SECULAR KNOWLEDGE AT ITS ISLAMIC BEST

explained that they were fertilizing the trees. Traditionally, they did this through artificial pollination of the date flowers to ensure a good crop. But when the Prophet said, “What if you don’t do it?” In deference to his question they climbed down the trees without completing their task. That year the yield was very low. When the Prophet inquired about the low yield that particular year, the orchard keepers replied that the yield depended on the pollination, which they had been carrying out when he had stopped them. On hearing this, the Prophet replied: “Continue doing as you used to, since you know the matters of the world better than I do.” This incident illustrates how the Prophet separated religious knowledge from practical matters. This principle is applicable to all matters governed by the laws of nature. The clear inference is that what is demonstrable in nature, yielding itself to research and experiment, will be accepted by Islam as established, empirical knowledge. The same principle may be applied to all other scientific disciplines—geology, astronomy, engineering and so on. Islam is quite clear that these are the subject matter not of religion but of scientific research. This Islamic policy of the division of religion and science is extremely important, as it opened the door to scientific progress for the first time in human history. Prior to the advent of Islam, this policy of division had never been followed, so that science remained the mere handmaiden of religion. Attempts at true scientific research were generally hampered or stopped altogether by the forces of dogmatism and superstition. Independent progress was an impossibility. The division recognized by Islam was epoch-making precisely because it freed secular science from the grip of religion. This facilitated conducting of research and experiment without any fear of interference. This process of liberation continued for a thousand years, until the modern era, now known as the scientific age. o Revealed knowledge is the only source from which to learn how to make spiritual progress, while material progress is based on a knowledge of nature.