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EPILOGUE<br />
As has been mentioned in <strong>the</strong> introduction, medicine and treatment<br />
are not fields which Isl\m is a stranger to. Isl\m is <strong>the</strong> cause <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
advancement <strong>of</strong> medicine and medical research because <strong>of</strong> it being<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir foundation.<br />
This has not been written to remember a glorious but dead past, but<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r it is to serve two purposes. The first is that Muslims need<br />
awareness about this in case <strong>the</strong>y are made subject to inferiority<br />
complex. And <strong>the</strong> second reason is that <strong>the</strong> Western world should<br />
begin to realise that <strong>the</strong>ir preconceptions <strong>of</strong> Isl\m which have distorted<br />
history need to be redressed.<br />
Below is an excerpt from <strong>the</strong> acclaimed book “The Road to Mecca” by<br />
Muhammad Asad. It shows how actively <strong>the</strong> teachings <strong>of</strong> Isl\m<br />
encouraged (and continue to encourage) Muslim participation in <strong>the</strong><br />
important fields <strong>of</strong> medicine.<br />
“It was obvious to me that <strong>the</strong> decline <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Muslims was<br />
not due to any shortcomings in Islam but ra<strong>the</strong>r to <strong>the</strong>ir own<br />
failure to live up to it.<br />
“For, indeed, it was Islam that had carried <strong>the</strong> early<br />
Muslims to tremendous cultural heights by directing all <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
energies toward conscious thought as <strong>the</strong> only means to<br />
understanding <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> God’s creation and, thus, <strong>of</strong> His<br />
will. No demand had been made <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m to believe in dogmas<br />
difficult or even impossible <strong>of</strong> intellectual comprehension; in<br />
fact, no dogma whatsoever was to be found in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Prophet</strong>’s<br />
message: and, thus, <strong>the</strong> thirst after knowledge which<br />
distinguished early Muslim history had not been forced, as<br />
elsewhere in <strong>the</strong> world, to assert itself in a painful struggle<br />
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