Islamic Vision of Science and Knowledge as a Guarantee for Human Progress
Keywords:
Islam and knowledge, Qur'anic epistemology, scientific inquiry, Islamic Golden Age, human progress, ethics in science, intellectual development, rational thought, revelation and reason, Islamic CivilizationAbstract
In the Islamic worldview, knowledge, scientific inquiry, and intellectual development together form the core of human progress. From the Qur’anic command “Iqra” (Read) to the Golden Age of Muslim scholarship, Islam has historically encouraged advancements in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, engineering, philosophy, and the social sciences. This article examines how the Islamic vision for knowledge encourages rational thought, empirical observation, ethical responsibility, and lifelong learning: in other words, the principles that together can be boiled down to a worldview that supports global human progress. Drawing on a discursive analysis of the interrelationship between revelation and reason, Islamic endowments to world civilization, and the contemporary resonance of Islamic epistemology, this inquiry will make the case that an integrated model of faith and science can assist humankind in responding to modern challenges and building a prosperous, ethical, and knowledge-based society.
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