Islam and Knowledge
From the Magazine 'Islam: A Global Civilization'

'He has taught you that which you knew not.'
(Qur'an 2:239)

Islam is a religion based upon knowledge for it is ultimately knowledge of the Oneness of God combined with faith and total commitment to Him that saves man. The text of the Qur'an is replete with verses inviting man to use his intellect, to ponder, to think and to know, for the goal of human life is to discover the Truth which is none other than worshipping God in His Oneness. The Hadith literature is also full of references to the importance of knowledge. Such sayings of the Prophet as 'Seek knowledge even in China', 'Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave', and 'Verily the men of knowledge are the inheritors of the prophets', have echoed throughout the history of Islam and incited Muslims to seek knowledge wherever it might be found. During most of its history, Islamic civilization has been witness to a veritable celebration of knowledge. That is why every traditional Islamic city possessed public and private libraries and some cities like Cordoba and Baghdad boasted of libraries with over 400,000 books. Such cities also had bookstores, some of which sold a large number of titles. That is also why the scholar has always been held in the highest esteem in Islamic society.

The Integration of the Pre-Islamic Sciences
As Islam spread northward into Syria, Egypt, and the Persian Empire, it came face to face with the sciences of antiquity whose heritage had been preserved in centres which now became a part of the Islamic world. Alexandria in Egypt had been a major centre of sciences and learning for centuries. The Greek learning cultivated in Alexandria was opposed by the Byzantines who had burned its library long before the advent of Islam. The tradition of Alexandrian learning did not die, however. It was transferred to Antioch in Syria and from there farther east to such cities as Edessa by eastern Christians who stood in sharp opposition to Byzantines and wished to have their own independent centres of learning. Moreover, the Persian king, Shapur I had established Jundishapur in Persia as a second great centre of learning matching Antioch. He even invited physicians from India and mathematicians to teach in this major seat of learning, in addition to the Christian scholars who taught in Syriac as well as the Persians whose medium of instruction was Pahlavi.

Once Muslims established the new Islamic order, they turned their attention to these centres of learning which had been  preserved,  and  sought  to acquaint

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