Islam Creator of the Modern Age
1. Islam: Creator of the Modern Age
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Jabir’s books were held as the final authority on
chemistry in Europe uptill the fifteenth century. The
initial ladder to the modern western chemistry of
the eighteenth century was produced by Jabir. It is
believed that Jabir wrote two thousand books on
different sciences. So many scholarly books had
never been written before the Muslim epoch by any
single writer.
These are only some scattered and incomplete refer-
ences. They are, however, enough to show that
Islam, far from being hostile to learning, is keenly
supportive of it. In ancient times, the anti-learning
tradition was laid down by those religions, which
were based on polytheism and superstition. Islam
ended polytheism and superstition and established
religion on the basis of pure monotheism. There is,
therefore, no question of Islam becoming the enemy
of knowledge and research.
The progress of learning is anathema to polytheism.
Polytheistic religions, therefore, attempt to block its
path. Monotheism, on the contrary, takes a very
different stand, for the progress of learning verifies
monotheism, thus establishing it all the more
