CLASH BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Real or Imagined?

THOSE WHO conducted scientific research in the centuries immediately preceding our own were not in any way opposed to religion. When Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) discovered the laws governing the revolution of heavenly bodies, he wrote to a friend: “The continuous rotation of the planets is not only due to the law of gravity; there must also be a divine arm in it.” When Charles Darwin (1809-1882) wrote his book, On the Origin of Species, he expressly acknowledged the existence of God. This is how he concluded the book:

“How magnificent is the concept that the Creator first created some simple forms of life, and from them astonishingly simple and wonderful species of life came into existence.” Then why was it that science turned against religion? The real reason behind this was not, as William Draper1 (1811-1882) and others have realized, conflict between science and religion. It was, in fact, a conflict between science and ancient theology, which had been founded on Greek and Egyptian philosophy rather than on divine religion. Exponents of religion mistakenly thought of it as a conflict between science and religion. They, therefore, opposed science. The result of this was that a contemporary force, which could have been put to the use of religion, became religion’s rival from the very outset.

The true divine religion, enshrined in the revealed and perfectly preserved book, the Quran, offers no conflict and contradiction with established scientific findings.

1 John William Draper (1811-1882) History of the Conflict between Religion and Science.

The Quran—Word of God
The Quran is a preserved divine book. The very first verses of the Quran include these words: “There is no doubt in it.” (2: 2) That is, there can be no doubt that this is the divine book. The Quran declared that it was a book of guidance for all humankind and for all time.

To support this claim, it was essential that the events of later times continued to testify to it. No such event should take place in later times as might refute this statement. This claim has astonishingly lived up to this standard.

The 10th chapter of the Quran, titled Jonah, states that God drowned the Pharaoh, Ramesses II of Egypt, in the 15th century BC, for he had denied the message brought by Moses, the Prophet of God. At that time God said to him: “We shall save your body this day, so that you may serve as a sign for those who come after you.” (10: 92) This verse of the Quran was revealed in the first quarter of the 7th century, referring to an event which took place two thousand years before that.

There was no printing press, no communications, and no record in known history of Pharaoh’s body. People had even forgotten this event. No one knew at that time that the Pharaoh’s body was going to come to light one day and would testify to the authenticity of this verse of the Quran. Twelve hundred years after this revelation, scientists in the latter half of the 19th century figured out a way to determine the period to which ancient objects belonged. Further progress encouraged a great spirit of enquiry among the people. In every field people became active in discovering things that had remained hidden for centuries.

This spirit led scholars of Western Europe to head to Egypt. They began their research on the pyramids situated near Cairo. After concentrated efforts, they discovered that the pyramids contained the earthly remains of ancient Egyptian kings preserved in the form of mummies. With special care these mummies were taken out so that research could be done on them.

During these investigations, astonishingly, the body of a Pharaoh was found inside one of the pyramids. Through radiocarbon dating, it was identified as the body of the Pharaoh who had been Moses’ contemporary. It was predicted in the Quran 1400 years ago that this will come to the knowledge of man at some future date.

This is a proof that the Quran is a book of that God who has knowledge of all things. In His wisdom, He revealed this verse in the Quran. This discovery is a scientific testimony of the Quran as a divine revelation.

Dr. Maurice Bucaille of France (d. 1998) travelled to Egypt with his companions in 1975 and directly observed this preserved body in the museum of Cairo. After a full verification he wrote a book on this subject in which he stated:
Those who seek among modern data for proof of the veracity of the Holy Scriptures, will find a magnificent illustration of verses of the Quran dealing with the Pharaoh’s body by visiting the Royal Mummies Room of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo!

Prophets—Messengers of God
One of the fundamentals beliefs of religion is ‘prophethood’, that God sent prophets for man’s guidance in every age, the last in the chain of prophets being Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Abdul Muttalib. These prophets were sent because there is a limit to human knowledge, and man cannot discover guiding principles for his life on his own. There is an unseen world and a life after death that man cannot discover merely through his intellectual endeavours. That is why man needed to believe in God’s prophets and receive guidance from them.

The guidance Prophet Muhammad received from God has been fully preserved in its original form. The first revelation the Prophet of Islam received, forms part of the 96th chapter titled Al-Alaq (the Clot) of the Quran. God said: “Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.” (96: 3-5)

This is a declaration that man cannot find guidance on his own. In fields like agriculture, horticulture, engineering, etc., man gains knowledge through experience in his daily life. But the superior knowledge required for man’s eternal guidance cannot be attained by man’s own efforts. It is necessary to receive higher learning through prophetic guidance.

The objective of all the great philosophers of ancient times was to discover guiding principles to govern human life. Despite great efforts made by great minds over several thousand years, philosophy has not produced any guidance of this nature. It is a fact that the efforts of philosophers have created confusion rather than provided any clear guidance.

Karl Marx’s (d. 1883) book on the failure of philosophy titled The Poverty of Philosophy, was written from this viewpoint. It is true that philosophic thinking, based entirely on speculative reasoning, has failed to provide eternal guiding principles. The age of philosophy came to an end after the emergence of modern science. Philosophy is now considered a historical discipline rather than a living discipline.

The same was the case with mysticism. The mystic philosophers believed that they could attain the higher truth through contemplation and love, without the medium of human reason, or recourse to any other external source.

The history of mysticism spans several thousand years. Many have wanted to learn the truth through mysticism, but after long experience found that what man finally attains through mysticism is ecstasy. In the matter of truth, ecstasy has no importance.

The highlight of human existence is consciousness, or the mind. The successful seeker of truth finds it at the level of the consciousness, and not at the level of ecstasy. A trance-like condition in a state of unawareness has been given the beautiful name of ecstasy, but truth is about discovering the higher reality at the level of consciousness.

A material analogy is that of an electric bulb and the powerhouse. The bulb in its un-activated state is a lightless object. With no inherent light, it lacks the innate ability to give light to others. When connected to the powerhouse, it immediately lights up, becomes bright, giving light to others. This exemplifies the criterion for discovering truth. Finding the truth is like finding a light. Mysticism does not fulfil this criterion; its pursuit leads to abstraction.

For a conscious being like man, an un-awakened mind cannot realize the Higher Reality of God. God can be realized only through a developed mind. Science has the last word in this matter. Modern science has undoubtedly given man many things from telecommunication to consumer goods, but in the matter of truth, science has made it clear that the discovery of truth is not its domain.

A Western scholar has rightly said that the field of knowledge is vast, and can be classified as knowledge of things and knowledge of truth. Scholars agree that the domain of science is limited only to the knowledge of things. The knowledge of truth is beyond the sphere of science. Science is not even a candidate for the position of purveyor of truth.

The study of man tells that deeper knowledge is required to determine how to lead life in this world. This has been dealt with in detail by Alexis Carrel in his book, Man the Unknown. It has to be conceded that man cannot discover this necessary knowledge through his own efforts and, therefore, he requires external guidance. Studying the life of the Prophet Muhammad, we learn that without doubt, the Prophet is the man who is our real guide and God’s representative.