The prestigious Science magazine of 2 October, 2015, has an article titled “Talking science and God with the Pope’s new astronomer”. It would surprise many that the Vatican maintains an observatory which employs a dozen astronomers to study asteroids, meteorites extra solar planets, stellar evolution and cosmology. It operates a 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona where the sky is clearer. The director of observatory has a PhD in planetary science. The Vatican supports astronomy become it is an important part of being human.
The o1bservatory dates back to Pope Gregory-XIII’s reform of the calendar in the 16th century. It shows that science and religion were not opposed to one another. The Muslims in the past used to operate astronomical observatories but our men of religion have confined their activities to sight the moon on Eids only and are no larger concerned with scientific observations of cosmos while the Muslims were the first to work out the circumference of Earth in times gone by. The tragedy of Muslims lies in separation of religion and science from each other which is the main cause of our decline in the world. A wise saying is posted in the article that goes like: If one thinks that he knows everything in the world, he is not a good scientist and if one thinks that he knows all there is to know about God, his religious faith is at fault.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore