Book Review: Alparslan Acikgenc: Islamic Science: Towards a Definitio​n

One of the aims of defining Islamic Science is to generate theoretical understanding of and insight into the nature and meaning of the concept and enterprise of Islamic Science, and thus to formally differentiate it, to the extent possible, from other sciences, especially modern western science, or even from other salient manifestations of Islamic civilization, like Islamic Art. Of course formal definitions have their limits, but a basic working definition, if sound and critically accepted, can provide a degree of rigor, direction and coherence to a discourse that at times tends to be as disunified as the number of participants engaged in it, which is significant lately, mainly because, as Acikgenc himself realizes, "they did not first try to understand what he [al-Attas] meant by islamization" (p. 1).

Hence, this little book by Acikgenc (formerly of ISTAC and presently at Fatih University, Turkey) has been of considerable interest to participants in the ongoing discourse on Islamic Science. The book consists of an "Introduction" and three chapters entitled respectively "The Concept of Islamicity", "The Islamic Concept of Science" and "The Historical Background of Islamic Science". Many would see it as a courageous attempt at a conceptual understanding of Islamic science that may facilitate its revival as an existential reality, and thus they would like to see to what extent his attempt has been successful. Moreover as Acikgenc himself puts it, "... in order for science to perform its vital role in a society, and more specifically in a Muslim society, a clear definition of it must be provided by the 'ulama'," a.k.a. "scholars of Islam" (p. 4)

.Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 3 (Summer 2005) No. 1

Adi Setia

Adi Setia is the founding director of IGE Advisory, which is dedicated to consulting, teaching and researching in the Islamic Gift Economy framework. He is also the co-founder of the Program for Ethical, Appropriate & Regenerative Livelihoods (PEARL).