Science vs. Religion
“Science without religion is lame”
—Albert Einstein
From the invention of the wheel to the invention of the microchip to the invention of whatever new amazing thing is being worked on today, man is always searching for ways to make life easier and better. We’ll never know who actually invented the wheel, but there are records of its use in Mesopotamia as early as 3500 BC. Without it, the industrial revolution could never have happened, and we’d still be walking or riding horses to visit friends in the next village. But it happened. Someone (or maybe several people) got the inspiration, perhaps by watching a round stone roll down a hill, that if you rounded off the corners of a rock, it would move easily and smoothly. And the rest, as they say, is history.
In the mid-1980s, on the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the computer, I saw Konrad Zuse on the Today Show. He patented an idea in 1936 that eventually became the modern electronic computer. But he said that he couldn’t take credit. He felt that all inventions were out there and then God placed them into someone’s head at the right time. (I’m paraphrasing—I can’t remember exactly what he said, but this was the gist of it, and I’m sure he did mention God).
I recently came across a quote from John Muir. Muir was our foremost environmentalist. He is responsible for saving much of the US wilderness areas for all of us to enjoy, and he founded the Sierra Club, which carries on that mission today. But in his younger days he was an inventor of many small and practical items. He never patented anything and someone asked him why. His response: “All improvements and inventions ought to be the property of the human race. No inventor has the right to profit by an invention for which he deserves no credit. The idea of it was really inspired by the Almighty.” |
While copyrights & patents are a necessary and integral part of the knowledge-economy we live in, Muir’s premise endures, that all beneficial ideas do in fact come from the Almighty. He is the One who gave us the brain and the ability to reason. And He provides inspiration.
[3:188] Those who boast about their works, and wish to be praised for something they have not really done, should not think that they can evade the retribution. They have incurred a painful retribution.
Willis Carrier received what he called a “flash of genius” in 1911 while waiting for a train. I don’t know if he attributed it to God, but he did acknowledge that it came from outside of himself. He was inspired to figure out ways to control temperature and humidity, and from that inspiration, air conditioning was born.
We know that God is the source of all knowledge. No one attains any knowledge except as He wills. [2:255] Some scientists, inventors, geniuses have been able to grasp that fact. Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” He had no trouble understanding that religion and science are not incompatible. In fact, they need each other. He knew that God was the Creator and that being appreciative was a huge part of living. He said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
He was a scientist, and therefore had great respect for science, but he was also conscious of the beauty and joy of the world. "It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure."
The following Einstein quote is from a work called The Merging of Spirit and Science. This acknowledges that God is science. “The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no |
longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
[2:2-3, 5] This scripture is infallible; a beacon for the righteous; who believe in the unseen, observe the Contact Prayers (Salat), and from our provisions to them, they give to charity. These are guided by their Lord; these are the winners.
[25:62] He is the One who designed the night and the day to alternate: a sufficient proof for those who wish to take heed, or to be appreciative.
[39:66] Therefore, you shall worship GOD alone, and be appreciative.
Lydia
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The Shape of the Earth*
[39:5] He created the heavens and the earth truthfully. He rolls the night over the day, and rolls the day over the night.* He committed the sun and the moon, each running for a finite period. Absolutely, He is the Almighty, the Forgiving.
*39:5 This verse clearly informs us that the earth is round. The Arabic for "He rolls" (Yukawwir) is derived from the Arabic word for "ball" (Kurah). Since the Earth is not exactly round, a specific reference to its shape is given in 79:30. The Quran is replete with scientific information that became known to us centuries after the revelation of the Quran. See Appendix 20.
The Big Bang Theory Confirmed*
[21:30] Do the unbelievers not realize that the heaven and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe?
*21:30 The Big Bang Theory is now supported by the Creator's infallible mathematical code (Appendix 1). Thus, it is no longer a theory; it is a law, a proven fact.
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