The claim...

The claim, supposedly, was aimed at demonstrating the miraculous and Divine nature of the Quran. [^32] In the introduction to his exegesis of the Quran, Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, the late head of Al-Azhar University, writes: "God did not send down the Quran to inform mankind of scientific theories and technological techniques...If we try to attempt a conciliation between Quran and indurable 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 Quran in an apologetic and defensive perspective. Whatever is mentioned in the Quran 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." [^33] 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.

How is it possible to claim that the natural sciences result in man's estrangement from God, when the Quran unambiguously declares: Surely in the creation of the heavens and earth and in the alternation of night and day there are signs for men possessed of minds who remember God, standing and sitting and on their sides, and reflect upon the creation of the heavens and the earth: `Our Lord, Thou hast not created this for vanity. Glory be to Thee!

Guard us against the chastisement of the Fire.' (3:190-191) If the line of demarcation between religion and science is made clear, there is no reason for any conflict between these two. In fact they would complement each other. Science is like the lamp of life and religion its guide. Previous…