Islam and Science

islam and science.doc

ISLAM & SCIENCE

To those who blame Islam itself for Middle Eastern decline, Bernard Lewis asks the question:

"... if Islam is an obstacle to freedom, to science, to economic development, how is it that Muslim society in the past was a pioneer in all three, and this when Muslims were much closer in time to the sources and inspiration of their faith than they are now?"

 

"Islam was once far more tolerant of Jews and Christians than Christendom was of Jews or "heretical" Christian sects.
Irony is that today, compared to the Islamic world, the West is a model of toleration, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and protection of religious minorities.

"Islam represented the greatest military power on earth - its armies at the same time were invading Europe and Africa, India and China. It was the foremost economic power in the world, trading in a wide range of commodities through a far-flung network of commerce and communications in Asia, Europe, and Africa"

In the medieval era, Muslim scientists sought out Greek, Indian, and Persian knowledge, and made innovative contributions to mathematics,
astronomy, and medicine.

 

The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry was done by the Arab muslims"

 

"Earlier Islamic regimes, which embraced and integrated external cultural influences and non-Muslim expertise.
Baghdad, the capital city of the Abbasid dynasty, was laid out by a Jewish mathematician and a Persian astronomer.
Al-Khwarizmi, the Muslim mathematician, explained the Indian number system in Arabic, and made innovative contributions to algebra.
Abd al-Rachman III, the ruler of Muslim Spain at the height of its power and cultural influence, had a Jewish vizier, Hasdai ibn Shaprut.

 

Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experimentation than any previous ancient civilization, due to the Qur'an's emphasis on empiricism, and they introduced quantification, precise observation, controlled experiment and careful records as a result.

 

 Without efforts for scientific knowledge, discipline, hard work, applied knowledge and experimentation, sound Economy, freedom of religion, and protection of religious minorities, removing corrupt leaders, and Peace Efforts among brothers, Allah swt will never revert the current situation of chaos, rites engulfing the Muslim world ,

Allay (swt) says '[008:053]  That is because ALLAH would never change a favour that HE has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition, and know that ALLAH is All-Hearing, All-Knowing .

Lets see the status of ISLAM when it was young and on the rise, then let the readers decide for themseves what we are lacking today!!!

 

 

Effect of Islamic Civilization on Modern Science

This figure shows a twelfth-century model of the solar system from Baghdad

C.H. Haskins7 said: 'The broad fact remains that the Arabs of Spain were the principal source of the new learning for Western Europe.'

They are the ones who placed the fundamentals from which modern civilization advanced. Whoever reviews the 'Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace' 8 would certainly conclude that sixty percent of the known stars are given names that are derived from Arabic.

The books and works of early Muslim scholars were the main resource texts which the West benefited from, especially the Europeans who used these works during the Renaissance period. Many of these texts were used in European universities.

Marquis of Dufferin and Ava said:

'It is to Mussulman science, to Mussulman art, and to Mussulman literature that Europe has been in a great measure indebted for its extrication from the darkness of the Middle Ages.' 9

Scientific knowledge that originated in India, China and the Hellenistic world was sought out by Muslim scholars and then translated, refined, synthesized and augmented at different centers of learning in the Islamic world from where the knowledge spread to Western Europe. (History of Medicine, Arab roots of European Medicine, David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD. Also see: http://www.hmc. org.qa/hmc/ heartviews/ H-V-v4%20N2/ 9.htm )

Muslims had advanced in all technical, scientific and intellectual fields. Here we will mention a few of the outstanding scholars in various fields.

• Al-Khawarizmi (780-850CE) was a great scholar in the fields of mathematics, algebra, logarithms and geometry. He was perhaps one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived, as, in fact, he was the founder of several branches and basic concepts of mathematics. He was also the founder of Algebra. Al-Biruni (973-1050AD) was a great scholar in many fields. He wrote on topics ranging from astronomy to mathematics, mathematical geography to mechanics, pharmacology and history.
• Al-Biruni discussed the theory of the earth rotating on its own axis six hundred years before Galileo!

The German Orientalist E. Sachau said about Al-Biruni:

'He was the greatest intellectual known to man.'

In the field of medicine and pharmacy, Muslim scholars left behind a wealth of knowledge in their works, which were used to advance modern day medicine. Among these scholars were:

• Ibn Rushd (Averroes 1126-1198 CE) was an Andalusian philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics and medicine.
• Ibn an-Nafees (1213-1288 CE) was a physician who is mostly famous for being the first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood. He discovered blood circulation before the Englishman Harvey and the Spaniard Michael Servetus by hundreds of years.
• Am'maar b. Ali al-Mo'sili b. Eesa al-Kah'haal was highly skilled in ophthalmology. He invented specialized instruments used in operations, such as the "injection syringe", a hollow needle.
• Al-Hasan b. al-Haitham (Alhazen 965- 1040AH) was a great mathematician. He was a pioneer in optics, engineering and astronomy. According to Giambattista della Porta, Al-Hasan was the first to explain the apparent increase in the size of the moon and sun when near the horizon. His seven volume treatise on optics Kitab al- Manadhir (Book of Optics) is possibly the earliest work to use the scientific method. He used the results of experiments to test theories.
• Al-Mansoori and Abu Bakr ar-Razi were renowned, versatile physicians. They made fundamental and enduring contributions to the fields of medicine and philosophy.
• Muwaf'faq al-Baghdadi and Abul-Qasim az-Zahrawi were renowned in dental practices. They wrote books concerning this, and put illustrative pictures of the tools used in surgical operations and how to use the tools.

In the field of geography and geology many notable scholars can be mentioned, among whom are:

• Shareef al-Idrisi (1100-1165H) was a cartographer, geographer and traveler. He was renowned for his excellent maps of the world. He also invented navigational instruments. There are many Muslim scholars who participated and took part in advancing civilization. Whoever wants to know more, should review books that are written specifically on this topic. Numerous times, researches written by Muslims were plagiarized and wrongfully attributed to others.

The map of the world - An image taken from a book of a Muslim scholar in geography

The Virtues of Islamic Civilization

• Seeking knowledge is a religious duty, which Islam encourages Muslims to fulfill.
• Muslim scholars in the past used their knowledge to strengthen people's belief in contrast to the scholars of this age, who use their knowledge to weaken people's belief.
• Muslim scholars in the past used their knowledge to serve mankind, in contrast to most of the scholars today who use their knowledge for exploitive and selfish ends.
• Muslim scholars of the past spread their knowledge so that people could benefit from it, in contrast to the scholars of today who withhold knowledge for themselves or for their own country and prevent others from accessing it.
• Muslim scholars of the past aimed to attain the mercy of Allah and His reward, in contrast to the scholars of today who try their best to benefit materialistically from their discoveries.

Bernard Lewis writes

"Islam represented the greatest military power on earth - its armies at the same time were invading Europe and Africa, India and China. It was the foremost economic power in the world, trading in a wide range of commodities through a far-flung network of commerce and communications in Asia, Europe, and Africa , importing slaves and gold from Africa, slaves and wool from Europe, and exchanging a variety of foodstuffs, materials, and manufactures with the civilized countries of Asia. It had achieved the highest level so far in human history in the arts and sciences of civilization. Inheriting the knowledge and skills of the ancient Middle East, of Greece and of Persia, it added to them new and important innovations from outside, such as the use and manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India...It was in the Islamic Middle East that Indian numbers were for the first time incorporated into the inherited body of mathematical learning. From the Middle East they were transmitted to the West...To this rich inheritance scholars and scientists in the Islamic world added an immensely important contribution through their own observations, experiments, and ideas. In most of the arts and sciences of civilization, medieval Europe was a pupil of the Islamic world.. 

"Islam was once far more tolerant of Jews and Christians than Christendom was of Jews or "heretical" Christian sects.
Irony is that today, compared to the Islamic world, the West is a model of toleration, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and protection of religious minorities.

In the medieval era, the Muslim world was a key link in a world
system of trade that linked Europe and Asia.

 Muslim merchants spent their lives in caravans and ships; there were longstanding Muslim
settlements in Southeast Asia and China.

Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experimentation than any previous ancient civilization, due to the Qur'an's emphasis on empiricism,[ 12][13][14] and they introduced quantification, precise observation, controlled experiment and careful records as a result. Their new approach to scientific inquiry led to the development of the scientific method. In particular, the empirical observations and quantitative experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) in his Book of Optics (1021) is seen as the beginning of the modern scientific method,[15] which he first introduced to optics and psychology. Other leading exponents of the experimental method included Jabbar (who introduced it to chemistry), Alkindus (who introduced it to the Earth sciences),[16] Avicenna (who introduced it to medicine), Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (who introduced it to astronomy and mechanics),[ 17] and Ibn Khaldun (who introduced it to the social sciences).[18] The most important development of the scientific method, the use of experimentation and quantification to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, was introduced by Muslim scientists.

Rosanna Gorini writes:

"According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable."[19]

Ibn al-Haytham's scientific method was very similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of the following procedures

Observation
Statement of problem
Formulation of hypothesis
Testing of hypothesis using experimentation
Analysis of experimental results
Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusion
Publication of findings
The development of the scientific method is considered to be so fundamental to modern science that some — especially philosophers of science and practicing scientists — have described Ibn al-Haytham as the " first scientist" for this reason.[24]

In The Model of the Motions, Ibn al-Haytham also describes an early version of Occam's razor, where he employs only minimal hypotheses regarding the properties that characterize astronomical motions, as he attempts to eliminate from his planetary model the cosmological hypotheses that cannot be observed from Earth.[25]

Robert Briffault wrote in The Making of Humanity:

"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence. The ancient world was, as we saw, pre- scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to the Greek temperament. [...] What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs ."[26]

George Sarton, the father of the history of science, wrote:

"The main, as well as the least obvious, achievement of the Middle Ages was the creation of the experimental spirit and this was primarily due to the Muslims down to the 12th century ."[28]

Oliver Joseph Lodge wrote in the Pioneers of Science:

"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia."[ 29]

University education
The first universities which issued diplomas were the Bimaristan medical university-hospital s of the medieval Islamic world, where medical diplomas were issued to students of Islamic medicine who were qualified to be practicing doctors of medicine from the 9th century. Sir John Bagot Glubb wrote:[31]

"By Mamun's time medical schools were extremely active in Baghdad. The first free public hospital was opened in Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-Rashid. As the system developed, physicians and surgeons were appointed who gave lectures to medical students and issued diplomas to those who were considered qualified to practice. The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia. "

The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco as the oldest university in the world with its founding in 859 AD 

Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in the 10th century, offered a variety of academic degrees, including postgraduate degrees, and is often considered the first full-fledged university.

Decline of Islamic Science

One reason for the scientific decline can be traced back to the 10th century, when the orthodox school of Ash'ari theology challenged the more rational school of Mu'tazili theology . Other reasons include conflicts between the Sunni and Shia Muslims, and invasions by Crusaders and Mongols on Islamic lands between the 11th and 13th centuries. The Mongols destroyed Muslim libraries, observatories, hospitals, and universities, culminating in the destruction of Baghdad, the Abbasid capital and intellectual centre, in 1258, which marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age.[36]

By the 13th century, the more strict Ash'ari school replaced Mu'tazili thoughts in Islamic lands. With the fall of Islamic Spain in 1492, scientific and technological initiative generally passed to Christian Europe and led to what are now known as the European Renaissance and Scientific Revolution

" If in the long run scientific thought and intellectual creativity in general are to keep themselves alive and advance into new domains of conquest and creativity, multiple spheres of freedom, what we may call neutral zones – must exist within which large groups of people can pursue their geniusfree from the censure of political and religious authorities. Insofar as science is concerned, individuals must be conceived to be endowed with reason, the world must be thought to be a rational and consistent whole, and various levels of universal representation, participation, and discourse must be available. It is precisely here that one finds the great weakness of Arabic-Islamic civilization as an incubator(suppresor ) of modern science. (Toby E. Huff)

 By virtue of patronage at the highest level during the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, the foundations of building the structures of rational and natural sciences were laid and House of Wisdom (Bait-el-Hikmah) was formed in which the scholars of all creeds, religions and beliefs were invited to work. Works of science, philosophy and metaphysics, mathematics, etc. were acquired from the Greek, Indian, and other sources; they were translated into Arabic, the lingua franca of that time, and the scholars were encouraged to advance the frontiers of the existing knowledge further. The result of such consistent efforts emerged in excellence in science that was unique and unequalled in the previous history of science. 

 The Muslims all over the world became defensive in as much as the creative and natural sciences were concerned and at times, they became irrational in minimizing the importance and relevance of these sciences to humanity. They regressed more and more into the religious shell and ascribed the cause of their decline in the world power (hence in science and the creative arts also) as due to deviation of the ummah from the straight religious path that Islam had prescribed. This kind of rationalization is irrational but they tried (and continue to do so) to find reasons and rationale for every thing in religious terms . This mode of thinking which some like to call Islamic occasionalism is part of the collective psyche of the orthodox Muslim world.


  The natural and rational sciences are now considered secular (in the sense of irreligious) and foreign to Islam. Many mutakallimun considered them (the sciences) as innovations in Islam and therefore reprehensible. They were not allowed to develop in their own right for fear that the practitioners will be misled. The Muslim students may be receiving instruction at schools in the theory of biological evolution but it cannot be discussed in public with any degree of conviction. For any meaningful research in science, the Muslim students have still to go to the western universities. 

Why are the Muslims suffering all over the world today?  One of the answers is to be found in the story of Bani Israel in the Qur'an.  Bani Israel were the first ummah created with the specific responsibility to spread the message of God to the rest of the world. As long as they fulfilled their responsibilities the nation of Bani Israel was enormously and splendidly rewarded with honor and leadership of the world.  When the same nation turned its back to the message of God it faced severe punishment in the form of humiliation and disintegration.  Muslims are the second ummah created on the basis of revealed knowledge.  Muslims are suffering today because they followed the footsteps of the nation of Bani Israel.

Who is responsible for the degeneration of Muslims?  There are three groups of people who are responsible:  The first category of people are the kings and rulers.  The second group comprises the ulema who take this world as their goal. And the last group includes the rahibs and the Sufis who profess the purification of the soul but are after the materialistic gains.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the great poet and philosopher of South Asia, blamed the following three groups for the corruption of the Deen: 

(a)    the mullahs
(b)    the Sultans and
(c)     the peers

Today Islam is interpreted only in terms of its five pillars, viz.: Tawhid, Salat, Siyam, Zakat and Hajj.  The other important values of Islam such as: Diyanat, Sadaqat, Husn-e-Sulook, Ad'l and Ehsan have been brushed aside.  Today, we attach great importance to imitate the outward aspects of Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) personality- such as wearing a beard-but do not give importance to practicing the teachings in his behavior and actions; such as, his humility, tolerance, patience, sacrifice, charity (he used to give away his possessions before sunset), and many other Islamic characteristics and virtues.

Solutions

Every one agrees that the first and the most important solution is education. 

It is education which transforms a casual person into a
- responsible citizen, 
- accelerates socio-economic development of the masses,
- promotes national integration (feeling of belonging to the Muslim ummah) and
- upholds individual dignity.

Education has always received great importance in Islam. Islam emerged in the barren Arabian land, which was both culturally and socially backward. Thus education was put forward as the lamp to illumine darkness. In Qur'an, the word, 'Ilm is used, which means knowledge.  Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked Muslims to "Acquire knowledge from cradle to grave."  The captives who were taken from the battle of "Badr" were freed on different conditions. One of the conditions was that if a prisoner could educate ten Muslims he would win his emancipation.

The acquisition of knowledge and learning, both religious and scientific is considered an act of religious merit in Islam. The followers of Islam were encouraged by the Prophet Muhammad to acquire knowledge wherever it was available. Consequently, the Muslims learned reading and writing with zeal from the very beginning. Soon the need was felt to establish educational institutions for the Muslims. During the second century of Islam, educational institutions came to be known as Madaris. Inspired by the Abbasid ruler's traditions Fatimid rulers of Egypt and Nizamul Mulk Tusi, the Wazir of Slajuq Sultans ( d.1092 A.D.) founded institutions of higher learning.

When Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked the Muslims to go to China to acquire knowledge or to get educated from non-Muslim prisoners obviously implied to inclination to religious teachings. Islam essentially, in several ways, directs acquiring knowledge of the world and modern education. 

For the past five hundred years our elders have separated the religious education from the secular education (natural sciences, medicine, technology, etc.). 
Religious schools or Deeni Madaris have mushroomed in all developing Muslim countries. 
The disadvantage of educating in Deeni Madaris is that the graduates do not receive modern knowledge and are unable to cope with the changing world where computers and technology are playing pivotal role . In a modern Madrasa, subjects such as English, Mathematics, History and Geography are taught to a comparatively lesser extent and studies in Islamic theology get the greatest share and importance.

A Student from Middle East in America

A student from a Middle Eastern country came to the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from one of the American Universities.  Due to his weakness in the English language, he took English 101 course.  As a final Exam, the English Professor asked him to write a paper on any book he read in the English literature.  After extensive struggle and after a few weeks, he submitted the required final exam paper.  The English Professor gave him 'F" grade, that means the student flunked the course.  The student told the professor that he worked very hard to write that paper and wondered why the professor flunked him.  The professor replied that what he wrote was the summary of the book and there was no critical analysis such as criticism of the characters, plot or theme, etc. The student said in High School, he learned how to memorize the Qur'an and Hadith and excelled in rote learning rather than criticism or critical thinking.  The student failed the course and could not complete his B.A. Hence he went back to another Middle Eastern University and finally obtained the coveted B.A. degree. He returned to his home country, which has been hiring Foreign Nationals for all the jobs that were available.  He applied for a job in the Government and in many private firms. He never got a single job anywhere-neither in the Government nor in a private Firm. The reason for not getting a job, he was told was that his skills were not marketable.

Deeni Madaris attract pupils of average intelligence from remote villages. One of the reasons is that here they can get free boarding and lodging and get education without paying any tution fee. The graduates of these schools have narrow and limited knowledge of Islam and do not have any understanding of the present day world.   They lack self-esteem that comes with a well-rounded education.  And most critical of all, because of these limitations, are unable to exercise ijtehad.  Early Muslim scholars paid close attention to developing a system of jurisprudence. However, today, most traditional ulema insist on the need to blindly follow past jurisprudential precedent (taqlid), while ignoring the need to exercise independent judgment ( ijtihad), based on a thorough understanding of the principles of fiqh (usul-i-fiqh) , which, unfortunately, are not much stressed in the Madaris today. Such Shaykhs and ulema with their  radical rhetoric are projecting a distorted image of Islam.  It is futile to argue with them because they do not understand logic and rationality (the foundations of Islam), they promote obscurantism; and oppose different points of view which are the bedrock for intellectual development. 

It is also not right to blame the Madaris for the current rise of terrorism in the world.

The time has come for Muslims to get together and face the reality and think loudly on issues facing them and their survival. 

If the Muslims cannot compete, excel and advance, then it is very easy for those in power (West) to enslave the Muslims through colonization or some other method.  Should Muslims allow history to repeat itself?  Or unite and work for the Islamic renaissance.  

I pray to Allah (SWT) to show us the right path and awaken to Muslim ummah from the dangers of status quo, enlighten us, and give us the strength to compete, excel, and advance.  Ameen ! 

References

Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D. Islamic Research Foundation International,