It is easy to understand an idea or concept that is explained and taught to us but it is extremely difficult and rare to be the person who first discovered and conceptualised that idea, it requires that you understand the nature of the components of that science, and then to innovate and produce something new from that knowledge, it is even more difficult to combine knowledge from many different fields to produce something entirely new, but this was common in the Islamic world as they first looked at the fundamentals of science, which by now we ourselves have built upon, so it has become less common in our time that a scientist is qualified in more than one area of knowledge, which was not the case in the past.
“When learning about the Muslim scholars of the past, it is easy to be amazed by their brilliance, accomplishments, and contributions to the modern world. Each provided a lasting legacy that changed the world in their time and today. One scientist’s contribution in particular stands out, Ibn al-Haytham, the great polymath who lived from 965 to 1040. The Greeks believed that scientific fact can be discovered through reason, or simply attributed to the actions of the gods. Ibn al-Haytham was the first scientist in history to insist that everything be proven through a given method for discovering new information, the scientific method.”
This is what famous western thinkers like Roger Bacon, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton built their understanding upon.
“Ibn al haytham’s research in optics offered a framework for shaping the scientific method, which consisted of combining geometry with physics in the context of experimental demonstration, verification, and controlled testing, including the design and use of scientific instruments and installations like his camera obscura”, which was something akin to the first television that projected the outside world as it moved onto a wall in a darkened room, he made many other contributions to science such as his mathematisation of physics, and he wrote over 200 books before his death.
The scientific method is the method that today all scientist use to make discoveries and outlines the basic principles by which to conduct experiments to find new discoveries.
All muslim scientists followed the Sunnah of the prophet (saws), they followed his footsteps and his way of life to achieve what He achieved in his character, and were inspired to understand the world they lived in just as He (saws) was instructed to see all the signs in creation.
A balanced and sound judgment is important to the scientific method, the Prophet (saws) understood all the delusions that the self can fool a person into believing, so He (saws) used to make Dua (prayer) to Allah saying, “Allah I seek refuge in you from the mischief (Shari) of my hearing, and from the mischief of my perception (basry/vision) and from the mischief of my tongue and from the mischief of my heart”, He (saws) always protected his understanding from self delusions and was wary of any falsehoods that the mind or self may conjure.
Aisha (r.a) related “The commencement of the divine inspiration to Allah’s apostle was in the form of good dreams which came like bright daylight (i.e. true) and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the Cave of Hira’, where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again, till suddenly the truth descended upon him while he was in the Cave of Hira’. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied ‘I do not know how to read’. The Prophet added, ‘The angel caught me (forcibly) and pressed me so hard (against his chest) that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, “I do not know how to read”. Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read, but again I replied, “I do not know how to read” (or what shall I read?). Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said:
ٱقۡرَأۡ بِٱسۡمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ (١) خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ مِنۡ عَلَقٍ (٢) ٱقۡرَأۡ وَرَبُّكَ ٱلۡأَكۡرَمُ (٣)
“Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), has created man from something that clings. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous (96: 1-3)
The First word of Revelation was “Iqra” (Read) to a man (saws) who could not read and Allah did not grant Him (saws) the ability to read afterwords because of it either. The word was an instruction that was repeated a number of times by Jibril (Gabriel), affirming and establishing that “read” was an instruction to do something at that moment in time, then Jibril in order to aid the prophet with the ability to carry out this command squeezed him after each instruction to “Iqra”, the Angel pressed his chest, being and heart against that of the prophets (saws) until the prophet (saws) could not take it.
In the instruction to Iqra (read) and the response by Jibril, to what the prophet (saws) said, is the answer to what kind of reading was intended, since this was the first word and command of revelation Rasul Allah (saws) was being commanded to read the signs in creation, to open his mind, self and heart and observe them and the world around Him.
Allah instructed man to read the same signs elsewhere in the Qur’an in the same manner, “We detail Our signs for people who know” (6:97), “On the earth are Signs for those with certainty in Faith”(51:20), “That is, [signs] for the arifun (Awliya) by which they find evidence for their ma’rifa (gnosis)”(51:20, Tafsir al Tustari)
Allah’s first instruction to his prophet (saws) was to read the signs and He was given the ability to do so by Jibril (as), the Ullumah (scholars) have said that the Qur’an explains the Qur’an, at times the obvious assumption is not the correct one especially when we know the Prophet (saws) never learned to read or write and we know the word “sign” appears more than 351 times in the Qur’an instructing people to read various kinds of signs that Allah created for us, we also know what occurred to previous peoples who ignored the signs of Allah and failed to read them, and so because Jibril did not bring with him a book to read we know the instruction to Iqra (read) was to open the heart and senses and read all the signs in the Universe and not the pages of a book.
It was reported that once, Gabriel and Michael visited the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him. The latter had a toothstick in hand which he immediately handed to Gabriel, the angel who constantly brought him Revelation. Gabriel said: “O Muhammad! give it to the elder angel.” The Prophet gave it to Michael.
The Prophet said: “Allah gave me two celestial assistants to help me deliver my Message: Gabriel and Michael.”
The prophet used to always send for Gabriel and Michael concerning matters important to human beings. The caller to prayer (muezzin) in the heavens is Gabriel and the prayer-leader (imam) is Michael. Allah created the Angels in ranks one after the other and the Angel in charge of earth, Michael (Mika’il), was created before the Angel in charge of revelation, Gabriel (Jibril). Mans Ability to read the signs relates to his connection with the world around him, which Mika’il is responsible for, and what he can sense from it with his heart. So Mika’il is responsible for guiding man to Allah as man sees these signs around him, and the Angels are messengers responsible for Allah’s signs, “Allah selects messengers from both angels and from mankind; Allah is all hearing and all seeing” (22:75), “ALL PRAISE is due to Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, who causes the angels to be (His) message-bearers, endowed with wings, two, or three, or four. [Unceasingly] He adds to His creation whatever He wills: for, verily, Allah has the power to will anything.” (35:1).
Revelation only descends through Jibril (as), hence message-bearers refers to all aspects of creation and so here it means Angels who are responsible for making all of Allah’s signs and messages to mankind clear for them to understand, the Angels are the beings who guide all creation to see Allah’s signs in creation, and in this context the signs of science and knowledge that Allah placed in the universe, it is one thing to look at something in front of us to try to learn from it but how the person is inspired with the knowledge that is in front of him is entirely a matter of the self.
Allah created Michael, who is higher in rank than the Angel of revelation, and put him in charge of nature itself, the rain, snow, thunder, lightning, wind, clouds etc. Allah appointed a complete creation of angels to assist him and placed them under his command. These angels are countless like the size of the Universe is unimaginable, and no-one other than Allah knows their number because it was said by the prophet (saws) that their isn’t a span of four fingers in space that doesn’t have an angel in it, responsible for what is occurring under his care.
Mika’il and Jibril were the first angels to obey Allah’s order to prostrate to Adam, and they are the two Angels who purified the heart of Rasul Allah (saws) for his night Journey, al Isra wal Miraj.
The ability to read the signs in nature is related to our Fitrah (instinct) as we rely on our senses in life, while revelation itself is related to our higher human functions, as we contemplate Allah’s deep words. Allah placed our ability to be true to our fitrah (instinct) with our ability to worship only him, because of an Oath mankind took on the day of Oaths, “And remember when your Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seeds, and made them testify about themselves” (7:172-3), Allah took an oath from every soul that would be born, that they would worship only Him in life, this translated to man’s instinct of believing in a creator.
While Jibril is responsible for revelations, Mika’il is responsible for the signs mankind and Jinn perceive in everyday life.
When Allah asks mankind to read the signs in creation He points to the things in creation the Angels are responsible for governing so in this way they are the messengers for them, informing mankind about them.
The scholars said, Jibril (ra) helped the messenger Allah to read the signs by hugging and squeezing him, this was like imprinting on the prophet Jibril’s personality, self and qualities, so the Messenger of Allah (saws) could feel what Jibril sensed, what it was like to be a being who constantly sees and reads the signs of Allah in creation.
Hugging a person is a very personnel thing that brings us closer to that person, it gives us a sense and feeling of who they are as people, in that moment we forget our own self and only see them hence we learn from what we see about them, it is more intimate than a hand shake or a kiss on the cheek, especially when both people care for each other, you drink of that persons essence as you feel them and that hug stays with you, this all relates to our instincts and ability to sense, so Jibril in squeezing the prophet was opening up the prophets instincts and ability to sense something more.