Shaykh Abū Ādam al-Narūijī is a man of mystery. He has many bold statements to make about science and philosophy, statements we could not possibly imagine being made even by an undergraduate student in the sciences or philosophy.
Consider, for example, the following remark, made by the good Shaykh in response to some anonymous questioner (apparently):
“It is interesting that you assert that scientific questions are falsifiable, in the tradition of Karl Popper I presume. This pleases me, because the theory of man’s evolution (not all aspects of evolution) thus becomes non-scientific. After all, claimed historical events cannot be tested in a controlled experiment to see if they happened.”
This is not a Muslim layman speaking, but rather a so-called scholar of Islam. In other words, this is the cream of the Muslim crop. This is as good as it gets. One of the so-called scholars of Islam has concluded that evolution is a non-scientific question.
However, when asked for his educational background, I kept getting referred to his Islamic credentials, which can be viewed here. This raises certain troubling questions about the good Shaykh. I posed these questions on his blog, but for some mysterious reason, they weren’t posted. I’ve reproduced them below.
…..
“No, but it is irrelevant. As I made an effort to explain yesterday, this is not an academic website, but a website about Islam, and my Islamic credential are posted. What are you going to say, ‘your degree is so and so, therefore there is no god?’”
If someone who has never studied Islam were to make arrogant and ignorant pronouncements about Islam, what would you say? Similarly, if someone who hasn’t studied science were to make arrogant and ignorant pronouncements about science, what would you expect a scientist to say?
Contrary to what you might think, dear Shaykh, an educational background is of the greatest relevance. Just as you would hold that those who have not studied Islam lack the authority to make authoritative pronouncements about Islam, so, too, do those who have not studied science lack the authority to make authoritative pronouncements about science. On what authority do you say that evolution is non-scientific?
How would your Islamic credentials give you the authority to speak about the natural sciences? How would the study of kalam, fiqh, hadith, ‘aqidah, tafsir, tasawwuf, and so forth, give you the authority to speak about the natural sciences?
Do you have any relevant education beyond mere training in the so-called Islamic “sciences”? If not, why don’t you just say so?
Posted by Sign of Saturn 