Muslim Theological Encounters with Science : Kaleidoscopes of Knowledge Over Time

Muslim Theological Encounters with Science examines the complex relationship between Islamic theology and modern science across historical periods. This Element traces how premodern Muslim theologians developed sophisticated frameworks for relating reason and revelation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Muslim Theological Encounters with Science dismantles the 'Islamic decline' narrative by showing how science and theology have long coexisted in Muslim civilization. Premodern thinkers navigated enduring tensions between reason and revelation, ensuring that intellectual disagreement fostered growth rather than hostility. Modern friction between science and Muslim theology-driven by colonialism, limited scientific literacy, and the absence of a science-attuned common sense among theologians-has often, though not exclusively, stemmed from adherence to outdated theological models. The author proposes a 'symphonic and braided' framework for relating science and theology, treating them as distinct yet complementary languages of meaning-making. Cultivating humility and imagination emerges as essential to human understanding. By avoiding the trap of forced convergence, this framework allows science to explain the 'how' while theology addresses the 'why,' together weaving a more complex and resilient pursuit of the truth. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.