Muslim scholars have developed a spectrum of viewpoints on science within the context of
Islam.
[Seyyed Hossein Nasr. "Islam and Modern Science"] The
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
and Islam allows for much interpretation when it comes to science. Scientists of
medieval Muslim civilization (e.g.
Ibn al-Haytham
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the pri ...
) contributed to the new discoveries of science.
[ Haq, Syed (2009). "Science in Islam". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. . Retrieved 2014-10-22.] From the eighth to fifteenth century, Muslim mathematicians and astronomers furthered the development of almost all areas of mathematics.
At the same time, concerns have been raised about the lack of
scientific literacy
Scientific literacy or science literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories. Scientific literacy is chiefly concerned with an understanding ...
in parts of the modern Muslim world.
Aside from contributions by Muslims to
mathematics,
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
,
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...
,
chemistry, and
natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science.
From the ancient wo ...
, some have argued a very different connection between the religion of Islam and the discipline of science. Some Muslim writers have claimed that the Quran made
prescient statements about scientific phenomena that were later confirmed by scientific research for instance as regards to the structure of the
embryo, the
solar system
The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
, and the
development of the universe.
[Cook, Michael, ''The Koran: A Very Short Introduction,'' Oxford University Press, (2000), p. 30]
Terminology
Science is often defined as the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence. It is a system of acquiring knowledge based on
empiricism, experimentation and methodological
naturalism, as well as to the organized body of knowledge human beings have gained by such research. Scientists maintain that scientific investigation needs to adhere to the
scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...
, a process for evaluating empirical knowledge that explains
observable
In physics, an observable is a physical quantity that can be measured. Examples include position and momentum. In systems governed by classical mechanics, it is a real-valued "function" on the set of all possible system states. In quantum phy ...
events without recourse to
supernatural notions.
According to
Toby Huff, there is no true word for science in Arabic (the language of Islam) as commonly defined in English and other languages. In Arabic, "science" can simply mean different forms of knowledge.
This view has been criticized by other scholars. For example, according to Muzaffar Iqbal, Huff's framework of inquiry "is based on the synthetic model of Robert Merton who had made no use of any Islamic sources or concepts dealing with the theory of knowledge or social organization"
Each branch of science has its own name, but all branches of science have a common prefix, ''ilm''. For example, physics is more literally translated from Arabic as "the science of nature", علم الطبيعة ''‘ilm aṭ-ṭabī‘a''; arithmetic as the "science of accounts" علم الحساب ''ilm al-hisab''.
[https://giftsofknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/hans-wehr-searchable-pdf.pdf Searcheable PDF of the Hans Wehr Dictionary (if that doesn't work check https://archive.org/details/HansWehrEnglishArabicDctionarySearchableFormat/page/n607/mode/2up )] The religious study of Islam (through
Islamic sciences
The Islamic sciences ( ar, علوم الدين, ʿulūm al-dīn, lit=the sciences of religion) are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars ( ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic relig ...
like
Quranic exegesis,
hadith studies
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
, etc.) is called العلم الديني "science of religion" (''al-ilm ad-dinniy''), using the same word for science as "the science of nature".
[
According to the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Arabic, while علم’ ''ilm'' is defined as "knowledge, learning, lore," etc. the word for "science" is the plural form علوم’ ''ulūm''. (So, for example, كلية
العلوم ''kullīyat al-‘ulūm'', the Faculty of Science of the Egyptian University, is literally "the Faculty of Sciences ...")][
]
History
Classical science in the Muslim world
One of the earliest accounts of the use of science in the Islamic world is during the eighth and sixteenth centuries, known as the Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
.[ It is also known as "Arabic science" because of the majority of texts that were translated from Greek into ]Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
. The mass translation movement, that occurred in the ninth century allowed for the integration of science into the Islamic world. The teachings from the Greeks were now translated and their scientific knowledge was now passed on to the Arabs world.
Despite these terms, not all scientists during this period were Muslim or Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
, as there were a number of notable non-Arab scientists (most notably Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
), as well as some non-Muslim scientists, who contributed to scientific studies in the Muslim world. The mass translation movement in the ninth century allowed for the integration of science into the Islamic world.
A number of modern scholars such as Fielding H. Garrison, Sultan Bashir Mahmood, Hossein Nasr
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (; fa, سید حسین نصر, born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.
Born in Tehran, Nasr completed his education in Iran and the United St ...
consider modern science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
and the scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...
to have been greatly inspired by Muslim scientists who introduced a modern empirical, experiment
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
al and quantitative
Quantitative may refer to:
* Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties
* Quantitative analysis (disambiguation)
* Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry
* Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...
approach to scientific inquiry. Certain advances made by medieval Muslim astronomers, geographers
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
and mathematicians
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
were motivated by problems presented in Islamic scripture, such as Al-Khwarizmi
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ( ar, محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; ), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persian polymath from Khwarazm, who produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronom ...
's (c. 780–850) development of algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary ...
in order to solve the Islamic inheritance laws, and developments in astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
, geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
, spherical geometry and spherical trigonometry
Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, geodesics are grea ...
in order to determine the direction of the Qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...
, the times of Salah prayers, and the dates of the Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 ...
. These new studies of math and science would allow for the Islamic world to get ahead of the rest of the world.‘With these inspiration at work, Muslim mathematicians and astronomers contributed significantly to the development to just about every domain of mathematics between the eight and fifteenth centuries”
The increased use of dissection in Islamic medicine
In the history of medicine, "Islamic medicine" is the science of medicine developed in the Middle East, and usually written in Arabic, the ''lingua franca'' of Islamic civilization.
Islamic medicine adopted, systematized and developed the medi ...
during the 12th and 13th centuries was influenced by the writings of the Islamic theologian
Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding ''ʿaqīdah'' (creed). The main schools of Islamic Theology include the Qadariyah, Falasifa, Jahmiyya, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batini ...
, Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
, who encouraged the study of anatomy and use of dissections as a method of gaining knowledge of God's creation. In al-Bukhari Bukhari or Bokhari () means "from Bukhara (Uzbekistan)" in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, and may refer to:
People
* al-Bukhari (810–870), Islamic hadith scholar and author of the
* Bukhari Daud (1959–2021), Indonesian academician and re ...
's and Muslim's collection of sahih
Hadith terminology ( ar, مصطلح الحديث, muṣṭalaḥu l-ḥadīth) is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (''hadith'') attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad by other early Islamic f ...
hadith it is said: "There is no disease that God has created, except that He also has created its treatment."
(Bukhari 7-71:582). This culminated in the work of Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288), who discovered the pulmonary circulation
The pulmonary circulation is a division of the circulatory system in all vertebrates. The circuit begins with deoxygenated blood returned from the body to the right atrium of the heart where it is pumped out from the right ventricle to the lungs ...
in 1242 and used his discovery as evidence for the orthodox Islamic doctrine of bodily resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
. Ibn al-Nafis also used Islamic scripture as justification for his rejection of wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
as self-medication
Self-medication is a human behavior in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influence to self-administer treatment for physical or psychological conditions: for example headaches or fatigue.
The substances most widely used in sel ...
. Criticisms against alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
and astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...
were also motivated by religion, as orthodox Islamic theologians viewed the beliefs of alchemists and astrologers as being superstitious.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his ''Matalib'', discusses Islamic cosmology, criticizes the Aristotelian notion of the Earth's centrality within the universe, and "explores the notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his commentary," based on the Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
ic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." He raises the question of whether the term "world
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
s" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this single universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...
or cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe." On the basis of this verse, he argues that God has created more than "a thousand thousand worlds (''alfa alfi 'awalim'') beyond this world such that each one of those worlds be bigger and more massive than this world as well as having the like of what this world has." Ali Kuşçu's (1403–1474) support for the Earth's rotation and his rejection of Aristotelian cosmology (which advocates a stationary Earth) was motivated by religious opposition to Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
by orthodox Islamic theologians, such as Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
.
According to many historians, science in the Muslim civilization flourished during the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, but began declining at some time around the 14th to 16thAhmad Y Hassan
Ahmad Yousef Al-Hassan ( ar, links=no, أحمد يوسف الحسن) (June 25, 1925 – April 28, 2012) was a Palestinian/Syrian/Canadian historian of Arabic and Islamic science and technology, educated in Jerusalem, Cairo, and London with a PhD i ...
Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century
/ref> centuries. At least some scholars blame this on the "rise of a clerical faction which froze this same science and withered its progress."[''Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History'' by Ahmad Y. al-Hassan and Donald Hill, Cambridge University Press, 1986, .] Examples of conflicts with prevailing interpretations of Islam and science – or at least the fruits of science – thereafter include the demolition of Taqi al-Din's great Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
observatory in Galata, "comparable in its technical equipment and its specialist personnel with that of his celebrated contemporary, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...
." But while Brahe's observatory "opened the way to a vast new development of astronomical science," Taqi al-Din's was demolished by a squad of Janissaries, "by order of the sultan, on the recommendation of the Chief Mufti," sometime after 1577 CE.
Science and religious practice
Scientific methods have been historically applied to find solutions to the technical exigencies of Islamic religious rituals, which is a characteristic of Islam that sets it apart from other religions. These ritual considerations include a lunar calendar, definition of prayer times based on the position of the sun, and a direction of prayer set at a specific location. Scientific methods have also been applied to Islamic laws governing the distribution of inheritances and to Islamic decorative arts. Some of these problems were tackled by both medieval scientists of the Islamic world and scholars of Islamic law. Though these two groups generally used different methods, there is little evidence of serious controversy between them on these subjects, with the exception of the criticism leveled by religious scholars at the methods of astronomy due to its association with astrology.
Modern science in the Muslim world
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, modern science arrived in the Muslim world but it was not the science itself that affected Muslim scholars. Rather, it "was the transfer of various philosophical currents entangled with science that had a profound effect on the minds of Muslim scientists and intellectuals. Schools like Positivism and Darwinism penetrated the Muslim world and dominated its academic circles and had a noticeable impact on some Islamic theological doctrines. "There were different responses to this among the Muslim scholars:[Mehdi Golshani, ''Does science offer evidence of a transcendent reality and purpose?'', June 2003] These reactions, in words of Professor Mehdi Golshani
Mehdi Golshani (Persian: مهدی گلشنی, born 1939 in Isfahan, Iran) is a contemporary Iranian theoretical physicist, academic, scholar, philosopher and distinguished professor at Sharif University of Technology.
He is also member of I ...
, were the following:
Muslim Nobel laureates
As of 2018, three Muslim scientists have won a Nobel Prize for science (Abdus Salam
Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physicist and a ...
from Pakistan in physics, Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Hassan Zewail ( ar, أحمد حسن زويل, ; February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an Egyptian-American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry". He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistr ...
from Egypt and Aziz Sancar from Turkey in Chemistry). According to Mustafa Akyol, the relative lack of Muslim Nobel laureates in sciences per capita can be attributed to more insular interpretations of the religion than in the golden age of Islamic discovery and development, when Islamic society and intellectuals were more open to foreign ideas.
Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Hassan Zewail ( ar, أحمد حسن زويل, ; February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an Egyptian-American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry". He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistr ...
who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
and is known as the father of femtochemistry said that "There is nothing fundamental in Islam against science."
Counterfactual trends
Islamic scholar Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi
Yasir Qadhi (born January 30, 1975), is an American preacher, theologian, and imam. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Tex ...
has noted that important technological innovations—once "considered to be bizare, strange, haram
''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...
(religiously forbidden), bidʻah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a fo ...
(innovation), against the tradition" in the Muslim world, were later accepted as "standard".
One of the main reasons the Muslim world was held behind when Europe continued its ascent was that the printing press was banned. And there was a time when the Ottoman Sultan issued a decree that anybody caught with a printing press shall be executed for heresy, and anybody who owns a printed book shall basically be thrown into jail. And for 350 years when Europe is printing, when Descartes">enéDescartes is printing, when Galileo is printing, when Newton">saacNewton is printing, the only way you can get a copy of any book in the Arab world is to go and hand write it yourself.[Yasir Qadhi on video clip linked to Twitter by Abdullah Sameer ]
In the early twentieth century, Shia ''ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' forbade the learning of foreign languages and dissection of human bodies in the medical school in Iran. On the other hand, contrary to the current cliché concerning the opposition of the Imamate Shiite Ulama to the modern astronomy in the nineteenth century, there is no evidence showing their literal or explicit objection of the modern astronomy based on Islamic doctrines. They even became the advocates of modern astronomy by the publication of Hibat al-Dīn Shahristānī' ''al-Islām wa al-Hayʾa'' (''Islam and Astronomy'') in 1910. After that, Shia ulama not only were not against the modern astronomy but also they believed that the Quran and Islamic hadiths of Imams admit it.
In recent years, the lagging of the Muslim world in science is manifest in the disproportionately small amount of scientific output as measured by citations of articles published in internationally circulating science journals, annual expenditures on research and development, and numbers of research scientists and engineers. Concerns has been raised that the contemporary Muslim world suffers from scientific illiteracy. Skepticism of science among some Muslims is reflected in issues such as resistance in Muslim northern Nigeria to polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
inoculation, which some believe is "an imaginary thing created in the West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
or it is a ploy to get us to submit to this evil agenda." Also, in Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, a small number of post-graduate physics students have been known to blame earthquakes on "sinfulness, moral laxity, deviation from the Islamic true path," while "only a couple of muffled voices supported the scientific view that earthquakes are a natural phenomenon unaffected by human activity." Islamist author Muhammad Qutb
Muhammad Qutb, (; ar, محمد قطب; 1919 – April 4, 2014) was a Muslim author, scholar and teacher who is best known as the younger brother of the Egyptian Muslim thinker Sayyid Qutb. After his brother was executed by the Egyptian gove ...
(brother of and promoter of Sayyid Qutb) in his influential book ''Islam, the misunderstood religion'', states that "science is a powerful instrument" to increase human knowledge but has become a "corrupting influence on men's thoughts and feelings" for much of the world's population, steering them away from "the Right Path". As an example, he gives scientific community's disapproval of claims of telepathy, when he claims that it is documented in hadith that Caliph Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
prevented commander Sariah from being ambushed by communicating with him telepathically. Muslim scientists and scholars have subsequently developed a spectrum of viewpoints on the place of scientific learning within the context of Islam.
The conflicts between these two ideas can become quite complicated. It has been argued that "Muslims must be able to maintain the traditional Islamic intellectual space for the legitimate continuation of the Islamic view of the nature of reality to which Islamic ethics corresponds, without denying the legitimacy of modern science within their own confines".
While the natural sciences have not been "fully institutionalized" in predominately Islamic countries, engineering is one of the most popular career choices of Middle Eastern students, and it could be argued as applied science that would function in conjunction with religion.
During the twentieth century, the Islamic world was introduced to modern science. This was able to occur due to the expansion of educational systems, for example, 1900 in Istanbul and 1925 Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
opened universities. Unlike some of the discords between science and Islam in the past, the concerns for some of the modern students were different. This discord for Islam was naturalism and social Darwinism, which challenged some beliefs. On the other hand, there was a new light into thinking of the harmony between science and Islam. An example is the study of Kudsî of Baku, looking at astronomy with religious implications, this occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. This allowed him to connect his discoveries from what he knew from the Quran. These included “the creation of the universe and the beginning of like; in the second part, with doomsday and the end of the world; and the third was the resurrection after death”. Here is a passage in the Quran that is made by God about modern science, that they should be congruent with the truth attained by modern science, “hence they should be both in agreement and concordant with the findings of modern science”. This passage however, was used more often during the time where ‘modern science’ was full of different discoveries. However, many scientist thinkers through the Islamic word still take this passage to heart when it come to their work. However, there are also some strong believers that with modern viewpoints such as social Darwinism challenged all medieval world views, including that of Islam. Some didn't even want to be affiliated with modern science, and thought it was just an outside look into Islam. Many followers who tend to see the problems with the integration of Islam and science, there are many that still stand by the view points of Ibn Hanbal (855). That the meaning of science is also knowledge, that of many different aspects. There is a sense of wonder, an open mind that allows for people to have both religious values and scientific thought. Along with positive outlooks on modern science is the Islamic world, there are many negative ones as well. It has become the idea for some that the practice of modern science, is that of studying Western science. A large issue that concerns those who don't believe in the study of Western science, is where the knowledge originated. For Muslims the knowledge comes from God, not from human definition of forms of knowledge. An example of this in the Islamic world is that of modern physics, which is considered to be Western instead of an international study. Islam values claim "knowledge of reality based not on reason alone, but also on revelation and inspiration". The ideals of modern science contradict these views and many criticisms of modern science come from the value systems that some modern scientists up hold.
2013 survey on Muslim perspectives
According to a 2013 survey of Muslims in different Muslim majority countries by the Pew Research Center, the answer to the question "is there a conflict between science and religion" varied by country. In the Middle East and North Africa few agreed—Morocco (18%), Egypt (16%), Iraq (15%), Jordan (15%) and the Palestinian territories (14%). More agreed in Albania (57%), Turkey (40%), Lebanon (53%) and Tunisia (42%).
The poll also found a variance in how Muslim population in some countries are at odds with current scientific theories
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluatio ...
about biological evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
and the origin of man. Only four of the 22 countries surveyed that at least 50% of the Muslims surveyed rejected evolution (Iraq 67%, Tajikistan 55%, Indonesia 55%, Afghanistan 62%). Countries with relatively low rates of disbelief in evolution (i.e. agreeing to the statement "humans and other living things have always existed in present form") include Lebanon (21%), Albania (24%), Kazakhstan (16%).
Science and the Quran
Many Muslims agree that doing science is an act of religious merit, even a collective duty of the Muslim community
' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.
It is a synonym for ' ...
.
According to M. Shamsher Ali, there are around 750 verses in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena. According to the ''Encyclopedia of the Quran'', many verses of the Quran ask mankind to study nature, and this has been interpreted to mean an encouragement for scientific inquiry, and the investigation of the truth.[ Some include, “Travel throughout the earth and see how He brings life into being” ( Q29:20), “Behold in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding ...” ( Q3:190)
Historical Islamic scientists like ]Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
and Al-Battani
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī ( ar, محمد بن جابر بن سنان البتاني) ( Latinized as Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius) (c. 858 – 929) was an astron ...
derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran. Mohammad Hashim Kamali
Mohammad Hashim Kamali (Pashto/Dari: ; born 7 February 1944) is an Afghan Islamic scholar and former professor of law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He taught Islamic law and jurisprudence between 1985 and 2004. One author ...
has stated that "scientific observation, experimental knowledge and rationality" are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran. Ziauddin Sardar
Ziauddin Sardar ( ur, ضیاء الدین سردار; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futurology and s ...
argues that Muslims developed the foundations of modern science, by "highlighting the repeated calls of the Quran to observe and reflect upon natural phenomenon".
The physicist Abdus Salam
Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physicist and a ...
believed there is no contradiction between Islam and the discoveries that science allows humanity to make about nature and the universe; and that the Quran and the Islamic spirit of study and rational reflection was the source of extraordinary civilizational development. Salam highlights, in particular, the work of Ibn al-Haytham
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the pri ...
and Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
as the pioneers of empiricism who introduced the experimental approach, breaking way from Aristotle's influence, and thus giving birth to modern science. Salam differentiated between metaphysics and physics, and advised against empirically probing certain matters on which "physics is silent and will remain so," such as the doctrine of "creation from nothing" which in Salam's view is outside the limits of science and thus "gives way" to religious considerations.
Islam has its own world view system including beliefs about "ultimate reality, epistemology, ontology, ethics, purpose, etc." according to Mehdi Golshani.Mehdi Golshani
Mehdi Golshani (Persian: مهدی گلشنی, born 1939 in Isfahan, Iran) is a contemporary Iranian theoretical physicist, academic, scholar, philosopher and distinguished professor at Sharif University of Technology.
He is also member of I ...
, ''Can Science Dispense With Religion?''
Toshihiko Izutsu
was a Japanese scholar who specialized in Islamic studies and comparative religion. He took an interest in linguistics at a young age, and came to know more than thirty languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Hin ...
writes that in Islam, nature is not seen as something separate but as an integral part of a holistic
Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book '' Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED On ...
outlook on God, humanity, the world and the cosmos. These links imply a sacred aspect to Muslims' pursuit of scientific knowledge, as nature itself is viewed in the Quran as a compilation of signs pointing to the Divine. It was with this understanding that the pursuit of science, especially prior to the colonization of the Muslim world, was respected in Islamic civilizations.
The astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum
Nidhal Guessoum (born September 6, 1960) is an Algerian astrophysicist. He is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
His research interests range from gamma-ray astrophysics, such as positron-electron annihila ...
argues that the Quran has developed "the concept of knowledge" that encourages scientific discovery. He writes:
"The Qur'an draws attention to the danger of conjecturing without evidence (''And follow not that of which you have not the (certain) knowledge of...'' 17:36) and in several different verses asks Muslims to require proofs (''Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful'' 2:111), both in matters of theological belief and in natural science."
Guessoum cites Ghaleb Hasan on the definition of "proof" according the Quran being "clear and strong... convincing evidence or argument." Also, such a proof cannot rely on an argument from authority
An argument from authority (''argumentum ab auctoritate''), also called an appeal to authority, or argumentum ad verecundiam, is a form of argument in which the opinion of an authority on a topic is used as evidence to support an argument. Some con ...
, citing verse 5:104. Lastly, both assertions and rejections require a proof, according to verse 4:174. Ismail al-Faruqi
Ismaʻīl Rājī al-Fārūqī ( ar, إسماعيل راجي الفاروقي January 1, 1921 – May 27, 1986) was a Palestinian- American philosopher. He spent several years at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, then taught at several universitie ...
and Taha Jabir Alalwani
Taha Jabir Al-Alwani (طه جابر علواني), Ph.D. (1935 – March 4, 2016), was the President of Cordoba University in Ashburn, Virginia, United States. He also held the Imam Al-Shafi'i Chair in the Islamic Legal Theory at The Graduate Sch ...
are of the view that any reawakening of the Muslim civilization must start with the Quran; however, the biggest obstacle on this route is the "centuries old heritage of ''tafseer
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
'' (exegesis) and other classical disciplines" which inhibit a "universal, epistemiological and systematic conception" of the Quran's message. The philosopher Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
considered the Quran's methodology and epistemology to be empirical and rational.
Guessoum also suggests scientific knowledge may influence Quranic readings, stating that "for a long time Muslims believed, on the basis on their literal understanding of some Qur’anic verses, that the gender of an unborn baby is only known to God, and the place and time of death of each one of us is likewise ''al-Ghaib
Al-Ghaib is an Arabic expression used to convey that something is concealed (unseen). It is an important concept in Islam, encompassing not only the realm of the divine, including angels, paradise, and hell, but also future events, which only God k ...
'' nknown/unseen Such literal under-standings, when confronted with modern scientific (medical) knowledge, led many Muslims to realize that first-degree readings of the Quran can lead to contradictions and predicaments."
Islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...
such as Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic ...
argue that since "Islam appointed" Muslims "as representatives of God and made them responsible for learning all the sciences,"[Qutb, Sayyid, ''Milestones'', ] science cannot but prosper in a society of true Islam. (However, since Muslim majority countries governments have failed to follow the '' sharia'' law in its completeness, true Islam has not prevailed and this explains the failure of science and many other things in the Muslim world
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
, according to Qutb.)
Others claim traditional interpretations of Islam are not compatible with the development of science. Author Rodney Stark argues that Islam's lag behind the West in scientific advancement after (roughly) 1500 AD was due to opposition by traditional ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
to efforts to formulate systematic explanation of natural phenomenon with "natural laws." He claims that they believed such laws were blasphemous because they limit "God's freedom to act" as He wishes, a principle enshired in aya 14:4: "God sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will," which (they believed) applied to all of creation not just humanity.
Taner Edis
Taner Edis (born August 20, 1967) is a Turkish American physicist and skeptic. He is a professor of physics at Truman State University. He received his B.S. from Boğaziçi University in Turkey and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Universi ...
wrote ''An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam''. Edis worries that secularism in Turkey, one of the most westernized Muslim nations, is on its way out; he points out that the population of Turkey rejects evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
by a large majority. To Edis, many Muslims appreciate technology and respect the role that science plays in its creation. As a result, he says there is a great deal of Islamic pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...
attempting to reconcile this respect with other respected religious beliefs. Edis maintains that the motivation to read modern scientific truths into holy books is also stronger for Muslims than Christians. This is because, according to Edis, true criticism of the Quran is almost non-existent in the Muslim world. While Christianity is less prone to see its Holy Book as the direct word of God, fewer Muslims will compromise on this idea – causing them to believe that scientific truths simply must appear in the Quran. However, Edis argues that there are endless examples of scientific discoveries that could be read into the Bible or Quran if one would like to. Edis qualifies that Muslim thought certainly cannot be understood by looking at the Quran alone; cultural and political factors play large roles.
Miracle literature
Starting in the 1970s and 80s, the idea of presence of scientific evidence in the Quran became popularized as '' ijaz'' (miracle) literature, also called " Bucailleism", and began to be distributed through Muslim bookstores and websites, and discussed on television programs by Islamic preachers.[ The movement contends that the Quran abounds with "scientific facts" that appeared centuries before their discovery by science and which "could not have been known" by people at the time. By asserting the presence of scientific truths stemming from the Quran, it also overlaps with Islamic creationism.
According to author ]Ziauddin Sardar
Ziauddin Sardar ( ur, ضیاء الدین سردار; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futurology and s ...
, the ''ijaz'' movement has created a "global craze in Muslim societies", and has developed into an industry that is "widespread and well-funded".[ Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000: p.29] Individuals connected with the movement include Abdul Majeed al-Zindani
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani (; born in 1942 in Ibb, Yemen) is a leading Islamist, founder and head of the Iman University in Yemen, head of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood political movement and founder of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Q ...
, who established the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah
The Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah is an organization established to publicize what it calls "Scientific Signs found in the Quran and Sunna", i.e. references to what it believes are numerous discoveries of science (everyt ...
; Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic televangelist and public orator who focuses on comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and the Peace TV Network.
In 2 ...
, the Indian televangelist; and Adnan Oktar
Adnan Oktar (; born 2 February 1956), also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish religious sex cult leader, creationist/ anti-evolutionist, conspiracy theorist, preacher and pamphleteer.Filiu, ''Apocalypse in Islam'', 2011: p.171 I ...
, the Turkish creationist.
Enthusiasts of the movement argue that among the miracles found in the Quran are "everything, from relativity, quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...
, Big Bang theory
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
, black holes and pulsars
A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward E ...
, genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
, embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...
, modern geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
, thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of th ...
, even the laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...
and hydrogen fuel cells".
Zafar Ishaq Ansari terms the modern trend of claiming the identification of "scientific truths" in the Quran as the "scientific exegesis" of the holy book.
An example is the verse: "So verily I swear by the stars that run and hide ..." ( Q81:15–16), which proponents claim demonstrates the Quran's knowledge of the existence of black holes; or: " swear bythe Moon in her fullness that ye shall journey on from stage to stage" ( Q84:18–19) refers, according to proponents, to human flight into outer space.
Embryology in the Quran
One claim that has received widespread attention and has even been the subject of a medical school textbook widely used in the Muslim world [ Rizvi, Atheist Muslim, 2016: p.121] is that several Quranic verses foretell the study of embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...
and "provide a detailed description of the significant events in human development from the stages of gametes and conception until the full term pregnancy and delivery or even post partum."
In 1983, an authority on Embryology, Keith L. Moore, had a special edition published of his widely used textbook on Embryology (''The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology''), co-authored by a leader of the scientific miracles movement, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani (; born in 1942 in Ibb, Yemen) is a leading Islamist, founder and head of the Iman University in Yemen, head of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood political movement and founder of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Q ...
. This edition, ''The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology with Islamic Additions'', interspersed pages of "embryology-related Quranic verse and hadith" by al-Zindani into Moore's original work.[ Rizvi, Atheist Muslim, 2016: p.120-1]
At least one Muslim-born physician ( Ali A. Rizvi) studying the textbook of Moore and al-Zindani found himself "confused" by "why Moore was so 'astonished by'" the Quranic references, which Rizvi found "vague", and insofar as they were specific, preceded by the observations of Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
and the '' Ayr-veda'', and/or easily explained by "common sense".[
Some of the main verses are
*( Q39:6) God creates us "in the womb of your mothers, creation after creation, within three darknesses," or "three veils of darkness" . The "three" allegedly referring to the abdominal wall, the wall of the uterus, and the chorioamniotic membrane.][ Rizvi, Atheist Muslim, 2016: p.121-2]
*Verse Q32:9 identifies the order of organ development of the embryo—ears, then eyes, then heart.[ Rizvi, Atheist Muslim, 2016: p.124]
*Verses referring to "sperm drop" (''an-nutfa''), and to ''al-3alaqa'' (translated as "clinging clot" or "leech like structure") in ( Q23:13-14); and to "sperm-drop mixture" (''an-nuṭfatin amshaajin'') in ( Q76:2). The miraculousness of these verse is said to come from the resemblance of the human embryo to a leech, and to the claim that "sperm-drop mixture" refers to a mixture sperm and egg.[
*( Q53:45-46) "And that He creates the two mates—the male and female—from a sperm-drop when it is emitted," allegedly refers to the fact that the sperm contributes X and Y chromosomes that determine the gender of the baby.][
However,
*The "three darknesses" or three walls ( Q39:6) could easily have been observed by cutting open of pregnant mammals, something done by human beings before the revelation of the Quran, ("dissections of human cadavers by Greek scientists have been documented as early as the third century BCE").][ Rizvi, Atheist Muslim, 2016: p.122]
*Contrary to the claims made about Q32:9, ears do not develop before eyes, which do not develop before heart. The heart begins development "at about 20 days, and the ears and eyes begin to develop simultaneously in the fourth week". However, the verse itself doesn't mention or claim the order of how the embryo will form first in the womb. "Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His reatedsoul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful."
*The embryo may resemble a leech (ala "clinging clot" or "leech like structure" of ''al-3alaqa'' in Q23:13-14), but it resembles many things during the eight week course of its development—none for very long.[
*While it is generally agreed the Quran mentions sperm (''an-nutfa'' in several verses), "sperm-drop mixture" (''an-nuṭfatin amshaajin'' in Q76:2) of a mixture of sperm and egg is more problematic as nowhere does the Quran mention the Egg cell or ovum—a rather glaring omission in any description of embryo development, as it the ovum the source of more than half the genetic material of the embryo.][
*With mention of male sperm but not female egg in the Quran, it seems likely Q53:45-46—"And that He creates the two mates, the male and female, from a sperm-drop when it is emitted"—is talking about the erroneous idea that all genetic material for offspring comes from the male and the mother simply provides a womb for the developing baby (as opposed to the sperm contributing the X and Y chromosomes that determine the gender of the baby). This idea originated with the ancient Greeks and was popular before modern biology developed.][
In 2002, Moore declined to be interviewed by the ]Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
on the subject of his work on Islam, stating that "it's been ten or eleven years since I was involved in the Qur'an."
Criticism
Critics argue, verses that proponents say explain modern scientific facts, about subjects such as biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
, the origin and history of the Earth, and the evolution of human life, contain fallacies and are unscientific.[ Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000: p.30][see also: Ruthven, Malise. 2002. ''A Fury For God''. London: Granta. p. 126.]
As of 2008, both Muslims and non-Muslims have disputed whether there actually are "scientific miracles" in the Quran. Muslim critics of the movement include Indian Islamic theologian Maulana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanvi, Muslim historian Syed Nomanul Haq, Muzaffar Iqbal, president of Center for Islam and Science in Alberta, Canada, and Egyptian Muslim scholar Khaled Montaser.
Pakistani theoretical physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (Urdu: ;;born 11 July 1950) is a Pakistani nuclear physicist and activist who serves as a professor at the Forman Christian College and previously taught physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. Hoodbhoy is also a promin ...
criticizes these claims and says there is no explanation that why many modern scientific discoveries such as quantum mechanics, molecular genetics, etc. were discovered elsewhere.
Giving the example of the roundness of the earth and the invention of the television,
a Christian site ("Evidence for God's Unchanging World") complains the "scientific facts" are too vague to be miraculous.
In addition, organizations promoting ''ijaz'' (Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah
The Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah is an organization established to publicize what it calls "Scientific Signs found in the Quran and Sunna", i.e. references to what it believes are numerous discoveries of science (everyt ...
) have been accused of spreading misleading, out-of-context statements and video clips in an effort to show support of the miraculousness of the Quran by non-Muslim scholars, after inviting the scholars to "conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders".
Critics argue that while it is generally agreed the Quran contains many verses proclaiming the wonders of nature,
*it requires "considerable mental gymnastics and distortions to find scientific facts or theories in these verses" (Ziauddin Sardar);
*that the Quran is the source of guidance in right faith (''iman'') and righteous action (''alladhina amanu wa amilu l-salihat'') but the idea that it contained "all knowledge, including scientific" knowledge has not been a mainstream view among Muslim scholarship (Zafar Ishaq Ansari); and that "Science is ever-changing ... the Copernican revolution overturning polemic models of the universe to Einstein's general relativity overshadowing Newtonian mechanisms".[ So while "Science is probabilistic in nature" the Quran deals in "absolute certainty". (Ali Talib);]
*Nidhal Guessoum has also been highly critical of "pseudo-scientific claims" made about the Quran.[
]Nidhal Guessoum
Nidhal Guessoum (born September 6, 1960) is an Algerian astrophysicist. He is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
His research interests range from gamma-ray astrophysics, such as positron-electron annihila ...
says that the central issue in the Islam-science discourse is the hierarchical positioning or placeof the Quran in the scientific enterprise.
Mustansir Mir, Professor of Islamic Studies argues for a proper approach to Quran with regard to Science that allows multiple and multi-level interpretations.
He writes that
“From a linguistic standpoint, it is quite possible for a word, phrase or statement to have more than one layer of meaning, such that one layer would make sense to one audience in one age and another layer of meaning would, without negating the first, be meaningful to another audience in a subsequent age.”
However, Mir is very critical on many ill and amateurish scientific interpretation that spreaded on internet. He also concludes that no credible scientific interpretation has been produced.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Islam & Science
Science and the Islamic world—The quest for rapprochement
by Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (Urdu: ;;born 11 July 1950) is a Pakistani nuclear physicist and activist who serves as a professor at the Forman Christian College and previously taught physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. Hoodbhoy is also a promin ...
.
Islamic Science
by Ziauddin Sardar
Ziauddin Sardar ( ur, ضیاء الدین سردار; born 31 October 1951) is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futurology and s ...
(2002).
Can Science Dispense With Religion?
by Mehdi Golshani.
Islam, science and Muslims
by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Islam, Muslims, and modern technology
by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Center for Islam and Science
Explore Islamic achievements and contributions to science
Is There Such A Thing As Islamic Science? The Influence Of Islam On The World Of Science
* ttp://iht.com/articles/2007/07/14/africa/14doctors-web.php Radicalism among Muslim professionals worries many
{{Authority control