Indian Muslim Priorities - Scintific Consciousness

The principal reason for Muslims’ backwardness in the field of science can be summed up in one phrase – lack of consciousness.

Just as the Indian landlord class was pushed into the background because of a lack of awareness in the field of business, so were Muslims left behind others because the scientific consciousness which ought to have developed in them had for various reasons been stultified. If they paid scant attention to science, it was partly because their respective attitudes towards religion and scientific education stood so at variance with each other. Aware of the importance of religious education, they made elaborate arrangements for its propagation on a large scale. But, since they did not grasp the importance of scientific education, they did little or nothing set up an infrastructure for its dissemination. Without this no nation can be adequately educated.

After a long period of intellectual stagnation, our leaders eventually realized the importance of such education and, rousing themselves from the state of inertia into which they had sunk they set up universities and colleges. What they failed to do, however, was to establish a network of primary and secondary schools which should provide a solid grounding in elementary education and eventually ‘feed’ the institutions of higher learning. Our predecessors had not neglected establishing religious schools at the elementary level, but their successor completely forget to perform this all important task.

In the past, when great religious institutions were set up, they could hope to draw on a countrywide network of schools for their student population.  There is no village or town where there is not one or more such schools.  It should be obvious that in the absence of such educational facilities our universities and colleges are bound to remain deserted, but Muslim leader appear to have lost sight of this very basic requirement.  This is all the more surprising since the example of the large-scale efforts of Hindus and Christians was already there for everyone to see.

Fundamental Negligence  

Just as many of those who came under the domination of the English, failed, in their hatred of the conquerors, to differentiate between English and the English, coming to despise the language along with the people, so Muslims did not make the distinction between the men and their sciences.  Hating the conquerors, they rejected their learning.  Had they been able to separate the two, the history of their own scientific achievement would have been very different.  It is a mistake to think of science as being the private preserve of any particular nation.  It is, after all the study of nature, universal in its scope and applications, and a common asset of humanity.  Nor is it purely a matter of tradition, whether ethnic or political. 

The western nations were at the time of the crusades in the same situation as latter-day Muslims.  At that time, it was the Muslims who bore aloft the torch of scientific learning while their adversaries had sunk into the intellectual sloth of the Dark Ages.  It was, indeed, by virtue of this scientific learning that they succeeded in emerging triumphant from two centuries of arduous warfare.  But, although the western nations hated their conquerors in the way that all vanquished peoples do, they did not commit the folly of rejecting their sciences, for they saw  these sciences as being distinct from the individuals who purveyed them.  Furthermore, owing to their diligence and perseverance, they were able to make such a significant contribution to their development that, in the centuries to come, they became leaders in every field of those sciences.  A time came when they succeeded in changing the whole course of human history.

The situation faced by Muslims in the modern world was no different.  But in a situation where west was the oppressor and the Muslims the oppressed, the latter allowed their aversion for the former to blind them to the virtues of the learning that the west had to offer.  They failed to realize that this was not something national and traditional, but universal, the acquisition of which brought power  with it.  Had the Muslim, leaders of modern times understood this in time, the destinies of their followers would have taken a vastly different course.  Indeed, this was a fault of the moment, but its consequences shall have to be suffered for centuries to come.  It is one of the great ironies of history that Muslims, because of their lack of consciousness, have become the losers not only in defeat, but also in victory.

In the 17^th century AD when the whole world was worshiping nature, Islam taught Muslims the lessons of conquering it.  The Muslims of the initial period were profoundly moved by this teaching. For the first time in history they initiated the process of conquering nature. But later this process was diverted towards the West and Muslims, for various political reasons, receded into the background, till they had reached the point of scientific backwardness in which they are floundering today. 

If the situation is to be saved, and the Muslims destiny is to be cast in the scientific mould, the most effective way is to bring Muslims back to Qur’an. The day they rediscover the Qur’an, they will recover all other things they have lost, including science.

Indian Muslim Priorities - Negative Attitude

In centuries gone by, Muslims had lagged behind in science as a result of the complacency which had set in after their political victory in the crusades. Now in the present world, the same backwardness has taken another form. The political subjugation of Muslims by western nations from colonial times onwards had brought with it a negative reaction against their enemies. The western nations had taken away their pride, so the Muslims came to hate them. Because of this negative psychology, they not only opposed the western nations, but also their languages and sciences. Much of this attitude persists today.

A whole century was frittered away during the colonial period in futile opposition. Muslims continued to despise western nations and waged war against them, which, because of inadequate preparation on the part of the Muslims, only ended in defeat. On the other hand, other communities of the world were rapidly learning Western Languages and sciences and it was inevitable that a big gap should have developed between the Muslims and the other communities, one example of which can be seen in India. Kuldip Nayyer has written that Muslims are two hundred years behind in education as compared to their Hindu compatriots. Even if we feel that Nayyer’s estimate is somewhat exaggerated, we shall still have to concede that Muslims are at least one hundred years behind.

The sciences cultivated by western nations were not simply sciences, they were the foundations of all kinds of progress in the modern world – the power of the day. That is why all those nations who bent their minds to those sciences made advances. The western nations and their followers became far superior in culture and civilization to Muslims.

A Verbal Controversy

Latter-day Muslim reformers, who have recognized the need to propagate modern sciences and western learning amongst Muslims, have, by and large, based their arguments on verses from the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet which lay stress on the importance of learning (al- ‘ilm). Such arguments, far from proving definitive, have stirred up controversies between religious and secular scholars, the former holding that those verses and sayings of the Prophet which emphasize the acquisition of learning refer to religious learning, and not to worldly sciences with their connotations of materialism. Muslims reformers insist that injunctions on learning refer to both the religious and the secular knowledge. This controversy, which began a century ago, shows few signs of being resolved.

So far as the verses which deal with learning are concerned, there is surely room for both interpretations. But no matter whether one group takes them to apply to religious learning while another group relates them to secular learning, the importance of modern science simply cannot be denied.  It may be an object of heated controversy, but its final acceptance is just as important to Muslims as it is to other nations and communities. Here is a verse from the Qur’an which not only approves of the acquisition of modern sciences, but which holds it to be the duty of Muslims to pursue them:

Muster against them all the force and cavalry at your disposal, so that you may strike terror into the enemies of God (8:60).

We are therein commanded by God to make ourselves strong so that our adversaries may be overawed. The notion of strength (al-quwwah) in this verse applies, surely, to all things which, at any given time, confer power upon their possessors: this may be the power of ideas, or the power of material things – either or both, depending upon the exigencies of the times.

It is an indisputable fact that modern scientific learning is a force in this day and age.  Today it is those nations which are advanced in science and technology which have real strength as compared with their more backward neighbours. We must be realistic and accept the fact that the awe inspired in one nation by another is to a very great extent the result of the acquisition of scientific learning.

Even if the importance of the modern scientific education is not underscored by the verses which deal with learning, it is certainly testified to by the verses which deal with the necessity for power. Whether Muslims bow to the wisdom of the verses on learning or the verses on strength, it is clearly their bounden duty to create conditions which are favorable to the inception and growth of scientific education in their own community.

Role Of Islam

Where the previous prophets of old had gone no further than proclaiming the truth, and had not been able to bring about a revolution on the basis of their teachings, the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions made monotheism a living concept. They were the first such group ever to bring about such a revival in human history.

          First of all, they completely eradicated all forms of polytheism and animism in Arabia, and based their lives, in practice, on monotheism belief. Then they forged ahead to replace polytheism with monotheism throughout the known inhabited world. They destroyed all the idols and the edifices which protected them in the lands that they conquered in Asia and Africa, thus giving monotheism its place on a universal scale. This fact has been acknowledged by orientalists. We quote here from Michael Hart’s book, The Hundred : A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, published in New York. Of the Prophet, it says:

                    He was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the                         religious and secular levels

This universal monotheism revolution brought about by Islam made it possible to bring the age of superstition to an end. The phenomenon of nature was displaced from its pedestal of worship for man. Everything else was a mere object of creation.

An American encyclopedia rightly says of Islam: “Its advent changed the course of human history”. With the ousting of the phenomenon of nature from its place as an object of worship, it immediately assumed its rightful role – an object of investigation and conquest. This process originated in Medina in the 7^th century AD, then was passed on to the centres of the Muslim empire, Damascus and Baghdad, later crossing the sea and entering Spain and Sicily. It surged even further forward and reached Italy and France. This historical process continued till the modern scientific revolution was brought to maturity. The modern western revolution of science is thus the culmination of the Islamic revolution.

Today’s Muslims

Now a question does arise here. How is it that the Muslims of today, who are the followers of that same Islam which taught science to the whole world in its initial stages, are at present lagging far behind others in scientific education? The sole reason is political The scientific revolution brought about by Muslims in their initial stage of growth was diverted to other western nations via Spain. Afterwards most of the progress in science was made by Europeans. Although, during this time, most parts of the world still politically remained in the hands of the Muslims, scientific development was continuously going on in western Europe after the crusades. The major advances in the field of science by Muslims at this early stage of their development ultimately took concrete shape in their victory at the end of the crusades which lasted 200 years from 1095 to 1270. In these wars almost the whole of Europe unitedly attacked the Muslim world in order to recapture their holy places from it, but to no avail. On this subject Pears Encyclopaedia says:

“Millions of lives and an enormous amount of treasure were scarified in these enterprises. And when all was done, Jerusalem remained in the possession of the ‘infidels.”

The end of the crusades meant total victory for Muslims and total defeat for Christian Europe.  Paradoxically, the victory, far from being a great gain, proved to be a great setback for Muslims. The Christians in spite of their total defeat, were the greatest beneficiaries. This was because the Muslims fell to rejoicing over their victory and, becoming complacent, neglected to remain alert to the movements of the enemy. The gratification that came with such phenomenal success was enough to slow, if not destroy, all potential development.

Christian Europe, on the other hand, greatly benefitted from its defeat. There began a process of rethinking among them which made them conscious of their weakness and of the necessity to obviate them. Such was the thinking of those who openly advocated the necessity to learn Arabic, the language of the Muslims, and to translate all the important books from Arabic into Latin. This movement quickly gained ground, and most of the books by Muslims scholars were indeed translated into Latin, the academic language of Europe in those days.

This process went on for many centuries. While Muslims  were savouring their success and wasting their energies, Christian Europe had taken up the challenge in real earnest – launching ‘spiritual crusades’ as they termed it – and having thrown themselves into the task with such enthusiasm and energy, they made consistently good progress.

This journey of Europe continued till 18^th-centruy achievements made it obvious to all and sundry Europe had left the Muslims far behind.  Western Europe was now leading the world in modern science and technology. It replaced the hand by the machine. Manual labour was now replaced by mechanization. Moreover, it invented long-range weapons greatly in contrast to the old style of weapons which were only suitable for hand-to-hand fighting. First it held sway over the land, then the sea, then the air. Man and animal power gave way to the machine, sail gave way to steam and, finally, heavier-than-air matter was lifted off the ground. With such land, sea and air power, the west had become a force which the Muslims could not fend off with their existing means and resources. Thus equipped with all the paraphernalia of modernity, the west entered into the Muslim world, the Muslims, in their state of inertia, failed to arrest their advance. The western nations, directly or indirectly, quickly gained control over the whole of the Muslim world.

Muslims And The Scientific Education

Some say that the Muslims are backward in scientific education because their religion discourages them from acquiring it, or, at least, does nothing to encourage them to do so. But this is far from the truth.

Innumerable verses from the Qur’an and many sayings of the Prophet can be quoted which explicitly urge their readers to delve deeper into the mysteries of the earth and the heavens. How then is it possible that with such exhortations enshrined in their most sacred literature, Muslims, for whom Islam was and is a living thing, should not have engaged themselves in the observation of nature? It almost goes without saying that making a study of nature is to discover the Creator in His creation. That is the most wonderful benefit to be derived from such a study. Looked at in another way, in terms of worldly activity, the carrying out of research into the phenomena of nature, and body of knowledge to be gained from it, is what we commonly regard as science.

Moreover, Muslim history itself contradicts the supposition that Islam is an obstacle to scientific investigation. On the contrary, history testifies to the fact that, in the early Muslim period, great advances were made in various branches of science. In a period when Europe had not taken even one step forward in the sciences, Muslims had achieved phenomenal progress in these fields. Bertrand Russell has acknowledged this fact in these words:

         

Our use of the phrase ‘the Dark Ages’ to cover the period from 600 to 1000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe. In China this period includes the time of the Tang dynasty, the greatest age of Chinese poetry, and in many other ways a most remarkable epoch. From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary. (A History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, p. 395)

This fact has been universally acknowledged by historians. But this is not all that there is to the matter. We must go one step further, and add that the modern sciences are the very creation of Islam. I do not mean to say that Islam was revealed for the purpose of science. But there is no doubting the fact that the scientific revolution is a by-product of the Islamic revolution. This relation between Islam and science has been acknowledged by Briffault in these words:

         

The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries of revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence. The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The Astronomy and Mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign importations never thoroughly acclimatized to Greek culture. The Greek systematized, generalized, and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to the Greek temperament. Only in Hellenistic Alexandria was an approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical world. What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, of the development of Mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs. (Making of Humanity, Briffault, p.190)

Workshop of Nature

It is an academic and historical truth that Islam is the creator of modern science. What is science? It is simply the name of the study of nature. Since time immemorial, since man has existed in this world, he has been observing nature. Then what explains the delay in studying and conquering it? All the developments of science have taken place only within the span of the past one thousand years, whereas they should have come into existence millions of years ago. It was the dominance of animism (shrik) in ancient times that hindered man from studying nature, discovering its forces and utilizing them.

          What is animism? It is worship of nature, says Arnold Toynbee:

(For the ancient man) Nature was not just a treasure-trove of natural resources, but a goddess, Mother Earth. And the vegetation that sprang from the earth, the animals that roamed the earth’s surface, and the minerals hiding in the earth’s bowels, all partook of nature’s divinity. So did all natural phenomena, springs and rivers and the sea-mountains, earthquakes, and lightening and thunder.

Everything on earth and in the sky, - the trees, the stars, the sun – all that seemed extraordinary, was thus regarded as being imbued with divinity. Such is the stuff of animism. And it was ideas such as these which dominated the human mind throughout much of the inhabited world before Islam.

To ancient man, nature was an object of veneration. How then was it possible for it to become an object of investigation? Herein lies the real reason for ancient man’s disinclination to make a study of it.

Having accorded nature the status of divinity, man then proceeded to worship it. Such reverence became an obstacle to investigation. Bending nature to the ends of civilization obviously became impossibility.

Arnold Tonybee has acknowledged that this prolonged age of nature worship was put an end to for the first time by Monotheism. The faith of monotheism led man to realize that nature, far from being the creator, was merely the thing created. It was a thing to be exploited – not a thing to be worshipped. It was meant to be conquered not revered. This concept of monotheism, which had fallen into desuetude, was revived by Islam, hence the revolution in modern human thought is directly traceable to Islam. There is no doubting the fact that the message with which all of the prophets has been sent was that of pure monotheism. In very age, every prophet had preached monotheism pure and simple, but never in human history had it been possible before Islam to bring about a revolution on such a basis. That is why it was only with the advent of Islam that man could share the fruits of monotheism.

While we accept that all the prophets were the harbingers of true monotheism, we have to admit that their followers failed to preserve their religious teachings in the original form. Their main error was to adulterate this true concept with polytheism. For example, Jesus Christ perpetuated the tenets of monotheism, but his followers accorded the status of divinity to Jesus himself.

This distorted belief in many ways retarded scientific progress. For instance, when certain astronomers carried out research on the solar system, and came to the conclusion that the earth revolved around the sun, they were severely opposed by Christian clergymen, the reason being that their beliefs were misguided. If the earth was truly the birthplace of the Son of God, it seemed to them unthinkable that such an earth could possibly be a mere satellite instead of being the center of the solar system. In order to defend their distorted beliefs they refused to acknowledge the scientific fact.