Reformulating a comprehensive relationship between religion and science: an Islamic perspective

Islam & Science, June, 2003 by Osman Bakar

Starting with the second structural component, the basic premises or the foundational principles, is it important to bring Islam's epistemological resources to bear on this component? Well, it is important because we do know that on the basis of their nature and epistemic status the premises of a science may not belong to the category of real knowledge or their truths may be doubtful. As maintained by Muslim philosophers of science, all premises may be reduced ultimately to the following four categories: (1) the category of received opinions or beliefs, (2) the category of generally accepted opinions and beliefs, (3) the category of sensory knowledge or empirical data based on sense perceptions and (4) the category of intuitively accepted intellectual principles. (11) In their view, premises in the fourth category are necessarily true and certain and therefore completely acceptable. Acceptable as well are the new premises derived from them in accordance with the best rules of logic. In other words, the truths of rational propositions based on intuition and logic are affirmed and their suitability as premises of a science unquestionable.

Where the premises may be questionable is in the other three categories. It is in the nature of beliefs that they may be true or false. It is therefore necessary to scrutinize premises belonging to the first two categories to ensure that these do not contradict Islamic doctrines. The beliefs and opinions taken as premises, whether these originate from religious sources other than Islam or happen to be generally accepted in a certain culture should be replaced, wherever possible, with explicit Islamic doctrines even if they are not contrary to Islam. The implied idea here is that Islamic doctrines may provide a much richer source of basic premises for the sciences even when we can accept those beliefs coming from other religious traditions.

As for the reliability of sensory knowledge or data based on sense perceptions to be used as premises, the issues involved need to be well understood. We may say that for the particular purpose at hand, by itself, such a kind of knowledge is legitimate and reliable only in a limited epistemological context. The extent of its legitimacy and reliability varies with the nature of the subject matter of the science in which it is sought to be used. Clearly, empirically derived premises are more relevant to empirical sciences like physics and chemistry. But in the case of those sciences in which our approach to the subject matter would involve elements of belief, conjecture and other more subjective considerations to a great extent, the use of empirical data alone would be inadequate. The required premises need to be formulated on the combined basis of empirical and rational knowledge. Then there are sciences in which we have to depend solely on rational or intellectual principles for our premises.

It is clear to us that traditional Islamic disciplines such as epistemology, metaphysics, theology, cosmology, and psychology have an very important role to play in any intellectual project to formulate conceptual relationships between science and Islam. (12) Their main role would be to furnish us with rational doctrines that are more scientifically justifiable to be used as premises of the various sciences. The cosmological doctrines are perhaps the most needed in the task of laying down the foundations of the physical and biological sciences. Premises of the life sciences need to be based on the traditional conceptions of such central ideas as soul and life pertaining to all living things. In the cognitive sciences, among other things, we have to enlist the help of traditional cognitive psychology in clarifying for us the multi-layered meaning of intelligence and its whole range of activities. The consideration of these traditional doctrines for their roles as premises of the sciences in no way nullifies the role of empirical investigations. By all means, let us resort to the empirical investigations as well, wherever possible and pertinent.