Islam and Science

• Science suggests a 'big bang' or other event led to the origin of the universe, and life on earth developed in stages known as evolution
• There was no need for a 'first cause' or God according to the scientific approach
• The 'scientific approach'


  Based on rational observation, experimentation, and deduction
• The Islamic approach


  Sometimes characterised by unquestioning acceptance of revealed truth through the Qur'an
• The compatibility between the scientific and Islamic perspectives

  Is debated
• Muslims believe


  God is all-powerful, exists beyond time and was the power that created the universe
• The universe cannot be explained simply by a series of events as according to some scientists
• Muslim opinions on the origin of the universe

  • Some see the 'big bang' as compatible with verses in the Qur'an
  • Other theories have been made, including the steady state theory and the expanding and oscillating universe theory
  • Some Muslims, such as Ibn Arabi, have referred to the universe as being in an endless cycle of expansion and contraction with God as a 'necessary existent' or power required for this to take place
• The Qur'an


  • God's revelation which existed with God throughout eternity and was revealed in book form to Muhammad, known as Qur'an al-Tadwini
  • The same knowledge is present in the laws and beauty of nature, known as Qur'an al- Takwini
• Some criticise religions, including Islam, for relying on superstition or unproven knowledge
• In the period known as the Islamic Golden Age under the 'Abbasids, Science was valued and in the opinion of Professor Jim Al-Khalili, scientific method, based on objective, rational interpretation, was formed
• Ibn Sina/ Avicenna wrote a Canon on Medicine and others translated Greek texts which later influenced the enlightenment in Europe
• Fossil evidence led Darwin to suggest the theory of evolution
• Muslim views on evolution

  • Some Muslims accept it as compatible with the 'stages' of creation referred to in the Qur'an
  • Others reject it as incompatible with revealed text that God created each species on a separate day