Contesting science for Islam: the media as a source of revisionist knowledge in the lives of young Bangladeshis

Samuel, Geoffrey Brian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5563-871X and Rozario, Santi 2010. Contesting science for Islam: the media as a source of revisionist knowledge in the lives of young Bangladeshis. Contemporary South Asia 18 (4) , pp. 427-441. 10.1080/09584935.2010.526196

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

In our research with young Bangladeshis, we have been repeatedly struck by the popularity of television, DVD and Internet material that offers a modernist, quasi-scientific defence of Islamic knowledge against both ‘western’ scientific criticisms and US fundamentalist Christians. The South Indian doctor Zakir Naik's programmes, broadcast on his own television channel (Peace TV) and also available widely on DVD, are very popular, and admired for their ‘logical’ and apparently even-handed approach. His Islamic Research Foundation propagates his and similar material on the Web. The Turkish scholar ‘Harun Yahya’ (Adnan Oktar) 's diatribes against Darwinism and other western scientific evils are widely available on the Internet as text, audio and video, and often referred to. Full-on conspiracy theory material such as ‘The Arrivals’ series of online videos also finds a ready audience. We ask why these apparently implausible attacks on western knowledge carry conviction among young Muslims, many of them students studying for western-style university degrees in Bangladesh or the United Kingdom. We also ask to what degree the views of men such as Naik and Yahya might provide the basis of an alternative modernity, and what the implications of their wide popularity might be in the political arena.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Bangladesh, science, climate change, Zakir Naik, Harun Yahya
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0958-4935
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/24569

Citation Data

Cited 12 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item