Reason for the Spread of Education

Reason for the Spread of Education subjects of study and research, whereas earlier, they had been treated with solemn reverence. Several scholars have acknowledged this reality. For instance, the British historian Arnold Toynbee (d. 1975) posed the question as to why, when physical science was nothing but the discovery of nature— nature which had always existed in the world—and of which man had been aware from the beginning, there should have been this significantly delayed discovery of nature in modern times? In attempting to answer this question, Arnold Toynbee wrote that, in ancient times, man, having come to regard nature as sacred, had accorded it the status of divinity. That was why man could never think of investigating or conquering nature. According to Arnold Toynbee, in later periods of human history, when monotheism gained ideological ascendancy, putting an end to the ideology of shirk, man began to think very differently about nature. This later became the cause of the scientific revolution. (For details, see Islam: Creator of the Modern Age by the author)