Islamic Science as a Scientific Research Program: Conceptual and Pragmatic Issues

The idea of Islamizing the sciences has become a matter of much passionate discussion and debate among Muslim intellectuals and academicians, including professional scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technologists. Many books and articles have been written and seminars held to clarify the idea in conceptual and pragmatic terms. However, it would seem that little progress has been achieved so far toward achieving a broad consensus among them on a positive reception of the idea. Some, like Abdus Salam and Hoodbhoy, reject the idea altogether, while others accept it wholeheartedly without a clear understanding of what the idea really means and entails for their scientific work, but most working scientists have only a hazy notion of the idea without any genuine intellectual commitment for or against it.
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This situation is not surprising given the realization that the idea of Islamization of sciences necessarily demands close, critical engagement with the philosophy, history and practice of both Islamic and modern science. Thus, only a very few Muslim scientists and philosophers of science (e.g., Nursi, al-Attas, Nasr, Bakar, Golshani (and others) have been successful in articulating the idea with any degree of intellectual insight--though not all use the term 'Islamization'--based on a thorough knowledge of both the Islamic and Western scientific traditions, including the contemporary ubiquity of modern science. However, after three decades or so of Islamization, my feeling is that their works need to be further explicated in terms that can provide practical direction to scientists not exposed to the history and philosophy of Islamic and modern science. One thing that all parties in the debate have realized is that the Islamization of the sciences has to be far more substantial than merely citing the relevant Qur'anic verses and Ahadith, for the real intellectual challenge lies in articulating the religious textual relevance in conceptual terms rich enough to determine the content and direction of actual empirical scientific research.

Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 1 (Winter 2003) No. 2

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).