PREFACE

Preface ~ 10 ~ histories, one being shaped by the course of events, the other shaping history itself. The aim of this book is to place a major historical event in its correct perspective, i.e. to attribute the crucial Arabo-Muslim contribution to modern science to Islam itself rather than give all the credit for it to a Muslim nation, which was formerly the practice. This is thus the explanation of a known event rather than the presentation of facts, which were hitherto unknown. This point can be illustrated by the manner in which India won its freedom in 1947. India’s ability to liberate itself may be attributed to Gandhi and Nehru, but if we go into the matter in greater depth, we find it more proper to say that it was modern national and democratic ideas that helped India to win its freedom. This advent of a universal intellectual revolution, based on the principles of democracy and national freedom in modern times, actually paved the way for the rise of a Gandhi, or a Nehru, who was then in a position to launch a successful freedom movement. Had such a revolution in thinking not already taken place, the