Muslims and Evoloution

[randolph85]

This world with all the created things in it has a certain order and solid construction. It shows nexuses between causes and things caused, combinations of some parts of creation with others, and transformations of some existent things into others, in a pattern that is both remarkable and endless.

One should then take a look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word 'connection' with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the newest group.

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man. This is as far as our (physical) observation extends.

- ibn khaldun 1377

[Baygham]

This world with all the created things in it has a certain order and solid construction. It shows nexuses between causes and things caused, combinations of some parts of creation with others, and transformations of some existent things into others, in a pattern that is both remarkable and endless.

One should then take a look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word 'connection' with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the newest group.

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man. This is as far as our (physical) observation extends.

- ibn khaldun 1377

if true, quite impressive reflection back in 1377. If only we allowed such insights to prosper in watan. Now a days this will be labeled blasphemy and he ordered the death of an apostate. 50 years of free thought just like that and we would be a different species(metaphorically) as well.

[Wrayun]

if true, quite impressive reflection back in 1377. If only we allowed such insights to prosper in watan. Now a days this will be labeled blasphemy and he ordered the death of an apostate. 50 years of free thought just like that and we would be a different species(metaphorically) as well.

"[These books] state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapour which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan (coral). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves vegetation. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him."[31]


Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Their work was available in Europe long before Darwin.

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I actually own Sayyed Hossein Nasr's translation of Al-Risala, and it's quite astute and profound

something to note from the Wikipedia article.

The identity and period of the authors of the Encyclopedia have not been conclusively established,[8] though the work has been linked with as varied groups as the Isma'ili, Sufi, Sunni, Mu'tazili, Nusairi, Rosicrucians, etc.[

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http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/al-jahiz.php

AL-JAHIZ AND THE RISE OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM
MEHMET BAYRAKDAR

Although al-Nazzam made the first steps in the field of biological evolutionary thought in the history of science, for the first time the theory of biological evolution in its complete form was presented by a great early zoologist, al-Jahiz in the ninth century. He was the first to originate it. Al-Jahiz’s theory is an example of scientific revolution and innovation that has had reverberations into the farthest reaches of human thought. It is fair to say that many problems of the philosophy of Nature appeared in a new light after the revolution of al-Jahiz and his successors. Before describing al-Jahiz’s own views and his influence upon Muslim and European thinkers, especially upon Lamarck and Darwin, I want to give some biographical and bibliographical accounts.
a. Biographical and Bibliographical Notices

Al-Jahiz’s complete name is Abu ‘Uthman Amr bin Bahr al-Fukaymi al-
Basri. He owes his sobriquet (al-Jahiz = the goggle-eyed) to a malformation of his eyes. He was born at Basra about 776. Little is known of his childhood, except that, from an early age, an invincible desire for learning and a remarkably inquisitive mind urged him towards a life of independence and, much to his family’s despair, idleness. Mixing with groups which gathered at diflérent mosques to learn, attending as a spectator the philological enquiries conducted on the Mirbad and following lectures by the most learned men and scholars of his time on philology, lexiography and poetry, namely al-Asma’i, Abu ‘Ubayda, Abu Zayd, he soon acquired real mastery of the Arabic language along with the usual and traditional culture."1" And later his precious intelligence won him admittance to Mu’tazili circles and bourgeois salons, where conversation, often light, was also
animated by philosophical, theological, scientific problems. His penetrating observation of the various elements in a mixed population increased his knowledge of human nature, whilst reading books of all kinds which were beginning to circulate in Basra gave him some outlook onto the outside world. His early literary activity won him the compliments of al-Ma’mun and thereby that consecration by the capital covetted by so many provincials eager to have their talent recognized and so reach the court and establish themselves.
From then on, without completely abandoning Basra, al-Jahiz frequently stayed for long periods in Baghdad and later in Samarra, devoting himself to literary and scientific works. For some time he was the teacher of al-Mutawakkil’s children. Although information about his private and public life is not readily forthcoming from either his biographer or himself, it appears from what knowledge we have that al-Jahiz held no official post and took on no regular employment. He admits, however, that he received considerable sums for the dedications of his books and we know that for a time at least, he was made an allowance by the diwan. In Baghdad, later on, he found a rich store of learning which enabled him to broaden his outlook and perfect his own philosophical and theological doctrine, which he had begun to elaborate under the supervision of the great mu tazalis of the day, of whom al-Nazzarn and Thumana b. Ashras, who seems to have had a strong influence on him, should be placed in the first rank.
Towards the end of his life, suffering from hemiplegia, he retired to his hometown, where he died in 869 (225) "2".
As in politics, so in theology al-Jahiz was a mu’tazili. He was also a famous Muslim prose writer. His place in the development of Muslim thought is far from negligible. He was the founder ofa sect named after him, al-Jahiziyya "3". He was a genius in the science of zoology. And he knew how to obtain ammonia and salmiac from animal offals by dry distillation "4"
Being a polyhistor and man of letters, al-Jahiz had a very great output like many Muslim writers. A catalogue of his works lists nearly 200 titles of which only about a third have been preserved in their entirety; about fifty thers have been partially preserved, whilst the rest seem irremediably lost "5". His most important book is The Book of Animals (Kitab al-Hayawan) "6". Iahiz’s method was empirical and scientific, not only discursive, as Sarton elieves "7". That is why Asin Palacios says, “Como el mismo lo insinua en el rologo (I, 6), puso a contribucion para redactarlo los libros de los filosofos, os relatos y noticias de viajeros, marinos, etc. Y Ia observacion o experiencia lirecta.” The scientific value of this book is great; and it is "8", as Asin Palacios ays, a real contribution to the history of science, namely to zoology. The main source of al-Jahiz’s Book of Animals is the book on zoology of his )recursors and contemporary, ‘Abd al-Malik bin Qurayb al-Asma’i (739- 831) "9". As far as I knowm this book is the first zoological, book in the history of slamic thought. The Kitab al-Hayawan was the object of many studies, and had great influence upon later Muslim scientists, and via them upon European thinkers as well. And it became the source for later books on oology. Al-Jahiz’s many sentences are quoted by Ikhwan al-Safa’ and Ibn
Miskawayh, and many passages are quoted by Zakariyya’ al-Qazwini (1203-1282) in his ‘A/a’ ib al-Maklzluqat, and by Mustawfial-Qazwini (1281- ?) in his Nuzkat ai-Qulub; and al-Damiri in his Hayat al-Hayawan’ "10".

b. Al-Jakiz’s View on Biological Evolution

After a long study of animals, Al-Jahiz was the first to put forward his view of biological evolution in his Book ofAnimals, which contains the germs of many later evolutionary theories (animal embryology, evolution, adaptation, animal psychology and sociology) "11".
First of all, al-Jahiz’s attempts were made in a truly scientific spirit to classifV animals in a linear series, beginning with the simplest and continuing to the most complex; and at the same time, he arranged them into groups having marked similarities; and these groups were divided into sub-groups to trace the ultimate unit in the species "12"
An early exponent of the zoological and anthropological sciences, al- Jahiz discovered and recognized the effect of environmental factors on animal life; and he also observed the transformation of animal species under different factors. And in many remarkable passages of his book, he also described for us the struggle of existences for survival, its aim and mechanisms and value in a scientific way, as well as in a folkloric way. As to know the mechanistiis of evolution, al-Jahiz described three mechanisms. These are Struggle for Existence, Transformation of species into each other, and Environmental Factors.
Let us now see the mechanisms, as briefly as possible.
Struggle for Existence: al-Jahiz placed the greatest weight on evolution by the struggle for existence, or, in a larger sense, by natural selection. It operates in conjunction with the innate desire for conservation and permanence of the ego. According to al-Jahiz, between every individual existence, there is a natural war for life. The existence are in struggle with each other. Al-Jahiz’s theory of struggle for existence may accordingly be defined as a differential death rate between two variant class of existence, the lesser death rate characterizing the better adapted and stronger class. And for al-Jahiz, the struggle for existence is a divine law; God makes food for some bodies out of some other bodies’ death. He says, “The rat goes out for collecting his food, and it searches and seizes them. It eats some other inferior animals, like small animals and small birds. . . it hides its babies in disguised underground tunnels for protecting them and himself against the attack of the snakes and of the birds. Snakes like eating rats very much. As for the snakes, they defend themselves from the danger of the beavers and hyenas; which are more powerful than themselves. The hyena can frighten the fox, and the latter frightens all the animals which are inferior to it. ...
this is the law that some existences are the food for others. . . . All small animals eat smaller ones; and all big animals cannot eat bigger ones. Men with each other are like animals. . . God makes cause of some bodies life, “ "13" from some bodies death and vice versa. And according to al-Jahiz, the struggle does not exist only between the members of different species, but also between the members of the same species "14".
From what al-Jahiz has said, we can make an assertion that God has created Nature in a prodigal reproductive character and He has also established a law, which is the biological struggle for existence in order to keep it within a limited ratio. Otherwise, the disorder could appear in Nature and it could lose some of its riches and species. We can see the germs of Darwin’s and the Neo-Darwinian’s theory of Natural Selection in this remarkable passage which we have mentioned above. Transformation of Species: Al-Jahiz, as later Lamarck and Darwin, for example, believes that the transformation of species and mutation is possible. The transformation operates in conjunction with the effect of environmental factors. And he asserted that the original forms branched out into new forms of species by gradually developing new characteristics which helped them to survive environmental conditions. He says, “People said different things about the existence of al-miskh (the original form of quadrupeds) "15". Some accepted its evolution and said that it gave existence to dog, wolf, fox and their similars. The members of this family came from this form (al-miskk).” "16"
And, he adds that God’s will and power is the main causal factor in the transformation, and God can transform any species into another at any time He wants. So al-Jahiz defends the transformation of species and mutation, due to different factors, including God’s will’7, as we have said above. Here al-Jahiz got some of his material from the sayings of different learned men. As for the effect of environmental factors on species, al-Jahiz believes that the food, climate, shelter and other factors have some biological and psychological effects on species. And for him, these factors also lead the species to a hard struggle for survival. In a changed environment, there is also a change in some characters having survival value. The process of changing characters in succeeding generations makes the organisms better adapted to their environment. They thus survive and get a chance to breed and transmit their characteristics to their offspring. So, al-Jahiz based his theory upon the notion of the use and disuse of organs in the adaptation of animals to their environment.
Al-Jahiz says, “Without doubt, we have seen that some Nabatheen navigators resembled the ape in some geographical environment, likely we have also seen some people from Morocco and have found them as like as al-maskh "18", except for a little difference.... And it is possible that the polluted air and water, and dust made this change in the character of these Moroccans. . . . If this effect goes on more and more in them, those changes in their bristles, ears, colours, and form (similar to the ape) increase more.... “ "19"
Such are the main mechanisms of al-Jahiz’s biological evolution. Now, I will speak about al-Jahiz’s great influence upon Muslim and European scientists. Al-Jahiz’s zoology and theory of biological evolution have profoundly affected the development of zoology and biology. As we have said before, al-Jahiz’s biological evolution had some direct influences upon Ikhwan al-Safa, and other illustrious philosophers, such as Ibn Miskawayh, al-Biruni, Ibn Tufayl, with whom al-Jahiz’s theory acquired a new sense, in that they made of it two new doctrines: a cosmological one, because it was applied to the phenomena of the whole universe; and a sociological one, because it was applied to social phenomena. Moreover, Ibn Miskawayh and Ibn Khaldun explain the true meaning of Prophecy and prove it by such a theory. Thus, Jahiz’s pure biological evolution became the source of different doctrines in later Islamic thought, such as sociological, metaphysical and cosmological evolutionisms.
On the other hand, al-Jahiz’s theory has been repeated by Muslim zoologists and naturalists, especially by al-Zakariyya’ al-Qazwini, in his ‘Aja’ ib al-Makhluqat, Mustawfi al-Qazwini in his Nuzhat al-Qulub, and al- Damiri in his Hayat al-Hayawan, without mentioning other literary persons, such as al-Masudi and Ibn Qutayba.
As for the influence of al-Jahiz on European thinkers, it has become the subject of two main studies: “Der Darwinismus im X und XIX Jahrhundert” of Fr. Dieterici (Leipzig, 1878) and “Darwinistisches bei Gahiz” of E. Wiedemann (sitzungsbericht der physikalisch-medizinischen Sozietaet in Erlangen, 47, 1915). Previous to me, they found a great similarity between al-Jahiz and Darwin. Indeed, Darwin and his precursors took up the theory of al-Jahiz as the base for the essentiality of their evolutionary theories, and they formulated it in a more scientific way in the context of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries development of science. Perhaps the only main difference b~etween al-Jahiz’s theory and modern theory is in ideology: al-Jahiz’s theory is theologic and more transcendental in this sense that he accepts that the first cause of evolution in living organisms is God and that the other factors are secondary; while Lamarck, Darwin and others’ evolution is more immanent and materialistic. Although the mechanistic explanations of the theories are more or less the same, Darwin and other modern scientists differ from al-Jahiz and other Muslim writers in ideological interpretation of the theory.
How has Jahiz’s idea been transmitted to the Europeans? Al-Jahiz and other evolutionist Muslim thinkers influenced Darwin and his predecessors in several ways. Before the flourishing of C. Linnaeus (1707-1778), Buffon (1707-1788), E. Darwin (1731-1802),J. B. Lamarck (1744-1829), and Ch. Darwin (1809-1882), and long before the rise of the school of Natural Philosophy in Germany, al-Jahiz and others were known to Europeans through the translation of their own works and studies on them by Europeans. For example, al-Damiri’s book Hayat al-Hayawan was partially translated into Latin by a Jew, called Abraham Echellensis (d. Italy 1664) and published in Paris in 1617. This book contains many passages taken from al-Jahiz’s Kitab al-Hayawan. Al-Nuwayri’s JVihaya was studied by D’Herbelot (1625—1695) in his Bibliotheca Orientalis, and later byJ. Heyman (?—1737). Ibn Tufayl’s Hay Ibn raqzan, which contains the philosophy of evolution, was first published by Edward Pocockes, Sr. (1604-1690), together with a Latin translation published by Edward ~Pococke, Jr. (1648-1727) in Oxford in 1671 (second edition, Oxford, 1700) "20". Zakariyya’ al-Qazwini’s cosmography, ‘Aja’ ib al-Makhluqat was published by F. Wustenfeld in 2 volumes in Gottingen in 1848-49; and Kitab Talkhis al-A thar of Bakuwi, a summary of al-Qazwini’s book was translated into French and published by De Guignes in Paris, in 1789 "21". In fact, his book also contains many ideas from al-Jahiz. And A. L. de Chezy translated al-Qazwini’ s ‘Aja’ib, and his translation was published in 1806 (first publication) by S. de Sacy, in his Chresiomathie A rabe. There is no doubt that the great evolutionist sufi, Mawlana, had already influenced Goethe, who called him “a Darwinian before Darwin” "22" his theory of metamorphosis has profbundly affected the development of biology. In any case, Islamic zoology penetrated the West as early as the seventeenth century "23". Some Europeans knew Arabic and they could read directly from the Muslim scientists’ books; for example, Darwin was himself initiated into Islamic culture in Cambridge under ajewish orientalist called Samuel Lee "24". We think that what we have said can show Muslim influence upon Europeans. Some further comparative study can be undertaken in this subject, in order to bring to light the influence of Muslim evolutionist thinkers upon the Europeans and the transmission of their ideas to the West.
Al-Jahiz’s theory of evolution was something very new in the history of science, and there was nothing written previous to it. Although Greek philosophers like Empedocles and Aristotle spoke of the change in Nature, in plants and animals, they never made the first steps on the field of the future theory of evolution of the Muslims. Their concept of change was only a concept of simple change and motion, nothing more than that. And by the concept of change, they never designed explicitly or implicitly a concept of evolution: “The World of Nature is thus for Aristotle, a world of self-moving thing, as it is for the Ionians and for Plato. . .. Nature as such is process, growth, change. This process is a development, i.e. the changing takes successive forms, a, b, y, . . . in which each is the potentiality of its successor, but it is not what we call ‘evolution’, because for Aristotle, the kinds of change and of structure exhibited in the world of nature form an eternal repertory, and the items in the repertory are related logically, not temporally, among themselves"25"”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Pellat (Ch.), “Al-Dlahiz”, in RI2, vol. II, p. 385.
2) Ibn ‘Asakir, MMIJ, IX, pp. 203—217.
3) Khaiib Baghdadi, XII, pp. 212-222.
4) Sarton (G.), Iniroduciion in ihe Hisiorp of Science, vol. I, Washington, 1927, p. 597.
5) Pellat (Ch.), “Gahiziana”, in Arabica, 1956/2; cf Brockelmann (C.), GAL, SI., 241ff
6) The Book of .4niinals was published in 7 volumes, in Cairo, 1323—1324.
7) Sarton says: “His most important work is The Book oj.-Inimals, a very discursive compilation, the purpose of which is theological and folkloric, rather than scientific , Sarton, op. cii., p. 597. Sarton’sjudgement is not true; indeed, many of the knowledges given in the 1)00k are the result of his personal observation and his experiences, as al-Jahiz himself says in several chapters.
8) Asin Palacios (M.), “El ‘Libro de los Animales’ deJahiz”, in isi.’;, vol. 14 1930, p. 21.
9) Some parts of’ his book are published by R. Geyer in Wien, in 1887; and by A. Haffner in Wien, in 1895—1896; the book on the creation of man is still unpublished.
10) It is very interesting to notice that a summary of’ al-Damiri’s and other Muslim scientists’ books was translated into Latin by Abraham Echellensis (d. Italy 1664) and was published under the title “Dc Proprietatibus et Virtutibus Medicis Animalium” in Paris, in 1617. So, that is to say, sometime before the appearance ofbarwin’s precursors, such as F. Redi (1626—1698), C. Linnaeus (1707—1778), Buflon (1707—1788), Lamarck (1744—1829). the idea of evolution of Muslims was penetrated in West and this explains why the first evolutionists came from France. See Mieli (A.), La Science .1 robe ei Son Role dan l’Et’oluiion Scienijfique Mondiale, Leiden, Brill, 1938, pp. 263-264, n. 3; and extracts have been translated into French by A.J. Silvestre dc Sacy, Oppianos II, Strasbourg, 1787; see Sarton (G.), Vol. III, Part II, p. 1641. 11) Pella (Ch.), ‘Al-Djahiz”, op. cii., p. 386; cf Sarton, op. cii., p. 597.
12) Al-Jahiz, Kiiab al-Ha vawan, Vol. I, Cairo, 1909, p. 13, and see also different chapters of the volumes.
13) ldem., Vol. VI, pp. 133—34; and there are many passages in different volumes illustrating the struggle for existence. See VI, 139; VII, 47, 80. 14. ldem., vol. VII, pp. 47-48.
15) According to some opinions, this original form of animal was lost because of earthquakes and floods. See al-Jahiz, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 24; cf vol. VII, p. 77.
16) ldem, vol. IV, p. 23.
17) ldem., vol. IV, pp. 24-25; c1 vol. VI, pp. 24-26.
18) I think al-Maskh is a kind of ape; see Vol. IV, p. 24. And do not confuse al-Maskh with al-Miskh.
19) ldem., Vol. IV, p. 24; and cf vol. IV, pp. 25-27.
20) See Sarton (0.), op. cii., vol. II, Part 2, pp. 354—355.
21) Mieli (A.), op. cii., p. 152.
22) Cassirer (E.), The Problem of Knowledge, translated by W. H. Woglom and Ch. W. Hendel, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1950, p. 137.
23) Sarton (G.), op. cii., vol. III, part 2, p. 1641.
24) See Darwin (Sir F.), The Life and Letters of’ Charles Darwin, vol. I, London, 1887, p. 289. Samuel Lee (1783-1852), of Queen’s, was professor of Arabic and Hebrew. In 1821, he issued a “Sylloge Librorum Orientalium”. In 1829, he translated “The Travel of Ibn Battuta”, see The Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XI, London, 1917, pp. 819-820.
25) Collingwood (R. C.), The Idea of’ Nature, Oxford, 1945, p. 82.

The Islamic Quarterly, London
Third Quarter 1983

[Baygham]

"[These books] state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapour which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan (coral). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves vegetation. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him."[31]


Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Their work was available in Europe long before Darwin.

Beautifully narrated. Imagine 500 years of free thinking on these lines. The religious color of the basic doctrine (which is observational with a lot of maturity) is a basic necessity to avoid persecution. If allowed to prosper with state and cultural protection along with patronage rather than punishment we would have developed industrial revolution a couple of centuries earlier in our parts of the world.

But what led to the silence of these voices. What do contemporary religious wheelers and dealers of Islam think of these and modern voices like that, do we as a culture stifle them or let them prosper. This is basically why we have free thought lacking in our culture, its just too costly to acquire.

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it's true, The scholars of what's often called the "Islamic Golden Age" expounded words and knowledge which were at once beautiful in it's expression, but profoundl relevant to life and enlightening to higher truth.

but would they have springboarded the coming of the Industrial Revolution? Or have had a scientific or technologically accomodated society on the drive or motive as current industrial capitalist socities?

The affirmative premise is faulty, because it assumes that the intrinsic function of science is to promote/motivate idustry. For the men of the Islamic Golden era; they had a strikingly different motive for learning science. For them science was an intellectual connection to Nature and a Spiritual Pursuit to reach the Divine, these men were not nerely cow towing to the religious establishment to "avoid persecution" they were driven by the establishment too actualize this pursuit. It was to achieve this enlightenment which would bring us whole with our true selves and our true functions and by unraveling relationships and essences with nature and from nature the Beyond and how we apply it to our lives which is what drove it . How does industrial society and it's musings find an analog in this?

The scientific morale of the industrial revolution was driven by appetite, a shallow materialistic craving to consume anything and everything, and discard it to produce more things for consumption. It's a ravenous entity powered by greed. It;s defined pathology of parasitism to use the Earth and diminish everything that's on it ....and hopefully leave it behind to move to another planet ...IF we can develop the resources to make it there first. How in any this be the same as the Islamic Scientists of yore?

[Badlun]

Islam is just a religion dealing with faith, worship and ethics and nothing beyond that. We may find some hints towards other aspects of life but these have moral underpinnings, dealing with family issues or attributes of God.

I personally believe that if we have to consider God as a creator then he went thru the process of evolution and this way he created the world and the universe. As some one above said that he collected soil or earth which is a dead matter, having elements which combined toe ach other and made amino acids, then proteins and then unicelular organism , then multi celular and then plants, animals and finally human beings.

Those so called scholars of golden era were just philosophers and not religious Mullas. they took most of the ideas from the Greeks and have very few orioginal contributions. Still they were great but once Muslims started only thinking of Quran and Hadith and Fiq they are the most down trodden people of the world.

Need of the hour is secularism, separating mundane from the spiritual. We dont have to prove evolution from Islam as Islam is neither biology or any branch of science. Islam is just for your spiritual and rteligious needs while for other aspects of life you have to consult other sources as for reason you have philosophy, for senses , experiment and observation you have science, for mysticism you have intution for evolution you have biology and not Islam.

Every thing has its scope and sphere of influence. If we separate islam from science then it will be the best service to both Islam and science.Mulla will be for Islam while scientist will be explaining scientific concepts like Evolution

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This trendy proclamation that Islaam is "just a religion" implying that it is simply a set of ritual liturgical practices, philosophical ideas on God and simply moral suggestions is one which is shallow and without any support.

If Islaam was simply a "religion" like one may deem christianity; then the foundational era of Islamic history would demonstrate it. Yet we find from the earliest days of Muhammad(saw)'s life that Islaam was applied not just to answer spiritual questions, but to regulate and organize their worldly affairs and governnance. If Islaam was merely a religion, and not an entire system of governnance , legal code and social order. How then do people who make this argument explain the use of an Islaamic penal code in dealing with crimes? Something that is simply a "religion" does not organize or ratify laws of criminal justice. However this is only one example of how the claim has no logical or factual basis.


the Qur'an itself says in Surah Al-Mai'dah.

To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee. To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute;

There can be no doubt here that Social Laws, Legal System and Political Order is something organized and ratified under Islaam. Indeed even if we suppose that Islaam is restrained to religious rituals and morality; then we can simply dig further and ask, What is morality? Anthropologically by examing the concept of morality we find that morality originated as a system of principles which had a role of understanding mankind's relationship to their environment, ecology and human interactions. This was the first political, social and legal system. In other words morality is really a synonym for "Way of Life".

While it's true we do not go to a Mullah to explain evolution, but rather a biologist. However, Implications of biological knowledge are in fact very much relevant to Islaam and under it's comprehension; Let's examine the concept of a "Way of Life", what does it mean, what does the expression imply? Simply put a "way of life" is a method which takes information of knolwedge and applies it in terms of how it is relevant for human existence in context to how they should allocate their efforts, resources and energies within their environment. This is Islaam, Islaam is a system of applied knowledge, in other words a way of life. Therefore the information of biology has much relevance to Islaam for by understanding biology we can correctly apply Islaam.

Some manifestations of this argument discouraging Islaam as a system of life fall into absurd internal contradiction. On one hand they admit that it was Muslims having a Circular understanding of the Qur'an, hadith and fiqh and restricting any and all knowledge within those spheres alone that lead them to plummet; disregarding the relationships of Nature and signs in Nature to human life. I too concede with this view; but the most peculiar conclusion that arose after that it''s a "service" of Islaam to keep Islaam and Science separate matters. If it was Muslim's dislodging science from Islaamic life that caused the problem then Joining Science and Islaam as complimentary fields of knowledge is what's imperative for the betterment of Muslims. Islaam alludes to science very heavily in the Qur'an, not necessarily because it has startling signs of information regarding Nature which science seems to hint at, but because it emphasizes and directs the role of understanding and having a relationship with Nature to guide and observe the relevance of the Qur'an in life itself.

The Muslim Scholars of the "Golden Era" were not just philosophers and there were not people who ignored Islamic Theology; this is merely the conclusion of the ignorance and uneducated, for they have never actually read or studied the topic at any length. There are numerous examples in Islamic history of Islaamic Theologians who were Physicists, Mathematicians and Philsophers all at the same time.

One perfect example I can reference is Ibn Haytham; he was the embodiment of the Polymath; he was an erudite Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer who developed the scientific Method AND he was an Islamic Theologian. How could a Theologian of Islaam develop the scientific method if Islaam was in conflict with science?

He is one of many examples in Islamic history of the synergy between Islaam and science; but Clearly those who believe Islaam and science are separate spheres and should always remain so are clearly blindly to reality and merely blindly, lacking any knowledge on the issue, are peddling opinions and commentary without facts. And this is displayed by how in most of their arguments they never use evidence to support their views? While we can find numerous evidence to support the legacy of Islam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhazen

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: ابو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم, Persian: ابن هیثم, Latinized: Alhacen or (deprecated)[4] Alhazen) (965 in Basra – c. 1040 in Cairo) was a Persian[5] or Arab[6] scientist and polymath.[7] He made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to physics, anatomy, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, ophthalmology, philosophy, psychology, visual perception, and to science in general with his early application of the scientific method

Theology
Ibn al-Haytham was a devout Muslim, though it is uncertain which branch of Islam he followed. He may have been either a follower of the orthodox Ash'ari school of Sunni Islamic theology according to Ziauddin Sardar[97] and Lawrence Bettany[98] (and opposed to the views of the Mu'tazili school),[98] a follower of the Mu'tazili school of Islamic theology according to Peter Edward Hodgson,[99] or a follower of Shia Islam possibly according to A. I. Sabra.[100]
Ibn al-Haytham wrote a work on Islamic theology, in which he discussed prophethood and developed a system of philosophical criteria to discern its false claimants in his time.[101] He also wrote a treatise entitled Finding the Direction of Qibla by Calculation, in which he discussed finding the Qibla, where Salah prayers are directed towards, mathematically.[81]

[Badlun]

I will be soon writing an article on the role of Muslims in science with references and proofs as desired. However I will have few quick remarks here that
Those Muslim scientists were not devout conventional Muslims but as Ibne Tayymiyah who was critical of Islamic philosophy accused Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, and al-Frabi of being unbelievers for teaching that the world is eternal, which makes God redundant.

Second we must differentiate between Arabs in power and Muslims. Arabs when they had power did contribute to science but it was being an Arab not being a Muslim. As Islam just tells you mainly to beileve, worship and have some moral values but never its obligatory to invent, think philosophically etc other wise 99% Muslims who are not doing this will not be Muslims then. Whats the definition of Muslim. Just think over it. Today millions of Muslims dont have philosophers or scientists because they dont have the political and economic power as that of Abassids or others.We cant say that those Arabs were good Muslims as brothers used to murder brothers and we all know all other evils attached to them.


Those Muslim or Arab scientists who wrote on religious topics were mainly writing on theology which is a branch of philosophy and not religion. I am sure we can differentiate beween theology and religion.

[ScimitarXEdge]

Actually Ibn Rushd was a very devout Muslim;

As a Qadi (judge), Averroes wrote the Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtasid, a Maliki legal treatise dealing with Sharia (law) and Fiqh (jurisprudence) which, according to Al-Dhahabi in the 13th century, was considered the best treatise ever written on the subject.[7] Averroes's summary the opinions (fatwa) of previous Islamic jurists on a variety of issues has continued to influence Islamic scholars to the present day, notably Javed Ahmad Ghamidi.[23] While Averroes himself claimed that women in Islam were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine in peace and in war,[7] he summarized the opinions of previous jurists and Imams on the status of women's testimony in Islam as follows:[23]

Ibn Taymiyyah's Fatwa is not sufficient evdience of someone not being a devout Muslim; since Ibn Taymiyyah himself was deemed an extremist by Islamic Authorities and put into prison. However even Ibn Taymiyyah had his own contributions, and he was a Mathematician and Sufi and Economist

Looks like you will need serious revisions to your article.

Ibn Taymiyyah acquainted himself with the secular and religious sciences of his time. He devoted attention to Arabic literature and lexicography as well as studying mathematics and calligraphy. His scholarly zeal combined with his intense partisanship and hypergraphia led many contemporaries and later observers, most notably Ibn Battuta to consider him mentally unbalanced.[8]
As for the religious sciences, he studied jurisprudence from his father and became a representative of the Hanbali school of thought. Though he remained faithful throughout his life to that school, whose doctrines he had mastered, he also acquired a knowledge of the Islamic disciplines of the Qur'an and the Hadith. He also studied theology (kalam), philosophy, and Sufism.[9] He also refuted the Shia as well as the Christians. His student Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya authored the famous poem "O Christ-Worshipper" which unapologetically examined the dogma of the Trinity propounded by many Christian sects.

Analogical reasoning
Later, Ibn Taymiyyah argued against the certainty of syllogistic arguments and in favour of analogy (Qiyas). His argument is that concepts founded on induction are themselves not certain but only probable, and thus a syllogism based on such concepts is no more certain than an argument based on analogy. He further claimed that induction itself is founded on a process of analogy. His model of analogical reasoning was based on that of juridical arguments.[28][29] This model of analogy has been used in the recent work of John F. Sowa.[29]
[edit] Economic views

He elaborated a circumstantial analysis of the market mechanism, with a theoretical insight unusual in his time. His discourses on the welfare advantages and disadvantages of market regulation and deregulation, have an almost contemporary ring to them.[30]
Ibn Taymiyyah commenting on the power of supply and demand:

"If desire for goods increases while its availability decreases, its price rises. On the other hand, if availability of the good increases and the desire for it decreases, the price comes down."[31]

I think people who claim the Early Muslim greats had very few original contributions or were merely absorbed into Greek Philosophy or deemed the Great Thinkers as not devout Muslims, just haven't done enough research on the matter.

[TaMiKa]

lol @ moslems... go malcom x...yay!!!!

[Mujib]

Shaykh Nuh Keller's excellent article on evolution: Islam and Evolution.