Science and Thought in Islamic Civilization (10) / Thinking and Research: A Human Trait مقاله

خلاصه ماشینی:

Critique of "Ernest Renan's" Statement Sayyid Jamal al-Din, in critiquing the discourse of "Renan," who accused Islam of opposing the scientific and philosophical spirit, responded as follows: "The history of every nation must be viewed as a stable movement and a smooth evolution that possesses various stages and levels; any characteristic of that nation must be judged in light of its specific historical stage and the emergence of that characteristic, and no behavior or trait should be considered inherent to a nation" (3) . But the question is, if there were no quest for knowledge, what real necessity or need would motivate individuals to travel from Khwarizm, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Merv to Rey, Isfahan, Baghdad, and Damascus, just to learn, for example, a single chapter of a book or to attend a lecture by a professor? Therefore, if the criterion for acquiring sciences were only necessity, there would never have been a need for a person to refer to the most knowledgeable and most qualified among them in various fields ______________________________ 1. Perhaps some might imagine that these scholars whose fear (khashyat) is mentioned in the verse refers only to "religious scholars" who possess expertise in various types of Islamic sciences and have made "virtue" their way of life in the realms of knowledge and action. " This verse shows that all sciences and knowledges are intended by the Quran, and one must engage in thought, research, and investigation regarding them to uncover the secret of creation and the mysteries of nature. The idea that sciences are exclusively limited to "religious sciences" while other knowledges are merely "superfluous" (fadl) and should only be learned out of "necessity" is far from the conventional Quranic mindset.