Science and

Religion in
Islam

Taner Edis
Department of Physics,
Truman State University

www2.truman.edu/
~edis/
 Why Islam?
• Science and religion debate
– Complicated.
– Dominated by Christian background.
• Islam is a close cousin of Christianity
and Judaism, but is also different
enough in theology and history to be
interesting.

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 Science and the supernatural
• Our sciences have
converged on
naturalistic explanations
of the world – physics,
biology, neuroscience…
• Casts doubt on
supernatural realities.

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 Worrying about materialism
• Mustafa Akyol, (liberal
Muslim, ID proponent): “ID is
indeed a wedge that can split
the foundations of scientific
materialism… For the first
time, the West appears to be
the antidote to, not the source
of, the materialist plague.”
• Symbolic enemy.
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 Responding to materialism
• Technology is attractive to
modern religious people.
Linked to science. So
can’t ignore science.
• Need to appropriate
science, and correct
science if it disagrees
with revealed truths.
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 Conservative, popular options
• Science either
– Supports traditional beliefs, such
as those derived from taking
scriptures at face value;
– Or if it does not, “True
Science” done by
the devout shows the
errors of the materialists.

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 Creationism
• Christian version: often
young-earth.
• Muslim version: Quranic;
often old-earth.
– Widespread belief in
special creation, linked
to scriptural literalism;
– Popular pseudoscience.
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 Islamic Creationism
• Turkish origin, but
internationally popular.
• Deny common descent.
• Borrows from Christian
creationists.
• Sees “Darwinism” as a
materialist conspiracy.
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 Science-in-scripture
• Christian version: Electricity, laws of
physics in Bible; Behemoth = dinosaur.
• Muslim version: Modern science and
technology anticipated in Quran.
• Very popular legends. 55:19-20 about
barrier between two bodies of water.
Mediterranean-Atlantic salinity barrier;
Jacques Cousteau conversion legend.

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 Quranic Embryology
• Scattered verses such as 39:6 “God
creates you inside your mothers, in
successive formations, in three
darknesses.”
• Authority of Western
MDs: Bucaille, Moore.
• Fragments of ancient
Greek medicine.

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 Quranic astrophysics
• Seven layers of skies/heavens in Quran.
• H. Nurbaki:
1. Solar system
2. Our galaxy
3. Local group of galaxies
4. “radio magnetic sphere”
5. Quasars
6. Expanding universe
7. “remaining boundless infinities”
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 Why so popular?
• Miracle:
Proves divine
source of
Quran.
• Like Biblical
prophecy for
conservative
Christians.
• Intellectually
worthless.
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Not defending medieval ideas!
• Turkey: much pseudoscience
tied to Nur movement.
• Said Nursi: respected
religious leader. Orthodox.
• Nur adherents noted for
modern outlook; pro-
capitalism, pro-technology
enthusiasm.
• Do pseudoscience because
they value science!
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 Reconstructing science
• Christian version: “theistic science”
ideas in ID movement.
• Muslim version: Islamizing science.
– Design-centered biology and physics;
– Social science shaped by Islamic social
ideals, Islamic law.
• Serious ideas much debated by Muslim
intellectuals. Affects policy.
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 Sophisticated creationism
• ID in Turkey.
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr
– Common descent OK;
– No natural creativity;
– Reconstruct God-
centered science;
– Revive medieval
Islamic views.
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 Moderate options
• Moderate, liberal Christians seek
compromise with science, interpret
Bible less literally.
– Example: guided evolution (ID-lite).
• Muslim case: there is some openness to
metaphorical interpretation.
– Some theologians adopt guided evolution,
accepting much common descent.
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 Guided evolution
• Even guided, non-
Darwinian evolution is
controversial.
• Naturalistic process,
particularly random
element unacceptable.
• Human evolution
particularly unacceptable.

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 More liberal options
• Christianity: the supernatural retreats to
ultimate, metaphysical domain. Science
deals with mere details, is autonomous.
• Islam: much rarer. Science should be
subordinate to revelation and moral
concerns. (Even liberals think so.)
• Exceptions: some defend autonomy of
science. Abdolkarim Soroush in Iran.

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 What is different in Islam?
• The religious and intellectual options
Muslims face are similar to those for
Christians.
• But among Muslims, science is weaker
and religiously-colored pseudoscience
is stronger. Among intellectuals as well
as the popular realm.
• Why?

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 History
• Past few centuries
dominated by need to
catch up to modern,
especially Western world.
• West has technological
advantage  military and
commercial power. Need
science!
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 “Golden Age” exaggerated
• Muslim science did not
greatly decline. Europe
surged ahead with a new way
of learning about nature.
• Medieval Muslim science
embedded in religious, occult
ways of thinking. Different
from modern science!

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 Defending Islam
• Borrow technology but guard against
outside cultural influences.
• Materialist aspects of science
undesirable. External imposition, not
indigenous heresy as in Europe.
• Retain primacy of revelation;
supernatural-centered view of nature.

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 Awareness of Christianity
• European secularization seen
as a disaster for religion; an
example to avoid.
• Separating science from religion
is dangerous. Even liberals are
reluctant to go this way.
• Islam need not repeat Western
history of science-religion
accommodation.
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 Strong doctrinal conservatism
• Liberal Muslim views much
weaker than their Christian
counterparts.
• Reinterpretation, seeing
religion as human strongly
opposed. Even violence.
• Even modernists, democrats
can be cultural conservatives.

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 Creationism example
• In education, commonly no evolution, or
official support for creationism.
• International popular, media-based
creationism such as Harun Yahya.
• Supported in intellectual circles, by
academic theologians, by some science
faculty in universities.
• ID default in Muslim intellectual culture.
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 Weakness of science
• Muslim lands very
weak in science.
– Applied science OK;
– Lack of creativity.
• Ineffective opposing
creationism
– Endorse pseudoscience
– Tagged as secularist.

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 Secularism is discredited
• Ideas with secularist
associations suffer.
• Secularism = despotic,
elite imposition on pious
populations.
• Democracy  religious
populism. Islam central
to political legitimation.

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 No separate spheres?
• Science and religion in West:
intellectual friction, institutional
accommodation. Religion
• Separate spheres. Science
independent of religion.
• Not in Islamic world?
• How much of a practical problem Science
is scientific backwardness?

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 Plug
Taner Edis,
An Illusion of
Harmony:
Science and
Religion in Islam
(Prometheus
Books, 2007).
2007 Science and Religion in Islam 29
 Web site

www2.truman.edu/~edis/
• Contains many articles on science and
religion, and science and Islam topics.
• E-mail
edis@truman.edu

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 Thanks for listening!
• Any questions?

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