Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
~ 117 ~
LINGUISTICS
On account of superstitious beliefs becoming
attached to language, linguistics, as a science,
stagnated for thousands of years. Writing of this
failure to Dr Ernest Gellner, a linguist very aptly
commented: ‘Linguistic philosophy has an inverted
vision which treats genuine thought as a disease
and dead thought as a paradigm of health.’
In antiquity it was generally believed that writing
was the gift of God, as in the Indian concept of
“Braham lipi.” Words and the form of speech were
considered to have been given to man by the gods
and, as such, they commanded the highest
veneration from humans. John Stevens, in his book
Sacred Calligraphy of the East,
presents research
carried out by himself, which shows that the
concept of ‘sacred’ calligraphy persisted for
centuries. Scholars differed as to the origin of
calligraphy, whether in Egypt, China, India, or any
other place. One idea, however, was universal:
writing was divine. It was inherently holy. Writing
was the speech of the gods.
