Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) as inaugurator of Modern Age of Science

Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) as

inaugurator of Modern Age of Science

BY

 Prof. AI Hajj Syed Sibte Nabi Naqvi

The modern scientific age started when the strangle-hold of the old common sense axioms, and authority of the great philosophers of the past were subordinated to the findings of the five senses of perception under the guidance of simple logic, both deductive and inductive. For bringing about this revolution in the field of acquisition of knowledge, it was necessary that men should be emotively convinced of the unity and uniformity of Nature and immutability of its law. And men should be convinced that what is true on the Earth is true on the Sun, Moon, Stars and in the farthest corners of the space time continuum. Without this conviction the use of Empirical Induction not valid, and cannot be used in investigations of natural phenomena as experienced by men. And this is the sole purpose of modern science.

 

Before Islam all the monotheistic religions were based on Miracles and Mythology, both of which emphasized the violation of the ordinary law of nature for proving the greatness of their prophets or proginators. The materialist agnostic and atheist also based their convictions on the duality of matter and void, and on multiplicity of forces causing the infinite variety of natural phenomena. Contradiction and change were supposed to be inherent in nature, and provided the motive force for Chaos to change into Cosmos and disorder into order. There was no search for the Unity evolving the material universe according to a perfect plan which could satisfy the requirements of wisdom.

 

Christianity, which was the last revealed religion before Islam, had been corrupted so much that acquisition of knowledge was forbidden. The great Library of Alexandria was destroyed in 398 A.C. and Hypatia, a learned lady brutally, murdered in 415 A.C. by the fanatic Christian crowd for the crime that they were the custodians of pegmanistic knowledge "of philosophy and science. According to Henry Hallam “the human mind was at its nadir" at the beginning of seventh century, after Christ, when the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.).

 

It was this depressing back-ground when the human mind was wrapped up in darkness everywhere, and at the end an age which Robert Briffault has described as Pre-Scientific, that Islam appeared and the mission of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) was described in the Qur’an in the following words in Surah 2, verse 151: "We have sent among you an Apostle your own rehearsing to you Our Signs, and Sanctifying you, and instructing you in Scripture, Wisdom, and in New Knowledge." This was the announcement of a great unprecedented Revolution of thought and method of acquiring knowledge. The rest of the Qur’an shows the way for achieving these objectives.

 

The first revelation to the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), consisting of the first five verses of lqra' (Surah 96) emphasized the needsof acquiring knowledge through books written down by pen and considering how the Evolver has created the universe and man. This meant that, in the coming age- of Rationalism, believing in mere verbal stories and superstitious .beliefs would not do. The Prophet (P.B.U.H.) emphasized that Muslims should consider all knowledge as their own and should go in search of it to the next end of the World (China in Hadith.).

 

The second revelation, consisting of the -opening five verses of al-Miud'-dathir (Surah 74), taught the method of sanctification- of the soul, body and clothes which in the pronouncement of the mission preceded teaching of Scripture. Wisdom and New .Knowledge, which were to bathe real arms of the teachings of Islam.

 

The Signs or 'Tokens of God. the rehearsing of which was the first item of the Mission of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), have been mentioned” in the Qur’an-some three hundred times in different contexts. These. are of three kinds.

 

Firstly the Tokens of God are those verses of the Qur’an in which the fundamental Truths and Standards of Behaviour have been explained in most appropriate and emphatic words in the Arabic language, in such a beautiful sequence that humanity has not been able to produce verses like them during the last fourteen hundred years, in spite of an open and standing. challenge. This .excellent mastery lover words and fundamental Truths about the nature of man and the universe was declared to be the biggest Miracle of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.).

 

The second kind of Tokens. Or Signs of God, are the Miracles of different prophets, including those of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U. them all), which appear to be very strange and going against the law of nature. But, whenever people asked the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), to bring forth a miracle, the Qur’an termed such people to be ignorant fools, and repeated in various contexts that the "Habit of God", or the law of nature, does not change for anybody. In the opening verses of Surah al-Mulk ,(No. LXVll) it has been stated in clear words that mankind will not be able to discover any incongruity or-disorder in nature even if it searched nature again and again and

got tired out. i e The third kind of Signs or Tokens of God about which the Qur’an has asked mankind to observe and contemplate all the time, standing, sitting or reclining, with the conviction that they ‘have not been created in vain or in sport (Ill, 190, 191), are the phenomena of nature which we experience in ourselves, and in the continuum surrounding us, by our five senses of perception. and by our intellect. These include- all kinds of natural phenomena, life and death, pigment of the skin and languages of men, most insignificant insects, animals and plants

of different kinds, storms, lightning, thunder, clouds, rain, earth, sun, moon, day. night and continuum in which we are situated.

 

This is the sphere of modern science and it was here that the Holy Qur’an and Islam gave .a death blow to the preachings of all the philosophers and the -corrupted religions of the past, because all of them contended that the knowledge acquired empirically with the help of senses .of perception and limited human intellect was unreliable. On the other hand, Qur’an stressed that the New knowledge gained through Signs and Tokens of God, after due sanctification of Soul, body and Clothes, is a reliable way of getting knowledge about God and His Attributes in the material World. It was thus that the New Age of Modern Science was inaugurated by the Prophet (P.B.U.H.).

 

It was this insistence in 300 verses on acquiring useful knowledge, by direct empirical observations, which induced the Muslim Scientists to start accurate observations from the very

start in the middle of eighth century A.C. Ibrahim al-Fazari al-Jandab (died) 777 A.C.) produced an improved astrolabe which could measure angles correct to a degree, and produced an armillary sphere on which the movements of heavenly bodies could be correctly understood. Jabir ibn Haiyyan (died 815 or 820), in his book on chemistry clearly stated that for getting mastery over science, purposeful experiments, should be performed, and gave ten rules for performing experiments, which are as true today as they were in his time.

 

The Qur’an did not stop at encouraging empirical observations only. It went further and gave training in the- new method of induction for acquiring knowledge. Like all other older religions, it gave a belief system concerning life on earth and the life after death on resurrection. All the religions of the Pre-Scientific Age insisted that all their commandments should be accepted Emotively, without reason. The Qur’an did not adopt this attitude. Although the Muslims had fullest possible emotive confidence in the injuctions of the Qur’an and the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) and were ready to sacrifice their all at their command, the following verse was revealed after the victory of Badr, in the 8th Surah al-Anfal "Those who die would die after a clear proof and those who live would live after a clear proof" (Vll-42). The word 'Baiyyinah' in Arabic, used in this verse, means clear proof by logical argument, what may be called ratiocination. Thus the victorious Muslims were told that mere Emotive Conviction is not enough, you must have Cognitive Conviction also.

 

The Qur’an took this directive for Cognitive acceptance of the Truths enunciated therein, to its logical conclusion and declared in clear words that "there is no compulsion in Religion" (ll-265).  As. however, the Qur’an claimed to have "perfected the religion in Islam, and completed its

favours on man (V-part of 4 ), there was going to be no other guidance, by revelation in future, for man, in confirmation of the Qur'anic Truths, except through the Signs and Tokens of God, always pointing towards the Unity, Uniformity and Wise plan in the creations of God. It was for this reason that in Hammln Sijdah (XLI-53) the Qur’an announced that "Soon will We show them Our Signs in the (farthest) regions (of the Universe) .and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (Qur’an) is the Truth".  This was to be achieved by induction,

as is done in modern science in which man acquires cognitive knowledge by empirical induction.

 

lf you look at all the big revolutionary advances of science for understanding the law of nature, You will find that they consist of two parts. The basic part of the law usually deals with problems beyond human comprehension.. The second part deals with material facts from which some conclusions can be deduced and predictions can be made. if on experimentation, these predictions come true, we feel assured that both the comprehensible and -incomprehensible parts of the law are correct.

 

Consider Newton's law of Gravitation, as an example: The comprehensible part of this law was that the force of attraction between any two material particles in the universe is proportional to their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The incomprehensible part of this law was that every material particle exerts a measurable force on all other-material particles in the universe, through an imponderable strange g medium having miraculous t properties. A still more incomprehensible concept of far-reaching importance, hidden behind the acceptance of this law, which even Newton had not fully realized, was that there is no functional relationship between matter, space and time. Prediction could be made on the basis of deductions from the comprehensible part of the law, and Uranus, and Neptune were discovered according to such predictions. Newton's Law of gravitation was accepted as at law of

Mature along' with its incomprehensible parts.

 

The incomprehensible -parts of this law were, however, much more important from intellectual point of view. Newton himself believed in a Temporal World, with a Creator, but his law with lack of functional relationship between matter, space and time led to an Eternal, Infinite Universe in a steady state, which became the foundation of Nihilistic philosophy with all its hedonistic consequences.

 

Similar was the case with Einsteln's Theory of Relativity, which replaced Newton's (Law. of Gravitation. The predictions regarding dependence of length, time and mass on the relative velocity with reference to some standard of reference ca-me out correct, particularly at the time of solar eclipse' in May- 1919, but the incomprehensible part establishing a functional relationship between matter, space and time derived from non-Euclidian geometry and Tensor calculus were also accepted at the same time. It is the field equations of this theory which

have resulted in the cosmology of a pulsating universe, with ten dimensions or degrees of freedom in its continuum.

 

Exactly like the modern scientific theories, some fourteen hundred years ago, when man had no idea of gravitation or relativity, the Qur’an, by revelation, presented a religious hypothesis for the guidance of mankind in spiritual, social, cultural, economic and political affairs. As an integral part of this Religious hypothesis, the solutions of other fundamental problems about man and the universe, which agitate human mind at some stage or other, were also offered. In this connection the Qur’an informed that the present Universe began to be opened' out at a particular moment (XXI : 30). It has passed through three stages of evolution of two periods each (XLI : 9- 13). All life otigineted in wetet (XXI:30) (XXIV : 45) from black mud altered into shape, formed from crackling clay (XV : 267-3). Man after creation was fashioned and perfected before he was endowed with the Spirit of God (XXXII, 7-9) to act as Vicegerent in the material world (II : 30) under the first or lowest heaven (continuum), which has been decorated with lights of stars and galaxies (XLI : 12). It will begin to be folded up at a certain stage (XXI: 105). The souls of men and women, who died on earth, will be joined up with their material bodies along with their past records and memories (XXI: 94-104). Those who had practiced Islam in their earlier life will be able to pass out of the continuum of material bodies (with 10 dimensions accordingly to Einstein), to higher states of bliss with 'greater degrees of freedom, called Jannah, while those who discarded Islam and defied God will remain confined in the continuum of the material world, which will turn into a Hell of blazing fire and discomforts of all kinds. He (God) is the First. He is the Last, He is the Apparent and He is the Immanent, (LXll i: 4), meaning that there is a functional relationship between continuum, time and matter all through Him.

 

The religious hypothesis is a connected whole like the scientific hypothesis mentioned earlier, and exactly like them, consists of two parts. A comprehensible part which could be verified by empirical induction in the material world, and any incomprehensible part beyond the reach of sense perceptions at the present, stage. The Quran directed that you a observe the perceptual phenomena and draw inferences. You will find that it is all a most well-planned  creation by Tan uncomparable One,iWise, All Knowing. Evolver, with Unity of Nature, Unity of man and Unity of his knowledge. You would discover a functional relationship between all creation.

 

The process of observing nature empirically and of logical induction is evident from a large number of verses spread over the whole Qur’an, but the procedure becomes abundantly clear if you consider Qur'an, the first twenty five verses of Surah-ar-Rahman (LV). Here attention has been drawn to sixteen kinds of phenomena of a fundamental nature and six times it has been repeated, "Would you still disbelieve in your Bountious Lord ?" It was this teaching of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.,) and the Qur’an, which induced the Muslim scientists to adopt the Empirical inductive Method in scientific research from the every start in the eighth century, and which heralded the modern scientific age.

 

Western scholars like Robert Briffault in Making of Humanity and Draper in Conflict between Science and Religion, clearly admit that Empirical inductive method was introduced in the scientific enquiry by the Muslim scientists in the middle ages, but most of other western scientists continue to believe that the credit for introduction of this method goes to Francis Bacon, Harvev, etc. in the 16th Century; This is evidently a prejudiced opinion. Although logical induction had been discovered by Socrates, and practised to some extent by Aristotle in his "Meteorology" and some other works, it was not followed in scientific enquiry before the ,revelation of the Holy Qur'an; It was not logically valid in a society guided by miracles and superstition, or plurality of matter and void, Good and Evil, or Atma, Perm-atma and Prakirty.  

 

Be as it may? It was for; proving the Grand ,Unity of the Omnipotent, Omnipotent, Omnipotent God with his 99 ,attributes described in the Qur’an and the correctness of various commands contained, therein, that the empirical inductive method was emphasized by the Qur'an.

 

The purpose of teaching this method like the teaching of speaking by naming things, and of writing,, was also to enable man to perform his functions as Vicegerent of the Lord in the material World, and to give him a full cognitive conviction in the possibility, of his evolution to higher states or Bliss and Freedom on resurrection.

 

Now in the last quarter of the twentieth century the empirical inductive method in the hands of non-believers has enabled us to get confirmation and cognitive conviction of certain parts of the Our‘anic hypothesis concerning the material world. We know that the space, time and matter are all functionally related with each other. The evolutionary material universe began to open out some ten thousand million years back. All life started in water and black mud altered, formed by the erosion of ignious rocks some millions of years back.

 

Our Universe of stars and galaxies will continue to expend for about thirty three thousand million years, and will then begin to be folded up, and' will ultimately turn-into a hell of blazing

fire, at a temperature of millions of degrees absolute. The continuum of our galaxies has ten degrees of freedom, or dimensions in it; five of them show themselves as matter and radiation

in time., How the remaining five degrees of freedom show themselves in the material world is not specified in science so far.

 

The Qur'anic hypothesis dealing with material universe has been fully justified so far by  Empirical Inductive method, but an integral part of this hypothesis deals with matters about life after death, beyond the grip of material evidence so far, like those of gravitation and Relativity but; there is no justification in not having a similar cognitive conviction on that part, like those of the incomprehensible parts of the Scientific Theories.

 

The Unity of Nature, the Unity of Man, and the unity of this knowledge which are only the consequences of the Grand, uncomparable Unity of God, have been clearly brought out by the Empirical inductive Method, and that was one of the reasons why the Qur’an and the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.), encouraged it, and thus inaugurated the Modern Age of Science.

 

We have thus seen that in the Theistic or Atheistic society of human beings before Islam, Empirical Inductive Method was neither followed, nor logically valid, due to their beliefs based on miracles and mythology, or plurality of forces, or chance, supposed to be operative in the Universe. All of them regarded the Law of Nature to be mutable and whimsical in which logical Induction and scientific prediction could not be practiced. Islam‘s emphasis on Unity of God with the attributes described in the Qur’an and immutability of the Law of natures provided that basis, and the Holy Qur'an's insistence on empirical observations and drawing conclusions (logical predictions) on the basis of Unity of the Creator of a purposeful, well-planned universes laid the foundation of induction and verification of these predictions by further empirical observations (i.e. experimentation). This laid the foundation of the Empirical Inductive Method of Scientific Research. The Muslim Scientists and followers of the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) gave it a practical shape between the 8th and 12th centuries. This method was learnt by the Western scientists of later centuries from these Muslim predecessors and they have thus been able to bring about the achievements of the Modern Age.

 

Therefore, we can say with full historical justification that the Holy Qur’an and that Blessing for the Universe, Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) were the inaugurators of the Modern Age of Science.