Description :

The philosophical conflict of religion and science is one of the most compelling and controversial issues today. Many intellectuals, scholars and philosophers from the West representing Christian and Jewish philosophical traditions have addressed this burning question but little has been heard from their counterparts in the Muslim tradition.

 

What do Muslims have to say on the subject, and what is the relationship between modern scientific developments and Muslim belief? What is the Islamic tradition of kalam, and does it have anything to contribute to modern science and philosophy? These are some of the critical questions addressed by Basil Altaie in his latest book God, Nature, and the Cause: Essays on Islam and Science.

 

Altaie, physicist and philosopher rooted in classical Islamic theology, argues that the kalam tradition – Islam’s deepest philosophical expression – provides a number of insights that can create a greater understanding of modern physics, and reconcile the apparent clash between science and religion. In this riveting set of essays, Altaie takes us from the early circles of Mu’tazili and Ash’ari kalam, to the universities of Western Europe, in a critical survey that engages thinkers like Al-Ash’ari, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, Aristotle, Newton, Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Laplace, Schrödinger, and others.

 

 

" This is an unprecedented and fascinating study,
available in English for the first time
through Kalam Research & Media."

 

 

This book provides an important resource for practitioners of philosophy, science, and theology, and offers an invaluable and timely contribution on Islam and its interaction with modern science.

 

 

 

Dr. Basil Altaie is Professor of Quantum Cosmology at Yarmouk University, Jordan. Over the last 30 years he has lectured on physics at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, teaching Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Mechanics, Classical Mechanics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Classical Electrodynamics, Quantum Electrodynamics, Scientific Thinking, Mathematical Physics, History and the Philosophy of Science.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents :

 

---Preface,

---Acknowledgements.

 

Chapter [1].

---Daqiq al-Kalam : A Possible Role in Science and Religion Debates,

------Science and Belief,

------Influence of the Greeks,

------The Rise of Kalam,

------Theological Questions Facing Science,

------An Overview.

 

Chapter [2].

---Laws of Nature and Laws of Physics,

------What is a Law of Nature?

------What is a Law of Physics?

------God and the Law,

------The Laws of Modern Physics,

------Logic, Mathematics and Reality,

------Conservation Laws,

------Why Should There Be a Law?

------The Cosmological Argument,

---------The Cosmic Singularity,

---------Laws of Physics at the First Moment,

---------The Mind of God.

 

Chapter [3].

---Causality : An Islamic Perspective,

------Some Basic Definitions and Concepts,

------The Phenomenology of Cause,

------The Cause in the Qur'an,

------Causality According to Traditional Kalam,

---------The Ash'ari Theory of Custom ('ada),

---------Imam al-Ghazali on Causality,

---------Ibn Rushd's Criticism of the Ash'aris' Custom,

------Laplace's Determinism,

------Causality in Relativity Theory,

------Causality in Quantum Mechanics,

------About the First Cause,

------Causality: A Modern Islamic Perspective.

 

Chapter [4].

---Divine Action from a Modern Islamic Perspective,

------The Need for God,

------Divine Action in the Traditional Islamic Worldview,

---------Divine Action in the Qur'an,

---------Divine Action in Kalam,

------Divine Action in Modern Perspectives,

------The Problem of Measurement in Quantum Mechanics,

------Interpretations of Quantum Measurements,

------Re-Creation : A Possible A Possible Interpretation of Indeterminism,

------Divine Action in Modern Western Thought,

---------Human Freedom,

---------Freedom of the World,

------Discussion.

 

Chapter [5].

---Space, Time and Kalam,

------Earlier Views,

------Space and Time According to Aristotle,

------Space and Time in Physics,

---------Space and Time in the Theory of Relativity,

------Space and Time According to Islamic Kalam,

---------Space and Time According to Ibn Hazm,

---------Space and Time According to Al-Ghazali,

------Concluding Remarks.

 

Chapter [6].

---Cases from Old Debates: The Size of the Universe & the Fate of the Sun,

------Greek Sciences in Islam,

------The Firmament in the Qur'an,

------The Size of the Universe,

---------Ibn Rushd responding in Tahafut al-tahafut,

---------Scientific Assessment,

------The Degeneration of the Sun,

----------Scientific Assessment,

------Al-Ghazali's Position on Science and Religion,

------Summary Conclusions.

 

Chapter [7].

---Neo Kalam : A Possible Transformation of Traditional Islamic Thought,

------Violence and Islam,

------Historical Attempts,

------Transformation from Within,

------Islamisation of Knowledge,

------The Scientific Miracle of the Qur'an,

------The Approach,

------Subjects to Encounter,

---------The Sources of Shari'a,

---------Metaphor in the Qur'an,

---------The Sunna of the Prophet, ?.

 

 

---Notes,

---Bibliography,

---Index.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Islamic Theology | Kalam.

More Kalam | Darsi.

 

 

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*Dimensions : 22.9 x 15.2