SECULAR KNOWLEDGE AT ITS ISLAMIC BEST

SECULAR KNOWLEDGE AT ITS ISLAMIC BEST Freedom of Science from Religion Revealed knowledge is the only source from which to learn how to make spiritual progress, while material progress is based on a knowledge of nature. S UCCESS or failure in the Hereafter rests entirely on the revealed knowledge passed on to mankind by the Prophet. The Prophet Muhammad is enjoined to proclaim to mankind that ’God’s guidance is the only guidance.’ (THE QURAN 2: 120) Nevertheless, Islam holds that while the principles for attaining salvation in the Hereafter derive solely from divine revelation, the attainment of material progress is got through knowledge of the laws of nature as discovered and established by secular scientific research. Islamic schema therefore, by reason and by tradition, has always accorded secular sciences the status of an independent branch of learning. The Quran repeatedly urges us to give serious thought to the natural phenomena of the heavens and the earth, as being ’signs for men of sense—those who remember God when standing, sitting and lying down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying, ‘Lord, You have not created this in vain‘ (3: 191). These verses clearly suggest that we should proceed to our own conclusions on the basis of logical reasoning in matters of the world. The difference between the scientific and the religious approach to practical matters has been made clear in a Hadith. Fifty out of the sixty three years of the Prophet’s life were spent in Makkah, a desert city where there was no agriculture. Later, he migrated to Madinah where agriculture and horticulture were practiced—in particular, the growing of date palms. Naturally, the Prophet had no experience of either farming or fruit growing. One day, as the Prophet passed through the outskirts of Madinah, he noticed some people, who had climbed up the date palms, were engaged in some activity. On inquiring what they were doing, they What is demonstrable in nature, yielding itself to research and experiment, will be accepted by Islam as established, empirical knowledge.