By: Donny Syofyan
Does Islam encourage humans to think, innovate, explore and make discoveries in the universe, both on earth and in outer space? Does Islam encourage technological progress? The answer is yes.
There is an interesting verse in the Koran regarding jinn and humans, “O group of jinn and humans! If you are able to penetrate (across) the corners of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate. You will not be able to penetrate them except with strength.” (QS 55: 33). In this verse, the power referred to can be God’s help or the resources needed to be able to do it, namely technological equipment. Space exploration is something that is normal for us, today and in the future. Many Muslim scholars see this verse as an encouragement to drive technological progress and so on.
Moreover, in many parts of the Koran, there is a value or price for intelligence. The Qur’an often asks, afalâa ta`qilûn (Aren’t you thinking?) And the Qur’an even encourages travel, “Walk on the earth, then watch how (Allah) began creation” (QS 29: 20 ). Travel the world and see how God has initiated creation. If Darwin, who sailed on the HMS Beagle, succeeded in making discoveries about the origin of species, in fact Muslims would have been encouraged in the Koran to follow the same path.
Many verses in the Qur’an criticize how people do not believe in God because they are reluctant or have not traveled so that they do not have the intelligence to know God (QS 47: 10; 12: 109; 27: 69; 3: 137, and so on). From the perspective of the Qur’an, the ideas of traveling, learning, exploring the horizons encourage humans to make scientific discoveries that lead to belief in God. Sometimes people think science and religion are contradictory or contradictory.
Much of what the Qur’an says reflects the natural phenomena around us. The main point of the Qur’an is that if we pay close attention, we will see evidence of the glory of Allah and the greatness of His creation. In simple terms, the Qur’an is really about what we observe in the physical world—the stars and planets, creation, how things move in each orbit, and how day and night exchange. .
By paying attention to all these natural phenomena, we will discover amazing things from a scientific point of view. For example, when the Qur’an says “and each in its orbit continues to circulate” (QS 36: 40). So the stars, planets and so on exist in their respective orbits. Even some scientists are thinking about what the orbit of the sun is, because now we know that the sun does not revolve around the earth.
Maurice Bucaille in his book, The Bible, The Koran and Science has shown that the entire galaxy rotates on its axis. And with that, the solar system moved with it. And for that reason, the sun has its own path in the revolution of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Koran says, “And the sun walks in the place of its circulation” (QS 36: 38). This has even accomplished what Dr. Maurice Bucaile as the sun peak. The path the sun follows and the approximate end point of that journey. It is interesting how the Qur’an talks about natural phenomena.
This has contributed a lot to scientific progress in the Middle Ages, from around the 8th century to the 14th century. If we read John Gribbin’s book entitled Science: A History, we will see that the great scientists of those centuries were actually Muslim and Arab scientists. In Islamic civilization, in Arab lands, Muslims have developed a great interest in science and discovery. Many students travel from Europe to go and study Arabic and study sciences in the medium of Arabic under the guidance of Muslim scholars and Arabic tutors.
Donny Syofyan, Lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Andalas University
2023-11-03 01:42:20
#Islam #Space #Exploration
