January 25, 2008 Friday Muharram 15, 1429 Science in terms of the Quran
By Bilal Ahmed Malik
THE Holy Quran is the book of guidance. This guidance is for the whole of
humankind and covers all activities of human life. Science is an important
human activity and is an essential one for the progress of human civilisation.
The Quran is not a book of science as such and hence one cannot hope to find
all the principles of science embedded in it; nevertheless the Quran has its
own style of dealing with the facts and principles of science. It deals with
the essence of scientific principles and makes statements about a number of
phenomena in a suggestive form hinting at the highest organising principles. In
verse 3: 191, Allah has indicated that anyone pondering over nature will
reflect: our Lord! Not for naught hast thou created (all) this
..
This assertion that nothing has been created for nothing is actually the most
fundamental article of faith to the modern ecologist who realises that the
universe has a fine-tuning and that we must not disturb it. There are about
thirty million life forms. Only five million have been studied so far. However,
many a time it has been found that man has disturbed the life styles of some of
these forms and has paid very dearly for this. We should take all care to see
that a life form survives, as its elimination may upset the overall ecological
balance of the nature. Thus the entire basis of the science of ecology is no
other than the Quranic assertion that nothing has been created for nothing.
Another example is the Quranic reference to the order and proportions of
things. In verse 25:2 it has been stated: It is He who created all things and
ordered them in due proportions. One would realise that the issues of order
and proportions are in fact linked to the question of survival of living
things. For example, man could not be drastically different in size from what
he is now and yet be compatible with the gravity field of earth and other
environmental factors.
Also within a given living body, the different parts follow different
proportions. In the case of plants these proportions can be understood in the
Fibonacci numbers. It is the proportions of things that lend beauty and
symmetry to an object. Thus proportion is one of the most important aspects in
the overall Grand Design of creation.
Still another fascinating example can be found in verse 92: 2 which refers to
the creation of man from Alaq (that which clings) within the mothers womb. The
successive phases in the development of a human being from an embryonic stage
to a full-grown foetus have been mentioned in the Surah Al-Muminun. These
phases were mentioned in the Holy Quran in the seventh century when the science
of embryology was not even born. Incidentally, embryology is a very recent
discipline, developed over a period of not more than 100 years. Thus, it is
indeed amazing that the successive phases of human embryologic development as
mentioned in the Holy Quran have been discovered recently.
Allah has asked man to ponder over His creation and development so that man can
go to the depths of biology and unveil the mysteries of science. Again, an
explanation of the whole chain of biological phenomenon in a summarised form
invites man to study medical science in all its details and also appeals to his
mind to think of Allah, Creator of all creations. The Quran has a particular
style of inviting attention to the craftsmanship in nature and, in this way,
places great emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge.
The Quran never created any bifurcation between religion and science. Thus,
talking in terms of modern perspectives of life, one would need both religion
and science. Science imparts material knowledge, religion teaches us the ethics
of using that knowledge. Religion invites man to ponder over creation and the
Creator, science provides the language for understanding creation and it is the
creation which acts as the signature of the creator. Thus, there is no real
conflict between religion and science.
Unfortunately, men and women today are neither aware of the emphasis the Holy
Quran puts on the acquisition of knowledge nor can they relate some of the
statements in the Holy Quran to the fact of science. This lack of awareness of
the scientific indications in the Holy Quran is firstly owing to the fact that
many recite from the Quran but do not understand the meaning of the verses due
to their poor knowledge of Arabic.
These preachers do not address the burning problems of the day like basic
education, eradication of poverty, social injustice, etc., not to speak of
scientific methods dealing with them. Thus the young generation gets a wrong
impression that the culture of science and the culture of Islam do not go
together. The Quran is based on absolute truth. And indeed it is the book of
exalted power. No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it. It is
sent down by one full of wisdom, worthy of all praise. (XLI: 41-2). The modern
researchers have to bear one thing in mind that if a certain verse of Quran
cannot be explained by the science of today, all they can say is that at the
present stage of our scientific knowledge, that verse cannot be comprehended.
Further advances in science would probably shed some more light on the verses.
The delightful experience is that as man dives deeper into the secrets of
matters and gains more and more knowledge, his grasp of the message of the
Quran becomes clearer and clearer. It is an inward joy, difficult to describe
which a researcher of the Quran experiences when the meanings of the text
enlarges even as his own capacity for understanding increases.
It was the practice of science which enables the early Muslims to carry the
torch of learning and thats why they led other nations. And it is the science
again which if properly practised according to ethics of the Quran, can be used
as an instrument of change in the Muslim society.
Thus in order to convince the Muslim youth that there is no conflict between
science and the Quran and also that the deeper scientific understanding of
nature, can lead to a deeper appreciation of the wisdom and powers of the
Creator, it is essential that the scientific indications in the Holy Quran are
understood and explained to the uninitiated.
ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL
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