I am taking a short break from blogging and will resume a few days from now. Visitors to my blog might want to review the evolution of my thinking on the subject of the link between science and religion in Islam(in particular Shia Ismaili Islam) by starting at blog no. 1 and working upwards to the present day. My early posts try to establish the doctrinal basis for the study of objects and events in the material universe by studying utterances from our 49th and 48th Imams, Quranic ayats, Prophetic sayings and Hadith, and cosmological doctrines from early Shiism to the end of the Fatimid period.
Once I establish a firm doctrinal basis for the study of the perceptible universe, I spend a significant amount of time talking about the amazing discoveries that have been made over the past 500 years by western science as well as scientists during the golden age of Islam. I am considerably aided by access to NASA's Astronomy picture of the day website, and other sources, to show the wonder of the dynamic, macroscopic world of stars, galaxies, planets and other large objects in the universe and, particularly, the vast and unimaginable sizes and distances in space relative to the miniscule distances on planet Earth. Conversely, I try to balance that out by talking about the microscopic and sub-microscopic world invisible to the naked eye as well.
I go further by also talking about how signs in nature can and do have allegorical, symbolical, esoteric and hermeneutic significance just as written ayats from the Quran do. The material universe is, after all, one component of the structure of truth the ultimate nature of which it is the goal of religion to reach. Well known experts of this type of Ismaili exegesis are quoted and I try my own hand at some of this as well. At heart I am a student of science trying to create a holistic picture of the cosmos for myself and mesh it with well-aged and seasoned Ismaili doctrines, the purpose of which is to become fully aware of the cascading upward and inward sequence of knowledge ranging from rationally-acquired knowledge of the mind to transcendental knowledge of the heart, ie, timeless, instantaneous Intellect.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4.
The God of the Quran is the One whose Ayats(Signs) are the Universe in which we live, move and have our being:Aga Khan 3
