THE AGE OF SCIENCE & RELIGION—PART I

In the wake of this revolution brought about by the Prophet of Islam, a new process originated in human history. Man devoted himself to the investigation of nature and this study continued leading to scientific discoveries. The secrets hidden in nature were brought to light. The same things had been interpreted in the Quran as the signs of God in the universe and within human beings. Modern science is another name for natural science. Doubtless, this serves to corroborate the prediction of the verses of the Quran. In a way science is the equivalent of the theology of divine religion. It authenticates religion by the criterion of human knowledge. In ancient times, this same task of establishing the authenticity of the divine truth was achieved through miracles. There are two aspects of modern science—theoretical science and technical science. Theoretical science uses modern resources to discover facts about the universe, while technical science looks at their practical applications. Modern civilization has been greatly influenced by technology. We will deal in this article not with technical science but with theoretical science. For reference, Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist, has written several books on theoretical science. The fact that human knowledge authenticates divine religion is mentioned in a tradition of the Prophet. “All the prophets were given such signs as their contemporaries believed in. And I have been granted the miracle of revelation (the Quran). That is why I hope that those who believed in me would outnumber others.” (Al Bukhari) In ancient times, knowledge was not as advanced as it is today. This made it impossible to prove the veracity of the divine religion. Prophets of ancient times were hence given such miracles as their contemporaries believed in. For example, the people of Moses believed in magic, so Moses was given the miracle of magic. But the revolution brought about by the Quran resulted in extraordinary progress in human knowledge. It made possible for truth to be proved at the level of established human knowledge. New discoveries have revolutionized scientific knowledge, changing the very criterion of scientific argument.