"We shall show them
Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it will become clear
to them that it is the Truth. Does it not suffice that your Lord is Witness
over all things?"
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):53.
Muslims are taught that throughout
the ages, Allah Almighty has sent a prophet to every nation as a warner
and a bearer of glad tidings.
"Verily! We have sent you (O Muhammad)
with the Truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; and there is not
a nation but a warner has passed among them,"
The noble Qur'an, Fatir(35):24.
Each prophet was wisely selected
by Allah in order to be the best person for the job. He was then provided
by Allah with miracles as proof of his truthfulness and his message. These
miracles were wisely selected by Allah in order to be in the same field
as that which these people excelled in so that they could fully comprehend
the magnitude of these miracles.
For instance, the people during the
time of Moses excelled at magical trickery. Their rulers used
to surround themselves with the most powerful of these wizards as a sign
of power. This is why Allah made the miracles of Moses (pbuh) similar to
their magical trickery (changing a stick into a snake, parting of the sea...
etc.) but of a much greater magnitude than anything they could ever hope
to accomplish. For they were not tricks, but actual physical miracles.
The people at the time of the prophet
Jesus (pbuh) excelled in matters of medicine. For this reason, his miracles
were of a medical nature (raising of the dead, healing of the blind...etc.),
but of a degree that they could never hope to imitate. Similarly, one of
the major miracles of Islam was a new and unheard-of type of literature
similar to the Bedouin's poetry but far beyond anything they
could ever hope to match. Although they did indeed try. This new literature
was called "The Qur'an."
The Arabic language, as can be attested
to by any of it's scholars, is a very rich and powerful language. The Bedouin
people of the Arabian desert were, in general, illiterate people of very
little scientific knowledge. The thing that set them apart, however, was
their mastery of poetry. Spending their days as they did in
the desert watching their sheep graze got quite boring. They alleviated
their boredom by continually composing and refining poetry. They would
spend entire years composing and refining their poetry in anticipation
of a yearly face-down of the poetic compositions of their peers from all
over the country. The fact that they were illiterate forced them to also
train themselves in the memorization of works of literature to such an
extent that they were able to memorize complete works from a single recitation.
Even in matters of leadership, one of the major criteria for selecting
the leaders of the various Bedouin tribes was the individual's prowess
in literary composition and memorization.
The Arabian Bedouins took great pains
to make their poetry as compact and picturesque as humanly
possible, constantly expanding the language along the way. A single word
could convey complete pictures. The Qur'an, however, has put even these
great efforts to shame. You will notice that when a Muslim translates a
verse of the Qur'an he usually does not say "the Qur'an says so and so"
but rather "An approximation of the meaning of what the Qur'an says is
so and so." You really need to know the language to comprehend this.
In the English language, we find
that the words: "mustang," "colt," "mare," "pony," "stallion," "bronco"...
etc. all refer to the same thing; a horse. Each one of these words conveys
a slightly different mental picture. The mental picture we get when we
hear the word "colt" is slightly different than the picture we get if we
hear the word "mare." In a similar manner, the Arabic language progressed
in such a fashion as to make it possible to convey such mental pictures
in as concise and picturesque a format as possible. It is not at all uncommon
to find over three hundred words that refer to the same thing in the Arabic
language. Each one of these words gives a slightly different picture than
the others.
Many centuries of this constant refinement
eventually lead to a very complex and rich vocabulary, and the primary
miracle of Muhammad (pbuh), the Qur'an, was in exactly this field
In the noble Qur'an we find a challenge
from Allah to compose a literary work on a par with this Qur'an it is indeed
the work of mankind. They could not. The Qur'an continued to reduce it's
challenge until the challenge finally became: "compose only a single verse
comparable to this Qur'an and you will have won." They still could not.
This in addition to the fairness, justice, and logic of the Qur'an eventually
won them over and slowly more and more people became Muslims.
[Webmasters note: there are some inaccuracies in the preceding
paragraph. The least challenge posed in the quran is
"a single surah" (10:38 & 2:23) as well as "whole Quran"
(17:88) and "ten verses" (11:13).]
"Well then, if the Koran were
his own [Muhammad's] composition other men could rival it. Let them produce
ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could
not), then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evidential miracle"
Mohammedanism, H. A. R. Gibb, Oxford
University Press, p. 42
"From the literary point of view,
the Koran is regarded as a specimen of purest Arabic, written in half poetry,
half prose. It has been said that in some cases grammarians have adopted
their rules to agree with certain expressions used in it, and though several
attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant
writing is concerned, none yet has succeeded"
Glimpses of the Noble Qur'an, Muhammad
Azizullah, Crescent Publications, pp. 104-105
"In making the present attempt
to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something
which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric
of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly
varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's
undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of
mankind... This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony,'
as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of
which move men to tears and ecstasy' - has been almost totally ignored
by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they
have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly
decorated original."
The Koran Interpreted, Arthur J.
Arberry, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.
"The Koran admittedly occupies
an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though
the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging to this class of literature,
it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on
large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought
and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous
desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then
proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan
world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East
have to reckon today."
G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M.
Rodwell's, The Koran, New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii.
"A work, then, which calls forth
so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader
- distant as to time, and still more so as a mental development - a work
which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal,
but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such
a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem
of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of
mankind … Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps
not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic
taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries
and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the
hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic
elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far
beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence
was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage
tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history."
Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes'
Dictionary Of Islam, p. 526-528.
Many claims have been made against
Muhammad in that day and this. Among them are the claims that he was a
lunatic, a liar, or deceived by the devil. If Muhammad was a lunatic or
a liar then we have to wonder how all of his prophesies came true?. Further,
if he was a deceived by Satan then we are faced with another problem. For
we know that all Muslims are taught that when reading the Qur'an they must
first begin with the words "I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the stoned*
one." and then follow this up with the words "In the name of Allah,
Most Compassionate, Most Merciful" So we have to wonder if Satan would
"inspire" a man to teach mankind to seek refuge in God from Satan? Indeed
this is the exact same accusation which was made against Jesus (pbuh).
Let us read how Jesus responded to this claim:
"But some of them (the Jews) said,
He (Jesus) casteth out devils through Beelzebub (Satan) the chief of the
devils. And others, tempting [him], sought of him a sign from heaven. But
he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house
falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom
stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub."
Luke 11:15-18
It has been the case throughout the
ages that with all previous prophets, their miracle was separate from their
book. Although we may claim that we have the "Torah" of Moses, still, it
is not possible now to bring Moses' (pbuh) staff and see it
perform miracles as it did in his time. Similarly it is not possible today
to see Jesus (pbuh) raise the dead as he did so many centuries ago. However,
since the message of Islam was the final message of God to mankind, therefore,
the book of Islam itself was made the main miracle of Islam and it has
continued to renew it's challenge to mankind throughout the ages.
What does this mean? Nowadays, the
number of people who can appreciate the literary content of the Qur'an
has dwindled and this challenge no longer has the same impact it did fourteen
hundred years ago. However, as we have seen in the verse quoted at the
beginning of this chapter, Allah Almighty has promised to continually renew
the challenge of the Qur'an throughout the ages. So how will it be renewed?
Recently, a new field of study has
opened up to scholars. People nowadays are fascinated with science. This
is the age of technology and scientific discovery. For this reason, mankind
has begun to study the religious scriptures of mankind from a scientific
point of view in order to challenge the scientific claims made in these
scriptures. Many works have been published on this topic. In this chapter
I will give a brief taste of these matters and then leave it up to the
interested reader to learn more from any one of the many books which have
been published in this regard (see list at back of this book).
As mentioned previously, Muhammad
(pbuh) lived among tribes of people who were for the most part illiterate.
He himself was also illiterate. These people used to live extremely simple
lives. Some were traders and businessmen, others were farmers, and yet
others were nomadic sheepherders who traveled from place to place depending
on where they could find grass for their sheep to graze. When Muhammad
(pbuh) brought them the Qur'an, the believers found in the Qur'an the command
to go out, seek knowledge, and confirm the presence of their Creator by
studying His creation. Muslims began to fulfill this command of the Qur'an
and this resulted in one of the greatest explosions of scientific advancement
mankind has ever seen. All of this was going on during a period that the
West calls "The Dark Ages," wherein the scientists of the
West were being persecuted and killed as sorcerers and wizards. During
this period, Muslims scholars introduced into the world such things as:
* Mathematical evolution of spherical
mirrors
* Rectilinear motion of light and
use of lenses
* Refraction angle variations
* Magnifying effects of the plano
convex lens
* Introduced the concept of the elliptical
shape of cosmological bodies
* Study of the center of gravity
as applied to balance
* Measurement of specific weights
of bodies
* Rule of algebraic equations
* Solutions to quadratic and cubic
equations
* Work on square roots, squares,
theory of numbers, solution of the fractional numbers
* Solutions of equations of cubic
order
* Wrote on conic geometry elaborating
the solution of algebraic equations
* Determined the Trinomial Equation
* Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine."
He is know as the Prince of Physicians to the West
* Wrote the first description of
several drugs and diseases as meningitis.
* Treatment of physiological shocks
* Expertise in psychosomatic medicine
and psychology
* Al-Biruni mentions fifty six manuscripts
on pharmacology
* Credited for identifying small
pox and its treatment
* Use of alcohol as an antiseptic
* Use of mercury as a purgative for
the first time
* First to describe the circulation
of blood.
* "Holy Abbas" was, after Rhazes,
the most outstanding Physician. His works were authoritative till the works
of ibn Sina appeared
* Writings on Cosmology, Astrology,
Science of numbers and letters
* Proved that the earth is smaller
than the sun but larger than the moon.
* Final authorities on Chemistry
for many Centuries
* Classified metals into three classifications
* Laid the basis of the Acid Base
theory
* Distillation, calcination, crystallization,
the discovery of many acids
* Cultivation of Gold - is a continuation
of Jabir's work
* Theory of Oscillatory motion of
equinoxes
* Addition of ninth sphere to the
eight Ptolematic astronomy
* Discovered the increase of the
suns apogee
* Gravitational force
* Responsible for the discovery motion
of the solar apsides
* wrote ' On the Science of Stars
'
* Determination of latitudes and
longitudes
* Determination of geodetic measurements
* Described the motion of the planets
* Solved the problems of spherical
trigonometry
* First to study the isometric oscillatory
motion of a pendulum
* Invented the instrument ' Sahifah
"
* Responsible for the proof of the
motion of the apogee of the sun with respect to the fixed stars.
* authorities on the theory of the
system of homocentric spheres
* Prepared a calendar that was more
accurate than the Gregorian one in use today.
...............and much, much more.
All of this began with a single illiterate
Arab from the desert fourteen hundred years ago. The book that was brought
into the world by such a man cries out to be studied from a scientific
aspect. We will now give you a glimpse of the results:
"So ask the People of Knowledge
if you do not know"
The Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):7
1: Embryology
Dr. Keith L. Moore
is a Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada. He is a world renowned scientist and a distinguished researcher
in the fields of anatomy and embryology, he has published more than 150
research articles, chapters and books in this field. He is the author of
several medical textbooks, such as the widely used and acclaimed "The Developing
Human: Clinically oriented Embryology" (now in it's fifth
edition, and translated into eight different languages), "Before We Are
Born" and "Clinically Oriented Anatomy." He has also recently co-authored
"Qur'an and Modern Science, Correlation Studies." Dr. Moore is the recipient
of numerous awards and honors, including, in 1984, the J.C.B. Grant Award,
which is the highest honor granted by the Canadian Association of Anatomists.
He has served in many academic and administrative positions, including
the President of the Canadian Association of Anatomists, 1968-1970. Let
us see what Dr. Moore's opinion is on the scientific statements regarding
embryology to be found in the Qur'an:
Dr. Moore was contacted by a Muslim
scholar by the name of Abdul-Majeed Azzindani. He was asked to participate
in a three-year study of around twenty-five verses of the Qur'an and the
Sunnah (sayings of Muhammad, pbuh) which speak about embryology, and to
determine the their correspondence to modern scientific discoveries. Dr.
Moore's conclusion regarding this matter was:
"For the past three years, I have
worked with the Embryology Committee of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, helping them to interpret the many statements in the Qur'an
and the Sunnah referring to human reproduction and prenatal development.
At first I was astonished by the accuracy of the statements that were recorded
in the seventh century AD, before the science of embryology was established.
Although I was aware of the glorious history of Muslim scientists in the
10th century AD, and of some of their contributions to Medicine, I new
nothing about the religious facts and beliefs contained in the Qur'an and
Sunnah. It is important for Islamic and other students to understand the
meaning of these Qur'anic statements about human development, based on
current scientific knowledge. The interpretations of the "verses" in the
Qur'an and the Sunnah, translated by Shaikh Azzindani, are to the best
of my knowledge accurate."
From the forward of "The Developing
Human: Clinically oriented Embryology," third edition, by Dr. Keith L.
Moore.
The Qur'an and the Sunnah of the
prophet Muhammad (pbuh) provide a very detailed description of the microscopic
development of the human embryo from a mere sperm drop up to the stage
of a completely formed human being. It is well known that microscopes were
not developed until the sixteenth century AD, and even at that were very
crude in design. Zacharias Janssen is credited with having invented the
compound microscope in about 1590. With it, remarkable scientific discoveries
were made in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Dutch naturalist Anthony
van Leeuwenhoek produced lenses powerful enough to prove that many tiny
creatures are not spontaneously generated but come from eggs.
Before this period, theories on human
reproduction ran rampant. Some scientist believed that the menstrual blood
itself developed into the fetus. Later on, a new theory was developed wherein
the sperm drop was popularly believed to contain a completely developed
miniature human (homunculus) which later grew to the size of a baby. The
science of embryology as we know it today did not discover many of the
detailed aspects of human development which are taken for granted today
until only about twenty years ago, or 1973 to be precise.
Now we must ask the question: where
did Muhammad (pbuh) get such detailed knowledge of the microscopic development
of the human embryo in the 6th century AD without a microscope, technical
training, a laboratory of any kind, or even the ability to write his own
name? The only logical conclusion is that it came from exactly where he
claimed it did. From the one who created mankind, God Almighty!
Prof. Moore has since given numerous
lectures on the topic of embryology in the Qur'an. He is quoted in one
of these lectures as saying:
"It is clear to me that these
statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because most
of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves
to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God, or Allah."
Prof. Moore was so impressed with
the Qur'anic classification of the stages of development of the human embryo,
that he suggested the adoption of the Qur'anic system in place of the system
currently in use by scientists today. Prof. Moore said:
"Because the staging of the human
embryo is complex owing to the continuous process of change during development.
It is therefore suggested that a new system of classification could be
developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The proposed
system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological
knowledge."
When Dr. Moore first presented his
findings in Toronto it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on
the front pages of some of the newspapers across Canada. One newspaper
reporter asked Professor Moore,
"Don't you think That maybe the
Arabs might have known about these things - the description of the embryo,
its appearance and how it changes and grows? Maybe there were not scientists,
but maybe they did some crude dissections on their own - carved up people
and examined these things."
Professor Morre immediately pointed
out to him, however, that he had missed a very important point. All of
the slides of the embryo that Dr. Moore had based his study upon had come
from pictures taken through a microscope. He said,
"It does not matter if someone
had tried to discover embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not
have seen it!." Dr. Moore taunted,
"Maybe fourteen centuries ago
someone secretly had a microscope and did this research, making no mistakes
anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put this
information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a
secret forever?. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you
bring some proof because it is such a ridiculous theory."
When he was asked "How do you
explain this information in the Qur'an?" Dr. Moore's reply was, "It
could only have been divinely revealed."
2: The Universe
Another example of such scientifically
accurate statements in the Qur'an can be found in the following analysis:
"And the firmament(sky) We constructed
with power and skill and verily We are expanding it"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Thariyaat(51):47.
(Remember: "we" is the Arabic plural
of respect, not the Christian plural of "Trinity,"
as seen in chapter 14).
"Do not the disbelievers see that
the heavens and the earth were fused then We ripped them asunder, and We
created from water every living thing, do they not believe?"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):30.
"Then He settled/equilibrated
unto the firmament(sky) when it was smoke and said unto it and to the earth:
come willingly or unwillingly. They said: we come willingly"
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):11.
Allah Almighty has in these three
concise verses answered questions that it has taken some of the greatest
physicists and astronomers of history centuries to answer. It was only
in this century that they finally found the truth.
Mankind has studied the heavens and
the earth for countless centuries. The Greeks were some of the first people
to attempt to describe various cosmological phenomena. They gave us many
of the very first theories regarding the universe and it's
composition. The major contribution came with the writings of Plato.
Plato claimed that the universe was created by what he called "The Demiurge."
According to Plato, the universe was the result of reasoning and planning,
it was constructed by the Demiurge upon precise mathematical and geometrical
principles. Later on, Aristotle, Plato's student, adopted his teacher's
basic concept. Aristotelian cosmology was based on the concept of an enclosed
cosmos comprising a series of concentric, spheres revolving around a stationary
Earth. Motion was provided by the "prime mover" and, once initiated,
would remain circular, uniform and eternal.
Both Plato and Aristotle
taught that the universe was eternal, with neither beginning
nor end. The universe as a whole was considered steady and unmoving, and
this was the basis for the later formation of the "steady state theory."
In 1915, Albert Einstein had published the famous general theory of relativity.
Soon afterward he proposed a static model of the universe, but he would
later declare that it was "one of the greatest mistakes of my career."
Why?, Because in 1925, Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space telescope
is named) provided the observational evidence for the expansion of the
universe, or as Stephen Hawking put it "The universe is not static,
as had previously been thought, it was expanding."
Although mankind did not discover
these facts till this 20th Century, still, we find that Allah Almighty
had provided the answers for mankind 1400 years ago in the Qur'an through
the agency of His illiterate Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). During Muhammad's
(pbuh) time, the Greeks were claiming that the cosmos was static and not
expanding. So how did he know that the universe was expanding
1300 years before the foremost scientist of the West proved this to be
a scientific fact?
However, this is not the only claim
that the Qur'an makes with regard to the universe. Let us
study the next two verses:
At the present time, the Big Bang
theory of the origin of the universe is the cosmological
model most widely accepted by astronomers. It holds that about 20,000,000,000
years ago the universe began with the explosive expansion of a single,
extremely condensed state of matter ("the heavens and the earth were
fused then we ripped them asunder"). As mentioned above, a further
development of this model, known as "inflationary theory," describes
the original condensed matter as arising from virtually empty space. It
was only after the development of radio telescopes in 1937 AD that the
necessary observational precision was achieved in order for astronomers
to arrive at the above conclusion. Out of the observations of such scientists
has arisen the so called "Hubble Constant" (Ho) which is quantity currently
used to gauge the rate at which the universe is expanding. In other
words, the issue is no longer whether the universe is expanding or not,
rather, it is only a question of how fast it is expanding.
The second and third verses presented
appear to claim that the heavens and the earth were once a single mass
then were "ripped asunder," The exact root words used in the Qur'an are
the words "ra-ta-qa" and "fa-ta-qa," or
"the heavens and the earth were
'ra-ta-qa' then we 'fa-ta-qa' them"
"Ra-ta-qa" is an Arabic word
which has the general meaning of "to fuse, to sew, to mend, to patch up,
to repair." ("Lisan Al-Arab," by Ibn Mandoor, Vol. 10, Dar Al-Fikr, p.
114, and also "A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic," Hans Wehr, Librairie
du Liban, p. 325)
Similarly, "fa-ta-qa" has
the general meaning of "To rip, to undo sewing, to unstitch, to tear apart,
to rend, to rip open." ("Lisan Al-Arab," by Ibn Mandoor, Vol. 10, Dar Al-Fikr,
p. 296, and also "A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic," Hans Wehr, Librairie
du Liban, p. 695)
The verse then goes on to say that
Allah Almighty created the heavens and the earth from a celestial "smoke."
Astronomers today have pictures of galaxies being formed by exactly this
process, i.e. the condensation of spiraling celestial "mists." Isn't it
an incredible coincidence that an illiterate man from the desert, without
the aid of observatories or satellite imaging was making these claims over
1400 years ago?. Was he just guessing?
Further, the cosmic phenomenon depicted
in the following two figures is commonly referred to by astronomists as
a cosmic "mist." However, if we were to read the second verse of the Qur'an
presented above we will find that the Qur'an more accurately refers to
it as a "smoke." This is because "mist" implies a cool and tranquil spray
of water. However, "smoke" implies a hot gas containing airborne particles.
This is indeed another example of the literary miracle of the Qur'an in
that it manages to convey to us in a very concise language a very accurate
and detailed description of the topic at hand.
"And those who have been given
knowledge know that that which has been revealed to you from your Lord
is the Truth"
The noble Qur'an, Saba(34):6
"Do they not consider the Qur'an
(with care) or are there locks upon their hearts?"
The noble Qur'an, Muhammad(47):24
3: Water
and Life
In the Qur'an we read:
"Do not the disbelievers see that
the heavens and the earth were joined together then we split them asunder,
and we created from water every living thing, do they not believe?"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):30.
"And Allah has created every trodding
creature from water......"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Noor(24):45.
"It is He who created from water
a human...."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Furqan(25):54.
Water is the most common substance
on Earth, covering more than 70% of the planet's surface. All living things
consist mostly of water; for example, the human body is about two-thirds
water (when you cremate a human what happens to him? Why?). Scientist tell
us that all forms of life known to humanity today require three basic conditions:
Temperature, the existence of water, and the existence of an atmosphere.
All metabolisms require water to
survive, so animals that exist in arid regions have body mechanisms that
protect against water loss and make maximum use of water (camels for example).
Dehydration in humans results from lack of food, drink, and from sweating,
in addition to other factors. This loss eventually affects the proper functioning
of the heart, central nervous system, and organs containing smooth muscle.
Finally, intercellular water is lost, which upsets vital chemical processes
in the cells. If water is not restored to the body, death will usually
occur within a few days.
The blood of all living creatures
is composed of 55 percent plasma, which in turn is composed of more than
90 percent water. Jan Baptista van Helmont, the first experimental physiologist,
around 1640 AD concluded that water is the only soil component required
for plant growth. We could go on and on. Again we find ourselves asking
the question: How did Muhammad (pbuh) know that all living creatures are
created from water centuries before mankind discovered this fact through
scientific experimentation? Did he randomly select an element from the
countless billions of possible choices? Why did he not claim that mankind
was created from air, or from wood, or from light? Why water?
4: Deep
sea currents
In the Qur'an we read:
"Or as darkness on a vast, abysmal
sea. There covers it a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud.
Layer upon layer of darkness."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Noor(24):40.
Mankind began to build submersibles
in the seventeenth century. The first crude craft known to have ventured
underwater was built by Cornelis Drebbel, court engineer to James I of
England, and was demonstrated on the Thames river in 1620. From then onwards,
development of submarines continued until the twentieth century, or 1954
to be exact, when the first nuclear submarine became a reality. With mankind's
study of the sea came the realization that the waters lying underneath
the surface waves were not the place of tranquil calmness they were previously
envisioned to be. Rather, there were underwater currents called deep sea
currents which could at times become such violent storms as to rearrange
sediments in the ocean bottom. How did Muhammad (pbuh) know about these
underwater currents centuries before mankind invented the tools necessary
for underwater exploration?
"Say: It was sent down by He who
knows the secrets in the heavens and the earth."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Furqaan(25):6.
It is worth mentioning here in connection
with the above verse that some scientists have interpreted the "layer
upon layer of darkness" to be the gradual separation of the light spectrum
within the ocean, one color at a time until complete darkness is finally
achieved. In other words, at one depth, the yellow bandwidth is suppressed
and "yellow darkness" is achieved. At another depth, the red bandwidth
is suppressed and "red darkness" is achieved, and so forth.
There are many other scientific statements
made in the Qur'an which were only discovered to be scientifically accurate
many centuries after Muhammad's death. Many of them have only been discovered
in this century. They range over many fields of science including Anatomy,
Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, Hydrology, and many other disciplines which
are only beginning to be addressed by scientists today.
For example, the Qur'an makes reference
to the fact that a human's pain receptors are located in the skin (Al-Nissa(4):56).
That the frontal lobes of the brain are responsible for lying and sin (Al-Alak(96):16).
That mountains have below them roots that extend deep into the earth's
surface (Al-Naba(78):7). That mountains pin the earth's crust and prevent
it from moving (Al-Nahil(16):15). That there exists a physical barrier
between bodies of fresh and salt water (Al-Rahman (55):20). There is also
information regarding the formation of milk in cows (Al-Nahi(16):66). And
on and on. So where was Muhammad (pbuh) getting all of these scientific
facts if not from the Creator of mankind and the universe?
Allah Almighty askes:
"Is this sorcery or is it that
you do not see?"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Tur (52):15.
Prof. Keith Moore is not the only
scholar who has been presented with such verses of the Qur'an. Many other
scholars from all over the world have been presented with similar statements
from the Qur'an in their field of expertise. Only a few of these people
are:
1) Dr. E. Marshall Johnson, Professor
and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, and
the Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute, Thomas Jefferson University,
Philadelphia, USA. Author of over 200 publications. Former President of
the Teratology Society among other accomplishments. After studying the
verses of the Qur'an he came to the following conclusion:
"The Qur'an describes not only
the development of external form but emphasizes also the internal stages
- the stages inside the embryo of its creation and development, emphasizing
major
events recognized by contemporary science... If I was to transpose myself
into that era, knowing what I do today and describing things, I could not
describe the things that were described... I see no evidence to refute
the concept that this individual Muhammad had to be developing this information
from some place... so I see nothing in conflict with the concept that divine
intervention was involved..."
2) Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson. Professor
and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor Collage
of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He is the President of the American Fertility
Society, and has served in many other professional, national, and international
organizations. He has received numerous awards including Association of
Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology Public Recognition Award in 1992.
He has published more than 400 chapters and articles in journals and books.
He says:
"... these Hadeeths (sayings of
Muhammad) could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge
that was available at the time of the writer'... It follows that not only
is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islam) but in fact
religion (Islam) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the
traditional scientific approaches... There exist statements in the Qur'an
shown centuries later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur'an
having been derived from God."
3) Dr. T.V.N. Persaud. Professor
and Head of the Department of Anatomy, Professor of Pediatrics and Child
Health, and Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive
Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is the
author and editor of 25 books, has contributed 31 chapters to publications,
and has published over 180 scientific papers. In 1991 he received the most
distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B.
Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He says:
"Muhammad was a very ordinary
man, he couldn't read, didn't know how to write, in fact he was an illiterate...
were talking about 1400 years ago, you have some illiterate person making
profound statements that are amazingly accurate, of a scientific nature...
I personally can't see how this could be mere chance, there are too many
accuracies and like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind reconciling
that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which lead him to these
statements."
4) After a study which lasted ten
years, the famous French physician Maurice Bucaille addressed the French
Academy of Medicine in 1976 and expressed the complete agreement of the
Qur'an and established findings of modern science. He presented his study
on the existence in the Qur'an of certain statements concerning physiology
and reproduction. His reason for doing that was that
"our knowledge of these disciplines
is such, that it is impossible to explain how a text produced at the time
of the Qur'an could have contained ideas that have only been discovered
in modern times."
5) Dr. Tejatet Tejasen, Head of the
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
After his study on the Qur'an passages dealing with embryology:
"From my studies and what I have
learnt at this conference I believe that everything that has been recorded
in the Qur'an 1400 years ago must be true. That can be proved the scientific
way."
Others include:
6) Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer. Professor
and Coordinator of Medical Embryology in the Department
of Cell Biology in the Georgetown University school of Medicine. Washington,
D.C. He has published numerous articles dealing mainly with the study of
teratogenesis.
7) Dr. Alfred Kroner, Professor of
Geology, Germany.
8) Dr. Yoshiodi Kozan, Director of
the observatory of Tokyo, Japan.
9) Dr. William Hay, Professor of
Oceanography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
10) Dr. Pete Palmer, Professor of
Geology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
11) Dr. Sayawida, Professor of Marine
Geology, Japan.
12) Dr. Armstrong, Professor of Astronomy,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
13) Dr. Draga Persaud Rauw, Professor
of Marine Geology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
14) Dr. Schroeder, Professor of Oceanography,
Germany.
The response of these scholars when
presented with verses of the Qur'an in their field of specialization, varied.
One thing however was always constant. They all confirmed the accuracy
of the scientific statements made in the Qur'an, and they all could not
explain how Muhammad (pbuh) could have known with such accuracy the scientific
claims to be found in the Qur'an so many centuries before mankind discovered
them to be scientific truths.
Allah Almighty tells us in the Qur'an:
"Allah did not create (all) that except in truth. He details the signs
for people of knowledge." The noble Qur'an, Yunus(10):5
"And those who were given knowledge
see that which was sent down upon you by your Lord is the truth and guides
to the path of the 'Exalted' (in Might) the 'worthy of all praise'."
The noble Qur'an, Saba(34):6.
"Had We sent down this Qur'an
upon a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and rending
asunder for fear of Allah. Such are the parables We put forth for mankind
that they may reflect."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Hashr(59):21
"Verily! this Qur'an guides to
that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to the believers who
work deeds of righteousness that theirs will be a great reward"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Isra(17):9
"And We have indeed simplified
[the comprehension of] this Qur'an for remembrance, so is there any that
will remember [and be admonished]?"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Qamar(54):17
To obtain a more in-depth analysis
of these matters including video tapes containing interviews with many
of these pioneering Western scholars, contact one of the following (ask
for the video tape titled "It is the Truth"):
1) Islamic Academy for Scientific
Research.
8150 West 111 Street
Palos Hills, IL 60465
U.S.A.
Phone: (708) 974-9151
2) Islamic Society of North America
(ISNA)
P.O. Box 38
Plainfield, Indiana, 46168
U.S.A.
Phone: (317) 839-8157
3) Academy for the Miracles of Science
in the Qur'an and the Sunnah
P.O. Box 5736
Makkah Al-Mukarramah
Saudi Arabia
Phone: (2) 545-1519
Also look for the books:
"The Bible, the Qur'an and Science,"
by Dr. Maurice Bucaille
"The Qur'an and Modern Science," by
Dr. Maurice Bucaille
"An Introduction to Understanding the
Qur'an," by Syed Abdul A'ala Maudoodi
"The Sources of the Qur'an: A Critical
Review of the Authorship Theories," by Hamza Mustafa Njozi
"Muhammad's Prophethood: An Analytical
View," by Dr. Jamal Badawi
