That Islam was admittedly the torch–bearer of light and learning
in the West when Europe was enshrouded in ignorance and
darkness, and that the Muslims were undoubtedly among the very
few factors creating the conditions leading to the present culture
and advancement, are in themselves convincing reasons to justify
an appeal to the Westerner’s sense of duty, reason and justice in
judging Islam and Muslims.
An honest student of the tenets of Islam and the labours of Muslims for the regeneration and edification of mankind,
especially of Europe, cannot fail to find much for which Islam
should be thanked. Quoted Major Arthur Glyn Leonard in this
relation: “Never to this day has Europe acknowledged in an honest and wholehearted manner the great and everlasting debt she owes to Islamic culture and civilisation. Only in a lukewarm and
perfunctory way has she recognised that when, during the dark
ages, her people were sunk in feudalism and ignorance, Muslim
civilisation under the Arabs reached a high standard of social and
scientific splendour that kept the flickering embers of European
society from utter decadence.
