Materialist Science The Negative Science

Abstract

It is commonly believed that physical phenomena can be understood
in scientific terms. Science is presumed to produce knowledge that enables
man to predict future events, control his environment or explain diverse
phenomena. Regardless of the use to which scientific knowledge is put,
the cognitive claim is there. The question is: Do scientific results constitute
knowledge? To answer this question, it is necessary to examine the
logical structure of science. The problem is one of justification. Given that
a conclusion is supported by scientific evidence, is the scientific concept
of evidence a legitimate one? These questions about the foundation of scientific
inference (i.e., the scientific method of justification) have great
import.
The methods of inference taught in the Qur'an are distinct from and in
conflict with those of science. Furthermore, we believe that the application
of the Qur'anic methods will yield knowledge of God, which is the
only true knowledge. However, the successes of science and its technological
consequences have made many people, including believers in God,
equate knowledge with scientific knowledge. There are many who still
hold that religion is a matter of faith-the "dogmas" of religion are accepted
on faith. The point is that the grounds for accepting a faith have nothing
to do with cognitive claims. If a particular religion is fundamentally a
matter of faith, then there is no basis for pref erring it to other faiths.
In the face of this conflict between the method of the Qur'an and that
of science, it is essential to assess the cognitive claims of religion. If our
commitment to religion is to be more than an unjustified devotion, we
must know that revelation is better suited to the attainment of knowledge
than science. The problem is to ascertain whether there are sound logical
reasons for supposing that the conclusions of revelation constitute more
reliable, in fact the reliable knowledge, than conclusions established on the
basis of the scientific method of inferences.
Why and How Questions: An Artificial Division
Science is based on causality, the cornerstone of materialism and the
antithesis of God's Oneness (tawbid). For this reason, if the scientific ...