IslamopediaOnline, Islam & Science

11:37

1 May 2011

History of Science

Pervez Hoodbhoy

In this undated  interview, Pervez Hoodbhoy discusses what he feels are the reasons that countries with Muslim-majority populations have fallen behind in advanced, original work in the natural sciences in the contemporary world.  The title of the segment given on the video is “Islamodepia Online presents Background Sessions.  Islam and Science:  Past, Present, Future”.

He is asked three questions:

• What is the legacy of science in Islam? (0:17-4:38)
• What is the status of science in Islamic countries today?  How is it perceived? (4:39-9:31)
• What does the future hold for scientific advancement & discovery within the context of Islam? (9:40-11:23)

Hoodbhoy in the historical segment presents an Islamic golden age from the 9th-13th centuries; he suggests that theological conflicts between the Mutazilites and the Asharites led to a sort of closing down of creative, scientific thought.

In the section on the present day, Hoodbhoy suggests that education forces students not to challenge their teachers.  (He seems to be speaking specifically about Pakistan here, although he does not say so.)  He suggests that those who look for scientific knowledge in the Qurʾān are looking for the wrong kind of information, that the Qurʾān is for ethical and moral guidance.  This search for iʿjāz in the Qurʾān, is a failure to use the scientific method.

In the section on the future, Hoodbhoy again emphasizes the need for cultural change, in order to move away from a dependence on the colonizing companies from the West.  He suggests that once a greater intellectual sophistication is achieved, great leaps can be made.

Topics discussed:  education, authoritarianism, looking for science in the Qurʾān, orthodoxy, revelation as a source of knowledge, globalization.

Islamopedia online, produced by Mitch Hanley; www.islamopediaonline.org. 

Evaluation:

The material on Islam generally conforms with contemporary mainstream understandings, although one should note that this is quite simplified, bordering on essentialized.  Cultures in Muslim-majority countries vary widely around the world.

Hoodbhoy’s discussion of abstract science versus engineering is to suggest an open, “questioning everything” approach to understanding the scientific method rather than merely applying what is already known, whether that application be to an engineering problem or the re-interpretation of verses of the Qurʾān in light of scientific discoveries.  This is in accord with current understandings of scientific method.

The historical presentation here is oversimplified.  Scientific work did not end in the 13th century, and debates about theology did not staunch the flow of inquiry about either science or religion.  These modern constructions of the historical past have roots in European colonial constructions.