Can Knowledge Be In Two Parts - Of Science and Religion

By Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam 10 January 2023 Does It Therefore Not Suggest That The Two Are Inseparable - As The Knowledge, The Pen, The Word, And The Tablet? That The Clergy And Scientist Need To Be Equally Knowledgeable? Hence Religion Cannot Be Worship Alone Nor Science Be Treated As Knowledge Alone? ------ It is generally accepted that people all over the world are distancing themselves more and more from their Churches; that is, they are becoming less and less Church goers. This generalised statement has to be moderated with the observation that emotional Spirituality is expressed openly in public now when it comes to saying goodbyes to ones idols, heroes and celebrities like the Pope, Sportsperson, Political leader and Celebrity etc. People shower emotionally charged Good Wishes on them; as was evident recently where Religious Funerals rites of Celebrities were held. Huge crowds gathered in Churches and public spaces expressing good wishes for them on their "next journey", showering their cortege with flowers. Thus giving rise to the unanswered Question among some "intelligent and the curious” minds; as to what or where is this next journey and where it will end? In short, asking as to where is the demarcation that defines Scientific knowledge of some Certainty and Spiritual speculations of Religion, and who are the custodians of that Knowledge, and many more. Strangely, these enquiries arose during this last festive holidays of Christmas and New Year, in a gathering of likeminded friends while watching Pele's send-off to the other world, on TV....."Where is that other world?" ...A Spanish speaking friend exclaimed when a lady in the crowd on the TV spoke emotionally into the mic of the Reporter. Our friend explained to us that the lady was wishing Pele the soccer king, a place in Paradise! One thing led to another and the unsolved question: Where does KNOWLEDGE reside among Human society, raised its head? Is it the Community of Scientist or the Priesthood of Houses of Worship-the custodians of the mother church? As it happened, our friendly group was composed of a pritty mixed bunch of "them and us". There were a few Doctors, medical and Scholars, including one Muslim lady, Science based scholar but very Religious, and her husband, a maths teacher, with full length Religious beard etc. The discussion gravitated into a sort of debate on Space Travel and its necessity and benefits to Humanity in general. Astonishingly the lady Scientist and her husband too; turned out to be the ardent opponents of the need for such human effort. They both termed it a waste of time, life and resources, futile and against God's plan, citing the Quranic verse which refers to the keys (Maqalid) of the heaven being with God, reinforcing it with Biblical references too. Further, giving references of the failure of Apollo 13, The Challenger disaster and some of the Rover crashes on the Moon and Mars surfaces. Thus according to them, the keys are not available to mankind, as these events have proved. Have we not heard the same disbelief expressed from members- pulpit in 1969/70, when N Armstrong and B Aldine made the One Giant leap for mankind, landing on the Moon, all those years ago! It is said that the Wright Brothers' Father, a Reverend, said to his sons that if mankind was meant to Fly, The good Lord would have given them wings! Heated discussion on successful Moon landing was to no avail. That was brushed aside as false propaganda; and in fact attention was drawn to a film that was made on the issues of the falsehood of Moon landing. Few others, too were of the same mind, gingerly arguing that in scientific terms, it seems "unscientific" that something can go up against Gravity and then never fall back to Earth! With reference to Quran, many verses extol the virtues of studies of the functions and working of the Universe...."Alam Taraa...?" -why don't you observe? In Verse 16-12 of Quran is given: "....And He (God) has subjected to you for your benefit the Day and the Night and the Sun and the Moon. And the Stars have been subjected to you by God's command..." A Comic by nature among us had to shout in whisper: ".... Fasajadu Illa Iblees..." 2-34. Even after this and many more references to verses where contemplation and study of heaven and heavenly bodies are given were referred to, there was no conclusion to the dilemma as to who was right let alone who was supposed to be the custodian of Knowledge or what is Knowledge? Yet, in the context of Quran, a book that is commonly supposed to be RELIGIOUS Book, a Bible for Muslims, Believers in God and God's commands and which refers to phenomenon of the Universe such as, the Rain, the Lightning, the Clouds, the Night, the Day, the Sun, the Moon, planets Orbits, the Time and.... the Duty to God, taken as Religious worship. It was argued that, it combines these two aspects that is the Mundane and the Spiritual into one frame. It was asked: Does it therefore not suggest that the Two are inseparable - as The Knowledge, the Pen, the Word, and the Tablet? That the Clergy and Scientist need to be equally knowledgeable? Hence Religion cannot be Worship alone nor Science be treated as Knowledge alone? Since there was no consensus, fortunately it was agreed to live and let live and as civilised and perhaps enlightened people, it was decided to leave it more appropriately to: Lakum Deenukum, Waleya-Deen--your ways to you and mine to me! So it has been since mankind stood up straight and erected Churches and Schools! The Priests retaining their respective A'limud-Deen (Scholars of Deen) distinctive status by their distinctive attire, -- "so as to be Noticed by men 107-6 ", inviting acknowledging salutations from passers-by--and the humble Scientist of 35-28 Surah Fatir, walking the streets as ordinary creature, hardly attracting a glance, like the Polymaths of ninth and tenth century in Middle East! But that is a hollow claim, as the one with Knowledge had asked: - "They were your forefathers, what are you?" ---- A regular contributor to New Age Islam, Rashid Samnakay is an Indian-origin Engineer (Retd.) based in Australia for over forty years. 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