The PC …

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, 
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort, 
and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, 
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, 
and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, 
and your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash, 
then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house, 
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, 
but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol, 
that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall, 
and you screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, 
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse, 
then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 
'cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk, 
and the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk, 
then you have to flash your memory, and you'll want to RAM your ROM. 
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom.

Religion and Science

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“Behold ! In the creation of the skies and the earth,

and the alternation of night and day …

there are indeed signs for men of understanding,

Men who celebrate the praise of Allah,

standing, sitting and lying down on their sides,

and contemplate the (wonders of) creation of the

skies and the earth (with the thought):

“Our Lord ! Not for naught You have created (all) this !

Glory to You ! …” ”

(Q. 3 : 190 - 191)

 

Belief in religion takes faith without the need for any justification. On the other hand, science is rational knowledge-based analysis based on logical findings and observed patterns. As science develops and technology become much more widespread, its validity has thus gained ground to the masses. However, religion’s credibility is being put into question by “knowledge societies”. And so, we find many “followers” in every religion but very few true followers.

Search for truth must take an unbiased path but with close examination of the developments in the past few decades of science, some very disturbing facts would be revealed that would even jeopardise our trust in science. Has there been attempts to mould science to suit materialistic agenda particularly atheism ? This question would surely crop up when the scenario nowadays has been highly conducive to concepts and theories that questions the existence of Allah ! The Darwinian concepts and steady state cosmology belong to this category. (Compare them with these 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Big Bang cosmology suggested a beginning for the universe which many did not like because it implied a divine intervention for the creation of the universe. Attempts such as proposed in 1963 by two Russian scientists, Lifshitz and Khalatnikov, on steady state theory is an example. It was Hawking and Penrose which showed that Einstein’s infamous theory implied that the universe had a beginning and, possibly and end but ironically he asks: “But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simple be. What place then for a creator ?”

History of Insan’s  pursuit for a rational explanation of the world around him has been marred with conflicts, confrontations, harassments and persecutions of the upcoming revolutionary thinkers. Religious leaders used to suspect science to be a rival to religion and their cherished belief when it was just a speck on the intellectual horizon and as science unfolds the mysteries of the universe in a more convincing way, the suspicion grew stronger.

With the advent of technological breakthroughs, science steadily grew wings and the clash between science and religion touched a new high with the entry of the theory of evolution. Succinctly put by Earnetst Haeckel: “Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection revolutionised biology. The implication of this postulated struggle for existence seemed to undermine the basis of religion … no miracle, no creation, no creator.” Darwinism challenged the religion, particularly its theory of creation and the first open confrontation took place in 1860 between Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of the Church of England supporting Genesis and T.H. Huxley supporting Darwinism where the former was humiliated and insulted. The controversy continues between religion and science as religious leaders apprehended that they would be marginalised in society. All developments on this agenda however conveyed a misleading message that religion is antithesis of science or vice versa. However, we find that the theory of evolution has become more of a religion to the evolutionists as it loses it credibility in scientific circles. They are as blind as the followers of religion in support of their faith.

These are the kinds of concepts/theories that needs to be contended with to sustain the validity of religion. Strides in science and technology has been enticing minds and luring them to the world of enjoyment and entertainment breaking moral barriers and Allah’s directives. It is also equally true that no belief or faith without a scientific basis is going to be acceptable and thrive in this new-age technology-driven world. Hence, bound to duty are Muslim scientists/scholars to shed light on rationale of the Quranic message.

“It is He Who taught man that which he did not know.”

(Q. 96 : 5)

Knowledge, both science and spiritual, comes from Allah and true science is as divine as the Quran (being that true science is the scientific knowledge that does not contradict the Quran). The incompatible portion of science should be weeded out to purify science. While science explains the nature, properties and behaviours of the universal components and systems, the holy messages explain the spiritual aspects.

Present day science education tends to detract one from the spiritual and religion. This is the unfortunate consequence of modern secular education and its regimes. Science should be taught in Islamic perspectives upholding its basic principles particularly the existence of God and tauhid. Science should be taught as  system created by Allah about the universe, its diverse components, mechanisms and controls from subatomic level to galaxies and beyond. According Seyyed Hossein Hasr, an Islamic scholar : “Islamic science is an independent way of looking at nature and explaining it as a product of creation by Allah, a stand fundamentally different from the so-called modern secular science. It is rooted in the Quran, grounded in the doctrine of Unity (at-tauhid), which is central to the Quranic revelation and has developed in the framework of the Islamic conception of the universe on the one hand and the knowledge on the other”.

As Albert Einstein observed: “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” Scientific rendering of the Quranic message would bring out clearly the rationality of Islam and the combination of science and the Quran would lead to the evolution of a holistic knowledge about the universe and the purpose of human life.

The Quran tells among other things that mankind is Allah’s vicegerent on earth. Man is God’s servant and He is testing us to know how many of us accept Him as the Master without seeing Him, and live according to His directions. We are warned that the activities of each and every one of us are being recorded. The universe will end one day and it will be re-created. On that day, human beings will be judged based on their individual records and will be awarded permanent life in Heaven or punishment in Hell depending on the success or failure in the test. How can we comprehend these messages ? Is there any possibility for all these things to happen ? If there is, only science can shed light. Until now, man has used science and technology mainly to better the worldly prospects and material gains – Yet to be tapped, to explain the Holy Messages rationally and bring the absolute realities within his perception and beyond his reproof. True science and religion is like two sides of a coin – complementary to each other.

 

Religion ruled the past,

science rules the present, and

religio-science will rule the future, Insya-Allah !