AFFIRMATION OF PROPHETHOOD

Affirmation of Prophethood ~ 250 ~ existence being so highly organised. Birds do not, like man, carry out research and pass on information. If man were to be denied access to the historical information which has been accumulating over the centuries or to the institutions which made the exchange of ideas a fruitful reality, he would be unable to accomplish anything. For instance, it is doubtful if Columbus would have sailed west in 1492 in the hope of finding India, if he had not been influenced by the ideas about the roundness of the world which were propagated by Latin translations of the works of Al-Idrisi (1100-1165), an Arab geographer and scientist who wrote one of the greatest mediaeval works on geography. The latter, in his day, had derived this idea from the Hindi concept of Arin. Columbus’ experiences in turn increased the knowledge of his successors, and so the chain of learning was added to the science of geography till it reached its present state of progress. If a captain with confidence sails his ship from one shore to another of a vast ocean, or a pilot makes a perfect flight across several continents, it is thanks to the accretion of centuries of experience.