee, Masood A., MD. ACOG Clinical Review, Vol. 5, Issue 2, March\/April 2000.
\n9. Reza F. A search into Ferdowsi\u2019s \u2018book of kings\u2019.
\n10. Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1998, page 69
\n11, 13. Encyclopedia Americana.
\n12. http:\/\/kirjasto.sci.fi\/rumi.htm
\n13. Khatamee, Masood A. \u201cInfluence of Persian Heritage on the West (Cloning and Beyond).\u201d\u00a0The Journal of the Bellevue Obstetrical & Gynecological\u00a0XVII (2001): 69-73. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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