Viability of Islamic Science: Some Insights from 19th Century India Author(s): S.

Irfan Habib Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 23 (Jun. 5-11, 2004), pp. 2351-2355 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415117 . Accessed: 23/04/2012 04:35
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Perspectives

Viability

of

Islamic

Science

Some Insightsfrom 19thCenturyIndia

Scienceflowered in Islam during the liberal MuslimAbbasid and later Ottomankings. This was possible because the Abbasids welcomedscientists and translatorsfrom other cultureswho willingly became sincere participants in the project called Islamic civilisation. The 19th centuryinterlocutors,afew of whomare discussed in this paper, were aware of the cross-civilisational characterof science in Islamic civilisation and modernscience for themwas a culminationof the perpetuallyshifting centres of science in history. Thisplurality of vision and cross-cultural perspective is much in contrast to what is being propounded today in the name of Islamic science.
S IRFAN HABIB et me startwith an analogy from Mohammad Wakil, who asked us L. to imagine a cable with many coloured wiresinsideit,conducting power, This cable, knowledgeand information. he said, represents civilicontemporary sation.It was createdin manylands and Judaic, by manyhands: Pagan,Christian, Islamic,Hindu,Buddhist, Tao, etc. Each of themcontributed this civilisation's to scienceandarts...Somewhere inside this cableof civilisation a greenIslamicwire is that is sparkingfuriously because of a weak connection. It is seeking to reestablishits internally circuit.It damaged is also seekingto reconnect withthe flow of information, and knowledge powerthat civilisation west... inspires contemporary ern nations may remain keen to claim exclusiveownership thiscontemporary of civilisation However, this civilisation cannot copyrighted patented any be and by or single, monolithicsuperpower by any other exclusivist formation around This sentiment conis religionor culture. to of trary thethinking someof thepresent who,in thenameof quesdayenthusiasts, are forward tioningEurocentrism, putting a religiously motivated alternative. Eurocentrism should be questioned to and diverbringoutcivilisational cultural sity of modemscienceandnotfor replaccentrism calledIslamic ing it withanother ' L" scienceor Hinduscience.A largenumber of Islamist intellectualshave proposed binarieslike tradition/modernity Isand lamic science/modern (western)science. Here Islamicscience is merelyconfined to tradition while modemscience is proof jectedas an exclusivepreserve modernity, which is not only westernbut also Christianin spirit and inspiration. One maybringin theissue of multiplemodernitiessayingthatwestern is modernity not the only modernityand one need not conform its norms be calledmodem.1 to to moActuallya searchfor an alternative can be well meaning if it is dernity soughtin termsof civilisationalalternative insteadof an alternative clothed in mostof the proreligion.2 Unfortunately, ponents of Islamic alternative have emphasised on the Islamicity of their rather itscultural than distinccivilisation, tiveness. The lattermay include several other religious denominations, which helpedconstructIslamiccivilisation,includingits Islamicscience.All thosewho are looking for a religiously and not motivated 'Islamicscience'are culturally doing a great disservice to science in Muslim countries.3 This pernicious exercise, which beganfew decadesago, has acquired and dangerous ugly connotation leading some to talk in terms of clash of civilisations.4 a Eurocentrism, creationof an essentialistthinking is process beingchallenged

by diverseessentialisms equallycondemnable."Civilisations don'tjust clash",as pointedout by the well knownhistorian of scienceA I Sabra, "theycanlearnfrom each other. Islam is a good exampleof that. The intellectualmeetingof Arabia andGreecewas one of the greatest events in history,he said, its scale and consenot quencesareenormous, just for Islam butforEurope theworld.5 and Mostof the Islamists repeatedlytalk about modem science's debt to Islamiccivilisationbut they seldomsay a wordaboutthe Arab's scientificdebt to the pre-Islamic ancient civilisations fromtheso-called- 'jahiliya' phase.Can any Islamisttell us whatwas thesource Islamic of science? WasitQuran or Hadiths did it come straight or through divine intervention angels? It is cerof tainly not true.Arabcivilisationdid not see the light of science till the middleof the eighthcentury.Therewas hardlyany scienceduring Prophet's the timeor even the Khulafa-i-Rashedin's(The during Khalifas TheRightWay)period.It was of duringthe liberal Muslim Abbasidand laterOttoman kingsthatscienceflowered in Islam. This was possible becausethe AbbasidswelcomedGreek,Indian,Chinese and othersciences andgot all these workstranslated Arabic. into Mostof these scientistsandtranslators gathered who in Baghdad were Arab Christians,Jews, Muslimsandeven HindusfromIndiaand were sincere participants the project in called Islamiccivilisation.The 19thcensome of whom I am tury interlocutors, going to discussin this paper,seem to be awareof thiscrosscivilisational character of science in Islamic civilisation and modernscience for them was a culminationof the perpetually shiftingcentres of science in history.Their pluralityof vision andcross-cultural is perspective in contrast whatis beingpropounded to today in the name of Islamic science. The currentformulations some exof Islamic intellectuals based patriate (mostly in the Euro-American universitieswith some students now at homelike Malaysia and India, etc) should be viewed in the contextof general intolerance apolitical at level, withinIslamas well as elsewhere.6 It is compounded to the disillusiondue ment with the proclaimedobjectivesof science, moreso with technologyandits 2351

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directrole in developmental projects.It's a fact thatS and T application led to has the dehumanisation and robotisationof society, yet this is not an insight,by any stretchof imagination,which has emanated froma particular faith.All thosewho fora sciencebasedon religionbegin argue with a critiqueof modernscience questioning the value free natureof science, emphasising the destructive nature of certainof its products.The fact that the practiceof modern science has created seriousproblemsfor humansociety was not a discovery of born again fundaTherehave been critiquesof mentalists.7 science from within the communityof scientistsas well as fromMarxpractising ists and anarchistslike Marcuse,Kuhn, and others. In the name of Feyerabend criticalperspective,some of the current are interlocutors pushingfor a sectarian agenda,makingmodemscience look like a monolithic Europeanproduct with a Christian ethic.8Inthenameof indigenous the traditions, religiousessenknowledge tialists are attempting foreground to one dominant tradition threatening the and in processtheveryideaof cultural pluralism. More importantly this porous world, in fundamentalist projectsbased only on a are prioriassumptions doomed.9 Imperialism and Modern Science WhatI proposeto do in this paperis to look at some of the 19th centuryIndian Islamic intellectualsand see how they modem scienceandcontrast their perceived inclusivistapproach with the exclusivism andsectarianism thepresent enthuof day siasts.The 19thcentury intellectuals were facedwiththebrutal of onslaught mercantile imperialism reducedto civilisaand tional nothingness due to a concerted orientalistdiscourse preceding colonisation. Yet some of them tried makinga distinction between and imperialist project its concernsand the project of modern science.They were bittercriticsof imperialismall overtheIslamicworldbutwere not prepared disown modernscience. to Even today, the post-colonial Islamic societiesarefacedwithsomerealaswell as western cultural intellectual and perceived This hegemonisation. is beingmisusedby someideologuesof Islamicscienceto dub modern scienceas partof the evil colonial baggageto be acceptedat yourown peril. Forthemmodernscience is an epistemological as well as culturalbreakfrom an earlierunadulterated Islamic past.l?

confuted I will mainlydeal withMaulviKaramat The Koranhasmostsatisfactorily all the systems of ancient philosophies;it Ali Jaunpuri, Maulvi ObaidullahUbedi plucked up from the root, the physical and Syed Jamaluddin Afghani.The first sciences as prevalentamong the ancients. two were Kolkata-based Islamicscholars Whata strangecoincidenceexists between and teacherswhile the latteris a betterthe Koran and the philosophy of modern knownpan-Islamist, spentfew eventwho Europe.16 ful yearsinIndiain the 1880s.Letmepoint Karamat Ali's faith in the Quranic out that they raised questionsat a very to convey knowledge and its utility in modern times level, attempting rudimentary the feeling that modem civilisation,re- did not go beyond treating it as a guide world, to progress. He did not look at it as a presentedby the Euro-American was the outcomeof a joint humaneffort, scientific text that had answers to all the across cultural religiousbarriers. complex scientific problems of today.17 or cutting We may not be justified in locating the Quran, like all other religious books incurrent of understanding multiculturalism cluding the Vedas, is all encompassing in or Needhamian ecumenismin theirwrit- its range and it certainly talks about ings, yet they did have a vision of know- science (not exactly in a way science is ledge, which was premisedon the cross- known today). One can find interesting culturalexchange of ideas throughthe insights in all these sacred books but the ages. In doing so they saw Islamiccivil- engagement should end there and not in isational contribution animportant as com- making Quran or the Vedas as full time of modern scienceanddid notfeel preoccupation to read science in them, ponent the necessityof carvingouta lone furrow, making it an end in itself. Such attempts within Islam got a tremendous boost from premisedon a religiousdistinction.11 Karamat was bornin the early 19th the well-funded Saudi project called 'SciAli in but century Jaunpur12 spentmostof his entific Miracles in the Quran'. The project in Kolkataas a teacher got into comparisons of those verses of the productive years andmutawalli HooghlyImambara. of His Quran that deal with astronomy and views on history and science are best embryology with the latest discoveries of reflectedin his book called Ma'akhizal- modern science. Relativity, quantum meUlumwritten 1865.13 comments in His on chanics, big bang theory, embryology the state of science and educationin the practically everything was 'discovered' in Muslimworld,includingIndiaduringthe the Quran....Unfortunately, this variety is 19thcentury worth are beforewe now the most popular version of Islamic reporting get intootherquestionsrelatedto science science.18There are scholars who argue and Islam. He concedes that 'we, the that the work done by such scholars is Musallmans India,have fallen far be- useful in a sense that it has reawakened of hindothernationsin artandlearning the Muslims to the value of their inheritance maincauseof thatis, thatnoblemen this and rekindled the desire for further rein Hindooor Mahomedan, search with awareness thatthereis Quranic country,whether at and payno regard all to learning science sanction for scientific research.As a matter and never spend a trifle even on such of fact all such attempts have actually matters;and other people, though they exposed Islam to western ridicule, bringspend enormoussums on marriageand ing it into conflict with not only science funeralceremonies,keep theireyes shut but with any rational thinking itself.19 with referenceto the educationof their Sayyid Qutb describing such an exercise children.'14 called such a conductof as 'a methodological error' has insisted He his countrymen coreligionists over that while the Qurancontains guidance on and all the Islamic world as 'antagonistic to scientific subjects, it is not a textbook of civilisationand to nationalprosperity.'15 science.20 He begins with a conviction that the KaramatAli was of the view that under Quranformed an intellectualwatershed Quranicguidance, Muslims haddeveloped fromthe Greek sciences into modem sciences and dividingtheancient philosophies modernepistemologies,he arguedthatit transmitted them to Europe through their still could provideguidancefor modern centres of education in Spain. This process of cultural and intellectual diffusion had sciences. To quote his words: ThewholeKoran full of passages is con-, resulted in the 19th century scientific disinformation physical mathe- coveries of Europe from which the Muson and taining matical sciences. we wouldbutspenda lims of India could justly benefit without If littlereflection it weshould won- any sense of inferiority.21Other 19th cenover find drous in it meanings everyword contains. turyIslamic intellectuals expressed similar

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sentiments as well. Munshi Zakaullah in Delhi also believed that knowledge or science was the outcome of cumulative human effort over the centuries, and each centuryaddeda new chapterto the progress of science. The 19th century, in particular, had been an auspicious century in the history of science, as it had brought about revolutionarychanges in knowledge never even conceived of by earliergenerations.22 Emphasising the multiracial and multicultural character of modern science, Karamat Ali, anticipating Martin Bernal, pointed out that science and learning were first introduced into Greece through the instrumentalityof the Syrians, the Phoenicians and the Egyptians... Those philosophers and mathematicians, who are generally known as Greeks, were in reality people of the above-mentioned countries. They emigrated into Greece, where they settled and left their posterity.23Karamat Ali was not even conscious of the fact that a concerted attempt was on in Europe at the time to negate this cultural plurality of Greece and convert it into a purely European source of modern western science. The Europeans during the 19th century, ignored even Herodotus, the 'father' of Greekhistory,who hadacknowledged their strong debt to Egypt. MartinBernal argues persuasively that the Greek model was a 19th century invention deeply implicated in the rise of European racism and imperialism. In his own words, for "eighteenth century romantics and racists, it was simply intolerable for Greece, which was seen not merely as the epitome of Europe but also as its pure childhood, to have been the result of the mixture of native Europeans and colonising Africans and Semites."24KaramatAli was convinced of the fact that"themodern nations of Europe have hadall scientific writings in the Arabic tongue translatedinto theirown languages, and this translation is being carried on even at the present moment.... The Spaniards were perhaps the first among the Europeans who derived a knowledge of the above-mentionedthingsfromthe Arabs, which they were, in short, the medium through which Arab genius made an impressionon Europe."25Simultaneously, one is remindedof D G Howarth,perspicuous observer of Islam, who wrote 'Arab civilisation owes a heavy obligation to the Greek, to the Persian, to the Jewish, but no heavier than are debited to all other greater civilisations. Every advanced human culture must be eclectic and its originality is reckoned by the measure in which

it transforms and makes its own what it pursuits to exist. His comments again not has seized.'26Karamat Ali also observes only reflect the above sentiment but also that"Charlemagne,following the example emphasisethe cross-civilisational character of the Arabs, instituted seminaries and of modern sciences. To quote his words: colleges in Paris and other cities of the All learningand sciences were annihilated soon became alive empire.. .The barbarians by religious bigotry. Sometimes a family to the fact that without knowledge nothing or a race becomes suddenly extinct, and could be done, and began to make efforts a new one springsup and flourishes;such in its pursuit".27However he conceded is the case with learning and civilisation, that "thetables arenow turnedon the latter, they devolve from one individual to another. When a nation or a family behave contracted a dislike for all sorts they comes degenerated, knowledge and of learning and have forgotten that knowcivilisation recede from them and fly for ledge will not come to any person unless shelter to anotherin a different country. wooed with the utmost assiduity, the Thisis awfultrialto manfromthe Creator.34 on the other hand have Europeans JamaluddinAfghani also held the same become exceedingly alive to this fact".28 Jamaluddin Afghani was also of the view view when he said that 'science is continuthat the Europeans could not find the ally changing capitals. Sometimes it has treasures buried in Greece 'until Arab moved from east to west and other times civilisation lit up with its reflections the from west to east.'35 Probably referringto summits of the Pyrenees and poured its the Asharite reaction to the early Islamic light and riches on the Occident. The scientific resurgence, called the 'golden Europeans welcomed Aristotle, who had age' of Science in Islam, Afghani pointed emigrated and become Arab; but they did out that'Muslim religion has tried to stifle not think of him at all when he was Greek science and stop its progress. It has thus and their neighbour.'29It was Islam that succeeded in halting the philosophical or rehabilitated Greek learning for the first intellectualmovement andin turningminds time and conferred dignity to it once again from the search for scientific truth.'36 after the lull that had followed the Hellenistic Age.30 It is necessary to question the Defining Modern Science epistemologically differentIslamic science but the contributionof Islamic civilisation Afghani conceived of modernscience as to the plurality of civilisations should not a universal science that transcends nabe denied its honourableplace.31 We need tions, cultures, and religions, although he to keep the spirit of Needhamian project recognised the role of cultural values in in mind. Needham emphasised on the the domain of technological applications.37 Chinese contribution to science and how He goes further saying that 'the strangest its civilisation's cultural values contri- thing of all is that our ulema these days buted to scientific thinking and a growth have divided science into two parts. One in knowledge.32 Unfortunately, it was a they call Muslim science and one Eurotime when writing of history was being pean science.... They have not understood used to enhance the power of "the domi- that science is that noble thing that has no nant culture by diminishing the value of connection with any nation, and is not the history of those people who have been distinguished by anything but itself.'38 To subjugated or who have come under the use the expression of Farouk El-Baz, an sway of the dominant culture."33 Egyptian geologist at Boston, "Science is It is clear from Karamat Ali's writings international. There is no such thing as that he saw continuity in history, particu- Islamic science. Science is like building larly in the realm of the progress of know- a big building, a pyramid.Each person puts ledge. For him the present had a definite up a block. These blocks have never had link with the past and the future again was a religion. Its irrelevant, the colour of the not delinked with the former two. Modern guy who put up the block."39Abdus Salam, science could not be a product of Greek the only Nobel laureate in sciences in the mind alone, in like mannerIslamic science Islamic world, and a great believer himself cannot be imagined in isolation as a dis- categorically held that 'There is only one tinct epistemological entity, solely inspired universal science, its problems and by Quran. Karamat Ali was aware of the modalities are internationaland there is no historyof Islamic intellectualefflorescence such thing as Islamic science just as there in the early centuries and its subsequent is no Hindu science, no Jewish science, decline due to the rise of ossified reli- no Confucian science nor Christian giosity that made it difficult for secular science.'40 Afghani laidgreat emphasis on

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thecultivation philosophic of spiritandthe spiritof scientificinquiryitself, which in fact is demanded the Quran.The loss by of this spirit in the Muslim world has in and resulted its stagnation deterioration, whereasthe west has prosperedand becomepowerful becauseit hasnurtured this inherited fromtheMuslims.Inlearnspirit fromthedeveloped west, ingscienceafresh theMuslims actually are in engaged recovering their past glory and refulfillingthe long neglected commandmentsof the Quranconcerningthe study of nature.41 TheearlyIslamicscientific was resurgence on this spiritbased on 'ijtihad' premised - to exert the utmosteffort, to struggle, todoone'sbesttoknowsomething., which was lost in the battlewith orthodoxyand attireplacedby 'taqlid'- the tyrannical tudeof passiveresistance. Ziauddin Sardar concedesthatthe daytaqlidwas accepted as thedominant Islamicscience paradigm, becamea matter history.42 of truly Today, whenNasrand Sardar aboutthe glotalk rious traditionof Islamic science as an epistemologicallydistinct category, one wonderswhich science or scientific traditionis beingreferred Is it the science to. of the Islamicrenaissance the 8th-13th of centuries? far we have little evidence So of Islamicscience being practisedtoday, evenin countries SaudiArabia, like which investsalotinpromoting ideaof Islamic the science. MaulviObaidullah Ubediwasprofessor at Hugli college in Kolkataand a close associateof Karamat Ali. His views on modem science are best reflectedin his essay titled 'Reciprocal Influence of Mahomedan European and Learningand Inference therefromas to the Possible Influenceof EuropeanLearningon the Mahomedan Mind in India'publishedin 1877. Before I refer to his views about moder science and Islam,let me briefly talkabouthis commentson the influence of European learningon the Muslimsof India.He believed that the 'Mahomedan mindhas...remained susceptible less than thatof theirHindoobrethren the influto ence of European learning.Theirconceit thattheyarealready possessedof learning and civilisationhas hinderedthem from science.'43 makingprogressin European Heregretted mostof his co-religionists that regardEnglish educationas a means of livelihoodand advancingin society, but do not desireit as a meansof civilisation ormental He improvement. wasoptimistic thatsoonhis brethren wouldbe convinced of the usefulnessof modernscience and

'among us a NewtonisedAvicennaor a Averroes spring who Copernicised may up; be able to criticiseeven sons of Sina may and Rushd.44 Ubedi continuedin the same vein and the and categorically emphasised plurality of modem science and its posdiversity sible reconciliation with Islam.To quote his words: Thereis no doubtthatourscripture may beeasilyreconciled modern with scientific truth. anyof ourco-religionists the If hold doctrine the plurality worlds,he is of of notliable beburnt Bruno, to like according to ourholyprecepts.canindeed I discover somehintsin thefirstverseof thebeginabout plurality the of ningof ourscripture the worlds;as whenit says: "Praise to Godthe Governor Supbe or of porter the Worlds".45 Besides emphasisingpluralityin the above quote, Obaidullahbelieved that thereis no contradiction betweenmodem science and Islam.He further writesthat thatthereexistsanycontradic'supposing tion betweenthe modernscientifictruths and our scripture, shouldconsultour we sacredwritingsfor our moralinstruction and guidancetowardssalvation,not for scientificinvestigations.46 Ubediwasalso of the view that learningspreadin the worldthrough cross-civilisational contributions and centres of excellence have been shifting all the time. To quote his words: Theageof Arabian continued in learning its bloomingyouth aboutfive hundred till of years, thegreat eruption theMoghuls, whenlearning for refugeto the Perfled and and sians,Tartars, Scythians, wascoevalwiththedarkest themostslothful and but annals; sincethe periodof European sun of sciencein the west beganto rise, thelampof Oriental learning beganto be Thus gradually extinguished. riseandfall is to be seen in the scientificworld,as elsewhere.47 LikeSyedAhmad another Khan, prominent Muslim moderniser of the 19th century,Obaidullah found it futile to the regard Quranas a work of science andfor themthe crux of theirbelief was that 'the real purpose of religion is to Let be improvemorality'. scientifictruths established observation experiment, and by to they believed, and not by attempting interpreta religious text as a book of science.48Obaidullah, going back to the historyof science in Islamiccivilisation, wrote that when Aristotelian philosophy andPtolemaic wereintroduced astronomy

in the Mohammedan schools,theirabsurd doctrines seemedto be irreconcilable with theIslamitic there(sic)religious precepts; fore our divines,thinkingit dangerous to the faith, were compelledto defendrevelation with great difficulty, but on the introductionof the Europeaninductive thereis no apprehension this of philosophy kind.Oursacred faith,whoseessential part is Theismor natural religion,being little shakenby the westernexperimental philosophy, which is only a copy of nature andby which the existence,unity,power andwisdomof thatsole beingareproved, will rather thanwas gaingreater strength, possibleby meansof Grecian philosophy whichcauseda greatcontroversy the and division of sects. We ought to regard AristotleandPtolemyas greater enemies to our faith than Copernicus and Newton.49 Contrast withSyedHossein this Nasr's views today that find no consisscience. tencybetweenIslamandmodern He relentlesslycastigatesthose: .. modernistic Muslim apologetic writings, whichwouldgo to anyextreme placate to modernism wouldpay any priceto and showthatIslamis 'modern' afterall and thatin contrast Christianity not in to is conflictwith 'science'.50 He finds that the modernistic writings betweenIslamand claimingcompatibility the science of Galileo and Newton are flawed because they wilfully distortthe meaningof the Arabicword 'ilm', whose is pursuit the religiousduty,intomeaning scienceandsecularlearning. This is false becauseilm refersto knowledgeof god, notknowledgeof theprofane. a matter As of factthispositioncontradicts famous the saying of the Prophethimself where he exhorted believersof Islam'to pursue the knowledgeeven unto China'.Whatwas this knowledge,whichthe Muslimswere supposedto pursue?It was certainlynot the knowledge only about god and the himselfdid not meanit to be so. Prophet It is only the sectarian interpreters today who are trying to make this distinction between knowledge and ilm. The 19th interlocutors notbe assophiscentury may ticatedas our presentday ideologuesbut they knew their Islam well enough. Emphasising the cultural diversity of science, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's remarks, context,are thoughin a different relevantfor both the Islamistsas well as the proponentsof Eurocentrism. While and talking about science, mathematics culture,he referredto 'the difficulty in

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decidingwhatexactly is the origin of an idea or an object.Sometimesa thingmay fromthe west, but its come, proximately, earlier origin may have involved nonwesterninfluencesin a crucialway. This the is particularly case whenwe talkabout since these subscience or mathematics, of absorbed contributions many the jects differentsocieties and cultures. To the the ideasand immediate recipient, arriving beliefs may look identifiably'western', in sincetheyarebrought bypeoplefromthe west, andyet these ideas andbeliefs may not be, in any sense, specificallywestern in nature in origin.'51 or One is reminded of the exhortation Al-Kindiwho asked of thebelievers'nottobeashamed acknowto ledge truth and to assimilate it from whateversource it comes to us.'52BI3
Address for correspondence:

irfan53 @yahoo.co.uk

Notes
[Shorterversions of this paper were presentedat the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, US and also at REHSEIS, CNRS, Paris.] 1 ShmuelN Eisenstadt WolfgangSchuchter, and 'Introduction to Early Modernities - A ComparativeView', Daedalus, 127, 3, 1998, 1-18. 2 Aziz Al-Azmeh, Islams and Modernities, Verso, London-New York, 1993. 3 Abdus Salam in a foreword to Pervez Hoodbhoy,Islamand Science, London, 1991, p ix. 4 Huntington, Samuel, The Clash of Civilisations, New York, 1996. 5 Dennis Overbye, How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science, The New York Times, October 30, 2001. 6 Some of the prominentintellectualswho had been arguingfor Islamic science are S H Nasr, Ziauddin Sardar, Osman Bakar, Pervez Manzoor and others. However this is not a homogeneous group and we find quite a few differences in their perceptions of Islamic science. 7 Pervez Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality,Zed Books, London, 1991, p74. 8 This aspect was emphasised by Lynn White jr in the muchdiscussedpaper 'The Historical Roots of Ecological Crisis' published in MachinaEx Deo: Essays in the Dynamismof WesternCulture,MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1968, pp 75-94. Most of the Islamists refer to this work while dealing with this issue. 9 Susantha Goonatilake, Towards a Global Science: Mining Civilisational Knowledge, New Delhi, 1999, p 7. 10 Osman Bakar, Tawhid and Science, Lahore, 1998, p 16. Even this past, perceived as was not really so. This most unadulterated, sought after and pristine Islamic past had its illustriousNestorianChristian, Jewish, Hindu,

who were 28 Ibid, pp 76-77. Chinese and Buddhistcontributors, welcomed by the liberal Caliphs of Baghdad 29 Nikki R Keddie, An Islamic Response to to engage in the productionof this corpus of Imperialism,Berkeley, 1968, p 185. scientific knowledge, which later came to be 30 Aydin Sayili, The Observatoryin Islam and calledIslamicscience.Todayone triesto forget its Place in the General History of the or deliberatelyoverlook its multicultural and Observatory,Ankara, 1988, p 416. 31 We can see a similarthinkingamong the 19th multi-religious origins. 11 For a detailedaccounton this issue see S Irfan century Chinese intellectuals, who were Habib, 'Reconciling Science with Islam in exposed to western science during the 16th 19th CenturyIndia', Contributionsto Indian centuryas a resultof the Jesuitmissions. Some of them opposed it as alien and uncouth,but Sociology, 34, 1, 2000. 12 Jaunpur the othersbelievedthatit hadpreserved vestiges today is an insignificanttown in Uttar Pradesh.It had been an important culturaland of an older native tradition,"augmentedand intellectual centre during the 15th and 18th cultivated" in the west when the chain of centuries.MullaMahmudJaunpuri a well was transmissionwithin China had been broken. known scholar from the town whose book David Wright, 'The Translationof Moder Shams I Bazegha remainedinfluentialamong WesternScience in NineteenthCentury China, traditionalscholars till the late 19th century. 1840-1895', Isis, Vol 89, No 4, December JamaluddinAfghani also took note of this 1998, p 657. book in his India writings in the 1880s. 32 J Dhombres, "On the Track of Ideas and 13 KaramatAli, Ma'akhiz al-Ulum: A Treatise Down theCenturies: History The Explanations on the Origin of the Sciences, Calcutta, 1965 of Science Today", Impact of Science on (in Persian). Ubaydi and Amir Ali translated Society, No 160, p 200. this work into English in 1867. 33 MohammedS Fakir, 'Towardsan Externalist 14 Ibid, p 78. History of Islamic Science' in The American 15 Karamat expressedshock at music lovers' Ali Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol 9, No 2, summer 1992, p 191. ignorance with mathematics in his country andPersia,wherehe travelled duringthe 1830s. 34 KaramatAli, op cit, p 24. WhileinPersia,a nobleman private and steward 35 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 103. of the king wanted to learn music from him, 36 Ibid, p185. 'but as they were unacquainted with 37 Osman Bakar, op cit, p 215. mathematics,they could not understandthe 38 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 62. otherscience, so in the end I had to teach them 39 Dennis Overbye, op cit. mathematics first.' 40 Abdus Salam, op cit, p ix. 16 Ibid, pp 40-42. 41 Osman Bakar, op cit, p 218. 17 Maurice Bucaille is one of the foremost 42 ZiauddinSardar,'Can Science come back to articulatorsof Islamic science and authorof Islam?' New Scientist, Vol 88 No 1224, an exegesis called The Bible, The Quranand October 1980, p 215. Science. He has concluded that whereas the 43 Obaidullah Ubedi, Reciprocal Influence of Bible is often wrong in the description of Mahomedan and European Learning and naturalphenomena, the Quran is invariably as Inferencetherefrom to thepossible influence correct and that it correctly anticipated all of European Learning on the Mahomedan Mind in India, 1877, Calcutta, pp 46-47. major discoveries of modem science. 18 Ziauddin Sardar, Waiting for rain 44 Ibid, p 47. Fundamentalists hijacked have Islamicscience. 45 Ibid pp 48-49. Can it ever be liberated? http:// 46 Ibid, p 49. 47 Ibid, p 10. dhushara.tripod.com/book/upd3/2002a/ 48 Pervez Hoodbhoy, op cit, pp 68-69. histis.htm, p 8. 19 A Pakistani calledAA Abbasi 49 ObaidullahUbedi, op cit, p 48. neuropsychiatrist authoreda book titled The Quranand Mental 50 S H Nasr, Islam and Contemporary Society, Hygiene wherehe found in the Quranmodem London, 1982, p 176. curesfordiabetes,tuberculosis, stomachulcers, 51 Amartya Sen, 'An Assessment of the asthmaandparalysis.In rheumatism, arthritis, Millennium', UNESCO Lecture in Delhi. the end these claims could not go beyond 52 S P Loo, Thefourhorsemen Islamicscience" of intellectual amusement Another Pakistani a critical analysis', InternationalJournal of that Science Education,Vol 18, No 3, 1996, p 290. nuclearengineersuggested thejinnswhom God made out of fire, should be used as a Al-Kindi was a distinguished ninth century source of energy to combat the energy crisis. rationalistphilosopherand scientist who was 20 Ziauddin Sardar, Explorations in Islamic publiclyfloggedforresistingthetideof Islamic Science, London, 1989, pp 35-36. fundamentalism. 21 KaramatAli, op cit, pp 15-22. 22 MunshiZakaullah,Tabiyat-Sharqi Gharbi wa ki Abjad (Beginnings of the Eastern and Economic and Political Weekly Western Sciences), Delhi, Matbua Ahmadi, 1900, p 6. available from: 23 KaramatAli, op cit, p 46. 24 MartinBernal,BlackAthena: TheAfroasiatic Churchgate Book Stall Rootsof Classical Civilisation,Vol 1, London, 2. Churchgate Station 1987, p 25 Ibid, p 76. Opp Indian Merchants Chamber 26 Elie Kedourie,Islam in theModernWorld and Churchgate other Studies, London, 1980, p 39. Mumbai - 400 020 27 Ibid, p 73.

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