Friday sermon: Islam aims to make people live happier

Knowledge is the foundation of a progressive civilisation, according to this week's Friday sermon.

Knowledge is the foundation of a progressive civilisation, this week’s sermon reminds worshippers.

“The Islamic civilisation has fed humanity with many sciences and innovations because Islam is innately a religion of enlightenment that urges believers to pursue the path of knowledge,” says the sermon.

Islam makes it obligatory for all Muslims to seek sacred knowledge, it says, adding that it “also aims at making people live happier”.

Sciences such as astronomy, medicine, biology and geology are mentioned in the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed’s Hadiths.

“In astronomy, for example, the Quran explains the process of day and night alternation, a rule that has helped astronomers and other scientists to monitor the movements of planets and stars.”

The verse says: “And the sun runs [on course] towards its stopping point. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing. And the moon – We have determined for it phases, until it returns [appearing] like the old date stalk. It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming.”

The Quran also documented the process of foetus formation.

“And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators,” says the Quran.