The caption is as harsh as the truth bitter. Here is a brief glance on historical facts that reveal the bitter truth and support the harsh caption.
As any educated Muslim should know, the first four centuries of Islam saw an effervescence of intellectual activity. This was marked by rationalism, universalism, and a spirit of enterprise that knew no geographical or religious boundary. The orthodox theologians had remained suspect of the rationalist school who advocated use of reason, universalism and material progress of civilization based on the liberating and dynamic paradigms of the Qur’an.
Following a protracted doctrinal battle with the rationalist school, the orthodoxy emerged the sole custodians of faith. This was around the fifth century of Islam (11th/12th century CE). They abolished rationalism and critical thinking (Ijtihad) and use of reason (‘aql), canonized the Hadith as a form of divine revelation (wahi), reduced the juristic notion of taqlid (Precedence) to blind conformity with whatever had already been learnt during the Prophet’s time and in the first three generations of Muslims (salaf), and declared the consensus of the ‘Ulama (ijma) infallible. This brought intellectual activity in Islam to a virtual halt, and, with time, resulted in stagnancy of knowledge, abhorrence against any scientific advancement, and division of universal knowledge into Islamic and European categories. -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com |