As the Quran puts it: “And He gave you of all that you asked Him.” (14:34) The blessings of God mentioned in this verse are of two kinds. The first kind comprises those blessings that already existed on the earth from the day man set foot there, such as animals, water, air, light, etc. Other kinds of blessings are those which were not yet in existence at the time of the revelation of the Quran, for instance, industrial machinery, railways, motorcars, aeroplanes, telephones, electricity, etc. The second kind of thing was invented mainly by the West, but today they are generally used everywhere. The Quran tells us that God’s signs, scientific proof of God’s religion, are hidden in the heavens and human souls (41:53). In modern times these signs have fully emerged and have established the veracity of God’s religion (for details, see The Bible, Quran and Science, Maurice Mucaille, American Trust Publications, 1978). However, this task was also performed by the West. Muslims regularly avail of all these facilities, but they had no share in bringing them into existence. The Prophet predicted that the message of Islam would spread to all homes, whether large or small, all over the world (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23814). This has become entirely possible in the printing press and modern communications age. However, the people of the West dedicated their lives to realising nature’s hidden potential.
In the Middle Ages, Muslims were ahead in science compared to the rest of the world. In every field -- astronomy, physics, medicine, armaments -- Muslims were ahead. They were ahead in knowledge, which is why they made advances in everything.
Western Europe realized that Muslim Arabs were ahead of them in knowledge, which is why they were facing defeat by Arabs on every front. As a result, they decided to initiate a spiritual crusades. In that age, Western Europe decided to work on spiritual crusades instead of military crusades. I believe today it would be better to call their effort a scientific crusades. After this they began to make developments in science, which resulted in the Renaissance. The West went ahead of Muslims in bringing about a scientific age in this world. Muslims had not brought about mechanization. Earlier horses were used for energy, but today we use horsepower. The West worked hard for several hundred years. They ushered in a new era in history which was based on mechanization of power. They made several inventions: steam power, motor car, airplanes, machines, modern industry and million other such advances. This was a spiritual crusades. This had a huge impact. Present Muslims haven't moved ahead. There are 57 Muslim countries, but all are underdeveloped, because scientific revolution changed the criterion of power. Earlier power meant having many horses and swords. But these don’t constitute power anymore.
The criterion for power is the level of scientific development in your country. If you are ahead in education and organization, then you are powerful. Europeans created a new age. They brought about a new period in history. This was a miracle of avoiding confrontation and bringing one's efforts in the peaceful domain.
