In April 1984 India’s first cosmonaut, Rakesh Sharma, journeyed into space along with two Russians. A few days later, according to the Times of India (April 20, 1984), the flight came in for discussion, among an Indian family, with every member of the family expressing his or her opinion on the subject.

“Dad,” the narrator’s youngest daughter asked. “Can I become the first spacewoman?”

“Yes dear,” replied her grandmother. “You will be the first Indian spacewoman. I will consult Pandit Girdhar Vyas and see what is in store in your kundali (horoscope).”

“GRANNY,” the girl’s brothers Arun, interjected. “You should consult the Russian leaders, not astrologers.”

From this story we can gauge the difference between ancient and modern times. What the grandmother said represented ancient thinking, whereas the boy’s reply was representative of modern tone of thought.          

In ancient times knowledge was a set of analogies compiled by the likes of astrologers and soothsayers. In modern times, however, only realities discovered through observation and experiment can be said to constitute knowledge. Ancient man thought that events sprung from mysterious causes; but modern man knows that there is a definite cause for whatever happens in the world. An educated youth of today realizes that it is scientists who know about space-travel, not fortune tellers, and it is to scientists that he will turn for knowledge of that subject.

Man’s mode of thought, then, has been completely transformed in modern times. In presenting Islam before modern Man, it is essential that one pays full regard to this transformation. Islam is an entirely scientific religion, but those who preach Islam also have to be scientific in their outlook and mode of presentation. If, like Arun’s grandmother, they can only put Islam forward in unscientific terms, then there is a danger of the blame that they themselves should shoulder, being laid at the door of Islam itself.