Islam and Human Rights — Page 191
Prevalent Attitudes Towards Human Rights Among Muslims 191 a large measure of the sanctity with which Islam had sought to invest it. Articles 18-19 Muslim society has striven throughout to uphold the values inculcated by Islam in respect of the promotion and fostering of knowledge learning and science. Indeed, it early set up a brilliant record in that respect. The Prophet said: “Allah will make the path of paradise easy for him who follows a track in the pursuit of knowledge; angels spread their wings for the seeker after knowledge; the dwellers of the heaven and earth pray for a scholar; a man of learning sheds more light than a worshipper even as the moon outshines other planets; the divines are the heirs of the Prophets and he who inherits their knowledge finds himself rich in all that is good’’. 79 Among Muslims, knowledge has, fortunately, never been persecuted. The same cannot be said of belief and doctrines. It is reassuring that the emphatic injunctions of the Quran on freedom of conscience were respected and obeyed so 79 Tirmidhi II, Sect. :Knowledge, Ch. :Excellence of seeking knowledge.