The present day Muslim world is undoubtedly ranked at the lower ends of comparison, in terms of science and technology, with the western world. Though, much awakening of this fact and the actions to counter it are deployed, but still we are far away in restoring the state, which existed almost a decade of centuries ago, where we have names like Ibn-e-Sina, Al-Razi, Al-Kindi, Al-Beiruni, Ibn-e-Khauldun, Imam Ghazali, Al-Khwarzami and Jabir Ibn-e-Hayaan etc, engraved on the milestones of the road which has led the western science to their present state of technological, technical and economic dominancy. It’s an obvious question to be aroused in any mind before any other that what are the causes of this lag? How those people excelled to a zenith of science and technology and what we have to do now in order to restore our magnificent past at some point in future time? Are yet the other too obvious interrogations for any of those who dare to care. I have tried to expound these matters according to my very own limited point of view and knowledge, in this piece of writing.

The very first investigation which we have to make, in order to find a solution of these problems is to take an insight into the history of the Muslims of those times, who rose up to such a level of distinction in their respective fields of science and technology. The rise of the Muslims to the zenith of civilization in a period of less than hundred years and the development in contemporary Islamic science was based on insistence, indeed over insistence, on learning. The Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are saturated with references to learning, education, observation, and the use of reason. The very essence of Islam is summed up in the very first revelation of Islam, i.e.:

“Read: In the Name of thy Lord Who created, created man of a blood-clot. Read: and thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught, taught by the pen, taught man that he knew not”.

Since these words truly define the structure of Islam, which rests upon knowledge and learning. No doubt that Islam acknowledges knowledge as the most functional resource for understanding, not only of the world but also of its own. Even the type of knowledge, which it requires to understand, is also found in Quran. At another place, it is defined about the people who used their heads and hands in activities of such learning as:

“And they shall say, had we but listened or used reason, we would not be among the inmates of the burning fire” (67 : 10).

Not only this, but in addition we have the supportive elaboration of the teachings of Islam in the form of Ahadith and Sunna. As in this regard, Prophet (SAW) had been reported to say:

“The ink to a scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr”.

Another truly supportive hadith, in favor of the pursuit of wisdom goes like:

“ An hour’s study of nature is better than an year’s adoration”.

The Muslims took these simple but absolute teachings as the corner stones for building a society, which incubated, nourished and brought up the talents, whom we know as the scientific heroes of that era. The teachings drove many a great natural philosophers to their accomplishments, like Al-Khwarzmi, who laid the foundations of modern algebra; Ibn-e-Sina, whose writings were the standard text in the European medicine for some eight hundred years; Ibn-e-Khaldun who was the first to identify and formulate the body of knowledge what we know as “Sociology” of the modern day and there are numerous such examples. For these people, science was integral to Islam and equivalent to piety. Some of the best and most eloquent praises of science ever written came from the pens of Muslim scientists, who considered their works as acts of worship. This very notion in the Muslim society led to the establishment of Al-Azhar, the first university in the Muslim world and the Shammasiyah Observatory, the very first in the world and the celebrated House of Wisdom of Baghdad.

In a nutshell, there is nothing in Islam that militates against learning, against science or against technology.

Islam exalts the use of reason, it also places reason controlled by Revelation. In simple words, in Islam, the use of reason is not divorced from the ethics and morality. The fact can be further simplified as Revelation in Islam is above reasoning, but not above reason, and neither reason is above Revelation – they are like two sides of the same coin. One great example of this was exercised by Al-Razi, who was asked to make poisons but he refused, saying that while he was quite capable of doing so but his religion and profession demands that he make only those drugs that are beneficial for the people and not anything that is harmful for the society or any of its members. Unfortunately, this kind of faithful enthusiasm annihilated due to the introduction of austerity in the thinking and practice of Muslims. Well, we know this austerity as “Taqleed” in the philosophical terms and it was a result of the conflict between the two schools of thought in Islam, whom we know as “Mutazillites” and “Asharites”. The anti thesis of “Taqleed” is “Ijtihad” – to exert the utmost effort in the struggle to do one’s best to know something. Ijtihaad, after the Quran and Sunnah, is the third tenet of Islamic law. At the end of the 14th century, when the Muslims were recovering from the bloody aftermaths of Mongol invasions, the pious scholars of those times feared the misuse of Ijtihad by the unqualified and its consequences, and thus closed the gates of Ijtihaad. This was not achieved by a conference, but through several decades of solemn practice. Though, it was the need of that time, but the Muslims never thought over revoking it again, when they had recovered from the disaster and the time changed. The prominence of later Islamic states was not propped by knowledge, but solely on the military vigor and conquests. The use of reason was abandoned and this resulted in a mere stagnation in the cultivation and further processing of knowledge, specially scientific. On the other hand, western historians of science had consistently denied and played down the work of Muslims. Look at any introduction in the history of science and it will jump from the Greeks to the Renaissance, as though the time between them was intellectually sterile. While recently, a Turkish science historian at Frankfurt University, who has collected thousands of manuscripts in Arabic, has proved that many of the works of the western world scholars was originally the work of Muslims. Indeed, he has also annexed with it the fact that this sort of piracy was so common amongst the westerns of that time that once there was a decree at Seville, which forbade Muslims not to sell any writings to the Christians because they translated the writings and published them under their own name.

The real lag started to appear when the west was experiencing the reform of the renaissance, and the Muslim thought paradigm shifted from conceding to the innovation as an essential for scientific knowledge, to the state where they regarded science as a menace of the west. Excessive emphasis was laid on “Taqleed” and there was no room for innovation in order to adapt to the needs and demands of time. These practices made true religion and science both fade out from the life of the Muslims. We became silos. Though the culture and arts was much praised in the kingdoms of Muslims in the era parallel to western renaisance, but science kept solemnly waning. It was professed and believed without any objection that only the knowledge of Quran, hadith and fiqah was legitimate and all the rest are the worldly forms of knowledge for material gains, specially money, which is termed as the root of all evil. The fervor of taqleed was so profound in those days that no one was allowed to ask for the reason, if he did then was labeled as a cynic rather than an inquirer and a seeker of truth and was much humiliated and in some cases, executed. The essence of taqleed also instilled in the ones, who were the carriers of the legacy of knowledge of their forefathers. They started strangling the science and scientific arts by only passing it on to their offsprings. Any scientific skill or knowledge was transferred as such from a father to his children or to a kin. Due to such malpractices of Muslim scholars of that time, innovation and dissemination of knowledge halted, which are the basic requirement for at least science to find out its way further and beyond. They probably forgot the saying of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that:

“Knowledge is not any one’s property”

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who saved the souls of the Muslims of Indo-Pak in the darkest hour of drudgery, recognized this weakness. He did a real great job of redirecting the focus of the Muslims to the fields of science and technology. Unfortunately, there came not another as prominent as him in our history afterwards, who could lead us further in this regard.

The rediscovery of Islamic science in our times is an intellectually formidable task, requiring a sustained effort over several generations. The present efforts to promote science and technology in Muslim world are no doubt appreciable, but not enough. Since still, we have a society, which takes Islam much in spiritual context. The works like that of Harun Yahya and Dr Shahid are still not done by as many as the existing requirements and potentials of our time. In my own limited point of view, there are only two pre-requisites that should be met before the rediscovery of the methods and principles of Islamic science can begin. The first one is obviously the revocation of the institution of Ijtihad, for only then can the Muslims develop the kind of perception which can enable us to understand and use the Islamic teachings in not only solving the present day problems, but also for meeting the challenges of tomorrow. We also need to understand the Islamic teachings in terms of other bodies of knowledge and bring in the rationality which is required to unleash the true face of Islam, whose basis thrive on knowledge, creativity and wisdom. Now this demands integration of the science policy in the Muslim world with the values and culture of Islam. Not the vice versa, which now is the case. Muslim countries must ensure that their science policies – including their research priorities, science education structures and technological choices reflect the rich cultural heritage of Islam and the aspirations of the indigenous people. Without a certain amount of correspondence between science policies and Islamic values, hopes of rediscovering Islamic science is merely a dream. We need people with understanding of religion and science not just the degree holders or either the religious scholars with only the explanations of Quran in political terms or either in the emotional and spiritual contexts. We need active, supportive and participative collaborations of the both sides to make our both ends meet in these times of perils.
As Quran once again explains the difference as:

“ are those who have knowledge and those who don’t are alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful” (39 : 9). { Sadaq-Allah-ul-Azeem }

Good work but i could not get the conclusion, if u could conclude it more appropriately.

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The world is my oyster!

Salaam,

I think that i did conclude it in the last paragraph. But its a fact that to avoid unnecessary lengthiness, i had to cut it short. Is it ok if i redo it with a lil more length ?

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Freedom Ltd.

Wsalam

Its ok. Well i did not count the words but css essay should be appropriate and above 1500 words.

Regards

__________________
The world is my oyster!

As-Salaam-0-Alikum Sohail,
Dear bro really an appreciative effort.Nice material placed in marvalous style.Well Dear one thing that stuck me in ur Topic is :The Fall of Muslim Science.
Do you think its appropriate to keep Term Science with attributes of religion.You also Quote Prophet Muhammad(Sallalla-ho-Alihi-Wassalam) Saying in your Essay too:
Knowledge is not any one’s property.Right...So One thing we should keep in mind that Science is not Muslim or Christian. Anyone who strive for Knowing and gettign Wisdom Allah opened His blessings of knowledge upon him.
So i would like to suggest you the topic of Essay should be to the point and precise. Take for example,
1.Descend of Science and technology in Islamic World.
2.Clues why Muslims not Make a dintiction in field of Science Today!

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No One is Perfect!
So IM No One

Wa-Alikum Salaam dear bro,

Well I think that descend of science and technnology in Muslim world or the fall of muslim science is just like the two sides of the same coin. Ur suggestion in regard of being to the point is nonetheless acceptable in some terms. Sure that any one who strives for the sake of knowledge gets it, so why dont we? The problem discussed above is about how the muslims used to be the leaders in that struggle and what actually brought them down. I have tried to look into the matter from my own perspective and have tried to advise a soloution according to my own point of view, knowledge and capacity. The other thing is obvious that I have so much to say in this regard but i already have 1919 words written up there. So i think that i have to be much more precise, next time. Thanks for keeping the morale up bravo.

@ I M Possible
Do u think that a redo will be better ?

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Freedom Ltd.

@sohail

Its ok, dont dawdle time. You work on some other topic this time.

All the best
Regards

__________________
The world is my oyster!