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Islam and Science: A CommentAuthor(s): Anand ChandavarkarReviewed work(s):Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 49 (Dec. 6 - 12, 2008), pp. 78-79Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40278269 .

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Islamand Science:A CommentANAND CHANDAVARKARAresponseo rfan abib'sarticle,Modern cience ndIslamic ssentialism"(6 September008).

Ithank,ithhe sual isclaimer,eenaKhatkhateorsefulomments.Anandhandavarkaranandchand@starpower.net),asednWashington,asbeenacommentatornEPW or ecadesndhaswrittenftennphilosophynd conomicthought.

histhought-provokingrticle epw,6 September008) IrfanHabibhasarguedhowa literalistnterpretationof theQuranand theHadithhas led toobscurantismndhampered riginalndeclectic cientificesearchnMuslim oun-tries. Generally, is analysis,however,raises everalignificantssues, hich eedto be addressed n order o givea morecomprehensivendyet alanced verviewof his erymportantheme.Tobeginwith, ny uchdiscussion asto hark ack ogicallyndhistorically,othe basic Islamic doctrine f ahiliyahwhichtrictlyenotes he geof gnorancebefore he dvent f slam 622ad) to theextent f even repudiatinghe seminalknowledgef heGreeksSocrates, lato,Aristotle,uclidet al) and the Romans(Justinian,irgilt al). Subsequently,iththe pread f slam his octrine as beenextendedo mean n interdictionfnon-Islamicknowledge. his has oftenedtobarbarous berrationsike hedestructionof the ancient Indian universities fNalanda,UddantapurandVikramashilaolder hanOxbridgendtheSorbonneby Bakhtiyar hiljiand other Muslimrulers, rthetorchingf the AlexandrialibrarynEgypt, priceless epositoryfHellenicearning,yCaliphOmar,nvok-ing he lassic ilemmafdeductiveogic:"If t snot n theQuran t sdangerous;fit s ntheQuran t sunnecessary."An authoritativeakistaniscientist,PervezHoodbhoy1995)has notedhowMuslim rthodoxyjahiliyah n anotherguise)has made obscurantisthanges nthe cience yllabusf unniMuslimoun-tries.These include ome or all of thefollowing:ntroductionf all scientificfactswithreferenceoAllah;dilution fconcept fcausalityo accommodate hedivinewill:rewritingf ll science ooksby authors of sound Islamic beliefs;removal fnon-Muslimames ssociatedwith pecificaws ofphysicse g,Boyle'sLaw or Einstein's heory f Relativity)

whichhas also beentaken yquite fewMuslim ritics o implymoral elativismand quantummechanical ncertaintysan unacceptableimitationn thepowerofAllah. Whiletheteaching ftheDar-winiantheory f evolutions allowed nTurkey, gypt, raq, Indonesia, t wasremoved rom he syllabus n Pakistanduring he regime fZia-ul-Haq nd isexpresslyorbiddenn SaudiArabia ndtheSudan.Significantly,heShia ranianclergyhas allowed sciencesyllabus nschools o maintaints ecular haracter,whichhas paid ampledividendsudgingfrom he successof ran'snuclear owerthought has notpreventedhepersecu-tion ofand exodusofprominentcade-mics ike RaminJahanbegloo, leadingsociologistBarone 008:41)-It is no coincidencehatTunisia, heclosestapproximationn the ArabandMuslimworld o the eparationfmosqueand State,has also themostmodernisticscience yllabus n the slamicworld nstark ontrast o Egypt, upposedlyhemost dvancedArab ountry,here venthemostwestern-orientedcientistt omepointor otherdeclareshimself goodMuslimike thegeologist l-Naggar hoinhisTreasuresf he unnah ries o howthat heQuran nticipated oderncience(Pitock2008: 36). It is estimatedhatnationsof the Organisationf IslamicConferencepend onlyabout0.34% oftheirgdp on research nd developmentcompared ith global verage f .36%.Atthesametime,Oman, Kuwait, yria,Jordan, audi Arabia, nd Yemen achdevotedmorethan7% of gdp to arms.Accordingothe cientificitationsndexeven hemost dvancedMuslim ountrieslike Egypt nd Turkeyre well belowIsrael nd ndia Hoodbhoy 995: 5).

Thetragic redicamentfAbdus alam,the Pakistani physicsNobel laureate(1979) s a cautionaryale illustrativefthehurdles acedbyscientistsn Muslimcountries.alam,despite eing hemostarticulate and effective roponent fMuslimscientific evelopmentnd thefounderirectorf henternationalentrefor heoretical hysics,rieste,taly, ashad to eavePakistan henhisAhmadiyahsect was officiallyxcommunicatedy78 December6, 2008 DDd EconomicPoliticaleekly

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= DISCUSSIONan act of the Pakistanparliamentn1974.Less known s the fact that theSaudiArabian uthoritiesad also decla-redhis fundamental orkthat unifiedthe weak and electromagneticnter-actions,longwith tevenWeinbergndSheldonGlashow,s being ubversivefthe hariah!Thehumanisticciences nd the rts nMuslim ountriesavefared obetter.orinstance, akistan's re-Islamicrchaeo-logical eritageoo sbeing ystematicallydestroyed y lack of politicalwill andignorance.he astremaininguddha fSwat, sevenmetre igh ,300years ldcarving,was dynamitedn November2007by adical slamists.hemain ite fBuddhistrt tChilashas beendefaced ypolitical raffiti.sMartin enman f heHiedelbergcademyaid:"HistoryorheaveragePakistani egins n 1947" AliceAlbinia 008: 42). No wonder hatMor-timerWheeler,he irstirectorf rchae-ology nPakistan,xclaimedn despair:"Archaeologys more fa vendetta hana science."IrfanHabib asks: "how ongwill theglobalMuslim ommunityummah) on-tinueto sufferfter he closureof thegatesof reasoned rgumentijtihad)amillenniumgo,"but in commonwithotherslamic cholarsikeBernard ewis,AkbarAhmed nd Wael Hallaq (1984),doesnotpauseto offerny explanationswhysuch a constructiveoctrinehaslapsed nto nmeritedblivion. hiswar-rantsclose analysis.While in generalijtihaddenotesthe utmost ndeavour,physicalrmental,xpendedn particu-lar activity,n practice slamicscholarshavetended o restricttnarrowlyothejurist'smental acultynreaching legalrulinghat s nferentialndthus robable.Since ll aspects f ife re regulated ythe hariah,jtihadoomust e commen-suratewith he bligationnd need odis-cuss he aw.But an jtihad e egitimate-lyextendedo cover ny acunae in theQuran ndSharia ike heexegesis f heBible nd the Torah?This is thecriticalquestionwhich slamicscholarsdo notseem o havereallyddressed. neexpla-nation s that consensus n ijtihadhasbeen hwartedy he ontinuedxistenceofrenownedmujtahidsptothe o/i6thcentury,heMuslim racticef hoosing

mujtahidtthe urn f achcentury;ndtheoppositionf the Hanbaliand Shafijuristswhich lsoweakened hecoalitionofHanafis nd MalikilsHallaq1984:34).WhileHallaq has substantiatedhecon-tinuityf jtehadhe stillfails o explainwhy hishas beennarrowlyonfined olegal theory nd not extendedto allbranches fknowledge.The dvancementfknowledgeependsfundamentallyn thedegree owhichnysocietys closed ropen o nvokehe las-sicdichotomyf KarlPopper 1945) nso-far s science s a matter f ransparencyandpeerreview nregard o theformula-tion f onjecture,heory,estable ypoth-esesandproof. luralisms the ssence fa self-criticalpen ociety.t s noaccidentthatthe apogee of Islamicscienceandknowledge asreachednMoorish painwhich was not hag-ridden y Islamicorthodoxynd satisfiedhecriteria f anopen society o the extentpossible nmedieval imes.Theprospectsfprogressiveslam on-duciveto scientificdvancementn theIndian subcontinentnd elsewhere renot ooreassuringudging y he riumphof the fundamentalisteoband modelover hemodernistligarhmodel fSyedAhmed Ahmed 007),and therejectionof he ecularphilosophyftheEgyptiansavant, ahaHusayn. cience anflourishonlyna secular emocracy hich spre-cluded y he slamic octrine f heunityof religion Deen) and state (D'Wala).Today venthe so-calledMuslim emoc-racies ikeMalaysia nd Ttirkeyre notreally ecular. heMalaysianonstitutionspecifieshat Islam s thereligionfthefederation; ut otherreligionsmaybepracticed npeace and harmony... nd thehead of the state, heYang di-Pertuan

Agongs also headof eligionf he tate"Article3(1) (emphasisprovided).Themuch outed urkishecular tate sseenon closer nalysis o have a strongub-straction f sunni Islam disguisedasKemalism and unredeemed by theperiodic enocide fChristianreeks ndArmeniansAnderson008).The overridinghallengefor slamicsociety s whether t has the will andcapacity orespond otheclarion all ofAbdus Salam to separatereligion ndsciencewhen hey reunable oseparatereligion nd state.Onlyan endogenousIslamicEnlightenments theanswer. opromote cience in Muslimcountries,Islamic ociety as tocome o terms ithmodernity.he Turkish hysicist,anerEdis, fTruman tateUniversitynKirks-ville,Missouri, as presented balancedsurvey nd agendainhis four ooksonscience ndfaith,ncludingn llusion fHarmony: Science and Religion in Islam(Prometheus 007). Meanwhile,we areall ndebted o rfan abib or is atalyticrole n thismomentousebate.REFERENCESAhmed,Akbar 2007):Journeynto slam: theCrisisof GlobalisationWashingtonDC: BrookingsInstitutionress).Albinia, lice 2008):"InDeepWater",ew tatesman,September, 42.Anderson,Perry (2008): "After he Ottomans",11 eptember,p3-12; Afteremal", 5Septem-ber,pp13-22, ondonReview fBooks,Vol 30,Nos17 nd18.Barone,Jennifer2008): "At War with Science nIran", iscover,uly, 41.Hallaq, Wael B (1984): "Was the Gate of IjtihadClosed", nternational ournal f Middle EastStudies, 6:pp3-41.Hoodbhoy,ervez 1995):"Science"nVol4 in JohnL Esposito, ditornChief, xford ncyclopaediaoftheModern slamicWorldNewYork:OxfordUniversityress).Popper, arl 1945):TheOpen ocietynd tsEnemies(London:Routledge egan aul).Pitock, odd (2008): "Scienceand Islam", iscover,July, p36-45.

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