Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
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sizeable rewards. In Spain they dug broad canals,
and then subdivided them, with the result that the
arid plain of Valencia was turned into a vast tract of
lush green. They established a permanent
department of irrigation, which supplied all kinds
of relevant information.
Describing Muslim Spain, Bertrand Russell writes:
One of the best features of the Arab economy
was agriculture, particularly the skillful use of
irrigation, which they learnt from living
where water is scarce. To this day Spanish
agriculture profits by Arab irrigation works.
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It is a fact that the Muslims who went to Spain
brought about a veritable green revolution. There
they established such irrigation systems for fields
and orchards as were unprecedented in history.
However, strangely enough, Bertrand Russell
attributes this to their having lived in the past in
desert areas, where water is scarce. This explanation
is meaningless. The true, underlying cause of this
feat is the monotheistic revolution, which had
overhauled the minds of Arabs. Prior to this, people
had seen rivers, springs, and the sea in the form of
