Islam and Peace by Maulana Waiduddin Khan - page 178

Islam and Peace
Western Civilization and Islam
~ 178 ~
spread their campaign throughout the entire
world, regardless of the cost.
4. Another very important supporting factor
pertains to the principle of free enquiry
developed by the west. This principle of free
enquiry was extended by them even to religion.
Sacred texts for the first time in human history
were scrutinized in the light of the ‘higher
criticism’ as a result of which all religious
scriptures, with the exception of the Qur’an, lost
their claim to historicality. The Qur’an then stood
quite alone as a historically established scripture.
In this way, the intellectual revolution brought
about by western civilization gave Islam a
monopoly – as the only authentic representative
of Religion.
5. Then again it was this Western Civilization
which, by scientifically unraveling nature’s
secrets, testified to the veracity of the Qur’an.
Hence the credit for offering a scientific
explanation of the following verse must go to
western civilization.
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