Short answer
No, not instead of it, because the two answer different questions. Science explains how things work, and it does that superbly. It cannot say why anything exists, what we are here for, or what we ought to do. Some people hold that only science gives truth. That rule cannot itself be proved by science, because no laboratory found it. Science also corrects itself, so its findings are held only until something better comes. Einstein improved on Newton, and a famous fossil, Piltdown Man, turned out to be a fake. The Qur'an tells people to study creation as signs and to pray for more knowledge. So a Muslim can love both science and revelation. Science tells us how the world works. Revelation tells us why it is here and how to live. Its answers have not changed since the revelation was completed.
Full explanation
Science tells us how, not why or what we ought to do
Science can tell a doctor how to end a life without pain. It cannot tell him whether he should. Peter Medawar, a British biologist who won a Nobel Prize, also saw limits. He said science cannot answer the questions about first and last things, such as how everything began and what we are here for.
A Nobel Prize-winning biologist argues that science is the most successful way of understanding the natural world, but that it has limits: it cannot answer questions about first and last things, such as how everything began, what we are here for, and what the point of living is.
The claim that only science gives knowledge
Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher of the twentieth century, put the view plainly: what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know. But that sentence is not a finding of science. No experiment tested it. It is a belief about science, held on trust.
The philosopher states the view that whatever knowledge can be had must be gained by scientific methods, and that what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know.
The best science of one age, corrected by the next
For well over a thousand years the learned world followed Ptolemy's picture of the universe, with the earth at the centre. Ptolemy was a Greek astronomer of the second century. Then Copernicus (1543), Kepler and Galileo put the sun at the centre. People long believed that small living things arise by themselves from rotting matter. For microbes, Louis Pasteur's experiments in the 1860s did most to disprove this idea. Some leading astronomers held that the universe had no beginning. In 1965 the afterglow of its hot early state was found, and most then gave that idea up. Einstein showed that Newton's gravity was very close to the truth but not exact. In 1887 a search for the ether (an invisible substance once thought to carry light) found nothing. After Einstein's work of 1905, physics gave the ether up. Alfred Wegener proposed in 1912 that the continents move, and he was rejected for about fifty years. Then the evidence for plate tectonics (the slow movement of the earth's great plates) in the 1960s showed him right in principle. Piltdown Man was accepted by many for about forty years before it was exposed as a forgery. Doctors blamed ulcers on stress until a bacterium was shown to cause most of them. In every case science found its own error, which is to its credit. But it shows that its findings are held for now.
Sets out a model of the universe with the sun, not the earth, at the centre, in place of the earth-centred picture of Ptolemy that the learned world had followed for well over a thousand years.
Reports experiments showing that boiled broth stays free of microbes when germs from the air are kept out of it, evidence against the old belief that microbes arise by themselves from lifeless matter.
Reports a faint, steady radio signal at 4080 megacycles coming equally from every direction in the sky, which they could not trace to their equipment. It was recognised as the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the hot early universe, and earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.
Shows that general relativity accounts for the slow shift in the orbit of Mercury, which Newton's theory of gravity could not fully explain.
Reports a precise experiment designed to detect the earth's motion through the ether, the medium light was then thought to travel through. It found no such effect.
Proposes that the continents are not fixed but have drifted apart over time, pointing to how their coastlines fit together and to matching rocks and fossils on either side of the oceans. Most geologists rejected the idea for decades, chiefly because no force able to move continents was known.
Explains the striped magnetic pattern of the rocks on either side of an ocean ridge as new sea floor spreading outward from the ridge while the earth's magnetic field reverses. It was one of the key findings of the 1960s that established plate tectonics, the moving plates of the earth's crust, and so vindicated continental drift in principle.
Shows that the Piltdown jaw is a modern ape's jaw, stained and filed to look ancient, and that the find was a deliberate forgery. It notes that the remains, reported some forty years before, had been debated all that time as genuine fossils, and that the distinguished palaeontologists and archaeologists who took part in the excavations were the victims of a most elaborate and carefully prepared hoax.
Awards the prize to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren for discovering the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, against the long-held view that ulcers were caused by stress and lifestyle.
A book of signs that asks for knowledge
The first words revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) told him to read. They also spoke of God (﷾) teaching by the pen. The Qur'an calls creation signs for people who think. It tells the believer to pray for more knowledge. It promises more signs in the far regions of the earth and in people's own souls. It also keeps the believer humble: what people know is only a little. The Qur'an is a book of signs, not a science textbook. So a Muslim should not make a verse depend on the theory of the day. Theories rise and fall, and the Book stays as it was revealed.
“Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.”
“Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.”
“High above all is Allah, the King, the Truth! Be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation to thee is completed, but say, "O my Lord! advance me in knowledge."”
“Soon will We show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?”
“They ask thee concerning the Spirit (of inspiration). Say: "The Spirit (cometh) by command of my Lord: of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O men!)"”
Worldly skill and revelation are kept apart
The Prophet (ﷺ) once gave a passing opinion on pollinating date palms, and the crop fell. He told the farmers they knew the affairs of their world better. Only what he said from God (﷾) was binding. Muslim scholars went on to study nature closely. In the eleventh century Ibn al-Haytham, a Muslim scientist, tested theories of light by experiment and listed the errors of Ptolemy.
Talha reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) passed people pollinating date palms by hand and said he did not think it was of use. They stopped, and the crop fell. The Prophet then said that if it helped they should do it, because that had only been his own opinion; but when he told them something from Allah, they must follow it, because he would never say anything false about Allah.
Anas and Aisha report the same event: after the date-palm crop fell, the Prophet (ﷺ) told the farmers that they knew better about the affairs of their world.
English translation and study of Books I-III of Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manazir, early eleventh century). It shows him testing theories of light and vision by controlled observation and experiment.
Ibn al-Haytham's critique of Ptolemy, the most respected astronomer of the ancient world. He lists contradictions and weak points in Ptolemy's works, and holds that even the greatest authority must be tested.
Perspectives
Scientism
Science is the only reliable road to knowledge. Whatever it cannot discover cannot be known.
Whatever knowledge can be had must be gained by scientific methods, and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know.
Rebuttal
Science has taught us a great deal, but this rule is not something science found. Medawar said science cannot tell us why we are here or what life is for. Nor can it tell us what we ought to do. A fine record in answering how things work does not change that.
Hindu: religion is a science of the spirit
Swami Vivekananda told the Parliament of Religions in 1893 that the Vedas are not a book but spiritual laws. Wise men found them, he said, just as the law of gravity was found. On this view, religion and science are two sciences: one of the spirit, one of matter.
The Vedas are spiritual laws found by different people at different times. They existed before they were found, just as the law of gravity did.
Rebuttal
Anyone can test the law of gravitation; no one can test a past birth in the same way. And the Rig Veda itself asks of creation: who verily knows whence it was born? The gods, it says, came later. Knowledge of the unseen must come from the One who made it. The Qur'an claims to come from Him and invites the test: had it been from other than Allah (﷾), they would have found in it much discrepancy.
Buddhist: test it for yourself
Many Buddhists say their path is the most scientific religion. The Buddha told the Kalamas not to go by tradition or scripture, but to know for themselves.
The Buddha told the Kalamas not to go by tradition or scripture, but to know for themselves. So Buddhism fits the spirit of science.
Rebuttal
The same list also warns against relying on logic and reasoning alone, so it is not the method of science. And its central teachings cannot be tested by experiment: rebirth, and the results of deeds in other lives. The Qur'an asks to be examined first, and names its own tests. Think about it with care, and produce one chapter like it.
Shinto: custom, not doctrine
Most Japanese say they have no religion, yet many visit shrines each year. Shinto asks for practice, not belief, so it never competes with science. Science explains the world. The shrine visit is custom and thanks.
Shrine visits are a matter of custom and feeling, not belief, so they never clash with science.
Rebuttal
Science can explain how the sun shines, but not whom we should thank for it. A Nobel Prize-winning biologist wrote that science cannot say what we are here for. A shrine visit answers that question without ever asking it. The Qur'an asks it plainly: do not bow to the sun and the moon, but to Allah (﷾), who created them.
Daoist: follow the way of nature
The Tao Te Ching teaches that man takes his law from the Earth, the Earth from Heaven, and Heaven from the Tao. To follow nature is wisdom, and no revealed law is needed beside it.
Man takes his law from the Earth, the Earth from Heaven, and Heaven from the Tao. So nature itself is the guide.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that nature has laws and should be studied. The Qur'an calls creation a set of signs for people who think. But a law of nature says how things fall, not how people should treat each other. And the Tao Te Ching itself says the way of Heaven does not speak. Those who study the signs, the Qur'an says, end by saying: our Lord, You did not create all this for nothing.
Confucian: keep to what can be known
Confucius did not talk about strange happenings or spirits. He taught that knowing means knowing what you know, and admitting what you do not. A sensible person keeps to what can be known.
When you know a thing, hold that you know it; when you do not, allow that you do not. That is knowledge, and spiritual beings lie outside it.
Rebuttal
Admitting what you do not know is wise. But it does not show that nothing more can be known. Confucius himself stood in awe of the commands of Heaven. And science, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist wrote, cannot say what we are here for. The Qur'an answers that question, and asks to be tested: if it were from anyone other than Allah (﷾), people would find many contradictions in it.
Chinese tradition: science for knowledge, customs for the family
Few people in China say they belong to a religion, and they trust science to explain the world. The family customs, such as caring for the ancestors' graves, are kept as culture, not as claims about the world.
Science explains the world; the family customs are culture, not claims about it.
Rebuttal
Yet many people pray at temples for wealth and good luck. That assumes someone can hear them and give. Science cannot test that, and a Nobel Prize-winning biologist wrote that it cannot say what we are here for. The Qur'an answers both. If Allah (﷾) touches you with harm, no one can remove it but Him, and no one can hold back His favour.
The Islamic perspective
Science and revelation are not rivals. Science shows how creation works, and revelation tells us why it exists and how to live. The Prophet (ﷺ) himself separated worldly skill from what comes from God (﷾).
The claim that only science gives knowledge cannot be proved by science. So it is a belief about science, not a finding of science.
A Nobel Prize-winning scientist named three questions science cannot answer. They are how everything began, why we are here, and what life is for.
Scientific findings can change. Ptolemy's universe with the earth at the centre, life arising by itself from dead matter, the steady-state universe and Newton's exact laws were all corrected. So were the ether, the fixed continents, Piltdown Man and the idea that stress causes ulcers.
The Qur'an calls creation a set of signs. It tells believers to study it, and to ask God (﷾) for more knowledge.
The Prophet (ﷺ) distinguished his personal opinion on farming from what he conveyed from God (﷾).
Revelation answers why the world exists and how we ought to live, questions that science does not reach.