'Islam needs to engage more with spirit of science'
Sunday October 28, 2012 11:25:20 AM,
Madhusree
Chatterjee, IANS
|
|
|
|
New Delhi: The space
for rational science in Islam is shrinking in contemporary times
as the faith becomes more inflexible, renowned historian S. Irfan
Habib says, advocating a more pro-active approach to science in
Islam.
"In developing economies like India, where most Muslims are part
of the economy of the marginalised, thinking against science is
encouraged, resulting in superstition," Habib said.
"Islam, which has become inflexible and rigid in contemporary
times, needs to engage more with the spirit of science. Earlier,
it could accommodate all knowledge systems," Habib told IANS in an
interview at the launch of his new book, "Jihad, Itjihad:
Religious Orthodoxy and Modern Science in Contemporary Islam".
"For me Islam, as it is now, is the problem. The idea of the book
is to engage with people (Muslims) who define science differently
in Islam," Habib said.
"They say modern science is Eurocentric... I have written five
other books on science. We often see modern science as part of a
colonial imperialistic project. Who can agree with an
Islam-centric science?" the historian said.
"For me, there is no separate science for different religions.
Islam should not look for a science compatible with Islam," Habib
said.
He referred to former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as an example,
saying: "Abdul Kalam believes in Islam, but is open about
science."
"I wanted to question this in the book," said the historian, who
currently holds the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Chair at the National
University of Educational Planning and Administration in the
capital.
According to Habib, believers of Islam need not look at modern
science as something alien but as part of Islamic civilisation.
"Strangely, Islam is rigid about science, but not in the area of
technology. Islamists use technology, but they feel that science
affects the mind. It brings democratisation of knowledge and they
(custodians of faith) want to deny people access to knowledge," he
said.
Habib said that "anti-government propaganda, global politics, the
general outlook and anything associated with the West is the enemy
of Islam have led to the gradual slide of a pragmatic scientific
mindset within Islam".
"In mosques, the lectures (sermons) delivered by the imam after
the Friday prayers have become political - more of covert
propaganda. Earlier, the lectures used to be theological," he
said.
Science often comes under criticism during these sermons, Habib
observed.
He said that "there is a concerted campaign to widen the gap
between Islam and its believers and modernity and its proponents".
"In the post-colonial context, the problem gets all the more
complex as the decades of colonisation and its trauma comes in
handy to foment antagonism. I think Islamic science is also an
outcome of such skewered thinking among intellectuals and thinkers
within South Asia and elsewhere," the historian said.
"I don't think we need to depend on the clergy at all. Barely 6 to
7 per cent of the Muslims in India send their children to a
madrassa . I am not concerned about them. I am more concerned
about the 94 per cent of Muslim children who are either in
mainstream education or have no education at all," Habib said.
The book, published by Harper Collins-India, was released this
week.
(Madhusree
Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)
|
Home |
Top of the Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
I |
|
|
More Headlines |
Do you
feel the pain of Indian Muslims, Mr. Prime Minister |
13 Indian firms among Newsweek's global green; Wipro ranked 2 |
Curfew
continues in Aakot, Eid prayers offered at homes |
'India should build interdependent relations
with other nations' |
Himachal Pradesh polls: 37 percent
candidates never filed IT returns |
Policeman plotted to kill, eat women: Report |
Eid prayers offered amidst curfew in Faizabad |
Can Obama lose popular vote, yet regain
presidency? |
Stage set for Sunday's cabinet rejig |
Pakistani leaders call for unity to defeat terror
|
Human ancestors spent more time in trees: Study |
|
Top Stories |
India celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with traditional fervour, gaiety
Religious fervour and
gaiety marked Eid-ul-Azha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, in
New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Malegaon and other parts of India Saturday.
Millions of people offered Eid prayers in the morning »
Curfew
continues in Aakot, Eid prayers offered at homes
Eid prayers offered amidst curfew in Faizabad
Kerala Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Azha
Eid Al
Adha in India on October 27
|
|
Most Read |
Do you
feel the pain of Indian Muslims, Mr. Prime Minister
There are hundreds of people from the Muslim
community alone who were implicated in terror blasts cases and
other anti-national activities in last 20 years but after spending
many years
»
|
Stage set for Sunday's cabinet rejig
The stage
is set for Sunday's much-anticipated cabinet reshuffle with five
ministers stepping down, including S.M. Krishna and Ambika Soni,
to make way for newer, and possibly, younger faces.
The swearing in of the new ministers will take place in the
morning. A Rashtrapati Bhavan official told IANS "It will be held
at 11.30 a.m." Ahead »
|
|
News Pick |
'India should build interdependent relations
with other nations'
The geo-economics of growth in an interdependent world requires
India to build both interdependent relations with other countries
as well as the capability to defend its interests, strategic »
|
Imran Khan taken off plane in Toronto
Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was Friday taken
off a US-bound flight at Toronto airport for questioning, a media
report said. Khan had boarded an American Airlines plane from
Toronto to New York to speak
»
|
Indian doctor detained in Saudi Arabia, alleges mother
Usmane
Ghani, an Indian doctor from this city working in a military
hospital at Riyadh, has been detained by the Saudi Arabian police
at the behest of the Indian government, alleged his grieving
mother Fathima Khan here Friday.
"I got a call from his wife Rashida Oct 8 that my son was
picked »
|

Arafat Sermon:
Grand Mufti urges to be role models of good behavior
Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al
Al-Sheikh delivered the Arafat sermon and led prayers at the
Namira Mosque, re-enacting
»
Hajj officially kicks off; About 4mn pilgrims head to Mina
Bosnian
Muslim walks to Makkah for Haj
|
|
Picture of the Day |
 |
Hundreds of thousands of white-clad believers, in buses, cars
and on foot and all of them chanting “Labbaik Allahumma
Labbaik” (“Here I am, O Allah, here I am”), began their trek
last night to the nearby tent city of Mina in the first leg of
the annual pilgrimage.
(Photo: SPA) |
|
Recommend the story to
your friends |
|
|
|
|
|