Science as a Religious Duty

The greatest expansion of the early Islamic empire was completed by the Umayyad Dynasty (661 -750 CE) with their capital in Damascus. Their successor, the Abbasids (750 – 1258 CE) abandoned the policy of  territorial expansion and focussed instead on the creation of an Islamic civilisation, centred in Baghdad. They believed it to be their religious duty to understand God's Creation in order to understand Him better, and through this understanding, to create a most rational religion for all mankind. They collected, translated and studied books of knowledge from all the known ancient civilisations, especially from the Greek, in search of enlightenment. In the process, they created the Islamic Golden Age that flourished in science. They invented/discovered algebra, the number theory (even the notion of different infinities), much of trigonometry, theory of human vision, sociology and anthropology. They excelled, without parallel at that time, in all branches of knowledge, including astronomy, higher mathematics, optics, cryptography, chemistry, engineering, cartography, geography, economics, philosophy, history and of course medicine, including surgery, all backed by technological innovations, such as papermaking, astronomical instruments, clocks, hydraulic machines and dams. [For further information, see the book: Science Under Islam – Rise, Decline and Revival,  by S. M. Deen, website: www.scienceunderislam.com]   

Then darkness descended over us, we turned against science and generally against secular knowledge, as our fortunes declined. We may highlight our current state with two quotations. From the physicist Prof Reza Mansouri of Sharif University (Tehran), Physicsworlds,  Aug 2007.

"By the 15th century, Islamic science had all but dried up, and today Muslim countries remain near the bottom of the scientific pile. Not one of the top 200 technical universities, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement, is located in a Muslim country."  

From the Physics Nobel-Laureate late Prof Abdus Salam: [the first Muslim to get a Nobel Prize]

" ... science is weakest in the lands of Islam. ... the honourable survival of a society depends directly on the strength of its science and technology ...".    [see the book Science Under Islam, cited above]

And yet it is Islam which once blazed in science and technology, pushed forward the boundary of scientific knowledge and thus laid down the foundation of early modern European science. Even Copernicus's model of heliocentric planetary system seems to be based on earlier Islamic work. So, what is it in Islam that led to the creation of such a glorious civilisation and what was it that killed it?   

Islam for the Study of Science

Of all the major religions in the world, Islam is the one that urged its followers repeatedly to seek knowledge, and in particular scientific knowledge.

Quran:   My Lord, increase my knowledge  [20:114]

Hadith: Go even as far as China to seek knowledge

The Prophet did not ask Muslims to go to China for religious knowledge, which is contained in the Quran. He meant technical knowledge, since China was the technological super-innovator from the ancient time. Following this hadith, Muslims went to China and learnt about papermaking, printing, navigational compass, among numerous other things.

The very first verse in the Quran [1:1] talks about "a'lameen" [universes], but we Muslims are least knowledgeable about "a'lameen" –  how many Muslims are working in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, searching for the ultimate mystery of the universe? How many of us Muslims can appreciate the greatness of God from a deep understanding of the mysteries of the universe?  The appreciation that comes from an understanding of those mysteries is so profound that even Einstein was moved to say: Allahu Akbar.

The very first sura [sura 96] that came to the Prophet talks about "a'laq", thing that grows into a human baby. Again we Muslims are least knowledgeable about the current embryo-related scientific research. This sura 96 goes on to say that God taught men the use of pen and what he did not know, which implies cultivation of knowledge, in which today we 1.2 billion Muslims as a group lie towards the bottom of the World league-table [e.g. count the number of Muslim Nobel Prize winners in sciences].

We can go on quoting from the Quran and showing that we have failed to invest in the understanding and recommendations of our own holy book.  Hundreds of times, the Quran talks about tafakkur and tashkeel (roughly science and technology), urging Muslims repeatedly to reflect on and understand the mysteries of God's Creation, in order to appreciate His magnificence better. If the Quran asks us repeatedly to do something, then doing that something becomes our religious duty. Therefore, we conclude that the study of science (including of course  technology) that provides the understanding God's Creation is a religious duty for Muslims.

Change Needed in Our Inner Selves

The early Muslim scholars pursued that religious duty most fervently, and they were rewarded by God with the blessings that produced the Islamic Golden Age.  But we have moved away from that duty for the last 600 years (and thus changed our inner selves), and therefore it should not be  surprising that our state, which was once so high, has now become so low:

"God would never withdraw the blessings He had bestowed on a people unless they change their inner selves"     Quran [8:53]

Unless we are able to recreate a Muslim society which thrives in science, we shall remain weak in the science-driven modern world. If we accept our religious duty to study science (and thus change our current anti-science inner selves to a pro-science one), then with God's blessings, we should be able to recreate our glory again.  Of many Muslim reforms discussed these days, it is the cultivation of science that can raise our standing in the today's technological world, to a level from which we can contribute with distinction, and thus reach the state of "honourable survival" (in Salam's words).

We believe, following the Quranic verse [13:11], that God will not change our current weak state unless we change our inner selves to embrace the study of science as a religious duty, as was accepted by the early Muslim scholars who created the Golden Age of Islam. It is science, not extremism, that can empower Muslims in our technology-driven modern world. The main purpose of this CAMSAM campaign is to bring this message to all Muslims, particularly to our youngsters, and thus to help create a reformed Muslim society in which science sprouts and blooms.