ISLAM—CREATOR OF THE MODERN AGE

ISLAM—CREATOR OF THE MODERN AGE Beginning of Modern Science T HE American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, was the first man to set foot on the moon after a four-day space voyage on July 21, 1969. Setting foot on the moon, he uttered these words which are now a part of history: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong, along with his colleagues, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, undertook this journey on a special spacecraft, the Apollo 11. In the final stage they boarded a lunar vehicle named Eagle to land on the surface of the moon. The Apollo spacecraft was not as fanciful as some of us might imagine a magic flying chariot. It was a scientifically designed machine made in accordance with our observation of the unchanging laws of nature. The ability to traverse such immense distances in space on such spacecraft is entirely due to man’s correct application of his empirical knowledge. These laws, the application of which has enabled man to reach the moon, have existed throughout the universe since time immemorial, yet it took man centuries to discover them. Why did it take so many thousands of years in the course of man’s development to launch himself into space? The answer is the prevalence of polytheism, a creed which looked upon things and creatures as deities, and encouraged their worship. In ancient times polytheism dominated the world. Man considered the moon a deity, just as he held all kinds of other inanimate objects to be gods. The moon, with its brilliant silvery light, inspired man to bow before it rather than try to conquer it. Holding the moon to be sacred was a major obstacle to even thinking of conquering it. Then, for the first time, in the seventh century, the supremacy of nature worship was brought to an end by the Islamic revolution. Nature worship was replaced by monotheism making it the dominant creed of the times. This revolution, initially brought about in Arabia, soon spread through Asia, Africa and Europe. In more recent times, it has crossed the Atlantic to gain a foothold in America. Monotheism opened the doors of research and investigation by displacing nature from its sacred pedestal.