Arberry...

Arberry, Professor of Arabic at Oxford University, said when modern science discovered the role of the wind in plant fertilization, “Camel herdsmen knew that the wind plays a role in the pollination of trees and fruits centuries before European science discovered this fact.”[^2] Fourthly, this message has encompassed aspects of life. On this basis it-has been able to balance these various aspects.

It was able to unify their principles and combine in one perspective the mosque and the university; the factory and, the field, so that man is no longer obliged to live in a dichotomy between his spiritual and material life. Fifthly, this message is the only heavenly message which was implemented by the messenger, who brought it, and in the process of this implementation, achieved dazzling success. It was able to turn the slogans it proclaimed into realities in the daily lives of human beings.

As the message entered into the stage of implementation, it entered into human history and shaped it; this is the sixth characteristic. The message, furthermore, was the cornerstone in the process of constituting the community which bore it and followed the light of its guidance.

Because this message is of a divine origin; constituting the gift of heaven to earth, above the logic of concrete factors and influences, the history of its community was consequently linked to an unknown (ghaybi) factor. It has an unseen basis which is not subject to the materialistic considerations of history. It is therefore a mistake for us to understand our history only in the context of concrete factors and influences.

Nor should we consider it as the result of materialistic circumstances, or simply a development in the capacities of production. Such a view of history does not apply to a community whose very being is based on heavenly message. Hence, unless we include this message as a divine reality in our assessment, we cannot understand our history correctly. The seventh point we wish to make is that the effect of this message was not limited to the task of building a community.

It rather went beyond it to become an effective power in the world throughout history. Fair minded European scholars have admitted that the Islamic cultural push was the power which awakened Europe from its slumber and guided it to its new course.