The Muslim Scientific Endeavour

by Hasanul Arifin

I was sitting in my first biology class one day when my professor was sharing with the class about the fundamental principles underlying scientific endeavour. He was talking about natural causality as the one of the principles in which all events can be traced from.

“Everything in the natural world is dictated by natural laws. In the study of science, there is no God or any other supernatural being responsible for the phenomena we perceive every day.”

We live in an age whereby secularism and atheism is the dominant discourse in scientific endeavour. An age defined by the pursuit of wealth as opposed to spirituality and true knowledge.

When we talk about secularism in science, we mean that scientific endeavour that removes the concept of God. And atheism in science, of course, is the total rejection of the concept of God in scientific endeavour. And scientific endeavour, we define as the pursuit of knowledge, not restricting only to the study of natural phenomena, but extend towards the social sciences as well.

As Muslims, we have a different worldview of what science is, and what objectives it should lead to. Unfortunately, this dominant discourse, propagated by the vast machineries of the West, have resulted in some sort of a subtle indoctrination of secularist, materialistic and atheist concepts even among our own Muslims intellectuals. This has resulted in the rise of false leaders in the Muslim world, claiming to be representatives of Islam, spreading confusion and falsehood in the name of the religion. Academics and celebrated figures like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Rashid Khalifa who have contributed to a lot of damage in the Muslim intellectual world.

And how do we respond to this confusion and fitna, both from the West and from our ignorant Muslim brothers and sisters?

It is incumbent that the Muslim intelligentsia to be educated in the correct Islamic worldview, as opposed to the Western secularist, materialistic and atheist worldview. It is incumbent that the Muslim intelligentsia be aware of the correct philosophy in our quest for knowledge and truth.

So what exactly is the Islamic philosophy of science?

Islamic science is the scientific endeavour that is rooted to the Islamic worldview. And the Islamic world view is the comprehensive and universalizing vision of Existence or Reality as it really is, based on the epistemology of divine unity (Tawhid) that reflects the inter-relatedness of all things and thus the unification of knowledge. It acknowledges that all creation is designed so for the higher purpose of servitude to the One True God, based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Quoting from the Qur'an:

"I have created the jinn and humankind only for My worship." 51:56

Islamic science views all creation as an expression of truth, and that all creation has meaning and purpose for Man to ponder on. As stated in the Qur’an:

“He created the heavens and the earth with the truth, highly exalted be He above what they associate (with Him).” 16:3

“Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee; save us then from the chastisement of the fire.” 3:191

Unfortunately, the dominant discourse has forced us to be preoccupied with the technicalities of how things work, instead of what it actually means. We are preoccupied with what Newtonian Laws of Mechanics are, of how the mitochondria of the cell provides energy, of why sodium reacts with water in such a fashion, until we forget the big picture which what all of this actually mean!

This preoccupation is analogous to studying words by merely studying what are the alphabets that consist a particular word, how are the alphabets positioned to form that word, instead of looking at the big picture to realise what the whole word actually means!

Modern Western Science reduces reality to the empirical, are only concerned with the observable and measurable. Anything that cannot be observed via the 5 senses, or measured using physical tools, is not considered science. This rejects the realm of the supernatural as part of a holistic understanding of the universe, as the Qur’an says:

“This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah. Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them.” 2:2-3

In the Islamic worldview, according to Syed Naquib, the world of nature is another form of Divine Revelation analogous to the Holy Qur’an itself. The only difference is that nature is a great, open book that is created, and presents itself in multiple and diverse forms. It is but a symbol of expression of the might, brilliance and creativity of God. Science is a kind of ta’wil or allegorical interpretation of the empirical things that constitute the world of nature. And as such, science must base itself firmly upon the tafsir or the interpretation of the apparent or obvious meanings in nature.

In other words, the Muslim scientific endeavour is a spiritual endeavour- an effort to know more of Allah s.w.t and His attributes, so that we can be in better servitude! This is the ta’wil of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jailani in his book Sirrul Asrar, in which he relates the word ‘ibadah’ or servitude to ‘ma’rifah’ or gnosis which is the knowledge of Allah s.w.t and His Oneness! Because servants can perform their duties better if they know their master. And lovers would able to love their significant others better if they know who they love.

The objective of the Muslim scientific endeavour is to seek wisdom and justice. Wisdom, according to Syed Naquib, is defined as the knowledge given by God that enables the recipient to know the right place, or to render correct judgement as to the right place of a thing or an object of knowledge. Justice is the condition whereby things or objects of knowledge are in their right places. And the right places are as defined by the Holy Quran, which is the book of guidance that encompasses all truth and reality (haqiqah). And adab, is the spectacle of justice reflected by wisdom.

The Muslim scientist, whether in the study of natural phenomena or the social sciences, must be educated in adab in his/her scientific endeavours. Only then will he/she be uplifted to the status of khalifah or vicegerent of Allah, as justice and wisdom is reflected and manifested in his/her actions and duties.

To be continued..