Islam Creator of the Modern Age
2. Holding Sacred that which is not Sacred
~ 101 ~
work gained great momentum during the Arab rule
in Spain and Sicily. Finally, it reached Europe,
where it gave the first impetus to the industrial
revolution.
It is generally accepted that modern progress and
its ramifications are related to industrial revolution.
In fact, it could be said that all progress has come in
its wake. Industrial revolution itself is another name
for the exploitation of the hidden resources of the
earth. For example, man mined coal and then
converted it into energy. He harnessed the power of
flowing water and converted that into electricity.
He extracted minerals from beneath the earth’s
surface and transformed them into machines. And
this is how the industrial revolution came into
existence.
Now, why was it, that when all these resources had
been available on the earth since time immemorial,
man had not been able to utilize them in order to
found a developed civilization prior to the advent
of Islam? There is only one answer: polytheism had
placed an insurmountable barrier in his path.
