(45:13) He who created the pairs, all of them, and appointed...

(45:13) He who created the pairs, all of them, and appointed for you ships and cattle such as you ride, that you be seated on their backs and then remember your Lord's blessing when you are seated on them, and say, `Glory be to Him, who has subjected this to us, and we ourselves were not equal to it.' (43:12-13) According to the Quran, the study of the book of nature reveals to man its secrets and manifests its underlying coherence, consistency and order.

It allows men to use the agency of knowledge to uncover the riches and resources hidden in nature and to achieve material welfare through his scientific discoveries. God has appointed man His vicegerent or deputy upon the earth and provided him with unlimited opportuni­ties.

It is for him to recognize his own possibilities and benefit from his opportunities and acquire the power and wisdom befitting his role as a `deputy' of God and a `sign' of His wisdom and omnipotence: It is He who has appointed you viceroys in the earth, and has raised some of you in ranks above others, that He may try you in what He has given you. Indeed your Lord is quite in retribution, and He is Forgiving and. Merciful.

(6:165) In fact, this station of being God's viceroy or deputy upon the earth has been bestowed upon man as a result of his capacity for acqui­sition of knowledge as borne out by this verse: He taught Adam all the names then presented them to the angels; then He said: `Tell me the names of those if you are right.' (2:31) Unfortunately Muslims have since long tended to overlook such verses of the Quran as quoted above, while this matter was appreciated by non?Muslims who afterwards monopolized the scientific tradition.

Heretofore we have tried to establish that the injunction to acquire knowledge as found in the Quran and prophetic traditions is not restricted to the knowledge of the teachings of the Shari `ah, but equally applies to all fields of knowledge that are beneficial for man­kind.

We have tried to make the point that every science that serves as a preliminary to the performance of a religious obligation or serves the necessary requirements of an Islamic society, or helps in our under­standing of the creation and the knowledge of God, or allows us to benefit from Divine blessings that are provided to man, should necessarily be regarded as useful knowledge by Muslims.