Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

82 • The Making of Islamic Sciencescience was thus nourished under specific intellectual circumstancesthen prevalent in Europe, and it was in this general intellectualbackground that the first echoes of the “Islam against science”doctrine are heard.The encounter between al-Afghani and Renan was based ona public lecture on “Islam and Science” delivered by Renan at theSorbonne; it was later published in the Journal des Débats on March29, 1883. In his lecture, Renan forcefully repeated the claim (alreadyin the air at that time) that early Islam and the Arabs who professedit were hostile to the scientific and philosophic spirit, and that scienceand philosophy had entered the Islamic world only from non-Arabsources (Keddie 1972, 189). Al-Afghani, who happened to be in Parisat that time, responded to Renan. His response was published in thesame journal on May 18, 1883. In his response, al-Afghani askedrhetorically: “How does the Muslim religion differ on this point fromother religions? All religions are intolerant, each in its own way”(Keddie 1968, 182–83). He goes on to accept Renan’s hypothesis, butonly in general terms:Whenever the religion will have an upper hand, it will eliminatephilosophy; and the contrary happens when it is philosophy thatreigns as sovereign mistress. So long as humanity exists, thestruggle will not cease between dogma and free investigation,between religion and philosophy; a desperate struggle in which,I fear, the triumph will not be for free thought, because themasses dislike reason, and its teachings are only understoodby some intelligences of the elite, and because, also, science,however beautiful it is, does not completely satisfy humanity,which thirsts for the ideal and which likes to exist in dark anddistant regions that the philosophers and scholars can neitherperceive nor explore. (Keddie 1968, 187)Renan’s condescending rejoinder to al-Afghani, published in theJournal des Débats on May 19, 1883, stated that “there was nothingmore instructive than studying the ideas of an enlightened Asiaticin their original and sincere form” (Keddie 1972, 196). He found inthem a rationalism that gave him hope that “if religions divide men,Reason brings them together; and there is only one Reason.” He thenreiterated his racialist views, even in praising al-Afghani: “Sheikh