The elimination of the study of the natural sciences from...

The elimination of the study of the natural sciences from the curricula of the religious schools and the lack of direct touch with the sources of modern science on the part of religious scholars gave rise to the two deviated intellectual currents in the Muslim world: a) Some Muslims, under the influence of Western scientific and technical progress and without any knowledge of the limitations of empirical sciences, became singularly possessed with them to the extent that they even tried to interpret the Qur’an and hadith according to their findings.

The Quranic exegeses written by Tantawi and Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan belong to this class. Others have gone still further claiming that all the findings of the modern sciences are found in the Qur’an and the texts of Islamic tradition (hadith). The claim, supposedly, was aimed at demonstrating the miraculous and Divine nature of the Qur’an.

(3) In the introduction to his exegesis of the Qur’an, Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, the late head of Al-Azhar University, writes: “Almighty Allah did not send down the Qur’an to inform mankind of scientific theories and technological techniques. If we try to attempt conciliation between Qur’an and endurable scientific hypotheses, we will thereby subject it to reversals of times to which all scientific theories and hypotheses are prone.

That would result in presenting the Qur’an from an apologetic and defensive perspective. Whatever is mentioned in the Qur’an about the mysteries of creation and natural phenomena is intended to impel man­kind to speculation and inquiry into these matters so that thereby their faith in it is enhanced.” ( 4) b) Some scholars of religion have considered scientific theories as opposed to the doctrines of religion and accordingly set out to attack science.

This resulted in the repercussion that many Muslims turned away from religion. Had the natural sciences not been exiled from the religious curricula, this tragedy would not have occurred. Any fruitful criticism of ideas based on scientific theories requires, in the first place, familiarity with the various experimental disciplines within modern science, so that any unwarranted conclusions derived from scientific findings may be properly exposed and rejected.