Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
B. ATTITUDE TOWARDS EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE ─ PURSUIT THEREOF: ACT OF WORSHIP
Says a Western scholar of the Qur’an:
“We must not be surprised to find the Qoran the fountain-head of the sciences. Every subject connected with heaven or earth, human life, commerce and various trades is occasionally touched upon, and this gave rise to the production of numerous monographs forming commentaries on parts of the Holy Book. In this way the Qoran was responsible for great discussions, and to it was indirectly due the marvellous development of all branches of science in the Muslim world … This again not only affected the Arabs but also induced Jewish philosophers to treat metaphysical and religious questions after Arab methods. Finally, the way in which Christian scholasticism was fertilised by Arabian theosophy need not be further discussed.
“Spiritual activity once aroused within Islamic bounds was not confined to theological speculations alone. Acquaintance with the philosophical, mathematical, astronomical and medical writings of the Greeks led to the pursuance of these studies. In the descriptive revelations Muhammad repeatedly calls attention to the movement of the heavenly bodies, as parts of the miracles of Allaah, forced into the service of man and therefore not to be worshipped. How successfully Moslem people of all races pursued the study of astronomy is shown by the fact that for centuries they were its principal supporters. Even now many Arabic names of stars and technical terms are in use. Medieval astronomers in Europe were pupils of the Arabs…
“In the same manner the Qoran gave an impetus to medical studies and recommended the contemplation and study of Nature in general.”[1]
Just to speak in respect of the last statement in the above quotation: the Holy Qur’an did not merely recommend “the contemplation and study of Nature in general.” It did much more when it projected the guidance in respect of the Inductive Method of enquiry, i.e., the Scientific Method; gave the basic principles on which alone the quest of physical science could be established, relating, as it does, to the discovery of Identity in Diversity,—the principles, namely, of: (1) Unity of Nature, (2) Unity of Mankind, and (3) Unity of Knowledge; and opened the way to the conquest of Nature through its emphasis on absolute Monotheism, on the one hand, and on the Vicegerency of Man, on the other,—thereby causing the Muslims to emerge in history as the founders of Modern Science.142 And not only that. We find therein some very rich scientific concepts, which are of fundamental importance in relation to scientific knowledge. For instance: (1) the concept of “expanding universe”,[2] as opposed to the belief in a “block universe” (35:l);
(2) the concept of a created but evolving universe (41:11-12; etc.) ultimately destined to achieve, through crisis, a new birth (29:19; etc.);
(3) the concept of biological evolution in general (21:30; etc.), evolution of plant life (36:33; etc.), and evolution in relation to Man (15:26; 22:12-16);
(4) the principle of parity, as for instance, we know it now in physics (51:49);
(5) the concept of the revolutions of planets in their orbits (21:33; 36:40);
(6) the concept of the earth as rotating on its axis (7:137; etc.);
(7) constant movement of the sun towards a goal (36:38);
(8) the principle of pairs in terms of male and female among plants (36:36);
(9) the principle of pairs of opposites in “things” about which it was said in the Qur’an for the people of those days that “they have no knowledge” (36:36),—things discovered in modern times, e.g., the positive and the negative in electricity, the proton-electron combination in the constitution of the atom, the ‘particle’ and the ‘anti-particle’, and matter and anti-matter;
(10) the concept of space-travel, with its difficulties and possibilities (55:33);
(11) the emergence of till-then inconceived patterns of vehicles in the post-Qur’anic period (16:8);
(12) the existence of animal life on other planets and its expected contact in future with the animal life existing on earth (42:29)—so on and so forth.
Thus, having come to teach “new knowledge” (2:51), the Holy Qur’an chartered a new course for the pursuers of science; and in that its function was to stimulate the scientific outlook and the quest for scientific knowledge, and to promote the cultivation of the physical sciences;—and that to an extent that the Scientific Quest has been made a part of the Worship of God, having been affirmed as an inseparable complimentary of the Religious Quest (3:189-190). Also, the confirmation by the scientists of the future of what it had taught was to form, in respect of its acceptance as Divine Knowledge, its permanent miracle for the succeeding ages,—even as the proclamation stands:
“In the time to come We (God) will show them (i.e., human beings) Our Signs in remote regions [3] (of the universe) and in their (own) selves,[4] until it becomes manifest to them that this (i.e., the Qur’an) is the Truth …” (41:53).
[1] Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld: New Researches into the Composition and Exegesis of the Qoran, London 1902, p. 9.
[2] This concept has emerged only recently in modern science, as expounded, among others, by James Jeans (“The Expanding Universe”).
[3] Here the reference is to future discoveries in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics.
[4] Here the reference is to future discoveries relating to the human personality in terms of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Physiology and Psychology.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
