Science, modernity, and the Muslim world: To improve scientific research in Muslim countries requires profound social and economic liberalization of their societies.

Abstract

Whatever indicator one looks at, the status of science in most Muslim countries is bleak [1], [2]. Just as evident is the fact that this situation is not caused by an idiosyncratic relationship between science and Islam, or between science and Muslims, as rational science flourished under the Abbasid Caliphate during the 8th to 13th centuries and Muslim scientists fare well in academic institutions around the world [2]. Several analyses have tried to explain the state of scientific progress in Islamic societies, mostly focusing on traditional factors, such as inadequate funding, brain drain, or shortcomings of the educational system [2], [3], [4]. Others have taken a historical perspective by contrasting the evolution of science in the Muslim world with the path of Western science [4], [5], [6]. However, these analyses failed to account for the modest return on considerable investments in science that some rich Muslim countries have made during the past years [7], [8], or how countries such as Japan, South Korea, or China successfully implemented “Western science” without having gone through the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. What is still missing in this debate are the unique dynamics of how the interplay between religion and politics during the 20th century created a hostile environment to the general values of modernity in Islamic societies. These dynamics, I argue, have more to do with the stagnation of science in Islamic societies than other factors, such as lack of funding and scientific capacity. The grave challenges facing much of the Muslim world nowadays raise doubts as to whether the question of science is even relevant or timely. I argue however, that the processes that delayed the …