Yýldýz Bozkurt
(This is the copy of the talk given on 28th of January 2003 at the
Science and Faith panel of Cambridge Interfaith group.)
Seeing religion and science or scientific studies as two
conflicting disciplines is a product of western attitude towards
religion and science.
I should admit that I have never felt any conflict related with my
belief and science, as Islamic civilisation has never had. Just
the opposite, the history of Islam with its glorious scientific
achievements at its golden age, always have been reinforcement on
me to learn and do science.
“Historians liken the Muslim world of the Middle Ages, dark for
the West but bright for Muslims, to a beehive. Roads were full of
students, scientists and scholars travelling from one centre of
learning to another. Many world-renowned figures such as al-Kindi,
al-Khwarizmi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (whose books were used as
textbooks for centuries at Europe) and many others shone like
stars in the firmament of the sciences.” (www.islamanswers.net)
“Cordoba in the tenth century under Muslim rule was the most
civilized city in Europe, the wonder and admiration of the world.
Travellers from north heard with something like fear of the city
which contained 70 libraries with hundreds of thousands of
volumes, and 900 public baths, yet whenever the rulers of
Barcelona needed a surgeon, an architect, a dressmaker, or a
musician, it was Cordoba that they applied.” (www.islamanswers.net)
John Davenport, a leading scientist, observed:
It must be owned that all the knowledge whether of Physics,
Astronomy, Philosophy or Mathematics, which flourished in Europe
from the 10th century, was originally derived from the
Arabian schools, and the Spanish Saracen may be looked upon as the
father of European philosophy (Quoted by A. Karim in Islam’s
Contribution to Science and Civilization)
Bertrand Russel, the famous British philosopher, wrote (Pakistan
Quaterly, Vol.4, No.3):
“The supremacy of the East was not only military. Science,
philosophy, poetry, and the arts, all flourished in the Mohammedan
world at a time when Europe was sunk in barbarism. Europeans, with
unpardonable insularity, call this period ‘the Dark Ages’: but it
was only in Europe that it was dark – indeed only in Christian
Europe, for Spain, which was Mohammedan, had a brilliant culture.”
At a recent documentary film by PBS, titled Islam: The Empire of
Faith, in which the commentator rightly states that:
“In the unfolding of history, Islamic civilization has been one of
humanity’s grandest achievements…For the West; much of the history
of Islam has been obscured behind a veil of fear and
misunderstanding. Yet Islam’s hidden history in deeply and
surprisingly interwoven with Western civilization..It was they
(Muslim scholars) who sewed the seeds of the Renaissance, 600
years before the birth of Leonardo da Vinci. From the way we heal
the sick to the numerals we use for counting, cultures across the
globe have been shaped by the Islamic civilization.” (www.harunyahya.com)
“The bright (Islamic) civilization progressed until it suffered
from the terrible disasters which came like huge overlapping
waves, from the West and Far East one after another in the form of
Crusades and Mongol invasion. The disasters lasted centuries.” “If
Islamic civilization had not been so badly damaged by the horrific
Mongolian and numerous destructive Crusader invasions, the world
today certainly would be very different” now.(islamanswers.net)
What is the relationship between Islam and science?
Now let’s examine the relationship between Islam and science.
First of all it is interesting that the first revelation of the
Qur’an was:
Read: in and with the name of your Lord Who created. He created
man of an embryo suspended. Read: and your Lord is the Most
Munificent, who taught by the Pen, taught man that he knew not.
(96:1-3)
It is quite significant that the first command of God to His
Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, was ‘read’, when there was not
yet the Book to read. This means that there is another book or,
rather, there are two books, counterparts of the Book which was to
be revealed. These two books are the UNIVERSE and MAN. It is also
significant that the verses of the Qur’an and the phenomena in the
universe and in man-material and psychological- are both called
‘signs’. The imperative “Read!” is followed, not by a direct
object or an adverbial, but by ‘in and with the name of your Lord
Who created.’ (www.islamanswers.net)
‘Reading’ the universe means studying and observing the nature.
And also it should not be forgotten that Islam gives this duty not
only to the scientists but to all human beings. Islam wants from
everyone to be aware of this beauty, excellence, art and the
‘signs’ that are surrounding them. Universe is a letter, a book
written for us to read. Universe is a palace built by Almighty God
to make Himself known to conscious beings, to us. Every tree is a
page, every leaf is a word, and every cell is a letter which hides
a further number of other letters written by the pen of molecules
and atoms. Sometimes because of our daily duties and hurries we
forgot to look to the nature. Therefore Qur’an reminds us this
duty numerous times. A Muslim scientist Dr. Muhammad Aijazul
Khalid says that, ‘In contrast to 250 verses which are
legislative, some 750 verses of Holy Qur’an –almost one-eight of
the whole- exhort the believers to study nature, to reflect, to
make the best use of reason and to make the scientific enterprise
an integral part of the community’s life.’
Here are some of the verses of Qur’an:
“Have they not reflected on the kingdom of the heavens and the
earth, and what things God has made?” Koran 7:185
“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and earth and the
alternation of night and day – there are indeed signs for men
understanding.” 3:190
“Have they not looked at the camel how it was created?
And at the sky how it was raised up?
And at the mountains how they were embedded?
And at the earth how it is spread out?” 88: 17-21
“Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have made it and
adorned it, and there are no flaws in it? And the earth – We
spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and
produced therein every kind of beautiful growth (in pairs) To be
observed and commemorated by every devotee turning (to God)”
50:6-8
Why Qur’an encourages man to look to the nature and study it?
Because, it is the way for us to Know our Creator. How can a
person love somebody without knowing? The way to love of God
passes thorough the knowledge of Him. Everything we look at nature
has clues, signs that showing its Maker and Creator. For example
how do we know that Black holes in the universe or atoms forming
this chair exist without seeing them? We are looking to the signs
and evidences for them, by means of experiments and calculations.
And then we conclude their existence. In science it is called
“inference”. The same procedure works our way to the Creator. If I
see a table I conclude that there is a carpenter who made this
table. So when I see a tree again the same rule works and it means
that there is a Maker of that tree. But when it comes to the tree
which this table is made of why should I stop and say no it
happened just by chance? If a table can’t exist without a
carpenter even if we wait for billions of years, how a tree can ?
The creatures not only show the existence of the Creator but also
they show His Divine attributes and names. When I see a baby bear
in the arms of its mother I feel the name Al-Rahim, The Merciful;
when I see beautiful scenery adorned with beautiful trees, rivers
and flowers I feel the name Al-Musawwir- The Fashioner, when I
look up to the sky and see millions of galaxies and huge stars
around, I feel the name Al-Khabir- The most Great, Al-Azim- The
Great One. Because of this fact the Prophet Mohammed (peace upon
him) informs us that reflecting and thinking is very important and
the reward of extra pray for years can even be obtained by
reflecting and thinking Allah - God just for a few minutes.
Not only Qur’an encourages man to look and study nature but also
mentions facts that only recently discovered or proven by
scientists. For example embryonic development of human, verses
related with mountains revealing their unique features and verses
related with the origin of universe are some of these. The well
–known writer, Maurice Bucaille, acknowledged that the Qur’an did
not contain a single statement that was assailable from a modern
scientific point of view. He declared: “The relationship between
the Qur’an and science is a priori a surprise; especially it turns
out to be one of harmony and not of discord” (Buacille, 1975,
p110). In fact, this is the reason why no Muslim scientist ever
faced, on account of his science, the kind of ‘crisis of faith’ or
‘moment of truth’. (www.islamanswers.net)
Now because we have not much time and also it is not the main
subject of today’s talk, I do not want to give details about them.
But if you want there are numerous web pages and books to read.
*********
Briefly, I feel the support and encourage of hundreds, thousands
of Muslim scientists behind me who were the teachers of the world
for centuries. And I find Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) in front of me telling and directing me to study
science. The great Turkish Scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, (who
inspires and teaches me the true belief) explains in his books
that:
“The light of conscience is religious sciences. The light of mind
is modern sciences. Reconciliation of both manifests the truth.
The student’s skills develop further with these two (sciences).
When they are separated, from the former superstition and from the
latter corruption and scepticism is born.”
Now let me talk about my intention to study biochemistry.
SEARCH FOR LIFE
In his book “The Living State” Albert Szent-Györgi tells about why
he chose to study biochemistry and what he found from that study.
“My own scientific career was descent from higher to lower
dimension, led by a desire to understand life. I went from animals
to cells, from cells to bacteria, from bacteria to molecules, from
molecules to electrons. The story had its irony, for molecules and
electrons have no life at all. On my way life ran out between my
fingers.” (Albert Szent-Györgi, The Living State, Academic Press,
1972)
My own reason for choosing biochemistry is not different from him.
While I was a chemical engineering student I took elective courses
like biochemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology and then I
did masters degree at biochemistry because of my interest to
understand life, the nature. To learn what this red tomato is made
of, to learn how this shiny coral fish is created? What is the
relationship between the colourless and tasteless carbon dioxide
and sweet grape I eat? What is the mystery behind these creatures,
what is the mystery of life? Every lecture was revealing a
different, fascinated world of molecules which made me excited
while learning the glucose metabolism, DNA replication or protein
synthesis. The complexity of the events amazed me, as it amazes
every scientist who studies these subjects.
I understand that actually life is a riddle but transparent at the
same time. “It is a riddle in that scientists, who cannot explain
it with material causes, are unable to discover its origin. It is
transparent because it shows or reflects a creative power. Through
both its transparency and its being a riddle, life declares: 'The
one who creates me is God.'” (http://www.mlife.org)
Let’s look closer to the life to see how it can be a riddle while
being transparent
Let’s choose skin as an organ. If we look closer we find epidermis
tissue which forms the skin. If we decrease the dimensions from
millimetres to micrometers we can see the cells, the building
blocks of the tissues. Cells are the functional units of all life.
As we do they eat, protect themselves, reproduce, interact each
other, get older and die. They all have their own life. Sometimes
I can’t stop myself thinking about them; the life of cells, which
forms my body. I was not aware of them if I hadn’t been thought at
my science courses. How I feel myself as one, as a whole, as
Yildiz, while I am nothing but a collection of tiny creatures
which continuously live and die. Isn’t it a mystery waiting to be
solved? …Let’s continue our trip to the smaller dimensions. Cells
have organelles that have different functions. One is called
mitochondria and responsible for energy production. If we look
closer to the membrane of this organelle we see that it is mainly
made of lipids and membrane proteins
(figure 1). But what are lipids and proteins? Actually they are
nothing but macromolecules that are made of atoms; mainly carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Anything else? No.. if we look to
the different parts of the cell for example its DNA? No again the
same all parts are made of from only and only lifeless atoms. The
cell is alive, the organelle is alive but the material it is made
of is completely lifeless ATOMs. If we look to the animals or
plants or bacteria always the same shocking result waits us. All
the creatures as we called living organisms, all of them actually
created from lifeless molecules. The revelation of this fact at
the last century surprised Albert Szent-Györgi and all other
scientists who are searching for the mystery of life.
If the nonliving-atoms are the building blocks of living cells,
then where is the distinction between life and lifeless? Where is
life? Is it possible to combine the non-living molecules and to
produce life? Up to now nobody succeed that so we only say that
only from living things life can emerge. This is the riddle.
Although the life is transparent, I mean we can examine it up to
its building blocks but it is a riddle that when we go there we
loose it.
Except life the other creations of God are behind the veils of
causes: apples come from trees, trees from seeds. Everything is
appeared to be tied to the sequences of causes. Although the
causes are blind and deaf, they still could be veils of the real
power of God Almighty for a person who does not look carefully.
However, life is an exceptional creature on which apparent causes
have not been placed, veiling the disposal of power, in order to
show clearly that it has emerged directly without veil or means
from the hand of dominical power.
The reason of veils behind the creations of God is the testing of
human beings. Because “if everything was explicit the test will be
meaningless, for the truth of the Divine obligations would be
readily apparent. Given that we would then be unable to deny or
ignore them, the competition behind our testing and trials would
be unnecessary, for we would have to confirm their truth.” But
LIFE is different from other creation and is made without apparent
causes from “non-living” material as a SIGN to the person who
thinks.
Francis Crick (who discovered the three dimensional structure of
DNA and the Nobel Prize winner) says that the way to understand
life is “stripping away the skins of the onion until there is
little or nothing left” as we did at the example we discussed
before. And then he says that “When we do this we can not help
being struck by the very high degree of organized complexity
we find at every level, and especially at the molecular level,
since we have every reason to believe that structures easily
visible to naked eye, as well as those seen only with a
microscope, are built up from the intricate interactions of their
molecular components.” (Life Itself-Its origin and nature, Francis
Crick, Macdonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd, London& Sydney, 1982,
p.49-50)
Michael Behe, an American biochemist states in his book that:
“Over the past four decades, modern biochemistry has uncovered the
secrets of the cell. It has required tens of thousands of people
to dedicate the better parts of their lives to the tedious work of
the laboratory…The result of these cumulative efforts to
investigate the cell- to investigate life at the molecular level-
is a loud, clear, piercing cry of “design!”. The result is so
unambiguous and so significant that it must be ranked as one of
the greatest achievements in the history of science….Instead a
curious, embarrassed silence surrounds the stark complexity of the
cell. Why does the scientific community not greedily embrace its
startling discovery? Why is the observation of design handled with
intellectual gloves? The dilemma is that while one side of the
elephant is labelled intelligent design, the other side must be
labelled GOD.”
“Shining objects on the face of the earth glistening with the
sun's reflection, and bubbles on the surface of the sea sparkling
and dying away with flashes of light and the bubbles that follow
on after them again acting as mirrors to the imaginary miniature
suns, self-evidently show that those flashes are the reflections
and manifestations of a single, elevated sun. They recall the
sun's existence with various tongues, and point to it with their
fingers of light.
In just the same way, through the greatest manifestation of the
Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One's Name of Giver of Life, the
living creatures on the earth and in the sea shine through Divine
power, and in order to make way for those that follow after them,
utter "O Living One!" and vanish behind the veil of the Unseen,
thus indicating and testifying to the life and necessary existence
of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Who possesses eternal
life.” (30. Flash, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.)
Life is the most important aim of the universe as we can
understand from the as scientists say “fine tuning” of the
universe. The universe with its dimensions, the accuracy of the
distances between sun and earth, the amount of water, carbon and
oxygen and with a number of other critically calculated designs,
it is evident that the universe is intentionally created to result
in LIFE.
Since life is the greatest result of the universe, and its
greatest aim and most valuable fruit, life too must have a great
aim and result as vast as the universe. For like the tree's result
is its fruit, the fruit's result, too, by means of the seed, is a
future tree. Yes, just as the aim and result of this life is
eternal life, one of its fruits too is thanks to the Ever-Living
Giver of Life and worship and praise of Him and love for Him. And
just as this thanks, love, praise and worship are the fruit of
life, so are they the aim of the universe. (30. Flash Bediuzzaman
Said Nursi.)
If we do not want to accept these facts only doubts are waiting
us. What is the aim of life or aim of man if it is not connected
to a creator? Is it the result of a selfish gene or an antique
work of art of Almighty God?
In one versus of the Kur’an it is said that:
“Indeed, we have created man on the most excellent of patterns….
Where man as well as life came from? Is it the result of chances,
coincidences or a result of an intelligent design? Although some
people claim that the universe and consequently life is nothing
else but the result of the chances, coincidences and therefore
aimless and without a purpose, still they are searching of a
purpose and a meaning. And it seems that some found this purpose
at their genes and called them “selfish gene”. It is claimed that
we are only a player in the game of the genes. I am sorry I can’t
reduce myself to just a puppet of a number of molecules, called
DNA. The complexity of the genes, their function at the protein
synthesis and regulation is so complex and amazing that it is
impossible to believe that these lifeless atoms which are even
unaware of themselves can handle or organize them. Instead, by
their miraculous design they show a CREATOR. And by believing the
Creator only we can increase the level of humanity from being the
puppets of genes, to being an antique art of an Almighty Creator.
Yes HUMAN body with its amazing physical structure and its
properties like intelligence and imagination, tell us and inform
us from the All-Glorious Maker.
******
In conclusion, as a scientist and a Muslim, every subject I learn
from biochemistry links me to my Creator. This knowledge leads me
to improve my knowledge and to strengthen the love of my Lord.
Instead of feeling a conflict between the science I study and the
faith I believe, just the opposite, I feel that, my belief to my
religion becomes stronger by studying science.
