beroq
04-10-2009, 07:59 AM
I believe the common Western assumption that there is an inherent conflict between science and religion is not applicable as a generality to other societies and cultures and the problem lies right here: Such conflicts as the separation of science from religion or such wrong assumptions as the impossibility of a cooperation between religion and science could hardly be found in communities where Eastern religions are practiced. When asked about this issue, Lalitha Sridhar, a Hindu science journalist living in India , replies, “That question is so Western! We are very content with our science and or gods.” The same goes with other Eastern religions and cults, as well.
From Islamic perspective, Homo Islamicus, is firstly Allah’s servant (abd’ Allah) and His “caliph in the universe" (khalifetullah fi’l ard). Man is not an animal who can speak and think“ by pure chance; on the contrary, he is a creature created by Allah and owns a soul and essence (nafs).
The autohority of man over the universe is not because of “himself”, (here Islam rejects pure Humanism) but because of his being Allah’s caliph and being superior to all other creatures. Therefore, he is the one who is responsible to God for the “created” system and he is the very cause of mercy among God’s creatures.
According to the well-known hadith, “He who knows thy Lord, knows thyself”, man has the ability to have the knowledge of his inner world, his very essence, which is the key to know Allah.
Man is aware that his faculties are not bound and limited by the senses and intellect; that he has the necessary ability to gain the wholeness of his entity in order to utilize all the possibilities that Allah gave him; and that with the light of the spiritual world, his mind and reason can be enlighted; and that he can have a direct knowledge of the intelligible and spiritual world that Qur’an names the "unseen" (âlemu’l gayb), which modern science names as Metaphysics.
Beyond all question, such an understanding is almost completely different from the modern western man’s way of looking at the matter itself; modern man is completely a “mundane” being; the sovereign/master of the universe; and he is not responsible to anything else other than himself and this understanding cannot be reconciled with the vision of man that Islam has.
Man in Islamic sphere performs the specialties of being “homo sapiens” and “homo faber” not by revolting against God but by the attribution of his being God’s servant. His function is not to exalt himself but exalt his Lord, and reach the truth by means of the Truth Himself.
Religion and Science goes hand in hand in this process of being a “perfect” creature and remembering the sapiential essence that was engraved in man before creation. The problem with the debates going on in the "modern world" (Modern according to what?) is that some group of people try to put all the blames for the failure of post-modern world order on religion as a whole -- they make a crude generalization. They simply cannot see the fact that all the good attributes that are innate in the modern western man emanate from the very Christian heritage of him.
Religion as a notion and practice doesn't belittle or renounce science. We can be both religious and scientific and the examples of this are aboundant. The way that the religious people at the time of Franklin think was sure wrong and out of the range of religion. Such type of bigotries can be found in both religious and irreligious groups.
From Islamic perspective, Homo Islamicus, is firstly Allah’s servant (abd’ Allah) and His “caliph in the universe" (khalifetullah fi’l ard). Man is not an animal who can speak and think“ by pure chance; on the contrary, he is a creature created by Allah and owns a soul and essence (nafs).
The autohority of man over the universe is not because of “himself”, (here Islam rejects pure Humanism) but because of his being Allah’s caliph and being superior to all other creatures. Therefore, he is the one who is responsible to God for the “created” system and he is the very cause of mercy among God’s creatures.
According to the well-known hadith, “He who knows thy Lord, knows thyself”, man has the ability to have the knowledge of his inner world, his very essence, which is the key to know Allah.
Man is aware that his faculties are not bound and limited by the senses and intellect; that he has the necessary ability to gain the wholeness of his entity in order to utilize all the possibilities that Allah gave him; and that with the light of the spiritual world, his mind and reason can be enlighted; and that he can have a direct knowledge of the intelligible and spiritual world that Qur’an names the "unseen" (âlemu’l gayb), which modern science names as Metaphysics.
Beyond all question, such an understanding is almost completely different from the modern western man’s way of looking at the matter itself; modern man is completely a “mundane” being; the sovereign/master of the universe; and he is not responsible to anything else other than himself and this understanding cannot be reconciled with the vision of man that Islam has.
Man in Islamic sphere performs the specialties of being “homo sapiens” and “homo faber” not by revolting against God but by the attribution of his being God’s servant. His function is not to exalt himself but exalt his Lord, and reach the truth by means of the Truth Himself.
Religion and Science goes hand in hand in this process of being a “perfect” creature and remembering the sapiential essence that was engraved in man before creation. The problem with the debates going on in the "modern world" (Modern according to what?) is that some group of people try to put all the blames for the failure of post-modern world order on religion as a whole -- they make a crude generalization. They simply cannot see the fact that all the good attributes that are innate in the modern western man emanate from the very Christian heritage of him.
Religion as a notion and practice doesn't belittle or renounce science. We can be both religious and scientific and the examples of this are aboundant. The way that the religious people at the time of Franklin think was sure wrong and out of the range of religion. Such type of bigotries can be found in both religious and irreligious groups.