Why does the Muslim world lag behind in science?

This question runs deep into the heart of Islamic philosophy, creed and interpretation and may shed some light on why certain groups of muslims (i.e. Salafis) are at odds with other groups of muslims.

For simplicity - let us say there are only 2 main (and opposing) philosophies in Islam. Traditionalism (Athari) and Rationalism (Ashari, Maturidi, Alfarabi, Averroes,etc). One of the two mindsets underlie all Islamic schools of thought (some more extremely than others). I shall attempt to illustrate the difference between the two worldviews through the following joke:  A traditionalist and a rationalist walk into a mosque.  The traditionalist looks at a verse in the Qur’an which states that Angels are made from light.  He then reads the results of a scientific paper which states that light has a maximum speed.  He believes in both of them and tells the rationalist what he has read.  The rationalist agrees with the traditionalist.  The rationalist then realises that if angels are made from light, and light has a maximum speed, then angels must have a maximum speed that they cannot go faster than - and so it takes them a certain amount of time to travel vast distances! The traditionalist looks suspiciously at the rationalist and says “you claim that angels have a maximum speed?” and “you claim that they take time to travel?”!!  This is an innovation (bid’ah) in the religion and there is no clear proof for what you have said! Get out of this mosque you innovator!  (of course, the rationalist may well be wrong - since his assumption is based on the fact that the angelic light is the same as the photonic light - so is it wrong that he tried to conclude additional knowledge about the religion?)

Historically, Shias have always embraced a more rationalist approach to the religion than Sunnis. However, this was not always the case. Earlier Sunni schools (e.g. Hanafi) embraced rationalism more than later ones. Furthermore, during the golden age of Islamic knowledge (iraq, baghdad, etc), sunni islam was evenly split between Rationalistm (ashari ,averroes, etc) and Traditionalistm (athari). Traditionalists eventually dominated the scene in the Islamic world until this day whereas Rationalism lost popularity (but had a direct and lasting influence on medieval Europe during its “enlightenment” period and hence directly shaped the Western worlds underlying rationalist mindset as we know it).

The reason it did not have an equally lasting impact on the Islamic world shall become clear below. None-the-less, there remain small elements of the rationalist movement within sunni schools of thought (some more than others - e.g. Hanafi). The emergent Salafi group consider themselves an extreme form of traditionalism (athari) and intend to cleanse any remaining rationalistic elements from the Islamic world - (reasons for which may become clear below). One observation that has proven true through history is that being more traditional generally makes the interpretation far stricter and stuck in a certain historical era (non-progressive) whereas being more rational makes the interpretation more lenient and progressive (since scientific advancements are the result of rationalism - you could say science is another name for rationalism) and hence more attractive to the masses.

To understand why so many muslims have, and still do, prefer tradionalist world views over a more rationalist one, we must understand the main arguments between the two mindsets.

TRADITIONALISM (ATHARI)

• The main problem Traditionalists have with Rationalists is to do with Innovation (bid’ah). Whereas Rationalism PROMOTES innovation, Traditionalism SHUNS innovation. They argue that although innovation has helped discover knowledge in scientific fields, when applied to something that is perfected (i.e. the religion of islam), innovation can only damage it.
• [written by a rationalist muslim] "A section of the people made capital out of their own ignorance; discussions and rational thinking about matters of faith became a heavy burden for them, and, therefore, they became inclined to blind faith and blind following (taqlid). They condemned those who tried to rationalize the principles of religion as `innovators.' They considered discussion about motion, rest, body, accident, colour, space, atom, the leaping of atoms, and Attributes of God, to be an innovation and a sin. They said that had such discussions been the right thing, the Prophet and his Companions would have definitely done so; they further pointed out that the Prophet, before his death, discussed and fully explained all those matters which were necessary from the religious point of view, leaving none of them to be discussed by his followers; and since he did not discuss the problems mentioned above, it was evident that to discuss them must be regarded as an innovation."
• Salafis (extreme traditionalists/athari) are not against blind following (taqlid). More accurately, they are against the muslim attitude of blind following (taqlid) scholars' opinions/rulings (fatawa) instead of putting due emphasis on the blind following (taqlid) of the Prophet s.a.a.s or Companions (sahaba) or students of the companions (tabi3een) - collectively known as the “salaf” (hence the name).

RATIONALISM (ASHARI, ALFARABI, AVERROES, ETC):

• Due to the points mentioned above, most Islamic Rationalists (Ash'arites) believed that blind faith (taqlid) should apply only to Islam and not to any ancient Hellenistic authorities
• the Rationalists (Ash'arites) not only accepted scientific methods but even promoted them - the greatest Muslim scientists, such as Ibn al-Haytham and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, who were pioneers of the scientific method, were themselves followers of the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology
• Ibn al-Haytham's view that taqlid should apply only to prophets of Islam and not to any other authorities formed the basis for much of his scientific skepticism and criticism against Ptolemy and other ancient authorities in his Doubts Concerning Ptolemy and Book of Optics

SUMMARY:

• Rationalists SHUN blind following (taqlid) which is promoted by Traditionalism (albeit allegedly only the blind following of the prophet’s generation and not scholars).
• Traditionalists SHUN innovation (bid’ah) which is promoted by Rationalism (albeit mostly in worldly topics rather than religious rulings)
• If Rationalism were still embraced in the Muslim world, perhaps they could have become a nation of Galileos, Keplers and Newtons, and perhaps the religion would have been changed so much from its original form, that it would have conformed to the world we live in the same as so many others have