"Read: in the name of your Lord Who created, created man from a clot of blood.
Read: your Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who has taught by the use of the pen, has taught man that which he knew not." (Qur'an 96:1-5)
Islam, by making self-improvement of the individual and the betterment of society part of religious duty, inspired individuals in a multitude of ways, above all in the search for knowledge. Throughout the Muslim World, the search for knowledge and science was undertaken in an effort to improve society as a form of worship. The development of medicine, the construction and provision of hospitals, the building of hundreds of l