JAKARTA -- The holy book of Muslims, Alquran (the Koran), is often associated with knowledge and scientific findings. Not surprisingly, in the early heyday of Islam, konwledge and science developed rapidly.
Lately there have been a number of parties who have doubted the Koran is a scientific book. The Koran is considered to only contain teachings of morality and history.
An expert on Koran interpretation who is also the founder of the Center for Quran Studies (PSQ) Prof M Quraish Shihab tries to respond to this problem.
Shihab explained that the verses of the Koran and hadith are words that have content in them. Thus, said the al-Azhar Egypt alumnus, the interpreters should not reduce or exaggerate it.
In the Indonesian translation of the Koran, there are often vocabularies that do not describe the true content in the Koran. For example, several vocabulary words in the Koran are different but have the same meaning in Indonesian or one meaning.
Shihab said that the Koran is not a book whose purpose is to explain scientific nature as revealed in various scientific disciplines.
Rather, the Koran is a guide, a book of guidance, or a book of da'wah. Indeed, according to Shihab, in the context of da'wah there are scientific properties that are put forward, but that is not the main objective.
Prof. Shihab explained that there were many verses about scientific questions from ancient people but did not get scientific answers as explained by scientists today. For example, questions from previous people about why there is a full moon and others.
"We have to realize that the scientific essence is only the agreement of the experts in the field at a certain time. And that can change at other times," said Shihab.
The Koran does not reveal the scientific nature of these but encourages them to carry out activities which in turn can be used as a basis for discovering scientific nature.
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