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How Islamic inventors changed the world -A Response Published on April 02, 2006 It is not the first time I heard the phrase `Islamic Science' yet I have not paid any attention to it, thanks to the phrases such as ` Islamic Terrorism', `Islamic Riots', and of course the quotidian `Islamic attacks'-which have been the dominating the news almost every day. It is only when the Islamic science featured in 1001inventions.com I peeked into the world of Islamic Science and it posed more questions than answers. This is not to say this is my first tryst with of Islamic Science, thanks to Dr.Bucaille and Dr.Moore, I did have a bit of knowledge of Islamic Science, albeit a pseudo one. However, the Islamic inventions featured in the site 1001 inventions (www.1001intentions.com) are the genuine ones. But I pondered what does Islamic science mean? The word Islamic means relating to Islam or precisely `of or relating to or supporting Islamism' (see Dictionary.com). Hence the phrase Islamic Science would mean science that is relating to or supporting Islamism, which is quite ambiguous to comprehend. Or is it that the scientific knowledge that was deduced from the various Islamic texts such as-Quran and the Hadiths is called Islamic Science. This is hardly the case. Or, is it because the inventors were all Muslims and hence called Islamic science? But I have never heard of Christian Science, Hindu science, Jewish science and nor a Buddhist Science but I have heard of Christian scientists, Jewish scientists but none of their theories and inventions are attributed to the religion. Science is science irrespective of who the inventor/discoverer/scientist is. Science is sometimes classified according geographic location such as Chinese Medicine, Ancient Indian Medicine etc but never according to religious beliefs. There is no doubt that there were many Muslim intellectuals whose useful contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge cannot be denied. Nevertheless, it is not prudent to classify their works under the umbrella of Islamic science. If those inventions do need to be categorized, it would be better to call it Middle-Eastern science if not Arabic or Persian science. Imagine calling Einstien's theory of relativity as Jewish Science and Newton's gravity theory as Christian dynamics. Science has always been secular and will be. No surprise that various Islamic organizations are sponsoring the Islamic science Exhibition at Manchester. Rajesh |
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