In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The title of this blog is based on the book "Tawhid and Science" by Osman Bakar. I read the book over eighteen years ago and it left me thinking. Tonight, as I looked at old notes, I found a few pages of my penned thoughts on the theme of causality discussed in the book. I hope by sharing my thoughts, it would spark more thoughts in the mind of the readers. These are just my thoughts which may be wrong for only God knows the truth. The sentences in italics are current additions to the work.
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18/09/1995
The theologians say: (quoted from the book)
The scientists argue: (quoted from the book)
In the view of modern atomic/quantum theory, much of the theologians' ideas ring a bell. As a Muslim scientist (which I'd like to think myself as) I cannot deny that matter has proven to be made of atoms and even smaller components (like the protons, electrons, quarks and leptons and now they have proved the Higgs Boson - the so-called 'God' particle) though these atoms unlike the "atoms" of the theologians have mass. But looking at the components of the atoms like the electrons, protons and neutrons, there is a contradictory dual identity which none have yet managed to answer satisfactorily. For example, the electrons have a dual characteristic of wave and particle. It cannot be defined in terms of both space and time. This comes closest to the Asharites' "atom" again. Its ability to "move" from one shell to the next in quantised form, not having any identity in between the shells makes it even more similar.
I can also understand the scientific/philosophical stand where they emphasise on the "natural cause" of things. Without these "laws", the whole foundation of experimental techniques will collapse because if B does not follow naturally from A then who is to say what results would occur in two identical experiments carried out independently of each other. Should we even assume there will be results since results come about only if the law of causality is true.
But for me, there is no contradiction between them. The Asharites, in modern terms, are looking at the microscopic (or even at nanoscopic level - I was involved in modelling the aerodynamics of a hard disk drive and at the read-write head where it is in nanoscale, the traditional fluid dynamics breaks down) end of the world where uncertainty principle holds. It is very much the domain of the unseen and miracles - of an aspect of Allah's power that we know little of.
Let's take the instant of the fire in Prophet Abraham's a.s. story (where he was thrown into the fire and Allah said to the fire "Be cool"). In the quantum world, the fire has nearly infinite probability of being/having other properties other than burning. (This is because the quantum world is a probabilistic world - with a probability distribution.) I believe it is Allah's Will that causes the fire to burn over all other possibilities as time has no effect here due to it being a "split second" probability and constantly changing. But in the macroscopic world, where time governs, fire has always been known to burn so the mind forms the knowledge of causality that fire burns.
Therefore in the case of Prophet Abraham a.s., it was Allah's will that the fire became cool. That is, in the quantum world, the fire now takes on the less than how many percent probability of becoming cool instead of the overwhelm probability of it being hot. In the macroscopic world, because the mind has always associated fire with burning it becomes a miracle.
For me, it is a miracle because it shows clearly Allah's powers and influences in our world and lives, showing that through His Will and Being is the Ultimate Reality. We, being granted 'Aql' and free will, have also a reality, albeit a subjective reality as our reality depends on the Ultimate Reality. Wallahu a'lam.
The title of this blog is based on the book "Tawhid and Science" by Osman Bakar. I read the book over eighteen years ago and it left me thinking. Tonight, as I looked at old notes, I found a few pages of my penned thoughts on the theme of causality discussed in the book. I hope by sharing my thoughts, it would spark more thoughts in the mind of the readers. These are just my thoughts which may be wrong for only God knows the truth. The sentences in italics are current additions to the work.
-------------------------------
18/09/1995
The theologians say: (quoted from the book)
Everything in this world is made up of "atoms" be it matter, space or time. Quantised! No relation between one "atom" and the next...no question of causality. The link between them is God's Will which made the world continue as we know it.(For more details on the Atomistic concept of Nature as proposed by the Asharites, there is a good article here by the same author.)
The scientists argue: (quoted from the book)
There is causality only that God is the First and Ultimate Cause....The scientific perspective on causality seeks to explain the world and all phenomena, including the miraculous, in terms of "natural causes" or by appealing to the nature of things, given to them by God...The world is dependent not only on God's will but also His being. It is clear however that the aspect they glorified is His Being and Intelligence.My thoughts:
In the view of modern atomic/quantum theory, much of the theologians' ideas ring a bell. As a Muslim scientist (which I'd like to think myself as) I cannot deny that matter has proven to be made of atoms and even smaller components (like the protons, electrons, quarks and leptons and now they have proved the Higgs Boson - the so-called 'God' particle) though these atoms unlike the "atoms" of the theologians have mass. But looking at the components of the atoms like the electrons, protons and neutrons, there is a contradictory dual identity which none have yet managed to answer satisfactorily. For example, the electrons have a dual characteristic of wave and particle. It cannot be defined in terms of both space and time. This comes closest to the Asharites' "atom" again. Its ability to "move" from one shell to the next in quantised form, not having any identity in between the shells makes it even more similar.
I can also understand the scientific/philosophical stand where they emphasise on the "natural cause" of things. Without these "laws", the whole foundation of experimental techniques will collapse because if B does not follow naturally from A then who is to say what results would occur in two identical experiments carried out independently of each other. Should we even assume there will be results since results come about only if the law of causality is true.
But for me, there is no contradiction between them. The Asharites, in modern terms, are looking at the microscopic (or even at nanoscopic level - I was involved in modelling the aerodynamics of a hard disk drive and at the read-write head where it is in nanoscale, the traditional fluid dynamics breaks down) end of the world where uncertainty principle holds. It is very much the domain of the unseen and miracles - of an aspect of Allah's power that we know little of.
Let's take the instant of the fire in Prophet Abraham's a.s. story (where he was thrown into the fire and Allah said to the fire "Be cool"). In the quantum world, the fire has nearly infinite probability of being/having other properties other than burning. (This is because the quantum world is a probabilistic world - with a probability distribution.) I believe it is Allah's Will that causes the fire to burn over all other possibilities as time has no effect here due to it being a "split second" probability and constantly changing. But in the macroscopic world, where time governs, fire has always been known to burn so the mind forms the knowledge of causality that fire burns.
Therefore in the case of Prophet Abraham a.s., it was Allah's will that the fire became cool. That is, in the quantum world, the fire now takes on the less than how many percent probability of becoming cool instead of the overwhelm probability of it being hot. In the macroscopic world, because the mind has always associated fire with burning it becomes a miracle.
For me, it is a miracle because it shows clearly Allah's powers and influences in our world and lives, showing that through His Will and Being is the Ultimate Reality. We, being granted 'Aql' and free will, have also a reality, albeit a subjective reality as our reality depends on the Ultimate Reality. Wallahu a'lam.
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