Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

L4JThe Mosque, the Laboratory,and the Market(Eighth to the Sixteenth Century)Understanding the Islam and Science NexusOne’s understanding of the relationship between Islam andscience (or for that matter, any religion and science) depends onhow one defines the central purposes and the appropriate boundariesof science and/or religion. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and theextremely influential Protestant theologian Rudolph Bultmann(1884–1976), for example, insisted there could be no authenticinteractions between the two” (Olson 2004, 1). Since the times of Kantand Bultmann, numerous other influential philosophers and scientistshave reiterated the same opinion and, as Olson has noted, Bultmann’sposition has remained characteristic within the Christian tradition inthe West from the beginning of the Renaissance to the present. It isin this historical context that Galileo Galilei’s remark (borrowed fromCardinal Cesare Baronius) that “the Bible tells us how to go to heavenbut not how the heavens go” is extremely relevant (Olson 2004,2). One cannot, however, find a similar historical incident in therelationship between Islam and the scientific tradition that existed inIslamic civilization between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries.The relationship between science and Christianity has also beenredefined because of substantial changes to the role of religionin Western civilization since the Renaissance. A similar shift in theplace of religion has not occurred in the Muslim world. Even thevery definition of religion, as understood in contemporary Western