Islam Creator of the Modern Age
2. Holding Sacred that which is not Sacred
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the Greeks was not science but philosophy. Science,
as we now understand it had never existed in
Greece. Science, or knowledge based on
experimentation, is the invention of the Muslims. It
was the Muslims who first attained to knowledge
through observation, and then communicated it to
other nations, particularly those situated in Europe.
Bertrand Russell has rightly said:
Science, ever since the time of the Arabs, has
had two functions: (1) to enable us to know
things and (2) to enable us to do things. The
Greeks, with the exception of Archimedes,
were only interested in the first of these ...
interest in the practical uses of science came
first through superstition and magic.
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He goes on to say:
To modern educated people, it seems obvious
that matters of fact are to be ascertained by
observation, not by consulting ancient
authorities. But this is an entirely modern
conception, which hardly existed before the
seventeenth century. Aristotle maintained
