viability of islamic science-some insights from 19th century india

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Viability of Islamic Science: Some Insights from 19th Century IndiaAuthor(s): S. Irfan HabibReviewed work(s):Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 23 (Jun. 5-11, 2004), pp. 2351-2355Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415117 .

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Perspectives

Viability o f Is lamic ScienceSomeInsights rom 19thCentury ndiaScience lowered in Islamduringthe liberal MuslimAbbasidand later Ottomankings. This waspossible because theAbbasidswelcomedscientistsand translators rom othercultures whowillinglybecame sincereparticipantsin theprojectcalled Islamiccivilisation. The19thcentury nterlocutors,afew of whom arediscussed in thispaper, were aware of the cross-civilisationalcharacterof science in Islamiccivilisation and modernsciencefor themwas a culminationof theperpetuallyshiftingcentresofscience in history.Thispluralityof vision and cross-culturalperspectiveis much in contrast to what is beingpropoundedtodayin thenameof Islamicscience.S IRFAN ABIBL" et me startwith an analogyfromMohammadWakil,who asked usL. to imagine a cable with manycolouredwiresnsidet,conductingower,knowledgeandinformation.This cable,he said, represents ontemporaryivili-sation.It was created n many ands andby manyhands:Pagan,Christian,udaic,Islamic,Hindu,Buddhist,Tao,etc. Eachof themcontributedo this civilisation'sscienceandarts...Somewherensidethiscableofcivilisation sagreen slamicwirethat is sparking uriouslybecause of aweak connection. It is seeking to re-establishts internally amaged ircuit. tis alsoseeking oreconnectwiththe flowof information,nowledge ndpower hatinspiresontemporaryivilisation..west-ern nationsmay remainkeen to claimexclusiveownershipf thiscontemporarycivilisation However, this civilisationcannot ecopyrightedndpatented yanysingle,monolithic uperpower rby anyother exclusivist formation aroundreligionorculture.Thissentiments con-traryo the hinking f someof thepresentdayenthusiasts, ho, nthe nameofques-tioningEurocentrism,reputtingorwarda religiously motivated alternative.Eurocentrism hould be questionedtobringoutcivilisational ndcultural iver-sityof modemscienceandnotforreplac-ingit withanotherentrism alledIslamic

scienceorHindu cience.A largenumberof Islamistintellectualshave proposedbinaries ike tradition/modernityndIs-lamicscience/modernwestern) cience.HereIslamicscience is merelyconfinedto traditionwhilemodemscience is pro-jectedas anexclusivepreserve f moder-nity, whichis not only westernbutalsoChristian n spiritand inspiration.Onemaybring nthe ssueof multiplemoder-nitiessaying hatwesternmodernitysnotthe only modernityand one need notconform oits normsobecalledmodem.Actuallya search or an alternativemo-dernity can be well meaning if it issought n termsof civilisationalalterna-tive instead of an alternative lothed inreligion.2Unfortunately, ostof thepro-ponents of Islamic alternative haveemphasisedon the Islamicityof theircivilisation, atherhan tscultural istinc-tiveness.The lattermay includeseveralother religious denominations,whichhelpedconstruct slamiccivilisation, n-cluding tsIslamic cience.All thosewhoare looking for a religiously and notculturallymotivatedIslamic cience'aredoing a great disservice to science inMuslim countries.3 This perniciousexercise,whichbeganfew decadesago,hasacquireddangerous ndugly conno-tationleadingsome to talk in termsofclash of civilisations.4Eurocentrism, creationof an essen-tialist hinking rocesssbeingchallenged

bydiverseessentialismsqually ondem-nable."Civilisations on't ustclash",aspointedoutby the well knownhistorianof scienceA I Sabra,"they an earn romeach other. Islam is a good exampleofthat.The intellectualmeetingof ArabiaandGreecewasone of thegreatest ventsin history,he said, its scale and conse-quencesareenormous,notjustforIslambut orEurope nd heworld.5Mostof theIslamistsrepeatedly alk aboutmodemscience'sdebt to Islamiccivilisationbuttheyseldomsaya wordabout he Arab'sscientificdebt to thepre-Islamic ncientcivilisations rom heso-called- 'jahiliya'phase.CananyIslamist ell us whatwasthesource fIslamic cience?Was tQuranorHadiths rdid it comestraighthroughdivine intervention f angels?It is cer-tainlynot true.Arabcivilisationdid notsee the lightof science till themiddleoftheeighthcentury.TherewashardlyanyscienceduringheProphet'simeorevenduring the Khulafa-i-Rashedin's TheKhalifas fTheRightWay)period. twasduringthe liberalMuslimAbbasidandlaterOttoman ings hat cience loweredin Islam.This was possiblebecausetheAbbasidswelcomedGreek,Indian,Chi-nese andothersciencesandgot all theseworks ranslatedntoArabic.Mostof thesescientistsand ranslators hogatherednBaghdadwere Arab Christians,Jews,MuslimsandevenHindus romIndiaandwere sincereparticipantsn the projectcalledIslamiccivilisation.The 19thcen-turyinterlocutors,ome of whomI amgoingto discuss n thispaper, eemtobeawareofthiscrosscivilisationalharacterof science in Islamic civilisation andmodernscience for them was a culmi-nationof theperpetuallyhiftingcentresof science in history.Theirpluralityofvisionandcross-culturalerspectives incontrastowhat sbeingpropoundedodayin the nameof Islamicscience.The current ormulations f some ex-patriateslamicntellectualsmostlybasedin the Euro-American niversitieswithsomestudents owathome ikeMalaysiaandIndia,etc) shouldbe viewed in thecontextofgeneralntolerancetapoliticallevel,withinIslamas wellaselsewhere.6It is compounded ue to the disillusion-ment with the proclaimedobjectivesofscience,moreso withtechnologyand ts

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directrolein developmental rojects. t'sa fact thatS and T applicationhas led tothe dehumanisation nd robotisationofsociety, yet this is notan insight,by anystretchof imagination,which has ema-nated romaparticularaith.Allthosewhoargue ora sciencebasedonreligionbeginwith a critiqueof modernscience ques-tioningthe value free natureof science,emphasisingthe destructive nature ofcertainof its products.The fact thatthepracticeof modern science has createdseriousproblems or humansociety wasnot a discovery of born again funda-mentalists.7herehavebeencritiquesofscience from within the communityofpractisingcientistsaswellas fromMarx-ists and anarchists ike Marcuse,Kuhn,Feyerabend nd others. In the name ofcriticalperspective, ome of the currentinterlocutorsre pushingfor a sectarianagenda,makingmodemsciencelook likea monolithicEuropeanproductwith aChristianthic.8 nthenameofindigenousknowledgeraditions,hereligiousessen-tialists areattemptingo foreground nedominant radition ndthreateningn theprocess hevery deaofcultural luralism.More importantlyn this porousworld,fundamentalistrojectsbasedonly on aprioriassumptions re doomed.9Imperialism and Modern Science

What propose o do in thispaper s tolook at some of the 19thcenturyIndianIslamic intellectualsand see how theyperceivedmodem cienceand ontrastheirinclusivistapproachwiththeexclusivismandsectarianism f thepresentdayenthu-siasts.The19thcenturyntellectualswerefacedwith hebrutal nslaught f mercan-tile imperialism ndreduced o civilisa-tional nothingnessdue to a concertedorientalistdiscourseprecedingcolonis-ation. Yet some of themtriedmakingadistinction etweenmperialistroject ndits concerns and the projectof modernscience.Theywerebittercriticsof impe-rialism llover heIslamicworldbutwerenotpreparedo disownmodernscience.Even today, the post-colonial Islamicsocietiesare acedwith omerealas well asperceivedwestern ultural nd ntellectualhegemonisation. his s beingmisusedbysome deologuesof Islamic cienceto dubmodern cienceaspartof the evil colonialbaggage o beacceptedatyourownperil.Forthemmodern cience is anepistemo-logicalas well as culturalbreak rom anearlierunadulteratedslamicpast.l?

I will mainlydealwithMaulviKaramatAli Jaunpuri,MaulviObaidullahUbediandSyed JamaluddinAfghani.The firsttwo were Kolkata-basedslamicscholarsand teacherswhile the latter s a better-knownpan-Islamist, hospent ew event-fulyears n India n the 1880s.Letmepointout that they raisedquestionsat a veryrudimentaryevel, attemptingo conveythe feeling thatmodemcivilisation,re-presentedby the Euro-American orld,was theoutcomeof ajointhuman ffort,cutting cross ultural rreligiousbarriers.We may not be justifiedin locatingthecurrent nderstandingf multiculturalismor Needhamian cumenismn theirwrit-ings, yet theydidhavea visionof know-ledge,whichwas premisedon the cross-culturalexchangeof ideas through heages. Indoingso theysaw Islamiccivil-isational ontributionsan mportantom-ponentof modern cienceanddid notfeelthenecessityof carvingout a lonefurrow,premisedon a religiousdistinction.11KaramatAli wasborn n theearly19thcenturynJaunpur12utspentmostof hisproductive earsin Kolkataas a teacherandmutawalli f Hooghly mambara. isviews on history and science are bestreflected n his book calledMa'akhizal-Ulumwrittenn 1865.13Hiscomments nthe state of science andeducation n theMuslimworld, ncluding ndiaduringhe19th entury reworth eportingeforeweget into otherquestions elated o scienceand Islam. He concedes that 'we, theMusallmans f India,havefallenfar be-hindothernations nartand earning themaincauseof that s, thatnoblemen nthiscountry,whetherHindooorMahomedan,paynoregard t alltolearning nd cienceand never spend a trifle even on suchmatters;and other people, thoughtheyspendenormoussums on marriageandfuneralceremonies,keeptheireyes shutwith reference o the educationof theirchildren.'14He called sucha conductofhiscountrymenndcoreligionists lloverthe Islamic world as 'antagonistictocivilisationandto nationalprosperity.'15He begins with a convictionthat theQuran ormed an intellectualwatersheddividing heancientphilosophiesrom hemodern pistemologies,he argued hat tstill could provideguidance or modernsciences. To quotehis words:ThewholeKorans fullof passages on-,tainingnformationnphysicalndmathe-maticalciences. f wewouldbutspendlittle eflectionver tweshouldindwon-drousmeaningsneveryword tcontains.

The Koranhas mostsatisfactorily onfutedall the systemsof ancientphilosophies; tplucked up from the root, the physicalsciences as prevalentamongtheancients.Whatastrange oincidenceexistsbetweenthe Koran and the philosophyof modernEurope.16Karamat Ali's faith in the Quranic

knowledge and its utility in modern timesdid not go beyond treating it as a guideto progress. He did not look at it as ascientific text that had answers to all thecomplex scientific problems of today.17Quran, like all other religious books in-cluding the Vedas, is all encompassing inits range and it certainly talks aboutscience (not exactly in a way science isknown today). One can find interestinginsights in all these sacred books but theengagement should end there and not inmaking Quran or the Vedas as full timepreoccupation to read science in them,making it an end in itself. Such attemptswithin Islam got a tremendous boost fromthe well-funded Saudi project called 'Sci-entific Miracles in the Quran'.The projectgot into comparisons of those verses of theQuran that deal with astronomy andembryology with the latest discoveries ofmodern science. Relativity, quantumme-chanics, big bang theory, embryology -practically everything was 'discovered' inthe Quran....Unfortunately, this variety isnow the most popular version of Islamicscience.18There are scholars who arguethat the work done by such scholars isuseful in a sense that it has reawakenedMuslims to the value of their inheritanceand rekindled the desire for further re-search withawareness that here s Quranicsanctionforscientific research.As amatterof fact all such attempts have actuallyexposed Islam to western ridicule, bring-ing it into conflict with not only sciencebut with any rational thinking itself.19Sayyid Qutb describing such an exerciseas 'a methodological error' has insistedthatwhile the Qurancontains guidance onscientific subjects, it is not a textbook ofscience.20

KaramatAli was of the view thatunderQuranicguidance, MuslimshaddevelopedGreek sciences into modem sciences andtransmittedthem to Europe through theircentres of education in Spain.This processof cultural and intellectual diffusion hadresulted in the 19th century scientific dis-coveries of Europe from which the Mus-lims of India could justly benefit withoutany sense of inferiority.21Other 19th cen-turyIslamicintellectuals expressed similar

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sentiments as well. Munshi Zakaullah inDelhi also believed that knowledge orscience was the outcome of cumulativehumaneffort over the centuries, and eachcenturyaddeda new chapter o theprogressof science. The 19thcentury, in particular,had been an auspicious century in thehistory of science, as it hadbrought aboutrevolutionarychanges inknowledge nevereven conceived of by earliergenerations.22Emphasising the multiracial and multi-cultural character of modern science,KaramatAli, anticipating Martin Bernal,pointed out that science andlearning werefirst introduced into Greece through theinstrumentalityof the Syrians, the Phoeni-cians and theEgyptians... Those philoso-phers and mathematicians, who are gene-rally known as Greeks, were in realitypeople of the above-mentioned countries.They emigrated into Greece, where theysettled and left their posterity.23KaramatAli was noteven conscious of the fact thata concerted attempt was on in Europe atthe time to negate this culturalplurality ofGreece and convert it into a purely Euro-pean source of modern western science.The Europeans during the 19th century,ignored even Herodotus, the 'father' ofGreekhistory,who hadacknowledged theirstrongdebt to Egypt. MartinBernal arguespersuasively that the Greek model was a19th century invention deeply implicatedin the rise of European racism and impe-rialism.In his own words, for "eighteenthcentury romantics and racists, it was sim-ply intolerable for Greece, which was seennot merely as the epitome of Europe butalso as its pure childhood, to have beenthe result of the mixture of native Euro-peans and colonising Africans andSemites."24KaramatAli was convinced ofthe fact that "themodernnations of Europehavehadallscientific writingsinthe Arabictongue translated nto theirown languages,and this translation is being carried oneven at the present moment.... The Span-iards were perhaps the first among theEuropeans who derived a knowledge oftheabove-mentionedthingsfromtheArabs,which they were, in short, the mediumthrough which Arab genius made animpressiononEurope."25Simultaneously,one is remindedof D GHowarth,perspicu-ous observer of Islam, who wrote 'Arabcivilisation owes a heavy obligation to theGreek, to the Persian, to the Jewish, butno heavier than are debited to all othergreater civilisations. Every advanced hu-manculturemustbe eclectic andits origi-nality is reckonedby the measure in which

it transforms and makes its own what ithas seized.'26Karamat Ali also observesthat"Charlemagne, ollowing theexampleof the Arabs, instituted seminaries andcolleges in Paris and other cities of theempire.. .The barbarians oon becamealiveto the fact that withoutknowledge nothingcould be done, and began to make effortsin its pursuit".27However he concededthat"thetables are now turnedon thelatter,they have contracted a dislike for all sortsof learning andhave forgotten that know-ledge will not come to any person unlesswooed with the utmost assiduity, theEuropeans on the other hand havebecome exceedingly alive to this fact".28JamaluddinAfghani was also of the viewthat the Europeans could not find thetreasures buried in Greece 'until Arabcivilisation lit up with its reflections thesummits of the Pyrenees and poured itslight and riches on the Occident. TheEuropeans welcomed Aristotle, who hademigratedand become Arab;but they didnot think of him at all when he was Greekand their neighbour.'29It was Islam thatrehabilitated Greek learning for the firsttime and conferreddignity to it once againafter the lull that had followed the Helle-nisticAge.30 Itis necessary to question theepistemologically differentIslamic sciencebut the contributionof Islamic civilisationto the plurality of civilisations should notbe denied its honourableplace.31We needto keep the spirit of Needhamian projectin mind. Needham emphasised on theChinese contribution to science and howits civilisation's cultural values contri-buted to scientific thinking and a growthin knowledge.32 Unfortunately, it was atime when writing of history was beingused to enhance the power of "the domi-nant culture by diminishing the value ofthe history of those people who have beensubjugated or who have come under thesway of the dominant culture."33It is clear from Karamat Ali's writingsthat he saw continuity in history, particu-larly in the realm of theprogress of know-ledge. For him the present had a definitelink with the past and the futureagain wasnot delinked with the formertwo. Modernscience could not be a product of Greekmindalone, in like mannerIslamicsciencecannot be imagined in isolation as a dis-tinctepistemological entity, solely inspiredby Quran. KaramatAli was aware of thehistoryof Islamicintellectualefflorescencein the early centuries and its subsequentdecline due to the rise of ossified reli-giosity that made it difficult for secular

pursuits to exist. His comments again notonly reflect the above sentiment but alsoemphasisethe cross-civilisationalcharacterof modern sciences. To quote his words:

All learningand scienceswere annihilatedby religious bigotry.Sometimesa familyor a race becomes suddenly extinct, anda new one springsup andflourishes;suchis the case with learningandcivilisation,they devolve from one individual toanother. When a nation or a family be-comes degenerated, knowledge andcivilisation recede from them and fly forshelter to another n a differentcountry.This s awful rial o man rom he Creator.34JamaluddinAfghani also held the sameview when he said that 'science is continu-

ally changing capitals. Sometimes it hasmoved from east to west and other timesfrom west to east.'35Probablyreferringtothe Asharite reaction to the early Islamicscientific resurgence, called the 'goldenage' of Science in Islam, Afghani pointedout that'Muslim religion has tried to stiflescience and stop its progress. It has thussucceeded in halting the philosophical orintellectual movement and nturningmindsfrom the search for scientific truth.'36

Defining Modern ScienceAfghani conceived of modernscience asa universal science that transcends na-

tions, cultures, and religions, although herecognised the role of cultural values inthe domain of technological applications.37He goes furthersaying that 'the strangestthing of all is that our ulema these dayshave divided science into two parts. Onethey call Muslim science and one Euro-pean science.... They have not understoodthat science is thatnoble thing thathas noconnection with any nation, and is notdistinguished by anything butitself.'38 Touse the expression of Farouk El-Baz, anEgyptian geologist at Boston, "Science isinternational. There is no such thing asIslamic science. Science is like buildingabig building, apyramid.Eachpersonputsup a block. These blocks have never hada religion. Its irrelevant, the colour of theguy whoputuptheblock."39Abdus Salam,the only Nobel laureate in sciences in theIslamic world, andagreatbeliever himselfcategorically held that 'There is only oneuniversal science, its problems andmodalities areinternationalandthereis nosuch thing as Islamic science just as thereis no Hindu science, no Jewish science,no Confucian science nor Christianscience.'40 Afghani laidgreatemphasis on

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thecultivation fphilosophicpiritand hespiritof scientific nquirytself,whichinfact is demanded y the Quran.The lossof this spirit in the Muslim world hasresultednitsstagnationnddeterioration,whereas he west has prosperedandbe-comepowerful ecausethasnurturedhisspiritnheritedrom heMuslims. n earn-ingscienceafresh rom hedevelopedwest,theMuslims reactually ngagednrecove-ringtheirpast glory and refulfilling helong neglected commandmentsof theQuranconcerning he studyof nature.41Theearly slamic cientific esurgencewaspremisedon this spiritbased on 'ijtihad'- to exertthe utmosteffort,to struggle,todoone'sbest o knowsomething.,whichwas lost in thebattlewithorthodoxyandreplacedby 'taqlid' the tyrannical tti-tudeofpassive esistance. iauddin ardarconcedes hat hedaytaqlidwasacceptedasthedominant aradigm,slamic ciencetrulybecameamatter f history.42 oday,whenNasrand Sardar alk about heglo-rious traditionof Islamic science as anepistemologicallydistinctcategory,onewonderswhich science or scientific tra-dition s beingreferred o. Is itthescienceof the Islamicrenaissance f the8th-13thcenturies?So farwe havelittleevidenceof Islamicsciencebeingpractised oday,even n countriesikeSaudiArabia,whichinvests ot npromotinghe deaofIslamicscience.MaulviObaidullah bediwasprofessorat Hugli college in Kolkataand a closeassociateof KaramatAli. His views onmodemscience arebest reflected n hisessay titled 'Reciprocal Influence ofMahomedanndEuropeanLearningandInferencetherefromas to the PossibleInfluenceof EuropeanLearningon theMahomedanMind in India'publishedn1877. Before I referto his views aboutmoder science andIslam, et me brieflytalkabouthis commentson theinfluenceof Europeanearningon the MuslimsofIndia.He believedthat the 'Mahomedanmindhas...remainedesssusceptiblehanthatof theirHindoobrethren o theinflu-ence of Europeanearning.Theirconceitthat heyarealready ossessedof learningandcivilisationhas hindered hemfrommakingprogressn Europeancience.'43Heregrettedhatmostofhisco-religionistsregardEnglisheducationas a means oflivelihoodandadvancingn society, butdo notdesire t as a meansof civilisationormentalmprovement. e wasoptimisticthat oonhisbrethren ouldbeconvincedof the usefulnessof modern cienceand

'amongus a NewtonisedAvicennaor aCopernicised verroesmay pring p;whomaybe able to criticiseevensons of Sinaand Rushd.44Ubedicontinuedn the same vein andcategoricallymphasisedheplurality nddiversityof modemscience andits pos-sible reconciliationwithIslam.To quotehis words:

There s no doubt hatourscripturemaybeeasily econciled ithmoderncientifictruth. fanyofour o-religionistsold hedoctrine f thepluralityf worlds,he isnot iableobeburntikeBruno,ccordingto ourholyprecepts.can ndeed iscoversomehints n thefirstverseof thebegin-ningof our cripturebout hepluralityftheworlds;as when t says:"Praise e to God the Governor r Sup-porter f theWorlds".45Besides emphasisingplurality n theabove quote, Obaidullahbelieved thatthere s nocontradiction etweenmodemscienceandIslam.He furtherwritesthat

'supposinghat here xistsanycontradic-tionbetween hemodern cientific ruthsandourscripture,we shouldconsultoursacredwritings or our moral nstructionand guidance owardssalvation,not forscientificnvestigations.46bediwasalsoof the view that learningspread n theworldthrough ross-civilisationalontri-butions and centres of excellence havebeen shiftingall the time. To quotehiswords:Theageof Arabianearningontinuednits bloomingyouthabout ive hundredyears,ill hegreatruptionf theMoghuls,when earningledforrefuge o thePer-sians,Tartars,ndScythians,ndwasco-evalwith hedarkest nd hemost lothfulperiodof Europeannnals; utsincethesunof science n thewestbegan o rise,the ampof Orientalearning egan o begraduallyxtinguished.hus iseand allis to be seen in the scientificworld,aselsewhere.47LikeSyedAhmadKhan, nother romi-

nent Muslim moderniserof the 19thcentury,Obaidullahfound it futile toregardhe Quranas a work of scienceandfor themthe crux of theirbeliefwasthat 'the real purposeof religion is toimprovemorality'.Letscientific ruths eestablishedyobservationnd xperiment,they believed,and not by attemptingointerpreta religious text as a book ofscience.48Obaidullah, oing back to thehistoryof science in Islamiccivilisation,wrotethatwhenAristotelian hilosophyandPtolemaic stronomy ere ntroduced

intheMohammedanchools, heirabsurddoctrines eemed o beirreconcilable iththeIslamiticsic)religiousprecepts;here-fore ourdivines,thinkingt dangerousothe faith,werecompelled o defendrev-elation with greatdifficulty,but on theintroductionof the European nductivephilosophyhere s noapprehensionfthiskind.Our acredaith,whoseessentialpartis Theismor natural eligion,beinglittleshakenby the westernexperimental hi-losophy,which is only a copy of natureandby which theexistence,unity,powerandwisdomof thatsolebeingareproved,willrather ain greater trength,hanwaspossibleby meansof Grecianphilosophywhichcauseda greatcontroversy ndthedivision of sects. We ought to regardAristotleandPtolemyas greater nemiesto our faith than Copernicus andNewton.49 ontrasthiswithSyedHosseinNasr's views today that find no consis-tencybetween slamandmodern cience.He relentlesslycastigates hose:

.. modernisticuslimpologetic ritings,whichwould otoanyextremeoplacatemodernism ndwouldpayanypricetoshowthat slam s 'modern' fterallandthat n contrast o Christianitys not inconflictwith'science'.50He findsthat the modernisticwritingsclaiming ompatibilityetween slamandthe science of Galileo and Newton areflawedbecausethey wilfullydistort he

meaningof theArabicword ilm',whosepursuits thereligiousduty, ntomeaningscienceandsecular earning.Thisis falsebecause lm refersto knowledgeof god,notknowledge f theprofane.As amatterof factthisposition ontradictshefamoussayingof the Prophethimselfwhere heexhortedhebelieversof Islam topursueknowledgeeven untoChina'.Whatwasthisknowledge,whichtheMuslimsweresupposed o pursue? t was certainlynotthe knowledgeonly aboutgod and theProphethimselfdidnotmean t to be so.It is only the sectariannterpretersodaywho are tryingto make this distinctionbetweenknowledgeand ilm. The 19thcenturynterlocutors aynotbeassophis-ticatedas ourpresentdayideologuesbutthey knew their Islam well enough.Emphasisingthe cultural diversity ofscience,Nobel laureateAmartyaSen'sremarks,houghnadifferent ontext,arerelevant orboththe Islamistsas well asthe proponentsof Eurocentrism.Whiletalkingaboutscience, mathematics ndculture,he referred o 'the difficultyin

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decidingwhatexactlyis the originof anideaor anobject.Sometimesa thingmaycome,proximately,romthewest,butitsearlierorigin may have involved non-western nfluences n a crucialway.Thisis particularlyhecase whenwe talkaboutscience or mathematics,ince these sub-jects absorbed he contributionsf manydifferent societies and cultures.To theimmediateecipient,hearrivingdeasandbeliefs may look identifiably western',since heyarebroughtnbypeople rom hewest,andyet these deas andbeliefsmaynotbe, in anysense,specificallywesternin nature rin origin.'51Oneis remindedof theexhortation f Al-Kindiwhoaskedthebelievers not o be ashamedo acknow-ledge truth and to assimilate it fromwhatever ource t comes to us.'52BI3Address for correspondence:[email protected][Shorterversions of this paperwere presentedatthe Universityof Illinois at UrbanaChampaign,US and also at REHSEIS, CNRS, Paris.]

1 ShmuelNEisenstadt ndWolfgangSchuchter,'Introduction to Early Modernities - AComparativeView', Daedalus, 127, 3, 1998,1-18.2 Aziz Al-Azmeh, Islams and Modernities,Verso, London-NewYork, 1993.3 Abdus Salam in a foreword to PervezHoodbhoy,IslamandScience,London,1991,p ix.4 Huntington,Samuel, The Clash of Civilis-ations, New York, 1996.5 Dennis Overbye,How IslamWon, andLost,the Lead in Science, The New YorkTimes,October30, 2001.6 Some of the prominent ntellectualswho hadbeenarguing orIslamic science areS HNasr,Ziauddin Sardar, Osman Bakar, PervezManzoor and others. However this is not ahomogeneousgroupandwe find quite a fewdifferences in their perceptions of Islamicscience.7 Pervez Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science:Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle forRationality,Zed Books, London, 1991, p74.8 This aspect was emphasisedby Lynn Whitejr in themuchdiscussedpaper'TheHistoricalRoots of Ecological Crisis' published inMachinaEx Deo: Essays in theDynamismofWesternCulture,MITPress,Massachusetts,1968, pp 75-94. Most of the Islamists referto this work while dealing with this issue.9 Susantha Goonatilake, Towards a GlobalScience: Mining Civilisational Knowledge,New Delhi, 1999, p 7.10 OsmanBakar,Tawhid and Science, Lahore,1998, p 16. Even this past, perceived asunadulterated,was not really so. This mostsought afterandpristineIslamic past had itsillustriousNestorianChristian, ewish,Hindu,

Chineseand Buddhistcontributors,who werewelcomed by the liberalCaliphsof Baghdadto engage in the productionof this corpusofscientificknowledge,which later came to becalledIslamicscience.Todayone tries oforgetor deliberatelyoverlook its multicultural ndmulti-religiousorigins.11 Fora detailedaccounton this issue see S IrfanHabib, 'Reconciling Science with Islam in19thCenturyIndia', Contributions o IndianSociology, 34, 1, 2000.12 Jaunpuroday s aninsignificantown inUttarPradesh. t had been animportantulturalandintellectual centre duringthe 15th and 18thcenturies.Mulla Mahmud aunpuriwasa wellknown scholar from the town whose bookShamsI Bazegharemainednfluentialamongtraditional cholarstill the late 19thcentury.JamaluddinAfghani also took note of thisbook in his India writings in the 1880s.13 KaramatAli, Ma'akhizal-Ulum: A Treatiseon the Origin of the Sciences, Calcutta,1965(in Persian).Ubaydiand AmirAli translatedthis work into English in 1867.14 Ibid, p 78.15 KaramatAli expressedshock at music lovers'ignorance with mathematics in his countryandPersia,wherehetravelledduringhe1830s.While nPersia,a nobleman ndprivate tewardof the king wantedto learn music from him,'but as they were unacquainted withmathematics, they could not understand heotherscience,so in theend I hadto teachthemmathematics first.'16 Ibid, pp 40-42.17 Maurice Bucaille is one of the foremostarticulators f Islamic science and authorofan exegesis called TheBible, TheQuranandScience. He has concluded that whereas theBible is often wrong in the descriptionofnaturalphenomena,the Quranis invariablycorrect and that it correctly anticipatedallmajordiscoveries of modem science.18 Ziauddin Sardar, Waiting for rainFundamentalistsavehijackedslamic cience.Can it ever be liberated? http://dhushara.tripod.com/book/upd3/2002a/histis.htm,p 8.19 APakistanineuropsychiatristalledAAAbbasiauthoreda book titled TheQuranandMentalHygienewhere he found n theQuranmodemcures ordiabetes,uberculosis,tomachulcers,rheumatism, rthritis, sthmaandparalysis. nthe end these claims could not go beyondintellectual amusement Another Pakistaninuclearengineersuggestedhat hejinnswhomGod made out of fire, should be used as asourceof energyto combatthe energycrisis.20 Ziauddin Sardar, Explorations in IslamicScience, London, 1989, pp 35-36.21 KaramatAli, op cit, pp 15-22.22 MunshiZakaullah,Tabiyat-SharqiwaGharbiki Abjad (Beginnings of the Eastern andWesternSciences), Delhi, MatbuaAhmadi,1900, p 6.23 KaramatAli, op cit, p 46.24 MartinBernal,BlackAthena: TheAfroasiaticRootsof ClassicalCivilisation,Vol 1,London,1987, p 2.25 Ibid, p 76.26 ElieKedourie, slam ntheModernWorld ndother Studies, London, 1980, p 39.27 Ibid, p 73.

28 Ibid, pp 76-77.29 Nikki R Keddie, An Islamic Response toImperialism, Berkeley, 1968, p 185.30 Aydin Sayili, The Observatory n Islam andits Place in the General History of theObservatory,Ankara, 1988, p 416.31 We can see a similarthinkingamongthe 19thcentury Chinese intellectuals, who wereexposed to western science duringthe 16thcenturyas a resultof the Jesuitmissions.Someof them opposed it as alien anduncouth,butothersbelieved hat t hadpreservedhevestigesof an older native tradition,"augmentedandcultivated" in the west when the chain oftransmissionwithin China had been broken.David Wright, 'The Translationof ModerWesternScience inNineteenthCenturyChina,1840-1895', Isis, Vol 89, No 4, December1998, p 657.32 J Dhombres, "On the Track of Ideas andExplanationsDown theCenturies:TheHistoryof Science Today", Impact of Science onSociety, No 160, p 200.33 MohammedS Fakir, 'TowardsanExternalistHistoryof Islamic Science' in The AmericanJournal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol 9,No 2, summer 1992, p 191.34 KaramatAli, op cit, p 24.35 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 103.36 Ibid, p185.37 Osman Bakar,op cit, p 215.38 Nikki R Keddie, op cit, p 62.39 Dennis Overbye, op cit.40 Abdus Salam, op cit, p ix.41 OsmanBakar, op cit, p 218.42 ZiauddinSardar, CanScience come back toIslam?' New Scientist, Vol 88 No 1224,October 1980, p 215.43 ObaidullahUbedi, Reciprocal Influence ofMahomedan and European Learning andInference herefrom s to thepossible influenceof European Learning on the MahomedanMind in India, 1877, Calcutta,pp 46-47.44 Ibid, p 47.45 Ibid pp 48-49.46 Ibid, p 49.47 Ibid, p 10.48 Pervez Hoodbhoy, op cit, pp 68-69.49 ObaidullahUbedi, op cit, p 48.50 S H Nasr, Islam and Contemporary ociety,London, 1982, p 176.51 Amartya Sen, 'An Assessment of theMillennium',UNESCO Lecturein Delhi.52 S PLoo,Thefourhorsemen fIslamic cience"a critical analysis', InternationalJournal ofScienceEducation,Vol 18,No 3, 1996,p290.Al-Kindi was a distinguishedninth centuryrationalistphilosopherandscientistwho waspublicly loggedforresistinghetideof Islamicfundamentalism.

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