Islam Creator of the Modern Age
2. Holding Sacred that which is not Sacred
~ 96 ~
name for the exploitation of nature. He then raises
the question as to why man took so long to control
and exploit it when it had existed in our world for
millions of years. He himself gives us the answer:
For ancient man nature was not just a treasure
trove of ‘natural resources,’ but a goddess,
‘Mother Earth.’ And the vegetation that
sprang from the earth, the animals that
roamed the earth’s surface, and the minerals
hiding in the earth’s bowels, all partook of
nature’s divinity, so did all natural
phenomena—springs and rivers and the sea;
mountains; earthquakes and lightning and
thunder. Such was the original religion of all
mankind.
48
When nature is regarded as an object of worship, it
cannot, at the same time, be looked at as an object of
exploitation, investigation and conquest. Referring
to the historical fact mentioned above, Toynbee
acknowledges that the age in which nature was
sacrosanct was brought to an end only with the
advent of monotheism. The concept of monotheism
brought nature down from being a deity set upon a
