On March 22^nd, in cooperation with the Canadian Representative Office in Ramallah, the Faculty of Islamic Law at An-Najah hosted Dr. Sheem Khan from Canada who gave a lecture titled “Islam and Science” at the Martyr Zafer Al-Masri Auditorium at the Old Campus. Attendees included many professors and students from the Faculty.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Jamal Zaid Al-Kilani, Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Law, welcomed Dr. Khan and valued her interest to visit Palestine and speak to Palestinian students and instructors.

During the meeting, Dr. Khan spoke about some of the religious teachings of Islam which Muslims must follow and avoid disobeying God. She also described the many Islamic conquests which helped spread Islam to many parts of the world.

Moreover, Dr. Khan spoke about some of the pioneering Muslim scientists who had played a major role in leading the scientific revolution in Europe and the world. She also described the many theories set by Muslim scientists like (Al-Khwarizmi  and Ibn Rushd) in addition to the discoveries and inventions made by a lot of Muslims in the different fields of knowledge. Dr. Khan explained that the Europeans took many of the Muslim sciences and knowledge and used them to develop their societies. The Europeans began to build their countries and expanded the Islamic sciences to new horizons while Muslims began to forget the priceless legacy that their ancestors left to them.

Furthermore, Dr. Khan pointed out the importance of seeking knowledge all the time and never stop learning new things since Islam urges Muslims to continuously seek knowledge. She also mentioned that some western scientists seemed to be influenced to some extent with the Holy Quran in their books so much so that they included some verses from the Quran in their works as Isaac Newton did.

Dr. Khan holds a PhD in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Harvard in addition to several international patents. She is member in the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and is currently interested in issues related to the rights of women in Islam as well as terrorism and religious tolerance.