LEARNING AND ISLAM

~ 63 ~ Jabir’s books were held as the final authority on chemistry in Europe uptill the fifteenth century. The initial ladder to the modern western chemistry of the eighteenth century was produced by Jabir. It is believed that Jabir wrote two thousand books on different sciences. So many scholarly books had never been written before the Muslim epoch by any single writer. These are only some scattered and incomplete references. They are, however, enough to show that Islam, far from being hostile to learning, is keenly supportive of it. In ancient times, the anti-learning tradition was laid down by those religions, which were based on polytheism and superstition. Islam ended polytheism and superstition and established religion on the basis of pure monotheism. There is, therefore, no question of Islam becoming the enemy of knowledge and research. The progress of learning is anathema to polytheism. Polytheistic religions, therefore, attempt to block its path. Monotheism, on the contrary, takes a very different stand, for the progress of learning verifies monotheism, thus establishing it all the more