In December 2022, two of Cambridge Muslim College’s BA in Islamic Studies students, Mohammed Imran Khan and Hamzah Zahid, participated in the ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’ conference. The conference was organised by Al Mahdi Institute in partnership with the research team of a major research project based at the University of Birmingham: Science and British Muslim Religious Leadership.
In recent centuries, the relationship between science and religion has been a contentious one in many religious communities, including Islam. By providing an open and inclusive space for research and discussion, the conference sought to uncover and investigate the varied interactions between science and British Muslim leadership. From the recent COVID 19 pandemic to the interpretation of the Qur’an and the origins of life and the universe, the conference provided an opportunity to address critical questions of concern to Muslim scientists and scholars alike.
In their panel, ‘Pedagogy on Science and Islam’, Imran and Hamzah shared their personal journeys with Islam and science as students at the Cambridge Muslim College. They contributed to an important and ongoing discussion about how science is taught in Muslim communities and institutions of higher learning, providing a unique and critical perspective from the vantage point of students at a Muslim academic institution. Hamzah discussed how his relationship to the science-religion nexus has changed over time. His prior engagement with this topic had often come from polemical apologetic discourses. As he remarked:
‘The calm and methodical exposition of the intellectual frameworks of the Islamic tradition that I am experiencing at Cambridge Muslim College hasn’t necessarily provided “simple answers” to challenging questions but has provided me with a toolkit with which to explore this important subject matter.’
Hamzah and Imran also commented on the warm intra-Muslim spirit that they experienced at the Al-Mahdi Institute where they met many friends and supporters of Cambridge Muslim College.