Islam and Science

The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of 'smoke' (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition). This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology. Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that 'smoke'. The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that 'smoke' material. God said in the Quran:

Then He turned to the heavens when it was smoke...

[Noble Quran 41:11]


Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same 'smoke' we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity. Then out of this homogeneous 'smoke', they formed and separated from each other. God said in the Quran:

Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?..
[Noble Quran 21:30]


Professor Alfred Kroner is one of the world's well-known geologists. He is a Professor of the Department of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany. He said, "Thinking where Muhammad came from .. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advance technological methods that this is the case." (From 'This is the Truth' [video]). Also he said, "Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin."



Look closer to the heaven surrounding the earth. We call it the 'sky'. Notice the clouds? What are they?
According to the scientists today:

"Water vaporizes from the oceans and rivers forming tiny clouds. The small clouds join together and the updrafts within the larger cloud increase. The updrafts closer to the center are stronger, because they are protected from the cooling effects by the outer portion of the cloud. These updrafts cause the cloud body to grow vertically, so the cloud is stacked up. This vertical growth causes the cloud body to stretch into cooler regions of the atmosphere where drops of water and hail formulate and begin to grow larger and larger. When these drops of water and hail become too heavy for the updrafts to support them, they begin to fall from the cloud as rain, hail, etc."
[From "The Atmosphere" p. 269 and "Elements of Meteorology" pp. 141-142]


- Now just for the sake of argument, let us see what the "Muslim scientists" used to formulate their understandings centuries ago based on the revelation of the Quran (revealed 1400 years ago):

Have you not seen how God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out of it...

[Noble Quran 24:43]


Meteorologists have only recently come to know these details of cloud formation, structure, and function by using advanced equipment like planes, satellites, computers, balloons, and other equipment to study wind and its direction, to measure humidity and its variations, and to determine the levels and variations of atmospheric pressure.

The preceding verse, after mentioning clouds and rain, Quran speaks about hail and lightning:

... And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky, and He strikes with it whomever He wills, and turns it from whomever He wills. The vivid flash of its lightning nearly blinds the sight.
[Noble Quran 24:43]


Meteorologists have found that these cumulonimbus clouds, that shower hail, reach a height of 25,000 to 30,000 ft. (4.7 to 5.7 miles) like mountains, as the Quran says;

...And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky...
[Noble Quran 24:43]


Now this verse may raise the question: "Why does the verse say "its lightning" while referring to hail? This seems to indicate that hail is a major factor in producing lightning. Looking to a book on the subject (Meteorology Today) we find that it says:

"Clouds become electrified as hail falls through a region in the cloud of super cooled droplets and ice crystals. As liquid droplets collide with the hail they freeze on contact and release latent heat. This keeps the surface of the hail warmer than that of the surrounding ice crystals. When the hail comes in contact with an ice crystal, an important phenomenon occurs: electrons flow from the colder object toward the warmer object. So, the hail becomes negatively charged. The same effect occurs when super cooled droplets come in contact with a piece of hail and tiny splinters of positively charged ice break off. These lighter, positively charged particles are then carried to the upper part of the cloud by updrafts. The hail, left with a negative charge, falls toward the bottom of the cloud, so the lower part of the cloud becomes negatively charged. These negative charges are then discharged to the ground as lightning.
[Meteorology Today p. 437]


This information on lightning was discovered recently. Until 1,600 A.D., Aristotle's ideas on meteorology were dominant in the non-Muslim countries. For example, he said that the atmosphere contains two kinds of exhalation, moist and dry. He also said that thunder is the sound of the collision of the dry exhalation with the neighboring clouds, and lightning is the inflaming and burning of the dry exhalation with a thin and faint fire.
[Works of Aristotle Translated into English pp. 369 a&b]


These are some of the ideas on meteorology that were dominant at the time of the Quran's revelation, fourteen hundred years ago.
Let us now bring our gaze a bit closer to earth. Consider the mountains and their majesty. Is there anything about these massive formations that may give us a clue as to the origin of creation?
A book entitled "Earth" is considered a basic reference text in many universities around the world. One of the authors of this book is Frank Press. He is currently the President of the Academy of Sciences in the USA. Previously, he was the science advisor to former USA President Jimmy Carter. His book says that mountains have underlying roots
[p. 435]
. These roots are deeply embedded in the ground. So mountains have a shape like a peg as is seen in an example on page 220 in the same book. Another illustration shows how the mountains are peg-like in shape, due to their deep roots
[p. 158]
.

This is how the Quran described mountains. God said in the Quran:

Have We not made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs?
[Noble Quran 78:6-7]


Modern earth sciences have proven that mountains have deep roots under the surface of the ground and that these roots can reach several times their elevations above the surface of the ground. So the suitable word to describe mountains on the basis of this information is the word 'peg', since most of a properly set peg is hidden under the surface of the ground. The history of science tells us that the theory of mountains having deep roots was introduced only in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
[Geological Concept of Mountains p.5]


Mountains also play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.
[Geological Concept of Mountains pp. 44-45]
. They hinder the shaking of the earth. God said in the Quran:

And He has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake with you...
[Noble Quran 16:15]


Likewise the modern theory of plate tectonics holds that mountains work as stabilizers for the earth. This knowledge about the role of mountains as stabilizers for the earth has just begun to be understood in the framework of plate tectonics since the late 1960's
[Geological Concept of Mountains p. 5]
.

Could anyone during the time of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) have known of the true shape of mountains? Could any one imagine that the solid massive mountain which he sees before him, actually extends deep into the earth and has a root, as scientists assert? A large number of books of geology when discussing mountains, only describe that part which is above the surface of the earth. This is because these books were not written by specialists in geology. However, modern geology has confirmed the truth of the Quran's verses.



What about the water covering the earth? Is there another clue hiding beneath the seas?
Allah said in the Quran:

Or (the unbelievers' state) is like the darkness in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds. Darkness, one above another. If a man stretches out his hand, he cannot see it...
[Noble Quran 24:40]


This verse mentions the darkness found in deep seas and oceans, where if a man stretches out his hand, he cannot see it. The darkness in deep seas and oceans is found around a depth of 200 meters and below. At this depth, there is almost no light. Below a depth of 1,000 meters there is no light at all
[Oceans Elder and Pernetta p.27]
.

Human beings are not able to dive more than forty meters without the aid of submarines or special equipment. Human beings cannot survive unaided in the deep dark part of the oceans, such as at a depth of 200 meters.

Scientists have recently discovered this darkness by means of special equipment and submarines that have enabled them to dive into the depths of the oceans.

We can also understand from the following sentences in the previous verse, "..in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds,..." that the deep waters of seas and oceans are covered by waves, and above these waves are other waves.

It is clear that the second set of waves are the surface waves that we see, because the verse mentions that above the second waves there are clouds. But what about the first waves? Scientists have recently discovered that there are internal waves which "occur on density interfaces between layers of different densities."
[Oceanography, Gross, p. 205]
.

The internal waves cover the deep waters of seas and oceans because the deep waters have a higher density than the waters above them. Internal waves act like surface waves. They can also break just like surface waves. Internal waves cannot be seen by the human eye, but they can be detected by studying temperature or salinity changes at a given location.



Water covers so much of the earth and even mixes with the land in rivers and streams. Yet is there something keeping it from mixing with itself? What is contained in this mystery of separation of waters?

Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and density.
[Principles of Oceanography - Davis, pp. 92-93]


For example, Mediterranean Sea water is warm, saline and less dense, compared to Atlantic Ocean water. When Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill, it moves several hundred kilometers into the Atlantic at a depth of about 1,000 meters with its own warm, saline and less dense characteristics.
The Mediterranean water stabilizes at this depth.
[Principles of Oceanography p. 93]


The Mediterranean Sea water as it enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill with its own warm, saline and less dense characteristics, because of the barrier that distinguishes between them. Temperatures are in degrees Celsius (C).

Even in depths (indicated here by darker colors) up to 1,400 meters and at distances ranging from a minus -100 to +2,500 meters, we find that both bodies of water maintain their individual temperatures and salinity.

Although there are large waves, strong currents, and tides in these seas, they do not mix or transgress this barrier.

The Holy Quran mentioned that there is a barrier between two seas that meet and that they do not transgress. God said:

He has let free the two seas meeting to gather. There is a barrier between them. They do not transgress.

[Noble Quran 55:19-20]


But when the Quran speaks about the divider between fresh and salt water, it mentions the existence of "a forbidding partition" with the barrier.

God said in the Quran:

He is the one who has let free the two bodies of flowing water, one sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter. And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding partition.
[Noble Quran 25:53]


On may ask, why did the Quran mention the partition when speaking about the divider between fresh and salt water, but did not mention it when speaking about the divider between the two seas?
Modern science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and salt water meet, the situation is somewhat different from what is found in places where two seas meet. It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water from salt water in estuaries is a "pycnocline zone with a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers."
[Oceanography p. 242]


This partition (zone of separation) has a different salinity from the fresh water and from the salt water
[Oceanography p. 244 and Introductory Oceanography pp. 300-301]


This information has been discovered only recently using advanced equipment to measure temperature, salinity, density, oxygen dissolubility, etc. The human eye cannot see the difference between the two seas that meet, rather the two seas appear to us as one homogeneous sea. Likewise the human eye cannot see the division of water in estuaries into the three kinds: the fresh water, the salt water, the partition (zone of separation).



What about us? Are we are part of creation? How did we begin? What develops us and causes us to live and die? How are we sustained?

In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man's embryonic development, 1,400 years before modern day scientists 'discovered' important information on creation of man and his development:

We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed-like substance)...
[Noble Quran 23:12-14]


Literally the Arabic word alaqah has 3 meanings:
leech
suspended thing
blood clot

1. "In comparing a leech to the embryo at the alaqah stage, we find similarity between the two."
[The Developing Human p.8]
.
"Also, the embryo as this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech which feeds on the blood of others."
[Human Development as Described in Quran and Sunnah p.36]
.

2. The second meaning of the word alaqah is 'suspended thing'. The suspension of the embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother very appropriately fits this description.

3. The third meaning of the word alaqah is 'blood clot'. We find that the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage is similar to that of a blood clot. This is due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo during this stage. Also during this stage the blood in the embryo does not circulate until the end of the third week. So the embryo at this stage is like a clot of blood.

By examining a diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo during the alaqah stage we would notice the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is similar to that of a blood clot due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo
[The Developing Human, p. 65]


So the three meanings of the word alaqah correspond accurately to the descriptions of the embryo at the alaqah stage.

The next stage mentioned in the verse is the mudghah stage. The Arabic word mudghah means "chewed-like substance." If one were to take a piece of gum and chew it in his mouth, and then compare it with the embryo at the mudghah stage, we would conclude that they would be almost identical because of the somites at the back of the embryo that 'somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.'

How could Muhammad (peace be upon him) have possibly known all this 1,400 years ago when scientists have only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes which did not exist at that time? Hamm and Leeuwenhoek were the first scientists to observe human sperm cells using an improved microscope in 1677 A.D. (more than 1,000 years after Muhammad, peace be upon him]. They mistakenly thought that the sperm cell contained a miniature preformed human being that grew when it was deposited in the female genital tract
[The Developing Human, p.9]


Professor Keith Moore is one of the world's prominent scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology and is the author of the book entitled the "Developing Human", which has been translated into eight languages. This book is considered a scientific reference work and was chosen by a special committee in the United States as the best book authored by on person. Dr. Keith Moore is a Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. In 1984, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He has directed many international associations, such as the Canadian and American Association of Anatomists and the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences.

In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Moore said; "It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been the messenger of God, or Allah [The reference for this statement is on 'This is the Truth' (video tape). For a copy of this video tape please contact us].

Consequently, Professor Moore was asked the following question, "Does this mean that you believe that the Quran is the Word of God?" He replied; "I find no difficulty in accepting this."

During one conference, Professor Moore stated, "... because the stagein of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during development, it is proposed that a new system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Quran and the Sunnah (sayings of Muhammad, peace be upon him). The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge. The intensive studies of the Quran and Hadith (reliably transmitted sayings and reports of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) in the last four years have revealed a system of classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the 7th century A.D. Although Eric Statle, the founder of the science of embryology, realized that chick embryos developed in stages from his studies of hen's eggs in the fourth century B.C., he did not give any details about these stages. As far as it is known from the history of embryology, little was known about the stagein and classification of human embryos until the twentieth century. For this reason, the descriptions of the human embryo in the Quran cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the 7th century A.D. The only reasonable conclusion is that these descriptions were revealed to Muhammad from God. He could not have known such details because he was an illiterate man with absolutely no scientific training." [This is the Truth -video tape]



Think about the humans. How did we all get here? What is the nature of mankind? What causes us to act as we do? Are we ungrateful to the One who created us and sustains us? What is this clue? Think about yourself. Did you create yourself?

God said in the Quran about one of the evil unbelievers who forbade the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from praying at the Ka'bah (Holy Mosque):

Let him beware! If he does not stop, We will take him by the Naseyah (front of the head), a lying, sinful Naseyah (from of the head)!
[Noble Quran 96:15-16]


Why did the Quran describe the front of the head as being lying and sinful? Why didn't the Quran say that the person was lying and sinful? What is the relationship between the front of the head and lying and sinfulness?

If we look into the skull at the front of the head, we will find the prefrontal area of the cerebrum, in the area we call the forehead. What does physiology tell us about the function of this area? A book entitled Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology says about this area, "The motivation and the foresight to plan and initiate movements occur in the anterior portion of frontal lobes, the prefrontal area. This is a region of association cortex.." Also the book says, "In relation to its involvement in motivation, the prefrontal area is also thought to be the functional center for aggression..."

So, this area of the cerebrum is responsible for planning, motivating, and initiating good and sinful behavior, and is responsible for the telling of lies and the speaking of truth. So, it is proper for the telling of lies and the speaking of truth. So, it is proper to describe the front of the head as lying and sinful when someone lies or commits a sin, as the Quran says:

...A lying, sinful Naseyah (from of the head)!
[Noble Quran 96:16]


Scientists have only discovered these functions of the prefrontal area in the last sixty years, according to Professor Keith L. Moore.
[Scientific Miracles in the Front of the Head p. 41]

article source:http://www.booksie.com/other/essay/swirly_me/*science-and-islam*-(must-read-truly-amazing)

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,

Islam and Science

Islam and Science

Bruno Guiderdoni

Let me start by uttering the traditional formula “In the Name of God the Compassionate the All-Merciful”. With this sentence, Muslims begin all the ritual actions of their lives, as well as the actions of their everyday lives that get the value of ritual actions. This formula opens every chapter, or sura, of the Holy Koran, the sacred book of Islam, as a key for the reading of the text, and for subsequent action inspired from this reading. The whole revelation of the Koran comes from God the One, through His names of love and mercy.

It sounds quite simple indeed. Unfortunately, one must admit that what actually happens is far from these principles. Of course, everybody would agree that there is a gap between principles and realities, between what religion should be and what the members of this religion make of it, between the realm of spiritual tenets and the vicissitudes of history.

But is there a specific issue with Islam? Many voices are heard that put the Islamic faith on trial. It is a fact that, in contrast with other cultural zones, the Islamic world seems to participate very little in the scientific pursuit of today, and to be struck by recurrent social and political disorders. Several authors have attributed these two facts to the same cause: the presumed inability of the Islamic faith to establish a sound relationship with the practice of reason, and consequently to enforce reasonable behaviours in societies. Islam is blamed for the following crime: it seemingly includes in its very principles the germs of its own, violent deviation.

Here comes the point I would like to address, with your permission, in this lecture, from the specific viewpoint of a Western Muslim, who happens to be a professional scientist. Does Islam, because of its very principles, face an insuperable difficulty with the methods and results of science? Has it a specific problem with the practice of reason that would entail the impossibility for Muslims to adopt reasonable behaviours in modern societies? In a single sentence, is it possible to be a coherent Muslim and to participate constructively in the endeavours of our common world, and, first of all, in science? I would like to hereafter argue that, although ignorance, hate and violence unfortunately exist in the Islamic world, the spiritual tenets and intellectual resources of the Islamic faith actually prompt Muslims to search for knowledge, love and peace.

My lecture will be divided into three parts: First I will summarize the basic principles of the Islamic faith that appear relevant to understanding the nature of knowledge in the Islamic perspective. Second, I will briefly review a few historical and contemporary positions about the relation between faith and reason, and between religion and science. Third, I will try to defend a viewpoint in which faith although it does not say anything about the specific content of science, offers a broad metaphysical background that helps me, as a scientist, find purpose and meaning in its discoveries. Finally, I will conclude by a new examination of the above-mentioned issue: the organization of societies and the dialogue of faiths and cultures. It turns out that this metaphysical background also helps us find purpose and meaning in the diversity of faiths, as well as it gives us guidelines for a peaceful coexistence in this world.

The principles of Islamic faith

The presumed difficulty that Islam faces in its relationship with reason, was recently summarized, with great talent and large impact, by the famous lecture given by Pope Benedict XVI in Regensburg, on September the 18^th, 2006, in front of an audience of “representatives of science” — the detail has its importance for the issue we are addressing here. In an attempt to propose a new vision to secularized Europe, the Holy Father explained what he considered the specific feature of Christianity. For him, it is not surprising that modern science and reasonable behaviours developed in countries where Christianity was predominant. As a matter of fact, this lecture triggered strong reactions in the Islamic world because Islam was used as a sort of counter-example, a religion in which the absence of reason and the presence of violence are interwoven.

According to the Pope, “For Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality.” After this Regensburg lecture, there were exchanges between the Islamic world and the Holy See, requests for apologies on one side, and statements that the lecture was misunderstood on the other side. Here, I would like to address the issue raised by the Holy Father very much where he left it, and to answer positively to the calls for dialogue that were eventually heard on both sides.

As a matter of fact, I think the issue stems from the idea we have about God. When the Pope writes, after many other authors, “for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent”, he understands this sentence in the following way: “For Muslims, God is only transcendent”. Is the God of Islam different from the God of Christianity? It is not the Muslims’ opinion. For them, Allah, a word that etymologically means “The God”, is not the name of the Muslims’ God. It is the Arabic name of the One God, the God of all humanity, worshipped by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

For Islam, as much as for Judaism and Christianity, God is absolutely transcendent and He is perfectly immanent too. It means that He cannot be known by any of our categories, and simultaneously, He is close to us, He acts in the world, He knows and loves us, He lets Him be known and be loved by us. As the Koran says, “Nothing is similar to Him, and He is the One who perfectly hears and knows.” God gathers aspects that are contradictory: “He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden.” And “He is closer to us than our jugular vein.” This coexistence of these two aspects is necessary, in a monotheistic religion, to prevent our idea about God from becoming an idol. In Islamic terms, one would say that the tawhid, the statement of the Oneness of God, simultaneously requires the tanzih, the statement that God is like nothing else, and the tanshbih, the comparison of names, attributes and actions of God with those of the world. A God who is only transcendent is an abstract concept, and a God who is only immanent is nothing else than a form of cosmic energy.

One can readily understand that the issue of the intelligibility of God’s attributes and actions, and the extension of the domain where reason can apply to know religion and to know science, strongly depend on the balance between transcendence and immanence. It is true that extreme standpoints did exist in the Islamic thinking, in one direction or another. However, the main stream defended the simultaneous existence of these two aspects, and the fact that, immanence is possible because God is so transcendent that His transcendence is unaffected by His presence in the world, close to us.

God created the world. This sentence means that the world is not self-sufficient. The world may not have been there. But it actually is there, and the explanation provided by religions is that the being of the world is given by another Being, who is not “a being” like the others, but rather the action of being itself. God also revealed Himself in the world through specific moments in which infinity gets in contact with the finite, eternity with the temporal. These moments give birth to new religions that, in the Islamic perspective, are only new adaptations of the same universal truth to new peoples (and to the “languages” of these peoples). And God has a specific contact with each of the human beings, whom he cares after, and inspires.

Islam is the third come of the monotheistic religions in the wake of the promise made to Abraham by God, after Judaism and Christianity. Remember this story of the Book of Genesis, when Abraham obeys God’s order and leaves his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael in the desert. For Muslims, the place where Hagar and Ishmael were left is the valley of Bakka, where a temple that was given by God to Adam after the Fall from Eden, used to be located before the Deluge. Later, Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt the temple, a small cubic building covered by a black veil, now in the great mosque of Makka. This building is empty, and only inhabited by the sakina, a mysterious and sacred presence of God, which is quite paradoxical, because God is everywhere, and still he specifically manifests in some places.

Islam brings the renewal of this Abrahamic faith, through a new revelation, that is, an initial miracle that founds a new relation of a part of the human kind with God. This initial miracle is the revelation of a text, the Holy Koran, to a human being, Prophet Muhammad, who was born in Makka at the end of the 6^th century. The revelation started during the Night of Destiny, and lasted twenty years till the Prophet’s death in 632. What exactly is this miracle? For Muslims, the miracle is the fact that not only the meanings of the Holy Koran come from God, but also the choice of the words, sentences, and chapters, in a given human language, the Arabic language, in such a way that the divine speech can be heard, pronounced, and understood by the human. As a faithful messenger, Muhammad did not add nor cut a single word of the Holy Reading or Proclamation (the meaning of the word Koran) that subsequently became a Book, and acquired its final appearance under Uthman’s caliphate (644—656). Of course, the Arabic language almost breaks down under the weight of the divine speech. There are subtleties, the use of an uncommon vocabulary, separated letters that may convey mysterious information. The Arabic words frequently have several meanings, and the task of the commentators is to highlight the richness of the teachings that a single verse can bring forth. The Prophet himself mentioned the multiplicity of the meanings of the Koran by saying that “each verse has an outer meaning and an inner meaning, a juridical meaning and a place of ascension”, that is, a direct spiritual influence on the reader. This plurality of meanings makes the task of the translator quite uneasy, because this plurality does not transfer directly into other languages, and especially into European languages. Another fascinating aspect of the Koran is the fact that it gathers messages about the divine names, attributes and actions, prescriptions and prohibitions from God, stories of the prophets, descriptions of this lower world and of the hereafter, ethical advice, and chronicles of the life of the first Islamic community around the Prophet. But all these chains are more or less mixed up, or interlaced, in each of the 114 chapters, in such a way that the internal coherence can be found only after reading and re-reading the text, which progressively sheds light on itself.

The miracle of the descent of the Koran reproduces the miracle of creation. God creates things though His speech, with His order: “Be! (kun)” The creatures receive their existence from God through this ontological order. God subsequently unveils hidden knowledge, again though His speech, with another of His orders: “Read! (iqra’)”, the first word of the Koran given to Prophet Muhammad. This instruction speaks to the reader, the human being who uses its intelligence to understand the Holy Text. As a consequence, the Koran is like a second creation, a book where God shows his signs or verses (âyât), very much as we contemplate God’s signs (âyât) in the entities and phenomena of the first creation. God unveiled the Book of Religion (kitâb at-tadwîn) very much as He created the Book of Existence (kitâb at-takwîn). The issue of the relationship of faith with science specifically deals with the coherence between the first and the second book. This topic of the Liber Scripturae and the Liber mundi is expressed in similar terms in other faiths.

Islam manifests itself as the renewal of the faith of Abraham, as a new adaptation of the same universal truth that was given to Adam, first human being, first sinner, first repentant, first forgiven human, and first prophet. Muhammad comes as the last prophet, after a long chain that includes many prophets of the Bible, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon, as well as John the Baptist and Jesus. The Koran also includes stories about other prophets that are not known by the biblical tradition, and were sent to the Arabs, or maybe to other peoples in Asia. Hence the fundamental formula of Islam, the so-called profession of faith, or shahada that is the first of the five pillars of Islam: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is God’s messenger”. The message is the Koran, a message from God that prompts the Muslims to be faithful to their own spiritual vocation.  The second pillar of Islam is the canonical prayer performed five times a day, at specific moments linked to cosmic events: before sunrise, after noon, in the middle of the afternoon, after sunset and when night is dark. The third pillar is alms-giving on accumulated wealth. The fourth pillar is ritual fasting during the month of Ramadan (the month during which the first verses of the Koran were revealed), from the first light of the day to sunset. And finally, the fifth and last pillar is the pilgrimage to the House of God, the kaaba, and some places around Makka. These five pillars constitute reference points for the actions of worship. This is the most important part of the religious law, or sharî’a. The sharî’a also includes a description of many aspects of the social life. There are only few Koranic verses that actually deal with social organization, but, in the time of the first Islamic community, the presence of the Prophet allowed it to solve all issues. Later, when Islam became the religion of a vast empire, it became necessary to have a more complete codification of the religious law, and the so-called classical sharî’a was slowly constituted. Muslims now need to re-examine this issue in a context that is much more complex, in societies which are shaped by science and technology, globalization, exchanges of people and information, and the presence of many minorities. It is a great challenge, and a strong “effort of interpretation” or ijtihâd, is necessary.

Jews and Christians were present in Arabia during the time of the Koranic revelation, and the Koran alludes to the exchanges that they had with Prophet Muhammad. It turned out that these exchanges had the following outcome: The majority of the Jews and Christians did not acknowledge Prophet Muhammad, and Islam became a religion clearly and completely separated from Judaism and Christianity. The main difference with Judaism is the fact that Islam, like Christianity, is a religion that is explicitly universal. Its message speaks to all the human kind, whereas Judaism is linked to a given people. The main difference with Christianity is the disagreement about the nature of Jesus. Jesus is present in the Koran as an “Islamic prophet” who came to bring the message on the Oneness of God. But he is a very unusual Prophet. He was born miraculously from Maria the Virgin, who herself was protected against any sin. The angel Gabriel announced Jesus’ birth to Maria. For Muslims, Jesus is the Christ, al-Masîh, the anointed by the Lord. He spoke out with wisdom just after his birth, and made miracles with God’s permission. He miraculously escaped from death and he is still alive, beside God. Muslims say that Jesus is a Spirit of God (Ruh Allah) and a Word from God (Kalimat Allah), but they do not say that Jesus is God’s son. If they were to say so, they would be Christians, and Islam would be only one more Christian church. As a consequence, for Islam, there is no incarnation, no Trinity, no crucifixion and no redemption (and in any case, no primeval sin that would make redemption of the human kind necessary). It is true that Jews differ from Christians also about the figure of Jesus. Apart from this central figure, the three monotheistic religions have a lot in common: the One God, the creation of the world, the creation of the human being “according to God’s image and likeness” (we Muslims say: “according to the form of the Merciful”), the call for spiritual life, for helping the poor, and the belief that the human being, despite his sins, can improve and be saved. Finally, it is fair to say that, even if Jesus currently separates Jews, Christians and Muslims, he will eventually reunite them, in a horizon that is at the end of times. Muslims consider that Jesus is “the sign of the ultimate hour”, and that he will come to gather the believers of all religions. As a matter of fact, Christians say the same thing about Jesus, and Jews wait for the Messiah. It is a great mystery that these believers who say things that are so different about the Messiah will eventually recognize and follow him.

According to the constant teaching of the Islamic tradition, and because of the specific status of the Holy Text of Islam as the fundamental axis of revelation, faith is intimately linked to knowledge. A famous Koranic verse[1] prescribes: “worship your Lord till certainty”, and many Prophetic sayings strongly recommend the pursuit of knowledge as a religious duty “incumbent to all Muslims”. The Prophet himself used to say: “ My Lord, increase my knowledge”. Of course, this knowledge consists in knowing God through revelation. But it is clear too that all sorts of knowledge that can be in some way connected to God, and that help the religious and mundane life of society, are good and have to be pursued. Clearly, when the Prophet recommended that his companions search for knowledge as far as China, he did not alluded primarily to religious knowledge.

Human beings have a “faculty of knowing” that is described in the Koran according to a three-fold aspect: “And it is God who brought you forth from your mothers’ wombs, and He appointed you for hearing, sight, and inner vision”.[2] Hearing is our faculty of accepting and obeying the textual indication, that is the Koran and the Prophetic tradition which are the two primary sources of religious knowledge; sight is our ability to ponder and reflect upon the phenomena, and is closely related to the rational pursuit of knowledge; and the inner vision symbolically located in the heart is the possibility of receiving knowledge directly from God, through spiritual unveiling. As a consequence of these three facets, the nature of knowledge is also three-fold: It is religious through the study of the Holy Scriptures and the submission to their prescriptions and prohibitions, rational through the investigation of the world and reflection upon it, and mystical through inner enlightenment directly granted by God to whom ever He wishes among His servants.

Moreover, there is a well-known story about the independence of natural rules with respect to religious teaching. Farmers who used to grow date palms asked the Prophet whether it was necessary to graft these date palms. The Prophet answered “no”, and they followed his advice. They then complained that the date crops were very bad. The Prophet answered that he was only a human like them. He said “You are more knowledgeable than I in the best interests of this world of yours”. This is a very important story. There is a domain in which religion simply has nothing to say, a domain that is neutral with respect to the ritual end ethical teachings of revelation. However, because Islam does not separate the intellectual aspects of life from ethical concerns, the only knowledge that should be avoided is useless knowledge, which, in this Islamic prospect, is this type of knowledge that closes our eyes to the treasures of our own spiritual vocation.

To summarize, the descent of the Koran, in which God unveils His transcendence and His immanence, provides the Muslims with a way to celebrate God’s mystery as well as to approach His intelligibility. This intelligibility requires the use of reason encapsulated in a broader perspective of knowledge. Through His explanations and promises, God chooses to be partly bound by the categories of reason, out of His Mercy and Love for the world. But reason itself is unable to approach all the Truth, because Truth is not only conceptual. It also involves all the being. In the Islamic perspective, the “intellect” precisely includes the practice of reason, and the lucidity to understand where reason ceases to be efficient in this quest. The question of the exact extension of the domain of reason has been debated, and I will now try to illustrate the type of debates that took place in Islamic thinking.

Islamic perspectives on faith and reason

After the extension of the Islamic empire, during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, the Islamic thought met Greek science and philosophy. At that time, it became necessary to define more accurately the place of rational knowledge in the religious pursuit, by marking the field that we can validly explore with our own reason. The great thinker al-Ghazali (1058—1111), known in the West as Algazel, examined the relation between science and philosophy on the one hand, religion on the other. As all his predecessors, he had the strong belief that there is only one truth, and that well-guided reason cannot be in contradiction with textual indications given by the Koran and Prophetic tradition. In his intellectual and spiritual autobiography “The Deliverer from Error” (al-Munqidh min al-dalâl), he enumerated the list of sciences practiced by Islamic philosophers (al-falâsafah) in the wake of Plato's and Aristotle's works. Among these sciences, “arithmetic, geometry and astronomy have no relationship whatsoever, positive or negative, with religious matters. They rather deal with issues submitted to proof, which cannot be refuted once they are known and understood.” However, al-Ghazali writes, there is a “double risk” in their practice. On the one hand, because these scientists are too proud with themselves, they often adventure beyond the field where reason can validly apply, and they make metaphysical or theological statements about God and religious issues that happen to contradict textual indications. On the other hand, the common believers, after seeing the excesses of these scientists, are led to reject all sciences indiscriminately. Al-Ghazali condemned “those who believe they defend Islam by rejecting the philosophical sciences”, and “actually cause much damage to it.” Now, providing there is only one Truth, how to deal with possible contradictions between science and Koranic verses? The situation is clear: Wherever science apparently contradicts textual indications, it is the fault of the scientists who surely have made errors in their scientific works, as far as they have been led to conclusions which are at odd with revealed truth. In his book “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” (Tahâfut al-falâsafah), al-Ghazali attempted to revisit the proofs given by philosophers, and to demonstrate logically and scientifically where their errors come from.

In his book “The Decisive Treatise which establishes the Connection between Religion and Wisdom” (Kitâb fasli-l-maqâl wa taqrîr ma bayna-sh-sharî’ah wa-l-hikmah mina-l-ittisâl), Ibn Rushd (1026--1098), known in the West as Averroes, examines again the issue addressed by al-Ghazali. Ibn Rushd was a judge (qâdî) and his text is indeed a juridical pronouncement (fatwa) to establish “whether the study of Philosophy and Logic is allowed by the revealed Law, or condemned by it, or prescribed, either as recommended or as mandatory.” Ibn Rushd quoted some of the many Koranic verses that prompt the reader to ponder upon Creation: “Will they not ponder upon the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and all that God created?” As the enforcement of the revealed Law requires the use of the juridical syllogism (qiyâs shar’î ) in Islamic jurisprudence, knowing Creation and meditating upon it require the use of the rational syllogism (qiyâs ‘aqlî ), that is, the philosophers’ works. Now, Ibn Rushd wrote, “since this revelation [i.e. the Koran] is true and prompts to practicing rational examination (nazhar) which leads to the knowledge of truth, we Muslims know with certainty that rational examination will never contradict the teachings of the revealed text: because truth cannot contradict truth, but agrees with it and supports it.” As a consequence, Ibn Rushd explains that wherever the results of rational examination contradict the textual indications, this contradiction is only apparent and the text has to be submitted to allegorical interpretation (ta’wîl).

The Islamic world met modern science during the 19^th century, as a double challenge, a material one and an intellectual one. The defense of the Ottoman empire in front of the military invasion brought by Western countries, and the success of colonization, have made the acquisition of Western technology necessary, and also of Western science which is the foundation of the latter. The West appears as the model of progress that has to be reached, or at least followed, by a constant effort of training engineers and technicians, and by transferring the technology that is required to develop third-world countries. But the encounter between Islam and modern science also gave birth to a reflection, and even a controversy, the nature of which is philosophical and doctrinal.

To cut a long story short, the Islamic world now has a great interest for science, but a lot of disagreement about what science is, or has to be, to be fully incorporated in Islamic societies by being made “Islamic”. For the modernist stream, “Islamic science” is only universal science practiced by scientists who happen to be Muslims. For the reconstruction stream, “Islamic science” has to be “rebuilt” from Islamic principles, in the prospect of the needs of Islamic societies. For the traditional stream, “Islamic science” is the ancient, symbolic science that has to be recovered, in a prospect that is more respectful of nature and of the spiritual pursuit of the scientists. The various streams of the contemporary Islamic thought show an intense activity on the relationship between science and religion. All of them have to identify pitfalls on their path. The main issue is that they are conceptions that are elaborated a priori, as mental representations of the activity of Muslim scientists, and may have little to do with the actual practice in laboratories. If I were to comment on these streams, I would say that each of them seizes, and emphasizes, a part of the situation. Yes, it is true that science, in its methods and philosophy, is largely universal, and the common property of the human kind. Yes, it is true that science cannot be decoupled from the society in which it develops, and that the way it is organized, the topics that are highlighted, the ethic that is practiced, are influenced by the worldview of the scientists. Yes, it is true that, even if science describes the material cosmos, the issue of meaning and purpose, and the inclusion of the scientific pursuit in a broader quest for knowledge, have to be considered by scientists who are believers.

As a matter of fact, most of the debates between science and religion in the Islamic perspective simply forget a fundamental starting point, that is, the nature of the knowledge brought forth by the Koranic revelation.  As it is explained already in the first verses that descended on Prophet Muhammad during the Night of Destiny, God speaks to the human to teach it what it does not know: “Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created the human from a clot of blood. Read, and your Lord is the most Bountiful, who taught the use of the pen, and taught the human that which he knew not.” The teachings of the Koran  primarily consist in highlighting the spiritual vocation of the human being, the purpose of creation, and the mysteries of the hereafter. They speak mostly of what to do to act righteously, and to hope to be saved. These teachings are proposed under the veils of myths and symbols. Here, we must give these words a strong meaning. Myths and symbols in holy texts are not simple allegories. The language of the muthos conveys meanings that cannot be expressed otherwise, that is, in the language of the logos, the language of articulated and clear demonstration. Myths, and symbols are just like fingers that point to realities that would be otherwise beyond our attention. They just call for the meaning they allude to, to knowledge that is obtained by an intuition in relationship and resonance with the contemplation of the symbols. In some sense, all ritual actions are like “symbols” that bring spiritual influence. With this view, it is possible to avoid a literalistic reading of the text, and to focus on spiritual realities. The verses on heavens do not speak of astronomy, but of the upper levels of being inhabited by intellectual realities, as much as the chronicles on the wars and struggles that the first Muslims had with the pagans do not speak of general rules for the relation of Muslims with non-Muslims, but of the symbols of the “greatest effort”, which is the struggle against our own passions that darken our souls.

Faith as a matrix for purpose

Let me now propose a view on how the articulation between modern science and religion can be addressed in the Islamic tradition. I would like to suggest that the theological and metaphysical corpus of the Islamic thought is rich enough to help the Muslim scientist find a meaning in the world as it is described by the current scientific inquiry. Of course, I am not going to propose a new form of parallelism. I will rather speak in terms of convergence. Reality uncovered by modern science can fit in a broader metaphysical stage. I will only give four examples on how this convergence can take place.

(1) The intelligibility of the world

The fundamental mystery that subtends physics and cosmology is the fact that the world is intelligible. For the Islamic tradition, this intelligibility is part of the divine plans for the world, since God, who knows everything, created both the world and the human from His Intelligence. Then He put intelligence in the human. By looking at the cosmos, our intelligence constantly meets His Intelligence. The fact that God is One, guarantees the unity of the human and the cosmos, and the adequacy of our intelligence to understanding at least part of the world.

The Koran mentions the regularities that are present in the world: “you will find no change in God's custom”. Therefore “there is no change in God's creation.” Clearly this does not mean that Creation is immutable, since in many verses the Koran emphasizes the changes we see in the sky and on earth. These verses mean that there is “stability” in Creation reflecting God's immutability. Moreover, these regularities that are a consequence of God's Will can be qualified as “mathematical regularities”. Several verses draw the reader's attention to the numerical order that is present in the cosmos: “The Sun and the Moon [are ordered] according to an exact computation (husbân).”

(2) God’s action in creation

How does God act in His Creation? According to the mainstream Islamic theology, God does not act by fixing the laws of physics and the initial conditions and letting the world evolve mechanistically. As a matter of fact, the “secondary causes” simply vanish, because God, as the “primary Cause”, does not cease to create the world again and again. “Each day some task engages Him.” In this continuous renewal of creation (tajdîd al-khalq), the atoms and their accidents are created anew at each time.  This is the reason why “the accident does not remain for two moments.” The regularities that are observed in the world are not due to causal connection, but to a constant conjunction between the phenomena, which is a habit or custom established by God's Will.

The examination of causality by the Islamic tradition emphasizes the metaphysical mystery of the continuous validity of the laws. “All that dwells upon the earth is evanescent”, and should fall back into nothingness.  But the (relative) permanence of cosmic phenomena is rooted in God's (absolute) immutability (samadiyyah). This is the reason why “you will not see a flaw in the Merciful's creation. Turn up your eyes: can you detect a single fissure?”

In any case, the metaphysical criticism of causality by Islam did not hamper the development of the Islamic science at the same epoch. On the contrary, the criticism of the Aristotelian conception of the causes as mere conditions for effects to occur necessarily and immediately opened the way to a deeper examination of the world to determine what the “habit” or “custom” proposed by God actually was. Deductive thinking that goes from causes to effects cannot be used a priori in the realm of nature. One has to observe what is actually happening. The development of science in Islam during the great classical period was closely linked to the will to look at phenomena.

(3) God praises and loves diversity

One fundamental element of the Islamic doctrine is the fact the God praises and loves diversity: “Among his signs: the diversity of your languages and of your colors.” As a matter of fact, God never ceases to create, because of His love, or rahma, a word that etymologically alludes to the maternal womb. The mother’s love for her children is the best symbol of this divine love on earth, according to a Prophetic teaching which says that God created one hundred parts of this rahma, and He kept ninety-nine parts of it with Him, while letting one part descend on earth. It is with this part on earth that all mothers care after their children. This divine love reaches the diversity of creatures, physical phenomena, plants and animals, as well as the human diversity of ethnical types, languages and cultures, and extends to the diversity of religions, according to this well-known verse: “And if God had wanted, He could surely have made you all one single community. But He willed otherwise in order to test you by means of what He has given to you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works. Unto God you all must return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you are differing.”

A Muslim scientist can easily appreciate this love of diversity in the meditation on the results of modern science. Thanks to the technical means of exploration, modern cosmology has discovered a spectacular view of the universe of galaxies, one hundred billions galaxies in the observable universe. Each galaxy consists in typically one to one thousand billion stars. And it is very likely that each of these stars is surrounded by several planets, which themselves may have satellites. This makes an incredible number of planets, to which one must connect the fact that differential evolution gives each planet a specific identity that does not resemble to the others. Of course, we do not know how much of these planets actually harbor life forms, but astrophysicists cannot contemplate these large numbers without thinking that life probably exists elsewhere is the universe. Only on earth, there are millions of living species. Can one imagine what the observable universe is? And the patch of the universe where it is expected that the laws of physics (and galaxies, stars and planets) are similar to the ones we know, is probably much larger than the observable universe, by a factor of many billions. And this patch of the universe may be encapsulated in an infinite multiverse in which the laws of physics and the properties of the outcomes greatly vary from patch to patch. What is the meaning of that all? A believer can read the creativity and love of God in this landscape. Love is the explanation of creation, according to the tradition where God says, “I was a hidden treasure. I loved to be known, so I created the creatures to be known by them.”

(4) Science cannot be separated from ethic

According to the Islamic doctrine, the human being is created from clay and from God’s spirit, to become “God’s vice-regent of earth”. The human being is the only creature that is able to know God through all His names and attributes, and it is put on earth as a garden-keeper in the garden. Our relationship with other living creatures on earth is not that from the upper to the lower level, with the concomitant possibility to exploit all “inferior” beings”, but that from the central to the peripheral. The “central” position of the garden-keeper on earth is the position of the watchman who equally cares after all the inhabitants of the garden. This implies a sense of accountability for all creation, and should lead to humility, not to arrogance. As a consequence, we can eat the fruits of the garden, but we have no right to uproot the trees, which do not belong to us. The power that science has given to us must be accompanied by a greater sense of the ethic that is necessary to use this power with discrimination and intelligence. To say the things in a few words, we must not do all what we can do, very much as Adam was not allowed to touch one specific tree in the garden. This prohibition makes us free, because freedom requires the possibility of a choice. This symbol of the garden keeper in the garden has a strong echo today, with the current debates on how to deal with global warming, the share of natural resources in a sustainable way, or the preservation of biodiversity.

Unity and diversity: a key for the century to come

The Islamic tradition has a considerable spiritual and intellectual legacy that should make it contribute to the building of the 21st century. We do hope that the human kind will find a paradigm for its diversity within a strong sense of its unity. Unfortunately, there are also forces of darkness and ignorance that operate in our world. Instead of diversity, we see fragmentation. Instead of unity, we see uniformity. The believers have their share of responsibility in this tragedy, because they do not promote a genuine sense of the religious truth.

What has the debate between science and religion to do with that? I think that the idea that God wrote two books, the Book of Creation and the Book of Scriptures, with the certainty that these books are in fundamental agreement in spite of apparent discrepancies, can prepare us to the idea that God has written, or revealed “many Books of Scriptures”, that are also in fundamental agreement in spite of apparent discrepancies. As far as the solution of these discrepancies is concerned, we must leave with some tension, while praising the Lord for the marvelous diversity He created and revealed.  

In conclusion, let me address this issue of ultimate truth, and tell you a brief and profound story that illustrates the mystery of the human condition. We have to go back to the past, and look again at Ibn Rushd. Around 1180, Ibn Rushd was informed that a young man, called Muhyî-d-dîn Ibn ‘Arabî, aged about 15, was granted spiritual openings during his retreats. Ibn Rush, who was the greater philosopher of his time, invited this youngster to meet with him. Later, Ibn ‘Arabi, who then was considered the Greater Master of Islamic mysticism, wrote about the story of the meeting in the introduction of his major book, The Meccan Openings, a 4000-page treatise that unveils the content of his spiritual intuitions. I just let Ibn ‘Arabi speak. “When I entered in upon [Ibn Rushd], he stood up out of love and respect. He embraced me and said, “Yes”. I said, “Yes.” His joy increased because I had understood him. Then I realized why he had rejoiced at that, so I said, “No.” His joy disappeared and his color changed, and he doubted what he possessed in himself.” Then Ibn Arabi gives us the key of these strange exchanges, in which answers come before questions. Ibn Rushd addresses the central topic of our lecture of this evening: “How did you find the situation in unveiling and divine effusion? Is it what rational consideration gives to us?” Ibn ‘Arabi replied, “Yes no. Between the yes and the no spirits fly from their matter and heads from their bodies.” Ibn ‘Arabi reports Ibn Rushd’s reaction to these words: “His color turned pale and he began to tremble. He sat reciting, ‘There is no power and no strength but in God, since he has understood my allusion.”

As a matter of fact, Ibn ‘Arabi alluded to eschatology, by recalling that even if reason can go very far to capture reality, no one has been intimately changed by scientific knowledge. Knowing Gödel’s theorem, quantum physics of the Standard Hot Big Bang Model changes our worldview, and maybe the way our minds work, but it does not change our hearts. Of course, these discoveries are fundamental milestones in intellectual history. They can produce strong feelings in those who dedicate their lives to such studies. But revelation speaks of another degree, or intensity, of Truth that changes our very being, and prepares it for the mystery of the afterlife. The teaching of religions is that we shall have to leave this world and enter another level of being to pursue our quest for knowledge in a broader locus more fitted to contemplating God than our narrow, physical world. Our reason fails to conceive how it is possible. It is a matter of faith in the promises of our Holy Scriptures. At that time, it is better to stop speaking, because, as the poet and mystic Jalal-ad-Din Rumi used to say, “the pen, when it reaches this point, just breaks.”