Ijtihad and science
The writer is a former principal, Gordon College, Rawalpindi
For three hundred years, the doors of the tavern have been closed
--Iqbal
Why is it that for the last three hundred years, the Muslim world has been so deficient in producing philosophers, scientists and scholars? Why is it that even now when the Muslim world commands such immense resources, we lag so far behind the West in science and technology? The answer is clear. For three hundred years, the door of ijtihad ie creative thinking has been closed. Almost one-ninth of the verses of the Qur'aan stress tafakkur (thinking) and tadabbur (creative deliberation), yet, by and large the Muslim world pays no heed to them ie they turn their back on critical and creative thinking.
Instead, we love platitudes. We are fond of cliches. We bask in the glory of the past. We dread the new, the original and the novel. We revel in interpretation and re-interpretation, but we flinch from creativity. We are good at repeating moth-eaten, time-worn thoughts, views and traditions.
It is ingrained in our psychology that correct answers already exist, and are to be found in the books or from authorities, religious or secular. Teachers dispense truth, parents are always right and leaders are omniscient. They act like philosopher-kings, often uttering unchallenged banalities. Questing authority is disrespectful tantamount to apostasy. It is time to reconstruct, following the true Qur'aanic spirit of iconoclasm.
Science and philosophy cannot flourish in an atmosphere vitiated by obscurantism, dogmatism, fanaticism, intolerance and irrationalism. Science needs an intellectual environment whose keynote is enlightenment with rationalism, humanism and pluralism as its driving forces.
Historically it was the Renaissance which prepared the ground for the emergence of modern science. The Dark Age which preceded the Renaissance in Europe was dominated by scholasticism with philosophy as the hand-maiden of theology.
D'Alembert called scholasticism "the so-called science of the centuries of ignorance." The scholastics used to discuss such "profound" problems as the number of angels who could dance on the tips of a needle. Bacon compared the scholastics to the spiders, content to weave cobwebs, ignoring the universe and what was happening around them.
Scholasticism suffered from: (i) indifference to facts (ii) arguments from authority (iii) undue emphasis on verbal subtleties (iv) reasoning in matters which observation alone could decide (v) blind faith.
The Muslim philosophy carries all the deficiencies mentioned above.
Modern science had to make way by routing scholasticism. It was Descartes (1596-1650) who performed this task. He was not only the founder of modern philosophy, but, along with Galileo and Newton, one of the creators of modern science. Descartes started off on his philosophical odyssey by the dictum: "In order to reach the truth, it is necessary, once in one's life, to put everything in doubt".
Modern science has flourished in an atmosphere marked by philosophical scepticism. It does not take anything for granted. It puts to doubt all dogmas and all certainties. The beliefs of a scientist are tentative, not final. They are not based on authority, but on evidence. Modern science is iconoclastic in dealing with convictions based on tradition or authority. As opposed to scholasticism which believes in order to understand, modern science understands in order to believe.
Science demands an inquisitive spirit, a pioneering zeal and an enterprising elan. Any dichotomy between theory and practice spells disaster for scientific progress. The Greek science withered away, because it wholly and solely depended on deduction. Though the Greeks scaled the sublimest heights of speculative thought, their aversion to experimentation and manual work, closed the door for further scientific advancement.
Induction was a great gift of Islam to humanity. "Neither Roger Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be credited with having introduced the experimental method," says Briffault in his book Making of Humanity and adds, "The experimental method of Arabs was by Bacon's time widespread and eagerly cultivated throughout Europe."
According to Iqbal, "For purposes of knowledge, the Muslim culture fixes its gaze on the concrete and the finite." When Iqbal emphasises the concrete and the finite, he exalts the scientific spirit at the expense of speculative flights into meta-physics.
By giving examples of Ibn-i-Khaldun's view of history, Ibn-e-Maskwaih's theory of life as evolutionary movement and Musa al-Khwarzami's shift from arithmetic to algebra, Iqbal concludes: "All lines of Muslim thought converge on a dynamic concept of the universe."
Thus Islam rejects a static view of the universe and regards it as always changing and evolving. According to the Qur'aan, change is one of the greatest signs of God. It is explicitly implied in the verse. "Every day has its own glory".
The Islamic principle to keep pace with the changing world and an evolving universe is ijtihad (exertion to form an independent opinion). Creativity is the essence of ijtihad. The driving force of the scientific technological revolution is creativity, developing new ideas and sailing in uncharted seas. In order to usher the scientific technological revolution, we must take the following steps.
Firstly, our educational system must be geared to strengthen mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and information technology. Up to the 12th grade, all these subjects must be compulsory.
Secondly, our method of teaching must change emphasising the intelligent grasp of the subjects rather than memorising formulas and theorems.
Thirdly, our mass media must be mobilised to popularise scientific thinking ie rational, critical and creative thinking. The mass media must help create a new world outlook suffused with rationalism, humanism and pluralism.
Fourthly, our scientists must be made to feel that Pakistan needs them. They must be freed from the stranglehold of bureaucracy, and obscurantist priests.
Lastly, what is urgently needed is the political will on the part of the government to regard universal literacy and primary education as the topmost priority. Unless education is given the same importance as defence, because defence nowadays depends on education, no breakthrough is going to take place so far as the STR is concerned. By giving education the first priority, China has successfully ushered in the STR.