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Western thought today is in the midst of a raging battle between religion and science. It is almost impossible for a Western thinker today to accept the fact that there may be a meeting ground between religion and science. The Bible, in which the Christians believe, states that the tree from which the Prophet Adam (peace and blessings be upon him) was forbidden to eat was the tree of knowledge. Thus, after he ate from it, he gained certain knowledge that he had not had before. For this reason, Europe spent two centuries arguing whether or not to accept scientific knowledge coming from Muslims.
The Church ruled that the pursuit of such scientific knowledge was the cause for the original sin. The bishops drew their evidence from the Old Testament, where it is mentioned that when Adam ate of the tree and gained some knowledge, Allah was displeased with him and denied him mercy. Scientific knowledge was therefore rejected entirely by the Church as a taboo.
Finally, when the free thinkers and scientists of the West were able to overcome the power of the Church, they took revenge by going in the opposite direction and suppressing any power of the religion. They went to all possible extremes in order to overcome the power of the Church and reduce its influence into a narrow and a confined corner.
Therefore, if you discuss the issue of religion and science with a Westerner, he readily goes into sheer wonderment. They do not know Islam. They do not know that Islam accords a very high status to knowledge and men of knowledge, regarding them as witnesses, after the angels, to the fact that there is no god worthy of worship in truth but Allah, as Allah Himself has told us in the Qur'an: [Allah (Himself) is witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). ] (‘Al `Imran 3:18) Almighty Allah also told us: [Know, therefore, that there is no true deity but Allah.] (Muhammad 47: 19)
It is known from the Qur'an that Adam (peace be upon him) was favored over the angels by virtue of the knowledge given to him by Allah. The Qur'anic story contradicts that of the Bible which Muslims hold to have been distorted. According to the Qur'an, the fact that Adam was given knowledge is a mark of honor, and not the cause of his expulsion from Paradise. Hence, if one discusses Islam and science with Western thinkers, they tend to expect an argument similar to what they have in their own religious and cultural context. That is why they react with surprise when they are presented with the crystal clear facts of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
In this section, Hadith and Science, we present examples of these scientific facts referred to in the Prophet's hadiths, which testify to the divine origin of this religion and show the sublime position assigned to science in Islam.
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