FREEDOM OF ENQUIRY

~ 41 ~ the arts, crafts and sciences. In the West, religion, crafts and industries were not greatly affected. There was more influence on the arts and sciences. Through the Arabs, monotheism, and a civilization born under its influence, spread everywhere. Its impact was felt in major parts of the inhabited world of the time. Thus an atmosphere and an environment were produced in which scientific research, leading to the conquest of nature’s phenomena, could be freely and independently undertaken. FOUR STEPS TO MODERNITY In Islam, man has found true, unadulterated religion, in the sense that it has swept away all the artificial barriers between God and man forever. Islam’s sacred scriptures, the Qur’an and the sunnah (the practice of the Prophet to be followed) rise up like mighty towers to shed their light of guidance upon mankind for all eternity. The Qur’an at various points stresses the fact that the religion sent by God to mankind in the shape of Islam is not only a source of guidance in the