From: jamal@caen.engin.umich.edu (Jamal Mubarak)
Subject: Re: Can science come back to Islam [Part 2]
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 92 07:45:56 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Apr3.030519.17838@u.washington.edu> ngrjn@milton.u.washington.edu (V Nagarajan) writes:
>In article <92g+tx#@engin.umich.edu> jamal@caen.engin.umich.edu (Jamal Mubarak) writes:
>>
>>Was al-Khwarizmi an Arab?
>
>	I don't know. Was he? Apparently the original arabic text of 

Actually, I am not sure.  The greatest muslim mind, Ibn-i Sina was from 
Central Asia, currently part of the CIS.  I think al-Khwarizmi was also
from Cental Asia.  Does anyone know the origin of Ibn-i Khaldun?  Was he
North African?  The point I am trying to make is that this was not just 
an Arab phenomenon but a Muslim one.

>>Iqra!
>
>	Why, thanks for that succinct explanation! Now, if only you'd
>	deign to elaborate on it...

Okay, this gets long now. The word "iqra" was the first word ever
revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).  It means "read" or "recite".
Apart from the shock of the first revelation, the Prophet was totally
taken aback since he was illiterate.  Anyway, that is history.  The
point is that the first instruction was "Read, in the name of your
Lord who created.  Created you from a thing that hangs on to another."
[My trans.]  Next take the Hadith, "seek knowledge from the cradle
to the grave."  There is another Hadith "seek knowledge even if you
have to go to China," but this, I think is weak (zaeef).

Then one has to look at the arguments that the Qur'an uses to expound
its thesis.

 17. Will they not then consider the camels, how they are created?
 18. And the heaven, how it is reared aloft,
 19. And the mountains, how they are firmly fixed,
 20. And the earth, how it is made a vast expanse?
 21. Therefore do remind, for you are only a reminder.
						88:17-21

Put all this together and you begin to understand why it is important
to study the biology of camels, astronomy, geology of mountains, and
perhaps the resources of the earth.  These are the very Signs of God.

164. Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth
and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that
run in the sea with that which profits men, and the water that
Allah sends down from the cloud, then gives life with it to the
earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and
the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient
between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people
who understand.
						2:164

This is very different from any other religion that I know of.  Here
is a religion that actively encourages one to seek knowledge so that
one can reaffirm one's faith.  One of the primary arguments of the 
Quran is that of the physical universe and whatever we can observe.
"Verily in this are Signs for those who believe."  This is repeated
innumerable times in the Qur'an.  And of course, archeology is not
to be left out.  The Qur'an exhorts us to learn from the mistakes of
of previous civilizations such as 'Ad, Thamud, the Israelites, etc.
(Incidentally, the city of the 'Ad was recently discovered in Oman.)

6. Do they not consider how many a generation We have
destroyed before them, whom We had established in the earth as
We have not established you, and We sent the clouds pouring
rain on them in abundance, and We made the rivers to flow
beneath them, then We destroyed them on account of their faults
and raised up after them another generation?
						6:6

There is only one prohibition in learning--devil worship.  Rest we
are exhorted to learn.  Next one must consider and important con-
cept of the supremacy of Man on the rest of the creatures around
us.  This is a primary doctrine of Islam.  We are God's finest
creation.  Anything animal, vegetable, or mineral is at our disp-
osal.  This is diametrically opposed to the concept of a holy cow
or for that matter any other animal.  We are God's vicegerents on
earth and it is our *responsibility* to look after it.  And we must
utilize its resources for our betterment and in the way of Allah.

267. O you who believe! spend (benevolently) of the good
things that you earn and or what We have brought forth for you
out of the earth...
						2:267

Such is the spirit of muslim scholarship.  If only we had not lost
it....

>							- Nagarajan

Jamal [ 79. Do they not see the birds, constrained in the middle of 
	 the sky? None withholds them but Allah; most surely there 
	 are signs in this for a people who believe.
	 80. And Allah has given you a place to abide in your houses, 
	 and He has given you tents of the skins of cattle which you 
	 find light to carry on the day of your march and on the day 
	 of your halting, and of their wool and their fur and their 
	 hair (He has given you) household stuff and a provision for 
	 a time. 
	 81. And Allah has made for you of what He has created 
	 shelters, and He has given you in the mountains places of 
	 retreat, and He has given you garments to preserve you from 
	 the heat and coats of mail to preserve you in your 
	 fighting; even thus does He complete His favor upon you, 
	 that haply you may submit. 
	 82. But if they turn back, then on you devolves only the 
	 clear deliverance (of the message).
	 83. They recognize the favor of Allah, yet they deny it, and 
	 most of them are ungrateful. 
						16:79-82] Mubarak