I find Arbibi Ashoy's letter The caliph — a befitting title interesting, but inaccurate. While one will not debate that some caliphs were rather cruel and unsavoury characters, to say that the history of the caliphate were littered with oppression and injustice is a distorted view to say the least.

To take just one example, the earliest scientific findings were only made when Islam broke with the ancient system of royal absolutism and tribalismand consequently heralded the age of intellectual freedom.

The Muslim caliphate with its long and sophisticated past brought about the advancement of all aspects of human life in a way unprecedented and unseen in times before.

In all fields, the Muslim world surged ahead from the rest of the world. They were the catalysts for many nations coming out of the darkness of ignorance and were probably the single most influential factor in the European renaissance.

Despite their remarkable achievements leaving an indelible mark on modern knowledge systems even till today, they have been largely ignored or unacknowledged. As George Sarton in his introduction to the History of science reveals "It will suffice here to evoke a few glorious names without contemporary equivalents in the West: J