‘Beyond the troubled relationship’, by Ziaudin Sardar was really a substantive and thought provoking write-up. The way author had chosen a bold narrative to analyze the frayed relationship between Islam and science, made the argument less partisan and more palatable. It has become a favorite preoccupation for Muslims these days, to remain lost in the yellow pages of a glorious past, when Islam had become the shade tree for science to flourish, as Europe was going through a horrible Dark Age. Though heroes of history like Rhazes (865-925AD), or Ibne Sina( 980-1037),who led the march for scientific inquiry then, might suffice as past symbols of our intellectual fertility; but for today, we are bound to create new emblems of scientific accomplishment, if the premise of progressiveness associated with Islam has to stay healthy. With golden age of Arabic Medicine ending around 1300AD, Muslims came to part ways with scientific rationalism, and centuries long obsession with reason and research gave gradually way to an era of impractical dogmatism. And while Renaissance and Reformation movements blazed the intellectual horizons of west again, the want of similar uprisings set the sun on Muslim world, for ever. From then onwards, while Western minds went on digging into deeper caverns of nature, Muslims became increasingly satisfied with a complacent mindset, where yesterdays quest for knowledge was enough qualification to boast of, and nothing else needed to be done. The dichotomy became further magnified, during last three centuries, when Islam and Science grew individually to their respective glories, but got increasingly distanced from each other. Movements like Ijtihad or Reinterpretation, and Dr. Iqbal’s injunctions of philosophical and scientific consciousness tried to steer the quiescent minds of Muslim community towards a new era of enlightenment, but by then certain antithesis had already overgrown to hinder Muslims from reunion with their enviable past. This antithesis comprised of sectarian conflicts, superstitious ideologies, political defeatism, and conformist tendencies of modern Muslim.
Today, if Islam is mistaken with a retrogressive religion, which is out of phase, or even in confrontation with science, the onus is entirely on us. It is somewhere the failure of Muslims to understand the purpose, with which holy Qu’ran contains hundreds of verses, directly or indirectly related to biological or physical sciences. The obvious rationale was that Allah wanted us to keep science, an indispensable part of our mystical and religious pursuit. As such there is an immense need for the relationship to improve, so that Islam and Science again become harmonious if not synonymous.
Khoobsurat Najma.
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