Islam and Contemporary World Series No.2
Islam and Science
Dr. Shoaib Ahmed Malik
Dr. Shoaib Ahmed Malik is Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nottingham and another in Theology from the University of St Mary’s, Twickenham, Shoaib stands at the crossroads of Science and Religion. His monograph work, Islam and Evolution: Al-Ghazālī and the Modern Evolutionary Paradigm, was acclaimed as the foremost academic contribution to the field of science and religion, receiving recognition from the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) in 2022. He is working to develop the infrastructure for the field of Islam and Science.
Paper Summary
Purpose and Context
Key Themes and Structure
1. Historical Foundations
The field is now expanding across specific themes and disciplines:
Purpose and Context
- The document explores how Islam engages with modern science, especially amidst rising secularism and scientific materialism.
- It responds to the challenge posed by New Atheism, which often pits science against religion, particularly Islam.
- The field of Islam and Science is a young but evolving discipline, with increasing academic interest and institutional development.
Key Themes and Structure
1. Historical Foundations
- Early reformers like Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Sayyid Aḥmad Khān, and Muḥammad ʿAbduh emphasized Islam's compatibility with reason and science.
- They saw scientific stagnation in the Muslim world as a socio-political failure, not a religious one.
- Islam historically contributed to science during the Islamic Golden Age and must reclaim that intellectual legacy.
- Two dominant trends emerged:
- Islamization of science: Led by scholars like al-Fārūqī, al-Aṭṭās, Nasr, and Sardar, it criticized secular science and proposed rebuilding it on Islamic epistemological grounds.
- Scientific miracles in the Qur’an (iʿjāz ʿilmī): Claimed the Qur’an predicted modern scientific discoveries, popularized by figures like Maurice Bucaille.
- These movements helped formalize the field but also introduced methodological and theological issues.
- Scholars like Nidhal Guessoum, Mehdi Golshani, and Muzaffar Iqbal critiqued both previous approaches:
- Islamization lacked practical application.
- Scientific miracles risked misinterpreting both the Qur’an and science.
- Iqbal introduced decolonial critiques, arguing for reviving an authentic Islamic scientific tradition, though his approach was seen as idealized and impractical.
The field is now expanding across specific themes and disciplines:
- Divine Action Models: Competing views like deism, concurrentism, and occasionalism shape how God’s interaction with nature is understood.
- Methodological Naturalism (MN):
- Differentiates between Intrinsic MN (IMN) (science can never consider the supernatural) and Provisional MN (PMN) (science avoids but doesn’t deny the supernatural).
- Islam supports PMN but rejects Ontological Naturalism.
- Miracles: Theological and scientific views vary—from literal acceptance to allegorical interpretations—depending on how one views divine intervention.
- Determinism vs. Indeterminism:
- Newtonian mechanics supports a deterministic universe.
- Quantum mechanics introduces indeterminism, opening space for divine will and human agency.
- Quantum Physics and Kalām:
- Scholars like Basil Altaie connect quantum uncertainty with Islamic atomism and occasionalism, showing theological relevance.
- Evolution:
- A major flashpoint with four key positions among Muslims:
- Creationism: Total rejection.
- Human Exceptionalism: Humans were created separately.
- Adamic Exceptionalism: Adam was divinely created, but humans evolved.
- No Exceptions: Full integration of evolution into Islamic theology.
- A major flashpoint with four key positions among Muslims:
- Theological Anthropology:
- Engages questions about human uniqueness, especially in light of AI, evolution, and extraterrestrial life.
- Explores the role of humans as moral, rational beings created by God.
- Islamic Bioethics:
- Deals with modern medical dilemmas: organ transplantation, genetic engineering, reproductive technologies, and end-of-life care.
- Balances traditional Islamic jurisprudence with scientific advancements.
- Islam and Science has gained traction in academic circles, but lags behind Christian scholarship in terms of resources and infrastructure.
- Notable recent developments include:
- Cambridge University Press's Elements in Islam and the Sciences.
- Palgrave Macmillan's monograph and encyclopedia series.
- Institutional support from University of Edinburgh and Oxford's Ian Ramsey Centre.
- The field is diverse, dynamic, and growing, with scholars from various backgrounds contributing to nuanced discussions.
- There is a call to deepen engagement with both Islamic theological traditions and scientific inquiry.
- Islam and Science is becoming a critical area of study for navigating contemporary ethical, metaphysical, and existential challenges.