The pursuit of knowledge occupies a central place in the Islamic ethos. Prophet Muhammad declared that the acquisition of knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim. He said that "wisdom is (like) the lost animal of a believer; wherever he finds it, catches hold of it’. The Prophet exhorted his followers to carry the torch of knowledge and learning far and wide and warned against concealing or with-holding it. Islam opened the portals of knowledge to all and sundry, men and women, rich and poor, king and slave. It declared piety and learning as the sole criteria of nobility and honour. This refreshingly open, dynamic and egalitarian approach to knowledge brought about far-reaching and revolutionary consequences not only for the Muslim community but for human civilization as a whole. Under the banner of Islam, the Arabs and other people, who had been hitherto steeped in ignorance barbarism and superstitions, emerged as torch-bearers of science and civilization. The intellectual revolution ushered in under the aegis of Islamic Civilization played a key role in the making of Western Civilization and the modern world. This book seeks to recount this fascinating saga in its multi-faceted dimensions. It brings out and highlights the seminal and path-breaking contributions of Muslims to the promotion and dissemination of knowledge and learning in the Islamic disciplines, in the natural sciences, in medicine, technology and engineering, in the social sciences and humanities, and in the applied arts.
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