Page 134 - The Vision of Islam

Modern Possibilities

In essence, the teachings of Moses and Jesus were similar
to those of the Prophet of Islam. But what we know today as
Christianity has actually been subjected to human interpolation.
It has been reduced to a religion in which the divine teachings
are adulterated with human interpolations. In its present form
Christianity does not offer a true representation of religion. That
is how it came about that science, which had no clash with religion
in Baghdad and Cordova, was declared to be the enemy of religion
in Italy and France. Muslim experts in astronomy had proposed
the theory that, contrary to the Aristotelian hypothesis, there was
the greater possibility of the earth going round the sun. But no
Muslim of that time regarded this theory as being against religion.
On the contrary, when Nicholas Coppernicus (1473-1543) said the
same thing, he was prosecuted by the Inquisition, because such a
supposition was considered an affront to Jesus, the “son” of God,
in that it relegated his birthplace to a position inferior to that of
the other heavenly bodies.
Similarly, when Ibn Muskuwayh (d. 1030) supported the Greek
theory of biological evolution, religion was not deemed to be
threatened; but when Charles Darwin (1809-1882) presented the
same theory, there was a great agitation in the Christian world.
Both the Quran and the Bible stated that God created the world in
“six days.” But this discovery of science, that the birth of the earth
had come about over long periods of time was never seen as being
in conflict with the Quran. This is because it is clearly mentioned
in the Quran that “six days” meant six divine days, not human days.
Contrary to this, the wording of the Bible due to human
interpolation was such as denoted six human days lasting from
morning to evening. This was why those who believed in scientific
discoveries were held to be heretics in the Christian world.
There are innumerable incidents of this kind which prove
that the supposed antagonism between science and religion was
actually between science and Christianity. If the later development
of science, like its initial emergence, had taken place in the Muslim
world, it would have had a very different history today.
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