The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 217
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI not been created in vain. The Holy Quran also invites its readers repeatedly to study the ruins and history of many a strong nation, who were destroyed because of their sins and their rejection of God's messengers. . Muslims led the world in knowledge and sciences at a time when Europe was steeped in its dark ages. European scholars studied at the great Islamic universities in Spain and learned from other great men of science in Islamic countries. Knowledge is the common heritage of mankind. Each civilization learns from the one preceding it and then builds upon it. After the 13th or 14th century, Islamic civilization went into gradual decline. Its causes were complex but apparently the Islamic world neglected pursuit of scientific studies while Europe started to take the lead in sciences and technology. . Among many causes of decline of scientific knowledge in the Islamic. world, was intellectual isolation and habit of rigid following of the tradition in later centuries. Among external causes could be the. Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century. When the Islamic world became affluent, Muslims neglected the teachings of the Holy Quran and the result was that they suffered a loss not only in their moral and. Islamic values, but they also suffered a loss in their material prosperity and political power. . But inspite of this decline, as late as the 16th century, three great Islamic empires flourished, namely the Ottoman empire,. Mughal empire in India and Safides in Iran. Decline of the Islamic world was the greatest near the end of the 19th century. It was then that Hadhrat Ahmad was raised as the Promised Messiah for reformation of both Muslims and non Muslims. The Ahmadiyya. Movement was founded by the Promised Messiah in 1889. This was the time when modern Western civilization had reached its zenith. A century ago at the time of the Promised Messiah, some Muslim leaders advocated that Muslims should follow the Western sciences and learning and thus regain their greatness and should become less religious and pay less attention to Salat (daily prayers) and fasting etc. . Thus they advocated Westernization. Hadhrat Ahmad the Promised. Messiah disagreed with the above view. He was not against learning 217