Allah describes the Qurʾān as the ‘guidance to mankind, and the Criterion (of right and wrong)’ (2:185). Islamic scholars have therefore sought to explain the sciences associated with correctly understanding the revelation. This discipline has come to be known as ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, or ‘sciences of the Qurʾān’, and includes many subjects, such as the nature and order of revelation, explanations of the types of expressions used in the revelation and how the sacred text is to be correctly recited. Imam Jalāl ad-Dīn as-Suyūṭī wrote one of the leading comprehensive manuals on ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, entitled al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān. The text here translated is a summary by Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Arqahudān of many major topics covered in the Itqān.

This book introduces everyone to the wealth of knowledge that sprang from the teaching of the Quran and influenced human studies and culture in diverse ways that has led to scientific inventions and growth of knowledge in the Muslim world between the 7th and 14th centuries and brought about the Renaissance in Europe and introduced the Europeans to the fundamental elements (i.e. knowledge, inquiry, reason and freedom) which opened the door for modern scientific inventions. This book establishes that Quran and science are two aspects of the same truth and there is no contradiction between them. The first revelation of the Quran inspired the Prophet of Islam to acquire knowledge and emphasised the importance of learning in human life. (96:1-5) It also advised him to pray to Allah for increase in knowledge. (20:114) According to the Quran, only men of knowledge really fear Allah most (35:28) because they observe and see Signs and Attributes of Allah both in the Qur'an and in the material universe. They reflect, think and understand the parables of the Quran and His manifestations all around them and draw right and beneficial conclusions from them. (29:43) The Quran makes it absolutely clear that the whole material structure is full of His Signs but only men of knowledge observe them and understand them. It invites them to meditate on it (4:82) and on His creation. The Quran introduces new dimensions into the study of religion and its philosophy and seeks to bring men of knowledge (scientists) closer to Allah through the study of His Attributes and manifestations in the material world. We hope and pray this introductory study of the Qur'an as a science will initiate and encourage investigation and research in this direction and lead to the revival of scientific knowledge as it did in the early period of the Islamic history.

This book explores the methodological foundation of Islamic thought premised on the cardinal principle of Tawhid, meaning the Oneness of God as the universal law. The consequential methodological worldview arising from the monotheistic unity of knowledge is explained as the theory of consilience, meaning unity of knowledge as the primal ontological reality leading to its epistemological and phenomenological essentials of reasoning and thereby configuring reality. Masudul Alam Choudhury presents a non-mathematical exposition of the theory and applications of Meta-Science of Tawhid, and brings out the essential monotheistic methodological worldview of science.

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Quran and Hadith Studies Information Technology and Media in Conjunction with the 1st International Conference on Islam, Science and Technology, ICONQUHAS & ICONIST, Bandung, October 2-4, 2018, Indonesia Now-days, Multimedia devices offer opportunities in transforming the Quran and Hadith into different forms of use, and into extended areas of studies. Technology information offers challenges as well as opportunity. Therefore, Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN (the State Islamic University) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, and UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang held jointly the 2nd International Conference on Qur’an and Hadith Studies (ICONQUHAS 2018) and the 1st International Conference on Islam, Science, and Technology (ICONIST2018), with the theme “Qur’an-Hadith, Information Technology, and Media: Challenges and Opportunities”. This conference aims at bringing together scholars and researchers to share their knowledge and their research findings. This publication resulted from the selected papers of these conferences

The title of this volume implies two things: the greatness of the scientific tradition that Muslims had lost, and the power of the West, in whose threatening shadow reformers now labored to modernize in order to defend themselves against those very powers they were taking as models. Copernicus and Darwin were the names that dominated the debate on science, whose arguments and rebuttals were published mainly in the religious and secular journals in Cairo and Beirut from the 1870s. Analysis and interpretation of this literature shows the hope that Arab reformers had of duplicating the Japanese success, followed by the despair when success was denied. A cultural malaise festered from generations of despair, defeat and foreign occupation, and this feeling transmogrified after 1967 to a psychosis in a significant number of secular writers, educators and religious reformers. The great debate on assimilating science was turned inward where defensive mechanisms of denial spun out perversions of science: the Quran becoming a thesaurus of science; and a more extreme derivative of that, something called "Islamic Science," arising as an alternate science that was to be in harmony with the Quran, Shari’a and Muslim belief. This volume reveals the undermining effect of European imperialism on western-oriented religious reformers and secular intellectuals, for whom science and political reform went together, and concludes with a chapter on the state of science in contemporary Muslim societies and the efforts to institutionalize science (before the upheavals of 2011) so as to bring to life an authentic and indigenous culture that would sustain scientific study and research as autonomous pursuits.

This volume offers up-to-date insights into the state of library and information science (LIS) in the Middle East and North Africa. Covered topics include information literacy, intellectual property, LIS education and research, publishing and more. This timely contribution thus presents vital areas of research on a region that receives relatively little coverage and is currently experiencing rapid and significant changes.

This title was first published in 2002. This text seeks to provide the necessary background for understanding the contemporary relationship between Islam and modern science. Presenting an authentic discourse on the Islamic understanding of the physical cosmos, Muzaffar Iqbal explores God's relationship to the created world and the historical and cultural forces that have shaped and defined Muslim attitudes towards science. What was Islamic in the Islamic scientific tradition? How was it rooted in the Qur'anic worldview and whatever happened to it? These are some of the facets of this account of a tradition that spans eight centuries and covers a vast geographical region. Written from within, this ground-breaking exploration of some of the most fundamental questions in the Islam and science discourse, explores the process of appropriation and transformation of the Islamic scientific tradition in Europe during the three centuries leading up to the Scientific revolution.

This book focuses on the history and work of the Saudi Dār al-Iftā, one of the most central modern Islamic official religious institutions. The study was undertaken from two perspectives: (1) Dār al-Iftā creation, power structure, functions and the sociopolitical environment in which it operates; and (2) The actual work of this institution, mainly the mechanisms by which modern Saudi state muftis cope with clashes between Wahhābī idealism and the reality of an evolving society. This is a critical work which updates the readers' grasp of contemporary law and society in the modern Saudi state, in particular, and in Islamic jurisprudence in general.

Until now studies of the Qur'anic sciences have either been partial, brief, or sectarian. In the main, such works have more or less inspired the contribution of the great Shi'a scholars to our understanding of the Qur'anic sciences. This book has been written not only to redress this gap but also to present a new and more balanced view of this important topic. The authors have addressed many more issues than are usually found in a book on Qur'anic sciences, some of which have been hitherto unavailable in English. It is hoped that the book will be a useful addition to the material available to undergraduate students who are studying Islam.