science islam

Science and Religion in Islam

Taner EdisDepartment of Physics, Truman State University

www2.truman.edu/~edis/

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Why Islam?

• Science and religion debate– Complicated.– Dominated by Christian background.

• Islam is a close cousin of Christianity and Judaism, but is also different enough in theology and history to be interesting.

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Science and the supernatural

• Our sciences have converged on naturalistic explanations of the world – physics, biology, neuroscience…

• Casts doubt on supernatural realities.

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Worrying about materialism

• Mustafa Akyol, (liberal Muslim, ID proponent): “ID is indeed a wedge that can split the foundations of scientific materialism… For the first time, the West appears to be the antidote to, not the source of, the materialist plague.”

• Symbolic enemy.

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Responding to materialism

• Technology is attractive to modern religious people. Linked to science. So can’t ignore science.

• Need to appropriate science, and correct science if it disagrees with revealed truths.

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Conservative, popular options

• Science either – Supports traditional beliefs, such

as those derived from taking scriptures at face value;

– Or if it does not, “True Science” done by the devout shows the errors of the materialists.

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Creationism

• Christian version: often young-earth.

• Muslim version: Quranic; often old-earth.– Widespread belief in

special creation, linked to scriptural literalism;

– Popular pseudoscience.

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Islamic Creationism

• Turkish origin, but internationally popular.

• Deny common descent.

• Borrows from Christian creationists.

• Sees “Darwinism” as a materialist conspiracy.

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Science-in-scripture

• Christian version: Electricity, laws of physics in Bible; Behemoth = dinosaur.

• Muslim version: Modern science and technology anticipated in Quran.

• Very popular legends. 55:19-20 about barrier between two bodies of water. Mediterranean-Atlantic salinity barrier; Jacques Cousteau conversion legend.

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Quranic Embryology

• Scattered verses such as 39:6 “God creates you inside your mothers, in successive formations, in three darknesses.”

• Authority of Western MDs: Bucaille, Moore.

• Fragments of ancient Greek medicine.

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Quranic astrophysics

• Seven layers of skies/heavens in Quran.• H. Nurbaki:

1. Solar system

2. Our galaxy

3. Local group of galaxies

4. “radio magnetic sphere”

5. Quasars

6. Expanding universe

7. “remaining boundless infinities”

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Why so popular?

• Miracle: Proves divine source of Quran.

• Like Biblical prophecy for conservative Christians.

• Intellectually worthless.

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Not defending medieval ideas!

• Turkey: much pseudoscience tied to Nur movement.

• Said Nursi: respected religious leader. Orthodox.

• Nur adherents noted for modern outlook; pro-capitalism, pro-technology enthusiasm.

• Do pseudoscience because they value science!

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Reconstructing science

• Christian version: “theistic science” ideas in ID movement.

• Muslim version: Islamizing science.– Design-centered biology and physics;– Social science shaped by Islamic social

ideals, Islamic law.

• Serious ideas much debated by Muslim intellectuals. Affects policy.

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Sophisticated creationism

• ID in Turkey.

• Seyyed Hossein Nasr– Common descent OK;– No natural creativity;– Reconstruct God-

centered science;– Revive medieval

Islamic views.

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Moderate options

• Moderate, liberal Christians seek compromise with science, interpret Bible less literally.– Example: guided evolution (ID-lite).

• Muslim case: there is some openness to metaphorical interpretation.– Some theologians adopt guided evolution,

accepting much common descent.

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Guided evolution

• Even guided, non-Darwinian evolution is controversial.

• Naturalistic process, particularly random element unacceptable.

• Human evolution particularly unacceptable.

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More liberal options

• Christianity: the supernatural retreats to ultimate, metaphysical domain. Science deals with mere details, is autonomous.

• Islam: much rarer. Science should be subordinate to revelation and moral concerns. (Even liberals think so.)

• Exceptions: some defend autonomy of science. Abdolkarim Soroush in Iran.

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What is different in Islam?

• The religious and intellectual options Muslims face are similar to those for Christians.

• But among Muslims, science is weaker and religiously-colored pseudoscience is stronger. Among intellectuals as well as the popular realm.

• Why?

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History

• Past few centuries dominated by need to catch up to modern, especially Western world.

• West has technological advantage military and commercial power. Need science!

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“Golden Age” exaggerated

• Muslim science did not greatly decline. Europe surged ahead with a new way of learning about nature.

• Medieval Muslim science embedded in religious, occult ways of thinking. Different from modern science!

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Defending Islam

• Borrow technology but guard against outside cultural influences.

• Materialist aspects of science undesirable. External imposition, not indigenous heresy as in Europe.

• Retain primacy of revelation; supernatural-centered view of nature.

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Awareness of Christianity

• European secularization seen as a disaster for religion; an example to avoid.

• Separating science from religion is dangerous. Even liberals are reluctant to go this way.

• Islam need not repeat Western history of science-religion accommodation.

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Strong doctrinal conservatism

• Liberal Muslim views much weaker than their Christian counterparts.

• Reinterpretation, seeing religion as human strongly opposed. Even violence.

• Even modernists, democrats can be cultural conservatives.

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Creationism example

• In education, commonly no evolution, or official support for creationism.

• International popular, media-based creationism such as Harun Yahya.

• Supported in intellectual circles, by academic theologians, by some science faculty in universities.

• ID default in Muslim intellectual culture.

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Weakness of science

• Muslim lands very weak in science.– Applied science OK;– Lack of creativity.

• Ineffective opposing creationism– Endorse pseudoscience– Tagged as secularist.

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Secularism is discredited

• Ideas with secularist associations suffer.

• Secularism = despotic, elite imposition on pious populations.

• Democracy religious populism. Islam central to political legitimation.

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No separate spheres?

• Science and religion in West: intellectual friction, institutional accommodation.

• Separate spheres. Science independent of religion.

• Not in Islamic world?• How much of a practical problem

is scientific backwardness?

Religion

Science

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Plug

Taner Edis, An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam (Prometheus Books, 2007).

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Web site

www2.truman.edu/~edis/• Contains many articles on science and

religion, and science and Islam topics.

• E-mail edis@truman.edu

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Thanks for listening!

• Any questions?