Islam and Peace by Maulana Waiduddin Khan - page 177

Islam and Peace
Western Civilization and Islam
~ 177 ~
communication – a prerequisite for the
realization of Islamic goals.
2. The second requirement essential to facilitating
this task was complete religious freedom. In the
absence of religious freedom, successful
communication of the desired nature had never
been possible. Now western civilization has
brought into being an era in which for the first
time in human history freedom of religion has
come to be accepted as a sacred human right.
This is one of its greatest gifts to humanity.
3. In order to spread the word of God on a
universal scale, an unlimited amount of wealth
was required. It is through western civilization
that the Muslim nations have been able, albeit
indirectly, to secure this wealth. For it was
people from the West who first discovered the
wealth of petrol abounding in Muslim countries.
It was again these very people who, by ushering
in the modern machine age, gave petrol the
status of a precious commodity. This wealth thus
acquired has enabled the Muslims of today to
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