Text Box: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN AL KHALIFATULLAH Munir Ahmad Azim 04 December 2009 (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he read the following verses of the Holy Quran: In the Chapter 88, Verses 18-21, we can read:  “Will they not then consider the camels, how they are created? And the heaven, how it is reared aloft, And the mountains, how they are firmly fixed, And the earth, how it is made a vast expanse?” And we can read in Chapter 3, Verses 191-192:  “And Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over all things. Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee; save us then from the chastisement of the fire” 750 verses of the Holy Quran (nearly one-eighth of the Quran) exhorts the believers to study Nature, to ponder over its creation, and to make good use of reasoning in their quest of the Source of all creations (Allah) and these verses also exhorts the believers to acquire knowledge and scientific comprehension: a part of community life. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) put lots of emphasis on the fact that the quest of knowledge and sciences is obligatory on every Muslim, be it man or woman. He asked his disciples to seek knowledge even if they had to journey to Cathay to acquire knowledge. About China, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) meant scientific knowledge instead of religious knowledge, and in this same context (for China), the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) put great emphasis on the quest of scientific international knowledge. And the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pray as thus: “O my Sustainer! Give me knowledge of the Ultimate Reality of all things.” This is the first step of the scientific knowledge by which a fundamental thought in Islam must begin. The second limit is when we take into consideration the fact that there is not even a single verse of the Quran (where I described natural phenomenon) which contradicts what we know of the scientific discoveries. If you read the Quran, you will see that you are not being asked to believe in a thing which you know is false (for the Quran contains only the truth). The third limit is when throughout the history of Islam, there is no incident as that of Galilee. There was persecution, denunciation, “takfir” and even today, there are still the philosophic and doctrinal differences (like in the case of Ibn Rushd) but there are also differences for scientific beliefs. Now let us see how much importance Muslims gave to the injunctions from the Holy Quran and from the Holy Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him). It was nearly a hundred years after the death of our beloved prophet (peace be upon him) that the Muslims made it their duty to master the sciences which were discovered in that era. They were in a hurry, but despite that they succeeded in mastering the whole of the knowledge available in their own religious language, that is, Arabic and did so in a systematic way. By founding the institutes for higher studies (Bait-ul-Hikma), they acquired an absolute ascendency in all sciences which lasted throughout 250 years. There were two important reasons for the success of the scientific enterprise in Islam. Firstly there was the tradition of the scientific freedom which followed the tradition of freedom at the religious level which was first instituted by the Holy Prophet of Islam himself, Muhammad (peace be upon him). And secondly, there is the international facet of the scientific enterprise in Islam. The Islamic Commonwealth put all differences of all nations and colour aside, and the Muslims at the beginning were very tolerant towards people found outside the pale of Islam, and towards the perceptions of these people. The scientific tradition began declining around the year 1100, and the scientific tradition knew a silent death 250 years later. Thus, we must ask this question: Why has science known death in Islam? The abandon of science in the Islamic Commonwealth was caused primarily because of isolation of our scientific enterprise and secondly because of discouragement in relation with innovation (which we call ‘Jiddat’). The last parts of the 11th and 12th century of Islam were periods filled with political, sectarian and religious strikes which were very intense. And it was the period where there was a rigid orthodoxy (minus tolerance) in relation with innovation (which we call ‘ijtihad’) which penetrated Islam. And it is this orthodox attitude which affected all domains of teachings including science. Like all people know, restriction at the level of science and veneration of the concerned authorities leads towards an intellectual death. In our great periods, in the 9th and 10th century, Muslims founded the international institutes of higher studies in Baghdad and in Cairo. These institutes were called “Bait-ul-Hikma” and there used to be competitions between scholars there. But as from 1300 A.C, all these disappeared. All types of sciences were practiced and studied; all these sciences were processed and concentrated into religious seminars where traditions held more value than innovations. The encyclopaedic nature of knowledge and science in Islam became like a banal affair in an era of speculation. The faculty to criticise was not tolerated and encouraged in the ‘Madrassas’ (religious schools). It was not tolerated that a young researcher who is beginning to ask questions on what he was being taught to come forward and moreover if he is relearning what he is being taught lest he brought in new concepts. They did not want that to happen. Is this situation on-going? Are we encouraging researches and freedom in the research field? Are we doing good provisions for researches in Islamic countries? These are questions which we must ask ourselves! Amongst all civilisations of this planet, science is not so popular and does not hold importance in the Islamic Commonwealth. Some Muslims think that when technology is practically neutral and that its excesses can be controlled by moral precepts of Islam but these Muslims considers science as Value loaded and that modern science shall lead to rationality and eventually to apostasy (renouncement in the Islamic belief). They also think that people (who have a scientific formation) will reject metaphysical presuppositions of our Islamic cultural. If we let aside the fact that high technology cannot progress without high science and if we let aside also the insult to the “presuppositions of our culture” for its fragility, we will see that this kind of heritage of the battles of the past where the supposed rational philosophers with their irrational and dogmatical beliefs in the doctrines linked with the cosmology (scientific study of the universe) which they inherited from Aristotle (a Greek Philosopher who wrote a lot on several subjects pertaining to science, metaphysics, philosophy, poetry etc.), and where these supposed philosophers had difficulties to reconcile these doctrines with their faith. But we must remember that these kinds of battles are more ferocious amongst the Christians scholars of the Middle Age. The problems which these scholars were confronted were problems relating to cosmology and metaphysics: “Is the world found in an immobile place? Are there other creations further out space? Does Allah act directly for an efficient cause or does Allah take final decisions and for ultimate causes? Does a single being who manage the heavens or several beings? Does the several beings who manage the heavens experience tiredness? What is the nature of the celestial matters? Do they resemble terrestrial matters with innate qualities like hotness, coldness and humidity? When Galilee began primarily to clarify certain problems which are linked to the domain of physics, and when he tried to seek answers to these problems by physical experiences, thus he became victim of persecutions. Its restitution was made 350 years later. In a special ceremony at the Vatican which was held on 9 May 1983, the Pope declared: “The Experience of the Church, during and after Galilee brought a more mature attitude... The Church itself learns by experience and reflection and now the Church understands better the importance which freedom of knowledge holds... It is one of the noblest qualities and in man... And it is through research that man succeeds in attaining Truth... This is why the Church is now convinced that there is no real contradiction between science and faith. Nevertheless, it is only through a humble and assiduous study that the Church learns to dissociates the essential of faith in relation with scientific systems of a certain era, especially when the lecture of the Bible (influenced by cultures) make believe that the Bible is linked with an obligatory cosmogony (study of the universe’s origin).” Here the Pope has put emphasis on the maturity which the Church has attained by science; he could have put emphasis also on the fact that the scientists in the time of Galilee, their discipline are limited, and also on the fact that there are questions which are beyond actual and future scientific knowledge and also that “science obtained success only because restriction has been put on science on certain types of enquiry.” We can speculate on several scientific problems, but this will not be a means by which we can verify empirically (that is, by the means of experiences and not by theory) our speculations. And it is this empirical verification which is the essence itself of modern science. Today we are more humble than, for example, Ibn Rushd. Ibn Rushd was a great physician with a great originality and he brought great contributions in the study of fever and retina; and it is one of his declarations on scientific immorality. But, in a different discipline, that is, cosmology, he accepted the speculations of Aristotle without recognising that it was only speculations and without recognising that future experiences can prove these speculations false. The scientific today when he is speculating; he will not declare a report as final in respect to the modes of thought. And even facts which we have accepted, we will recognise that there can be more discoveries of new facts which can lead to generalisation, without the new facts falsifying the ancient facts, and also this will necessitate in return revolutionary changes in our concepts and in our opinions in respect to the world. In physics this had happened two times; the first was after the discovery of space and time, and the second was after the discovery of the theories of quanta. And this can happen again, with our actual constructions which appear like limited case of new concepts which is all the more comprehensive. All this to say that today we must not continue the philosophic battles of the past; we do not see any dichotomy between our faith and science for faith comes through the eternal message of Islam on such subjects which physics holds no answer. And we find this in the first verse of the Holy Quran (after its introduction) where it is being said: “This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard (against evil). Those who believe in the unseen...” And like we know “the Unseen” is beyond our conception. To conclude, we can say that as long as Quranic and Prophetic Traditions dealing with religious freedom and tolerance continue, then science in Islam will also progress and fructify, for both are connected as long as faith is concerned. “I am a believer and I follow the religion of Islam. I am a Muslim because I believe in the Spiritual Message of the Holy Quran. As a scientist, the Holy Quran teaches me in such a way that it put great emphasis on the laws of nature and thus the Holy Quran incites me to do lots of reflections on the laws of nature and the Holy Quran demonstrates these laws with examples of cosmology, physics, biology and medicine which are innate, they are signs for all people.” This is the spirit which the Muslim must cultivate and he must recognise that it is Allah alone who gives this knowledge in all ways. Insha-Allah. Ameen.