Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

72 • The Making of Islamic Scienceseventeenth century era, scientists who made the Islamic scientifictradition possible during the eighth and the sixteenth centuries weremore frequently also the authors of religious texts of an advancednature. This argument, however, has little relevance, because—asopposed to the post-Renaissance scientists noted earlier—the Muslimscientists of the pre-seventeenth century era did not see their religionand their science as two separate entities.Another problematic argument stemming from theuniversalization of the specific interaction between WesternChristianity and science relates to the notion that religious ritualsand celebrations related to the calendar are a “reason” for scienceand religion to interact, as science and scientists help religiousinstitutions and authorities to prepare for these rituals andcelebrations by furnishing required astronomical information. Theneed to determine the spring equinox for Easter, for instance, isconsidered a religious need that is fulfilled by science, and hencereligion is shown to have an intrinsic need to support scientificresearch for its own needs (Olson 2004, 3). This argument can besuperficially applied to Islam (as is often the case) with much moreforce, because in the case of Islam, not only is the annual cycle ofrituals and celebrations dependent on astronomically determinedtimes but also daily practices, such as the five obligatory prayersand fasting. These obligations are called “religious obligations”in a framework in which some obligations are “religious” andothers are “nonreligious.” Because, however, Islam considers itselfa complete way of life (al-dîn) encompassing the entire spectrum ofhuman activities—making even the most ordinary act of removing aharmful thing from the road a “religious” act—these categories andthe arguments associated with them become superfluous. What isperceived as the “need of religion” being “fulfilled by science” is thusa conception foreign to Islam, which naturally perceives the needsof humanity in terms of its obligations towards the Creator, and sodefines a way of life for individuals and communities in which allneeds are (what would be considered) religious.In spite of these differences between the cases of Christianityand Islam, the aforementioned conceptual categories of religion andscience discourse have been applied often and variously to Islam.