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'Science is a process, not a product of technology'
LAHORE, Nov 05, 2007: Science is a mode of thought, a process
and not a product of technology, said Professor Dr Nomanul Haq at a symposium
held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Sunday.
The symposium was hosted by the
Khwarzimic Science Society (KSS) with KSS joint secretary Prof Sabiah Anwar as
moderator.
Speakers included Lahore University of Management Sciences
(LUMS) Prof Nomanul Haq, University of Columbia's Arabic and Islamic Studies
Prof Dr George Saliba, Prof Basit Bilal Koshul, author of The Postmodern
Significance of Max Weber's Legacy: Disenchanting Disenchantment.
Prof
Haq said that at the twilight of Enlightenment, there were three types of
arguments proposed on relationship between Islam and science – reductionism,
double marginality and double rupturing. He defended Al-Ghazali's view of Islam
and science as a philosophical inquiry and not illogical defence. Scientific
enquiry and scientism must be distinguished, Haq said.
Prof Saliba
refuted 'popular myths' about scientific progress in the Islamic civilisation.
He refuted the claims that Islamic/Arabic science is a preservation of Greek
science, and the 'European model' that religion is always in conflict with
science. He said a number of mathematical formulas were developed as a response
to the requirements determined by Islamic injunctions of praying five times a
following the direction of the Qibla.
Prof Basit Bilal talked about the
influences of traditionalism, modernity and post-modernism on popular
perceptions of the history of science, and outlined the historiography of the
modes of scientific inquiry under each of the influences. He discussed if
science dealt with all of reality or part of reality and argued against the
assertion that Islam and science are inseparable. Daily Times
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