Open AccessGod, Life and Cosmos
Author(s) -
İbrahim Kalın
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of islam and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2690-3741
pISSN - 2690-3733
DOI - 10.35632/ajis.v17i3.2058
Subject(s) - islam , respondent , muslim world , political science , religious studies , sociology , theology , law , philosophy
The international Islamabad conference titled God, Life and Cosmos:Theistic Perspectives was held in Islamabad, November 6-9, 2000.Sponsored and organized by the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences(CTNS), Berkeley, United States, Islamic Research Institute (IRI),Islamabad, Pakistan, and International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT),Islamabad, Pakistan, the conference drew over fifty scholars from the fieldsof natural sciences and religious studies. A number of interesting paperswere presented on various aspects of the relation between religion and science,and each paper was critically evaluated and responded to by a respondent.The conference commenced with the introductory remarks of MuzaffarIqbal (National Library, Alberta, Canada) and then the keynote speechwhich was delivered by William Chittick, the renowned scholar of Islamicintellectual history and Ibn Arabi. Chittick’s keynote address titled“Modem Science and the Eclipse of Tawhid” focused on the sharp contrastbetween the Islamic concept of tuwhid (Divine unity) and the secularworldview of modem science. Drawing on the traditional distinctionbetween the transmitted (naqli) and intellectual (uqli) sciences, Chittickemphasized the importance of intellectual sciences in confronting the challengesof the modem world. As respondent to Chittick‘s keynote paper,Hasan al-Shafi’i (President of the International Islamic University,Islamabad, Pakistan) further elaborated on the points raised by the keynotespeaker. The f i t day of the conference closed with a wonderful presentationabout Pakistan and its history by the son and daughter of MuzaffarIqbal, the indefitagiable convener of the conference.The papers presented at the conference touched upon nearly all of themajor aspects of the religion-science relationship: the rise of modem physicalsciences and the responses of the Islamic as well as Christian worlds,philosophy of science, modem cosmology, theory of evolution and itsmeaning for the religious worldview, history of Islamic sciences and its ...