It is written in some Western books, especially travel books, that Muslims are very ignorant, and that most of the Muslims in Asia and Africa do not even know how to read or write. They also say that there are no Muslim names among the people who were well known in the field of science and civilization between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some people even claim that Islam prevents society from progressing. Also, some other claim that since the Muslims are ignorant, they can not understand the greatness of Christianity; hence, in spite of all the efforts put forth by missionaries, Muslims will not accept Christianity as they did not in the past.

If we examine history, we will see that the matter is completely different. The religion of Islam always praises science and encourages Muslims to learn it. The holy meaning of the ninth verse of Surat-ul-Zumar in the Qur'an al-karim states: "Is it possible to consider equal those who know with those who do not know? Truly, the ones who know are dearer." Our Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) ordered: "You should go and learn science, even if it is in China," and, "Wherever science is, Islam is there," and, "It is a fard (obligation) for all Muslims, men and women, to look for knowledge and learn it." In Islam, studying science and the ink used by scholars to write are deemed to be equal with worshipping and with the blood of martyrs, respectively. The reason the Muslims did not accept Christianity is rooted in the fact that Islam is more logical and accurate. We have already written down how science is valued in the religion of Islam. Islam does not condone fanaticism. On the contrary, it orders us to follow the latest developments, to invent new things, and to advance every day. That is why, from the very beginning of Islam, scholars were esteemed to be very great; technical and scientific experiments were done; the Arab Muslims obtained the highest degrees in medicine, chemistry, astronomy, geography, history, literature, math, engineering, architecture, the social sciences and morality, which was the basis for everything. They educated many great scholars, judges, experts, and eminent masters, who were the teachers for the world. They were the guides for civilization, and all of them are still mentioned respectfully. In those days, the Europeans, who were half-wild, learned scientific knowledge in Islamic Universities. Even the great Christian religious men, such as Pope Sylvester, studied in the University of Andalusia. Today, the words "chemie" for chemistry and "Algebra" in Mathematics (which come from the Arabic language) are used in European languages. This is because this knowledge was first introduced to the world by the Arab Muslims.

While the Europeans thought the world was smooth like a tray and enclosed by a wall on all sides, the Muslims understood that it was round and rotated on its axis. They measured the lengths of longitudinal circles in the Sinjar desert near Musul and obtained today's figure. Furthermore, the Arab Muslims translated old Greek and Roman philosophical books which were forbidden to read by ignorant and fanatical priests during the Middle Ages. The Arabs thereby prevented them from completely disappearing. As admitted by some honest Christians, the true Renaissance, that is, "the revival of the old valuable sciences" started in Arabia, not in Italy, but during the era of the Abbasides, long before the Renaissance of Italy. But what a pity that suddenly this great progress lost speed in the seventeenth century. This calamity was caused by Jewish and masonic plots, which prevented the Muslims from following new inventions as a result of saying: "Everything made by the Christians is haram (prohibited) for Muslims. If a Muslim accepts or does any of them, he will be a disbeliever." It was also perpetuated by fanatical followers of ignorant religious men. In the latter periods, the Ottomans were the greatest guides for the Muslims in the field of science. However, this Islamic state was subjected to political and military attacks by the world of Christianity, which were designed to make the Muslims ignorant of the latest developments and inventions in the world. On the one hand, the Crusades and the efforts of heretical Muslims deceived by the Jews and Masons separated and damaged the Ottomans internally, and in this way prevented the Ottomans from guiding the Muslims in the fields of technology and science. The Turks experienced terrible harm from both internal and external attacks. They could not produce new powerful weapons. They could not draw upon the advantages of the great resources within their own country as they should have. Industry and trade in their own country were seized by foreigners. The Ottoman state became poor.

Everyday, many new developments are taking place in every field. We have to learn, follow and teach them. Not only in the field of industry and technology, but also in matters of religion and morality. We must be like our ancestors, and educate our youngsters to have faith and good habits. Let us give you an example:

The Turks were known throughout the world as being unbeatable in wrestling competitions. In fact, they were always first in international wrestling matches. But what happened in the latter years? We did not prove as effective in wrestling. Do you know why that happened? It is because, previously, the Europeans did not know how to wrestle. They learned it from us. Then, they improved upon it a great deal. They added to it new approaches, quick actions, new tricks and techniques. However, we continue to insist on the old approaches, even though we do not know the wrestling techniques handed down by our ancestors. We have not yet examined the innovations in wrestling. We still do not want to take lessons from foreign wrestlers. Consequently, their wrestlers throw our wrestlers from one place to another by using their new tricks. Behold! In worldly affairs, we must surely make use of the people who know and do things better than we do. Then man who claims that he has a superior understanding in everything is either an idiot or a psychopath.

Our religion separated religious knowledge and scientific knowledge from each other. Even a small change in Islamic morals or in the manner of worshipping is severely prohibited. But, in worldly affairs and in scientific knowledge, every kind of adjustment is ordered, and we must keep in step with all the latest inventions as well. The so-called enlightened men who seized control of the Ottoman State did not obey this order of our religion, but acted contrarily. They attacked the fundamentals of the religion and changed or abrogated them as a result of being led astray by masonic organization. They closed their eyes to the progress in Europe and to the new inventions in the world. They even martyred modernist Turkish sultans (rulers) who wanted to conform to science and modern technology. Since they were toys in the hands of masonic individuals, they did not look for progress in the field of technology, but instead they thought that making reforms in the religion and being separatists were acts of progress. It is quite amazing that altering the purity of the religion continued among political parties until recent years. Some politicians appeared who were ignorant enough to claim that those sincere Muslims who were not involved in politics and did not support their party were disbelievers. Praise be to Allahu ta'ala that He created guardians who said "stop" to those leading this pure and noble nation into disaster. If not, we would have lost the religion, as well as the country, and would have fallen into the paws of Communism. Alhamdulillah ala hazihi-nni'meh! (O! My Lord! Thank you for your blessings.)

Today (1985 A.D.), there are twenty nine universities in Turkey. The Turkish Muslim youngsters are studying to learn worldly sciences and trying to be guides for other Muslim countries. The number of foreign students from Islamic countries studying in Turkish Universities were as many as a few thousand in the year 1981-82. But now, we will present to you an article written by an honest European concerning scientific studies in Islamic countries. The person who wrote this article is French, namely, Jean Ferrera, and it was printed in an issue of a magazine called Science et Vie, numbered 724, and published in January 1978. The title of the article is: "Les Universites du Petrole" (The Petroleum Universities). Ferrera says:

"Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) passed away in the hands of his beloved wife Aisha in the year 632. In the following years, the Muslims moved out from the place presently called Saudi Arabia and established a vast empire extending from the Atlantic Ocean to a river named Amur (Heilungkiang) in Asia. They were powerful, patient and brave, but they showed compassion towards the inhabitants of the lands they had conquered in war. On whatever land they passed over, they built a great civilization, the greatness of which is still unknown for most of us. The Islamic Universities founded in those countries, extending from Baghdad to Cordoba, revived the knowledge of the old civilizations, which were unknown, or the knowledge of which was being eradicated by Europeans, who were very ignorant in those days. They translated the works of Ptoleme [Batlamyus], Euclidein, and Archimed into the Arabic language. They also translated and examined the books of Indian scientists. They spread the information in these works all over the world. Those Muslims who had come to visit the Palace of Aix-la Chapellede Charlemagne on behalf of the Khalifa Harun Rashid in the eighth century were surprised to see how ignorant the people in the palace were. They were also surprised because most of them did not know how to read or write. Muslims first taught Europeans the numbers, including zero, in the ninth century. As a matter of fact, "zero" was discovered by Indians. But, it was transmitted to Europe by the Muslims. Those who taught Europeans the knowledge of trigonometry were Muslim, too. The Europeans first learned sine, then cosine, and later on every aspect of trigonometry in Islamic Universities. Every development, either scientific or technical, from the ninth to twelfth century, was taught only in Islamic Universities.

"In the Ottoman State, innumerable scholars and scientists were educated. The greatness of their service rendered to today's civilization is understood from their precious books. One of them was Mustafa Ibn Ali Effendi (rahima-hullahu ta'ala), who was the timekeeper for the Yavuz Sultan Salim (66) Mosque in Istanbul and the chief astrologer for the Sultans. He died in 979 (1571). There is amazing knowledge in his book of Geography, I'lam-ul-ibad and in his books of astronomy, Tashil-ul-mikat fi-ilm-il Awkat, Taysir-il-Kawakib, and Kifayet-ul-Wakt fi Rubu' Daira. There is today's astronomical information in the book, Kifayet-ul-Vakt li-Ma'rifet-i Dair written by Abdul 'Aziz Wafai (rahimahullahu ta'ala), who died in 874 (1469).

"Since the books of medicine written by the old Greeks were burned by ignorant Christians during the Middle Ages, their originals are not at hand now. Some pieces of the sheets of those books that survived that barbaric onslaught, and, left here and there, were translated into Arabic by Husain Ibn Johaq of Baghdad. This famous judge translated the works of Plato and Aristotle into the Arabic language, too.

"Muhammad bin Musa Harazmi, one of three brothers educated in Baghdad during the time of the Khalifa Mansur, became a scholar of arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. He calculated the altitude of the sun, measured the length of the equator and made the astrolable and the quadrant to find out the prayer times. His books, the one dealing with Jabr, and the other one, namely, Astrolabe, were translated into English and Latin, respectively. He passed away in 233 (847 A.D.).

"Muslim astronomers proved that the earth was round like a sphere, so they eradicated the Western dogma which was: "The earth is smooth like a tray. If you go very far out to sea, you will fall off the edge." They successfully measured the circumference of the earth. The Abbaside Empire, which taught the Europeans many things and prepared the foundation for the Renaissance, began to disintegrate slowly until finally the Mongolians captured Baghdad in 656 (1258). They burned and destroyed everything; hence, that great civilization established by Muslims disappeared. I wonder what the situation is now! Can a new renaissance [revival] be expected in the Islamic world?

"During the Middle Ages, the Muslims used to mine for gold, collect valuable spices, aromatical woods (aloes-wood, styrax and so on) and export some of them to Europe. (As it was done during the time of the Prophet Hadrat Solomon). Today black gold, that is, petroleum has taken their place. I wonder if they will manage to establish again their empire, which was as large as the ones founded by Alexander (67) the Great or Napoleon! The Arabs are very rich now by means of petroleum. They are trying to get powerful with the help of this treasure in their hands. What they should do to accomplish this was told to us by the chief of the Research Center of Kuwait, as follows: 'First of all, we must progress in the field of science. For this, on the one hand, we must excel in scientific experiments; on the other hand, we need well-educated scientists." This is the end of the article written by Ferrara, a French author.

Islamic scholars say that "Islamic knowledge" consists of two parts. The first part is called "Religious knowledge," and the other aspect is called "Scientific knowledge." It is necessary for a man to learn both of them to be an Islamic scholar. It is necessary for every Muslim to learn "religious knowledge" and to act in conformity with it. This means that learning religious knowledge is "fard-i 'ain," which in turn means it is an obligatory duty for every Muslim, without exception. The people who study science must learn all the information available in their branches. This is "fard kifaya", which means it is an obligatory duty upon certain Muslims in the community only. The nations who fulfill both fards (obligations) will surely progress. They will be civilized. It is declared in the twentieth verse of Chapter Shura in the Qur'an al-karim: "Whoever desires the benefits of this world, We give him of it. Whoever desires the benefits of the hereafter, We will give it to him, also." Nothing can be achieved by empty words. It is necessary to look for the means, that is, to study hard. Allahu ta'ala has promised that those who do their best to gain either the benefits of this world or of the hereafter will be given what they strove for. He declares he will give rewards to everybody who studies as He ordered, no matter whether he is a Muslim or not. That is why the Europeans, the Americans, and even the Communist world have already developed and received worldly benefits. Since they worked like this, the Muslims of the Middle Ages were the guides for civilization. Towards the end of the Abbaside and Ottoman states, Muslims were deprived of studying science and art, and also from learning and teaching them because of exterior and interior enemies. That is why their great states eventually collapsed. Religious knowledge consists of faith, worship, and morals (ethics). If religious knowledge is deficient in any one of the three, it is not deemed to be perfect. Something deficient is not useful; it can be said that you have not obtained it. There was scientific knowledge among the old Greeks, the old Romans, and in the states founded in Asia and Europe, but they were deficient in religious knowledge. That is why the benefits they have obtained through science and technology were used for evil purposes. Some of the art works were used merely for enjoyment and prostitution. Some people used their technical abilities as a means for exercising cruelty and torture over people. Let alone being civilized, they disintegrated, collapsed and disappeared.

Now, in spite of their scientific knowledge, technical success, and heavy industries, which are greatly admired, the people in non-Muslim and socialist Islamic countries are deprived of the basic three aspects of religious knowledge. They commit evil deeds that even savages would not dare do. Such countries which have no Islamic knowledge are doomed to disappear. History is a repetition of events. Saudi Arabia and other countries similar to it should correct their faith and morality after looking at the examples provided by history. They should not strive to attain worldly benefits only. Progress only in the field of science will not make them civilized or save them from disaster, collapse and annihilation.

In regards to science, Turkey seems to be the guide for other Muslim countries. We must be industrious just like our Muslim forefathers. But, if Turkish youngsters become a means for political tricks, divide into groups, become members of deviated societies, or try to slaughter one another, instead of studying on science, reconstruction, medicine and examining all the new inventions, the goodwill we have for them will be a waste, and so will the efforts we made to educate them and our country. Having a pure heart and a good morality is the greatest power for enabling our youngsters to avoid harmful thoughts, deviated ideas and wrong paths. The source of these two virtues is religion. As we said, again and again, it is religion that prevents human beings from doing evil deeds or from deviating from the right way. It causes a man to have love for his country and its leaders. It shows him the best way. The religion we are mentioning here is the true religion, not those deviated dogmas invented by disbelievers and hypocrites who lead youngsters astray in the name of religion. Islam is a constructive religion; it has never been destructive or separatist. Oh! dear youngsters! You should get away from those who encourage you to be separatist and destructive. Such people are the enemies of Islam and our country.

(66) Sultan Salim passed away in 926 (1520 A.D.).

(67) Alexander died in 323 B.C.