<Article>Islamic Science (Tawhidic): Toward Sustainable Development

Abstract

No one can deny that there is no civilization without the development of science and technology. The development of scientific knowledge also contributes to the enlightenment of intellectual capacity producing highly scientific literacy among people who have adopted national and objective knowledge. Scientific knowledge is secular. There is no place for religious, cultural, and subjective arguments in the scientific approach. As a result, scientific development produces ‘literates uneducated', ‘excellence without soul', ‘skilled barbarians' and persons possessing similar characteristics. Those who have high scientific literacy but are without a soul do more harm than good as mentioned by Harry Lewis [2006], a scholar from Harvard University. The development of scientific literacy, which has not been accompanied by spiritual development, produces unbalanced people in terms of their personality development, which finally produces an unsustainable civilization. As an alternative to the development of science which puts so much emphasis on rational thinking, we propose the acquisition of scientific knowledge which is in harmony with spiritual and personal development based on religion, culture, and subjective knowledge. In the past, the Muslim community has produced such scientists. This paper discusses the concept and philosophy of Islamic Science, which is sustainable, and both culturally and religiously friendly as an alternative to the present secular science.