Islam's Quantum Question Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science

by Guessoum, Nidhal

• ISBN13: 9781848855175
• ISBN10: 1848855176
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-15
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

In secular Europe the veracity of modern science is almost always taken for granted. Whether they think of the evolutionary proofs of Darwin or of spectacular investigation into the boundaries of physics conducted by CERN's Large Hadron Collider, most people assume that scientific enquiry goes to the heart of fundamental truths about the universe. Yet elsewhere, science is under siege. In the USA, Christian fundamentalists contest whether evolution should be taught in schools at all. And in Muslim countries like Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia, a mere 15% of those recently surveyed believed Darwin's theory to be 'true' or 'probably true'. This thoughtful and passionately argued book contends absolutely to the contrary: not only that evolutionary theory does not contradict core Muslim beliefs, but that many scholars, from Islam's golden age to the present, adopted a worldview that accepted evolution as a given. Guessoum suggests that the Islamic world, just like the Christian, needs to to take scientific questions with the utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity. Following the example of the Sufi philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd), the author demonstrates how scientific principles may quite properly be applied to Quranic texts. In its application of a specifically Muslim perspective to important topics like cosmology, divine action and evolution, From Averroes to Einstein makes a vital contribution to debate in the disputed field of 'science and religion'.

Author Biography

Nidhal Guessoum is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He has published widely on the mutual compatibility of science and the Islamic tradition. His book Reconcilier L'Islam et la Science Moderne was published in France in 2009.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Averroes and I * Introduction: Islam and Science Today * Fundamentals (First things first): God, the Qur’an, and Science * Allah, the Creator and Sustainer * The Qur’an and its Philosophy of Knowledge/Science * Science and Its Critics * Can One Develop an “Islamic Science”? * I`jaz - Modern Science in the Qur’an? * Summary and Conclusions of Part I * Islam and Contemporary Science Issues * Islam and Cosmology * Islam and Design * Islam and the Anthropic Principle * Islam and Evolution (Human and Biological) * Outlook * Islam and Science tomorrow * Epilogue - A conversation with my students * Appendix A: Towards an Open-Minded Science (Collective Article) * Appendix B: The Flaws in 'A New Astronomical Quranic Method for The Determination Of The Greatest Speed C' by Dr. Mansour Hassab-Elnaby * Appendix C: Survey of ‘Science and Religion’ Views at the American University of Sharjah, UAE * Bibliography * Index