Page 133 - The Vision of Islam

The Vision of Isla m

of evolution—as opposed to creation—was advanced. Even
here, however, it has been scientifically proved that man
could not have evolved to the biological level he is at today,
because the earth itself is not old enough for such a lengthy,
complex process to have taken place.
6. Science has proved that direct argument is not applicable
to the facts of the universe. We can only arrive at the reality
by making inferences from our perception of certain
appearances. It is only through inference that we can know
about any fact. Thus science has proved the validity of the
indirect method of reasoning on which the foundation of
religious methodology rests.
One thing which has to be fully understood is that the age of
science was essentially the age of Islam. The fact that scientific
development led to atheism is explainable in terms of incidental
mistakes, particularly its clash with Christianity, which has been
subjected to human interpolations.
What is science? It is the study of nature. Nature and the religion
of Nature (Islam) are two aspects of the same reality. That is why
the Quran prophesied that science would not pose any danger to
Islam, but would rather be a means of clarifying the Truth.
“We will show them Our signs in all the regions of the earth
and in their own souls, until they clearly see that this is the truth.”
(41:53)
The age of science started not in Europe, but in Spain and
Sicily in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries. There is no
historical record of any clash at that time between science and
religion. During Muslim rule, scientific development and Muslim
intellectual development went side by side, without any clash. But
when the Turks expelled the Byzantine scholars from Astana and
Constantinople in the fifteenth century, they migrated to Italy,
then the work of research and investigation into nature shifted
from the Muslim world to Europe, thus making the history of
science take an entirely new turn. Now science was faced with a
world where Christianity was in a dominant position.
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