Muslim Rule Took Education to the Masses

Before Islam, the sphere of education was very limited. The most far-reaching initiative of Muslim rule was that it took education to the mass level for the first time.

The Prophet and his Companions migrated from Makkah to Madinah in 622 AD. After Islam was introduced to the Madinan people, such conditions prevailed as were conducive to establishing a city-state in Madinah. By 632 AD, at the time of the Prophet’s death, the whole of Arabia had already come under the rule of the political centre of Madinah. Subsequently, the Muslims’ political power expanded rapidly until it extended over the greater part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. This Muslim rule continued intermittently for over a thousand years, sometimes gaining, and sometimes losing in ascendancy.

The spread of this Muslim political power amounted to its vastness to an empire. In principle, it was based on the ideology of Islam. During this long period of Muslim rule, humanity reaped many benefits. For instance, the coming of the age of human equality, the ending of the age of superstition, the establishment of justice, the dissemination of education among all classes, etc. Although—as is under the general law of nature—Muslim rule was not entirely free of shortcomings; it introduced a new age of development into human history.

The most far-reaching initiative of Muslim rule was that it took education to a mass level for the first time in human history. Before Islam, education was very limited, and people were generally illiterate. The study of books meant only reading religious texts (often without understanding them) for the blessing this would confer or the perusal of royal biographies.