Source: economist.com
After centuries of stagnation science is making comeback in the Islamic world
Many blame Islam’s supposed innate hostility to science. Some universities seem keener on prayer than study. Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, for example, has three mosques on campus, with a fourth planned, but no bookshop. Rote learning rather than critical thinking is the hallmark of higher education in many countries. The Saudi government supports books for Islamic schools such as “The Unchallengeable Miracles of the Qur’an: The Facts That Can’t Be Denied By Science” suggesting an inherent conflict between belief and reason.
Many universities are timid about courses that touch even tangentially on politics or look at religion from a non-devotional standpoint. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a renowned Pakistani nuclear scientist, introduced a course on science and world affairs, including Islam’s relationship with science, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, one of the country’s most progressive universities. Students were keen, but Mr Hoodbhoy’s contract was not renewed when it ran out in December; for no proper reason, he says. (The university insists that the decision had nothing to do with the course content.)
But look more closely and two things are clear. A Muslim scientific awakening is under way. And the roots of scientific backwardness lie not with religious leaders, but with secular rulers, who are as stingy with cash as they are lavish with controls over independent thought.
Categories: Muslim Heritage
It is a definite thing that the only way of getting ahead in Science or any other discipline is the importance of education. This approach has given the Jewish people the best results. I am proud to say that in our community, the Khalifa of the time has always put great emphasis on getting the highest level of education for all members, youg or old, men or women, urban or rural. That is the reason that even in the remotest place, an Ahmadi muslim strives for at least the basic education, not just religious but also the secular, like reading, writing & arithmatic.