This past summer Qasim Rashid wrote an article entitled: "When Will the Muslim Honor It's First Nobel Laureate?" It's a moving piece about the failure of Islam to honor science and indeed how scientists who's research deviates from or challenges Islamic dogma are treated as infidels.
Rashid writes: "Muslims today boast, rightfully, about Islam's Golden Age and its unprecedented contributions to the sciences. Muslim leaders worldwide implore Muslims to rise up to that greatness once more. But in doing so, too many ignore the 20th century's most prominent Muslim scientist--one who once again rekindled the brilliance of the countless Muslim scientists who created the Golden Age of Islam."
The source of extremistism is the insistence upon doctrinal certainty and the enforcement of that world view through defilment, descration and death. The refusal to engage in fact-based discussions about the origins of the Universe and the evolution of man means that much of physics and biology is off limits.
In his book "The Ascent of Man" Jacob Bronowski wrote: “There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy.”
The massacre of this week, the killing of 122 children in Pakistan, the rise in attacks on Jews in Europe are the result of this monstraous centainty. Islamic leaders will be hard put to undermine this aspect of it's epistemoilogy but they must do so to save their religion.
We have not faced a similar assault on freedom since Nazi Germany. And no surpise, the Third Reich rose to power by subsuming science to it's Aryan vision.
Back then the West rose up to defend freedom in the "hour of maximum danger." It must do so now. without apology or resort to the usual relativistic excuses that hamstring the actions and intellectual honesty necessary to that defense. And it can begin by pointing that the gap betweeen Islam and the rest of the world that opens wider with every savage act of violence can be bridged only when the scientific impulse -- the challenge of past dogmas and theories and the dedication to critical thinking -- is wovem into the fabric of education and institutions. Honoring the scientists of today is a good way to demonstrate that necessary shift in outlook.
You can read his article by going to this link: When Will The Muslim World Honor Its First Muslim Scientist Nobel Laureate?
Rashid writes: "Muslims today boast, rightfully, about Islam's Golden Age and its unprecedented contributions to the sciences. Muslim leaders worldwide implore Muslims to rise up to that greatness once more. But in doing so, too many ignore the 20th century's most prominent Muslim scientist--one who once again rekindled the brilliance of the countless Muslim scientists who created the Golden Age of Islam."
The source of extremistism is the insistence upon doctrinal certainty and the enforcement of that world view through defilment, descration and death. The refusal to engage in fact-based discussions about the origins of the Universe and the evolution of man means that much of physics and biology is off limits.
In his book "The Ascent of Man" Jacob Bronowski wrote: “There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy.”
The massacre of this week, the killing of 122 children in Pakistan, the rise in attacks on Jews in Europe are the result of this monstraous centainty. Islamic leaders will be hard put to undermine this aspect of it's epistemoilogy but they must do so to save their religion.
We have not faced a similar assault on freedom since Nazi Germany. And no surpise, the Third Reich rose to power by subsuming science to it's Aryan vision.
Back then the West rose up to defend freedom in the "hour of maximum danger." It must do so now. without apology or resort to the usual relativistic excuses that hamstring the actions and intellectual honesty necessary to that defense. And it can begin by pointing that the gap betweeen Islam and the rest of the world that opens wider with every savage act of violence can be bridged only when the scientific impulse -- the challenge of past dogmas and theories and the dedication to critical thinking -- is wovem into the fabric of education and institutions. Honoring the scientists of today is a good way to demonstrate that necessary shift in outlook.
You can read his article by going to this link: When Will The Muslim World Honor Its First Muslim Scientist Nobel Laureate?
