Islam Creator of the Modern Age
1. Islam: Creator of the Modern Age
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such unfavourable circumstances, he finally died on
May 12, 1003, in Rome.
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From the beginning of recorded history right up to
the time of Islam, there had been no such concept as
intellectual freedom. That is why we hear of only
isolated instances of individuals who in ancient
times, were given to scientific thinking. And
scientific thinking could not spread beyond those
individuals. For want of intellectual freedom, such
thinking was nipped in the bud.
Islam, for the first time in history, separated
religious knowledge from physical knowledge. The
source of religious knowledge, which came into
general acceptance, was divine revelation (the
authentic version of which is preserved in the form
of the Qur’an), while full freedom was given to
enquiry into physical phenomena, so that
individuals could arrive at their own conclusions
independently.
The Sahih
of Imam Muslim, the second most
authentic book on Hadith, dating from the second
century Hijrah, contains a chapter headed as
follows: “Whatever the Prophet has said in matters
