• BY: Quran Moon

Islam and technology

The link between Islam and technology may seem insignificant here. This is one level and that is another level. It may seem like an intellectual luxury that may not be of interest to a reader or present a proposition. Nevertheless, raising issues like this seems to be of great relevance, not only because it has become a central topic of the sociology of religions, but also because technological innovations have raised fundamental challenges in the face of religion, which are rarely addressed. Show that what concerns us here is not this aspect of the problem. What concerns us more is the question of the extent of compatibility or opposition between the elements of dualism, the subject of this article: Islam on the one hand, and technology on the other hand. Perhaps the first basic methodological approach lies in the fact that if we consider Islam (a religion) and technology (techniques or sciences technologies), we may go to the point of asserting that there is a clear barrier between them, at least considering Islam ostensibly referring to tradition, while technology conveys an appearance on Modernity. But this may not be the case at all, if we consider Islam to express a living and valid tradition, and technology is progressing alive. There are therefore two sides to the problem at hand: + The first aspect is to deal with this problem from a duality of tradition and modernity. The implication of this deal is that the proposition of the relationship between religion and technology is similar to a large extent, to that traditional proposition that was and may still ask about the relationship of religion with science or about the relationship of faith with reason. However, treatment from this angle often puts a face to religion, as it is a tradition that refers to models from the past that have been overlooked, and technology as a modernity that acts in the present and strives to anticipate the future. This approach has two consequences: °° - The first result is that this view often leads to the conclusion that there is no possible agreement between the two sides of the equation, religion and technology, if not from the standpoint of nature and character, then at least from the point of view of the background and the logic of referral. °° - As for the second result, it refers to the position of both parties on each other. What is mentioned here, and this case, is that religion will inevitably reject technology, and the latter will inevitably deny religion, especially when it sees how great its impact is on the level of organizing the lives of individuals and groups. We must note here that the attachment of traditionalism to Islam does not imply any shameful burden, which may suggest reactionary or transgression. Quite the contrary. It only indicates that Islam is a divine religion with a history spanning 1,400 years. Also, the attachment of modernity to technology does not mean that it is a synonym for it, as it means that it is the product of a new relationship for Muslims with it. Nevertheless, those who read the relationship between technology and Islam (and religion in general) from the perspective of dissonance and aversion, do not lack "defenses" in this: ° - While they say that Islam produces a civilization of submission to God and the Holy Qur’an, technology refers to the “civilization of man’s submission to nature and its transformations”. ° - While they continue to say that Islam focuses on the first principles of the message in its purity and purity, the age of technology refers to progress and creativity, and to the better working life that it provides. ° - Also, while they emphasize that technology focuses on practical applications and actual experiences, Islam (they mean Muslims) remains hostage to theoretical sciences, it has not been able to produce elites that transform this knowledge into applications and products that benefit the country and the people. It is natural, and in this case, for the owners of the corresponding thesis to respond by rejecting all of the above, and even considering it as free prejudice against Islam and Muslims. Their argument for this is to say that Islam is the religion of the mind par excellence, and that there is no contradiction between it and science at all, with evidence that history proves that the Arab / Islamic world was the cradle of Western sciences for long decades ago, and that their retreat in this is due to many factors, perhaps the strongest of them. Absolutely the conditions of targeting and colonization that he was subjected to. Therefore, they do not consider technology a Western product, as much as they consider it a universal product. All civilizations (including the Arab / Islamic civilization) have contributed to its accumulations and achievements. Indeed, many Islamic countries do not see anything wrong with importing technologies, or creating scientific and technical expertise in terms of It is part of its general development project. + As for the second aspect of the equation at hand, the equation of Islam and technology, it refers to the problematic of the duality between tradition and renaissance. There is no unified perception that can be relied upon to understand this problem, but we find different approaches that can be summarized in the three main ones within them: °° - The first approach, a purely radical approach, stresses the necessity of a literal approach to the text of the Qur’an in thinking as well as in behavior. However, this approach, although it does not reject technology altogether, refuses to be dazzled by its developments, to submit to its directives, or to consider it the defining element of the rest of the elements. This approach does not confer some "independence" on the technology. His existence, in his view, should be subject to “religious existence,” under the justification that there is no shame in the individual’s behavior being traditional, and for his practice to be modern or modernist. But the test is in behavior as in practice, but the two must be in the service of the debt in one way or another. ° 07 - The second approach is that Islamic interpretation (and ijtihad in particular) should not stop at the "truth" that Islam calls for technological activity, but also that this activity "finds its identity only in the service of Islam." What confirms this, from this angle, is that Islam deliberately restricted the domain of the forbidden, leaving the rest permissible, that is, subject to diligence and jostling. °° - As for the third approach, he believes that achieving renaissance should not be limited to technology, as it is a technique that is included in this or that production process, but rather that it should be followed by activating it to affect the intellectual and social structures in which technology does itself and dissolves.