Bridging the Gap between Science and Faith (implied) - Dr. Naggar

relatively lately I started hearing people talking about a certain scholar in Islam who was trying to present the scientific miracles found in the passages of the Quran, my father, my sister, and a group of other people held a great admiration for this person. His name was zaghloul naggar.

Now I was intrigued since in my mind I couldn't really bridge two fundamental things; the scientific method, and faith. When Qwaider mentioned this issue Here I remembered to finish up this article


By definition the scientific method is suggesting a hypothesis on a natural phenomena, devising an experiment that proves the predicted results, and to be able to replicate these result with higher degree of accuracy. One of the main things is that those methods and result must be objective and be able to withstand careful scrutiny. This makes science an evolutionary idea, and never set in stone.

To contrast that we have "faith", a belief without reason. It is always set in stone ...

According to our dear Dr. they meet ever eloquently! now from the premise of this idea it didn't appeal to me at all, after all science and especially astrology is very volatile !

So am skeptic by nature but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, so I tried to listen to him occasionally usually didn't last long at all.
So i had to get my hands on some of his books so I would get to read them, and although I discussed much of the content with people before I didn't want to post this unless i finish the first part of the book. (the book was presented by Ahmad Faraj and as i understood its an adaption from some interviews)

So far after finishing the first part the most I learned is his reasoning of why when a theory that was used to explain the Quran is falsified it doesn't effect the integrity of the Quran. The reasoning is kind of a convoluted one, since he considers the Quran as the truth it doesn't affect it and its attributed to human error. essentially its not a big deal is what he is trying to say.

For me its that religion is based on faith, their are alot of articles of faith that contradict science.
If you are going to introduce scientific thought into religion the least you can do is justify those articles with a reasoning that is not based on faith.
that is the least you can do if you are allowed to use the scientific method, you can't be selective. you have be consistent and not side step things according to your whims.

Now am not gonna go into details but generally I found him selective in his references, when ever he sites something its so obscured that there is no way to trace it (e.g. I have a recording of the an astronaut that says ... ") . The other is the reinterpretation of science in a convenient ways(eg. there are two types of light, but science doesn't distinguish between them yet, but the Quran does .... there is Do2 and there noor, one is off the source the other is a reflection and they are different in a scientific sense, or so he infers) .

What was more drastic is his loose usage of arabic language and reading. Now I don't have a Phd and am sure as hell Arabic language skills are at most sub-par, but there is no way am going to read موسعون (mousi3oon as in knowledgeable, able ) as (muwasi3oon, expanding) . plus some other shrewd speech patterns that make you feel like you missed something (he refers to some people like he already mentioned them, but he never did).

Most common of all, is that he usually ignores the knowledge of people in that area. albeit it was not scientific but it was still pretty accurate. So when you tell a pearl diver that it gets darker the deeper you go down, he will most likely reply with "yes, i know". no surprise there, so why over simplify their experience and over complicate the meaning ...

so all in all. He might have a good intent in what he is doing, and he might think its for the greater good that he is discovering those "great" things. In the end its as amazing as numerology nothing more nothing less, and that is as pseudo scientific as astrology. Hid endeavors are mostly insulting and only the faithful will ignore the discrepancies in his selective pinching of evidence.

The wealth of Islam is in its spirituality and belief, and faith is the corner stone of religion. please keep it intact. If you think you will convert people based on your scientific evidence and not the spirituality of Islam, you won't able to withstand the scrutiny of an averagely educated skeptic.
If that is the reason then Stop, and if the reason is to give more pride in their holy book, they don't need it. We are already proud of the Quran regardless ! don't insult our faith.

One last note, people in the Arab word are complacent to the extent that any one who is shown on television and especially if they seem quite poised and well spoken. He earns their trust trust blindly, and they would not even question his statements. they are taken as fact rather than taking the burden of researching what they are being stuffed with. Its dangerous on a different level when those are scientific "facts" that are mangled and twisted... and when its mingled with religion their brains are programmed to shut down any logic circuits so its so hard for them to be faced with the reality that alot of what is being said is not what it seems .


ENJOY!