Why Did They Become Muslims

until recent years. Some politicians were carried away by that
vicious fad with such blind zealotry as to stigmatize some true
Muslims whose only fault was to show little interest in politics, or
rather, not to support their party. May infinite thanks be to Allâhu
ta’âlâ that He eventually created the saviors to stop those people
from leading our pure and noble people to disasters. Otherwise,
we would have been deprived of our blessed religion and beautiful
country, and fallen into the paws of communists. Al-hamd-u-lillâh
’alâ hâzih-in-ni’mah!
Today, [in 1985 C.E.], there are nineteen universities in
Turkey. Young Muslim Turks are trying to learn modern worldly
knowledge and positive sciences and thereby to guide other
Muslim countries. As of 1981-82, the number of the students
coming to Turkish universities from Muslim countries was several
thousand. The following is an excerpt translated from an article
published by a reasonable European concerning the scientific
research carried on in Muslim countries. The article, written by a
French writer named Jean Ferrera, appeared in the number 724
issue, dated January 1978, of a periodical entitled Science et Vie.
The headline of the article was Les Universites du Petrole =
(Petroleum Universities). Some of Ferrera’s observations are as
follows:
“Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ passed away in the
arms of his beloved wife Âisha in Medina in 632. In the course of
the following years the Muslims, moving from their homeland
which is called Saudi Arabia today, established a colossal Islamic
Empire astride a vast area extending from the Atlantic Ocean to
the river of Amur. Extremely strong, patient and brave people as
the Muslims were, they demonstrated great compassion in the
aftermath of their victories. At each place they passed by, they
established a civilization whose immense size most of us still do
not know. The Islamic universities, established on a vast area
extending between Baghdâd and Cordova, resuscitated the
ancient civilizations which the European ignorance was about to
eradicate. While translating into Arabic the works of Ptolemy,
Euclid and Archimedes, the Muslims also rendered into their
language the works written by Indian scientists, studied them, and
republished them worldover. A group of envoys sent by the
Caliph Hârûn-ur-reshîd to visit Aix la-Chapellede Charlemagne
for the first time in the eighth century were appalled to find the
people in the palace mostly ignorant and illiterate. Europeans’
– 300 –