Ijtihad and science
By K H Masud
For three hundred years, the doors of the tavern have been closed — Iqbal
Why is it that for the last three hundred years, the Muslim world has been so deficient in producing scientists and philosophers? Why is it that even now when the Muslim world commands such immense resources, we lag so far behind the West in science and technology?
The answer is clear: for three hundred years, the door of ijtihad (creative thinking) has been closed. Almost one-ninth of the verses of the Qur’an stress upon “tafakkur” and “tadabbur”, yet, by and large, the Muslim world pays no heed to them. They turn their backs on critical and creative thinking.
Instead, we are fond of platitudes. We love clichés.
We bask in the glory of the past. We dread the new, the original, the novel.
We are good at repeating moth-eaten, time-worn thoughts. We revel in interpretations, but we flinch from creativity. Using Toynbee’s terminology, we are in the stranglehold of the “nemesis of mimesis”. Intellectual stagnation and spiritual degeneration are our dismal lot.
It is ingrained in our psychology that correct already exists. Teachers dispense truth, parents are always right. Leaders are omniscient. They act like philosopher-kings, often uttering banalities which cannot be challenged.
Following the iconoclastic spirit of the Quran, it is time to think in a new way and to tread on untrodden path.
Scholars may differ about problems concerning science, but they are unanimous as regards the need for a particular weltanschauung (world-view) for the birth, growth and blossoming of science.
Science cannot develop in an atmosphere vitiated by obscurantism, dogmatism, fanaticism, irrationalism and intolerance. Science needs an intellectual environment whose keynote is enlightenment with rationalism, pluralism, and humanism as the driving force.
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The Greek science withered away because it wholly and solely depended on deduction. Though the Greek scaled the sublimest heights of speculative thought, their aversion to experimentation and manual work closed the door for further scientific advancement.
Induction was a great gift of Islam to humanity. “Neither Roger Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be credited for having introduced the experimental method,” says Briffault in his book “The Making of Humanity.”
According to Iqbal, “For purposes of knowledge, the Muslim culture fixes its gaze on the concrete and the finite.” When Iqbal emphasized the concrete and the finite, he exalted the scientific spirit at the expense of speculative flights into meta-physics.
By giving examples of Ibn-i-Khaldun’s view of history, Ibn-i-Maskwaih’s theory of life as evolutionary movement and Musa al-Khwarizmi’s shift from arithmetic to algebra, Iqbal concludes: “All lines of Muslim thought converge on a dynamic concept of the universe.”
Thus Islam rejects a static view of the universe and regards it as always changing and evolving. According to the Qur’an, change is one of the greatest signs of God, and is explicitly implied in the verse: “Every day has its own glory.”
The Islamic principle to keep pace with the changing world and an evolving universe is ijtihad i.e. exertion to form an independent opinion. Creativity is the essence of ijtihad. The driving spirit of the scientific technological revolution is creativity, devolving new ideas and sailing in uncharted seas.
Science must precede technology, because science is the tree and technology is the fruit. Today, as never before, the political stability of a country depends on its economic prowess, which is determined by the scientific technological revolution, depending on ijtihad ie, creative thinking.
In order to usher in scientific technological revolution, we have to take the following steps:
Firstly, our educational system must be geared to strengthen mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science.
Secondly, our method of teaching and examination must change, emphasising the intelligent grasp of the subjects rather than memorising formulas and theories.
Thirdly, our mass media must be mobilised to popularise science and scientific thinking.
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