"The whole purpose of science for some Islamists is using it to reinforce faith; it really has nothing to do with science itself."

The conundrum of the terrorist doctors:

Muslim scientists are among the most politicized groups in the region, and the Muslim approach to the scientific method, in the most extreme cases, can squelch the freewheeling curiosity at the heart of scientific discovery.

“Fundamentalist-type attitudes are relatively common among people in applied science in the Muslim world,” [said Taner Edis, author of “An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam.”' “The conception has been that modern science is developed outside, and we need to bring it into our societies without it corrupting our culture.”...

For Islamists like Zaghloul el-Naggar in Cairo, the host of a popular television show about the Koran’s scientific teachings, all science can be discovered within the Muslim holy text, from the cause of earthquakes to genetics. Such direct links between science and religion ultimately hamper the scientific method by making some questions taboo, analysts say.

“You have the emergence of a new kind of religious figure who is not a cleric, and all of his authority is as a scientist,” said Todd Pitock, who profiles Mr. Naggar in an article about Islam and science in the July issue of the magazine Discover. “The whole purpose of science for some Islamists is using it to reinforce faith; it really has nothing to do with science itself.”

Medicine and engineering have long been the most prestigious professions in the Arab world, and many of its most illustrious writers, thinkers and politicians have risen through engineering and medical schools....

“Wherever you go in the Muslim world, those who are most violent and most extremist are the ones who have the most scientific tendencies,” Mr. Abu Hanieh said. “One could even argue that sciences might contribute to increasing one’s radical thinking if the radical finds justifications to his philosophy through science.”

Key phrase: "applied science." The dedication is not to pure science but to using science to do things. Many individuals become doctors to gain prestige and power. They don't love science; they love what they can get by knowing it. It's not surprising, then, that some of those who learn medicine in a severely religious culture are drawn into meshing their science with religion.