Suchergebnisse

This essay introduces a special section on Islam and evidence with contributions by Ana Maria Vinea, Junaid Quadri, and Yunus Doğan Telliel, and an afterword by Alireza Doostdar. The contributors examine evidential inquiries in Islamic law, healing practices, and scriptural interpretation. This special section shows that discourses of evidence not only are at the center of major debates concerning Islam's authoritative sources (e.g., how to derive injunctions from the Quran, the prophet's practice, fiqh canons, etc.), but also shape knowledge practices at the intersection of Islam and modern science.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, Muslims have pursued the idea that the Quran foreshadows new scientific discoveries. Linked to claims that the Quran's divine truth is continually substantiated, rather than disproved, by new scientific discoveries, certain verses are presented as Quranic miracles—evidence of its transcendent source. Drawing on ethnographic research with Turkish Muslims engaged in scientific exegesis, this article examines the evidentiary inquiry underlying the Quran's "scientific miracles" along two lines: first, it considers how these efforts, while invoking traditional understandings of the miraculous (i.e., arresting one in awed suspense), shift focus away from the Quran's stylistic and textual properties (requiring mastery of Arabic) and toward its signifying, universally accessible natural phenomena. Second, as the idea of scientific miracles befits apologetics typically used to defend the Quran against non-Muslims' criticisms, it asks why these efforts are directed primarily toward Muslims themselves. The article argues that the power of scientific miracles lies not only in the appeal of a universal language of evidence, but also in its use as a tool of "inner conversion," which helps enable a modern refiguring of Muslim faith, from imitation (taqlid) to substantiation with evidence (tahqiq).

Science and technology will play a critical role, but not the only role, in realizing the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Not only must we observe the cultural context of scientific and technological interventions, we must respect the innovative capacity of those with different backgrounds. This book presents case studies concerning technological interventions in global health, the environment, agriculture, and their ethics.