The Friday Times:
Perhaps the most intractable question in Pakistani educational reform remains how best to reconcile religion and science within the curriculum. This is a serious matter but few are willing to engage with the issue directly, for fear of being branded religious heretics by some or apologists for fanaticism by others. The matter was accentuated for me most recently in viewing, on the web, a video of a debate between physicist and public intellectual Pervez Hoodbhoy and Islamic educator Hamza Tzortzis at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) a few months back. The “debate” ended in a huff with both speakers fuming with contempt for each other’s perspective that ultimately led to an irrevocable meltdown. Professor Hoodbhoy walked out of the room accusing Mr Tzortzis of innuendo. The episode was soon thereafter put online by Mr Tzortzis’s organization claiming that the debate had been won by their protagonist. Many commenters on blogs and Facebook seemed to concur that by losing his cool Mr Hoodbhoy had vindicated the Islamist perspective.
There is a tendency for many Muslims to atavistically celebrate the accomplishments of tenth-century Islamic mathematicians, while investing little in developing contemporary educational capacity |
Such a meltdown between religion and scientific epistemologies is inevitable because the underlying assumptions that exist. There is a tendency for many Muslims to atavistically celebrate the accomplishments of tenth-century Islamic mathematicians, while investing little in developing contemporary educational capacity. Where investment is being done, it is focused on instrumental fields such as engineering in the Gulf States, and much less in critical inquiry that could actually lead to discoveries that advance the scientific enterprise.
Far too often, the imams are talking about the etymology of “algebra” coming from Arabic and Avicenna’s pharmaceutical accomplishments but do we ask why more of such great scholars have not been seen for a thousand years in Islamic countries? Furthermore, it is important to remember that the golden age of Islam was also its most pluralistic (willing to embrace different interpretations of scripture), and even then there were fundamentalist forces who constantly threatened these scientists. Let us not forget that Madinat-al-Zahra, once a showpiece of Islamic art and learning just out
Out of more than five hundred Nobel laureates in the sciences, only two have been of Muslim lineage. Pakistan can claim one of them: Abdus Salam, who shared the prize in physics in 1979, and memorably wore a shervani and turban to the award ceremony in Sweden. However, as an Ahmedi, he was spurned at home as a non-Muslim and died in 1996 without fully being able to contribute to science education in Pakistan, despite his noblest intentions. His dedication to improve the plight of Muslim scientists cannot be questioned.side Cordoba, was destroyed not by any “kuffar” but instead by radical and retrogressive Muslim factions.
Categories: Asia, Pakistan, Religion and Science