It raises questions such as: Do true sciences, especially mathematics, lead to atheism and denial of the existence of God, the maker of this universe, or vice versa, because these sciences bring those who question them closer to the expanse of faith?
Mathematics represents the minimum that minds share
If the experimental sciences, such as biology, chemistry, geology, and physics, are based in part on experiment in the laboratory, then extract the general law that links cause with cause after repeating the experiment and observing that the result is not backward, then setting the mathematical framework for this law and proving it to become Absolutely, the rules of mathematics do not need laboratories to test their credibility, but rather they transcend experience, because they depend on (innate) axioms called “axioms”, such as when we say “the whole is greater than the part”, or we say “if the number A is equal to the number B , and the number b equals the number c, the number a equals the number c.”
Mathematical theories are based on these “innate axioms” that do not need external evidence to prove them, and then comes what is called mathematical proof, which is based on logical rules and definitive laws built on the same, in a strict logical sequence that has no disagreement about it, until we reach a conclusion. Relying on those “innate assumptions” or “mental imperatives” in order to extract the desired results.
This rigorous mathematical approach is accepted by all minds, regardless of their beliefs, because it is the minimum common level between the minds of the sons of Adam, their believers and their unbelievers, and had it not been for this minimum common level between minds, people would not have benefited from the laws spread in the universe, and they would not have extracted those laws that subjugated They have nature, and made it serve their purposes, a mockery of the Lord of the Worlds, who says in the decisive revelation: (He it is Who made the earth submissive for you, so walk on its slopes and eat of His provision) (Have they not seen that We created for them from what our hands have made cattle, so they are their owners, and We subjugated them to them, so among them is their riding Of it they eat. (And He subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth all of it. Indeed, in that are signs for people who reflect.) (And He subjected to you the night and the day, and the sun, the moon, and the stars subjected to His command. Indeed, in that are signs for people who reason.) Part of this divine harnessing is linked to keys revealed by empirical science based in its credibility on mathematical laws, which in turn are based on those “innate postulates.”
The philosophical environment in which these sciences developed rejects religion
The emergence of these sciences in the context of Western materialistic philosophy that denies the Creator of the universe does not necessarily lead to atheism, as evidenced by the fact that many Western philosophers who were known to possess the forelock of these sciences, their thinking based on the mathematical method led them to believe in God as a Creator and Ruler of the universe, and perhaps The most prominent of these enlightened models is the French rationalist philosopher, the great mathematician Descartes, who established a rational approach that leads to the inevitability of belief in the existence of a creator of this universe.
The absence of Muslims from contributing to building a material civilization based on linking causes to their causes since the beginning of this construction is what made a group of those who are fascinated by its results, fascinated by its industrial products, from among our people, formulate atheistic ideas, mostly ambiguous, that do not stand up to criticism Scientific, to infer their atheism from the data of that civilization, which is known to the private and the public, that it did not develop this tremendous development except after the separation of science from the Church, which distorted the Holy Books and filled them with myths that science rejects, so it was defeated in the face of the latter’s power, so these sciences arose in the context of contention My history between the clergy on the one hand, and the men of science and philosophers of enlightened thought on the other hand, this thought, which was among its foundations on which the denial of the unseen is based, because it is not subject to the scientific examination that Western man discovered in the context of that bizarre schizophrenia.
This conflict between religion and science seeped into modern Arab culture with the emergence of Arab liberal revivalists at the beginning of the last century, and most of them were Christians, such as Yaqoub Saruf, Shibli Shmail, and Farah Antoine. Sort between humanities and mathematical sciences.
In his book 'Forbidden Articles', Salama Musa talks about defining renaissance as "meaning the liberation of the human personality from traditions and the occult, an appetite for empirical science, the separation of religion from the state, and a call to man to take his fate into his own hands, and to rule over fate instead of being subjected to it." Destiny, extracting the good from nature and subjugating it, not waiting for nature to give him its bounty and righteousness.
Farah Antoine says: “Science must be placed in the circle of the mind, because its rules are based on experience, observation, and examination. As for religion, it must be placed in the circle of the heart, because its rules are based on acceptance of what was mentioned in the books without examining their origins.
This quote by Farah Antoine summarizes the dilemma in which the Arab liberal revivalists have fallen, as they promote the Western model as the only framework to get out of the underdevelopment crisis, and usher in an honorable entry for the nation into the era, after a long absence.
The first premise of this saying, according to Farah Antoine, is an axiom that has nothing to do with it, as the rules of science are actually based on experience, observation and examination, but the second premise is corrupt, at least from an Islamic perspective, as the rules of religion are not based on submission without examining its origins, as Antoine claims. And those who follow in his footsteps, and most Muslim scholars reject imitation in the fundamentals of faith, and do not give weight to the faith of the imitator, and the strongest of them in that is Imam Ibn Hazm, who may have expelled the imitator in the fundamentals of faith from the circle of Islam.
And if faith increases with acts of worship and decreases with disobedience, then it also increases with mental evidence and scientific proofs, and decreases with the imitation of the forefathers (Indeed, we found our forefathers on a nation, and we are following their footsteps), and the dull submission to what is in the books without scrutiny (And suspicion does not avail anything of the truth). This religion is based on the rule: (Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful).
Perhaps what our heritage has preserved for us in this regard is the saying of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: “The intellect establishes prophecy, then surrenders to the Prophet.” Examination of his sayings, his morals, the miracles that took place at his hand, his surroundings, what his companions and enemies transmitted from him, the impact he left, the values he called for, and the book he came with: Was it subject to distortion or not? And the contents that came with this book, are they compatible with common sense, not contradicting the definitive data of science? Science based on experience and observation, or on those innate postulates on which mathematics is based, not human sciences that are based on non-conclusive theories, but are often influenced by the cultural environment in which they arose. Then the mind surrenders to the Prophet in matters of the hereafter and worship, which after this careful mental examination became built on a solid foundation that does not budge.
Mathematical proof leads to faith
This proof is found in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The proof behind, for example, is a well-known mathematical method used in practice. The Qur’an used it to negate the partners from God. He, Glory be to Him, said: (If there were gods in them other than God, they would have been corrupted) and the Almighty said: (It was not taken God is born, and there is no god with Him. Then every god would have gone with what He created, and some of them would be superior to others. Glory be to God from what they describe). He is the truth (Raisonnement par absurde) and within the limits of our knowledge, the first to use this mathematical approach to examine the veracity of the prophecy of Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, Heraclius, the great of the Romans, when he called Abu Sufyan, and he was still on his disbelief, so Heraclius asked him several questions about this who came out claiming That he is a prophet, and when he finished with those questions, he used the mathematical evidence of the successor clearly to prove the veracity of this prophet. Heraclius said to the interpreter, as mentioned by Imam Al-Bukhari in his Sahih:
Say to him: “I asked you about his lineage, and you mentioned that he is a lineage among you, and similarly the Messengers are sent about the lineage of her people, and I asked you, did any of you say this? So I mentioned that no, so I said: If someone had said this saying before him, I would have said a man follows what was said before him, and I asked you, was there any king among his forefathers? So I mentioned that no, I said: If he was one of his fathers from a king, I said a man asks for his father's king, and I asked you, were you accusing him of lying before he said what he said? So I mentioned that no, because I knew that he would not abandon lying to people and lie about God, and I asked you whether the nobles of the people followed him or the weak ones? So I mentioned that their weak people followed him, and they are the followers of the Messengers, and I asked you: Are they increasing or decreasing? So I mentioned that they increase, and so is the matter of faith until it is completed, and I asked you, does anyone apostate out of displeasure with their religion after entering into it? So I mentioned that no, and so is faith when it mixes with its screen of hearts, and I asked you, does it treachery? So I mentioned that no, and likewise the messengers do not treachery, and I asked you what he commands you? So I mentioned that he commands you to worship God and not associate anything with him, and he forbids you to worship idols, and he commands you to pray, tell the truth, and chastity, so if what you say is true, he will possess these two feet of mine.
The great Roman applied a well-known mathematical approach called “the evidence behind”, whether he knew it or not, but he brought him to safety, which is the certainty that Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is sent from his Lord, and that he is what the prophets before him preached. It was as if Heraclius said to Abu Sufyan: If Muhammad was not a prophet, then he would have lied to God, and if he deemed it lawful to lie to God, he would have been obliged to lie to people from a first matter in his ordinary life with them, but you told me that you never experienced a lie against him (rather they used to call him Al-Amin). So, the first hypothesis fell, and its opposite was proven, that is, Muhammad is a true prophet in all that he told, and among other things he told about the issues of the Hereafter in which minds are baffled without denying or confirming them.
Then the practice of mathematical sciences based on abstraction and the assumption of mental worlds that are not perceptible, but that lead to results that have applications in tangible reality, that make the worker closer to believing in the attributes and names of God, which the mind, let alone the senses, does not understand, but perceives its effects in Creation.
* Professor of Higher Education at Ibn Zahr University - Mathematics