Islam and Science

Islam and Science
By Dr. Najah Kadhim*

Can science co-exist with Islam?
Can science and Islam cohabitate?
Can science correlate with Islam?

Muslim religious scholars (or Ulamas) reject science, as they fear that the study of religious and philosophical implications of Science (in its western form) would have a bearing on the reality of Muslim mind.

This traditional view about science and intellect, possibly began with the period of Ghazali who believed that "studying science runs the risk of being infected by its vice". This mentality makes an intellectual thought a rarity and the poverty of rational thought is the order of the day. This paved the way for today's modern puritanical Muslim thinking which rejects the discussion of the basic philosophical questions of science. They are happy to use the end products and fruits of science leaving aside its implications. With this kind of thinking and methodology the answer to the first question is probably 'no'.

There is a belief however, that "Islamisation of knowledge" is the right route to build scientific foundations in the world of Islam.
The basic question is how could Muslims build such a base without the thorough study and attentive investigation of Western science?

Muslims have no documentation of their linguistic and literal work, let alone science and scientific and Muslim achievement, in the past 500 years. There are hardly any historians of science (one face of humanities) and the generations of science philosophers (the other face of humanities) to formulate a history of ideas.
The study of the logic and philosophy of science would be the initial step in preparing the ground for the advent of science in the world of Islam. This would also include a deeper knowledge of Islamic thought and the modern reading of the Holy Qura'nic texts to absorb their ethical, linguistic, historical and cosmological message. These studies and investigations should correlate one another. Their documentation is essential in order to provide the wealth of information that would constitute the sought after knowledge. There is also a need for the brilliance and co-operation of scientists and scholars to derive and deduce the required knowledge.
This is a huge task that requires much time to bear fruits (if any). In view of this the answer to the second question is possibly "no".

The answer to the third question is "in all likelihood, yes". One has to understand that the fundamentals of science differ from the fundamentals of religion. Science determines how the universe or nature and their laws function, i.e. the human use of scientific knowledge is to solve mysteries and understand the phenomena that is associated with them, whereas the role of religion is to fathom the reasons and wisdom behind all this.

Scientific reality in most Muslim countries is reduced to a mere practice or technique. They are consumers of knowledge rather than practitioners of it, employers of results rather than those who produce results. In other words they are not able to abstract science and make it their own, to suit their conditions and environment as in India or other countries. Perhaps the alternative technology is a simple case in point.

Most importantly Muslims need to modernise or acquiesce the mind to enable it to produce the scientific ideas and embody the rational thought in the Muslim intellectual universe.

It is ironic that in the great Middle Ages, the Muslim philosopher, Ibn Rushd or Averroes (the Latin name) produced the scientific rational and modern thought that sparked the era of Western science, when Islamic science was coming to an end.
In the words of the founding fathers of science, Ibn Rushd represented, rationalism, "the rationalism that led to modern science." This indicates that it is possible and even fruitful for one culture to learn the science of another. To profit from the diversity of human knowledge and other modes of experience, to encourage the making of one's own metaphor.

" Najah Kadhim (PhD) is a University Senior Lecturer, and
" Director of IFID (International Forum for Islamic Dialogue