To underline a common thread that connects the scientific and spiritual realms, it is necessary to first examine the scientific method and process from historical and modern perspectives.
At the foundation of the scientific method is the principle that every claim or hypothesis must be proven by experimentation and data. Fortunately, most scientists understand that claims or assumptions not backed by experimental observations can be discarded as patently false or as an impetus to revise the starting hypothesis. However, when Greek philosophers held sway, they widely believed that facts could be discovered simply based on reason.
Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham) of Iraq, the great polymath who lived from circa 965 to 1040, was the first among scientists to insist that every claim must be proven by critical examination. Alhazen stated, “The duty of man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads and … attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.”1
Tom Kibble and Frank Berkshire, two notable physicists, have offered a modern perspective on the scientific process: “Every scientific theory starts from a set of hypotheses, which are suggested by our observations, but represent an idealization of them. The theory is then tested by checking the predictions deduced from these hypotheses against experiment. When persistent discrepancies are found, we try to modify the hypotheses to restore the agreement with observation. If many such tests are made and no serious disagreement emerges, then the hypotheses gradually acquire the status of ‘laws of nature.’ ”2
The “set of hypotheses,” then, is the starting point, the initial thought process, of any scientific effort. That starting point is based on a blind trust that a given set of observations is amenable to being understood in terms of principles, laws, or theories that may emerge.
Having briefly explained the scientific process, we now consider the spiritual world. The Holy Qur’an states that an essential quality of a believer is to “believe in the unseen” (2:4), implying the belief in an all-capable yet unseen God. Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (1835–1908), prophet and founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, explained the importance of belief in the unseen: “When upon seeing smoke from a distance a man reckons that there must be a fire where there is smoke—at that stage his state of knowing is only a conjecture—unless he advances in the direction of that smoke and puts his hand in those flames, until that time his knowledge cannot acquire the character of detailed and certain knowing. In fact the condition of such knowledge is what is referred to as faith.”3
Herein lies the similarity between the scientific process and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment—that the very genesis of each hinges on a belief in the unseen. The unseen in the scientific process includes, for example, the unknown workings of a cell or the way in which the gravitational force unites with three other forces in nature. Challenges arise in both scientific and spiritual realms in the quest to understand the unseen. Just as our understanding of biology and medicine have not shut the door on death or produced treatments that never fail, similarly the pursuit of spiritual progress can be met with setbacks, such as the misuse of religion or one’s inability to completely understand his or her connection with God.
Rather than a conflict between science and religion, I see a shared intellectual tradition that underpins both spiritual and scientific pursuits.
