13/09/2025
On Sunday 15th September 2025, The ,Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN UDUS) in collaboration with Darul Erkam Foundation held a program featuring a book “The Horizon of Islamic Contemplation” on the topic SCIENTISM. The program explores the philosophical and cultural dimension of Scientism and the struggle of the Muslim toward using the Quran as their primary sources of knowledge rather than looking for scientific discoveries to set the tune first.
The speaker looked into several scientific backgrounds, where he pointed out that scientific discoveries used to contradict one another at all times, and each time Worldview must be consistent before it can be regarded as a one. While devoid of contradictions, the Quran is all encompassing and stable. The speaker pointed out that in so many circumstances, the Quran looks into issues in two ways, however, the scientist often faces different problems by their look into one aspect, ignoring the other, which usually led them with no solid conclusion at the end of their research and discoveries.
An instance of how science revises its understanding over time is once the pronouncement that the sun moves around the earth, at some point And the later comes back that the sun is at the center of the earth. Luckily the prophet has left a glimpse of what the Muslim should understand in the hadith narrated by Abu Dharr when the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him at sunset, "Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." And the prophet explained to him that, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: "And the sun Runs its fixed course for a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All- Knowing." ({وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ }) Quran 36 verse 38.
He equally looks into the lens of knowledge including; Common knowledge, Scientific knowledge, and Wisdom. Where he explained that the Common knowledge is the everyday knowledge that everyone uses in life, like what you know by observation, senses, and simple reasoning, while Scientific knowledge is the knowledge that came to shape our perception of the common knowledge. It includes both religious sciences (like Qur’an, Hadith, Fiqh) and worldly sciences (like medicine, astronomy, mathematics). Wisdom however is a type of knowledge that is given by God as a special gift. It’s not just knowing facts; it’s knowing where, when, and how to use them. Allah said in the Qur’an: “He grants wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted much good.” Qur’an 2:269.
What stood out for me at this program is I realized the connection of why you'll find out that there are mineral resources under the ground and other things in the sky also. An instance of it is that metal, dust, fish all prove that the Earth and the Sky was actually one component before the almighty separated it. As seen in Quran 29 verse 30; “Do the deniers not see that the heavens and the earth were one mass, and then We tore them apart? And We made from water every living thing; will they not believe?".
This topic serves as a wake seeking a change of attitude for any Muslim who usually consult Scientific findings before accepting or believing in the Quranic assertion. Believing in the Quran Should come first And Scientific findings could complement when tally. The primary guide we are to look into is the Quran and Hadith as standing points. There is no wrong assertion in the Quran and everything there is right, thus human discoveries cannot supersede God’s.
