Muslim Scientists

In his article “The Caliphs Gave News Service and Postal System to the World” (Radiance Viewsweekly,6-12 April 2008), Mr. Mohammad Yacoob has presented a long list of past Muslim scientists in various fields and an idea of their discoveries. To add, Muslims have every right to be proud of their past glory for two more reasons. They neither discovered any dangerous weapons of mass destruction nor did they help the profit-oriented capitalists with the inventions to maximise production capacity at the cost of wellbeing of the under-privileged working class. What we see today is that the ruling elite and the capitalists patently use scientific advancement to promote their selfish ends. Most of modern inventions/ discoveries helped only to either exploit the working class or decimate parts of humanity and proved to be disservice to humanity.

We have to ponder over the reasons for the decline of scientific research and development in the Muslim world. Before we push our progeny into the mad race in the scientific fields, it is better to understand what purpose a particular scientific research serves, and whom it serves at the end. Muslims should develop constructive science by inculcating compassion in humanity and introducing moral principles to the research and applications. This will not turn into a tool for domination or exploitation but promote peace and prosperity in society.