Our illogical comparisons
Asif Khan Turk
Science has its own principles that are applicable everywhere in the world without any discrimination of religion, sect, cast, race and gender. These principles have nothing to do with emotions and feelings and prove themselves when a suitable environment is available. That is why science is beyond all frontiers.
For example, a medicine simultaneously cures the followers of all the religions, whether Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians or others. It shows there is no tussle between the science and religion. Actually, science is a blessing of God upon human beings, but unfortunately, some orthodox clerics compare both these terms in their illogical context.
It is a fact that Islam emphasises on doing research in the universe but the orthodox clerics don’t understand the importance of this reality. They only try to impose their backward and poor philosophies over the people and to push them back scientifically. However, if one sees a positive relationship between religion and science, he is right, and if he thinks opposite he is almost wrong. There is no need of any comparison between the religion and science as they work in their separate spheres according to their specific nature.
The world’s history reveals that nations which excelled in science ruled the others economically and politically as it is a best driver of societal development. In addition, it breeds innovation and strengthens creativity. While, it is the best way to understand the universe in true sense as it guides us how different natural systems work.
For the progress of a country, it is necessary to have a clear and well-defined scientific vision for achieving its aims and objectives and without this, it will not be able to prepare an effective roadmap for sustainable development. In the present world, wealth creation is a result of scientific advancement. Access to science played a pivotal role in bringing mega changes in the today’s society.
Besides, science has a very prominent role in developing the economies and improving the living standards of human beings. Both the developed and developing countries have focused on science and technology through quality education and research. Similarly, science education is also important to meet the needs of the society and excellence cannot be achieved in different fields if it is sub-standard and because of this students cannot become outstanding scientists.
According to the World Bank’s data, the number of researchers (per million) in Denmark was 7265, in Singapore 6442, Japan 5201, Malaysia 1794, Turkey 1169, Iran 706, China 1089 and Pakistan 152 during 2011-15.
It is a fact that countries which focused on science and achieved new technologies become developed and prosperous as compared to others. The ability to make the most of new technologies made all the difference in the growth of different economies of the world. In this regards, Information Technology has reduced the limits as now information are shared in seconds across the globe. Similarly, biotechnology has produced many emerging varieties.
However, in our society, science is considered as a boring subject. This attitude towards it has been created due to the existing conventional system in our educational institutes. Because of this unsatisfactory situation, Pakistan ranks 131/141 in the Global Innovation Index 2015.
In this regard, engaging youngsters and children in informal learning sessions of science is the need of the hour. It will help them to develop and strengthen critical thinking and enhance science literacy. Furthermore, the real benefits of science will be gained through effective awareness about the applications of science among the masses.
As science is the ticket to progress and it’s comparison with religion is illogical and beyond common-sense, therefore, they should be kept away from each other and allowed them to work in their own spheres. Otherwise, this indifferent attitude will create a lot of problems for human beings.
The writer is the Editor of Sunrise Today and President of the Science Journalism Society of Pakistan. He can be reached at: asif1015@yahoo.com.
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It's an excellent analysis of how important the Science is, in bringing economic prosperity in any society. The World can be divided into Developed and Underdeveloped segments, based on their scientific approaches in utilizing indigenous resources. However, the author couldn't analyse the interrelationships between Science and Religion. He recommended separating the two from each other. It's true for the outdated religions where the religioous scholars discourages creativity. But we have got the latest religion from Almighty God in the form of Islam,which motivates us for creative thinking and exploring resources for welfare of the people in general. If we separate Religion from Science, the benefits of scientific discoveries would be harvested by the powerful nations and groups and the lethal weapons would be used for destroying weaker groups, as it's happening today. To keep a balance between the two Science must be used for benefitting the people around the Globe without any bias and the powerful stakeholders must be prevented from offending the weaker ones. And such a guidance may be got from commandments of Almighty God available in the form Qur'an and teachings of his last prophet Muhammad SAW.