Tazkiyat Al-Nafs and Scientific Worldview: Contrast and Critique

Abstract

This research argues that to understand the position of the scientific worldview and Islam on Tazkiyat Al-Nafs we need first to study from a new perspective the relation between science and Islam. For this purpose, the qualitative method of content analysis is adopted. The article analyses the views of four thinkers namely Pervez Hoodbhoy, Al-Biruni, Muhammad Iqbal and Fazlur Rahman. Their position on the relationship between science and religion helps to analyze the views of Islamic and scientific worldview on Tazkiyat Al-Nasf and soul. Pervez Hoodbhoy finds the nature of the relationship between science and religion historically problematic. Al-Biruni, Muhammad Iqbal and Fazlur Rahman, three of them, provide the key elements in understanding how Islam views science and promotes it fully. Their views make up the position of Islam on Tazkiyat Al-Nafs. The article argues that the real contradiction is not between Islam and science, but between Tazkiyat Al-Nafs and the scientific worldview. An argument is provided to clarify the position of Islam on Tazkiyat Al-Nafs over the scientific worldview. The article concludes that Tazkiyat Al-Nafs can work perfectly with what the evolutionary scientist Stephen J. Gould called the “nonoverlapping majesteria”, where science and religion occupy different domains; so, no conflict can ever occur. The article hopes that Tazkiyat Al-Nafs can regain its important position in the contemporary world, as it can provide the best alternative to the scientific worldview for the holistic development of younger generation of Muslims.