The Muslim Rebuttal and the Islamization of Knowledge

[Caleb]

By S. Michael Craven
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Wed, Feb. 06 2008 10:31 AM ET

Last week I briefly summarized the differences between the Christian and Islamic worldview and their corresponding effects in society and culture. Suffice it to say that the Muslim response to my commentary was less than “agreeable.”

One website, DawaNet.com reminds Muslims that “Schools are fertile grounds where the seeds of Islam can be sowed inside the hearts of non-Muslim students.”

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080206/31092_The_Muslim_Rebuttal_and_the_Islamization_of_Knowledge.htm

Very good article that's worth the read!

[Literalist-Luke]

Good article, thanks.

[Cloud Watcher]

“Schools are fertile grounds where the seeds of Islam can be sowed inside the hearts of non-Muslim students

Sowing tares among the wheat.

[kenneth]

Islam encourages literacy, frugality and the acquisition of knowledge from any source. Nonsense.

Christianity and Islam: Two Worldviews and Why They Matter

Recently, the Arab League reported that “nearly one-third of Arabs are illiterate, including half of Arab women.” The report also points out that “it’s not just the older generation: Three quarters of the 100 million illiterate people in 21 Arab countries are between the ages of 15 and 45.”

Where Christianity spreads, literacy inevitably follows. A Ugandan university study published in 2007 reveals that while “Arab Muslims were the first to introduce written information (texts) in Uganda, they did not make any effort to teach reading and writing… Literacy in the Roman alphabet was introduced into Uganda by Christian missionaries in the late 19th century.” The report goes on to add that within contemporary Ugandan culture, “Christianity provides the impetus for local literacy practices…”


By contrast, 99 percent of Americans 15 years and older are literate, according to the latest government figures. Western nations have for centuries had the most literate populations and literacy rates in the US have been among the highest in the world going back as far as the 1600s when it was estimated that “the literacy rate for men in Massachusetts and Connecticut was somewhere between 89 and 95 percent…” And for “women in those colonies it is estimated to have run as high as 62 percent in the years 1681 – 1697.” (Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, 1985)

Another study by the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the status of scientific research in its 57 member states reveals a similar shortcoming in the area of scientific accomplishment.
Of the more than 11.5 million scientific papers published worldwide each year; Muslim countries contribute just 2.5 percent. There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims living across the Islamic world — about a quarter of the world's population — and yet they have generated barely more than one percent of the world’s scientific literature and produced only two scientific Nobel Prize winners.

The Islamic approach to healthcare is still largely based on the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. These sayings, in which Muhammad gave his opinions on medical practices, formed the basis for a distinctive and inadequate medical system from the ninth century onward.

There are simply no scientific innovations emerging out of the Islamic world: no space program, no hi-tech developments, no medical breakthroughs—nothing! Islam cannot provide an adequate basis for science because Islam does not embrace the notion that the universe runs along fundamental principles or laws laid down at creation. Allah—unlike the God of Scripture who is both personal and rational—is impersonal and his intrusion upon the world is arbitrary.

In Christianity, God acts upon nature and the world in ways consistent with His special (Scripture) and natural (creation) revelation. In other words, the God of Scripture is a God of order who created according to laws that are universal and thus men could discern these laws and by theorizing based on these fixed laws, gain a greater understanding of creation. This served as the basis of Western science and its preeminence.

Economically, the Islamic world fares no better. In fact, the Gross Domestic product (GDP) of all Arab countries combined stood at just $1.2 trillion in 2005 – less than that of Spain. This pales in comparison to the U.S. GDP of more than $13 trillion! Unemployment among Arab nations, which hovers around 15 percent, is the highest in the world. The source of what little wealth the Arab world does generate is primarily due to oil, which without Western intervention would have remained an unrealized natural resource.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080130/31024_Christianity_and_Islam%3A_Two_Worldviews_and_Why_They_Matter.htm

[JerRockson]

Last night, my Youth Group were listening to a Podcast of Focus on the Family with James Dobson and Michael Youseff. It was about how the threat of Islam is trying to take over the world. They also added that this nation needs a wake up call(a.k.a. revival). Do you think it will happen? :confused

[zhan]

The only 'wake up call' going on here currently seems to be the emergents with their 'can't we all just get along' and 'Muslims aren't the enemy, they are their own valid way to God' messages. :(:

[JerRockson]

Well, here's the broadcast of what James D. and Michael Youseff had to offer, so for those who need a better clarification of what I said can hear for themselves.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=2/4/2008