In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
INTRODUCTION
Ever
since the dawn of human life on this planet, Man has always sought to
understand Nature, his own place in the scheme of Creation and the
purpose of Life itself. In this quest for Truth, spanning many centuries
and diverse civilizations, organized religion has shaped human life and
determined to a large extent, the course of history. While some
religions have been based on books, claimed by their adherents to be
divinely inspired, others have relied solely on human experience.
Al-Qur’aan,
the main source of the Islamic faith, is a book believed by Muslims, to
be of completely Divine origin. Muslims also believe that it contains
guidance for all mankind. Since the message of the Qur’aan is believed
to be for all times, it should be relevant to every age. Does the
Qur’aan pass this test? In this booklet, I intend to give an objective
analysis of the Muslim belief regarding the Divine origin of the
Qur’aan, in the light of established scientific discoveries. There was a
time, in the history of world civilization, when ‘miracles’, or what
was perceived to be a miracle, took precedence over human reason and
logic. But how do we define the term ‘miracle’? A miracle is anything
that takes place out of the normal course of life and for which
humankind has no explanation. However, we must be careful before we
accept something as a miracle. An article in ‘The Times of India’
Mumbai, in 1993 reported that ‘a saint’ by the name ‘Baba Pilot’ claimed
to have stayed continuously submerged under water in a tank for three
consecutive days and nights.
However,
when reporters wanted to examine the base of the tank of water where he
claimed to have performed this ‘miraculous’ feat, he refused to let
them do so. He argued by asking as to how one could examine the womb of a
mother that gives birth to a child. The ‘Baba’ was hiding something. It
was a gimmick simply to gain publicity. Surely, no modern man with even
the slightest inkling towards rational thinking would accept such a
‘miracle’. If such false miracles are the tests of divinity, then we
would have to accept Mr. P. C. Sorcar, the world famous magician known
for his ingenious magical tricks and illusions, as the best God-man.
A
book, claiming Divine origin, is in effect, claiming to be a miracle.
Such a claim should be easily verifiable in any age, according to the
standards of that age. Muslims believe, that the Qur’aan is the last and
final revelation of God, the miracle of miracles revealed as a mercy to
mankind. Let us therefore investigate the veracity of this belief.
THE CHALLENGE OF THE QUR’AAN
Literature
and poetry have been instruments of human expression and creativity, in
all cultures. The world also witnessed an age when literature and
poetry occupied pride of position, similar to that now enjoyed by
science and technology.Muslims as well as non-Muslims agree that
Al-Qur’aan is Arabic literature par excellence - that it is the best
Arabic literature on the face of the earth.The Qur’aan, challenges
mankind in the following verses:
And
if ye are in doubt As to what We have revealed From time to time to Our
Servant, then produce a Soorah Like thereunto; And call your witnesses
or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, If your (doubts) are true.
But if ye cannot –And of a surety you cannot. hen fear the Fire Whose
fuel is Men and Stones – Which is prepared for those Who reject Faith. (Al-Qur’aan 2:23-24) 1
The
same notation is followed throughout the book. References and
translation of the Qur’aan are from the translation of the Qur’aan by
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, new revised edition, 1989, published by Amana
Corporation, Maryland, USA.
The challenge of the Qur’aan, is to produce a single Soorah (chapter) like the Soorahs it contains. The same challenge is repeated in the Qur’aan several times. The challenge to produce a Soorah, which, in beauty, eloquence, depth and meaning is at least somewhat similar to a Qur’aanic Soorah remains
unmet to this day. A modern rational man, however, would never accept a
religious scripture, which says, in the best possible poetic language,
that the world is flat. This is because we live in an age, where human
reason, logic and science are given primacy. Not many would accept the
Qur’aan’s extraordinarily beautiful language, as proof of its Divine
origin. Any scripture claiming to be a divine revelation must also be
acceptable on the strength of its own reason and logic.
According
to the famous physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein,
“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
Let us therefore study the Qur’aan, and analyze whether The Qur’aan and Modern Science are compatible or incompatible?
The Qur’aan is not a book of science but a book of ‘signs’, i.e. ayats.
There are more than six thousand ‘signs’ in the Qur’aan of which more
than a thousand deal with science. We all know that many a times Science
takes a ‘U-turn’. In this book I have considered only established
scientific facts and not mere hypotheses and theories that are based on
assumptions and are not backed by proof.
CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE : THE BIG BANG
The
creation of the universe is explained by astrophysicists in a widely
accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the ‘Big Bang’. It is supported
by observational and experimental data gathered by astronomers and
astrophysicists for decades. According to the ‘Big Bang’, the whole
universe was initially one big mass (Primary Nebula). Then there was a
‘Big Bang’ (Secondary Separation) which resulted in the formation of
Galaxies. These then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon,
etc. The origin of the universe was unique and the probability of it
occurring by ‘chance’ is zero.
The Qur’aan contains the following verse, regarding the origin of the universe:
Do
not the Unbelievers see That the heavens and the earth Were joined
together (as one Unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? --
Al-Qur’aan 21:30
The
striking congruence between the Qur’aanic verse and the ‘Big Bang’ is
inescapable! How could a book, which first appeared in the deserts of
Arabia 1400 years ago, contain this profound scientific truth?
THERE WAS AN INITIAL GASEOUS MASS BEFORE THE CREATION OF GALAXIES
Scientists
say that before the galaxies in the universe were formed, celestial
matter was initially in the form of gaseous matter. In short, huge
gaseous matter or clouds were present before the formation of the
galaxies. To describe initial celestial matter, the word ‘smoke’ is more
appropriate than gas. The following Qur’aanic verse refers to this
state of the universe by the word dhukhan which means smoke.
Moreover,
He Comprehended In His design the sky, And it had been(as) smoke: He
said to it And to the earth: ‘Come ye together, Willingly or
unwillingly.’ They said: ‘We do come (Together), in willing obedience.’
-- Al-Qur’aan 41:11
Again,
this fact is a corollary to the ‘Big Bang’ and was not known to the
Arabs during the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). What then, could have
been the source of this knowledge?
THE SPHERICAL SHAPE OF THE EARTH
In
early times, people believed that the earth is flat. For centuries, men
were afraid to venture out too far, lest they should fall off the edge.
Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is
spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Consider the following
Qur’aanic verse regarding the alternation of day and night:
Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day And He merges Day into Night? -- Al-Qur’aan 31:29
Merging
here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day and vice
versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is spherical. If
the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change from night to
day and from day to night.The following verse also alludes to the
spherical shape of the earth:
He
created the heavens And the earth In true (proportions): He makes the
Night Overlap the Day, and the Day Overlap the Night. -- Al-Qur’aan39:5
The Arabic word used here is Kawwara meaning
‘to overlap’ or ‘to coil’– the way a turban is wound around the head.
The overlapping or coiling of the day and night can only take place if
the earth is spherical.The earth is not exactly round like a ball, but
geo-spherical i.e. it is flattened at the poles. The following verse
contains a description of the earth’s shape:
And the earth, moreover, Hath He made egg shaped. -- Al-Qur’aan 79:30 -- 2
The Arabic word for egg here is dahaha, which
means an ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg resembles the
geo-spherical shape of the earth. Thus the Qur’aan correctly describes
the shape of the earth, though the prevalent notion when the Qur’aan was
revealed was that the earth is flat.
THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS REFLECTED LIGHT
It
was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanates its own
light. Science now tells us that the light of the moon is reflected
light. However this fact was mentioned in the Qur’aan 1,400 years ago in
the following verse:.
Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies, And placed therein a Lamp And a Moon giving light. -- Al-Qur’aan 25:61
The Arabic word for the sun in the Qur’aan, is shams. It is referred to as siraaj, which means a ‘torch’ or as wahhaaj which means ‘a blazing lamp’ or as diya which
means ‘shining glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the
sun, since it generates intense heat and light by its internal
combustion.
The Arabic word for the moon is qamar and it is described in the Qur’aan as muneer, which is a body that gives nur i.e.
light. Again, the Qur’aanic description matches perfectly with the true
nature of the moon, which does not give off light itself and is an
inert body that reflects the light of the sun.
Not once in the Qur’aan, is the moon mentioned as siraaj, wahhaaj or diya or the sun as nur or muneer.
This implies that the Qur’aan recognizes the difference between the
nature of sunlight and moonlight. Consider the following verses related
to the nature of light from the sun and the moon:
It is He who made the sun To be a shining glory And the moon to be a light (Of beauty). -- Al-Qur’aan 10:5
See
ye not How Allah has created The seven heavens One above another, And
made the moon A light in their midst, and made the sun As a (Glorious)
Lamp? -- Al-Qur’aan 71:15-16
THE SUN ROTATES
For
a long time European philosophers and scientists believed that the
earth stood still in the centre of the universe and every other body
including the sun moved around it. In the West, this geocentric concept
of the universe was prevalent right from the time of Ptolemy in the
second century B.C. In 1512, Nicholas Copernicus put forward his
Heliocentric Theory of Planetary Motion, which asserted that the sun is
motionless at the centre of the solar system with the planets revolving
around it.
In 1609, the German scientist Yohannus Keppler published the ‘Astronomia Nova’.
In this he concluded that not only do the planets move in elliptical
orbits around the sun, they also rotate upon their axes at irregular
speeds.With this knowledge it became possible for European scientists to
explain correctly many of the mechanisms of the solar system including
the sequence of night and day.
After
these discoveries, it was thought that the Sun was stationary and did
not rotate about its axis like the Earth. I remember having studied this
fallacy from Geography books during my school days. Consider the
following Qur’aanic verse:
It
is He Who created The Night and the Day, And the sun and the moon: All
(the celestial bodies) Swim along, each in its Rounded course. --
Al-Qur’aan 21:33
The Arabic word used in the above verse is yasbahûn . The word yasbahûn is derived from the word sabaha.
It carries with it the idea of motion that comes from any moving body.
If you use the word for a man on the ground, it would not mean that he
is rolling but would mean he is walking or running. If you use the word
for a man in water it would not mean that he is floating but would mean
that he is swimming.
Similarly, if you use the word yasbah for
a celestial body such as the sun it would not mean that it is only
flying through space but would mean that it is also rotating as it goes
through space. Most of the school textbooks have
incorporated
the fact that the sun rotates about its axis. The rotation of the sun
about its own axis can be proved with the help of an equipment that
projects the image of the sun on the table top so that one can examine
the image of the sun without being blinded. It is noticed that the sun
has spots which complete a circular motion once every 25 days i.e. the
sun takes approximately 25 days to rotate around its axis. In fact, the
sun travels through space at roughly 150 miles per second, and takes
about 200 million years to complete one revolution around the center of
our Milky Way Galaxy.
It
is not permitted To the Sun to catch up The Moon, nor can The Night
outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along In (its own) orbit (According
to Law). -- Al-Qur’aan 36:40
This
verse mentions an essential fact discovered by modern astronomy, i.e.
the existence of the individual orbits of the Sun and the Moon, and
their journey through space with their own motion. The ‘fixed place’
towards, which the sun travels, carrying with it the solar system, has
been located exactly by modern astronomy. It has been given a name, the
Solar Apex. The solar system is indeed moving in space towards a point
situated in the constellation of Hercules (alpha Layer) whose exact
location is firmly established.
The
moon rotates around its axis in the same duration that it takes to
revolve around the earth. It takes approximately 29½ days to complete
one rotation. One cannot help but be amazed at the scientific accuracy
of the Qur’aanic verses. Should we not ponder over the question: “What
was the source of knowledge contained in the Qur’aan?”
THE SUN WILL EXTINGUISH AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD
The
light of the sun is due to a chemical process on its surface that has
been taking place continuously for the past five billion years. It will
come to an end at some point of time in the future when the sun will be
totally extinguished leading to extinction of all life on earth.
Regarding the impermanence of the sun’s existence the Qur’aan says:
And
the Sun Runs its course For a period determined For it; that is The
decree of (Him) The exalted in Might, The All-Knowing. -- Al-Qur’aan
36:38 - 3
The Arabic word used here is mustaqarr,
which means a place or time that is determined. Thus the Qur’aan says
that the sun runs towards a determined place, and will do so only up to a
pre-determined period of time – meaning that it will end or extinguish.
THE PRESENCE OF INTERSTELLAR MATTER
Space
outside organized astronomical systems was earlier assumed to be a
vacuum . Astrophysicists later discovered the presence of bridges of
matter in this interstellar space. These bridges of matter are called
plasma, and consist of completely ionized gas containing equal number of
free electrons and positive ions. Plasma is sometimes called the fourth
state of matter (besides the three known states viz. solid, liquid and
gas). The Qur’aan mentions the presence of this interstellar material in
the following verse:
He Who created the heavens And the earth and all That is between. -- Al-Qur’aan 25:59
It
would be ridiculous, for anybody to even suggest that the presence of
interstellar galactic material was known 1400 years ago.
THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE
In
1925, an American astronomer by the name of Edwin Hubble, provided
observational evidence that all galaxies are receding from one another,
which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the
universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what Al-Qur’aan
says regarding the nature of the universe:
With the power and skill Did We construct The Firmament: For it is We Who create The vastness of Space. -- Al-Qur’aan 51:47
The Arabic word mûsi‘ûn is
correctly translated as ‘expanding it’, and it refers to the creation
of the expanding vastness of the universe. Stephen Hawking, in his book,
‘A Brief History of Time’, says, “The discovery that the universe is
expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th
century.”
The
Qur’aan mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even learnt
to build a telescope! Some may say that the presence of astronomical
facts in the Qur’aan is not surprising since the Arabs were advanced in
the field of astronomy. They are correct in acknowledging the
advancement of the Arabs in the field of astronomy. However they fail to
realize that the Qur’aan was revealed centuries before the Arabs
excelled in astronomy. Moreover many of the scientific facts mentioned
above regarding astronomy, such as the origin of the universe with a Big
Bang, were not known to the Arabs even at the peak of their scientific
advancement. The scientific facts mentioned in the Qur’aan are therefore
not due to the Arabs’ advancement in astronomy. Indeed, the reverse is
true. The Arabs advanced in astronomy, because astronomy occupies a
place in the Qur’aan.
THE EXISTENCE OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
In
ancient times a well-known theory by the name of ‘Theory of Atomism’
was widely accepted. This theory was originally proposed by the Greeks,
in particular by a man called Democritus, who lived about 23 centuries
ago.
Democritus and the people that came after him, assumed that the smallest unit of matter was the atom. The Arabs used to believe the same. The Arabic word dharrah most
commonly meant an atom. In recent times modern science has discovered
that it is possible to split even an atom. That the atom can be split
further is a development of the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago
this concept would have appeared unusual even to an Arab. For him the dharrah was the limit beyond which one could not go. The following Qur’aanic verse however, refuses to acknowledge this limit:
The
Unbelievers say, ‘Never to us will come The Hour’: say, ‘Nay! But most
surely, By my Lord, it will come Upon you – by Him Who knows the unseen –
From Whom is not hidden The least little atom In the Heavens or on
earth: Nor is there anything less Than that, or greater, but Is in the
Record Perspicuous.’ -- Al-Qur’aan 34:3 4
This
verse refers to the Omniscience of God, His knowledge of all things,
hidden or apparent. It then goes further and says that God is aware of
everything, including what is smaller or bigger than the atom. Thus the
verse clearly shows that it is possible for something smaller than the
atom to exist, a fact discovered only recently by modern science.
I
write this article from the book of Dr. Zakir Naik. If you are
interested to read more articles please download his book from following
link
[1] Al-Qur’an 2:23-24 indicates Soorah or Chapter No. 2 and Ayaat or Verses 23and 24.
[2] The Arabic word dahaha has been translated by A. Yusuf Ali as “vast
expanse”, which also is correct. The word dahaha also means an ostrich-egg.
[3] A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 13:2, 35:13, 39:5 and 39:21.
[4] A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 10:61.
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