Rethinking Darwin

It is time for scholars of the Arab and Muslim worlds to revisit Darwin | Islamonline.net

A hundred and fifty years later, Darwin remains a source of troubles in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Darwin’s On The Origin of Species — published in 1859 and translated in full into Arabic in the mid-1870s — has been at the center of a long-running debate, albeit one with varying intensity.

The Darwin controversy is a unique one — and not just because of the powerful evolution theory and its implications. Like most protracted controversies, the one over Darwin in the Arab-Muslim worlds perhaps tells more about the debaters than the subject of the debate. In other words, the intellectual skirmishes over Darwin spanning one hundred and fifty anxious years of the Arab world’s history reflect a cautious evolution of ideas on Darwin’s theory itself, on the definition of scientific theory, on the boundaries of science, and on the bounds of interpretation of Islam’s sacred text, the Qur’an.

Science in Arab media: barely scientifc

Science issues rarely appear in Arab media. When they do, they are either too sensational to be scientific or too scientific to be attractive to general audiences. Here, science communicators weigh in | IslamOnline.net

It does not take effort to note the dearth of content about science and technology in Arab media. Popular science magazines (like Scientific American or NewScientist) or television channels (like Discovery) are rare if at all existent. In mainstream print and broadcast media, the coverage of science and technology is modest, and with varying quality.

“The content about science and technology in Arab media is inadequate and low in quality compared to what we see and read in international media outlets, whether popular or specialized,” said Dr. Mohamed El-Makhzangy, an Egyptian science writer and novelist. “In most cases, the content [about science and technology] is based on poor translation of stories and programs from Western sources. 

And worse, the coverage sides heavily with the newsy and sensational angles, not science,” he said.

Oddly, this is not what the audience necessarily wants. “Only rarely are audience surveys done to assess what audiences in the Arab world really want to read/see/hear. And when these surveys are conducted, it is even rarer that they are actually acted upon,” said Nadia El-Awady, an Egyptian physician-turned-journalist and the editor of IslamOnline.net’s English Health & Science section. 

And it may come as a surprise to many that media outlets that provide in-depth content enjoy an enviable readership. IslamOnline.net’s Arabic science section, for example, attracts around 300,000 page views per month. And according to El-Makhzangy, well-made scientific documentaries are as attractive as action movies for a wide range of audiences in the region.