MODERN REFORMS IN THE ISLAMIC THOUGHT WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE: A STUDY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

Orientalist scholarship in Western academic literature has portrayed Islam as ignorant, backward, and anti-science. However, there has been a paradigm shift in this monolithic approach to the academic study of Islam. The modern interpretation of Islam supports science and shows the face of Islam as being in harmony with Western practices and procedures. The new representation of Islam has further been categorised into friends and foes. This paper consists of three sections, one of which is based on a study of some of the key reforms proposed by Muslim modernists regarding Islam and modern science. The second part aims to present the Islamist response to modern science, a group that is often presented as an opponent and foe of Islamic modernism. It also includes a comparison between Islamic modernist and Islamist approaches to highlight the differences in their methodology. The final section proposes a new methodology to address the issue of the incompatibility of Islam and modern science. The study employs an analytical research methodology with a qualitative approach. It prioritises primary sources but also uses secondary sources when needed. Books, research papers, and online resources are utilised to analyse differing viewpoints and approaches. Books, research papers, and online resources have been used to explore various methods adopted by Muslim scholars in the Indian subcontinent regarding the relationship between Islam and modern science.