Scientific Attitude and Islam

 Scientific Attitude and Islam

M. Raihan Sharif

Scientific attitude, it is said, depends on three conditions and unless these three conditions are fulfilled there can hardly be any scientific progress in any age. The three conditions are: (1) Faith on the universe as a homogeneous unit; (2) Acceptance of laws of nature as uniform; and (3) Reliance on particulars as a guide to inductive truth. Evidently, the first two conditions are vital. Unless one conceives of the universe as one unit, it is not possible to conceive of universal laws. Supposing one thinks that the universe in its various regions or even in various planets is ruled by different divinities, gods and goddesses, and there is an atmosphere of jealousy and competition among these ruling divinities, gods and goddesses, how can there be a conception of universal laws that may claim uniformity of truth and validity for the control of the universe as a whole? On the other hand, the mysteries of nature which are pursued by the scientists in their scientific inquiries for establishing truths are also, then, divided and subdivided into narrow realms and laws of nature cannot be uniform. If one divides the universe into natural and supernatural categories, even then homogeneity of the universe and uniformity of nature disappear. That is why the foundation of scientific knowledge is laid on one universe, one nature and for the matter of that one world.

Faith on oneness of nature may be said to be transformed in spiritual terms into faith in oneness of God. The source of religious faith is thus founded on nature. In old times various religious faiths grew to divide the universe into numerous compartments and consequently to divide nature into pieces. In the Greek and Roman faiths, distinct places of importance were given to gods ruling the planets like Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune and so on, while the conception of ruling gods was also extended to forests, to sea, mountains, to storm and so on. Similar tendencies have also been very important in Hindu philosophy and religious faith. As against such tendencies, the Semitic religious faith had its abode in the heart of deserts. The vast expanse of deserts might have built the background of one nature and one universe, offering favourable climate for the evolution of n faith pronouncing oneness of God. Accepting oneness of God, it is easy to establish oneness of the universe and uniformity of laws of nature. Hence in that context scientific inquiry, gets the favourable environment. But it is to be noted that for scientific inquiry, just the conception of oneness of universe is not enough. The Christian and Jewish theology in Semitic religious faith accepted miracles and supernatural powers and phenomena which could be said to be unfavourable for scientific approach. It is pointed out by many that the Christian and Jewish prophets appeared as superhuman beings with the exhibition of miraculous powers and stood in the way of scientific progress by reversing the scientific atmosphere.

One the other hand, to conceive of one uniform universe free from the distinction of natural and super–natural elements is not enough. For proper scientific inquiry, not only nature has to be conceived as undivided and one has to take one’s stand on the uniformity pervading the particulars, but one has also to emphasize the value of one particular phenomenon or datum; for, science not only needs the general laws but also the small particulars (that is individual phenomena and data) to test the general laws. That is why faith in inductive and deductive processes of inquiry is associated with scientific pursuit.

If one analyses the fundamental principles of Islam, one can easily find out the essential conditions of scientific inquiry and progress implied therein. Oneness of God is one of the cardinal principles of Islam; this principle has made the fulfillment of the first two conditions indispensable by establishing one universe and one nature. This at the same time has done away with the division between natural and supernatural elements of the universe. The emphasis on universality in Islam has been founded on this cardinal principle of oneness of God which has saved the Islamic philosophy from the split between a secular and a non-secular life. The Qur’an has proclaimed that all the world is the place of worship and the throne of God is spread all over the worlds and skies. The Arab philosopher Ibn Rushd has given the philosophic explanation of nature's undividedness and homogeneity. There is evidence that the renowned philosopher Spinoza was in subsequent ages influenced greatly by Ibn Rushd’s philosophy. Besides the fulfillment of the first two important conditions, it is possible to point out that the third condition is also adequately satisfied in the Islamic philosophy in which due account is taken of the details or the individuals. This latter attitude is particularly manifest in the treatment of subjects like human dignity and human relations. Although Muslim thinkers had been influenced by Greek philosophers, particularly Aristotle. Muslim scientists did not rely simply on deductive methods inherited from the Greeks. One philosopher, Ibn Taimiyah succeeded to point out the inadequacy and incompleteness of Aristotle’s logic. Evidence shows that Islamic philosophers gave due importance to the inductive method along side with the deductive. In a word, there is an intimate relationship between the fundamental Islamic philosophy and the essential conditions of scientific approach. It is therefore not strange that with the advent of Islam, in general, the advance of science was promoted and left uninterrupted for centuries until the atmosphere was changed by intellectual inertia and social and political disorganization.

In the tenth century, Al-Farabi adopted the Aristotelian method of classifying all sciences. Al-Khwarizmi, on the other hand. infused the contemporary Muslim viewpoint in the classification of sciences; in this he clearly distinguished between the broad groups of Islamic jurisprudence and foreign sciences. These foreign sciences were typically called philosophy (i.e. falsafa) in which numerous theoretical and applied sciences were included in various branches, e.g. medicine, meteorology. mineralogy and chemistry in the branch of natural sciences (‘iImutabi‘a); mathematics; theology and metaphysics; ethics, family or social sciences (including economics); and political science and administration. Muslim society, however, was not in favour of branding these sciences as foreign to demarcate a zone of intellectual isolationism and create an invidious distinction in the field of knowledge. In response to this social urge, Al-Ghazzali classified sciences into two main groups: religious and non-religious. In Abu Sina, we find the most acceptable classification; he divided the sciences into two main classes: (i) theoretical sciences seeking truth and (ii) applied sciences seeking welfare. Interestingly indeed, Ibn-Khaldun divided the sciences into (i) traditional cultural, and (ii) philosophical. Some writers, again, divided the sciences in even more general terms, such as admirable sciences, abominable sciences and neutral sciences. Thus most of the attempts at classification exhibit the anxieties to reflect the objectives of social welfare. It is, however, true that social welfare in those days was not a secular concept and excluded atheistic or non-Islamic attitudes. The characteristic attitude to scientific knowledge and inquiry has been beautifully reflected in Al-Ghazzali’s reported statement: “A grievous crime indeed against religion has been committed by the man who imagines that Islam is defended by the denial of the mathematical sciences, seeing that there is nothing in revealed truth opposed to these sciences by way of either negation or affirmation,  and nothing in these sciences opposed to the truths of religion.”

Under Islamic civilization, the pursuit of scientific inquiry assumed a remarkable role in Muslim–ruled Spain. Beginning from the tenth century, seekers of scientific knowledge in Western countries had been attracted to the centers of learning in Muslim Spain and disseminated, in their turn, the cultural features of Muslim life to the Western world. It is said that the muzaibs or musraribs were largely responsible for the spread of Muslim culture in the European countries because they were profoundly influenced by the Arab culture in Spain and went even to the length of preferring Arabic to their languages, Latin and Roman. In fact, there was a deep under–current of cooperation between Christians and Muslims on the cultural level despite the jealousies and conflicts on the surface. This cooperation is said to have opened the way for Muslim intellectual leadership in Europe. As early as in the tenth century, Roper Sylvester II gave recognition to this intellectual leadership and introduced the Arab astronomy and mathematics. This movement gradually gathered momentum and by the eleventh century, Toledo, Spain’s leading centre of learning, grew into a centre of the development and propagation of Arab sciences and culture. It was in this centre that, in the twelfth century, Bishop Raymond started his regular school for the translation campaign of Arab sciences in which a large number or renowned writers joined with unprecedented zeal and interest. This intellectual gateway transmitted the scientific knowledge that laid the foundation of European renaissance and liberation of thought that built the so-called Western civilization on an intellectual plane. Besides Spain, other Muslim countries were, at that period of history, passing through a phase of new venture towards building a higher level of economic and cultural life founded on expansion of industry and commerce. Commerce forged the links of contact with non–Muslim countries and paved the way for transmission of cultural influences to these countries. Sicily was another gateway for Muslim cultural transmission to Europe. Muslim mastery over the high seas was then one of the singular contributory factors, the fascinating tales of Sindbad the Sailor being only an indication of such a background.

In that age, it was undoubtedly the scientific attitude that held the pursuer of knowledge and truth in a distinctively high esteem in Muslim society. The German Orientalist, Mr. Grunebaum, says in his book Medieval Islam, “The dominant attitudes of Muslim society favoured the scholar as a normative pattern of human character and activity.” On the other hand, Western writers have called the Muslim civilization as essentially a civilian one because of its emphasis on knowledge and truth. This is, however, natural and in keeping with the goal of Muslim society which is human evolution. The military objectives of this civilization were only subordinated to the human objectives.

Al-Beruni’s well-known work Chronology of Ancient Nations (1000 A.D.) gives a wonderful analysis of the nature and methods of scientific enquiry. Al-Beruni’s method of enquiry and research seems to be a combination of deductive and inductive methods. According to him, research is a process of venture to seek truth with an inquisitiveness freed from prejudice, partisan spirit and jealousy. It is in this perspective that a seeker of truth has to proceed far from near and leap into the unknown from the known. A1-Beruni’s inspiring influence could therefore establish a tradition of an unprejudiced scientific inquiry, which was shattered only by the intellectual apathy of the Middle Ages. Ibn Khaldun’s scientific treatment of history was a healthy return of that tradition in the fourteenth century, although the set-back could hardly be retrieved in full.

However, it is to be stressed that from its very inception, the Islamic way of life accepted farming, industry and commerce as its economic foundations. The verses of the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet related to economic life suggest this in unequivocal terms. Apart from them, one may get glimpses of revolutionary concepts and theories, in scattered form though, in the statements of various schools of thinkers and theologians. The ‘Purity’ school (Ikhwanus safa) echoed a revolutionary socialistic cult (as implied in the slogan – “Every man is either an artisan or a trader”). Even to Al-Ghazzali, the propounded of the moderate school, man has to earn his income as a means to establishing his claims in the perpetual life of the hereafter and this earning of an income means the organization of an economic system for individual and collective efforts. That is to say, a Muslim society certainly needs economic advance and to accomplish the advance and distribute the results in an equitable manner, it also needs planned economic development. Opposition to economic progress and planned economic development can never be based on valid postulates and principles of Islam. It is the need of economic development that made general and technical education indispensable and placed educators, scientists and technicians on the highest plank of the social ladder. There were, however, variations and exceptions in this general pattern. For instance, Arab economics of industry and commerce deviated into a feudalistic system in Persia under the umbrella of intellectual stagnation and decay in the Middle Ages. In the same way, the bureaucracy of Abbasid rule in conspiracy with military fief-holders worked towards deprecating the importance of industrial and commercial technicians. It is true that theologians and intelligentsia did not support this unhealthy deviation. But yet the deviation succeeded to do much harm — a colossal harm, so to say, to civilization. It is this deviation that gathered momentum as stagnation set in and arrested all kinds of technological progress which is the keystone of economic advance and prosperity. In the present age, a renaissance has developed in the Islamic world for regaining that lost keystone and establishing its ability to earn economic and spiritual leadership in the various latitudes and longitudes of the globe.