Among we Christians...

Among we Christians, the most knowledgeable one was the ignorant priest, who was extending his utmost effort just to take out the old Greek and Roman religious books, clean them and write some ambiguous comments on their pages." In order to clarify the moral level of the Christians' civilization and also to prove what has been said, I refer to an interesting event from the Middle Ages[^1]. In Italy, a man called Istan Mura voiced his doubt that Jesus was alive.

The Committee for Investigation of Ideas detained him and reported his infidelity to the Pope. The Pope, after due consideration declared the man to be '' legally dead". Mr. Mura was then called before the Committee for the Investigation of Ideas and his forehead was branded by a red-hot iron so that everyone would see his "dead" status. Afterwards, the miserable man was not allowed to speak to anyone.

His wealth was confiscated, his wife was married to another man and his children were also taken away from him. The night that his wife was married again, after much difficulty he met them and said:" You are my wife: how can you marry someone else?" The woman did not reply, and the crowd of people nearby laughed.

The condemned man ran through the streets, crying: "Just because I expressed my opinion on a matter, the followers of Jesus have taken away my wealth and have taken my wife away!" Before we discuss further the ways that Muslims have contributed to the spread of the sciences, it is necessary to outline the factors which caused this scientific revolution.

Campaign Against Illiteracy The first and foremost factor in the spread of Islam was writing and reading, because verses of the Qur'an were not written down at first, and those with the ability to recite the verses taught the Qur'an to others. The Prophet of Islam (S.A.W) encouraged people to seek education. After the Battle of Badr, each prisoner of war was told to each the art of reading and writing to ten children from Medina, in order to gain freedom.

This is a clear example of the line of thought of the founder of Islam. The Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.) even compelled some of his followers to learn foreign languages. One example is Zayd-ibn-Thabit, who was sent on a mission to learn Hebrew, as he himself stated: "I was taken to the Prophet of Islam (S.A.W), and when he was informed that I knew seventeen verses of the Qur'an by heart, the Prophet was surprised.