- Muzaffar Iqbal
-
Muzaffar Iqbal Born 1954 (age 56–57)
Lahore, Punjab.Residence Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada Nationality Canadian Citizenship Canadian Alma mater University of the Punjab
University of SaskatchewanKnown for Islam and science, Qur'anic studies and Islam and the West Muzaffar Iqbāl (born 1954 in Lahore, Pakistan) (Urdu:مظفر اقبال), is a Pakistani-Canadian chemist by training and an Islamic scholar by vocation.
Contents
Career
Iqbal is the founding president of the Center for Islam and Science, Alberta, Canada. He has written twenty-three books. Iqbal is editor of a journal of Islamic perspectives on science and civilization, Islam and science.[1]
Iqbal's published works are on Islam, Sufism, and their relationship with Western thought.
Iqbal appeared on PBS's Ask the Experts in 2003, discussing science and Islam.[2]
In an article on Islamic Science, the New York Times quoted Iqbal as a chemist and founder of the Center for Islam and Science as explaining that modern science did not claim to address the purpose of life, whereas in the Islamic world, purpose was integral.[3]
Iqbal was one of the experts called on by the Physics and Cosmology Group of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, alongside scientists including Andrei Linde of Stanford University, John Polkinghorne of Cambridge University, Paul Davies of Macquarie University and Charles Townes of the University of California, Berkeley.[4] Between 1996 and 2003, the group conducted an intensive public dialogue on science and spirituality.[5]
Reception
Roxanne D. Marcotte, reviewing Iqbal's Islam and Science, published in 2002, wrote that it "presents an articulate and concise historical introduction to intellectual developments that have shaped Islamic civilization, both religious and scientific."[6] According to Marcotte, the book's main thesis is that traditions of science came from learning grounded in the Qur'an and the Hadith, in other words from the primary sources of Islam itself. Marcotte is critical of this basic thesis, agreeing with Iqbal's modest caution that his conclusions "might not be shared by certain historians of science", and observing somewhat acerbically that he is a chemist, not a philosopher, historian or sociologist of science. [6] She finds Iqbal confused over exactly what the Islamic scientific tradition is, since he includes "religious sciences". She also finds Iqbal's presentation of evidence not fully convincing, disagreeing for example about 'al-Khwarazmi', and pointing out that he was certainly influenced by non Islamic thought from Greece, Egypt, India, Persia and Babylon - a pointedly long list of civilizations.[6] Marcotte suggests that the source of Iqbal's trouble may be the holistic approach he takes, placing revelation "at the heart of the religion/science nexus" so as to allow himself to argue that all levels of being owe their existence to God; she calls such claims controversial. Marcotte grants that Iqbal's book provides a useful overview of intellectual debates within Islam, but not that it discusses the philosophical implications of contemporary issues adequately.[6]
A far gentler review of Iqbal's Islam and Science was published by Muhammad Suheyl Umar. His review, after describing the book's contents at length, and agreeing with Iqbal that Western accounts of science from Francis Bacon onwards have been disrespectful of Islamic science, concludes that the book is stimulating, and a welcome corrective to much muddle around the discourse of Islam and science. [7]
Accused of Islamism
Iqbal's confrontation with the 'Ugly Face of America' was described in the Washington Post in 2003.[8] Blogger Daniel Pipes responded angrily to the Washington Post article, arguing that Iqbal appeared to be a member of Pakistan Islamist organization Jamaat-e-Islami, a person who promoted "Islamism", citing his Center for Islam and Science as evidence, as well as the journal Islam & Science, and referring obliquely to Iqbal as one of "the enemy in the war on terror", and claiming that Iqbal "Expresses venomous hatred for the United States" and "Espouses a shockingly explicit antisemitism". [9] A month later (December 10, 2003) Iqbal replied directly to Pipes, stating categorically that he was not a member of Jamaat-e Islami; that he did not write for their website; and that the article about Jews to which Pipes had referred was not by Iqbal but by a namesake unknown to him.[9]
Scientific Papers
- J. Chem. Soc. Pak, Vol.3, No.3, 1981
- J. Organomet. Chem., 231 (1982) 151
- J. Organomet. Chem., 288 (1985) 89
- J. Organomet. Chem., 302 (1986) 307
Books by Iqbal
In Urdu
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Jang-e Azadi Sey Hasooley Azadi Tak. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publishers, 1977. A book on the history of the Pakistan Movement. In Urdu.
In English
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Inkhila (Uprooting). Book I of the fiction trilogy Hijratayn (Exiles). Lahore: The Circle, 1988. In Urdu.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Abdullah Hussein: From Sad Generations to a Lonely Tiger. South Asian Centre, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985. Repr. as Abdullah Hussein: The Chronicler of Sad Generations. Islamabad: Leo Books, 1993.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Inqta (Severance). Book II of the fiction trilogy Hijratayn (Exiles). Islamabad: Leo Books, 1994. In Urdu.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Herman Melville: Life and Works. Serialized in Savera (1995-1998).
- Muzaffar Iqbal and Zafar Ishaq Ansari (Translators). Towards Understanding the Qur’an. Vol. VII. Islamic Foundation, 2001. English translation of Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi’s Tafhim al-Qur’an.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Islam and Science. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002. Repr. as Islam and Science: Explorations in the Fundamental Questions of the Islam and Science Discourse. Lahore: Suheyl Academy, 2004.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Science and Islam. Greenwood Press, 2007. Repr. with Afterword as The Making of Islamic Science. Islamic Book Trust, 2009.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Islam, Science, Muslims, and Technology: Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Conversation with Muzaffar Iqbal. Islamic Book Trust, 2007. Repr. Sherwood Park: al-Qalam Publishing, 2007; Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2008; Islamabad: Dost Publications, 2009.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Dew on Sunburnt Roses and other Quantum Notes. Dost Publications, 2008.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Dawn in Madinah: A Pilgrim’s Passage. Islamic Book Trust, 2008. Repr. Dost Publications, 2009.
- Muzaffar Iqbal. Definitive Encounters: Islam, Muslims, and the West. Islamic Book Trust, 2008.
Books edited by Iqbal (Literature, English)
- Colours of Loneliness: An anthology of Pakistani Literature, Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Pakistani Literature (ed.) vol. 1, 2 and 4, Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad 1992-93.
- Islam and Science: Historic and Contemporary Perspectives, 4 vols., Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011.
References
- ^ http://www.cis-ca.org/journal
- ^ Ask the Experts: Muzaffar Iqbal Ph.D. "PBS: Ask the Experts". Ask the Experts: Muzaffar Iqbal Ph.D.. pbs.org. 2003. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/ask/iqbal.html Ask the Experts: Muzaffar Iqbal Ph.D.. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (October 30, 2001). "New York Times". How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science. nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/30/science/how-islam-won-and-lost-the-lead-in-science.html?scp=1&sq=&pagewanted=4. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ Physics and Cosmology Group of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences Retrieved November 21, 2011
- ^ CTNS: SSQ Program Retrieved November 21, 2011
- ^ a b c d Marcotte, Roxanne D. (2006). "Ars Disputandi". Book Review: Islam and Science by Muzaffar Iqbal. arsdisputandi.org. pp. Volume 6. http://www.arsdisputandi.org/publish/articles/000242/article.pdf. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ Umar, Muhammad Suheyl (April 2004). "Book Review: Allama Iqbal". Islam and Science: A Review Article. allamaiqbal.com. http://www.allamaiqbal.com/publications/journals/review/apr04/10.htm. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ Brown, DeNeen L. (November 10, 2003). "Washington Post". A Scholar Confronts 'Ugly Face of America'. washingtonpost.com. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/443611251.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+11%2C+2003&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.17&desc=A+Scholar+Confronts+%27Ugly+Face+of+America%27. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ a b Pipes, Daniel (November 11, 2003). "Daniel Pipes". The Washington Post Whitewashes Muzaffar Iqbal. danielpipes.org. http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2003/11/the-washington-post-whitewashes-muzaffar. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
External links
Categories:- Sufi poetry
- Members of the International Society for Science and Religion
- University of Saskatchewan alumni
- Canadian people of Pakistani descent
- Canadian Muslims
- Living people
- 1954 births
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
