Qur'anic attitude towards scientific spirit

Abstract

In what way, if any, and to what extend has the Kur'an influenced the minds of Muslims who have managed to contribute much to the rise and development of scientific spirit in the Muslim world? This is the main question I will try to answer in this paper. So, the history of science and the actual achievements of Muslim scientists do not directly concern us here. As we all know, before the revelation of the Kur'an the intellectual output of the Arabs consisted mainly of poetry and oratory. The level of scientific curiousity, let alone a working scientific spirit, was at its lowest, and it showed no sign of growth. However, soon after the death of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) Muslims came out very sucessfully not only in widening their geographical territories but their intellectual horizons as well. They opened their minds to the achievements of Greeks, Indians and Persians in science and philosophy. They intelligently evaluated and at a later stage assimilated those cultural elements that were in keeping with the teachings of the Kur'an. From the eight century onwards, Muslims reached with an amasing speed at an intellectual level where science and philosophy lived their heyday. This is an obvious historical fact that needs no justification of any sort. Now, here again I would like to pose the following question: What was the spiritual power behind the achievements of the Muslim mind? The prophet (p.b.u.h.) and his close associated had managed to set up a socio-political structure which was extremely just an human. This was not something unexpected. An idea in this case the shows its influence first on the penetrating ideas of the Kur'an psychological and then on the sociological levels.