Knowledge
By: Bilal Philips
(taken from his books and tapes)
www.beconvinced.com
Islam urges people to read and learn on every
occasion. The verses of the Qur'an command, advise, warn, and
encourage people to observe the phenomena of nature, the
succession of day and night, the movements of stars, the sun,
moon, and other heavenly bodies. Muslims are urged to look into
everything in the universe, to travel, investigate, explore and
understand them, the better to appreciate and be thankful for
all the wonders and beauty of God's creations. The first
revelation to Muhammad showed how much Islam cares about
knowledge.
"Read, in the name of your Lord, Who
created..." [96:1]
Learning is obligatory for both men and
women. Moreover, education is not restricted to religious
issues; it includes all fields of knowledge, including biology,
physics, and technology. Scholars have the highest status in
Islam, second only to that accorded to prophets.
Almost from the very beginnings of the
Islamic state Muslims began to study and to master a number of
fields of so-called secular learning, beginning with
linguistics and architecture, but very quickly extending to
mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, medicine, chemistry
and philosophy. They translated and synthesized the known works
of the ancient world, from Greece, Persia, India, even China.
Before long they were criticizing, improving and expanding on
that knowledge. Centuries before the European Renaissance there
were Muslim ³Rennaissance² men, men who were simultaneously
explorers, scientists, philosophers, physicians and poets, like
Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Umar Khayyam, and others.