With the global introduction of high speed modes of transportation the UAE government sprang to the challenge of advancing these highly automated future transport systems on its home ground.
Which is why the first ever hyper loop passenger pods were unveiled at UAE’s Innovation exhibit at the final week of UAE innovation Month. The exhibit which was open to the public gave visitors a chance to witness the futuristic transportation system that is believed to revolutionize all aspects of terrestrial transportation.

Previously, a prototype of the Hyperloop which was initially conceptualized as a low cost, energy efficient model was unveiled by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in collaboration with Virgin Hyperloop One at City Walk. This move comes in the wake of one of many tangible efforts by the country to make 25 per cent of all journeys to be driverless by 2030.
The Hyperloop pod which is slated to be launched by 2020, is furnished with leather seats and high definition screens for displaying information. Each pod has the capacity to accommodate 12 passengers who will be travelling at speeds of over 1,000 kilometers an hour, making the normal 2 hour journey in under 12 minutes only. The Hyperloop will initially make journeys between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah and Dubai.

The hyperloop is designed in a way that the passenger pod is enclosed in a tube under a partial vacuum. The pods are made to levitate through the vacuum tube with the help of an electromagnetic propulsion system. The system hovers above the ground and is held in place by concrete columns thereby maintaining a straight trajectory. The pods do not have windows to avoid motion sickness.

A statement revealed that His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, director general of the RTA, said: ‘When introduced in future, the hyperloop technology will impact the town planning and the availability of parking spaces. ‘It will revolutionize people mobility between various destinations in the city, logistical hubs like airports and ports, and shipping patterns.

‘These pods, the first of their kind worldwide, have been designed to travel over short and medium distances on dedicated lanes. ‘They can be coupled in 15 to 20 seconds or detached, depending on the destination of riders, in five seconds. ‘They are fitted with cameras and electro-mechanical technologies to carry out the coupling and detaching processes, and this feature can be activated in-motion.’

Sources:
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/transport/first-look-prototype-for-hyperloop-unveiled-in-dubai-1.706889
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/transport/video-rta-unveils-hyperloop-prototype-in-uae-innovation-month-

As the search for knowledge and quests to explore yonder worlds stays part of human nature, Mars remains the first – and so far – biggest feat for space agencies around the world. The Muslim world is playing its part in this global challenge. UAE’s space agency is building up its mission ‘Al-Amal’ or Hope, which is planned to enter Mars’ orbit in the year 2021.

Ancient history of many cultures associated Mars with war and destruction due to its reddish appearance. In the Muslim world, Mars at times was an omen of triumph and divine blessing. In the 10^th century, the Fatimid Caliphate captured Egypt and moved their royal seat to a newly named city ‘Al-Qahir’ or City of Mars (Fatimid dialect), presently known as Cairo. Astrological connotations were gradually refuted by Muslim astronomers and a scientific approach with empirical arguments gave birth to astronomy and space sciences of the modern world.[i]

The space race between US and USSR led to plethora of missions beyond Earth’s orbit. In the 1960s, Pakistan, primarily due to its location, became a region of major interest for NASA and SUPARCO, the first space agency in the Muslim World was born. Many other Muslim nations have since established space agencies and are playing their part in the global space sector such as LAPAN (Indonesia), ANGKASA (Malaysia), ISA (Iran), MAKA (Azerbaijan), NSSA (Bahrain), UzbekCosmos(Uzbekistan), KazCosmos (Kazakhastan), ASA (Algeria), TSA (Turkey), TNSA (Turkmenistan) and SPARRSO (Bangladesh). Other Muslim countries are also either in the phase of establishing a space agency or joining hands with another.

The UAE Space Agency is the latest entrant in this galaxy.  It is investing $5.44 billion and spearheading the space sector in the Muslim world with its ambitious unmanned mission to Mars. Marking UAE as the ninth country working to explore Mars, Hope, the first Islamic probe to Mars, is planned to start its journey from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket in July 2020.

The Ruler of Dubai H.E Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum says, “this mission to Mars is really for the hope of the Arab world”.

According to H.E. Dr. Mohammad Al Ahbabi, Director General of UAE Space Agency, “Our vision is to launch space projects that will help the development of the UAE’s economy, support local, regional and international space study and technology and create exciting learning and career opportunities for our people.”

After launch, the probe will begin the seven to nine-month long journey.

Emirates mission to Mars is a science mission. The Emirati orbiter is aimed at providing an integrated model of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Hope will be the first to study dynamic changes in Martian atmosphere throughout its daily and seasonal cycles. The space probe will be built from aluminum into a honeycomb-like compact structure weighing approximately 1,500 kg including fuel. It will collect planet-wide climate tracking because of its special orbit cycles. It is planned to orbit Mars till 2023 at least and may have an extended mission till 2025.

The mission will search for clues to better understand the ancient climate on Mars and today’s Martian weather. This will be done by tracking the escape of hydrogen and oxygen and their behavior as Mars loses its atmosphere to Space. With an onboard storage capacity of 20 GB, it will send back more than 1000 GB of invaluable data that will be made available for free to space specialists to study.

Hope is to be equipped with 600 watt solar panels for power, six 120-Newton Delta-V thrusters, eight 5-Newton Reaction Control System thrusters for navigation and control along with Star trackers for guidance and attitude correction. To stay in contact with Mission Control on Earth, a High-gain directional antenna producing narrow radio-wave will point at Earth. Once in orbit around Mars, the communication bandwidth may be as low as 250 kbps.

The scientific instruments to be carried by Hope include the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI), Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) and an Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS). The EXI will send back high-resolution color images and measure properties of water ice, dust aerosols and quantify ozone. The EMUS will measure the variability of the thermosphere and traces of oxygen and hydrogen coronae. The EMIRS will help examine temperature patterns and the thermal structure. It will also measure abundance of ice water vapor and dust in Martian atmosphere. [ii]

At approximately 54.6 million kilometers away from Earth with a communication delay of 13-20 minutes, Hope will have to maneuver into Mars’ orbit autonomously. Once in orbit, internal reaction wheels will be spun for attitude control and to point its solar panels towards the Sun while pointing its antenna towards Earth and on board scientific equipment towards Mars. [iii]

The first Muslim and royal in space, Prince Sultan bin Salman[iv] of Saudi Arabia who was part of the crew of Discovery STS-51G that went into orbit for seven days in 1985, has also endorsed active participation in space mission by nations of the MENA region noting that this would greatly benefit the Muslim world by developing technology and bringing hope and inspiration to a troubled region.

At a Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi in 2016, Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon exclaimed “I want to bring UAE into a small community which will be working, and I believe, living on the only other habitable planet in our solar system by 2040.”

The challenges that UAE Space Agency may face include completing the development of the space probe well in time for launch, securing measurable economic benefits, ensuring effective transfer of technology, and retaining the trained professional Emirati scientists and engineers for the mission to Mars who may seek other jobs. 

Dr Benton C Clark – Lockheed

The UAE Space Agency plans to maintain an ongoing engagement with academia.

Dr. Benton C. Clarke[v], Chief Scientist, Flight Systems, Lockheed Martin Astronautics at the launch of Emirates Mission to Mars in Abu Dhabi said, “We’d very much like to see them be successful, because it’s always good to have more science at Mars. These missions help each other. It has a lot of broad reaching implications for education. We found in the US when the Space programs first started especially when first astronauts went into space, that many students became interested in science and technology than they had before.”

The Emirates mission to Mars will set a precedent for other space agencies in the Muslim world. UAE government’s bold initiatives have put its space sector into overdrive and the ambitious Mission to Mars will move UAE far ahead of others in the Muslim World.

References:

[i] Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World By James E. Lindsay (Page 103-4)

[ii] http://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae

[iii] http://www.space.gov.ae

[iv] First Arab in Space https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/the-first-arab-in-space-1.32633

[v] Video interview recorded by author at GSSF UAE

“Perhaps more than anything else, the discussion between theology and science today is concerned with the presumption of naturalism; where it is not, it perhaps ought to be.”

Philip Clayton (1997, 172)

Introduction

How does the world really function, in its most fundamental way? And what is God’s role in it?

These are two “big questions”, among the biggest that there are, and one may wonder whether we

humans could possibly reach any satisfactory and consistent answers that would not just be “sophisticated views” but have solid ground underlying them. After all, humans deciding what God’s role is supposed to be, what He can and cannot do, will certainly seem presumptuous, as one may recall the well-known Qur’anic verse: “He cannot be questioned concerning what He does, and they shall be questioned (for theirs).”[1] (Q 21:23)

The first question, however, about how the world functions, seems much more within reach of human effort and purview, and indeed, on one level at least, that is what science has been doing, to greater and greater success. Science has identified many (most?) of the essential processes underlying phenomena in nature. Most importantly, it has identified “laws of nature”, or at least “laws of science”[2], that seem to regulate the observed order and regularity in the world. And the huge progress that humans have made on that first question is indicative of the validity of that quest. This then lends encouragement to the pursuit of the second one.

Critics or skeptics might promptly retort that this line of thinking is tantamount to “jumping the gun”, for it implies that nature follows some “laws”, that the latter are “real”, that in the previous paragraph God was not even mentioned or been given any place or role in the scheme of things other than perhaps to have created the world and its laws. Thus the two questions above are actually intimately related: we won’t be able to describe how the world really functions without deciding what God’s role is, and vice versa.

Moreover, looking down into our agenda, we won’t be able to say something about divine action and miracles without having addressed the concept of naturalism, as presupposed by modern science. We thus understand why Philip Clayton (in the above quote) regards this as the central issue in the mutual dialogue and quest for harmony between theology and science.

Methodological Naturalism

The concept of methodological naturalism (MN) is a crucial and largely under-appreciated pillar of modern science, one which explicitly or implicitly leads to conflicts, or at least to difficulties, in the “harmonization” with Islam/Religion. It is important to distinguish it from “philosophical” or “metaphysical” naturalism, which is the atheistic claim of non-existence of supernatural entities altogether, what is often referred to as “materialism.” The latter is a position that many philosophers and scientists adopt, but it is not a principle of Science.

As Phil Stilwell explains, “MN is a provisional epistemology and ontology that provides a framework upon which to do science… MN [entails] that science begin each particular inquiry with the assumption that any explanation will fall within the existing matrix of established material definitions and laws… MN also implies that, if a natural explanation does not immediately emerge from the inquiry, we do not default to a declaration of a supernatural cause.” (Stilwell, 2009, 229)

MN has become a pillar of modern science for reasons of pragmatism and efficacy: MN has proved itself efficient in advancing scientific exploration and discoveries, and it is a reasonable, minimalist assumption, in accord with “Occam’s razor”, which then makes it superfluous to call upon supernatural agents when material causes can explain the phenomenon. Indeed, supernatural explanations were soon identified as “science stoppers”, an end to the explanatory process, thus a non-productive or even counter-productive approach for progress in finding further truths about nature and devising useful applications.[3]

Clearly such a framework for Science poses a challenge to at least some Islamic conceptions of the world and nature, as Muslims often claim and insist that God acts physically and directly in the world, in cases of miracles or in everyday events, either at large scales (earthquakes, floods, etc.) or small, individual, personal scales (in responses to prayers, in particular). More generally, methodological naturalism keeps God “out of the picture”, looking at the world and nature as if God does not exist or does not act. This “cutting off of God’s hands” is indeed the main issue that Seyyed Hossein Nasr has regularly brought forward in rejecting the current naturalistic philosophy of modern science.

Other thinkers, however, from Ibn Rushd to Polkinghorne, have insisted on the regularity that God has put in the world (God’s “faithfulness”, or “reliability” or “consistency”), without which we cannot make predictions, nor even trust any knowledge we construct.

Even opponents of methodological naturalism, most notably Alvin Plantinga, have seen in its universality an important advantage for science (common to all, regardless of anyone’s beliefs, thus permitting more progress). None of the critics and opponents of methodological naturalism propose its full rejection. Draper (2005, 296) tells us that “even William Dembski (1994, 132), a leading critic of methodological naturalism, claims that one should appeal to the supernatural only when one has [very strong] reason to believe that what he calls one’s ‘empirical resources’ are exhausted.”

It thus becomes clear that Muslims, in attempts to harmonize Islamic theology today with modern science, must either fully take methodological naturalism onboard or present solid proposals that go beyond it. I, for one, have made the first choice – with its consequences.

Indeed, is there a contradiction between adopting both a theistic worldview and a thoroughly naturalistic methodology for science? I believe not. Methodological naturalism, as explained above, is a neutral standpoint and approach, and it has proven to be fruitful, appearing to correspond to how the world functions. Theologies that are fully consistent with modern science and methodological naturalism are far from trivial and require some sophisticated work. But they can be constructed.

Divine Action

The question of divine action is essentially another side of the same issue: does God act in the world if we claim that all phenomena in the world have natural explanations? Critics often retort that only deists believe that God’s role is limited to the creation of the world, and that theists believe that God does act… somehow. But if God does indeed act in the physical world, does He do so only through the normal processes of nature or, at least sometimes, by some direct interventions, going beyond the laws of nature?

Indeed, many thinkers make the important distinction between “direct” and “indirect” divine action (Draper 2005, 281), the former being ones where God “acts outside of the ordinary course of nature” (i.e. “without using natural causes to do so”), and the latter being ones where God “uses natural causes to bring about an effect.” Thinkers also make the distinction between “General Divine Action” (GDA) and “Special Divine Action” (SDA), the former being God’s general “sustaining” of the universe (laws and phenomena only working through His presence and permission)[4], and the latter representing actions at specific points/moments, whether directly (“interventions”, suspending the normal laws) or “indirectly” (by using “openings” in the laws of nature). (See Saunders 2002, for detailed and lengthy discussions of various ways to consider GDA and SDA, particularly the latter.)

I should note that SDA, particularly of the direct type, has elicited critiques of capriciousness or uncaringness on the part of God: why didn’t He stop the holocaust and other genocides if he can and does sometime intervene, why does He favor some people over others, etc. (Wiles 1999, 16-17).

Searching for ways by which God could act using natural causes, observers have long noted that the intrinsic indeterminism of quantum mechanics could be a doorway for God’s action in nature, since one would normally assume that God (the Omniscient and Omnipotent) is able to set the outcome of the “wave function collapse process” to any preferred choice from among those that the physics of the situation allows. God could then “steer” events in one direction or another, provided that He acts on each and every particle/atom/molecule in a “coordinated” manner. However, acting in this way, God would look too much like the infamous ‘God of the gaps’.[5]

The second proposal of physical divine action is through the non-linear processes that lead to chaos: tiny effects in the initial conditions of a system, whether microscopic or macroscopic leading to hugely amplified results. Here again, since tiny interventions and changes are essentially impossible to notice, God could take such an approach for His actions, but he would still be a ‘God of the gaps’. Saunders (2002, 177) notes that the “underlying deterministic nature of chaos theory raises insurmountable problems for non-interventionist action.” A perfect application of this chaos effect would be the parting of the Red Sea by the “strong east wind” (the Bible’s words). However, this would also be grounds for believing in God’s intervention in natural catastrophes, which many lay people believe are God’s punishing acts, but a viewpoint which raises concerns.

On the Muslim side, there have been very few, if any, fully argued proposals for viewing God’s action in the world, perhaps due to its high sensitivity. One article that has tackled the subject is Abdelhakim Al-Khalifi’s “Divine Action between Necessity and Choice” (1998), exploring the views of key classical philosophers (Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina) and theological schools of Islam (Mu`tazilism and Ash`arism). The author contrasts the Ash`arites’ views that God’s action is totally free and unconstrained with the Mu`tazilites’ position that God’s act of creation was free but that God has constrained himself by being Just and Good and rewarding/punishing for following/disobeying divine directives to us to be just and good.

Indeed, the Islamic heritage can be constructively tapped in; for instance, the old rationalist Mu`tazilite theology, which insists on the concept of divine laws, could be revived to help resolve this area of tension. Similarly, M. Basil Altaie has found in Ghazali’s views some richness and fruitfulness that could be exploited (Bigliardi 2014, 72-76), and it would be very useful to see those ideas unpacked (using Ghazali or other sources).

I had previously suggested an alternative viewpoint: that God acts only on minds/spirits, but I have not elaborated on this idea. In the western world, this idea has been expressed and elaborated upon, whether one adopts a dualistic or a monistic conception of mind and body (see Polkinghorne 1998, 54-5). In the Islamic tradition, there is a general understanding that the spirit is the communication channel and connection between God and humans as well as the fundamental “driving force” that God infused in humans. More recently, with debates of reductionism in relation to mind and consciousness, the idea that a top-down causation from mind/spirit to the brain, leading from ideas to physical acts which carry on into nature, has become quite reasonably acceptable. George Ellis (1995) has also supported this approach, adding that top-down causation from mind/spirit to the brain could be envisioned via the afore-mentioned quantum processes.

Miracles

Miracles constitute one of the most contentious issues in the debates of Religion and Science. Miracles are not as fundamental to some religions as to others, but in their direct connection to the more important issue of divine action in the world, they are essential to address.

One must start with fundamental questions to define and delineate the concept of miracles and the extent of their manifestation: 1) Are miracles “violations of the laws of nature”, or are they simply striking events that may point to God or supernatural agents but are scientifically only improbable? 2) Do miracles occur only at the hands of prophets, or do they also happen with saints and even with ordinary people (today)? 3) Did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) perform physical miracles? What about those that the Qur’an relates for other prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus)?

A number of thinkers have proposed interesting ideas w.r.t. miracles. Terrence Nichols (2002) views them as events that are “consistent with, but transcend, natural processes.” He suggests two approaches for dealing with miracles: a) the phenomenon may be an extreme, singular case of natural processes, akin to black holes (with gravity) and superconductivity (with electricity); b) the event can only be explained by divine action/intervention, and for this he invokes processes from quantum mechanics or chaos theory. Nichols speculates that “in some extreme circumstances, such as the presence of great faith, the laws of nature, while not changed, behave differently from the way they do in ordinary contexts.”

Keith Ward (2002) adopts a similar position. He suggests that “laws of nature… are best seen not as exceptionless rules but as context-dependent realizations of natural powers.” But he leaves open the possibility that miracles may not “fall under formulable scientific laws”; he adds that “there is every reason for a theist to think that there are higher principles than laws of nature.” He concedes, however, that “it is for competent scientists in the appropriate field to say whether a given event transcends the normal operation of the laws of nature. If it does not, however statistically improbable the event may be, it is not a miracle.”

Indeed, the question of miracles cannot be addressed without full reference to modern science. One must be totally cognizant of conservation principles (energy, electric charge) and other principles, as well as of the (in)determinism of various theories of science, all assuming that causality is fully upheld.

In modern times, several famous Muslim scholars and thinkers have adopted rationalistic or even naturalistic views w.r.t. miracles. Muhammad Abduh’s modernist exegesis of the Qur’an is famous for presenting naturalistic explanations to events that were often considered direct interventions by God; Shibli Nu`mani proposed scientific interpretations of miracles; Sir Seyyed Ahmad Khan is famous for having rejected miracles (as violations of natural laws) because God has established a covenant (or “trust”) with human by having set up laws in the entire universe; Muhammad Asad’s commentary on the Qur’an coherently included rationalistic reinterpretation of miracles; etc.

Recently, a few Muslim thinkers have also expressed interesting views on the question of miracles.

Mehdi Golshani (Bigliardi 2014, 57-60) considers “miracles” as only specific occurrences that fall under different laws, or a combination of laws (a magnetic field cancelling out gravity and making an object float in the air, in the example he gives). There is no violation or the laws of nature. However, even though he regards “miracles” as not central to our religiosity, he does not advocate metaphorical interpretations of any of the Qur’anic miracle stories, keeping open the possibility of their being explained in the future by new knowledge about nature.

A similar view is adopted by Altaie, who first insists that “God does not rule this world miraculously but according to well-defined laws” (Bigliardi 2014, 81), but further stresses that the quantum world has shown that extraordinary events (a person going through a door without opening it) can happen albeit exceedingly rarely. He thus considers “miracles” are extremely rare events that fall under the laws of nature, even though in some cases we may not yet have the knowledge to explain them.

Bruno Abd-al-Haqq Guiderdoni distinguishes between “divine providence”, events that are extraordinary coincidences but violate no laws, and which Muslims consider as divine “intervention”, a “small miracle”, so to speak, and between the events that are described in the Qur’an as apparently supernatural (e.g. a clay bird becoming alive and flying off), and which he proposes to interpret spiritually (Bigliardi 2014, 145-146). For instance, the famous splitting of the moon he interprets as “the splitting of the heart of the believer”, the unveiling of the secrets hidden in one’s heart on Doomsday. He concludes that “the laws of nature are constantly valid” because seeing God as an actor simply “lowers our idea of God.”

I think that one important element in dealing with Qur’anic miracle stories is the full consideration that the Book, as Ibn Rushd (and others) had (have) stressed, speaks differently to people of different intellectual capabilities and different eras. Thus the idea of “real” miracles may (or must) be upheld for the commoners, while the philosophers and the scientists must ensure that causality and the laws of nature are never violated, lest we lose our ability to understand the world and to ascertain knowledge.

Conclusion

Modern science has forced us to reconsider some aspects of theology. We cannot ignore new, important results and robust understanding of the world/nature and keep to old-style theology. Occasionalism, while dominating Islamic mainstream theology for many centuries, now seems like a strange conception to most people, so ingrained has the regularity and law-like nature of the world become. Indeed, Murphy (1995, 332) rejects occasionalism because it makes God the “sole actor” in creation and turns the natural causation that everyone unconsciously takes for granted into nothing but an illusion…

The concepts of methodological naturalism and causation, and their consequences on one’s consideration of divine action and miracles, are key theological issues that Muslim thinkers must address squarely today. Hopefully the rich intellectual tradition of Islam will provide us with much valuable material to work with, along with the extraordinary knowledge that modern science and philosophy have developed.

[1] Of course, this verse has been interpreted in various ways…

[2] A distinction is often made between “laws of nature” and “laws of science”, for science can only hope to approach (as closely as possible) the “real” or “ontological” laws that regulate nature, but at no point, certainly not now, can humans claim that the laws they have “discovered”, or actually “formulated”, are identical to the actual ones of nature (or what Muslims sometimes call “the laws of God”).

[3] For example, if a doctor explains some mental disorder as the work of demons, s/he will not be able to understand the deeper brain processes at work there, nor will any medication be found, one which will alleviate the troubles of the patient…

[4] This is most clearly expressed in Q35:41:  It is Allah Who sustains the heavens and the earth, lest they cease (to function): and if they should fail, there is none – not one – can sustain them thereafter: Verily He is Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.

[5] Divine action through quantum processes became a favorite of a number of western thinkers, most notably the physicist-theologian Robert J. Russell (1997, 2006, 2009).

References

Al-Khalaifi, Abdelhakim. 1998. “Al-Fi`l al-Ilahi bain al-Wujub wal-Ikhtiyar” (‘Divine Action between Necessity and Choice’). Proc. of the Third International Conference on Islamic Philosophy, Cairo: Cairo University.

Bigliardi, Stefano. 2014. Islam and the Quest for Modern Science: Conversations with Adnan Oktar, Mehdi Golshani, Mohammed Basil Altaie, Zaghloul El Naggar, Bruno Guiderdoni and Nidhal Guessoum. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul.

Clayton, Philip. 1997. God and Contemporary Science. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.

Dembski, William. 1994. “On the Very Possibility of Intelligent Design.” In The Creation Hypothesis. Ed. J. P. Moreland. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press. Pp. 113-38.

Draper, Paul. 2005. “God, Science, and Naturalism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion. Ed. William J. Wainwright, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 272-303.

Ellis, George FR 1995, Ordinary and Extraordinary Divine Action: the nexus of interaction, in R. Russell, N. Murphy and A. Peacocke, eds. Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. Vatican: Vatican Observatory and Berkeley: The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Murphy, Nancey, 1995, Divine Action in the Natural Order: Buridan’s Ass and Schrodinger’s Cat, in R. Russell, N. Murphy and A. Peacocke, eds. Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. Vatican: Vatican Observatory and Berkeley: The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Nichols, Terence L. 2002. “Miracles in Science and Theology.” Zygon. Vol. 37(3):703-716.

Polkinghorne, John, 1998, Science and Theology: an introduction, London: SPCK.

Russell, Robert J., 1997. Does ‘the God who Acts’ Really Act? New Approaches to Divine Action in the Light of Science. Theology Today, 54:1, 43-65.

Russell, Robert J., 2006. Quantum Physics and the Theology of Non-Interventionist Objective Divine Action, in Philip Clayton (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science. OUP Oxford. 579-595.

Russell, Robert J., 2009. Divine action and quantum mechanics : a fresh assessment, in F. LeRon Shults, Nancey C. Murphy & Robert J. Russell (eds.), Philosophy, Science and Divine Action. Brill.

Saunders, Nicholas, 2002, Divine Action and Modern Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stilwell, Paul. 2009. “The status of methodological naturalism as justified by precedent.” Studies in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Vol. 41: 229-247.

Ward, Keith. 2002. “Believing in Miracles.”  Zygon. Vol. 37(3):741-750.

Wiles, Maurice. 1999, Reason to Believe, London: SCM Press.

Nidhal Guessoum M.Sc, P.hD. is an Algerian astrophysicist. He is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Published online 20 November 2014

In the not-too-distant past, biomedical research was conducted almost exclusively in North America and Western Europe. While Asia and South America have made impressive strides in contributing to scientific output over the past two decades, the Arab world is still lagging.

Ali A. Bazarbachi, Samia J. Khoury and Mohamed H. Sayegh

Populations in the Middle East are generally afflicted with diseases similar to those prevalent in Western countries. These include cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. However, regional specificities have had an impact.

A high rate of consanguinity has led to various hereditary disorders. There has also been a significant increase in metabolic disorders, specifically in the Gulf region, largely attributed to widespread changes in diet and lifestyle. Furthermore, healthcare systems have been undermined by political instability and strife, resulting in an increase in infectious diseases, malnutrition and disability.

The concept of advanced biomedical research still does not exist in most of the region, with the exception of Turkey and Iran. Recent developments in biomedical research have surfaced in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region as well, with major investment in the creation of research infrastructure and research funding. But the fruits of such effort are yet to appear because of the absence of a critical mass of committed scientists.

Most of the region’s medical schools and universities offer the transmission of ‘second-hand’ knowledge in the absence of a true research culture. A general disinterest in scientific research adversely affects the quality of teaching and cultivates a culture of apathy.

Most active research is championed by a few dynamic individuals, based on their earlier achievements abroad, with little or no institutional incentives. They mostly collaborate with their university of origin in the United States or Europe and there is scant meaningful collaboration between institutions at the national or regional level.

The region’s participation in the advancement of science and medical discovery is important. Breakthroughs will improve quality of life for Middle Eastern people and ensure better patient care. There is also a need to attract internationally renowned investigators to create a nucleus of future scientific leaders.

Scientists should be encouraged toward personal academic growth. We need to involve students in medical research by bringing the latest research findings, including the results of a faculty’s own research activities, into the classrooms. This will generate research productivity and quality publications to increase the success rate in extramural funding, and pave the way to establish PhD and MD-PhD programmes in basic medical science.

Proposed solutions

The culture of research must be nurtured across society. This should start at the most basic level; as part of school curricula. Research is a complex process requiring critical thinking and strategic planning. Teaching students these skills would motivate them to be involved in research and provide them with a solid basis for the future.

The public must also be educated about research. There are many non-governmental organizations in the region, some of which are involved in supporting patients with particular diseases. In collaboration with the local governments and universities, these NGOs could provide education to the public about the importance of proper research and how it should be conducted.

The development of basic biomedical research can be encouraged by building on the strengths of the few areas where a critical mass of high-quality research already exists. This could be achieved by establishing regional collaborative groups for translational and clinical research.

These groups could then be used to launch meaningful investigator-initiated clinical trials and to forge partnership with the pharmaceutical industry. Regional incubators or centres of excellence are also needed to better manage resources and to attract investigators from abroad. They can also generate science-based innovations if partnerships with industry are established.

These centres require solid evaluation, auditing and quality assurance mechanisms. Based on track record, size and relative stability, the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center in Lebanon, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia, and other centers in the Gulf area (such as Kuwait Science Foundation or Qatar Foundation) could spearhead this programme with the goal of integrating others at a later stage. The initial centres can establish a network that allows mobility of researchers, students and technicians.

A vital step in propelling research is establishing a regional, cross-border institute for funding of biomedical research. This should be similar to the National Institute of Health in the US or the European Research Council, and be funded by private donors, governments and foundations. Funding should be merit-based and dependent on the ongoing quality of research.

Research productivity must be scientifically evaluated through a regional watchdog with a special focus on promoting original publications in high impact journals. This body can also determine initial funding of the centres of excellence and regularly evaluate them. As research is now evolving rapidly at a high rate, support mechanisms and government regulations should allow for rapid decisions, quick customs procedures and easy international contacts.

We propose the establishment of a think-tank at the highest regional level (for example the deans of certain medical schools and heads of research institutes in the region) to develop the potential structure for the regional funding agency described above. This group would then become the figurehead for persuading governments, foundations and the private sector to create a regional NIH-like structure for the region.

This is a priority and an essential step to put the region on the map in biomedical research. We believe that we have the resources and the brainpower, but we need the stimulus.

As Seneca said: it is not because things are difficult we do not dare, it is because we do not dare things are difficult.

The authors are all members of the American University in Beirut’s Faculty of Medicine.

doi:10.1038/nmiddleeast.2014.263

This article was originally published on NatureAsia. Read the original article.
Featured Image Credits: Thinkstock

The UAE is, of course, blessed with vast oil reserves but that commodity cannot in itself sustain the country except by providing the means to buy food from less arid regions or to artificially foster agriculture here using desalinated water. The population now is 7.9 million people but before oil was discovered and exported, the Trucial States sustained fewer than one million people.

The issue was quantified recently when the UAE was included for the first time in the The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Food Security Index, which put it in 30th place of 109 countries assessed. The score was based on three factors: food affordability, food availability and quality and safety.

However, that kind of standardized assessment does not sit comfortably with the unique situation here. The UAE received the lowest possible score for its investment in agriculture research and development, but the challenge is not improving local agricultural practices but, in ensuring the security of the supply chain, both from farms owned by the UAE in Africa, Europe and Asia and from external suppliers.

Although experiments have been held in Abu Dhabi in the last two years for the most suitable variety of wheat for local conditions, one need only look at a similar programme in Saudi Arabia, that depleted its groundwater to produce wheat at several times the price it would have cost, to import on the open market.

There is also a bigger issue that is not reflected in the food security score. By operating farms in places like East and North Africa, the UAE not only gains food security based on much more favourable conditions for agriculture but, is also able to introduce highly-efficient practices to countries, thanks to its understanding of the culture of the region that in many places are struggling to develop beyond subsistence agriculture.

It can do this in a more ethical and sustainable way than many other global agribusinesses. This would be a truly virtuous circle in which each side benefits.

Source: The National UAE

By Russell Sticklor

Most nations within the Muslim world in the early 21st century find themselves experiencing an uncomfortable and serious shortage of a natural resource far more important than either natural gas or oil — water. Exacerbated by population growth, climate change, and economic development, water scarcity is now a serious issue across a broad arc of the world, stretching from North Africa across the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula and deep into Central and South Asia. What can be done then to ease a growing water crisis poised to affect the Muslim world for generations to come?

One potential answer lies in combining two of the Muslim’s world’s greatest untapped natural resources — solar power and seawater. This year, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are ambitiously pursuing plans to build the world’s first large-scale solar-powered desalination plants.

If successful, these projects would be a symbolic triumph. They would serve as proof that two virtually unlimited resources can be combined to increase fresh water supply in some of the world’s most water-stressed areas, even if by only a relatively modest amount. The success of these projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE could also provide a technological blueprint that theoretically could be replicated in any nation with a coastline and enough sunshine. Water-stressed nations in the planet’s “sun belt” — which receives frequent and powerful sunshine for much of the year — would be particularly well positioned to benefit. It is here, within this belt, where the bulk of the world’s Muslim population lives.

Map courtesy of Flickr user Kevin Gill.

Powering Desalination: Making the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the world’s largest producers of desalinated water. These countries’ reliance on desalination — still a hugely energy-intensive process despite decades of technological refinement — is borne out of necessity. Neither country has enough surface water or groundwater within its borders, to sustain its population. Other Muslim countries may find themselves in the same situation before long.

To date, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been able to address water scarcity issues, by powering their desalination plants with fossil fuels. Why then are these two countries looking to still-unproven solar energy technology, to power the next generation of large-scale desalination facilities?

Beyond the 21st century — and likely during the 21st century — the global economy will need to transition away from its reliance on fossil fuels as these finite resources grow more scarce. This will be true even for countries currently sitting atop massive fossil fuel reserves, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other energy titans of the Muslim world. Navigating this transition will be by no means easy. For the UAE, investing in innovative new solar-powered desalination technology, aims to kill two birds with one stone: Not only will its plant in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate bolster local fresh water supply, it will also produce clean, renewable electricity for domestic consumption.

Some experts are very optimistic about the potential of solar-powered desalination technology, to eventually catch on elsewhere. Vladimir Smakhtin of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and co-author of a recent research study on solar-powered desalination, recently told me via e-mail, of the wide-ranging implications, should efforts to purify seawater using renewable energy, prove successful:

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have all necessary attributes to become the leaders in this industry — lack of fresh water, plenty of sun, access to the sea and sufficient funds to invest. If they manage, in the near future, to shift their water supply sector to solar-powered desalination, it could be simply a clear proof-of-concept that this approach is capable of resolving water scarcity once and for all. It will pave the way for some other nations to follow.

A fossil fuel–powered desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates’ Ras Al-Khaimah, the same emirate that will soon be home to one of the world’s largest solar-powered desalination plants

Scientific Obstacles and Opportunities

How far away are we from being able to use this type of technology? The answer remains unclear, but in Smakhtin’s eyes, the time is now. “Technologically,” he says, “it is already mature enough to produce significant quantities of water in certain regions,” including much of North Africa and the Middle East. But before solar power can become a meaningful part of a nation’s energy-generating infrastructure, there are significant obstacles that must be first overcome, such as finding more effective ways to store solar energy, a long-standing issue.

Even in light of this major hurdle, however, ongoing research and pilot projects suggest it is only a matter of time before solar power becomes a reliable and economically viable energy source. Furthermore, despite its current technological shortcomings, it is clear solar power arguably holds the greatest potential for generating clean energy in the sun-belt countries of the Muslim world. Indeed, in a 21st century world that will need to find new power sources to fill the energy gap left by increasingly scarce fossil fuels, the Muslim world’s solar power riches have the potential to emerge as a major economic competitive advantage. In the case of North Africa, for instance, “all the countries in this area have sunny days more than 80 percent of the year,” desalination plant manager José Rafael, who has worked on projects across the region, told me via e-mail.

But although our scientific knowledge of both solar power and desalination is growing sophisticated enough to effectively combine these technologies, there are other important limits on desalination’s potential to resolve water scarcity issues. Firstly, Rafael says the biggest issue facing countries “is the large initial investment,” given the funding currently needed to install solar panel arrays and construct desalination facilities and water distribution infrastructure.

Ecological issues such as brine disposal and the potential degradation of coastal ecosystems are some of the “environmental aspects of large-scale solar desalination technology interventions that still need to be sorted out,” adds Smakhtin. Aditya Sood, Smakhtin’s research study co-author and fellow member of IWMI, admits “it will be interesting to see how Saudi Arabia and the UAE handle” such environmental challenges.

Another potential issue concerns maintenance of the solar panel components. Anwar Ahsan, a desalination expert who worked for Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation for 27 years, told me via e-mail that “humidity, moisture, and air-borne dust could be the biggest hurdles to tackle,” as these conditions might threaten panels’ ability to function efficiently.

Lastly, even under ideal circumstances, desalination alone cannot produce enough fresh water to accommodate the total water needs of the Muslim world’s rapidly growing population and developing economies, especially in the agricultural sector. Meanwhile, some populations living far away from the coast, may also find themselves unable to use desalinated water, due to the huge amounts of energy it requires to transport desalinated water inland, over long distances.

The-Azzizia-desalination-plant-in-Al-Khobar-Eastern-Province-Saudi-Arabia-is-one-of-the-country’s-many-fossil-fuel–powered-desalination-facilities. (Photo courtesy Flickr user Waleed Alzuhair)

Pathway to a More Water-Secure Future

Going forward, populations across the Muslim world contending with serious water scarcity, will have to use a patchwork approach to address this unprecedented challenge. While desalination should be used as one tool, the emphasis must be placed on more efficient water management and finding ways to incentivize water conservation at every level of society, from individual households to big industrial firms and agricultural operations. Only by reducing demand for water, can water-stressed populations truly gain the upper-hand in the fight against scarcity of this vital resource.

Nevertheless, solar-power desalination could one day play a potentially influential role in shaping the Muslim world’s water future. Throughout many Muslim countries, the greatest concentrations of populations live in urban areas near or on a coastline, meaning desalinated water could be delivered to consumers without the need for costly and energy-consuming long-distance pipelines. Even populations living far from the ocean — including entirely landlocked nations — might stand to benefit from solar-powered desalination. “In countries where sea coasts are not available,” Moustafa Hatem Sewelam, an engineering manager with a Saudi desalination firm GETCO, told me recently via e-mail, “this technology can be used [to purify] brackish waters in desert areas.”

There are other hopeful signs as well. Costs of desalination technology are expected to gradually drop — as they have during the past several decades — thanks to improvements in reverse osmosis filtering technology, which makes the seawater purification process more energy efficient. As energy requirements are reduced, it becomes more likely, solar power will be able to provide sufficient energy for the purification process.

In the coming years, the eyes of many desalination experts will be focused on the outcome of the ambitious experiments now underway, on the coasts of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “The experiences gained will help these countries and many communities in the world in need of suitable potable water,” predicts Anwar Ahsan.

Solar-powered desalination — with its potential to someday ease water stress in the most water-scarce corners of the world — indeed carries great promise. If the concept of harnessing the power of virtually unlimited sunlight to produce fresh water from a virtually unlimited supply of seawater should eventually prove viable scientifically and economically, the Muslim world will have a unique and historic opportunity in the decades ahead to become global pioneers in solar-powered desalination, finding themselves in an enviable position to disseminate this hybrid technology to water-stressed coastal populations around the globe.

Solar-powered desalination could one day emerge as a key part of the puzzle in mitigating the world’s worsening fresh water crisis. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Andrea de Poda.

Russell Sticklor (CGIAR/International Water Management Institute) is a water specialist and journalist covering the intersection of environmental change, population growth, and human security. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow with the Stimson Center Environmental Security Program and co-author of “Water Challenges and Cooperative Response in the Middle East and North Africa” (Brookings, 2012).

*Images are courtesy the writer

A UAE Space Agency will be set up to supervise the mission and develop a space technology industry in the country, a government statement said. It did not give details such as the cost of the probe or how it would be designed and built.

“The UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world’s entry into the era of space exploration. We will prove that we are capable of delivering new scientific contributions to humanity,” said UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

With a population estimated at no more than about 8 million, most of whom are foreign workers, the UAE lacks the scientific and industrial base of the big spacefaring nations.

But it is keen to diversify its economy beyond oil into high-technology sectors, and its oil reserves give it immense financial power that it could use to buy expertise. One of the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, the biggest emirate, is estimated to have assets worth nearly $800 billion.

The UAE’s fast-growing airlines, Emirates and Etihad, are among the world’s biggest buyers of planes from U.S. and European aerospace firms, and a factory in the Abu Dhabi desert now turns out sophisticated parts for Airbus.

The UAE has invested over $5.4 billion in satellite ventures such as data and television broadcast company Al Yah Satellite Communications, mobile communications firm Thuraya and earth mapping and observation firm Dubai Sat, the government said.

The Mars probe will take nine months to complete the more than 60 million-kilometer (37.5 million-mile) journey to Mars, and will make the UAE one of only nine countries with space programs exploring the Red Planet, the statement said.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; editing by Andrew Roche)