IN FOCUS
Spirit of Islam, March-April 2026, p. 12
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
might arrive at conclusions contrary to Roman religious beliefs, killed him on the spot without trial. Such incidents illustrate how independent thinking—so essential for intellectual and scientific progress—was systematically repressed. In an atmosphere devoid of freedom, the sciences could not flourish. Even when remarkable discoveries were made, they often failed to gain recognition due to religious rigidity. The concept of zero, for instance, was developed in India as early as the fifth century AD. This numeral system, which revolutionized mathematics by allowing numbers such as 10, 100, and 1000, remained confined until it reached the Abbasid world in the eighth century AD. Through translation, refinement, and further development, Muslim scholars transmitted this knowledge to Europe, paving the way for the modern scientific age. For the first time in human history, the Prophet Muhammad articulated a principle that liberated scientific inquiry from theological constraint. His declaration—“You have better knowledge of your worldly affairs”—laid the foundation for intellectual freedom. Islam thus recognized two distinct domains: the domain of revelation and the domain of human investigation. Messengers of God are sent to guide humanity concerning realities beyond sensory perception—realities of the unseen world and the life to come. They inform us about the Hereafter, accountability, and moral purpose, matters that cannot be accessed through experimentation or observation. The Quran repeatedly emphasises this unseen dimension (al-ghayb) as the proper subject of divine guidance (2:3). At the same time, it encourages reflection, observation, and the use of reason in worldly matters: “Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know” (16:43), and “He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth.” (45:13) Fields that can be explored through observation, experimentation, and research have been deliberately left to human beings. This is

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