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If Islam is so positive towards science, how come more or less all major scientific breakthroughs are made by non-Muslims? How come people in the Western world (and some Eastern Asian countries) have invented just about anything you can think of which has been invented in the last centuries?
Personally I believe that facts prove more than theories, and there's a big difference between what the Bible and the Quran say, and what is the reality of the world today. And one more little thing; I'm not a scientist, but it seems to me that the Quran's description of the development of the fetus could be discovered by simply opening a pregnant woman's belly. I have also read "scientific proof" supporting the belief that extraterrestrials visit earth regularly, but that doesn't mean everyone will immediately believe it, does it?
Your question and commentary are perhaps understandable, but not completely accurate. It is indeed true that many major breakthroughs in
modern science have been made by non-Muslims and there are several reasons for this, some of which we will list but by no means comprehensively because indeed it is a study requiring volumes to clarify thoroughly.
The main point you should realize is that the site is not made to point to the number of accomplishments or lack thereof among
Muslims or others but merely to show that the type of knowledge that is either explicitly stated or pointed to in the two source texts of Islam amount to nothing less than a
miraculous occurrence and can by no means be boiled down to coincidence.
Secondly it is to show that there is not necessarily a conflict between scientific method or any blockade to scientific investigation based upon the Qur'aan or the sunnah even though as Muslims and believers we do not base our faith upon scientific discovery. You may not be aware that because of the attitude and understanding of the Muslims
many centuries ago toward the Qur'aan and the hadeeth, the earliest and most significant scientific discoveries upon which much of western scientific theory and method are based, stemmed from Muslim
scientific efforts prior to the Renaissance.
Indeed, western scholars directly attribute the rise of scientific thought and the advent of the period of Enlightenment to the efforts of
Muslim scholars who had advanced far beyond Europeans or other eastern cultures in the fields of alchemy, chemistry, botany, agriculture, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Indeed the knowledge and research of Muslim scholars and their translation and preservation of even pre-Islamic texts from the
Classical Era and their correction and expansion of them was instrumental in the revival and resurrection of scientific investigation in the western world.
This leads to the next point of the discovery and contact made by Westerners with the Muslim East who were amazed at the vast wealth, infrastructure and sophistication of their civilization at a time when most of Europe was wallowing in backwardness and religious oppression. Many of the educational centers such as those in
Cordoba Spain were a direct consequence of Muslim influence and even the robes worn by graduates and judges to this day stem from that long history and tradition of learning and scholarship. Much of these historically proven and factual circumstances led to trade as well as incursions into Muslim lands for the purposes of conquest.
You are surely aware of the Crusades which although deriving their fuel from religious fervour among the masses were in actuality largely motivated by economic considerations. Unlike the West, where the Church was seen as the main oppressive force against scientific thought because it looked upon science as blasphemous, quite the contrary was found in the
Islamic world. Having said all that, there are many other circumstances that led to material or scientific decline or stagnation in the Muslim world and its ultimate lagging behind the West in many matters scientific or material in particular since the advent of the
Industrial Revolution. This requires a long and detailed discussion for which this is not the place and we simply refer you to objective and thorough historical analysis which requires research on your part. There are Islamic web sites that may deal with the subject to some degree.
Muslims have also "lagged behind" if you will, because of an identity crisis, "brain-drain" and lack of confidence stemming from weak Islamic education,
mis-education and re-education by colonial and other influences foreign to the
Islamic world. Also you are not at all correct in your assumption that the matters referred to in the hadeeth or the Qur'aan could have been ascertained through the opening of the womb of a woman.
Firstly, there are no known such scientific investigations reported or known from that time, and this was dealt with by
Dr. Keith Moore in his detailed analysis and research.
Secondly most of the details about the periods of
development in the uterus and so forth occur at a microscopic level that was not possible to see and certainly no one had the ability to categorize the stages of development at the time unless another miracle occurred!
One chief point we must make to you however is that regardless of the outward circumstances that led to or contributed to the lagging behind of Muslim societies, Muslim and non-Muslim alike must realize that ultimately it was lack of adherence to Islamic teachings that led to that decline along with lack of dependence upon the principles and teachings of Islam and their improper application among Muslims on a personal and a societal level.
Corruption, greed, over-indulgence, laziness, intimidation are all reasons which helped to undermine and weaken the Islamic polity as well as retard scientific progress and most of these things are "internal" matters that may have external causes. Matters of the heart such as weakness of faith as well as a lack of proper understanding and implementation of true religion and deviation from its clear path may be the greater causes of any so-called "backwardness" or stagnation than anything that comes from "outside" forces, and from this we ask Allah
's forgiveness, guidance, and protection,
ameen.
It should be also pointed out that it is not as though there are no Muslim pioneers or advanced innovative scientists or thinkers present to this day, but this is not our main focus. We urge everyone, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, who are beguiled and deceived that material wealth and scientific progress are necessary signposts of correctness and success, to look to the principles and practices of Islam in their true light from pure sources and we pray they would discover clearly the wealth, fullness and viability of Islam for today and tomorrow that in no way
impedes the progress of man. Indeed along with the scientific advances that have occurred, environmental and fundamental human problems still persist and remain unsolved by science and have indeed been sometimes created and exacerbated by it!
If our focus is upon material gain and advancement as is much of the secularism and those who admire it, then we may be granted that if we educate ourselves and work hard enough for it. But if we forget that it is Allah Almighty, the Creator and Provider of all things who enabled any of us at all to attain any achievements and heights in this life, no amount of
worldly accomplishment will compensate for our spiritual loss and its consequences in the Hereafter.
We hope you continue your quest and there is no sin in inquisitiveness...but there is in Inquisition. Please visit our web site at
A l - H a r a m a i n F o u n d a t i o n
and other Islamic sites to further your knowledge and awareness of Islam and the view of the Muslims and sincere practitioners of Islam.
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