People

You know,

because for so long the muslim world was the most powerful empire in the world,

its influence spread far beyond its borders,

and lasted much longer than the time of the peak of its power.

And because of that,

its traces can be seen in the English and Scottish cultures that formed and gained strength later,

in the fields of learning that were based on the foundations of knowledge

that the world of Islam provided for the European Renaissance

after the European Dark Ages.

The Messenger told his followers

that the search for knowledge was a sacred duty,

and they took that duty seriously,

not only taking on the knowledge of all the places that they went to,

even as far as China,

but also studying all the knowledge they could find that came from wise people in the past,

studying what was written by the ancient Greeks,

and translating it to make it easily accessible to muslim scholars.

So a lot of modern science,

maths, physics and chemistry,

as well as astronomy and medicine,

has its roots in the work done by famous muslims.

And muslims travelled around the globe,

making maps of the places they visited,

and writing of the history and cultures of the people that they met,

all very useful to Europeans

who took that knowledge, and developed it,

and set out to conquer the world later.

But in all their study of science and the world,

the muslims never felt the need to abandon their belief in God.

Science might explain how things work,

but not why anyone should be interested why.

Science doesn't give an understanding of the purpose of life,

or how it might be set in a greater justice than this world's.

Human life does not just involve what is material,

but also human spirit and self-awareness.

Things are not simply right and wrong,

they can also be good and bad,

and to understand the human life experience

we need to realise there is a life that comes afterwards

to make sense of it all.

We need to recognise that life doesn't just happen,

but is given to us with a purpose,

by God,

the Creator, the Maker and the Shaper,

and the Judge of our behaviour.

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