(DOWNLOAD) "Darwin's Shadow: Context and Reception in the Muslim World." by Islam & Science " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Darwin's Shadow: Context and Reception in the Muslim World.
- Author : Islam & Science
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 267 KB
Description
Introduction Muslim responses to Darwinian and neo-Darwinian ideas fall in a broad acceptance-rejection continuum, with all possible shades in between--from unconditional acceptance to various versions of theistic evolution, and from . vociferous rejection to a view that sees it as a liberating scientific fact. (1) These positions are generally intimately connected to the respondent's prior commitments and understanding of the origin of species, which, in turn, emerge from one's beliefs, knowledge of scripture, and/or scientific and intellectual training. In addition to these personal considerations, which are common to responses to Darwin's ideas in other faith communities, Muslim responses have also been shaped by political and social conditions, especially those which existed at the time of their first encounter with Darwin around 1880--a time when most of the traditional Muslim lands were under colonial occupation. Since then, there has been a gradual emancipation from the colonial past, but there is a dearth of mature works which examine Darwinism from a well-informed Islamic perspective rooted in a thoroughly integrated scriptural and scientific understanding of the origin of species. Most of the existing literature is either a product of scientism, which superimposes Darwinian ideas on the Qur'an and the works of early Muslim scientists and philosophers, or, on the other extreme, that of a vociferous rejection perceiving Darwinism as an 'ideology of the infidels'.