Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

Islam and Modern Science: Contemporary Issues • 217Likewise, on July 24, 2006, the European Union decided tocontinue funding under new rules adopted by the 25-nation bloc.These rules prevent human cloning and prohibit destroying embryos.These examples suffice in pointing out the importance of the roleof existing or newly created institutions, committees, and proceduresin the emergence of laws and guidelines. These processes are aregular feature of the Western political and social system and thereis a remarkable degree of integration of these with the institutionsof scientific research, though the two may not have similar positionson various issues. A remarkable feature of most countries in thecontemporary Muslim world is the absence of such integratedprocedures and mechanisms at the governmental level. This shouldnot be surprising, because these new fields of research have littlerelevance to the level of science and technology present in the Muslimworld, where the greatest issue is the provision of potable water.This is not to say that the entire Muslim world has ignoredthe need, as new institutions and consultative bodies have comeinto existence in some Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iran, andSaudi Arabia. In some cases, Muslim scholars have taken personalinitiatives. These initiatives have given birth to a small body ofliterature pertaining to “Islamic perspectives” on the entire range ofissues arising out of advanced scientific and technological research.This development is interesting because, on the one hand, theseissues are irrelevant to a large majority of Muslims, and on the otherhand a very small segment is participating in advanced biomedicalresearch and is aware of the need for clear Islamic perspectives onthese issues.In seminars and conferences on such issues, one often hearsstatements like the following: “It is high time for Muslims to come upwith..” These well-meaning statements display the same psychologicaldilemma that had informed the Islam and science discourse duringthe nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This “catching up syndrome”has created an insatiable hunger for Western science that continues inthe contemporary Islam and science discourse. This desire to produce“Islamic perspectives” on contemporary biomedical research is notconcerned with the historical process that has generated these issuesin the Western world; it only wishes to be present at the forefront ofdebates to prove that Islam does not lack a position in this respect,