Need to Revise Basic Premise of Science

By
Late Dr. M. RAFI-UD-DIN








Published by:
All Pakistan Islamic Education Congress
7-Friends Colony, Multan Road, Lahore

Need to Revise Basic Premise of Science
LATE DR. MOHAMMAD RAFI-UD-DIN

The Concept of Isl amic education as an instrument of nat ional uni fi cation
needs t o be defined very cl earl y for drawing up a programme for it s
implementation.
The fi rst necessary step is to discard the erroneous and dangerous West ern
dogma that all t rut h is sensory and to rewrit e all our t ext -books on science
subj ects, from the 5
t h
class to the M. A level , in accordance with the worl d-vi ew
of Isl am.
Many reasons:
The basi c premise of the sci enti fi c knowl edge of the West, that all t ruth i s
sensory, must be repudi ated by us not onl y because it is un-Isl ami c and confli ct s
with our world-outlook but also because:
(a) It is wrong.
(b) It beli es the i ncont rovertibl e t rut h that it is impossibl e t o have a
sci ence whi ch has no philosophical basis and does not st art with a
beli ef.
(c) It is sel f-contradict ory.
(d) Since on account of i t the West ern sci ence is circumscri bed by a wrong
Idea, it impedes the free and full development of sci ence.
(e) It does not permit t he physi cist t o account for and explain the fact of
order observabl e in t he physi cal phenomena of nature.
(f) It does not permit the bi ologist t o account for and expl ain the purpose
and supremel y i ntell igent planni ng for a distant obj ective, observabl e
in all organisms in nature and in the evol ution of li fe as a whole.
(g) It does not permit t he psychol ogist and t he human and soci al sci ent ist
to reach the onl y possibl e rati onal and sci enti fi c expl anation of mans
urge for an ideal ---which is that it is an i ndependent urge of his nature
whi ch rul es and controls all his animal i nstincts and moti vat es all hi s
activiti es and that it can be perfectl y sat isfi ed onl y by an ideal of the
hi ghest beaut y and perfection, whi ch i s God. The result is that the
West ern psychologist is utt erl y i gnorant of the t remendous power in
human nature t hat motivates human activities and t he sci ences of these
activiti es whi ch can be founded onl y on the knowl edge of thi s power,
are in a stat e of complet e disorder i n the West.
(h) It is a danger to t he continued existence of any soci et y and any
civil izati on. It has already brought the West ern ci vilization face t o
face with death.
These points need some el aboration one by one.
(a) The presupposi tion t hat all truth is sensory i s incorrect because
trut h is not onl y that whi ch i s known to us directl y wit h the help
of our five senses, but also that whi ch is known to us i ndi rectl y
as our inference from a truth or a number of truths, known t o us
with the help of our five senses. Indeed, our dail y l ife is based
much more on our i nferences than on our direct observations.
The fact that t he West ern sci entist himself cannot st ick to his
dogma of sensory t ruth is enough to est abli sh its absurdit y. For
he inferred the exist ence as well as the properti es of the at om
from its effects wi t hout seeing the at om itsel f. An Ameri can
sci enti st has r ecentl y observed a const el lation of atoms under a
powerful elect ronic microscope. But all the knowl edge of the
atom which we now have and whi ch enabled some peopl e to blast
Hiroshima became avail abl e to humanit y long before the atom
was observed. The atom has been all along an assumption which
was believed to be sci enti fi cal l y t rue because there could be no
other explanati on of a number of observed facts. Hence the
beli ef t hat t ruth is always sensory does not bear exami nati on.
Just as the atom is known to us defi nitel y by its observable
effects in spite of i ndivi sibilit y, God is known to us defini tel y
by His observabl e activit y in nat ure in spite of Hi s invisibilit y.
(b) The West ern sci ent i st is wrong when he says that science does
not st art wi th any pre-concei ved beli ef. Every human act i vit y
proceeds from the world-view of the i ndividual who indul ges in
it and sci ence as a human act ivit y is no exception. That is why
even the Western sci entist has a beli ef about the nature and
obj ect of sci ence and about the best and the most appropri at e
pre-requi sit es and pre-conditi ons of indul gi ng i n it. For example,
he beli eves t hat science shoul d not st art with pre -concei ved
beli ef---a beli ef whi ch is ulti mat el y deri ved from his vi ew of the
nat ure of realit y and of it s rel ati on to sci ence, i. e. from his
world-vi ew. Simil arl y t he starti ng beli ef of Russian science is
dial ecti cal mat eri alism. The Muslim premise of sci ence, which is
onl y one that can be shown to be accurat e, in the concept of
God.
(c) The premise of West ern science is sel f-cont radictory. The
West ern scientist not onl y contradi ct s himsel f but al so proves
the i mpossibil it y of his st andpoi nt, t hat sci enti fi c acti vit y should
not st art wit h a bel ief, when he st arts hi s sci enti fi c acti vit y with
the beli ef that sci ence shoul d not start wit h a beli ef at all.
Growth i mpeded:
(d) Since t he premise of West ern sci ence is wrong it is an
impediment to t he full and free devel opment of sci ence. A
sci ence cannot cross the li mit prescri bed for it by it s basic
presupposition or belief. It cannot reach concl usions whi ch are
contrary to it s foundati ons because it cannot dest roy it s own
basi s. Thus a sci ence whi ch is based on the beli ef t hat all t rut h is
sensory cannot come to the concl usion God; however, st rong
may be the evidence in its favour. It avoid, cuts short , divert s or
twists the li nes of thinking and reasoni ng whi ch may l ead to t he
concl usion God i n order to remai n sci entifi c according t o its
own meaning of the word. That is why the West ern sci ent i sts
ignore and do not explai n the fact of int elli gent order observable
in the physical phenomena of nature and the fact of consci ous
purpose observabl e in the bi ologi cal phenomena of nature and
the urge for an ideal as an independent controlling power of all
human acti viti es. That is also why they use the words
Mathemati cal Mind (Jeans), Mi nd-Stuff (Eddington), Elan Vital
(Bergson) and Ent elechy (Dri esch) instead of God whenever t hey
find that observed sci enti fi c facts cannot be expl ained wit hout
assuming a met aphysical entit y as their cause.
Order in Nature:
(e) The premise of the Western sci enti st t hat all truth is sensory
forbids him from explai ning, or even acknowledgi ng wit h al l its
impli cat ions, the fact of int ell i gent order observable i n t he
physi cal phenomena of nature. Sci ence is possibl e onl y because
there is order in nat ure. What the scient ist seeks and discovers
through his observation of nat ure is nothing bur order. The
knowledge of science i s enti rel y the knowledge of order in
nat ure. It is t he exact and infallibl e order prevaili ng in t he
physi cal worl d that has given rise t o the physi cal sciences, and
made possi bl e thei r technological appli cation. What is order ?
One charact eri sti c of order is quit e evident. It i s t he sure si gn of
the acti vit y of a mind.
(f) The evidence of order as indi cati ve of t he purpose acti vit y of a
mind becomes still more impressi ve in t he syst em, desi gn, plan,
organizati on, co-ordinati on, orchestrati on, whol eness, unit y and
uniformit y t o be observed i n the li ving organisms. Each of the
inner physiol ogi cal functi ons of an animal, e. g. di gest ion,
biochemist ry of met aboli sm, the industry or hormones and
vitamins, bl ood ci rculati on, respirati on, procreat ion, automati c
physi cal growth i nto a predet ermined form, spontaneous
activiti es of i ts vit al organs, aut omatic healing of inj uri es and
aut omat ic health restori ng reactions to disease, indi cat e the
mast erl y cont rol and direction of some mind ot her than t hat of
the animal itsel f. Thus by seeking and discovering order in
nat ure sci ence raises the question Whose mi nd i s t here at work
in ever y littl e det ai l of nat ure? The obvious answer to the
question is: It is t hat of Creat or of nat ure who is known t o the
common man as God.
The idea of God t hus comes nat urall y and irresist ibl y into the
physi cal and biologi cal sciences as the onl y possibl e explanation
of the facts of order and purpose observabl e in the external
phenomena of nature.
It is sometimes asked: How is it possible to bri ng t he i dea of
God int o sci ence? Thi s question is put generall y by the
foll owers of the Western sci enti st who i gnore t he fact that what
makes science possi ble is t he exist ence of t he int elli gent act ivit y
of a Creator. The real question that should be asked i s: How is
it possi bl e for any sci enti st to separate the idea God from
sci ence without i gnoring or refusing t o answer t he questi ons
rai sed by his own scienti fi c inqui ry and thus stopping the
process of reasoni ng and thi nki ng from taking it s normal and
nat ural course?
(g) When we come from the physical and bi ologi cal sciences to the
sci ences of the human mind and its activi ties like t he Phil osophy
of Politi cs, Philosophy of Ethi cs, Phi losophy of Educati on,
Philosophy of Economi cs, Philosophy of Law, Individual
Psychology, Soci al Psychology and Phil osophy of Hist ory etc. ,
generall y known as the human and soci al sci ences, we find t hat
the need of revisi ng the t ext -books and maki ng t he idea of God
the cent ral fact and the organizing principl e of each of these
sci ences is all the great er. Eminent scholars and writ ers of t he
West agree that these sci ences are in a stat e of chaos at present
so that it is not proper t o call them sci ences at all and the cause
of i t is the i gnorance of the West ern scholars of human nature.
Although we know t hat the West ern scholars themselves admit
that thei r soci al sciences are in a st at e of disorder and are in fact
not sciences at all , we are so fond of imitati ng the West ern man
and belittl ing oursel ves before him that we t each these sci ences
they are in our Paki stan Uni versi ties. In bri ef, we need to revise
the text -books of human and soci al sci ences not onl y to make
them Islamic but also to make them rational l y sound and
sci enti fi c. We cannot have an Islamic system of education i n our
country, unl ess we stop following blindl y i n the footsteps of the
erring West ern scholar in his dogma that t rut h is sensory and
gi ve the i dea of God the supreme import ance in our educational
syst em.
(h) Innumerabl e quot ati ons can be given from the West ern thi nkers
and writ ers to show that they have at last real ized that the
Godl ess premise of West ern sci ence was a mist ake that i t has
eaten int o the root s of t he West ern ci vilizati on and that this
civil izati on can now be saved onl y i f the idea of God, and
consequentl y the idea of morali t y, is i nt egrat ed with science.
McDougal l wants t o save t he West ern civilization from an
impending coll apse by assuming, i f possibl e, the powers of a
dict ator, to divert all our most powerful int ell ects from the
physi cal sci ences t o research in the human and social sci ences,
because it is convi nced t hat the prevail ing confusion of t hese
sci ences is sure t o bri ng about the disint egration of this
civil izati on. However, he does not know how these sci ences must
be alt ered so as t o make t hem a force for the perpet uation of t his
civil izati on. But another outst anding West ern phi losopher t ells
that t he crises of t he West ern ci vilization is due t o the fact t hat
it is based on the major premi se that all t ruth is sensory and God
and soul cannot be classi fi ed as t rut hs and t hat in order to save
this ci vilization we must discard this premise and substit ut e it by
a new spi ritual premise. This West ern philosopher, who was t ill
recentl y the Chai rman of the Depart ment of Sociol ogy at
Harvard Universit y and who has been descri bed by t he j ournal of
Sociology and Soci al Research as one of t he mast er -mi nds of
our generati on: , is Prof. Pi trim Sorokin. He has writt en a whole
book entitil ed The Crises of Our Age t o show that Western
civil izati on has reached a t ragi c crises which is goi ng to end
in its disi nt egrati on, resulting in the degradation and tragedy
of t he contemporary may. Accordi ng t o him t he cause of the
cri ses is t hat the West ern ci vilization emerged wit h a major
beli ef t hat t rue realit y and t rue values were mainl y or
exclusivel y sensory. Anyt hing t hat was supersensory was eit her
doubt ful as realit y or fi ctitious as a value. It did not exist or,
bei ng unpercei vable by t he sense, amounted to the non-exist ent.
Since t rue real it y and t rue val ue were thought t o be sensory,
anyt hing that was non-mat erial, t hat could not i n the way of
dail y experience be seen, heard, touched or smelled had t o be
decl ared unreal, non-existent, and of no val ue. And that is
exactl y what has happened. It s fi rst poisonous fruit is fatal
narrowi ng of the realm of t rue realit y and true value. Once t he
cult ure ent ered thi s pat h it has t o move along toward a greater
and great er sensitization of the world of realit y and of value.
He says that t he Western civi lizati on can be saved onl y i f it
shift s to a new premise---a spirit ual premise---as its basis and
this necessit at es
the deepest re-examinati on of the man
premises and values of sensat e cul ture, rejecti on of its
superannuat ed pseudo values and re-enthronement of the real
val ues it had di scarded. The present antagoni sm between
rel i gion and sci ence is unnecessary not to mention di sastrous. In
the li ght of an adequat e theory of t rue realit y and value t hey are
one and serve one purpose---t he unfol ding of the Absolut e in the
rel ati ve empirical world to the greater nobilit y of man and to
greater glory of God.

By giving the idea of God i ts proper pl ace in the t ext -books
of sci ence we shall not onl y save oursel ves from the poi son of
whi ch the West ern civilization is dyi ng but also enabl e the
West ern civilization to know how t o save itsel f.