Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to explore the relationship between science and Islam. There had been some allegations against Quran that some of its verses have conflict with the modern science. : In section three, I will take up the question of the relevance and use of history (of science) in dealing with the question of science and religion in Islam.  The relationship between science and religion in the Muslim world cannot be understood outside of its historical and cultural context, and therefore reference to history is essential in dealing with the issue. He considers the people of the time to be illiterate and totally out of knowledge. So scientists’ at least accept the faith in authority or creator. Prof Mohd Hazim Shah began his career as a tutor in History and Philosohy of Science, under the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Science, University of Malaya in 1977. He is currently the Deputy President of the Malaysian Social Science Association. اَّنَّ … London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. London: Mansell. Scientism's frontal attack on Islam came from Ernest Renan at a lecture at the Sorbonne in 1883. It is way that every scientist cannot prove that they are right. Islam and the Relation of Science and the Qur'an Mohd Yakub Zulkifli Bin Mohd Yusoff1 and 2+ 1, 2+Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya Abstract. The relationship between science and Islam has been somewhat different, although no less bumpy for the persistent underlying conflict between natural order and theistic purpose. These, in brief, are some ways that may help us to solve the apparent contradiction between science or reality on the one hand, and the hadith on the other hand, through which we may learn that the matter is not subject to one absolute rule; rather the matter is subject to discussion and examination, and weighing up the matter on the basis of knowledge and fairness. As noted, most studies on the relationship between science andreligion have focused on science and Christianity, with only a smallnumber of publications devoted to other religious traditions (e.g.,Brooke and Numbers 2011). Where we want to go, obviously we will go for the quality. Registered office: Venture House, Cross Street, Arnold, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG5 7PJ. In the case of Islam, the attitude towards science was, generally speaking, quite different. The doctor can be considered as the best one. In Search of the Sacred. Discussion and Conclusion. Unlike Nasr and Naguib, who chose to view science through Islamic metaphysics, Sardar (Sardar, 1977) instead looks at science through Islamic ethics.  Familiar with western critiques of science, Sardar adds to the growing dissenting voices against science in the west, but by bringing in his own Islamic background and perspective into the picture.  In the 1970s, critics of science—apart from philosophical critiques by Kuhn, Feyerabend and the Edinburgh School—point to the damage caused by science and technology to the environment though industrial pollution, to human security through the nuclear arms race, and the dangers of a ‘brave new world’ brought about by advances such as ‘human cloning’. Copyright © 2003 - 2021 - UKEssays is a trading name of All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. We may think the charged relationship between science and religion is mainly a problem for Christian fundamentalists, but modern science is also under fire in the Muslim world. Lacking the "scientific outlook" that made the scientific revolution possible, Islam prevented the development of science and the kind of "free thinking" that is independent of all metaphysical and religious notions. When go in to details of the Islamic scientific study, it is mostly related to Quran. We may speculate about some of them, but there may be no way to verify empirically our speculations. What is needed therefore, is an ‘enlightened’ Islamic approach to modernity, including science and technology. This study investigated the relationship between Islamic ethical behavior among Muslim youths in the three southern border provinces of Thailand, and four determinant variables linked to the Islamic way of upbringing, knowledge of the religion, participation in Islamic activities, and practicing Islamic principles. There is nothing extra religious. Knowledge and the Sacred. However, the epistemological position they took when discussing scientific knowledge, is almost similar. The issue of women’s rights in Islam is a key arena of the debate between traditionalists and … Read more → The nature of law and morality (Abridged from The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists) The law plays a central role in… Read more → Islam and science. Rorty, R. (1999). If one is considered right then other is considered wrong. (1988). Scientists of this era do accept that they have only discovered and studied the five percent secrets of the universe and their own knowledge is very small. They still believe in God because when they see diversities of this universe, they do question how this happening is. Muslims scientists had followed every step of Quran and that is why today we are able to study the whole universe. It just means that how is everything happening in the universe. Thus the metaphor of “warfare” and “battle” used to describe the relationship between science and religion in the west, seems appropriate, given such a background.  Also the victory of the scientists over the theologians/religionists in those two episodes, seemed to seal the fate of religion in its battle with science in the West. Allah refers to the Qur’an as containing arguments that serve as eye openers to the reality of this life, the knowledge of its Creator, His Messenger and purpose of life. It is more relevant to western countries that have achieved a high level of economic growth based on the K-Economy with substantial inputs from R&D.  Muslim countries would do well to reflect on their own historical experience in the relation between science and Islam, instead of slavishly imitating the west. First we will examine the relationship of Quran to Science and Technology. Science, Technology, and Development in the Muslim World. Basically the only reason for science is to find the proof. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. Protestant values encouraged scientific research by allowing science to study God 's influence on the world and thus providing a religious justification for scientific research. Barbour, I. G. (2000). Whether Islamic culture has promoted or hindered scientific advancement is disputed. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. His own autobiography revealed the conscious decision he took in this matter, when he was a physics student at Harvard.  Now, the question is: is there an unbridgeable gulf between the two or is a rapprochement possible?  For Nasr a rapprochement does not seem possible because science and religion are based on different premises regarding the nature of reality.  In science reality is ultimately physical, and that the only sources of valid knowledge are the rational and the empirical. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation. Al-Attas, S. M. (1989). Hoodbhoy, P. (1992). Scientific research is fully depended on the intelligence of the humans while religion is considered as words of creator or supreme authority or God. When God first revealed his first ayah of Quran to Mohammad (PBUH), God said [1]”Iqra bismi rabbikalla dhi khalaq. Islam and science. Indeed, Islam considers science as an essential prerequisite for human survival. Conjectures and Refutations. Therefore, the knowledge of the Prophets and the Saints would be of a higher order compared to that of scientists. In religion God directs the humans how to live and pass their lives according to God’s way. This sounds odd. [5] Albert Einstein is the best known and most highly respected scientist of the twentieth century and is linked with major revolutions in our thinking about time, gravity and the transfer of matter to energy (E=mc2). In this paper I will deal with the question of science and religion, with reference to Islamic perspectives and frameworks.  The paper will be divided into five sections: I will begin by briefly looking at the discourse on science and religion in the West, using the typology proposed by Ian Barbour, and suggesting that although it might serve as a useful starting point, its application to the issue of science and religion in the Islamic world is problematic, thus necessitating a different framework. / Hijab, Qur'an, Law, And Religion. Philosophy. All of them are working on the functionality of hurt. Islam not only places a high premium on science but positively encourages the pursuit of science. I will begin by briefly outlining their respective positions, giving brief commentaries on each one of them, and suggesting how the discourse as a whole can be carried further or whether any policy implications can be drawn from them. Thus it is not Islam per se that is to be blamed for the decline of science in Islam, but instead the attitude adopted by certain Muslim thinkers and leaders, that have been responsible for the current malaise. Islam and Science – Introduction Khurshid Ahmad gives us a clear statement regarding the connection between Islam and Science: “The basic Islamic concept is that the entire universe was created by God, whom Islam calls Allah and who is the Lord and Sovereign of the Universe. This is because of their commitment to Islamic metaphysics and cosmology, through which they view scientific knowledge. From this the place of the above mentioned saying of some Muslim scholars will become clear. And it is this empirical verification that is the essence of modern science. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! Even when Nasr deals with the biological theory of evolution, the arguments made are philosophical rather than scientific, unlike the approach taken by someone like Harun Yahya for instance.  Thus both of them consider science as a ‘lower form of knowledge’ based on rational and empirical sources only, in contrast to the ‘higher forms of knowledge’ accessible through religious intuition, gnosis or Irfan. Barbour’s typology, being more sociological rather than historical, cannot be straightforwardly applied to the analysis of the relationship between science and religion in the Islamic world. The author's controversial, but important, contention is that science in Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. resurrection after death). Study for free with our range of university lectures! Even then, the history of science in Islam needs to be properly interpreted in order to draw the right lessons, thus making history relevant for contemporary science policy in … The problem rather, is contemporary Muslim backwardness in science and technology in relation to the west and other advanced countries such as Japan and South Korea.  This sentiment is shared by his mentor, ironically the rather religious Abdus Salam (Salam, 1984), and I believe most aspiring modern Muslim governments today.  But Hoodbhoy does not want to cut himself off totally from his Islamic roots, citing the pre-eminence of Muslim science in the past in support of the argument that science and Islam are not necessarily incompatible.  However, he was aware of the rationalist ideology of the Mu’tazilah, whom he credited for the support they gave to science in Islamic civilisation that led to its pre-eminence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. It could be more enlightening as it could open up more vistas of understanding that is hitherto unknown.  In any case, science is ‘fallible knowledge’ (Popper, 1972) and makes no claim to absolute truth.  The history of science has shown that our scientific understanding of the world has changed over the centuries, with there being no ‘ontological convergence’.  In any case, with regard to knowledge regarding the metaphysical world, science can best be looked at as being ‘agnostic’ rather than ‘antagonistic’ regarding such metaphysical knowledge.  One is therefore entitled to believe in both science and religion without there necessarily being any deep or irreconcilable conflict.  The belief in the reality of the spiritual world however, should not be used as an excuse for rejecting the pursuit of scientific knowledge, given that we have delimited the boundaries of science in relation to religion.  Furthermore, Islam encourages its followers to seek knowledge of the world, conceived as God’s creation.  Here one can draw upon the examples of past Muslim scientists who were at home in both science and Islam. Conflict when either discipline threatens to take over the legitimate concerns of the other 2. Looking for a flexible role? A distinguished Advisory Board of science and innovation leaders from across the Islamic World and elsewhere provides guidance and advice. So it is baseless that whatever they said should be accepted. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKEssays.com. The relationship between science and Islam cannot be properly understood outside of its historical and cultural context (Dallal, 2010). In fact he was quite critical of Nasr’s approach to modern science and technology, which he regarded as not quite useful in practical terms given the backwardness of Muslim countries in science and technology in relation to the West, and how this has hampered the Muslim Ummah and was partly responsible for its history of being colonised. Whose statement are we going to believe the most? (2010). which way should we go? In western thought, this issue has been more or less clinched by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century, when he rejected the possibility of metaphysical knowledge in his Critique of Pure Reason.  Since then, western thought has imposed boundaries on genuine or valid knowledge, more or less along the lines set out by Kant and later revised by the Logical Positivists.  Even when Wittgenstein in his later work, tried to rescue non-scientific discourse from being consigned to the flames and the realm of the ‘meaningless’, he ended up by giving a secular humanistic account in terms of ‘language games’.  In other words, the west has not been able to re-assign the realm of the spiritual back into mainstream intellectual discourse (note the writings of Rorty (1999) for instance), while in the Islamic world following Al-Ghazali, the spiritual and metaphysical realm has remained cognitively respectable even today. According to their doctrine, God Almighty wants to wind up his watch from time to time: otherwise it would cease to move. Scientists do accept the fact that the material of atheism is present in every scientist, but still this fact doesn’t make them to be atheists. Lindberg, D. (1992). 3.1          The Metaphysical/Traditionalist Approach: Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Syed Naguib al-Attas. This is a match between quality and quantity. In the name of God, May the peace and blessings of God be on Muhammad and on his family and companions This is not a this is not a right comparison because you are comparing with two things which are not in the same category. However, in a different discipline, cosmology, he accepted the speculations of Aristotle, without recognizing that these were speculations, and that future experiments may prove them false. While science is the field of knowledge that is based on experience and observation, Islam is the religion that introduced humanity through experience and observation. They can be considered as ‘globalists’ in their approach to scientific knowledge because they conduct their analysis mainly at the general epistemological level rather than dealing with specific issues in science, or with any specific scientific theory. When a normal man makes a machine he concentrates on the basic functionality of the machine. The Relationship between Religion and Science. Nothing could be clearer than the famous Hadith of the Prophet: "Seek for science, even in China", or the other hadith which says that the search for knowledge is a strict duty for every Muslim man and woman. The Relevance and Use of History.  The question of the relationship between science and Islam should not be viewed in an ahistorical manner, because the relationship has been shaped by history which would therefore require a historical understanding in order to suggest the way forward.  History is also important because it gives a sense of Islamic identity in our attempt to relate science and Islam. 2)            Secondly, the glory of Islamic science was achieved through the works of individual scientists such as Ibn Sina, Ibn Haytham, Al-Khwarizmi and others (Nasr, 1968).  Science was not institutionalised in Islam, and thus there was no continuity in the development of science after them.  Also, the ‘great individual scientist’ model is no longer appropriate in today’s “Big Science” which is capital-intensive and based on teamwork.  So what works for science in the Muslim world in the past is not necessarily what works today. [3] Quoted from the Speech By Professor Abdus Salam: “In his remarks, the Pope stressed the development which the Church had reached in dealing with science; he could equally have emphasized the converse the acknowledgment by the scientists from Galileo’s times onwards, of the boundaries of their disciplines the identification that there are questions which are beyond the knowledge of present or even future Sciences. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. The discussion took center stage at the 2007-08 Paul Tillich Lecture on Monday (May 5) in the Science Center’s lecture hall B, where a noted astrophysicist and religious scholar explored the deeper dimensions of science’s relationship to Islam. If the scientific faith is not Islamic, can be denied in Islam i.e. This fact reverses his obligations against the religion. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! Hoodbhoy himself when writing his book, personally experienced this when there was an attempt to revive “Islamic Science” and to “Islamise” science, when Pakistan was ruled by the Islamist General Zia ul-Haq.  Hoodbhoy regarded any attempt at what he considered as ‘religious interference’ in the development of science, as unwarranted and even detrimental to the Muslim cause.  To him the problem is not that science is “un-Islamic”, or at odds with Islam in certain respects. There are many other ayahs (verses) of Quran which tells the humans to wander and study the God create universe. The Tao of Physics. Keith Moore mostly worked on the anatomy and embryology and made some very important discoveries. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to learn that in Islam religion and scienc… God summons humanity to investigate and reflect upon the heavens, the earth, mountains, stars, plants, seeds, animals, the alternation of the night and the day, the creation of man, the rain and many other created things. The account of the relationship of science to the faith of Islam at particular locales and times must acknowledge the unifying role played by this civilization. In religion God directs the humans how to live and pass their lives according to God’s way. There had been many scientists that before their inventions they didn’t accept the creator or supreme authority. This was symbolised and epitomised by the conflict between Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century. When we talk about reverts to monotheistic religion, which may include Islam, Christianity or Judaism, in the present era Keith Moore has been discussed many times. They should understand what God is saying. On the side when we look at Quran, all the stages have been explained very well. New York: Harper Collins. God summons humanity to investigate and reflect upon the heavens, the earth, mountains, stars, plants, seeds, animals, the alternation of the night and the day, the creation of man, the rain and many other created things. London: Penguin Books. Some of the issues dealt with here are: Finally, I will end the paper with concluding remarks on the following: Since the issue is multidimensional, the various salient dimensions as outlined above have to be dealt with, with a view to getting a good grasp of the issues involved in the relationship between science and religion in Islam, and suggesting the way forward. Suffolk: Fontana/Collins. 3.0          Existing Views on the Relationship between Science and Islam by Muslim Writers. Scientist does question that from where all these planets, galaxies, stars and sun came from and in the end they accept the fact that there is one creator which has created the universe, system and the coordination forces among different objects. It smacks of a ‘missed Protestantism’ in Islamic history, and suggests remedial action along those lines. A famous historian of religion and devoted positivist of his time, Renan argued that Islam was inherently irrational, militantly intolerant, and essentially incapable of producing science and philosophy. Science and Islam are intimately linked. Merton explained that the connection between religious affiliation and interest in science was the result of a significant synergy between the ascetic Protestant values and those of modern science. Scientific research is fully depended on the intelligence of the humans while religion is considered as words of creator or supreme authority or God. 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