Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

170 • The Making of Islamic Scienceout his lack of training in Islamic sciences and his inability to useArabic sources; his zeal to show the agreement between the Wordand Work of God earned the pejorative title of Néchari (“naturalist”).The minimum qualifications for writing a commentary on theQurāĀn were a command over Arabic, a sound knowledge of thesayings of the Prophet, and a thorough grounding in the science ofinterpretation; Khan lacked all of these. In addition, he did not havean understanding of modern science. His unfinished commentaryattempted to rationalize all aspects of the QurāĀn that could not beproved by modern scientific methods. These included matters suchas the nature and impact of supplications, which he tried to explainas psychological phenomena. Khan however was not alone in makingsuch an effort, as we will see in the next section.By the time he died, Khan was regarded as the most influentialand respected leader of the Indian Muslim community. He hadbecome the intellectual leader of a new generation of Indian Muslimswho went to England for “higher education.” He was a loyal subjectof the British Raj and was considered an ally by the colonial rulers.He was nominated as a member of the Vice Regal Legislative Councilin 1878; ten years later, he was knighted as Knight Commander ofthe Star of India. In 1889 he was awarded an honorary degree fromthe University of Edinburgh. Khan’s impact on the making of a newIslam and science discourse in the Indian subcontinent can hardlybe overstressed. He was not only a thinker but also a practical manwho set up institutions that influenced, and continue to influence,the course of education, intellectual thought, and discourse on Islamand science. He was convinced that Muslims need to acquire modernscience. This argument gained considerable currency and is still usedby many thinkers and rulers throughout the Muslim world. His viewson the harmony between Islam and science were shared by manyreformers all over the Muslim world. His naturalistic explanations ofthe QurāĀn were, however, attacked by many religious scholars as wellas other thinkers. One such scholar, reformer, and revolutionary ofsorts was Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who also played a major role in thedevelopment of the new Islam and science discourse in the nineteenthcentury. He arrived in India in 1879 just in time to write a majorrebuttal of Khan’s Nécheri views.