Another reason for not considering “desirable” knowledge to...

Another reason for not considering “desirable” knowledge to be limited to the religious and theological studies is the precious heritage left by the Muslim scholars of the first several centuries of Islamic civili­zation and that has come down to our own time. As is also confirmed by modern historians, Muslim scholars were at the vanguard of the scientific tradition for centuries and their books were used as text‑books in Europe for several hundred years.

In fact the major reason why Muslim scholars rejected the intellec­tual traditions of other countries was that they did not see any separa­tion between the goal of religion and the ends of knowledge and were convinced that both religion and knowledge were aimed at illuminating the unity of nature and as a result the oneness of the Creator.

Accord­ingly, it was on the basis of this conviction of intrinsic fusion of religion and knowledge that religious coaching and rational training were consi­dered as aspects of a single discipline in religious schools and mosques. To set aside a group of sciences on the pretext that they do not have as much value as the religious studies is not correct.

(9:122) So we have discovered that the word 'Urn as it occurs in the Book and sunnah appears in its more general sense than what may apply exclusively to the religious studies. Nevertheless, it may be said that Islam has only dissuaded Muslims from preoccupying themselves with. any pursuit of such branches of knowledge whose harm is greater than their benefit (like magic and sorcery and games of chance used for gambling).