The Science and Religion in Islam research group is the result of a collaboration between a number of Muslim academics who have decided to work together to explore the interface between science and religion from the perspective of different disciplinary horizons. We hope to contribute to the emergence of a working culture which is based on a double perspective: on one hand that of a rationality that is open to problems of a metaphysical, spiritual or theological order and, on the other hand, that of a spiritual life, of a religious conscience, and an inner experience that is open to philosophical problems that arise from investigations in the area of contemporary science. We advocate this double perspective in the sense that we consider that science and religion have things to say to one another. But, at the same time, this requires a great deal of clarity in our intentions as well as rigour in our method. The bringing together in a illusory side-by-side, or a fallacious analogy, of Islamic religious knowledge and the findings of contemporary science can lead to disappointing results since, by ignoring the specificities of the two areas and the singularity of the principles which govern their respective movements, this approach prevents, in reality, the emergence of a real "convergence" between science and religion. For this reason, unlike a certain reading which dominates in the Islamic World, we do not think that these two spheres of knowledge can seriously enter into dialogue with each other in a direct fashion. In our opinion, the nature of the relationship between the two areas requires an "internal", philosophical, theological or spiritual inquiry. Hence we will be able to phrase the question as follows: what is it within science that can enter into a meaningful dialogue with Islam? And what is it within Islam that can enter into a meaningful dialogue with science?   When we speak of Islam we are not only talking about the religious component. In order to promote the emergence of a serious dialogue between science and religion in the perspective of religion, we need to consider all the dimensions of the culture that has arisen from the civilisation that has been nurtured by this religion. It is one of the reasons why our research group includes not only mathematicians, physicists, and astrophysicists but also theologians, historians and philosophers. An interdisciplinary approach is an important aspect of our work: creating links between the findings of each discipline while keeping within the rules of each discipline.   The science-islam site intends to function as a knowledge forum in view of the emergence of a genuine scientific modernity that is rooted in the conscience of intellectual, spiritual and ethical values. Under these four section-headings (articles, abstracts, bibliographical references and links) our site will propose a certain number of tools, concepts and methods, theses and structures which may, in some way, contribute to the renewal or, more accurately, the "revitalisation", of Islamic thought based on a profound comprehension of the challenges and the advancements that are being made in the 21st century. 

1

Think of the last two hundred years. Incredible things were given to us by human beings, in art, music, and social structure – who will question the value of the poems of Rabindranath Tagore, a Cezanne still-life, the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Or the end of slavery, the empowerment of women, the overturning of simple colonialism. One should not compare the incommensurate, but there is no question that among the greatest achievements of these yeas is the gain in our understanding of the world within us and around us, the outcome of science.

The achievements of science are of value to humanity in material and spiritual ways. My own chemistry has so much to be proud of – a star role in the extension of life expectancy from forty years to seventy, synthetic fertilizers to feed twice as many people as could have been fed before, birth control, chemotherapy, synthetic fibers and plastics with their myriad of uses, a greater color palette for all. Science, coupled with technology, is democratizing in the deepest sense of the word – it makes available to a wider range of people the necessities and comforts that in a previous age were reserved for a privileged few.

The achievement is also spiritual. I am not talking only about the benefit of being able to hear Umm Khulthum, or Bob Marley and the Wailers, on a CD. Anywhere in the world. I speak of the direct spiritual value of science, of knowledge gained of how genetic information is transmitted, stars are born, or how the color of a poppy comes about . A knowledge that may not be of material value, will not make millions, but still makes the human spirit soar.

2

Given this incredible gain in our knowledge, and the ever-so-clear material improvements in our life span and comfort (and that of much, not nearly all, of the world as well), it is clear as we stand at the beginning of the 21st century that (a) people are not any happier than they were, say, 100 years ago. And (b) that many do not praise the achievements of science and technology, but question them. Or are suspicious of them. How to deal with this? On the first point one could say pessimistically that it is not in the nature of people to feel happy. And one can fight the second observation, that people question or suspect science, by pointing to surveys of public attitudes that consistently place scientists high up, admired. I think the expressed ambivalence contains in itself one starting point for understanding. People are not machines; they are wonderful and vexing creatures that move to the work of creation (or survival) in ways that mix reason with emotion.

3

What are then the concerns that bother people most about science, the source of their suspicion? I think the worries are environmental, ecological and moral. Within two centuries science and technology have transformed the world. What we have added, mostly for the best of reasons, has modified qualitatively the great cycles of the planet. Half of the nitrogen and sulfur atoms in my body, in your body, have seen the inside of a chemical factory.

We see the effects of our intervention in big things, such as global warming, in small things, in … why we wash an apple – reflect, please, how different the reason for that simple action we teach our children is from the time of our grandparents. I think that in the last fifty years our attitudes toward pollution and environmental violation have changed essentially. They have crossed some ill-defined borderline from being viewed as just a mess we have made, the clutter of our childrens’ room, a giving in to entropy, to…. a word I will use in its rich theological sense… to a sin.

4

Real, smart, normal, thinking and feeling people are concerned about where science is going, what it is doing to people’s lives. How to deal with this?

I see is a three-fold response. First, an acceptance of human nature, and with that an acceptance of religion and spirituality. Second, an explicit introduction of ethical and ecological concerns in what we do as scientists. And third, a reawakening of one of the primary motives of science, to improve the human condition. My colleagues will speak forcefully of the folly of a view that science and religion only contend, or that they occupy separate compartments in our minds — both such impoverishing views. And tomorrow morning I will have a chance to say more about what I perceive science is.

I do not wish to minimize the differences between science and religion. But I wouldn’t be here if I did not think that this dialogue is based on a solid foundation, and essential to the future of humanity. Science and religion are both ways of trying to understand the world, to find meaning in that world’s beauty and terror.

5

Let me finish with a plea for humility, and the problems that I believe both science and religion have with that desirable human quality.

One might think scientists would lead us in humility. Our curiosity prompts us to ask – questions at the root of science, simply framed as What? When? How? Why? We struggle for the answers — there is so much to know. The process is an endless groping for understanding, nature always tentative. How many mistakes we ourselves make along the way, as we seek a small piece of understanding, say on how a snail in the waters outside of Qatar produces one molecule.

But it is not so, scientists come across as arrogant, as being sure they know, perhaps drunk in their knowledge. I exaggerate, I know. Mind you, the world wants those certainties – there is a reason for all those bespectacled men in white coats in television commercials. And religion – in its core it preaches humility, of men and women before God, to begin with.

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the universe? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

God speaks from the whirlwind in the Book of Job. The prophets remind us of our shortcomings toward our fellow beings, and remind us of what avarice, jealousy, lust, deceit lead to. But religion – a constant, emergent feature of human consciousness, also has an intrinsic problem with humility. For faith in one book, one God seems to bring with it a great difficulty of accepting that there are other human beings who believe differently. The opposite of humility, arrogance, can be built as much on the claims of faith as on the claims of knowledge. This is a human weakness, the other side to human creativity.

Perhaps we can learn humility together. We must. The world brought together by science and information technology, a multicultural world, begs us for this.