Islam Rediscovered
18. Islamic Activism
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who, opted for the course of confrontation with the
rulers were removed from the scene.
This policy of non-interference in the political
system left scholars free to produce that great
treasure known as the library of Islam. It is a
historical fact that almost the entire classical Islamic
literature was prepared during this period. The
development of the Arabic language, its grammar,
its calligraphy, the exegesis of the Qur’an, the
collection and editing of the
hadith
, the formulation
of civil and religious laws (
fiqh
), the preparation of
the literature of
kalam
(theology), etc.— all were
developed during this period.
It is a fact that, had the Muslim scholars and
ulama
of the age risen against a political system which
they held to be corrupt, all this precious literature
would never have come into existence, and the
major part of the
hadith
, which enjoys the status of
the second source in Islam, would not have been
safely transferred to succeeding generations. The
age of the press had not yet dawned, and the sole
repositories of all Islam’s spiritual riches were the
memories of the surviving scholars. Had these
