User:Alkhowarizmi

When I first coined the handle Al-Khowarizmi, I wasn't too bothered if people chose to misinterpret it. However, as I may be contributing - probably only on talk pages - on topics where the name may imply bias, I think it prudent to explain a little.

When I adopted his name, I knew of [Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī] as a great Arab mathematician (from whose name comes the word 'algorithm', and after whose work algebra is named) who lived in Baghdad over 1000 years ago. I was celebrating his mathematical achievements, but also, I hoped, expressing solidarity with the inhabitants of that great city at a time when my country, or rather its government, was joining in the genocidal persecution of Iraq.

I've now learned from the Wikipedia article that apparently he was of Persian origin, not Arab. Moreover it seems even possible that he was Zoroastrian, not Moslem. Considering that Iraq was already devastated by a long war with Iran, I suppose anyone who focuses on race might not find his name symbolic of pro-Iraq sympathy (if they knew this stuff).

As regards bias, yes I am pro-Islam when Islam is being persecuted, and yes I am pro-Arab when Arabs are being persecuted. However I am not Arab nor moslem. Indeed I don't subscribe to any nationalism, ethnicity, or religion. So my fellow Wikipedians may be right if they identify pro-Arab or pro-Islam bias in my writing, but they misunderstand the nature of the bias unless they recognise that it is founded on political, not religious or ethnic views.