Conflicts between science and religion, autonomous reason and divine revelation seem to continue in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim heritage and traditions. This holds true both in the secular West and in the Muslim East, in the scientifically and technologically most advanced societies as well as in the scientifically and technologically most backward cultures and countries. This article reviews some of the problems and issues involved in this persistent conflict, and tries to deal with the question of why such disputes and controversies arise in the first place in scientifically very weak Muslim societies.