Islam and Science

Abstract

One may wonder why the author wrote this book. In his own words: The germ of the idea grew from a lecture which the Lahore Education Society invited me to deliver in May 1984 on the subject of Islam and Science. Those were bad times for the country in general, and academics in particular ... numerous charlatans and sycophants, responding to the regime's rhetoric of Islamization, had seized the reins of society and set for themselves the task of "Islamizing" everything in sight, including science. (p. xiii) and, on his own secular and anti-Islamic attitudes: Indeed the last section of this book is a reprint entitled "They Call It lslamic Science." This is an exposition and critique that was inspired by the First International Conference of Scientific Miracles of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah, organized in Islamabad by the International Islamic University during the time of General Zia. Originally published as an article in the Pakistani monthly magazine "Herald" (January 1988), it drew vituperation and abuse from proponents of the new so-called "Islamic Science." (p. xiv) Thus the question: Can the author deal competently with such an interdisciplinary subject? According to Hoodbhoy: I wish to state wiequivocally that I have no illusions and make no claims to mastery over the subject of this book, Islam and science, or even of the philosophy of science. It was quite unwillingly, and with considerable trepidation, that I embarked on a project so far removed from my field of professional concern-particle and nuclear physics ... I would have preferred someone with a professional interest to have done this job instead, but it seemed unwise to wait indefinitely for it to happen ...