Islam Encourages Scientific Progress

The word Islam conjures up a disturbing picture in the minds of some
people outside the Muslim world. It is a fact that many in the West
imagine Islam to be a faith far removed from modern life, closed to
science and that attaches no value to a good quality of life. The
first reason for this erroneous belief is that various people who
claim to be Muslims in fact have views and lifestyles that fly in
the face of it. However, someone looking in from the outside cannot
recognize that and will be unable to evaluate matters accurately.
Another important reason is associated with the first: Most people
are unacquainted with the truths of Islam and the correct
interpretation of the Quran. In point of fact, these people who
make incorrect evaluations are not only from outside the Islamic
world; many people within the Islamic world as well are unable to
properly understand the Quran. The reason for the appearance of
mistaken and radical views is that the Quran is not correctly
understood.
The only point of reference to truly learn about Islam is the Quran
but we see that some people do not interpret the Quran correctly and
produce their own perverse and foolish deductions from it in order
to support their own misguided and superstitious beliefs. One of the
subjects most easily capable of being misinterpreted in this way is
science and scientific activity.
Science is an important reality that enables us to know the universe
we inhabit, the Earth and our own bodies and to be able to
appreciate all the beauties around us. Scientific advances have
enlightened human life and opened the door to a healthier way of
living. For example, by means of medical advances the average human
life span today is much greater than it was a century ago. Even in
the 1950s, average worldwide life expectancy was 47, whereas
according to U.N. figures it had risen to 68 by 2010. Similarly,
advances in other branches of science have made our lives easier and
more comfortable.
Today, for instance, the benefits of the Internet are obvious. By
means of the Internet we can learn at once what is happening in
different parts of the world. Communications among people have
grown and become far easier. New concepts such as e-commerce have
bestowed a new dimension to our understanding of economics.
Information about a subject one wants to investigate can now be
accessed immediately. The Internet is just one of the benefits that
science has bestowed on mankind over the last century and those
nations making greater uses of the benefits of science now live at a
much more advanced level. Had science not progressed as much as it
has, we would very likely still be living dark and backward lives
devoid of many facilities.
For a sincere Muslim, science is a blessing that God has bestowed on
mankind. Islam advocates a rational approach. In many verses of
the Quran, God advises people to use their intelligence. He
emphasizes the need for us to think rationally and scientifically,
speaking of, "...those deeply rooted in knowledge..." and "...only
people of intelligence pay heed." (3:7). Another verse advises
people to think about the formation of the universe: "...reflect on
the creation of the heavens and the earth ..." (3:191)
Use is still being made today of the work of various Muslim
scientists in the past who understood that Islam encourages
scientific investigation. People such as Avicenna, Farabi and
Battani were among the leading scientists of the Middle Ages.
Avicenna's book "The Canon of Medicine" (al-Qānūn fī al-Tibb) was
used as a text book in the universities of Montpellier and Louvain
until 1650. Battani's "Zij" was regarded as a most important
astronomical text, and his work inspired that of Copernicus. A
crater on the moon was even named after him as a mark of respect:
"Albategnius." Al-Khwarizmi's work "Compendious Book on Calculation
by Completion and Balancing" is regarded as the first work in
which the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic
equations are presented. The very term "algebra" comes from
"al-jabr," one of the methods for solving quadratic equations in
al-Khwarizmi's book. Many other examples of contributions to
scientific progress by Muslim scientists could be given.
Today, too, there are a great many scientists, academics and
intellectuals who have emerged from the Islamic world and serve all
mankind. The spread of scientific thinking and concentration on
rationality will further increase the numbers of such people and the
contributions they make. That is why it needs to be better
understood that the Quran encourages rational thinking and
scientific research and activity. In this way, more enlightened
people will appear from within the Islamic world and bearing in
mind that societies are today in ever greater interaction with one
another, such progress will clearly be of great benefit to both the
Islamic world and to the world as a whole.