There is no written evidence directly from this early period that relates to Pagan practice. In effect we are dealing with a 'prehistoric' period – a time before written history. Archaeologists have had to draw on sources from both before and after the period to try to understand how people lived. It seems that religion was not a source of spiritual revelation, but more a means of insurance for one's worries. People would create charms or invocations to different gods to ensure success in material things such as good crops or success in battle.
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/snapshot_anglosaxon.html

Legal traditions of the world By H. Patrick Glenn p 228
http://books.google.com/books?id=eERrPWIQn2kC&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=anglo+saxon+islamic+influences%5C&source=bl&ots=YCE2YgLMNj&sig=jDszrMZBKSGp7en3UMaFVtTR-Zg&hl=en&ei=FfThSfmXBZTtlQeys_DfDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7

1215 when the English barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.
Islamic jurisprudence on the equal protection law goes back to the case of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, the third Caliph of Islam, who famously showed by example how the concepts of the supremacy of law and independence of the court should be applied. He had filed a lawsuit against a Jew.

which permitted a living legal system covering all areas of social regulation, in Western categories, from criminal law to family law, from constitutional law to public international law. From the Islamic standpoint, Islamic law is a system of regulation that stems from human political authority but is itself created by God. In a sense, duties to other human beings, whether your equal or political superior, constitute a duty to God. Law is thus perceived as constituting an integrated part of social organisation and is not seen a separate branch of human activity. Law, both as jurisprudence and as a normative system is an articulation and an expression of God's will. As a consequence, within the Islamic outlook, it is difficult to conceive of a secular state or a secular legal system. There is a central debate within Islamic jurisprudence on the character of the conditions under which shari'a can be introduced. There are those who argue that this is only possible within the context of a thoroughly Islamic society, such as the Prophet established in Medina in the seventh century (CE). Others regard such a proposition as idealised and put forward a twentieth century Islamic state as a model. http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/lawbase/jsrps.html

Law in the orientalist gaze Within the European world, Islamic law has been studied as integral to the orientalist project. Orientalism, as an area of academic interest grew alongside colonialism and to some extent served it by providing both an apparent store of positive knowledge and a series of ideological explanations of the culture and societies of the occupied lands. It is only relatively recently that (Western) jurists have taken a specific interest in Islamic law. Within the orientalist lineage it has been largely seen as a branch of history, administration or general Islamic studies. Indeed the leading text, which has had so much influence on current thinking, Introduction to Islamic Law by Joseph Schacht[24] is a case in point. The interesting aspect of this work and of most others in this field, is the methodological context in which Islamic Law is presented, (or more accurately constructed) and then defined, (or confined). In setting the scene, Schacht tells us;
"[t]he Arabs were and are bound by traditions and precedent. Whatever was customary was right and proper; whatever the forefathers had done deserved to be imitated. This was the golden rule for Arabs whose existence on a narrow margin in an unpropitious environment did not leave much room for experiments and innovations which might upset the precarious balance of their lives."[25]http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/lawbase/jsrps.html
\
Lothian's success represented a surprisingly triumphant climax to a career that had otherwise failed to fulfil his early promise. A first in modern history at New College, Oxford, followed by recruitment to Lord Milner's "Kindergarten" of bright young men who implemented South Africa's post-Boer War reconstruction, won him influential imperialist patrons, such as Milner and his successor as governor, Lord Selborne, son-in-law of the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. On leaving South Africa in 1910, Kerr became editor of The Round Table, a journal his Kindergarten colleagues established to promote closer integration within the British Empire. Its editors generally took an affirmative view of moderate state intervention to enhance both social justice and national efficiency, urging labor and capital to cooperate for both their own interests and those of the broader community.http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9600252_ITM

Nicholas Cull's study of British propaganda in the United States before Pearl Harbor likewise applauded Lothian's skilful management of British public relations, pointing to numerous occasions when he was crucial in orchestrating British propaganda strategy, usually in the direction of providing more accurate information and greater access to American journalists, and describing him as "the single most significant figure in the development of British propaganda in the United States." (7) D. C. Watt concluded: "Lord Lothian's embassy ... was clearly an enormous success," citing the "covert and effective" liaison work between the New York-based British Information Service (BIS) and the interventionist organizations, the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies and the Century Club Group, and BIS use of "inter-war inter-university contacts." (8) http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9600252_ITM
In recent years Lothian's reputation has undergone something of a renascence, as a new generation of historians have drawn attention to the posthumous impact of his--and other British--calls for world federalism, or at least a federal union of the Western democracies, in inspiring Altiero Spinelli and associated European intellectual federalists to establish what would eventually become the European Union. (12) Admittedly, John Pinder has drawn attention to the irony that Lothian invariably believed that the closer association of the British Empire or Commonwealth with the United States must be the core and sine qua non of any such union of the European democracies, an outlook he believes accounts for Lothian's failure to put forward any concrete proposals for the development of European unity. (13) Turner, too, raised the "irony" that "European federalists" have "honoured [Lothian] as the intellectual ancestor of a concept which he would hardly have recognised and which would have been quite low in his order of priorities." (14
Even though his biographer stated that between the wars Lothian "was above all interested in relations with the United States," (15) and assessments of his service as ambassador invariably draw attention to Lothian's longstanding support for closer Anglo-American relations, Lothian's commitment to what might be described as an Atlanticist perspective has been somewhat neglected, and when mentioned, generally subordinated to what were perceived as his broader views on the need to prevent future wars by diluting purely national sovereignty. Turner even suggested that "by the end of his life he had become committed to Pax Anglo-Americana in default of anything else." (16) Several studies of Lothian's activities during World War I and at the Paris Peace Conference are a partial exception, stressing his eagerness to encourage close cooperation between the United States and the British Empire and his belief that continuing Anglo-American collaboration must form the bedrock of any postwar settlement. (17\

4/29: Day production and use of chemical weapons was outlawed world-wide (1997); day to mourn their victims. [Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons a/k/a Chemical Weapons Convention: signed 1/13/1993; entered into force 4/29/1997.] [Israel is believed to currently possess chemical weapons in spite of the Treaty's prohibition. Israel has not ratified the Treaty. On 4/16/2003, Syria proposed making the Middle East a region free of all weapons of mass destruction.] [In the name of Elohim, and for love of Elohim, Jews should renounce the production, acquisition, and use of chemical weapons, and should demand destruction of all existing weapons.] [Text of Convention] [For more information, see U.N. Disarmament of Weapons of Mass Destruction website; Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons webpage; Sipri Chemical and Biological Weapons Project: Chemical Weapons Convention Mainpage; Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project website; Monterey Institute of International Studies Chemical and Biological Weapons Resource Page; Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Chemical and Biological Arms Control Program website.] [Text of United Nations Charter, chapter V, article 26]

/1: Day the world's nations committed to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons (1968); vigil to protest the production and use of all nuclear weapons world-wide. [Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: signed 7/1/1968; entered into force 3/5/1970.] [Israel has developed nuclear weapons in spite of the Treaty's prohibition.: Day the world's nations committed to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons (1968); vigil to protest the production and use of all nuclear weapons world-wide. [Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: signed 7/1/1968; entered into force 3/5/1970.] [Israel has developed nuclear weapons in spite of the Treaty's prohibition. Israel has not ratified the Treaty. On 4/16/2003, Syria proposed making the Middle East a region free of all weapons of mass destruction.] [In the name of Elohim, and for love of Elohim, Jews should renounce the production, acquisition, and use of nuclear weapons, and should demand destruction of all existing weapons.] [Text of Convention] [For more information, see U.N. Disarmament of Weapons of Mass Destruction website; International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) website. For information on Israel's nukes, see Federation of American Scientists (FAS) nuke guide ] [Text of United Nations Charter, chapter V, article 26http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/2009/jewish.htm

10: Day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, and fundamental rights were recognized world-wide (1948). [The U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (U.D.H.R.) in Resolution 217 A(III). See Text of Declaration. For more information on the history of the U.D.H.R., see Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute website. The U.D.H.R. is generally recognized as binding customary international law. In 1966, the concepts of the U.D.H.R. were expanded and drafted into two binding international treaties with enforcement mechanisms. The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Text of Covenant) is enforced by the Human Rights Committee (see Human Rights Committee website; University of Minnesota Human Rights Library website) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (see Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights website; Human Rights Watch website). The Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (Text of Covenant) is enforced by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights(see Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights website).] [a/k/a International Human Rights Day]

12/15: Day the Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution, guaranteeing fundamental rights to all (1791). [Text of Bill of Rights] [For more information about the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution, see U.S. National Archives & Records Administration website and the Bill of Rights Institute website. For information on organizations that advocate for enforcement of rights and liberties in the Bill of Rights, see Center for Constitutional Rights website; American Civil Liberties Union website.] [a/k/a Bill of Rights Day

Day ethnic discrimination was outlawed world-wide (1969); day to mourn all manifestations of racism. [Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: signed/adopted 3/7/1966; entered into force 1/4/1969.] [Text of Convention] [For more information, see Anti Racism Information Service website; Human Rights Watch website.]

http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/2009/pagan.htm

/15 to 3/21: Old Anglo-Teutonic festival of Goddess Ostara, celebrating the annual rebirth. Her Hare gave gifts of eggs - signifying rebirth.
* 3/16 eve to 3/23 eve: Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries--Old Greek festival celebrating the marriage of Goddess Kore and God Dionysos, following their return from Elysium. [Dionysos was identified with Plouton at Eleusis. While Demeter believed Her daughter to have been abducted and raped by Dionysos-Plouton, from the perspective of Kore-Persephone and Dionysos-Plouton, it was an elopement.] [Devotees dedicated themselves to service of Goddess and God after being purified by water and fire.]

There are several different views on Islamic science among historians of science. The traditionalist view, as exemplified by Bertrand Russell,[6] holds that Islamic science, while admirable in many technical ways, lacked the intellectual energy required for innovation and was chiefly important as a preserver of ancient knowledge and transmitter to medieval Europe. The revisionist view, as exemplified by Abdus Salam[7] and George Saliba,[8] holds that a Muslim scientific revolution occurred during the Middle Ages,[9][10] an expression with which scholars such as Donald Routledge Hill and Ahmad Y Hassan express the view that Islam was the driving force behind the Muslim achievements,[11] while Robert Briffault even sees Islamic science as the foundation of modern science.[12] The most prominent view in recent scholarship, however, as examplified by Toby E. Huff,[13][14] Will Durant,[15] Fielding H. Garrison,[16] Muhammad Iqbal[17] Hossein Nasr and Bernard Lewis,[18] holds that Muslim scientists did help in laying the foundations for an experimental science with their contributions to the scientific method and their empirical, experimental and quantitative approach to scientific inquiry, but that their work cannot be considered a Scientific Revolution,[13] like that which occurred in early modern Europe and led to the emergence of modern science,[19][20] with the exception of Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics which is widely considered a revolution in the fields of optics and visual perception

National Security Study Memorandum 200, a geopolitical strategy document prepared by Henry Kissinger, which targeted thirteen countries for massive population reduction by means of creating food scarcity, sterilization and war. George H.W. Bush's role in advising China on its one-child policy and the forcible sterilization of native American women is also presented as evidence of the elite's ruthless pursuit of eugenics
http://www.kheper.net/topics/transhumanism/What_Is_Transhumanism.html

The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco as the oldest university in the world with its founding in 859.[36] Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in the 10th century, offered a variety of academic degrees, including postgraduate degrees, and is often considered the first full-fledged university
Another common feature during the Islamic Golden Age was the large number of Muslim polymaths or "universal geniuses", scholars who contributed to many different fields of knowledge. Muslim polymaths were known as "Hakeems" and they had a wide breadth of knowledge in many different fields of religious and secular learning, comparable to the later "Renaissance Men", such as Leonardo da Vinci, of the European Renaissance period. Polymath scholars were so common during the Islamic Golden Age that it was rare to find a scholar who specialized in any single field at the time.[38] Notable Muslim polymaths included al-Biruni, al-Jahiz, al-Kindi, Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Idrisi, Ibn Bajja, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd, al-Suyuti[39] Geber, al-Khwarizmi, the Banū Mūsā, Abbas Ibn Firnas, al-Farabi, al-Masudi, al-Muqaddasi, Alhacen, Omar Khayyám, al-Ghazali, al-Khazini, Avempace, al-Jazari, Ibn al-Nafis, Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, Ibn al-Shatir, Ibn Khaldun, and Taqi al-Din, among many others

Muslim scientists placed a greater emphasis on experimentation than previous ancient civilizations (for example, Greek philosophy placed a greater emphasis on rationality rather than empiricism),[12][15] which was due to the emphasis on empirical observation found in the Qur'an and Sunnah,[69][70][71][72] and the rigorous historical methods established in the science of hadith.[69] Muslim scientists thus combined precise observation, controlled experiment and careful records[15] with a new[12] approach to scientific inquiry which led to the development of the scientific method.[73] In particular, the empirical observations and experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) in his Book of Optics (1021) is seen as the beginning of the modern scientific method,[74] which he first introduced to optics and psychology. Rosanna Gorini writes:
"According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable


Background to this discussion • Whereas the Greeks systematised, generalised and theorised, the Muslims established new methods of investigation, of experimentation, observation, measurement and development. • However, how can such a significant claim be substantiated, and how is it that many of us are unaware of such a claim ever existing ? • Montgomery Watt, himself concluded that it was so because Europe was reacting against Islam [that] it belittled the influence of the Saracens [Muslims] and exaggerated its dependence on its Greek and Roman heritage. • Why was Europe trying so hard to conceal any links with Islam? • George Sarton, traced the “roots” of Western Intellectual development to the Arab tradition The most valuable of all, the most original & the most pregnant [works] Were written in Arabic. From the mid eighth to the end of the eleventh Century, Arabic was the scientific, the progressive language of mankind. During that period, anyone wishing to be well informed and up to date, Had to study Arabic. http://www.amalpress.com

Medicine • George Bernard Shaw applauded the medical importance of Islamic teachings in building a healthy society. • The Muslim scientists made wonderful achievements in the sphere of medical science – in areas of anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, diagnosis and treatment, surgery and midwifery. • Europe was at a significantly lower ebb than the Islamic world • First European Hospital was in 1550 http://www.amalpress.com

The first documented description of a peer review process is found in the Ethics of the Physician written by Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi (854–931) of al-Raha, Syria, who describes the first medical peer review process. His work, as well as later Arabic medical manuals, state that a visiting physician must always make duplicate notes of a patient's condition on every visit. When the patient was cured or had died, the notes of the physician were examined by a local medical council of other physicians, who would review the practising physician's notes to decide whether his/her performance have met the required standards of medical care. If their reviews were negative, the practicing physician could face a lawsuit from a maltreated patient.[87]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_science

Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), considered a pioneer of modern surgery,[100] wrote the Al-Tasrif (1000), a 30-volume medical encyclopedia which was taught at Muslim and European medical schools until the 17th century. He invented numerous surgical instruments, including the first instruments unique to women,[101] as well as the surgical uses of catgut and forceps, the ligature, surgical needle, scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical spoon, sound, surgical hook, surgical rod, and specula,[102] bone saw,[90] and plaster.[103] In 1021, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) made important advances in eye surgery, as he studied and correctly explained the process of sight and visual perception for the first time in his Book of Optics (1021).[1

http://www.slideshare.net/brighteyes/islamic-civilization

Note 4 of the item “Nicolaus Copernicus” included in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states, “In De revolutionibus he (Copernicus) uses the form of Tusi’s device with inclined axes for the inequality of the precession and the variation of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and in both the ‘Commentariolus’ and ‘De revolutionibus’ he uses it for the oscillation of the orbital planes in the latitude – theory… The planetary models for longitude in the ‘Commentariolus’ are all based upon the models of Ibn ash-Shatir – although the arrangement for the inferior planets is incorrect – while those for the superior planets in De revolutionibus use the same arrangement as Urdi’s and Shirazi’s model, and for the inferior planets the smaller epicycle is converted into an equivalent rotating eccentricity that constitutes a correct adaptation of Ibn ash-Shatir’s model. In both the Commentariolus and De revolutionibus the lunar model is identical to Ibn ash-Shatir’s…”

For a change of pace, check out today's article from THE INDEPENDENT, "How> Islamic inventors changed the world":>> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece>> For example, "the technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and> Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from> Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children> in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at> least 50 years before the West discovered it.">> Also, "Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from> Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the> three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts.> He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after> experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas).">> and, "the modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay> for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be> transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim> businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.">> See also the link to>>http://www.1001inventions.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=309>> For example, "Long before Copernicus>> "Did you know that long before Copernicus astronomer Ibn Al-Shatir in the> 13th century figure out that despite appearances the earth revolved around> the sun. It remains controversial whether Copernicus was directly> influenced by al-Shatir's work. The idea of the movement of the planets is> attributed to Kepler and Copernicus while not crediting the contribution> of Ibn Al-Shatir. The fact is though the maths by Ibn al-Shatir are> identical to those of Copernicus.">> Paul Z.>> ************************************************************************> THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11-2001, forthcoming in April 2006> RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, Paul Zarembka, editor, Elsevier Science> ********************* http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka

Postmodernism and the other By Ziauddin Sardar
http://books.google.com/books?id=xNHaZOcbEhwC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=kepler+al+shatir&source=bl&ots=T3Ncbby5Rd&sig=KMEI0xMaX_zCY5OjqgrSYwKQOjA&hl=en&ei=YA_iScP2IqbtlQfngqzgDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA206,M1