#Islam and Science

[saxafimedianetwork]

Somaliland Set For Eid Al-Fitr Starting Wednesday

Ministry of @awqaafta1 of #Somaliland has announced that #EidAlFitr will begin on Wed, April 10, following the completion of #Ramadan's 30 days on Tues [today]. This decision was made in accordance with the #IslamicLaw of moon sighting. #EidAlFitr2024

Continue reading Somaliland Set For Eid Al-Fitr Starting Wednesday

[floralfemmes]

was talking to my mom about how white people ignore the contributions of poc to academia and I found myself saying the words "I bet those idiots think Louis Pasteur was the first to discover germ theory"

which admittedly sounded pretentious as fuck but I'm just so angry that so few people know about the academic advancements during the golden age of Islam.

Islamic doctors were washing their hands and equipment when Europeans were still shoving dirty ass hands into bullet wounds. ancient Indians were describing tiny organisms worsening illness that could travel from person to person before Greece and Rome even started theorizing that some illnesses could be transmitted

also, not related to germ theory, but during the golden age of Islam, they developed an early version of surgery on the cornea. as in the fucking eye. and they were successful

and what have white people contributed exactly?

please go research the golden age of Islamic academia. so many of us wouldn't be alive today if not for their discoveries

people ask sometimes how I can be proud to be Muslim. this is just one of many reasons

some sources to get you started:

but keep in mind, it wasn't just science and medicine! we contributed to literature and philosophy and mathematics and political theory and more!

maybe show us some damn respect

[gay-jewish-bucky]

One thing I wish more people understood is that being religious and believing in science are not mutually exclusive. Throughout all of recorded human history, including over the course the last century all the way to today, some of the most important scientific advancements came from religious people and religiously funded institutions, mostly Jews and Muslims, but also Christians, that right, the Medieval church heavily funded scientific research because they were pretty much the only people who had that kind of money.

The idea they are two things that cannot coexist comes from the "enlightenment", and then later Victorian era, which sought to frame people in that past as inherently stupid and inferior, and then more recently the movement towards fundamentalist Christianity which is incredibly anti-science.

Atheism is not more compatible with science than theistic belief is.

[abyssalaquarist00]

art vs science..why not both

[moonlayl]

Every University building in Gaza has been destroyed

Al Israa University

Gaza’s youngest university was establish in 2014 in Gaza City. It was scheduled to mark its 10th anniversary this year with the opening of a public museum on Palestinian history and culture.

It’s main building was occupied for 70 days by Israeli soldiers and then destroyed by explosives on January 18th, 2024.

Among the university buildings that were targeted was the National Museum which contained around 3,000 artifacts that were looted and blown up.

Al Azhar University

This university was established in 1991, in south of Gaza City. It offers 76 bachelor’s programs, 24 master’s programs, and doctoral programs.

On 6 November, Israeli airforces bombed the university campus.

There were 16,000 students studying at the university.

Al Aqsa University

Al Aqsa University began in 1955 as a teacher’s institute under the administration of the Egyptian government. In 1991 the institute developed into a college known as the Governmental College of Education. At the beginning of the 2000/2001 academic year, the college was transformed into Al Aqsa University.

On January 22nd, Israeli forces shelled Al Aqsa University, which was operating as a shelter for displaced people at the time.

Islamic University of Gaza

Gaza’s oldest university, founded in 1978, had over 17,000 students by 2023.

Israel destroyed the campus on the night of October 10th, 2023.

The University of Palestine

It was established in 2005 in the south of Gaza City as a private Palestinian institution for higher education. It’s been used to shelter displaced Palestinian families during the genocide.

On January 17th, 2024, Israel detonated more than 300 mines at the university.

Al Quds Open University

It was established in 1991 and was the first open learning institute in Palestine. It has branches in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah, and Jabalia. It had 60,000 students studying across 19 branches and centres throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, making it the biggest non campus university in Palestine.

Israeli forces turned university buildings into open barracks, before bombing the Gaza branch in November 15th, 2023.

University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS)

The university college of applied sciences was founded in 1998. Its main campus was in Gaza City and over 8,500 students were enrolled in 2023.

It included a donor-funded non-profit start-up incubator that supported entrepreneurs in the Gaza Strip and helped aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses.

On January 22nd, 2024, Israeli forces shelled UCAS. At the time, the university was sheltering displaced families.

[comrade-onion]

" No god!" - vintage Soviet Poster ☭

[noosphe-re]

Is Natural Science finally committed to materialism? There is no doubt that the theories of science constitute trustworthy knowledge, because they are verifiable and enable us to predict and control the events of Nature. But we must not forget that what is called science is not a single systematic view of Reality. It is a mass of sectional views of Reality - fragments of a total experience which do not seem to fit together. Natural Science deals with matter, with life, and with mind; but the moment you ask the question how matter, life, and mind are mutually related, you begin to see the sectional character of the various sciences that deal with them and the inability of these sciences, taken singly, to furnish a complete answer to your question. In fact, the various natural sciences are like so many vultures falling on the dead body of Nature, and each running away with a piece of its flesh. Nature as the subject of science is a highly artificial affair, and this artificiality is the result of that selective process to which science must subject her in the interests of precision. The moment you put the subject of science in the total of human experience it begins to disclose a different character.

Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam

[nickysfacts]

Top Islamic Medieval Scholars be like:

“Lesbians exist because their hot”

🏳️‍🌈☪️🏳️‍🌈

[occvltswim]

‎Prophet Noble Drew Ali ‎ﷺ ‎ (1886-1929) — Founder of the Moorish Divine & National Movement 🇲🇦

[saxafimedianetwork]

Global Muslim Population Surpasses 2 Billion Mark

The world’s #Muslim community is estimated to have reached a total of 2,008,047,567, the Global Muslim #Population website reported Today Friday, April 28, 2023. Research expects #Islam to end #Christianity's long reign as the world’s largest #religion.

Continue reading Untitled

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Dyani Lewis

Published: May 31, 2023

In India, children under 16 returning to school this month at the start of the school year will no longer be taught about evolution, the periodic table of elements or sources of energy.

The news that evolution would be cut from the curriculum for students aged 15–16 was widely reported last month, when thousands of people signed a petition in protest. But official guidance has revealed that a chapter on the periodic table will be cut, too, along with other foundational topics such as sources of energy and environmental sustainability. Younger learners will no longer be taught certain pollution- and climate-related topics, and there are cuts to biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics and physics subjects for older school students.

Overall, the changes affect some 134 million 11–18-year-olds in India’s schools. The extent of what has changed became clearer last month when the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) — the public body that develops the Indian school curriculum and textbooks — released textbooks for the new academic year that started in May.

Researchers, including those who study science education, are shocked. “Anybody who’s trying to teach biology without dealing with evolution is not teaching biology as we currently understand it,” says Jonathan Osborne, a science-education researcher at Stanford University in California. “It’s that fundamental to biology.” The periodic table explains how life’s building blocks combine to generate substances with vastly different properties, he adds, and “is one of the great intellectual achievements of chemists”.

Mythili Ramchand, a science-teacher trainer at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India, says that “everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed. “I don’t see how conservation of water, and air [pollution], is not relevant for us. It’s all the more so currently,” she adds. A chapter on different sources of energy — from fossil fuels to renewables — has also been removed. “That’s a bit strange, quite honestly, given the relevance in today’s world,” says Osborne.

More than 4,500 scientists, teachers and science communicators have signed an appeal organized by Breakthrough Science Society, a campaign group based in Kolkata, India, to reinstate the axed content on evolution.

NCERT has not responded to the appeal. And although it relied on expert committees to oversee the changes, it has not yet engaged with parents and teachers to explain its rationale for making them. NCERT also did not reply to Nature’s request for comment.

Chapters closed

A chapter on the periodic table of elements has been removed from the syllabus for class-10 students, who are typically 15–16 years old. Whole chapters on sources of energy and the sustainable management of natural resources have also been removed.

A small section on Michael Faraday’s contributions to the understanding of electricity and magnetism in the nineteenth century has also been stripped from the class-10 syllabus. In non-science content, chapters on democracy and diversity; political parties; and challenges to democracy have been scrapped. And a chapter on the industrial revolution has been removed for older students.

In explaining its changes, NCERT states on its website that it considered whether content overlapped with similar content covered elsewhere, the difficulty of the content, and whether the content was irrelevant. It also aims to provide opportunities for experiential learning and creativity.

NCERT announced the cuts last year, saying that they would ease pressures on students studying online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amitabh Joshi, an evolutionary biologist at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru, India, says that science teachers and researchers expected that the content would be reinstated once students returned to classrooms. Instead, the NCERT shocked everyone by printing textbooks for the new academic year with a statement that the changes will remain for the next two academic years, in line with India’s revised education policy approved by government in July 2020.

“The idea [behind the new policy] is that you make students ask questions,” says Anindita Bhadra, an evolutionary biologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata. But she says that removing fundamental concepts is likely to stifle curiosity, rather than encourage it. “The way this is being done, by saying ‘drop content and teach less’”, she says, “that’s not the way you do it”.

Evolution axed

Science educators are particularly concerned about the removal of evolution. A chapter on diversity in living organisms and one called ‘Why do we fall ill’ has been removed from the syllabus for class-9 students, who are typically 14–15 years old. Darwin’s contributions to evolution, how fossils form and human evolution have all been removed from the chapter on heredity and evolution for class-10 pupils. That chapter is now called just ‘Heredity’. Evolution, says Joshi, is essential to understanding human diversity and “our place in the world”.

In India, class 10 is the last year in which science is taught to every student. Only students who elect to study biology in the final two years of education (before university) will learn about the topic.

Joshi says that the curriculum revision process has lacked transparency. But in the case of evolution, “more religious groups in India are beginning to take anti-evolution stances”, he says. Some members of the public also think that evolution lacks relevance outside academic institutions.

Aditya Mukherjee, a historian at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, says that changes to the curriculum are being driven by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a mass-membership volunteer organization that has close ties to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party. The RSS feels that Hinduism is under threat from India’s other religions and cultures.

“There is a movement away from rational thinking, against the enlightenment and Western ideas” in India, adds Sucheta Mahajan, a historian at Jawaharlal Nehru University who collaborates with Mukherjee on studies of RSS influence on school texts. Evolution conflicts with creation stories, adds Mukherjee. History is the main target, but “science is one of the victims”, she adds.

==

Well, at least it'll put them on par with the anti-science and biology-denial of US classrooms. China no longer has anything to worry about.

[atheostic]

Atheist YouTube Masterpost (Update 2)

Apostate Aladdin - A look at Islam from an atheist perspective by a former Muslim.

Aron Ra - Mostly posts of his speeches at atheist conferences, responses to religious nonsense, and educational content relating to where the Bible gets science wrong as well as an awesome breakdown of major taxonomic sections.

Atheist Experience - A call-in show where anyone can call in to discuss religion. They prefer theist callers, but atheists who need advice on issues regarding being atheist (e.g. family conflict because of one’s atheism, how/if to come out, etc) are welcome to call in too.

Atheist Lowdown - Atheist Lowdown is a weekly secular news aggregate vlog intended for busy freethinkers, humanists, atheists, agnostics, and any combination thereof who want the latest coverage of religious violence and oppression, the efforts of likeminded nonbelievers, and other related stories. 

Cosmic Skeptic - A place for the discussion of philosophical topics ranging from the crucially important to the trivially interesting.

Dallas Wade – A channel with mostly video essays and reaction videos regarding Christianity.

Forrest Valkai – A channel by an evolutionary biologist where he talks about evolution and science as well as reacts to creationist videos. He’s very funny and friendly and his explanations are very approachable for laypeople of all levels.

Friendly Atheist - The YouTube channel of Hemant Mehta, a former member of the board of directors for Foundation Beyond Belief. He mostly discusses news and has a playlist where he discusses “Everything Wrong In Genesis in the Bible”. He also runs a website, friendlyatheist.com in case you prefer reading to viewing or listening.

Fundie to Frei - An ex-Jewish channel on "advice and awareness about growing up with religious fundamentalism and coping in the "afterlife" transition."

Genetically Modified Skeptic - An atheist look at various issues relating to religion.

Godless Bitches - The Godless Bitches is a podcast focusing on atheist issues from a feminist perspective featuring Vi La Bianca, Jenna Belk, Jen Aldrich, & guests. The show streams every 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month at 6pm directly after The Atheist Experience.

Godless Engineer - Focuses on response to religious videos. Also has a “Bible Study” series.

Godless Granny – “Atheist commentary on the Bible, women’s issues, LGBTQ issues, legal/ political and other current events. Intent is to invite discussion leading to critical thinking about religion and it’s effects on people.” If you’re interested in hearing from an older atheist who deconverted later in life,this is the channel for you.

Gutsick Gibbon – She’s a PhD student in Biological Anthropology, so her main area of interest is human evolution and debunking creationist misinformation. According to her, in her channel you can find content  “concerning primates, general zoology, paleontology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology.”

Holy Koolaid - A channel by Thomas Westbrook (a former Jehovah’s Witness) that features news, discussions about the Bible, discussions about the historicity of events in the Bible, and more. He has a playlist for “Nothing Fails Like Bible History” and also often looks at religious cults.

JaclynGlenn -  An atheist who talks about a variety of topics.

JeGaysus – I’m not really sure if he’s atheist (sometimes I think he might be, other times I’m not sure), but his gay Jesus persona is too funny not to share.

Jimmy Snow - A show with a mix of subject material, typically dealing with atheism and LGBT+-related stuff.

John Cedars - A range of videos aimed at dissecting the various teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as new developments in the religion. In particular, he tries to keep on top of the latest propaganda released by Watchtower by way of video rebuttals as much as possible.

Kristi Burke - An ex-Evangelical who discusses religion and atheism (mainly focuses on Christianity when talking about religion).

The Line - A call-in show similar to Atheist Experience started by Jimmy Snow.

Logicked – “Entertaining responses to bad arguments, with a focus on atheism and debunking religion.”

Matt Dillahunty - Matt Dillahunty’s personal YT channel.

Non-Prophets - The Non-Prophets focuses on atheism and the separation of church and state.

NonStampCollector - Lots of fantastic little animations regarding atheism.

Parenting Beyond Belief - Parenting Beyond Belief is a live call-in show every 2nd and 4th Saturday at 1pm Central dedicated to peer support and guidance for secular parents and those wanting to learn more about non-religious families.

Paulogia -  A former Christian takes a look at the claims of Christians, wherever science is being denied in the name of ancient books.

Professor Stick - Mostly does reply videos to debunk pseudoscience on the internet.

Prophet of Zod - Everything from satirical atheist cartoons to a guy with a static head and no discernible facial features talking about atheism-related stuff. His most popular section is a series on “Dumb Things People Say to Atheists”, where he very calmly and respectfully explains why what the thing is dumb and how best to respond.

Rachel Oates - A channel which deals with a variety of sujects, from poetry to atheist news to book reviews of religious books and more. 

Secular Sexuality -  Secular Sexuality is a weekly call-in show live from Austin, Texas every Thursday at 7pm CT where they talk about sex from a secular perspective.

Shannon Q - An atheist who talks about a variety of topics.

Secular Spirit - An ex-Muslim who talks about religion and atheism.

Sir Sic – A reaction video channel where the host is a cartoon knight.

Skeptics & Scoundrels – A very new channel by an atheist ex-JW. I personally like him already. Before talking about why he disagrees with the paster he’s responding to, he makes a point of finding something nice to say about the person (“Your beard is cool – baby birds could nest in that thing!”), which I think it’s a neat and unique approach. He doesn’t have a lot of videos yet but give it time. :)

The SkepTick – A pretty fun channel of mostly reaction vids reacting to religious videos.

Sound of Science – Mostly a reaction video blog regarding unscientific beliefs.

Suris the Skeptic - He tackle issues of religion, morality, philosophy, and a touch of science.

Talk Heathen - Talk Heathen is a weekly call-in television show in Austin, Texas geared toward long-form and on-going dialogue with theists & atheists about religion, theism, & secularism.

Telltale - Typically looks at cults and religion-related news.

The Thinking Atheist – Typically video essays and the visual version of a podcast by the same name. The host’s voice sounds exactly like an old-timey radio announcer. lol

TMM – A channel mostly featuring reactions to Christian content.

Truth Wanted - A show similar to Atheist Experience and Talk Heathen, it focuses on how and why people believe what they believe, and how you can talk about beliefs in more effective ways.

Viced Rhino - Response videos to pseudo-scientific nonsense on YouTube.

[ilmtest]

Toxic Masculinity

al-Zuhrī asked Abū Bakr al-Huḏalī, “O Huḏalī, do you like ḥadīth?” حَدَّثَنِي أَحْمَدُ بْنُ فَذَرْبُخْتَ السَّيْرَافِيُّ، نَزِيلُ الْبَصْرَةِ، ثَنَا عَبْدُ الْقُدُّوسِ الْحُبْحَابِيُّ، حَدَّثَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ عَاصِمٍ، حَدَّثَنِي بَكْرُ بْنُ سَلَّامٍ، حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو بَكْرٍ الْهُذَلِيُّ قَالَ: قَالَ لِي الزُّهْرِيُّ: " يَا هُذَلِيُّ، أَيَعْجِبُكَ الْحَدِيثُ؟ He replied, “Yes.” قُلْتُ: نَعَمْ al-Zuhrī said, “It is liked by the masculine of men, and it is disliked by the effeminate of men.” قَالَ: أَمَا إِنَّهُ يُعْجِبُ ذُكُورَ الرِّجَالِ، وَيَكْرَهُهُ مُؤَنَّثُوهُمْ " al-Rāmahurmuzī, al-Muḥaddith al-Fāṣil 1/179 #32 الرامهرمزي، المحدث الفاصل ١/١٧٩ #٣٢ https://shamela.ws/book/13059/33 @ilmtest [https://t.me/ilmtest]

[slacktivist]

SOME OF THOSE THAT WORK FORCES.

ARE THE SAME THAT BURN CROSSES.

Keep watching, keep learning, keep speaking about the crimes against humanity committed by the world's wealthy elite. Just because you sleep comfortably does not make you innocent. The powerful and plentiful of the EU and North America fund the crises in Palestine, in Congo, and in Sudan.

Do NOT desensitise yourself to atrocities committed around the globe, do NOT over-consume traumatic and disturbing materials of human suffering, do NOT stop at reblogging, and DO NOT DISENGAGE OR DROP-OUT. DO keep reading about the history, listen to the words spoken by the people on the ground and who are there, bring it up at the dinner table, normalise politics in the tearoom, spread kindness, wellness and be grateful for what you have.

[deenemaan]

And the moon - We have determined for it phases, until it returns [appearing] like the old date stalk.

Surah Yaseen Ayat 39

A composite photo of the position and phases of the moon over 28 days, each photo taken at the same time each day at the same exact place. [Photo by Giorgia Hofer Photography]

[noosphe-re]

In trying to express the nature of intellectual knowledge, Muslim scholars commonly cite mathematical understanding as an example, and they consider true mathematical insight as a halfway house on the road to intellectual vision. A real knowledge of mathematics does not derive from rote learning or rational argumentation, but rather from the discovery of the logic and clarity of mathematics in one’s own self-awareness. When one perceives the truth of a mathematical statement, one cannot deny it, because it is self-evident to the intelligence.

William Chittick, “The Recovery of Human Nature”, Transdisciplinarity in Science and Religion No. 4 (2008), pp. 281-93