Islam- The Religion Of Peace
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Islam and Science: The data gap
Stretching from Indonesia to Morocco, and from Uganda to Kazakhstan, countries with large Muslim populations are home to some 1.3 billion people. The Islamic world encompasses remarkable diversity in political systems, geography, history, language and culture (see page 20). But science in these nations is weak, with spending on research and development far lower than the global average. This much is acknowledged to be true, but what of the details behind the broad picture?
The official statistics database of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) reveals information on each of the 57 OIC nations on everything from arable land per tractor to Internet users, but you won't find any data on research1. Science indicators for OIC countries are also scarce among data collected by the World Bank and United Nations agencies — largely a reflection of many of these countries' low level of interest in science.
To get a more detailed picture of how OIC countries measure up on science and technology, and of what patterns exist within OIC countries, Nature extracted science indicators from official sources and reanalysed them for the OIC group as a whole, creating an overall picture of science and technology indicators for OIC countries. Fig. 1
Recognized authorities such as UNESCO or the World Bank Development Indicators have few reliable data on science spending in most OIC countries. But combining these data for 20 OIC nations covering 1996–2003 gives the average annual spend on R&D as 0.34% of GDP, much lower than the global average over the same period of 2.36% (refs 2,3).
Although many OIC countries are among the world's poorest, with almost half being developing countries, their spending is consistently less compared with the national average across a range of income brackets. The exceptions are Malaysia and Turkey, whose spending is comparable to other moderately wealthy nations. Nowhere is the OIC deficit greater than in the oil-rich nations; Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, for example, spend less proportionately on research than the poorest OIC countries (see chart below, and page 28).
Part of the explanation lies in spending priorities. Many OIC countries, particularly the richest, spend more on armaments than on science, education or health3. Six of the world's top ten military spenders as a share of public spending are OIC countries: Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman (each spending above 7% of GDP on arms in 2003). African OIC countries, in contrast, tend to spend proportionately less on the military.
A tough lesson
Although the science budgets of the OIC countries are all near the bottom of the world league, their spending on education is more variable. Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen's relative education budgets are among the world's highest. Morocco, Tunisia and Iran also spend respectable sums on education. All six were among the world's top 25 spenders on education in 2002 (ref. 3).
The OIC countries' performance in education also varies more widely, according to the World Bank's 'education index', suggesting that many have the human resources that could exploit greater investment in science and technology3.
But of the 20 poorest performers on this score, 15 are OIC countries, including many African nations, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The OIC countries' low investment in science and technology is also reflected in a poor scientific output, including low levels of scientific articles and numbers of researchers.
World Bank Development Indicators for 1996–2003 record numbers of researchers per million people for 19 OIC countries3. These OIC nations cluster at the bottom end of the global scale. The top global performers (Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Japan) all have above 5,000 researchers per million people. The highest scoring OIC country is Jordan, with 1,927 researchers per million people; the OIC average is 500.
Of the 28 lowest producers of scientific articles, as recorded by the US National Science Foundation4, half are OIC countries. In 2003, the world average for production of articles per million inhabitants was 137, whereas none of the 47 OIC countries for which there were data achieved production above 107 per million inhabitants4. The OIC average was just 13.
The official statistics database of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) reveals information on each of the 57 OIC nations on everything from arable land per tractor to Internet users, but you won't find any data on research1. Science indicators for OIC countries are also scarce among data collected by the World Bank and United Nations agencies — largely a reflection of many of these countries' low level of interest in science.
To get a more detailed picture of how OIC countries measure up on science and technology, and of what patterns exist within OIC countries, Nature extracted science indicators from official sources and reanalysed them for the OIC group as a whole, creating an overall picture of science and technology indicators for OIC countries. Fig. 1
Recognized authorities such as UNESCO or the World Bank Development Indicators have few reliable data on science spending in most OIC countries. But combining these data for 20 OIC nations covering 1996–2003 gives the average annual spend on R&D as 0.34% of GDP, much lower than the global average over the same period of 2.36% (refs 2,3).
Although many OIC countries are among the world's poorest, with almost half being developing countries, their spending is consistently less compared with the national average across a range of income brackets. The exceptions are Malaysia and Turkey, whose spending is comparable to other moderately wealthy nations. Nowhere is the OIC deficit greater than in the oil-rich nations; Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, for example, spend less proportionately on research than the poorest OIC countries (see chart below, and page 28).
Part of the explanation lies in spending priorities. Many OIC countries, particularly the richest, spend more on armaments than on science, education or health3. Six of the world's top ten military spenders as a share of public spending are OIC countries: Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman (each spending above 7% of GDP on arms in 2003). African OIC countries, in contrast, tend to spend proportionately less on the military.
A tough lesson
Although the science budgets of the OIC countries are all near the bottom of the world league, their spending on education is more variable. Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen's relative education budgets are among the world's highest. Morocco, Tunisia and Iran also spend respectable sums on education. All six were among the world's top 25 spenders on education in 2002 (ref. 3).
The OIC countries' performance in education also varies more widely, according to the World Bank's 'education index', suggesting that many have the human resources that could exploit greater investment in science and technology3.
But of the 20 poorest performers on this score, 15 are OIC countries, including many African nations, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The OIC countries' low investment in science and technology is also reflected in a poor scientific output, including low levels of scientific articles and numbers of researchers.
World Bank Development Indicators for 1996–2003 record numbers of researchers per million people for 19 OIC countries3. These OIC nations cluster at the bottom end of the global scale. The top global performers (Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Japan) all have above 5,000 researchers per million people. The highest scoring OIC country is Jordan, with 1,927 researchers per million people; the OIC average is 500.
Of the 28 lowest producers of scientific articles, as recorded by the US National Science Foundation4, half are OIC countries. In 2003, the world average for production of articles per million inhabitants was 137, whereas none of the 47 OIC countries for which there were data achieved production above 107 per million inhabitants4. The OIC average was just 13.
Moreover, over the past two decades the number of papers produced by 24 OIC nations has remained flat or declined, albeit with some striking exceptions4 (see chart, right). Turkey's publication rate per year has grown from around 500 in 1988 to more than 6,000 in 2003. The other rising star is Iran, which from a low base of less than 100 articles per year a decade ago now produces nearly 2,000. Both countries have eclipsed Egypt, previously the most prolific of all OIC states in scientific publishing, which grew only slowly between 1988 and 2003.
Scientific divide
The articles published by OIC countries show striking disciplinary and geographical differences3. Health and social sciences get little attention except in south Asia and African countries. Chemistry and physics papers make up greater shares of total output in central Asian countries, life sciences in North Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as Saudi Arabia, and engineering predominates in most Middle Eastern and north African countries.
The OIC countries produce so few patents that they are invisible on a bar chart of comparison with other countries3. This lack of technological competitiveness translates into low rankings in terms of high-tech exports as a percentage of total exports — with one exception, Malaysia, which ranks fifth worldwide with 58% high-tech exports, alongside Singapore and the Philippines. Otherwise, Indonesia (14%) and Morocco (11%) are the only OIC countries with high-tech exports greater than 10%.
Given such diversity, it is hard to identify trends across the Islamic world as a whole. But there are signs of hope when looking at the OIC's top and bottom performers.
Turkey, for example, is not rich in oil, but is the most scientifically successful of the Muslim states. Turkish intellectuals attribute this to the 1923 revolution, which led to the creation of a constitutionally secular state.
For decades, Turkey has aimed for membership of the European Union (EU); formal negotiations began last year. Negotiations require even closer structural alignment with EU member states, and since 2003 science funding has more than trebled.
Modern Turkey grew from the ruins of the Ottoman empire. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder, was keen for his country to catch up with the West. Universities switched from using Arabic to the Roman alphabet, ensuring easier access to Western writings, and Ataturk initiated a nationwide campaign to raise literacy rates.
Balancing act
The Kemalist legacy has fostered Western-style scientific organizations and policies. But the insistence on removing religion from public life introduced restrictions of its own. For example, women are banned from wearing headscarves in government-funded universities — something that may have to change if Turkey joins the EU. Yet Turkey has respectable participation by women in academic life — higher than in some EU countries.
As for the bottom performers, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 21 of the 57 OIC countries and, with the exception of Cameroon and Gabon, are among the poorest.
The ongoing economic recovery of sub-Saharan Africa is "one of the most remarkable stories of the past five years", according to the 2006 World Bank Development report3. The latest available data, for 2004, show five years of growth, after two decades of decline. Most was down to oil, but agriculture was also important. Among the OIC countries, Chad's economy grew more than 10% per year and Nigeria's 6%.
But overall economic levels remain poor, with growth rates usually far below the 7% minimum considered necessary to begin meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Several countries, including Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon, still show negative growth.
Not surprisingly, science is correspondingly weak, and although hard data are few, Islamic countries in sub-Saharan Africa have about 20 researchers and engineers per million people, compared with about 250 in Latin America. One potential bright spot is Nigeria, which announced in July that it is considering ploughing its oil revenues into a US$5-billion endowment fund for science and technology, which would make it Africa's biggest science spender by far5.
If others follow where Turkey and Nigeria lead, these science indicators might look very different in ten years' time. As a first step, more OIC governments need to gather data on science, producing figures that are sufficiently reliable to appear in international statistics databases.
Scientific divide
The articles published by OIC countries show striking disciplinary and geographical differences3. Health and social sciences get little attention except in south Asia and African countries. Chemistry and physics papers make up greater shares of total output in central Asian countries, life sciences in North Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as Saudi Arabia, and engineering predominates in most Middle Eastern and north African countries.
The OIC countries produce so few patents that they are invisible on a bar chart of comparison with other countries3. This lack of technological competitiveness translates into low rankings in terms of high-tech exports as a percentage of total exports — with one exception, Malaysia, which ranks fifth worldwide with 58% high-tech exports, alongside Singapore and the Philippines. Otherwise, Indonesia (14%) and Morocco (11%) are the only OIC countries with high-tech exports greater than 10%.
Given such diversity, it is hard to identify trends across the Islamic world as a whole. But there are signs of hope when looking at the OIC's top and bottom performers.
Turkey, for example, is not rich in oil, but is the most scientifically successful of the Muslim states. Turkish intellectuals attribute this to the 1923 revolution, which led to the creation of a constitutionally secular state.
For decades, Turkey has aimed for membership of the European Union (EU); formal negotiations began last year. Negotiations require even closer structural alignment with EU member states, and since 2003 science funding has more than trebled.
Modern Turkey grew from the ruins of the Ottoman empire. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder, was keen for his country to catch up with the West. Universities switched from using Arabic to the Roman alphabet, ensuring easier access to Western writings, and Ataturk initiated a nationwide campaign to raise literacy rates.
Balancing act
The Kemalist legacy has fostered Western-style scientific organizations and policies. But the insistence on removing religion from public life introduced restrictions of its own. For example, women are banned from wearing headscarves in government-funded universities — something that may have to change if Turkey joins the EU. Yet Turkey has respectable participation by women in academic life — higher than in some EU countries.
As for the bottom performers, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 21 of the 57 OIC countries and, with the exception of Cameroon and Gabon, are among the poorest.
The ongoing economic recovery of sub-Saharan Africa is "one of the most remarkable stories of the past five years", according to the 2006 World Bank Development report3. The latest available data, for 2004, show five years of growth, after two decades of decline. Most was down to oil, but agriculture was also important. Among the OIC countries, Chad's economy grew more than 10% per year and Nigeria's 6%.
But overall economic levels remain poor, with growth rates usually far below the 7% minimum considered necessary to begin meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Several countries, including Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon, still show negative growth.
Not surprisingly, science is correspondingly weak, and although hard data are few, Islamic countries in sub-Saharan Africa have about 20 researchers and engineers per million people, compared with about 250 in Latin America. One potential bright spot is Nigeria, which announced in July that it is considering ploughing its oil revenues into a US$5-billion endowment fund for science and technology, which would make it Africa's biggest science spender by far5.
If others follow where Turkey and Nigeria lead, these science indicators might look very different in ten years' time. As a first step, more OIC governments need to gather data on science, producing figures that are sufficiently reliable to appear in international statistics databases.
Islam and Science: Ambition & neglect
The war in Iraq, the price of oil, the deadlock over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the terrorism of al-Qaeda and the tensions surrounding immigrant communities in Europe ensure that Islam is rarely far from the headlines. But you would have to be an avid student of Muslim affairs to come across any discussion of science and technology not linked to the development of nuclear weapons.
In this week's issue, Nature offers an unprecedented look at the prospects for science and technology in the Muslim world (see 'Islam and Science: The Islamic world'). We have never before collected together such a range of voices and analysis in one issue.
In ignoring Muslim science, the West follows the lead of the Muslim world itself. Low investment and a low profile combine to keep the scientific community small, marginalized and unproductive. This is not simply a matter of underdevelopment; the oil-rich Gulf states invest pitifully in R&D (see 'Islam and Science: Oil rich, science poor'). In our Commentary section, on Islam and Science: Steps towards reform and Islam and science: Where are the new patrons of science?, Nader Fergany, the lead author of the Arab Human Development Reports, and Herwig Schopper, president of the council for the Middle East laboratory SESAME, offer their own critical analyses of what needs to change to allow science to take off in Muslim countries.
The poor scientific track record of Islamic countries might suggest that there is something about Islam inherently inimical to research. Muslims bristle at this idea, pointing to the major achievements of Muslim scholars under the Islamic caliphate (see timeline, ISLAMIC ERA SCIENCE). But what of the present? Our News Feature on Islam and Science: An Islamist revolution looks at the attitudes to science in the various Islamist organizations growing in power in key states ranging from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Malaysia. The secular regimes and one-party states that have ruled many Muslim countries are being replaced, or directly challenged, by voices calling for a more directly political Islam.
The conditions in which knowledge flowered a millennium ago are hardly those that today's Islamists say they favour. Back then, support for scientific enquiry was matched by an openness to other cultures and sources of knowledge. But when Islamists come to power the picture is more nuanced than it may first appear. Restrictions on freedom of speech and a high level of investment in military technology are distressing to outsiders, but greater attention to higher education is a trend that could offer hope. Mostafa Moin, an Iranian reformer and scientist, lays out his hopes and fears for the future on Islam and Science: Q&A The reformer.
Greater attention to the challenges of the present is sorely needed. Too few Muslim governments collect data on the status of science and innovation (as our analysis on Islam and Science: The data gap shows), and so the problems facing scientists are not even on their agenda. Muslim nations wanting to invest in science as a broad cultural activity need to extract the right lessons from their glorious past and their politically charged present.
In this week's issue, Nature offers an unprecedented look at the prospects for science and technology in the Muslim world (see 'Islam and Science: The Islamic world'). We have never before collected together such a range of voices and analysis in one issue.
In ignoring Muslim science, the West follows the lead of the Muslim world itself. Low investment and a low profile combine to keep the scientific community small, marginalized and unproductive. This is not simply a matter of underdevelopment; the oil-rich Gulf states invest pitifully in R&D (see 'Islam and Science: Oil rich, science poor'). In our Commentary section, on Islam and Science: Steps towards reform and Islam and science: Where are the new patrons of science?, Nader Fergany, the lead author of the Arab Human Development Reports, and Herwig Schopper, president of the council for the Middle East laboratory SESAME, offer their own critical analyses of what needs to change to allow science to take off in Muslim countries.
The poor scientific track record of Islamic countries might suggest that there is something about Islam inherently inimical to research. Muslims bristle at this idea, pointing to the major achievements of Muslim scholars under the Islamic caliphate (see timeline, ISLAMIC ERA SCIENCE). But what of the present? Our News Feature on Islam and Science: An Islamist revolution looks at the attitudes to science in the various Islamist organizations growing in power in key states ranging from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Malaysia. The secular regimes and one-party states that have ruled many Muslim countries are being replaced, or directly challenged, by voices calling for a more directly political Islam.
The conditions in which knowledge flowered a millennium ago are hardly those that today's Islamists say they favour. Back then, support for scientific enquiry was matched by an openness to other cultures and sources of knowledge. But when Islamists come to power the picture is more nuanced than it may first appear. Restrictions on freedom of speech and a high level of investment in military technology are distressing to outsiders, but greater attention to higher education is a trend that could offer hope. Mostafa Moin, an Iranian reformer and scientist, lays out his hopes and fears for the future on Islam and Science: Q&A The reformer.
Greater attention to the challenges of the present is sorely needed. Too few Muslim governments collect data on the status of science and innovation (as our analysis on Islam and Science: The data gap shows), and so the problems facing scientists are not even on their agenda. Muslim nations wanting to invest in science as a broad cultural activity need to extract the right lessons from their glorious past and their politically charged present.
Islam and Science: An Islamist revolution
Islamist political parties are taking over from secular ones across the Muslim world. What does this mean for science at home and scientific cooperation with the West? Ehsan Masood investigates.
At Peshawar University on the Grand Trunk Road linking Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, there is much talk of growth. Its national centre for excellence in geology is to get 11 new labs, a library and a new museum. The provincial government, moreover, has handed the university the job of running a botanical garden and a 40.5-hectare national park.
Peshawar is the capital city of Pakistan's northwest frontier province, the border region with Afghanistan where the Taliban first emerged among the Afghan refugee population in the 1990s. None of the university's activities is unusual for a leading institute in a developing country. But what might seem surprising to outsiders is that, after many years of neglect, the university's expansion comes at a time when local people have elected an alliance of political parties which, like the Taliban, want to base most laws on the Koran. Unusually for Pakistan, the current provincial government has forbidden male doctors from attending to female patients and has banned music on public transport.
The university is run by Haroon Rashid, a professor of chemistry who was appointed vice-chancellor in January 2006. In common with the majority of Pakistanis, Rashid is a Muslim, something that he is proud to make known. Could a university vice-chancellor in Peshawar be of any other faith? In today's Peshawar, a non-Muslim vice-chancellor would be next to impossible.
Pakistan, along with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sudan, has been run by governments that put Islam at the centre of politics for many years. As more Muslim countries give their citizens the right to vote, Islamist political groupings have taken power, or form the main opposition, in national or regional assemblies in Iraq, Kuwait, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Bahrain, Egypt, Afghanistan, Jordan, Morocco, Malaysia and Turkey. Islamist is a term used to denote those committed to the application of Islamic principles and Islamic law in politics.
What can Muslim scientists expect from the new Islamist parties that are seeking power across the Muslim world? Will there be more support for science and for research infrastructure, as in Peshawar, but an environment where basic freedoms continue to be denied? The mostly secular, although undemocratic, regimes that have hitherto ruled for decades across the Muslim world have rarely paid more than lip-service to investment in science and technology. Consequently, today's Muslim states barely register on indices of research spending, patents and publications, and only Turkey has universities in the global top 500.
Much of this is candidly documented in the four volumes so far of the Arab Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme, written entirely by Arabic-speaking social and natural scientists (see page 33), which lays bare how knowledge-based activities such as science, innovation, book publishing, art and literature in Arabic-speaking countries are among the weakest in the world. The report does not consider non-Arab member states of the 57-strong Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey. But, as the data on page 26 show, the picture in the broader Muslim world is not much better.
The situation for Muslim science has been bad, and one assumption, based on current trends, is that things can only get worse. One fear is further restrictions on freedom of expression. Political leaders in the Muslim world, even in countries run on strict secular lines, are famously intolerant of dissent, as last year's attempted prosecution in Turkey of Orhan Pamuk, this year's winner of the Nobel prize for literature, demonstrates. Pamuk was accused of insulting Turkishness. Even today, few universities enjoy much autonomy, and appointments to research posts are opaque and prone to corruption. If secular governments did little for science, can Islamist ones be any worse?
In the search for answers, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is a good place to start. The grandparent of Islamists, the brotherhood is a political party founded in Egypt in 1928. Its original aims included taking power, opposing Western influence in Egyptian politics, and governing using the Koran as the basis for lawmaking.
Mixed message
The party's presence and influence has expanded across the Muslim world — from the Middle East to Africa and Asia. In the absence of basic infrastructure in many countries, the brotherhood and its sister organizations run schools and hospitals, and its members include many scientists. But officially it does not exist — it is banned everywhere, and membership can be punishable by long spells in prison. To avoid censure its members stand as independents at election time, or as members of alternative parties. In Egypt, 88 brotherhood members of parliament together form the largest grouping after that of the government.
Kamal El Helbawi, who now lives in London, is a one-time senior official in the Muslim Brotherhood, and its former spokesman in Europe. In common with, arguably, most Muslims, Helbawi sees science and Islam as being in harmony, and he says that any government led by the Muslim Brotherhood will reverse decades of underinvestment in R&D. Is this a rose-tinted view or a genuine commitment? The answer may depend on the resonance of science and technology with the wider debates occurring in Muslim society. It may also depend on whether Islamist parties lean towards the Shia or Sunni schools of thinking (see 'A long tradition', page 24).
For Helbawi, science has three functions in society. First, it is a set of tools to help humankind enjoy a higher quality of life through new technologies or by solving problems that afflict the poor. Second, science and technology can be used to deter aggression, a justification, Helbawi believes, for developing a nuclear deterrent. And third, Helbawi believes that science has a role in strengthening religious belief. In his view, the Koran, in addition to being the word of God, was designed by God to convince doubters of the truth of Islam and of creation. "I urge all scientists to read the Koran, from which they will learn much about so many scientific topics," he says.
Like many Islamists, Helbawi peppers his explanations with quotes from the Koran. He does so to underline that these are not his opinions — they have divine endorsement. For example, in explaining support for a nuclear deterrent he quotes chapter 8, verse 60. "Hence make ready against them whatever force and war mounts you are able to muster, so that you might deter thereby the enemies of God."
Listening to Helbawi, it seems that although science investment may go up, the space to disagree with the official line will go down. Yet within the brotherhood itself, there is much debate on literalism, reason and rationality, suggesting that totalitarianism is not the only option. Among the rationalists, for example, is Tariq Ramadan, a philosopher of religion at the University of Oxford and the maternal grandson of Hassan Al Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood's founder. Ramadan says that the Koran should not be quoted outside of its religious and historical context. He also worries that Helbawi's literalism amounts to an invitation not to think, and to assume, for example, that if all science is contained in the Koran, there is no place in society for new knowledge.
For Muslim societies, a literal interpretation of the Koran would present as many barriers to science and to freedom of thought as did the secular governments of the past. But the picture becomes more nuanced the closer one looks at Islamist governments once they are in power. Using Sudan, Pakistan and Iran as examples of countries where Islam is prominent in politics and which may foreshadow what may follow elsewhere, certain trends are clear.
In the case of Iran and Pakistan, there has been a substantial expansion in higher education and more spending on research, measures to improve scientific quality, and some opening up of labs to scientists from overseas. Iran's university population has swelled from 100,000 in 1979 to 2 million today. Pakistan's university population has increased from 276,000 in 2001 to 423,000 in 2004. Sudan's public-sector universities, too, increased from 5 in 1989 to 26 in 1996. In each country, there are equal numbers of women and men entering many faculties. Indeed, in Iran some 70% of science and engineering students are women. This university expansion is, however, creating its own tensions as the economies are not large enough to absorb so many new graduates, particularly women.
Call to arms
Second, each country has directed funds towards military R&D, money that could, for example, have been spent on R&D towards alleviating poverty. Why the neglect of the poor? For many Islamists, achieving independence from Western nations, defence and national security are higher priorities than the Islamic duty to care for society's poorest. Iran, like Pakistan, insists on maintaining a capability to enrich uranium to weapons grade. Egypt and Turkey also both recently announced plans to develop nuclear power. Abdul Qadeer Khan, former director of Pakistan's nuclear programme, was a keen proponent of spreading nuclear technology to other Muslim nations. He is now under house arrest in Islamabad for selling uranium-enrichment technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea,
A third trend suggests that Islamist governments are likely to restrict academic freedoms as much (if not more) than the secular regimes they want to replace. Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan are very restrictive environments for certain kinds of researchers, especially social scientists, to work in. Research into the role of government in public life, for example, requires governments to open up to the research community — something that these countries do not do. Because of this, the field of science and technology policy in all four countries is weak or non-existent. Although academic freedom continues to be limited in Muslim countries, the field of Islamic theology is rife with debate and disagreement on many science-related topics. Moreover, thanks to cable television (in particular the Al Jazeera channel based in Qatar) and the Internet, this debate is beginning to be seen in public as never before. One keenly contested area for theologians is that of the ethics of new technologies. Another is evolution. Islamic opinion on bioethics varies widely, and different countries regulate in different ways. But on this issue, as others, public debate is not as free as it is in more open societies. Although theologians and scholars of religion debate among themselves, it needs a brave lay person or scientist (who is also conversant with theology) to challenge them in public.
Where do the differences in opinion lie? Saudi Arabia (an Islamic monarchy) and Iran, for example, have very different ideas on medical ethics. Saudi Arabia bans third-party in vitro fertilization on the grounds that sex and procreation is limited to husbands and wives. But third-party sperm donors are allowed in Iran because the alternative (a couple splitting up if they cannot have children) is considered worse for society. Similarly, Pakistan is practically alone in the Muslim world in banning organ donations from cadavers. This is because the country's Islamic authorities view the human body as being on loan from God, and when a person dies, the body needs to be returned to its creator close to its original state. But this view is not shared by other Muslim states.
Like many Islamists, Helbawi peppers his explanations with quotes from the Koran. He does so to underline that these are not his opinions — they have divine endorsement. For example, in explaining support for a nuclear deterrent he quotes chapter 8, verse 60. "Hence make ready against them whatever force and war mounts you are able to muster, so that you might deter thereby the enemies of God."
Listening to Helbawi, it seems that although science investment may go up, the space to disagree with the official line will go down. Yet within the brotherhood itself, there is much debate on literalism, reason and rationality, suggesting that totalitarianism is not the only option. Among the rationalists, for example, is Tariq Ramadan, a philosopher of religion at the University of Oxford and the maternal grandson of Hassan Al Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood's founder. Ramadan says that the Koran should not be quoted outside of its religious and historical context. He also worries that Helbawi's literalism amounts to an invitation not to think, and to assume, for example, that if all science is contained in the Koran, there is no place in society for new knowledge.
For Muslim societies, a literal interpretation of the Koran would present as many barriers to science and to freedom of thought as did the secular governments of the past. But the picture becomes more nuanced the closer one looks at Islamist governments once they are in power. Using Sudan, Pakistan and Iran as examples of countries where Islam is prominent in politics and which may foreshadow what may follow elsewhere, certain trends are clear.
In the case of Iran and Pakistan, there has been a substantial expansion in higher education and more spending on research, measures to improve scientific quality, and some opening up of labs to scientists from overseas. Iran's university population has swelled from 100,000 in 1979 to 2 million today. Pakistan's university population has increased from 276,000 in 2001 to 423,000 in 2004. Sudan's public-sector universities, too, increased from 5 in 1989 to 26 in 1996. In each country, there are equal numbers of women and men entering many faculties. Indeed, in Iran some 70% of science and engineering students are women. This university expansion is, however, creating its own tensions as the economies are not large enough to absorb so many new graduates, particularly women.
Call to arms
Second, each country has directed funds towards military R&D, money that could, for example, have been spent on R&D towards alleviating poverty. Why the neglect of the poor? For many Islamists, achieving independence from Western nations, defence and national security are higher priorities than the Islamic duty to care for society's poorest. Iran, like Pakistan, insists on maintaining a capability to enrich uranium to weapons grade. Egypt and Turkey also both recently announced plans to develop nuclear power. Abdul Qadeer Khan, former director of Pakistan's nuclear programme, was a keen proponent of spreading nuclear technology to other Muslim nations. He is now under house arrest in Islamabad for selling uranium-enrichment technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea,
A third trend suggests that Islamist governments are likely to restrict academic freedoms as much (if not more) than the secular regimes they want to replace. Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan are very restrictive environments for certain kinds of researchers, especially social scientists, to work in. Research into the role of government in public life, for example, requires governments to open up to the research community — something that these countries do not do. Because of this, the field of science and technology policy in all four countries is weak or non-existent. Although academic freedom continues to be limited in Muslim countries, the field of Islamic theology is rife with debate and disagreement on many science-related topics. Moreover, thanks to cable television (in particular the Al Jazeera channel based in Qatar) and the Internet, this debate is beginning to be seen in public as never before. One keenly contested area for theologians is that of the ethics of new technologies. Another is evolution. Islamic opinion on bioethics varies widely, and different countries regulate in different ways. But on this issue, as others, public debate is not as free as it is in more open societies. Although theologians and scholars of religion debate among themselves, it needs a brave lay person or scientist (who is also conversant with theology) to challenge them in public.
Where do the differences in opinion lie? Saudi Arabia (an Islamic monarchy) and Iran, for example, have very different ideas on medical ethics. Saudi Arabia bans third-party in vitro fertilization on the grounds that sex and procreation is limited to husbands and wives. But third-party sperm donors are allowed in Iran because the alternative (a couple splitting up if they cannot have children) is considered worse for society. Similarly, Pakistan is practically alone in the Muslim world in banning organ donations from cadavers. This is because the country's Islamic authorities view the human body as being on loan from God, and when a person dies, the body needs to be returned to its creator close to its original state. But this view is not shared by other Muslim states.
Freedom to think
How literally they interpret the Koran will clearly influence how the new Islamist governments regulate science and technology. One of the Muslim Brotherhood's leading thinkers, the Egyptian scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who now lives in Qatar, is controversial in the West, but has mass support in the Arabic-speaking world, as well as among Muslims in Europe and North America. His book Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase(Awakening Publications, Birmingham, Alabama, 2002) is in effect a manifesto for the next wave of Islamist governments.
At one level, Qaradawi is a literalist in that he regards every word of the Koran as the word of God, which he sees as applicable for all times to come. But he also understands that an environment that supports critical thinking was one hallmark of Islam's golden age of scientific development (see 'Islamic era science'). Significantly, he has recently moved closer to philosopher Ramadan in his belief that Islamist governments should encourage self-criticism, that they should learn from failure, and that they have a duty to protect freedoms, including academic freedom and the freedom of any citizen to disagree with the state. "We want scientific thinking and the scientific spirit to guide our life in every way," he says. "It is against the scientific way of thinking to oversimplify complicated issues, or to view difficult problems with an alarming superficiality. Belief to us Muslims is not against reason or intellect."
Qaradawi is concerned that Islamist opposition movements are too literalist and are not doing enough to encourage independent thinking using reason, known in Arabic as ijtihad. "My worst fear for the Islamic movement is that it opposes free thinking for its followers and closes the door to ijtihad," he says. "If my fear turns into reality, then capable minds that can renew and innovate will escape from our ranks, leaving behind those conservatives who can only imitate and who would like everything to stay as it is, regardless of how ancient it is." Ijtihad is sometimes called Islam's forgotten pillar. To others, it poses a threat to Islam by weakening its teachings. Islamists have a reputation for looking inwards and shutting out the outside world, but they can look west when they need to, says Abdelwahab El Affendi of the University of Westminster's Centre for the Study of Democracy, in London, and chronicler of the rise of Islam in Sudanese politics. "Islamists that come to power on the back of 'we-don't-need-the-West' rhetoric end up becoming more pragmatic," he says.
Some Islamic thinkers are reaching out to the West in surprising ways. The prominent Turkish writer and columnist Mustafa Aykol has creationist views and publishes translations of US proponents of intelligent design. He has been building alliances with US faith-based groups such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington state. In an article for the US National Review last year he wrote: "Intelligent Design can be a bridge between these two civilizations. Muslims are discovering that they share a common cause with believers in the West."
In the late nineteenth century, Darwin's On the Origin of Species had a favourable reception in Muslim countries. But that is history, as books, pamphlets and films on creationism are now more popular in Muslim countries, and pro-evolution scientists are afraid to speak out. Adults in Turkey, for example, are even less accepting of evolution than are those in the United States.
Nick Matzke of the National Center for Science Education, a not-for-profit organization based in Oakland, California, has debated intelligent design with Aykol in a Muslim online forum — a first for all concerned — but he thinks that Aykol's enthusiasm for the United States is unlikely to be reciprocated. American conservatives, he says, are not about to reconsider their views on Islam any time soon. "I find it peculiar that Muslims are adopting a doctrine from US groups that regularly bash Islam in a fairly vicious way," he says.
At Peshawar University, meanwhile, vice-chancellor Rashid is looking to increase direct links with foreign universities, having concluded an agreement to carry out teaching and research jointly with the University of Leicester, UK; the city of Leicester has a large British Asian population. Excellence in teaching, research and creative endeavour are the highest priority, Rashid says. But for him, Peshawar University's ultimate aim has to be a higher one. This is: "to love and serve the entire creation of the creator".
How literally they interpret the Koran will clearly influence how the new Islamist governments regulate science and technology. One of the Muslim Brotherhood's leading thinkers, the Egyptian scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who now lives in Qatar, is controversial in the West, but has mass support in the Arabic-speaking world, as well as among Muslims in Europe and North America. His book Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase(Awakening Publications, Birmingham, Alabama, 2002) is in effect a manifesto for the next wave of Islamist governments.
At one level, Qaradawi is a literalist in that he regards every word of the Koran as the word of God, which he sees as applicable for all times to come. But he also understands that an environment that supports critical thinking was one hallmark of Islam's golden age of scientific development (see 'Islamic era science'). Significantly, he has recently moved closer to philosopher Ramadan in his belief that Islamist governments should encourage self-criticism, that they should learn from failure, and that they have a duty to protect freedoms, including academic freedom and the freedom of any citizen to disagree with the state. "We want scientific thinking and the scientific spirit to guide our life in every way," he says. "It is against the scientific way of thinking to oversimplify complicated issues, or to view difficult problems with an alarming superficiality. Belief to us Muslims is not against reason or intellect."
Qaradawi is concerned that Islamist opposition movements are too literalist and are not doing enough to encourage independent thinking using reason, known in Arabic as ijtihad. "My worst fear for the Islamic movement is that it opposes free thinking for its followers and closes the door to ijtihad," he says. "If my fear turns into reality, then capable minds that can renew and innovate will escape from our ranks, leaving behind those conservatives who can only imitate and who would like everything to stay as it is, regardless of how ancient it is." Ijtihad is sometimes called Islam's forgotten pillar. To others, it poses a threat to Islam by weakening its teachings. Islamists have a reputation for looking inwards and shutting out the outside world, but they can look west when they need to, says Abdelwahab El Affendi of the University of Westminster's Centre for the Study of Democracy, in London, and chronicler of the rise of Islam in Sudanese politics. "Islamists that come to power on the back of 'we-don't-need-the-West' rhetoric end up becoming more pragmatic," he says.
Some Islamic thinkers are reaching out to the West in surprising ways. The prominent Turkish writer and columnist Mustafa Aykol has creationist views and publishes translations of US proponents of intelligent design. He has been building alliances with US faith-based groups such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington state. In an article for the US National Review last year he wrote: "Intelligent Design can be a bridge between these two civilizations. Muslims are discovering that they share a common cause with believers in the West."
In the late nineteenth century, Darwin's On the Origin of Species had a favourable reception in Muslim countries. But that is history, as books, pamphlets and films on creationism are now more popular in Muslim countries, and pro-evolution scientists are afraid to speak out. Adults in Turkey, for example, are even less accepting of evolution than are those in the United States.
Nick Matzke of the National Center for Science Education, a not-for-profit organization based in Oakland, California, has debated intelligent design with Aykol in a Muslim online forum — a first for all concerned — but he thinks that Aykol's enthusiasm for the United States is unlikely to be reciprocated. American conservatives, he says, are not about to reconsider their views on Islam any time soon. "I find it peculiar that Muslims are adopting a doctrine from US groups that regularly bash Islam in a fairly vicious way," he says.
At Peshawar University, meanwhile, vice-chancellor Rashid is looking to increase direct links with foreign universities, having concluded an agreement to carry out teaching and research jointly with the University of Leicester, UK; the city of Leicester has a large British Asian population. Excellence in teaching, research and creative endeavour are the highest priority, Rashid says. But for him, Peshawar University's ultimate aim has to be a higher one. This is: "to love and serve the entire creation of the creator".
Islam and Science: Q&A – The Iranian reformer
Mostafa Moin is a paediatrician and medical researcher who has served as Iran's minister for higher education and for science. He was a reformist candidate in Iran's presidential election last year, which was won by religious conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Declan Butler asks Moin about the prospects for science in Iran.
How do you see the interplay between science, religion and reform in Iran?
Iranian society has long been deeply religious, even before the Islamic era began in 651. But over the past 150 years, Iran has also pioneered struggles for freedom and opposition of dictatorship.
In the past few decades, reformers and religious neo-intellectuals with a common attachment to the principles of a civil and democratic society have cultivated democratic structures in Iranian society.
These will undoubtedly prepare the ground for greater scientific development and help a knowledge-based society to materialize. Islam itself is not anti-science, but I have always been concerned that superficial, narrow-minded and non-democratic interpretations of Islam — and the political behaviour of certain traditional administrators — risk having a negative impact on both scientific development and social reforms in Iran.
What is your assessment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's track record on science, academic freedom and social reforms?
The new government has overlooked the science and higher-education sectors in the 14 months it has been in power. It has also replaced almost all the university chancellors, and senior research and higher-education officials. When I was minister of science, research and technology, senior university officials were elected by the academic staff; the new government appoints them directly.
There is no doubt that this political control has resulted in purging, restrictions and criticism of independent forces. Renowned academics have been forced into retirement, and repression of politically active students and student organizations is escalating. International scientific exchange has not been immune from these narrow-minded approaches: students are no longer sent abroad and sabbaticals are restricted.
The government has cracked down on reformist newspapers, activists and political parties. The Shargh Daily, for example, one of the highest-circulation reformist newspapers, was shut down in September. I've also heard that admission of female students to universities is being restricted; I hope my information is incorrect.
How optimistic are you that Iran can find a route to political reform?
In the short term, it can't be predicted whether things will get better or worse. But I'm optimistic for the medium term. There is a global movement towards greater civil rights, and an expansion of democracy. It is this, and the growing awareness of the Iranian people of these issues, the vigilance of its youth and women, that will shape Iran's future.
What are the biggest obstacles to improving Iran's international isolation?
International scientific cooperation with Iranian universities and scientists has greatly increased in the past few years. But it's not surprising that the nuclear crisis and the unscientific and unsustainable policies of the new government may have overshadowed this process. Current foreign policy is based on confrontation, and is shifting away from former president Mohammad Khatami's 'dialogue of civilizations'. This is the main obstacle at present.
What should colleagues elsewhere think about Iran's nuclear programme?
I am sure that my learned academic colleagues abroad would not accept discrimination against Iran's legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy within the framework of global regulations. The problem is the accusations by the ruling neo-conservative radicals in the United States over programmes of weapons of mass destruction in Iran, while proposing double standards within the Middle East and the rest of the world.
The same accusations have been made before, but experts, scholars and international institutions proved them unfounded. If the United States were to implement unilateralist, violent and non–negotiable policies against Iran, this would be a great catastrophe, increasing regional and global crises, expanding terrorism and consolidating dictatorships.
What were the major defining events in Iranian science over the past two decades?
The expansion of higher education in the country, with university students increasing from 400 to more than 3,000 students per 100,000 people, between 1979 and 2000. The student–lecturer ratio has also improved from about 36:1 in 1989 to 18:1 in 2006.
I regret that the structural reform in higher education in Iran has remained unfinished, and that the autonomy of universities and academic freedom were not institutionalized.
What are your own plans for the future?
In the past two to three years I have founded two non-governmental organizations, the Association for Scientific Development of Iran and the Iranian Association for Ethics in Science and Technology. As president of the Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Institute at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, I'm active in teaching and research.
I have respected the commitment I made to the Iranian people during last year's election, with the creation of the Democracy and Human Rights Front. I want more than ever to strengthen civil and scientific institutions and structures, particularly for the young.
In the past few decades, reformers and religious neo-intellectuals with a common attachment to the principles of a civil and democratic society have cultivated democratic structures in Iranian society.
These will undoubtedly prepare the ground for greater scientific development and help a knowledge-based society to materialize. Islam itself is not anti-science, but I have always been concerned that superficial, narrow-minded and non-democratic interpretations of Islam — and the political behaviour of certain traditional administrators — risk having a negative impact on both scientific development and social reforms in Iran.
What is your assessment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's track record on science, academic freedom and social reforms?
The new government has overlooked the science and higher-education sectors in the 14 months it has been in power. It has also replaced almost all the university chancellors, and senior research and higher-education officials. When I was minister of science, research and technology, senior university officials were elected by the academic staff; the new government appoints them directly.
There is no doubt that this political control has resulted in purging, restrictions and criticism of independent forces. Renowned academics have been forced into retirement, and repression of politically active students and student organizations is escalating. International scientific exchange has not been immune from these narrow-minded approaches: students are no longer sent abroad and sabbaticals are restricted.
The government has cracked down on reformist newspapers, activists and political parties. The Shargh Daily, for example, one of the highest-circulation reformist newspapers, was shut down in September. I've also heard that admission of female students to universities is being restricted; I hope my information is incorrect.
How optimistic are you that Iran can find a route to political reform?
In the short term, it can't be predicted whether things will get better or worse. But I'm optimistic for the medium term. There is a global movement towards greater civil rights, and an expansion of democracy. It is this, and the growing awareness of the Iranian people of these issues, the vigilance of its youth and women, that will shape Iran's future.
What are the biggest obstacles to improving Iran's international isolation?
International scientific cooperation with Iranian universities and scientists has greatly increased in the past few years. But it's not surprising that the nuclear crisis and the unscientific and unsustainable policies of the new government may have overshadowed this process. Current foreign policy is based on confrontation, and is shifting away from former president Mohammad Khatami's 'dialogue of civilizations'. This is the main obstacle at present.
What should colleagues elsewhere think about Iran's nuclear programme?
I am sure that my learned academic colleagues abroad would not accept discrimination against Iran's legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy within the framework of global regulations. The problem is the accusations by the ruling neo-conservative radicals in the United States over programmes of weapons of mass destruction in Iran, while proposing double standards within the Middle East and the rest of the world.
The same accusations have been made before, but experts, scholars and international institutions proved them unfounded. If the United States were to implement unilateralist, violent and non–negotiable policies against Iran, this would be a great catastrophe, increasing regional and global crises, expanding terrorism and consolidating dictatorships.
What were the major defining events in Iranian science over the past two decades?
The expansion of higher education in the country, with university students increasing from 400 to more than 3,000 students per 100,000 people, between 1979 and 2000. The student–lecturer ratio has also improved from about 36:1 in 1989 to 18:1 in 2006.
I regret that the structural reform in higher education in Iran has remained unfinished, and that the autonomy of universities and academic freedom were not institutionalized.
What are your own plans for the future?
In the past two to three years I have founded two non-governmental organizations, the Association for Scientific Development of Iran and the Iranian Association for Ethics in Science and Technology. As president of the Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Institute at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, I'm active in teaching and research.
I have respected the commitment I made to the Iranian people during last year's election, with the creation of the Democracy and Human Rights Front. I want more than ever to strengthen civil and scientific institutions and structures, particularly for the young.
Islam and Science: Oil rich, science poor
The wealthy Arab states offer scant support for science and technology. Jim Giles finds out whether this indifference to research is likely to change.
When Nature surveyed the prospects for science in the Arab world in 2002, our reporter picked out three subjects in which the region excelled1. One was, and still is, important: desalination technologies to combat water shortages. But the other two highlight the region's threadbare research record. Camel reproduction and falconry research might excite Arab sports enthusiasts, but they are unlikely to set the scientific world on fire.
The monarchies of the Gulf are the richest of all Muslim nations, but little of that wealth is spent on research. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait spend about 0.2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on science — less than one-tenth of the developed-country average of 2.3% and about a third of that spent by less wealthy Iran. The oil monarchs have the financial clout to launch major research efforts, but have yet to do so.
"The very rich countries are less concerned because they are sitting pretty on oil reserves," says Nader Fergany, director of the Almishkat Centre for Research in Cairo, an independent social-sciences research organization. "The nature of wealth from natural resources is that it does not require a great level of ingenuity." Fergany notes that even in directly relevant science such as petroleum technology, most innovation happens outside the Gulf.
The monarchies of the Gulf are the richest of all Muslim nations, but little of that wealth is spent on research. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait spend about 0.2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on science — less than one-tenth of the developed-country average of 2.3% and about a third of that spent by less wealthy Iran. The oil monarchs have the financial clout to launch major research efforts, but have yet to do so.
"The very rich countries are less concerned because they are sitting pretty on oil reserves," says Nader Fergany, director of the Almishkat Centre for Research in Cairo, an independent social-sciences research organization. "The nature of wealth from natural resources is that it does not require a great level of ingenuity." Fergany notes that even in directly relevant science such as petroleum technology, most innovation happens outside the Gulf.
Easy option: the Gulf oil states imported most of the know-how they needed to keep the oil flowing. K. JEBREILI/AP
Oil futures
But some Gulf leaders do see investment in science and technology as a way of creating an economic future when their oil reserves dry up. Among scientists trying to invigorate science in the Gulf, there is a sense that change is possible. "We are now at an inflexion point," says Samir Hamrouni, director of research and development at the Arab Science and Technology Foundation in Sarjah in the United Arab Emirates. "Science is being seen as an alternative to natural resources."
The origins of the current under spend are easy to see. The European colonial powers that ruled much of the Gulf until the middle of the twentieth century invested almost nothing in indigenous higher education or research. Oil revenues transformed the region, but the money kept flowing without the need for major investment in education and science.
The latest statistics collected by COMSTECH, the science and technology committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, show little change2. The annual output of scientific papers from Saudi Arabia, which generates almost as many papers as the other monarchies combined, was static between 2000 and 2005. Even in desalination technology, investment has been limited. The Middle East Desalination Research Center in Muscat, Oman, set up in 1996 to encourage research cooperation in the region, is currently limping along with a budget of just US$2 million a year.
The next five years might see more change. In Qatar, the country's head of state, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has created an endowment that generates millions of dollars in research funding every year. He has also imported Western science policies, such as competitive grant systems based on external peer review, and is forming partnerships with universities in the United States and Europe3. Environmental science, computing and biomedicine are priorities.
If Qatar's new research centres attract scientists and students, they might prompt its neighbours into action. "Once it develops, other countries will start to think about it," predicts Mohamed Hassan, executive director of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), based in Trieste, Italy.
Of those neighbours, Saudi Arabia is making a slow start, having approved a new national science and technology development plan in 2002. Its priorities are defence, and oil and gas technology, but there is also a commitment to devote 1.6% of the nation's GDP to R&D by 2020. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are each investing around $2 billion in higher-education institutes that include research centres.
Such initiatives generate excitement — and some scepticism. Fergany questions whether the oil monarchies are willing to make the economic and structural changes needed to translate research into innovation. It is also unclear whether the oil-state rulers want to foster the atmosphere of critical enquiry that science needs. Only in the long run, say advocates of reform, will it become clear whether the current commitment is genuine. "Is it just for the moment, or is it really important?" asks Hamrouni. "It depends on our politicians."
Jim Giles is a reporter for Nature based in London.
The full Islam and Science special is available from news@nature.com.But some Gulf leaders do see investment in science and technology as a way of creating an economic future when their oil reserves dry up. Among scientists trying to invigorate science in the Gulf, there is a sense that change is possible. "We are now at an inflexion point," says Samir Hamrouni, director of research and development at the Arab Science and Technology Foundation in Sarjah in the United Arab Emirates. "Science is being seen as an alternative to natural resources."
The origins of the current under spend are easy to see. The European colonial powers that ruled much of the Gulf until the middle of the twentieth century invested almost nothing in indigenous higher education or research. Oil revenues transformed the region, but the money kept flowing without the need for major investment in education and science.
The latest statistics collected by COMSTECH, the science and technology committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, show little change2. The annual output of scientific papers from Saudi Arabia, which generates almost as many papers as the other monarchies combined, was static between 2000 and 2005. Even in desalination technology, investment has been limited. The Middle East Desalination Research Center in Muscat, Oman, set up in 1996 to encourage research cooperation in the region, is currently limping along with a budget of just US$2 million a year.
The next five years might see more change. In Qatar, the country's head of state, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has created an endowment that generates millions of dollars in research funding every year. He has also imported Western science policies, such as competitive grant systems based on external peer review, and is forming partnerships with universities in the United States and Europe3. Environmental science, computing and biomedicine are priorities.
If Qatar's new research centres attract scientists and students, they might prompt its neighbours into action. "Once it develops, other countries will start to think about it," predicts Mohamed Hassan, executive director of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), based in Trieste, Italy.
Of those neighbours, Saudi Arabia is making a slow start, having approved a new national science and technology development plan in 2002. Its priorities are defence, and oil and gas technology, but there is also a commitment to devote 1.6% of the nation's GDP to R&D by 2020. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are each investing around $2 billion in higher-education institutes that include research centres.
Such initiatives generate excitement — and some scepticism. Fergany questions whether the oil monarchies are willing to make the economic and structural changes needed to translate research into innovation. It is also unclear whether the oil-state rulers want to foster the atmosphere of critical enquiry that science needs. Only in the long run, say advocates of reform, will it become clear whether the current commitment is genuine. "Is it just for the moment, or is it really important?" asks Hamrouni. "It depends on our politicians."
Jim Giles is a reporter for Nature based in London.
References
- Masood, E. Nature 416, 120–122 (2002).
- Status of Scientific Research in OIC Member States (eds Naim, S. T. K. & Atta-ur-Rahman) (COMSTECH, 2005); online at www.comstech.org/htm/policy.htm.
The Miracle of Islamic Science
The concept that the sciences are exclusively the products of Western minds remains unquestioned by most individuals. A review of any of the standard texts or encyclopedias regarding the history of science would support this view. As these books are perused, it becomes evident that the only contributors given significant mention are Europeans and/or Americans. It is hardly necessary to repeat the oft-mentioned names: Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Newton, Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, etc. The unavoidable conclusion is that major contributions to the development of the modern sciences by other cultures is minimal. Most texts give little or no mention of the advancements made by ancient Indian, Chinese or, particularly, Muslim scholars.
Western civilization has made invaluable contributions to the development of the sciences. However, so have numerous other cultures. Unfortunately, Westerners have long been credited with discoveries made many centuries before by Islamic scholars. Thus, many of the basic sciences were invented by non-Europeans. For instance, George Sarton states that modern Western medicine did not originate from Europe and that it actually arose from the (Islamic) orient.
The data in this section concerning dates, names and topics of Western advances has been derived from three main sources: World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica and Isaac Asimov's 700 page book, Chronology of Science and Discovery. Supportive data for the accomplishments of Islamic scholars is derived from the miscellaneous references listed in the bibliography of this book.
What is Taught: The first mention of man in flight was by Roger Bacon, who drew a flying apparatus. Leonardo da Vinci also conceived of airborne transport and drew several prototypes.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented, constructed and tested a flying machine in the 800's A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying machines from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas' machine. The latter's invention antedates Bacon by 500 years and Da Vinci by some 700 years.
What is Taught: Glass mirrors were first produced in 1291 in Venice.
What Should be Taught: Glass mirrors were in use in Islamic Spain as early as the 11th century. The Venetians learned of the art of fine glass production from Syrian artisans during the 9th and 10th centuries.
What is Taught: Until the 14th century, the only type of clock available was the water clock. In 1335, a large mechanical clock was erected in Milan, Italy. This was possibly the first weight-driven clock.
What Should be Taught: A variety of mechanical clocks were produced by Spanish Muslim engineers, both large and small, and this knowledge was transmitted to Europe through Latin translations of Islamic books on mechanics. These clocks were weight-driven. Designs and illustrations of epi-cyclic and segmental gears were provided. One such clock included a mercury escapement. The latter type was directly copied by Europeans during the 15th century. In addition, during the 9th century, Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain, according to Will Durant, invented a watch-like device, which kept accurate time. The Muslims also constructed a variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for use in their observatories.
What is Taught: in the 17th century, Galileo developed the pendulum during his teenage years. He noticed a chandelier swaying as it was being blown by the wind. As a result, he went home and invented the pendulum.
What Should be Taught: The pendulum was discovered by Ibn Yunus al-Masri during the 10th century, who was the first to study and document its oscillatory motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by Muslim physicists during the 15th century.
What is Taught: Movable type and the printing press was invented in the West by Johannes Gutenberg of Germany during the 15th century.
What Should be Taught: In 1454, Gutenberg developed the most sophisticated printing press of the Middle Ages. However, movable brass type was in use in Islamic Spain 100 years prior, and that is where the West's first printing devices were made.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton's 17th century study of lenses, light and prisms forms the foundation of the modern science of optics.
What Should be Taught: In the 1lth century al-Haytham determined virtually everything that Newton advanced regarding optics centuries prior and is regarded by numerous authorities as the "founder of optics.” There is little doubt that Newton was influenced by him. Al-Haytham was the most quoted physicist of the Middle Ages. His works were utilized and quoted by a greater number of European scholars during the 16th and 17th centuries than those of Newton and Galileo combined.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century, discovered that white light consists of various rays of colored light.
What Should be Taught: This discovery was made in its entirety by al-Haytham (1lth century) and Kamal ad-Din (14th century). Newton did make original discoveries, but this was not one of them.
What is Taught: The concept of the finite nature of matter was first introduced by Antione Lavoisier during the 18th century. He discovered that, although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same. Thus, for instance, if water is heated to steam, if salt is dissolved in water or if a piece of wood is burned to ashes, the total mass remains unchanged.
What Should be Taught: The principles of this discovery were elaborated centuries before by Islamic Persia's great scholar, al-Biruni (d. 1050). Lavoisier was a disciple of the Muslim chemists and physicists and referred to their books frequently.
What is Taught: The Greeks were the developers of trigonometry.
What Should be Taught: Trigonometry remained largely a theoretical science among the Greeks. It was developed to a level of modern perfection by Muslim scholars, although the weight of the credit must be given to al-Battani. The words describing the basic functions of this science, sine, cosine and tangent, are all derived from Arabic terms. Thus, original contributions by the Greeks in trigonometry were minimal.
What is Taught: The use of decimal fractions in mathematics was first developed by a Dutchman, Simon Stevin, in 1589. He helped advance the mathematical sciences by replacing the cumbersome fractions, for instance, 1/2, with decimal fractions, for example, 0.5.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians were the first to utilize decimals instead of fractions on a large scale. Al-Kashi's book, Key to Arithmetic, was written at the beginning of the 15th century and was the stimulus for the systematic application of decimals to whole numbers and fractions thereof. It is highly probably that Stevin imported the idea to Europe from al-Kashi's work.
What is Taught: The first man to utilize algebraic symbols was the French mathematician, Francois Vieta. In 1591, he wrote an algebra book describing equations with letters such as the now familiar x and y's. Asimov says that this discovery had an impact similar to the progression from Roman numerals to Arabic numbers.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians, the inventors of algebra, introduced the concept of using letters for unknown variables in equations as early as the 9th century CE. Through this system, they solved a variety of complex equations, including quadratic and cubic equations. They used symbols to develop and perfect the binomial theorem.
What is Taught: The difficult cubic equations (x to the third power) remained unsolved until the 16th century when Niccolo Tartaglia, an Italian mathematician, solved them.
What Should be Taught: Cubic equations as well as numerous equations of even higher degrees were solved with ease by Muslim mathematicians as early as the 10th century.
What is Taught: The concept that numbers could be less than zero, that is negative numbers, was unknown until 1545 when Geronimo Cardano introduced the idea.
What Should he Taught: Muslim mathematicians introduced negative numbers for use in a variety of arithmetic functions at least 400 years prior to Cardano.
What is Taught: In 1614, John Napier invented logarithms and logarithmic tables.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians invented logarithms and produced logarithmic tables several centuries prior. Such tables were common in the Islamic world as early as the 13th century.
What is Taught: During the 17th century Rene Descartes made the discovery that algebra could be used to solve geometrical problems. By this, he greatly advanced the science of geometry.
What Should be Taught: Mathematicians of the Islamic Empire accomplished precisely this as early as the 9th century A.D. Thabit bin Qurrah was the first to do so, and he was followed by Abu'l Wafa, whose 10th century book utilized algebra to advance geometry into an exact and simplified science.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century, developed the binomial theorem, which is a crucial component for the study of algebra.
What Should be Taught: Hundreds of Muslim mathematicians utilized and perfected the binomial theorem. They initiated its use for the systematic solution of algebraic problems during the 10th century (or prior).
What is Taught: No improvement had been made in the astronomy of the ancients during the Middle Ages regarding the motion of planets until the 13th century. Then Alphonso the Wise of Castile (Middle Spain) invented the Aphonsine Tables, which were more accurate than Ptolemy's.
What Should be Taught: Muslim astronomers made numerous improvements upon Ptolemy's findings as early as the 9th century. They were the first astronomers to dispute his archaic ideas. In their critic of the Greeks, they synthesized proof that the sun is the center of the solar system and that the orbits of the earth and other planets might be elliptical. They produced hundreds of highly accurate astronomical tables and star charts. Many of their calculations are so precise that they are regarded as contemporary. The AlphonsineTables are little more than copies of works on astronomy transmitted to Europe via Islamic Spain, i.e. the Toledo Tables.
What is Taught: The English scholar Roger Bacon (d. 1292) first mentioned glass lenses for improving vision. At nearly the same time, eyeglasses could be found in use both in China and Europe.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented eyeglasses during the 9th century, and they were manufactured and sold throughout Spain for over two centuries. Any mention of eyeglasses by Roger Bacon was simply a regurgitation of the work of al-Haytham (d. 1039), whose research Bacon frequently referred to.
What is Taught: Gunpowder was developed in the Western world as a result of Roger Bacon's work in 1242. The first usage of gunpowder in weapons was when the Chinese fired it from bamboo shoots in attempt to frighten Mongol conquerors. They produced it by adding sulfur and charcoal to saltpeter.
What Should be Taught: The Chinese developed saltpeter for use in fireworks and knew of no tactical military use for gunpowder, nor did they invent its formula. Research by Reinuad and Fave have clearly shown that gunpowder was formulated initially by Muslim chemists. Further, these historians claim that the Muslims developed the first fire-arms. Notably, Muslim armies used grenades and other weapons in their defense of Algericus against the Franks during the 14th century. Jean Mathes indicates that the Muslim rulers had stock-piles of grenades, rifles, crude cannons, incendiary devices, sulfur bombs and pistols decades before such devices were used in Europe. The first mention of a cannon was in an Arabic text around 1300 A.D. Roger Bacon learned of the formula for gunpowder from Latin translations of Arabic books. He brought forth nothing original in this regard.
What is Taught: The compass was invented by the Chinese who may have been the first to use it for navigational purposes sometime between 1000 and 1100 A.D. The earliest reference to its use in navigation was by the Englishman, Alexander Neckam (1157-1217).
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers and navigators learned of the magnetic needle, possibly from the Chinese, and were the first to use magnetic needles in navigation. They invented the compass and passed the knowledge of its use in navigation to the West. European navigators relied on Muslim pilots and their instruments when exploring unknown territories. Gustav Le Bon claims that the magnetic needle and compass were entirely invented by the Muslims and that the Chinese had little to do with it. Neckam, as well as the Chinese, probably learned of it from Muslim traders. It is noteworthy that the Chinese improved their navigational expertise after they began interacting with the Muslims during the 8th century.
What is Taught: The first man to classify the races was the German Johann F. Blumenbach, who divided mankind into white, yellow, brown, black and red peoples.
What Should be Taught: Muslim scholars of the 9th through 14th centuries invented the science of ethnography. A number of Muslim geographers classified the races, writing detailed explanations of their unique cultural habits and physical appearances. They wrote thousands of pages on this subject. Blumenbach's works were insignificant in comparison.
What is Taught: The science of geography was revived during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries when the ancient works of Ptolemy were discovered. The Crusades and the Portuguese/Spanish expeditions also contributed to this reawakening. The first scientifically-based treatise on geography were produced during this period by Europe's scholars.
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers produced untold volumes of books on the geography of Africa, Asia, India, China and the Indies during the 8th through 15th centuries. These writings included the world's first geographical encyclopedias, almanacs and road maps. Ibn Battutah's 14th century masterpieces provide a detailed view of the geography of the ancient world. The Muslim geographers of the 10th through 15th centuries far exceeded the output by Europeans regarding the geography of these regions well into the 18th century. The Crusades led to the destruction of educational institutions, their scholars and books. They brought nothing substantive regarding geography to the Western world.
What is Taught: Robert Boyle, in the 17th century, originated the science of chemistry.
What Should be Taught: A variety of Muslim chemists, including ar-Razi, al-Jabr, al-Biruni and al-Kindi, performed scientific experiments in chemistry some 700 years prior to Boyle. Durant writes that the Muslims introduced the experimental method to this science. Humboldt regards the Muslims as the founders of chemistry.
What is Taught: Leonardo da Vinci (16th century) fathered the science of geology when he noted that fossils found on mountains indicated a watery origin of the earth.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (1lth century) made precisely this observation and added much to it, including a huge book on geology, hundreds of years before Da Vinci was born. Ibn Sina noted this as well (see pages 100-101). It is probable that Da Vinci first learned of this concept from Latin translations of Islamic books. He added nothing original to their findings.
What is Taught: The first mention of the geological formation of valleys was in 1756, when Nicolas Desmarest proposed that they were formed over a long periods of time by streams.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Sina and al-Biruni made precisely this discovery during the 11th century (see pages 102 and 103), fully 700 years prior to Desmarest.
What is Taught: Galileo (17th century) was the world's first great experimenter.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (d. 1050) was the world's first great experimenter. He wrote over 200 books, many of which discuss his precise experiments. His literary output in the sciences amounts to some 13,000 pages, far exceeding that written by Galileo or, for that matter, Galileo and Newton combined.
What is Taught: The Italian Giovanni Morgagni is regarded as the father of pathology because he was the first to correctly describe the nature of disease.
What Should be Taught: Islam's surgeons were the first pathologists. They fully realized the nature of disease and described a variety of diseases to modern detail. Ibn Zuhr correctly described the nature of pleurisy, tuberculosis and pericarditis. Az-Zahrawi accurately documented the pathology of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and other congenital diseases. Ibn al-Quff and Ibn an-Nafs gave perfect descriptions of the diseases of circulation. Other Muslim surgeons gave the first accurate descriptions of certain malignancies, including cancer of the stomach, bowel and esophagus. These surgeons were the originators of pathology, not Giovanni Morgagni.
What is Taught: Paul Ehrlich (19th century) is the originator of drug chemotherapy, that is the use of specific drugs to kill microbes.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians used a variety of specific substances to destroy microbes. They applied sulfur topically specifically to kill the scabies mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial compounds as topical antiseptics.
What is Taught: Purified alcohol, made through distillation, was first produced by Arnau de Villanova, a Spanish alchemist, in 1300 A.D.
What Should be Taught: Numerous Muslim chemists produced medicinal-grade alcohol through distillation as early as the 10th century and manufactured on a large scale the first distillation devices for use in chemistry. They used alcohol as a solvent and antiseptic.
What is Taught: The first surgery performed under inhalation anesthesia was conducted by C.W. Long, an American, in 1845.
What Should be Taught: Six hundred years prior to Long, Islamic Spain's Az-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr, among other Muslim surgeons, performed hundreds of surgeries under inhalation anesthesia with the use of narcotic-soaked sponges which were placed over the face.
What is Taught: During the 16th century Paracelsus invented the use of opium extracts for anesthesia.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians introduced the anesthetic value of opium derivatives during the Middle Ages. Opium was originally used as an anesthetic agent by the Greeks. Paracelus was a student of Ibn Sina's works from which it is almost assured that he derived this idea.
What is Taught: Modern anesthesia was invented in the 19th century by Humphrey Davy and Horace Wells.
What Should be Taught: Modern anesthesia was discovered, mastered and perfected by Muslim anesthetists 900 years before the advent of Davy and Wells. They utilized oral as well as inhalant anesthetics.
What is Taught: The concept of quarantine was first developed in 1403. In Venice, a law was passed preventing strangers from entering the city until a certain waiting period had passed. If, by then, no sign of illness could be found, they were allowed in.
What Should be Taught: The concept of quarantine was first introduced in the 7th century A.D. by the prophet Muhammad, who wisely warned against entering or leaving a region suffering from plague. As early as the 10th century, Muslim physicians innovated the use of isolation wards for individuals suffering with communicable diseases.
What is Taught: The scientific use of antiseptics in surgery was discovered by the British surgeon Joseph Lister in 1865.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 10th century, Muslim physicians and surgeons were applying purified alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent. Surgeons in Islamic Spain utilized special methods for maintaining antisepsis prior to and during surgery. They also originated specific protocols for maintaining hygiene during the post-operative period. Their success rate was so high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to Cordova, Spain, to be treated at what was comparably the "Mayo Clinic" of the Middle Ages.
What is Taught: In 1545, the scientific use of surgery was advanced by the French surgeon Ambroise Pare. Prior to him, surgeons attempted to stop bleeding through the gruesome procedure of searing the wound with boiling oil. Pare stopped the use of boiling oils and began ligating arteries. He is considered the "father of rational surgery." Pare was also one of the first Europeans to condemn such grotesque "surgical" procedures as trepanning (see reference #6, pg. 110).
What Should be Taught: Islamic Spain's illustrious surgeon, az-Zahrawi (d. 1013), began ligating arteries with fine sutures over 500 years prior to Pare. He perfected the use of Catgut, that is suture made from animal intestines. Additionally, he instituted the use of cotton plus wax to plug bleeding wounds. The full details of his works were made available to Europeans through Latin translations.
Despite this, barbers and herdsmen continued be the primary individuals practicing the "art" of surgery for nearly six centuries after az-Zahrawi's death. Pare himself was a barber, albeit more skilled and conscientious than the average ones.
Included in az-Zahrawi's legacy are dozens of books. His most famous work is a 30 volume treatise on medicine and surgery. His books contain sections on preventive medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, drug therapy, surgical technique, anesthesia, pre and post-operative care as well as drawings of some 200 surgical devices, many of which he invented. The refined and scholarly az-Zahrawi must be regarded as the father and founder of rational surgery, not the uneducated Pare.
What is Taught: William Harvey, during the early 17th century, discovered that blood circulates. He was the first to correctly describe the function of the heart, arteries and veins. Rome's Galen had presented erroneous ideas regarding the circulatory system, and Harvey was the first to determine that blood is pumped throughout the body via the action of the heart and the venous valves. Therefore, he is regarded as the founder of human physiology.
What Should be Taught: In the 10th century, Islam's ar-Razi wrote an in-depth treatise on the venous system, accurately describing the function of the veins and their valves. Ibn an-Nafs and Ibn al-Quff (13th century) provided full documentation that the blood circulates and correctly described the physiology of the heart and the function of its valves 300 years before Harvey. William Harvey was a graduate of Italy's famous Padua University at a time when the majority of its curriculum was based upon Ibn Sina's and ar-Razi's textbooks.
What is Taught: The first pharmacopeia (book of medicines) was published by a German scholar in 1542. According to World Book Encyclopedia, the science of pharmacology was begun in the 1900's as an off-shoot of chemistry due to the analysis of crude plant materials. Chemists, after isolating the active ingredients from plants, realized their medicinal value.
What Should be Taught: According to the eminent scholar of Arab history, Phillip Hitti, the Muslims, not the Greeks or Europeans, wrote the first "modern" pharmacopeia. The science of pharmacology was originated by Muslim physicians during the 9th century. They developed it into a highly refined and exact science. Muslim chemists, pharmacists and physicians produced thousands of drugs and/or crude herbal extracts one thousand years prior to the supposed birth of pharmacology. During the 14th century Ibn Baytar wrote a monumental pharmacopeia listing some 1400 different drugs. Hundreds of other pharmacopeias were published during the Islamic Era. It is likely that the German work is an offshoot of that by Ibn Baytar, which was widely circulated in Europe.
What is Taught: The discovery of the scientific use of drugs in the treatment of specific diseases was made by Paracelsus, the Swiss-born physician, during the 16th century. He is also credited with being the first to use practical experience as a determining factor in the treatment of patients rather than relying exclusively on the works of the ancients.
What Should be Taught: Ar-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, az-Zahrawi, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Baytar, Ibn al-Jazzar, Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Quff, Ibn an-Nafs, al-Biruni, Ibn Sahl and hundreds of other Muslim physicians mastered the science of drug therapy for the treatment of specific symptoms and diseases. In fact, this concept was entirely their invention. The word "drug" is derived from Arabic. Their use of practical experience and careful observation was extensive.
Muslim physicians were the first to criticize ancient medical theories and practices. Ar-Razi devoted an entire book as a critique of Galen's anatomy. The works of Paracelsus are insignificant compared to the vast volumes of medical writings and original findings accomplished by the medical giants of Islam.
What is Taught: The first sound approach to the treatment of disease was made by a German, Johann Weger, in the 1500's.
What Should be Taught: Harvard's George Sarton says that modern medicine is entirely an Islamic development and that Setting the Record Straight the Muslim physicians of the 9th through 12th centuries were precise, scientific, rational and sound in their approach. Johann Weger was among thousands of Europeans physicians during the 15th through 17th centuries who were taught the medicine of ar-Razi and Ibn Sina. He contributed nothing original.
What is Taught: Medical treatment for the insane was modernized by Philippe Pinel when in 1793 he operated France's first insane asylum.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 1lth century, Islamic hospitals maintained special wards for the insane. They treated them kindly and presumed their disease was real at a time when the insane were routinely burned alive in Europe as witches and sorcerers. A curative approach was taken for mental illness and, for the first time in history, the mentally ill were treated with supportive care, drugs and psychotherapy. Every major Islamic city maintained an insane asylum where patients were treated at no charge. In fact, the Islamic system for the treatment of the insane excels in comparison to the current model, as it was more humane and was highly effective as well.
What is Taught: Kerosine was first produced by the an Englishman, Abraham Gesner, in 1853. He distilled it from asphalt.
What Should be Taught: Muslim chemists produced kerosene as a distillate from petroleum products over 1,000 years prior to Gesner (see Encyclopedia Britannica under the heading, Petroleum).
The Big Bang Theory: From a Qur'anic Perspective
One of the great mysteries facing scientists today are the answers to the two following questions:
DO THEY NOT THE UNBELIEVERS SEE THAT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WERE JOINED TOGETHER (AS ONE UNIT OF CREATION) BEFORE WE CLOVE THEM ASUNDER? WE MADE FROM WATER EVERY LIVING THING. WILL THEY NOT THEN BELIEVE?
Positrons (anti-electron) and neutrinos, ghostly particles with no mass or electric charge. Finally, the universe was filled with light. Light consists of particles of zero mass and zero electrical charge known as photons. The number and the average energy of the photons was about the same as for electrons, positrons or neutrinos. These particles were continually being created out of pure energy (original source of all matter in the present-day universe-galaxies, nebulae, stars, planets, earth, etc.).
REFERENCE: Weinberg, S.: The First Three Minutes. A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe. Basic Books, Inc. Publishers, NY 1977.
The Jinn- A Scientific Analysis
The Qur'an & Modem Science: JINN
This chapter is very thought provoking and intended to stimulate thinking and further research among Muslim Scholars, Scientists and Students.
The Qur'an mentions about Jinns in several places. The Qur'an specifically says that human beings are made of clay and also made of water. These statements are scientifically correct. With regard to the Jinns, the Qur'an also says that they are made from a flame of fire. A.Yusuf Ali, the well-known English Translator of the Qur'an, says in his note #929 that jinn is simply "a spirit" or an invisible or hidden force. It is also mentioned in the book ARABIAN NIGHTS that they become personified into fantastic forms, which we will see later as possible.
- And the jinn race,
- We had created before, from the fire of a
- Scorching wind. Surah XV: 27
In note 1967, Yusuf Ali says, "Hidden or Invisible forces are aptly typified as arising 'from the fire of scorching winds'.
There is a whole Surah LXXII, called Jinn or the Spirits in the Qur'an.
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, another translator of the Qur'an from England, gives another meaning of Jinns. He says another meaning of Jinns is foreigners (Aliens) which means they are extraterrestrial (from outside the earth). The reader must keep in mind these definitions of the Jinns to understand their scientific nature given in this article.
Currently held view is that in the whole universe only planet Earth harbors intelligent beings such as humans who are made of clay and water. In 1927, Sir Francis Younghusband wrote a book titled Life in the Stars (John Murray, London). In this book he describes the inhabitants in the stars as beings with angelic qualities. Our Sun is also a star.
No religion in the world except Islam has the concept of Jinn. On Earth all life is made of Carbon and water. Living things on Earth need energy for their activities. Some of these activities are chemical reactions, which need a supply of energy. This supply of energy comes from the foods we eat, particularly the sugars. Fat is also a source of (stored) energy. When sugars (glucose) are oxidized with oxygen they are converted into water, carbon dioxide and energy. This is a process called respiration. Similarly creatures elsewhere in the universe such as the sun or stars need energy. For those in the sun, the sun itself supplies the energy.
LIFE IN THEE SUN
Based on the laws of Physics and Chemistry scientists argue the existence of creatures in the sun. The outermost part of the sun is called the Chromosphere and Corona. The temperature here is 4000 degrees centigrade. Underneath the corona lies the Photosphere where the temperature is 5700 degrees centigrade which is the temperature on the surface of the sun. Inside the Photosphere lies the Plasma Interior. Here the temperature is 30,000 degrees centigrade. At this temperature the atoms lose their electrons which wander freely. The density of the hot gases is equal to that of air at the surface of Earth. Halfway towards the center of the sun the temperature rises to several million degrees centigrade. Here the electrons are completely removed from their atoms and move freely, leaving the atomic nuclei behind as positively charged Ions. These separated positive and negative (ions) move independently of each other and this state of matter is called Plasma. Plasmacould be interpreted as the smokeless Fire described in the Qur'an. At the center of the sun is the core where the temperature reaches ten million degrees and the density is five times greater than that of solid gold. That is the density of the core, which is greater than any material found on Earth. In the core the nuclear fusion reactions occur resulting in the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into Helium nuclei plus liberation of energy which we receive as the sunlight. The Hydrogen Bomb works based on nuclear fusion whereas the Atomic Bomb works based on nuclear fission (splitting of the atomic nucleus).
Scientists (G. Feinberg and R.Shapiro, LIFE BEYOND EARTH Published by William Morrow and Co., Inc., New York, 1980) predict that there is the highest probability of finding life in the Plasma of our Sun or any star. They call these creatures as Plasmabeasts. Plasmabeasts can be construed as nothing but the Jinns. Life on Earth is called Chemical life, whereas the life in the Plasma of the Sun is based on Physical life. In the Plasma, the positively charged ions and the freely floating electrons (negative ions) are both acted on by intense magnetic forces present in the sun (star). The Jinns are interpreted to be composed of patterns of magnetic force, together with groups of moving charges in a kind of symbiosis. The possible inhabitants of Plasmaland (place of inhabitants) or Jinns have a more complex basis for their life involving charges as well as magnetic forces. The positive and negative ions interact and respond to the presence of magnetic forces. The stable structure and movement of the Jinns is influenced by the magnetic forces. In Physics we know that the moving charges influence the motion of these electrical charges or ions. This situation is similar to the influence of proteins and nucleic acids in Earth life. Finally these processes result in a favored form. For this to take place supply of free energy is required which is obtained from the flow of radiation within the sun. Therefore the Jinn can be construed to use radiant energy in their vital processes.
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