Viability of Islamic Science: Some Insights from 19th Century India

Author(s): S. Irfan Habib

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 23 (Jun. 5-11, 2004), pp. 2351-2355
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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Perspectives

Viability

of

Islamic

Science

Some Insightsfrom 19thCenturyIndia

Scienceflowered in Islam during the liberal MuslimAbbasid
and later Ottomankings. This was possible because the Abbasids
welcomedscientists and translatorsfrom other cultureswho
willingly became sincere participants in the project called Islamic
civilisation. The 19th centuryinterlocutors,afew of whomare
discussed in this paper, were aware of the cross-civilisational
characterof science in Islamic civilisation and modernscience
for themwas a culminationof the perpetuallyshifting centres of
science in history. Thisplurality of vision and cross-cultural
perspective is much in contrast to what is being propounded
today in the name of Islamic science.
S IRFANHABIB
'
L"

et me startwith an analogy from

MohammadWakil, who asked us
L. to imagine a cable with many
colouredwiresinsideit,conductingpower,
knowledgeand information.This cable,
he said, representscontemporarycivilisation.It was createdin manylands and
by manyhands:Pagan,Christian,Judaic,
Islamic,Hindu,Buddhist,Tao, etc. Each
of themcontributedto this civilisation's
scienceandarts...Somewhereinside this
cableof civilisationis a greenIslamicwire
that is sparkingfuriously because of a
weak connection. It is seeking to reestablishits internallydamagedcircuit.It
is also seekingto reconnectwiththe flow
of information,
knowledgeandpowerthat
civilisation... westinspirescontemporary
ern nations may remain keen to claim
exclusiveownershipof thiscontemporary
civilisation However, this civilisation
cannotbecopyrightedandpatentedby any
single, monolithicsuperpoweror by any
other exclusivist formation around
religionor culture.This sentimentis contraryto thethinkingof someof thepresent
dayenthusiasts,who,in thenameof quesareputtingforward
tioningEurocentrism,
a religiously motivated alternative.
Eurocentrismshould be questioned to
bringoutcivilisationalandculturaldiversity of modemscienceandnotfor replacing it withanothercentrismcalledIslamic

scienceor Hinduscience.A largenumber

of Islamist intellectualshave proposed
binarieslike tradition/modernity
and Islamic science/modern(western)science.
Here Islamicscience is merelyconfined
to traditionwhile modemscience is projectedas an exclusivepreserveof modernity, which is not only westernbut also
Christianin spirit and inspiration.One
maybringin theissue of multiplemodernitiessayingthatwesternmodernityis not
the only modernityand one need not
conformto its normsto be calledmodem.1
Actuallya searchfor an alternativemodernity can be well meaning if it is
soughtin termsof civilisationalalternative insteadof an alternativeclothed in
mostof the proreligion.2Unfortunately,
ponents of Islamic alternative have
emphasised on the Islamicity of their
civilisation,ratherthanitsculturaldistinctiveness. The lattermay include several
other religious denominations, which
helpedconstructIslamiccivilisation,includingits Islamicscience.All thosewho
are looking for a religiously and not
culturallymotivated'Islamicscience'are
doing a great disservice to science in
Muslim countries.3 This pernicious
exercise, which beganfew decadesago,
has acquireddangerousand ugly connotation leading some to talk in terms of
clash of civilisations.4
Eurocentrism,a creationof an essentialistthinkingprocessis beingchallenged

by diverseessentialismsequallycondemnable."Civilisationsdon'tjust clash",as
pointedout by the well knownhistorian
of scienceA I Sabra,"theycanlearnfrom
each other. Islam is a good exampleof
that. The intellectualmeetingof Arabia
andGreecewas one of the greatestevents
in history,he said, its scale and consequencesareenormous,notjust for Islam
butforEuropeandtheworld.5Mostof the
Islamists repeatedlytalk about modem
science's debt to Islamiccivilisationbut
they seldomsay a wordaboutthe Arab's
scientificdebt to the pre-Islamicancient
civilisationsfromtheso-called- 'jahiliya'
phase.Can any Islamisttell us whatwas
thesourceof Islamicscience?WasitQuran
or Hadithsor did it come straightthrough
divine interventionof angels? It is certainly not true.Arabcivilisationdid not
see the light of science till the middleof
the eighthcentury.Therewas hardlyany
scienceduringthe Prophet'stimeor even
during the Khulafa-i-Rashedin's(The
Khalifasof TheRightWay)period.It was
duringthe liberal Muslim Abbasidand
laterOttomankingsthatscienceflowered
in Islam. This was possible becausethe
AbbasidswelcomedGreek,Indian,Chinese and othersciences andgot all these
workstranslated
intoArabic.Mostof these
scientistsandtranslatorswho gatheredin
Baghdad were Arab Christians,Jews,
Muslimsandeven HindusfromIndiaand
were sincere participantsin the project
called Islamiccivilisation.The 19thcentury interlocutors,some of whom I am
going to discussin this paper,seem to be
awareof thiscrosscivilisationalcharacter
of science in Islamic civilisation and
modernscience for them was a culminationof the perpetuallyshiftingcentres
of science in history.Their pluralityof
vision andcross-cultural
perspectiveis in
contrastto whatis beingpropounded
today
in the name of Islamic science.
The currentformulationsof some expatriateIslamicintellectuals(mostlybased
in the Euro-Americanuniversitieswith
some studentsnow at homelike Malaysia
and India, etc) should be viewed in the
contextof generalintoleranceatapolitical
level, withinIslamas well as elsewhere.6
It is compoundeddue to the disillusionment with the proclaimedobjectivesof
science, moreso with technologyandits

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2351

directrole in developmentalprojects.It's
a fact thatS and T applicationhas led to
the dehumanisationand robotisationof
society, yet this is not an insight,by any
stretchof imagination,which has emanatedfroma particular
faith.All thosewho
for
a
science
based
on religionbegin
argue
with a critiqueof modernscience questioning the value free natureof science,
emphasising the destructive nature of
certainof its products.The fact that the
practiceof modern science has created
seriousproblemsfor humansociety was
not a discovery of born again fundamentalists.7Therehave been critiquesof
science from within the communityof
practisingscientistsas well as fromMarxists and anarchistslike Marcuse,Kuhn,
Feyerabendand others. In the name of
criticalperspective,some of the current
interlocutorsare pushingfor a sectarian
agenda,makingmodemscience look like
a monolithic Europeanproduct with a
Christianethic.8Inthenameof indigenous
knowledgetraditions,the religiousessentialists are attemptingto foregroundone
dominanttraditionand threateningin the
processtheveryideaof culturalpluralism.
More importantlyin this porous world,
fundamentalistprojectsbased only on a
prioriassumptionsare doomed.9
Imperialism and Modern Science
WhatI proposeto do in this paperis to
look at some of the 19th centuryIndian
Islamic intellectualsand see how they
perceivedmodemscienceandcontrasttheir
inclusivistapproachwith the exclusivism
andsectarianismof thepresentdayenthusiasts.The 19thcenturyintellectualswere
facedwiththebrutalonslaughtof mercantile imperialismand reducedto civilisational nothingness due to a concerted
orientalistdiscourse preceding colonisation. Yet some of them tried makinga
distinctionbetweenimperialistprojectand
its concernsand the project of modern
science.They were bittercriticsof imperialismall overtheIslamicworldbutwere
not preparedto disown modernscience.
Even today, the post-colonial Islamic
societiesarefacedwithsomerealaswell as
perceivedwesternculturalandintellectual
hegemonisation.Thisis beingmisusedby
someideologuesof Islamicscienceto dub
modernscienceas partof the evil colonial
baggageto be acceptedat yourown peril.
Forthemmodernscience is an epistemological as well as culturalbreakfrom an
earlierunadulterated
Islamic past.l?

2352

I will mainlydeal withMaulviKaramat The Koranhasmostsatisfactorilyconfuted

all the systems of ancient philosophies;it
Ali Jaunpuri,Maulvi ObaidullahUbedi
plucked up from the root, the physical
and Syed JamaluddinAfghani.The first
sciences as prevalentamong the ancients.
two were Kolkata-basedIslamicscholars
Whata strangecoincidenceexists between
and teacherswhile the latteris a betterthe Koran and the philosophy of modern
knownpan-Islamist,whospentfew eventEurope.16
ful yearsinIndiain the 1880s.Letmepoint
Karamat Ali's faith in the Quranic
out that they raised questionsat a very
to
rudimentarylevel, attempting convey knowledge and its utility in modern times
the feeling that modem civilisation,re- did not go beyond treating it as a guide
presentedby the Euro-Americanworld, to progress. He did not look at it as a
was the outcomeof a joint humaneffort, scientific text that had answers to all the
cuttingacrossculturalorreligiousbarriers. complex scientific problems of today.17
We may not be justified in locating the Quran, like all other religious books incurrentunderstanding
of multiculturalism cluding the Vedas, is all encompassing in
or Needhamianecumenismin theirwrit- its range and it certainly talks about
ings, yet they did have a vision of know- science (not exactly in a way science is
ledge, which was premisedon the cross- known today). One can find interesting
culturalexchange of ideas throughthe insights in all these sacred books but the
ages. In doing so they saw Islamiccivil- engagement should end there and not in
isationalcontribution
asanimportant
com- making Quran or the Vedas as full time
of
modern
and
science
did
not
feel preoccupation to read science in them,
ponent
the necessityof carvingouta lone furrow, making it an end in itself. Such attempts
within Islam got a tremendous boost from
premisedon a religiousdistinction.11
KaramatAli was bornin the early 19th the well-funded Saudi project called 'Scibutspentmostof his entific Miracles in the Quran'. The project
centuryin Jaunpur12
in
Kolkata
as a teacher got into comparisons of those verses of the
productiveyears
andmutawalliof HooghlyImambara.
His Quran that deal with astronomy and
views on history and science are best embryology with the latest discoveries of
reflectedin his book called Ma'akhizal- modern science. Relativity, quantum meUlumwrittenin 1865.13His commentson chanics, big bang theory, embryology the state of science and educationin the practically everything was 'discovered' in
Muslimworld,includingIndiaduringthe the Quran....Unfortunately, this variety is
19thcenturyareworthreportingbeforewe now the most popular version of Islamic
get intootherquestionsrelatedto science science.18There are scholars who argue
and Islam. He concedes that 'we, the that the work done by such scholars is
Musallmansof India,have fallen far be- useful in a sense that it has reawakened
hindothernationsin artandlearning- the Muslims to the value of their inheritance
maincauseof thatis, thatnoblemenin this and rekindled the desire for further recountry,whetherHindooor Mahomedan, search with awareness thatthereis Quranic
payno regardatall to learningandscience sanction for scientific research.As a matter
and never spend a trifle even on such of fact all such attempts have actually
matters;and other people, though they exposed Islam to western ridicule, bringspend enormoussums on marriageand ing it into conflict with not only science
funeralceremonies,keep theireyes shut but with any rational thinking itself.19
with referenceto the educationof their Sayyid Qutb describing such an exercise
children.'14He called such a conductof as 'a methodological error' has insisted
his countrymenandcoreligionistsall over that while the Qurancontains guidance on
the Islamic world as 'antagonistic to scientific subjects, it is not a textbook of
civilisationand to nationalprosperity.'15 science.20
He begins with a conviction that the
KaramatAli was of the view that under
Quranformed an intellectualwatershed Quranicguidance, Muslims haddeveloped
dividingtheancientphilosophiesfromthe Greek sciences into modem sciences and
modernepistemologies,he arguedthatit transmitted them to Europe through their
still could provideguidancefor modern centres of education in Spain. This process
of cultural and intellectual diffusion had
sciences. To quote his words:
ThewholeKoranis full of passagescon-, resulted in the 19th century scientific disonphysicalandmathe- coveries of Europe from which the Mustaininginformation
maticalsciences.If we wouldbutspenda lims of India could justly benefit without
littlereflectionoverit weshouldfindwon- any sense of inferiority.21Other 19th cendrousmeaningsin everywordit contains. turyIslamic intellectuals expressed similar

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sentiments as well. Munshi Zakaullah in

Delhi also believed that knowledge or
science was the outcome of cumulative
human effort over the centuries, and each
centuryaddeda new chapterto the progress
of science. The 19th century, in particular,
had been an auspicious century in the
history of science, as it had brought about
revolutionarychanges in knowledge never
even conceived of by earliergenerations.22
Emphasising the multiracial and multicultural character of modern science,
Karamat Ali, anticipating Martin Bernal,
pointed out that science and learning were
first introduced into Greece through the
instrumentalityof the Syrians, the Phoenicians and the Egyptians... Those philosophers and mathematicians, who are generally known as Greeks, were in reality
people of the above-mentioned countries.
They emigrated into Greece, where they
settled and left their posterity.23Karamat
Ali was not even conscious of the fact that
a concerted attempt was on in Europe at
the time to negate this cultural plurality of
Greece and convert it into a purely European source of modern western science.
The Europeans during the 19th century,
ignored even Herodotus, the 'father' of
Greekhistory,who hadacknowledged their
strong debt to Egypt. MartinBernal argues
persuasively that the Greek model was a
19th century invention deeply implicated
in the rise of European racism and imperialism. In his own words, for "eighteenth
century romantics and racists, it was simply intolerable for Greece, which was seen
not merely as the epitome of Europe but
also as its pure childhood, to have been
the result of the mixture of native Europeans and colonising Africans and
Semites."24KaramatAli was convinced of
the fact that"themodern nations of Europe
have hadall scientific writings in the Arabic
tongue translatedinto theirown languages,
and this translation is being carried on
even at the present moment.... The Spaniards were perhaps the first among the
Europeans who derived a knowledge of
the above-mentionedthingsfromthe Arabs,
which they were, in short, the medium
through which Arab genius made an
impressionon Europe."25Simultaneously,
one is remindedof D G Howarth,perspicuous observer of Islam, who wrote 'Arab
civilisation owes a heavy obligation to the
Greek, to the Persian, to the Jewish, but
no heavier than are debited to all other
greater civilisations. Every advanced human culture must be eclectic and its originality is reckoned by the measure in which

Economic and Political Weekly

it transforms and makes its own what it pursuits to exist. His comments again not
has seized.'26Karamat Ali also observes only reflect the above sentiment but also
that"Charlemagne,following the example emphasisethe cross-civilisational character
of the Arabs, instituted seminaries and of modern sciences. To quote his words:
colleges in Paris and other cities of the
All learningand sciences were annihilated
empire.. .The barbarianssoon became alive
by religious bigotry. Sometimes a family
to the fact that without knowledge nothing
or a race becomes suddenly extinct, and
could be done, and began to make efforts
a new one springsup and flourishes;such
in its pursuit".27However he conceded
is the case with learning and civilisation,
that "thetables arenow turnedon the latter,
they devolve from one individual to
another. When a nation or a family beall
contracted
a
dislike
for
sorts
have
they
comes degenerated, knowledge and
of learning and have forgotten that knowcivilisation recede from them and fly for
ledge will not come to any person unless
shelter to anotherin a different country.
wooed with the utmost assiduity, the
Thisis awfultrialto manfromthe Creator.34
the
other
hand
have
on
Europeans
JamaluddinAfghani also held the same
become exceedingly alive to this fact".28
Jamaluddin Afghani was also of the view view when he said that 'science is continuthat the Europeans could not find the ally changing capitals. Sometimes it has
treasures buried in Greece 'until Arab moved from east to west and other times
civilisation lit up with its reflections the from west to east.'35 Probably referringto
summits of the Pyrenees and poured its the Asharite reaction to the early Islamic
light and riches on the Occident. The scientific resurgence, called the 'golden
Europeans welcomed Aristotle, who had age' of Science in Islam, Afghani pointed
emigrated and become Arab; but they did out that'Muslim religion has tried to stifle
not think of him at all when he was Greek science and stop its progress. It has thus
and their neighbour.'29It was Islam that succeeded in halting the philosophical or
rehabilitated Greek learning for the first intellectualmovement andin turningminds
time and conferred dignity to it once again from the search for scientific truth.'36
after the lull that had followed the Hellenistic Age.30 It is necessary to question the
Defining Modern Science
epistemologically differentIslamic science
but the contributionof Islamic civilisation
Afghani conceived of modernscience as
to the plurality of civilisations should not a universal science that transcends nabe denied its honourableplace.31 We need tions, cultures, and religions, although he
to keep the spirit of Needhamian project recognised the role of cultural values in
in mind. Needham emphasised on the the domain of technological applications.37
Chinese contribution to science and how He goes further saying that 'the strangest
its civilisation's cultural values contri- thing of all is that our ulema these days
buted to scientific thinking and a growth have divided science into two parts. One
in knowledge.32 Unfortunately, it was a they call Muslim science and one Eurotime when writing of history was being pean science.... They have not understood
used to enhance the power of "the domi- that science is that noble thing that has no
nant culture by diminishing the value of connection with any nation, and is not
the history of those people who have been distinguished by anything but itself.'38 To
subjugated or who have come under the use the expression of Farouk El-Baz, an
sway of the dominant culture."33
Egyptian geologist at Boston, "Science is
It is clear from Karamat Ali's writings international. There is no such thing as
that he saw continuity in history, particu- Islamic science. Science is like building
larly in the realm of the progress of know- a big building, a pyramid.Each person puts
ledge. For him the present had a definite up a block. These blocks have never had
link with the past and the future again was a religion. Its irrelevant, the colour of the
not delinked with the former two. Modern guy who put up the block."39Abdus Salam,
science could not be a product of Greek the only Nobel laureate in sciences in the
mind alone, in like mannerIslamic science Islamic world, and a great believer himself
cannot be imagined in isolation as a dis- categorically held that 'There is only one
tinct epistemological entity, solely inspired universal science, its problems and
by Quran. Karamat Ali was aware of the modalities are internationaland there is no
historyof Islamic intellectualefflorescence such thing as Islamic science just as there
in the early centuries and its subsequent is no Hindu science, no Jewish science,
decline due to the rise of ossified reli- no Confucian science nor Christian
giosity that made it difficult for secular science.'40 Afghani laidgreat emphasis on

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2353

thecultivationof philosophicspiritandthe
spiritof scientificinquiryitself, which in
fact is demandedby the Quran.The loss
of this spirit in the Muslim world has
resultedin its stagnationanddeterioration,
whereasthe west has prosperedand becomepowerfulbecauseit hasnurtured
this
spiritinheritedfromtheMuslims.Inlearningscienceafreshfromthedevelopedwest,
theMuslimsareactuallyengagedinrecovering their past glory and refulfillingthe
long neglected commandmentsof the
Quranconcerningthe study of nature.41
TheearlyIslamicscientificresurgencewas
premisedon this spiritbased on 'ijtihad'
- to exert the utmosteffort, to struggle,
todoone'sbesttoknowsomething.,which
was lost in the battlewith orthodoxyand
replacedby 'taqlid'- the tyrannicalattitudeof passiveresistance.ZiauddinSardar
concedesthatthe daytaqlidwas accepted
as thedominantparadigm,Islamicscience
trulybecamea matterof history.42Today,
whenNasrand Sardartalkaboutthe glorious traditionof Islamic science as an
epistemologicallydistinct category, one
wonderswhich science or scientific traditionis beingreferredto. Is it the science
of the Islamicrenaissanceof the 8th-13th
centuries?So far we have little evidence
of Islamicscience being practisedtoday,
evenin countrieslike SaudiArabia,which
investsalotinpromotingtheideaof Islamic
science.
MaulviObaidullahUbediwasprofessor
at Hugli college in Kolkataand a close
associateof KaramatAli. His views on
modem science are best reflectedin his
essay titled 'Reciprocal Influence of
Mahomedanand EuropeanLearningand
Inference therefromas to the Possible
Influenceof EuropeanLearningon the
MahomedanMind in India'publishedin
1877. Before I refer to his views about
moder science and Islam,let me briefly
talkabouthis commentson the influence
of Europeanlearningon the Muslimsof
India.He believed that the 'Mahomedan
mindhas...remainedless susceptiblethan
thatof theirHindoobrethrento the influence of Europeanlearning.Theirconceit
thattheyarealreadypossessedof learning
and civilisationhas hinderedthem from
makingprogressin Europeanscience.'43
Heregretted
thatmostof his co-religionists
regardEnglish educationas a means of
livelihoodand advancingin society, but
do not desireit as a meansof civilisation
ormentalimprovement.
He wasoptimistic
thatsoonhis brethrenwouldbe convinced
of the usefulnessof modernscience and

2354

'among us a NewtonisedAvicennaor a
Averroesmayspringup;who
Copernicised
be
able
to
criticiseeven sons of Sina
may
and Rushd.44
Ubedi continuedin the same vein and
categoricallyemphasisedthepluralityand
diversityof modem science and its possible reconciliationwith Islam.To quote
his words:
Thereis no doubtthatourscripturemay
beeasilyreconciled
withmodernscientific
truth.If anyof ourco-religionists
holdthe
doctrineof the pluralityof worlds,he is
notliabletobeburntlikeBruno,according
to ourholyprecepts.I canindeeddiscover
somehintsin thefirstverseof thebeginaboutthepluralityof
ningof ourscripture
the worlds;as whenit says:
"Praisebe to Godthe Governoror Supporterof the Worlds".45
Besides emphasisingpluralityin the
above quote, Obaidullahbelieved that
thereis no contradictionbetweenmodem
science and Islam.He furtherwritesthat
'supposingthatthereexistsanycontradiction betweenthe modernscientifictruths
and our scripture,we shouldconsultour
sacredwritingsfor our moralinstruction
and guidancetowardssalvation,not for
scientificinvestigations.46
Ubediwasalso
of the view that learningspreadin the
worldthroughcross-civilisationalcontributions and centres of excellence have
been shifting all the time. To quote his
words:
Theageof Arabianlearningcontinuedin
its bloomingyouth aboutfive hundred
oftheMoghuls,
years,tillthegreateruption
whenlearningfled for refugeto the PerandScythians,andwascosians,Tartars,
evalwiththedarkestandthemostslothful
periodof Europeanannals;butsincethe
sun of sciencein the west beganto rise,
thelampof Orientallearningbeganto be
Thusriseandfall
graduallyextinguished.
is to be seen in the scientificworld,as
elsewhere.47
LikeSyedAhmadKhan,anotherprominent Muslim moderniser of the 19th
century,Obaidullah found it futile to
regardthe Quranas a work of science
andfor themthe crux of theirbelief was
that 'the real purpose of religion is to
improvemorality'.Letscientifictruthsbe
establishedbyobservation
andexperiment,
they believed, and not by attemptingto
interpreta religious text as a book of
science.48Obaidullah,going back to the
historyof science in Islamiccivilisation,
wrote that when Aristotelianphilosophy
andPtolemaicastronomywereintroduced

in the Mohammedanschools,theirabsurd
doctrinesseemedto be irreconcilablewith
theIslamitic(sic)religiousprecepts;therefore our divines,thinkingit dangerousto
the faith, were compelledto defendrevelation with great difficulty, but on the
introductionof the Europeaninductive
of this
philosophythereis no apprehension
kind.Oursacredfaith,whoseessentialpart
is Theismor naturalreligion,being little
shakenby the westernexperimentalphilosophy, which is only a copy of nature
andby which the existence,unity,power
andwisdomof thatsole beingareproved,
will rathergaingreaterstrength,thanwas
possibleby meansof Grecianphilosophy
whichcauseda greatcontroversyandthe
division of sects. We ought to regard
AristotleandPtolemyas greaterenemies
to our faith than Copernicus and
Newton.49ContrastthiswithSyedHossein
Nasr's views today that find no consistencybetweenIslamandmodernscience.
He relentlesslycastigatesthose:
.. modernistic
Muslimapologetic
writings,
whichwouldgo to anyextremeto placate
modernismand wouldpay any priceto
showthatIslamis 'modern'afterall and
thatin contrastto Christianity
is not in
conflictwith 'science'.50
He finds that the modernisticwritings
claimingcompatibilitybetweenIslamand
the science of Galileo and Newton are
flawed because they wilfully distortthe
meaningof the Arabicword 'ilm', whose
pursuitis the religiousduty,intomeaning
scienceandsecularlearning.This is false
becauseilm refersto knowledgeof god,
notknowledgeof theprofane.As a matter
of factthispositioncontradictsthefamous
saying of the Prophethimself where he
exhortedthe believersof Islam'to pursue
knowledgeeven unto China'.Whatwas
this knowledge,whichthe Muslimswere
supposedto pursue?It was certainlynot
the knowledge only about god and the
Prophethimselfdid not meanit to be so.
It is only the sectarianinterpreters
today
who are trying to make this distinction
between knowledge and ilm. The 19th
centuryinterlocutors
maynotbe assophisticatedas our presentday ideologuesbut
they knew their Islam well enough.
Emphasising the cultural diversity of
science, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's
remarks,thoughin a differentcontext,are
relevantfor both the Islamistsas well as
the proponentsof Eurocentrism.While
talking about science, mathematicsand
culture,he referredto 'the difficulty in

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June 5, 2004

decidingwhatexactly is the origin of an

idea or an object.Sometimesa thingmay
come, proximately,fromthe west, but its
earlier origin may have involved nonwesterninfluencesin a crucialway. This
thecase whenwe talkabout
is particularly
science or mathematics,since these subjects absorbedthe contributionsof many
differentsocieties and cultures. To the
immediaterecipient,thearrivingideasand
beliefs may look identifiably'western',
sincetheyarebroughtin bypeoplefromthe
west, andyet these ideas andbeliefs may
not be, in any sense, specificallywestern
in natureor in origin.'51One is reminded
of the exhortationof Al-Kindiwho asked
thebelievers'nottobeashamedto acknowledge truth and to assimilate it from
whateversource it comes to us.'52BI3
Address for correspondence:

irfan53@yahoo.co.uk

Notes
[Shorterversions of this paper were presentedat
the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign,
US and also at REHSEIS, CNRS, Paris.]
1 ShmuelN EisenstadtandWolfgangSchuchter,
'Introduction to Early Modernities - A
ComparativeView', Daedalus, 127, 3, 1998,
1-18.
2 Aziz Al-Azmeh, Islams and Modernities,
Verso, London-New York, 1993.
3 Abdus Salam in a foreword to Pervez
Hoodbhoy,Islamand Science, London, 1991,
p ix.
4 Huntington, Samuel, The Clash of Civilisations, New York, 1996.
5 Dennis Overbye, How Islam Won, and Lost,
the Lead in Science, The New York Times,
October 30, 2001.
6 Some of the prominentintellectualswho had
been arguingfor Islamic science are S H Nasr,
Ziauddin Sardar, Osman Bakar, Pervez
Manzoor and others. However this is not a
homogeneous group and we find quite a few
differences in their perceptions of Islamic
science.
7 Pervez Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science:
Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for
Rationality,Zed Books, London, 1991, p74.
8 This aspect was emphasised by Lynn White
jr in the muchdiscussedpaper 'The Historical
Roots of Ecological Crisis' published in
MachinaEx Deo: Essays in the Dynamismof
WesternCulture,MIT Press, Massachusetts,
1968, pp 75-94. Most of the Islamists refer
to this work while dealing with this issue.
9 Susantha Goonatilake, Towards a Global
Science: Mining Civilisational Knowledge,
New Delhi, 1999, p 7.
10 Osman Bakar, Tawhid and Science, Lahore,
1998, p 16. Even this past, perceived as
unadulterated,was not really so. This most
sought after and pristine Islamic past had its
illustriousNestorianChristian,Jewish, Hindu,

Chinese and Buddhistcontributors,who were 28 Ibid, pp 76-77.

welcomed by the liberal Caliphs of Baghdad 29 Nikki R Keddie, An Islamic Response to
to engage in the productionof this corpus of
Imperialism,Berkeley, 1968, p 185.
scientific knowledge, which later came to be 30 Aydin Sayili, The Observatoryin Islam and
calledIslamicscience.Todayone triesto forget
its Place in the General History of the
or deliberatelyoverlook its multiculturaland
Observatory,Ankara, 1988, p 416.
31 We can see a similarthinkingamong the 19th
multi-religious origins.
11 For a detailedaccounton this issue see S Irfan
century Chinese intellectuals, who were
Habib, 'Reconciling Science with Islam in
exposed to western science during the 16th
19th CenturyIndia', Contributionsto Indian
centuryas a resultof the Jesuitmissions. Some
of them opposed it as alien and uncouth,but
Sociology, 34, 1, 2000.
12 Jaunpurtoday is an insignificanttown in Uttar
othersbelievedthatit hadpreservedthevestiges
Pradesh.It had been an importantculturaland
of an older native tradition,"augmentedand
intellectual centre during the 15th and 18th
cultivated" in the west when the chain of
centuries.MullaMahmudJaunpuriwas a well
transmissionwithin China had been broken.
known scholar from the town whose book
David Wright, 'The Translationof Moder
Shams I Bazegha remainedinfluentialamong
WesternScience in NineteenthCenturyChina,
traditionalscholars till the late 19th century.
1840-1895', Isis, Vol 89, No 4, December
JamaluddinAfghani also took note of this
1998, p 657.
book in his India writings in the 1880s.
32 J Dhombres, "On the Track of Ideas and
13 KaramatAli, Ma'akhiz al-Ulum: A Treatise
ExplanationsDown theCenturies:TheHistory
on the Origin of the Sciences, Calcutta, 1965
of Science Today", Impact of Science on
(in Persian). Ubaydi and Amir Ali translated
Society, No 160, p 200.
this work into English in 1867.
33 MohammedS Fakir, 'Towardsan Externalist
14 Ibid, p 78.
History of Islamic Science' in The American
15 KaramatAli expressedshock at music lovers'
Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol 9,
No 2, summer 1992, p 191.
ignorance with mathematics in his country
andPersia,wherehe travelledduringthe 1830s. 34 KaramatAli, op cit, p 24.
WhileinPersia,a noblemanandprivatesteward 35 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 103.
of the king wanted to learn music from him, 36 Ibid, p185.
'but as they were unacquainted with
37 Osman Bakar, op cit, p 215.
mathematics,they could not understandthe 38 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 62.
otherscience, so in the end I had to teach them 39 Dennis Overbye, op cit.
mathematics first.'
40 Abdus Salam, op cit, p ix.
16 Ibid, pp 40-42.
41 Osman Bakar, op cit, p 218.
17 Maurice Bucaille is one of the foremost 42 ZiauddinSardar,'Can Science come back to
articulatorsof Islamic science and authorof
Islam?' New Scientist, Vol 88 No 1224,
an exegesis called The Bible, The Quranand
October 1980, p 215.
Science. He has concluded that whereas the 43 Obaidullah Ubedi, Reciprocal Influence of
Bible is often wrong in the description of
Mahomedan and European Learning and
naturalphenomena, the Quran is invariably
Inferencetherefromas to thepossible influence
correct and that it correctly anticipated all
of European Learning on the Mahomedan
Mind in India, 1877, Calcutta, pp 46-47.
major discoveries of modem science.
18 Ziauddin Sardar, Waiting for rain 44 Ibid, p 47.
Fundamentalists
havehijackedIslamicscience. 45 Ibid pp 48-49.
Can it ever be liberated? http://
46 Ibid, p 49.
47 Ibid, p 10.
dhushara.tripod.com/book/upd3/2002a/
48 Pervez Hoodbhoy, op cit, pp 68-69.
histis.htm, p 8.
19 A Pakistanineuropsychiatrist
calledAA Abbasi 49 ObaidullahUbedi, op cit, p 48.
authoreda book titled The Quranand Mental 50 S H Nasr, Islam and ContemporarySociety,
Hygiene wherehe found in the Quranmodem
London, 1982, p 176.
curesfordiabetes,tuberculosis,stomachulcers, 51 Amartya Sen, 'An Assessment of the
rheumatism,arthritis,asthmaandparalysis.In
Millennium', UNESCO Lecture in Delhi.
the end these claims could not go beyond 52 S P Loo, Thefourhorsemenof Islamicscience"
intellectual amusement Another Pakistani
a critical analysis', InternationalJournal of
Science Education,Vol 18, No 3, 1996, p 290.
nuclearengineersuggestedthatthejinnswhom
God made out of fire, should be used as a
Al-Kindi was a distinguished ninth century
source of energy to combat the energy crisis.
rationalistphilosopherand scientist who was
20 Ziauddin Sardar, Explorations in Islamic
publiclyfloggedforresistingthetideof Islamic
Science, London, 1989, pp 35-36.
fundamentalism.
21 KaramatAli, op cit, pp 15-22.
22 MunshiZakaullah,Tabiyat-Sharqiwa Gharbi
ki Abjad (Beginnings of the Eastern and
Economic and Political Weekly
Western Sciences), Delhi, Matbua Ahmadi,
1900, p 6.
available from:
23 KaramatAli, op cit, p 46.
24 MartinBernal,BlackAthena: TheAfroasiatic
Churchgate Book Stall
Rootsof Classical Civilisation,Vol 1, London,
2.
Churchgate Station
1987, p
25 Ibid, p 76.
Opp Indian Merchants Chamber
26 Elie Kedourie,Islam in theModernWorldand
Churchgate
other Studies, London, 1980, p 39.
- 400 020
Mumbai
27 Ibid, p 73.

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