Could Not Answer

wherever they came upon, like birds in the sky; so the European
continent was thoroughly in darkness, ignorance, savagery, and
bigotry. They were totally unaware of such things as hospitals,
schools and charitable institutions. Qur’ân al-kerîm, by
comparison, puts due emphasis on worldly affairs, orders
knowledge, art, trade and agriculture, and warns against dangers.
The ninth âyat of Zumer sûra purports: “Can the cognizant and
the incognizant ever be the same? Certainly the cognizant is more
valuable.” The twenty-ninth âyat of Nisâ sûra purports: “O thou
who have îmân; do not take each other’s property illegally. That
is, do not take away things from each other by such means as
usury, gambling, theft and usurpation, which are prohibited by
Islam. This exchange of things must be done only by both sides’
consent, i.e. trade.” The meaning of the two hundred and seventyfifth
âyat of Baqara sûra is: “Allâhu ta’âlâ has made buying and
selling halâl and interest harâm.” The thirty-sixth âyat of Nisâ
sûra purports: “Worship Allâhu ta’âlâ. Do not attribute any
partner to Him. Do favours to your parents [by words and
actions], to your relations [by visiting them], to orphans [by
pleasing them somehow], to the poor [by alms], to your relations
who are your neighbors at the same time [by mercy and
compassion], to your next-door neighbors [by goodness and by
protecting them against harm], to your friends and acquaintances
[by observing their rights and being friendly], to your visitors or
guests [by offering them food and drink], to your slaves and
servants [by buying them new clothes and being kind to them].”
Through many such âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs, Allâhu
ta’âlâ and Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, command
knowledge, art, and trade. In addition, they command to do
kindness to parents, to relations, to orphans, to the weak, to the
destitute, to neighbors, to travellers, and to servants, to observe
their rights, and not to disobey laws. While the grandfathers of
today’s Europeans were unaware of all these media of civilization,
there were well-arranged schools, madrasas, charitable homes for
the poor and the destitute, cook-houses, inns, public baths and
many other charitable institutions all over Islamic countries. In
addition, Muslims had established private aid organizations, pious
foundations (waqf) for the maintenance and financing of these
charitable institutions. [There were even pious foundations for
the indemnity of losses caused by slaves and servants and for the
purging of things that would cause disease.] Art was very popular
all over Islamic countries. Europeans did not know what an alarm
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