Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

Islam and Modern Science: Contemporary Issues • 193present in the Muslim world, to which a substantial number ofWestern-trained men and women returned in the last quarter of thetwentieth century. These were, however, not necessarily scientistsbut merely men and women who had been awarded degrees byWestern universities and who could do little more than repeat whatthey had done during their stay abroad. Those who could do trulyoriginal scientific research realized they would have to return to theWest to do what their profession demanded, for conditions at homewere simply not suitable. And so many returned to the West, not inthe hundreds or thousands but in the hundreds of thousands. Thesemen and women now work in laboratories and universities as farnorth as the Arctic and as far south as the South Pole. They are partof the Western scientific enterprise—able scientists who have madesubstantial contributions to modern science.This is a general view of the context into which the twocontemporary strands of the Islam and science discourse haveemerged. Let us now explore these.New Dimensions of the Old DiscourseThe first strand of the contemporary Islam and science discourseis actually a continuation of what had appeared during the colonialera—a discourse in which Islam is used as a justifier for science.This strand of the Islam and science discourse experienced a boomin the 1980s, when various states pumped their new-found oil wealthinto sponsoring institutions for “research on the scientific verses ofthe QurāĀn.” For example, a “Commission for Scientific Miracles ofQurāĀn and Sunnah” was established in Saudi Arabia by the WorldMuslim League, with six goals and objectives:(i) To lay down governing rules and methods [for studying]scientific signs in the Holy QurāĀn and Sunnah; (ii) To train aleading group of scientists and scholars to consider the scientificphenomena and the cosmic facts in the light of the Holy QurāĀn andSunnah; (iii) To give an Islamic Character to the physical sciencesthrough introducing the conclusion of approved researches into thecurricula of the various stages of education; (iv) To explain, withoutconstraint, the accurate meanings of the QurāĀnic verses and the