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Arthur
CLARKE on Islam
(Extract
from an article in Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number
2)
The well known scientific
writer
and deep humanist thinker.
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| Question:
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Do
you see any value at all in the various religions?
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| A.Clarke:
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Though
I sometimes call myself a crypto-Buddhist, Buddhism is not a religion.
Of those around at the moment, Islam is the only one that has any
appeal to me. But, of course, Islam has been tainted by other influences.
The Muslims are behaving like Christians, I'm afraid. |
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| Question: |
What
appeals to you in Islam?
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| A.Clarke:
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Historically,
Islam had a great deal of tolerance for other views and offered
the world its priceless wisdom in the form of astronomy and algebra.
And, as you know, Islam helped rescue Western civilization from
the Dark Ages by preserving classical texts and transmitting them
to the West. We, on the other hand, burned the library at Alexandria.
If Islam hadn't fallen into internecine warfare and had gone on
to conquer the rest of Europe, we'd have avoided a thousand years
of Christian barbarism. |
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