Sciences and the Qur`anic Revelation

Today, thee are in the world some one thousand million Muslims who unhesitatingly accept that the Holy Qur'an is the "WORD OF GOD" and that it is a "Miracle."

Why should they not, when even avowed enemies are paying unsolicited tributes regarding the miraculous nature of this Book of God. The Rev. R. Bosworth-Smith in his book "Muhammad and Muhammadanism" [Now the argument is carried a stage farther. Such rejection is also a mark of injustice, a deliberate perversity in going against obvious Signs, which should convince all honest men.] opines about the Qur'an:

Another Englishman – A.J. Arberry, in the preface of his English translation of the Holy Qur'an – says:

(b) "WHENEVER I HEAR THE QUR’AN CHANTED, IT IS AS THOUGH I AM LISTENING TO MUSIC, UNDERNEATH THE FLOWING MELODY, THERE IS SOUNDING ALL THE TIME THE INSISTENT BEAT OF A DRUM, IT IS LIKE THE BEATING OF MY HEART."

From these words and the rest of his preface he sounds like a Muslim, but regretfully he died outside the pale of Islam. And yet another Briton, Marmaduke Picktall in the foreword to his translation of the Holy Qur'an, describes it as :

This Author embraced Islam before translating the Qur'an, and we are not in a position to verify whether he wrote the previous effect before or after his conversion.

(d) "NEXT TO THE BIBLE [Coming from a Christian critic of Islam, we will not take exception to his placing the Qur'an in the second place.],IT (The Qur'an) IS THE MOST ESTEEMED AND MOST POWERFUL RELIGIOUS BOOK IN THE WORLD".

(e) "THE KORAN IS THE MUHAMMADAN BIBLE, AND IS MORE REVERENCED THAN ANY OTHER SACRED BOOK, MORE THAN THE JEWISH OLD TESTAMENT OR THE CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT.".

We can quite easily adduce a dozen more eulogies to the above list. Friends and foes alike pay ungrudging commendations to the Last and Final Revelation of God – the Holy Qur'an. The contemporaries of Muhammad (pbuh) saw in its beauty and majesty, the nobility of its Call and the magnanimity of its Message, the Sign and Miracle of God's Handiwork, and accepted Islam. To all the tributes and testimonies the unbeliever and the septic may say that these are all subjective feelings. He might further seek refuge in the pretext that he does not know Arabic. He is heard to say, "I do not see what you see, nor do I feel as you feel. How am I to know that God exists and that it is He Who inspired His Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) with that beautiful Message; the Qur'an?" He continues "I am not averse to the beauty of its philosophy, its practical ethics and high morality, I am prepared to concede that Muhammad (pbuh) was a sincere man and that he gave many beautiful precepts for human welfare. What I cannot subscribe to is what you Muslims claim, "a supernatural authority for his dicta."

To this kind of sympathetic, yet skeptical mentality, the Author of the Book (Al-Qur'an) uses various types of arguments to resolve his doubts. To the atheists and agnostics, the cynics and the skeptics, who have a super-abundance of scientific knowledge and who consider themselves to be "intellectual giants," the point is driven home that they are in reality like stunted "dwarfs.". They are like the dwarf who may have acquired abnormal development in any one particular direction at the expense of other parts of his faculty, like an oversized head on a puny body, the Supreme Creator questions him.

But before we pose God's question to him, let me satisfy my own curiosity. "You men of science who have studied astronomy and who study our Universe through your mighty telescopes as if scrutinizing an object in the palm of your hand; tell me how did this Universe come into being?" This man of science though lacking in spiritual insight, is nevertheless most generous in sharing his knowledge. He readily responds. "Well," he begins, "Billions of years ago our Universe was a single piece of matter, and there happened a "Big Bang" in the centre of that huge lump of matter and mighty chunks of matter began flying in all directions. Out of that "big bang" our solar system came into being as well as the galaxies, and since there is no resistance in space to that primordial momentum generated by the initial explosion, the stars and the planets swim along in their orbits."
At this juncture, my memory tickles me – Our materialist friends appear to have been secretly imbibing their knowledge from the Sura Ya-Seen:

AND THE SUN RUNS HIS COURSE FOR A PERIOD DETERMINED FOR HIM: THAT IS THE DECREE OF (HIM) THE EXALTED IN MIGHT THE ALL-KNOWING. AND THE MOON, WE HAVE MEASURED FOR HER MANSIONS (TO TRAVERSE) TILL SHE RETURNS LIKE THE OLD (AND WITHERED) LOWER PART OF A DATE – STALK. IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO THE SUN TO OVERTAKE THE MOON, NOR CAN THE NIGHT OUTSTRIP THE DAY: EACH (JUST) SWIMS ALONG IN (ITS OWN) ORBIT (ACCORDING TO LAW)

(SURA YA-SIN) Holy Qur'an36:38-40
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf Ali]

The artheistic scientist continues, "Ours is an 'expanding' universe.The galaxies are receding away from us at a faster and faster rate, and once they reach the speed of light, [Light is said to travel at a speed of a hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second (7.5 times around the world in one second!).] we will not be able to see them anymore. We must construct bigger and better telescopes as quickly as possible to study the sights, if not we will miss the bus!".

"When did you discover these fairy tales?' we ask. "No, these are not fairy tales but scientific facts!" our friend assures us. "All right, we accept your facts for what you say they are, but when did you really stumble upon these facts? "Only yesterday!" he replies. Fifty years, after all, is only 'yesterday' in the history of the human race. "An unlettered Arab in the desert over 1400 years ago could never have had your knowledge of the 'big bang' and of your 'expanding universe', could he?", we ask. "No never!' he retorts boastingly. "Well, then listen to what this ummi Prophet uttered under inspiration" [Ummi: means unlettered, unlearned."And the Book is given to him that is NOT LEARNED, saying, Read this, I pray thee and he sayeth, I am not learned" Isaiah 29:12. See how this prophecy finds fulfillment in Muhammad (pbuh). Obtain your FREE COPY OF "What the Bible says about Muhammad (pbuh)" from the IPCI.]:

DO NOT THE UNBELIEVERS (THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS) SEE THAT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WERE JOINED TOGETHER (AS ONE UNIT OF CREATION) BEFORE WE CLOVE THEM ASUNDER?

(SURA ANBIYAA) Holy Qur'an 21:30
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf Ali]

AND IT IS THE (GOD ALMIGHTY) WHO CREATED THE NIGHT AND THE DAY, AND THE SUN AND THE MOON: ALL (THE CELESTIAL BODIES) SWIM ALONG, EACH IN ITS ROUNDED COURSE.

(SURA ANBIYAA) Holy Qur'an 21:33
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf Ali]

Can't you see that the words "The Unbelievers" in the first quote above are specifically addressed to You – the men of science — the geographers, the astronomers, who, after having made amazing discoveries and conveyed these discoveries to mankind, still remain so ‘BLIND’ as not to ‘SEE’ its Author?

“With our Sciences and Encyclopaedias, we are apt to forget the Divineness, in those laboratories of ours” says Thomas Carlyle.

Where on earth could a camel driver in the desert have gleaned ‘Your facts’ fourteen hundred years ago, except from the Maker of the ‘Big Bang’ Himself’?

“And You biologists who seem to have your fingers on all organic life, and yet have the temerity to deny the existence of the Source of that Life, i.e. God: tell me, according to your vaunted research; where and how did life originate?”

Like his ‘unbelieving’ astronomer companion in science, he too begins — “Well, billions of years ago primaeval matter in the sea began to generate protoplasm out of which came the amoeba; and out of that mire in the sea came all living things. In one word ALL LIFE came from the sea, i.e. Water!”

“And when did you discover this fact that all living things came from water?” The answer is no different from that of his fellow scientist the astronomer — “Yesterday!” “No man of learning, no philosopher or poet could ever have guessed your biological discovery fourteen centuries back, could he?” we ask, and our biologist is as emphatic as the astronomer. “No, never!” says he. “Well, then, you just listen to this untutored son of the desert!”

WILL THEY (THE UNBELIEVERS, THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS) THEN NOT BELIEVE?

(SURA ANBIYAA) Holy Qur'an 21:30
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf Ali]

Protoplasm is the basis of all living matter, and “the vital power of protoplasm seems to depend on the constant presence of water” (Lawson’s Text Book of Botany, London 1922). Textbooks on Zoology are also cler on this point. For further explanation see Yusuf Ali’s translation and commentary, available from the IPCI.

AND ALLAH HAS CREATED EVERY ANIMAL FROM WATER: OF THEM THERE ARE SOME THAT CREEP ON THEIR BELLIES; SOME THAT WALK ON TWO LEGS; AND SOME THAT WALK ON FOUR. ALLAH CREATES WHAT HE WILLS; FOR VERILY ALLAH HAS POWER OVER ALL THINGS.

It will not be difficult for you to note that these words of the Omnipotent, Omniscient Creator of the Universe were addressed to YOU men of knowledge in answer to your skepticism TODAY. Their real import was beyond the dwellers of the desert fourteen centuries ago. The Author (God Almighty) is reasoning with YOU, you men of science, how can YOU not believe in God? YOU should be the LAST to deny His existence and yet you are the FIRST! What sickness has overtaken YOU that you allow your egos to overshadow your sense of logic?

AND to the botanists and the zoologists and the physicists who, despite their amazing insight into the nature of things, refuse to acknowledge a Master Creator. Let them then account for these utterances of Muhammad (pbuh) the mouthpiece of God.

GLORY BE TO HIM (GOD ALMIGHTY) WHO CREATED IN PAIRS ALL THINGS THAT WHICH THE EARTH PRODUCES (THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM), AS WELL AS THEIR OWN (HUMAN) KIND (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM) AND (OTHER) THINGS OF WHICH THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE (LIKE OF PHYSICS)

(SURA YA-SIN) Holy Qur'an 36:36
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf Ali]

Here is another verse fromYA-SIN. A special plea is made to Muslim readers who already know the Sura in Arabic, to now master its English meaning as well. Equip yourself for all the good work!

"CREATED IN PAIRS" "The mystery of sex runs through all creation, - in man, in animal life, in vegetable life, and in other things of which we have no knowledge. Then there are pairs of opposite forces in nature, e.g. positive and negative electricity, etc. The atom itself consists of a positively charged nucleus or protons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The constitution of matter itself is thus referred to as pairs of opposite energies." (Comment by A. Yusuf Ali) [Obtain your volume of Yusuf Ali's translationwith over 6000 such explanatory notes at a subsidized price from the IPCI.]

The verses of this “Perspicuous Book,” the Holy Qur’an are evidently self-explanatory. Students of the Qur’an saw the unmistakable Finger of God in every discovery that man made. These were the “Signs,” the “Miracles” from his Beneficent Lord and Cherisher so as to remove his doubts and strengthen his faith.

What an irony! It is the ‘people of learning’ who are actually rebellious! Their vast material knowledge has inflated them with pride. They lack the genuine humility which goes together with all true knowledge.

“THE ABOVE OBSERVATION (HIS OWN THESIS) MAKES THE HYPOTHESIS ADVANCED BY THOSE WHO SEE MUHAMMAD AS THE AUTHOR OF THE QUR’AN UNTENABLE. HOW COULD A MAN, FROM BEING ILLITERATE, BECOME THE MOST IMPORTANT AUTHOR, IN TERMS OF LITERARY MERITS, IN THE WHOLE OF ARABIC LITERATURE?

“HOW COULD HE THEN PRONOUNCE TRUTHS OF A SCIENTIFIC NATURE THAT NO OTHER HUMAN BEING COULD POSSIBLY HAVE DEVELOPED AT THAT TIME, AND ALL THIS WITHOUT ONCE MAKING THE SLIGHTEST ERROR IN HIS PRONOUNCEMENT ON THE SUBJECT?”

The seeds of this booklet, "AL-QUR'AN – The Miracle of Miracles", was probably sown by the Roving Ambassador of Islam, the silver-tongued orator – Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. I was only a schoolboy when he visited South Africa on a lecture tour in 1934. among his many erudite speeches, I heard him talk on “Cultivation of Science by the Muslims." Subsequently, a booklet under the same title was published by the World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi, Pakistan, which brings back the earlier joy and thrill of the discourse I heard in my teens. In memory of that great servant of Islam, I reproduce here, for posterity, a few words of what the Maulana had to say on the relationship between the Holy Qur'an and the branches of scientific knowledge.

“The stress which the Holy Qur'an has laid on the scientific study of the universe is a phenomenon unique in the religious literature of the world. Repeatedly it calls our attention to the multifarious phenomena of nature occurring around us. Repeatedly it exhorts the Muslims that the pursult of scientific knowledge is one of their religious duties. Repeatedly it emphasizes the great truth unknown to the pre-Qur'anic world that everything in nature is for the service of man and should be harnessed by him for his use. It exhorts us to study the structure and function of the human organism, the structure, functions and distribution of animals, the form, structure, functions, classification and distribution of plants, and these are problems of BIOLOGY.”

"It exhorts us to study the order of nature and the general properties of matter as affected by energy, which is the problem of modern PHYSICS.”

"It exhorts us to study the properties of substances both elementary and compound and the laws of their combination and action one upon another, which is the problem of modern CHEMISTRY.”

"It exhorts us to study the structure and mineral constitution of the globe, the different strata of which it is composed, the changes that take place in its organic and inorganic matter, etc, etc,; which are the problems of modern GEOLOGY.”

"It exhorts us to study the general description of the earth, its physical divisions into seas, rivers, mountains, plains, etc., and the minerals, plants and animals in each, and its political divisions which are the problems of modern GEOGRAPHY.”

"It exhorts us to study the causes which bring about the alternatioin of day and night, the variation of the seasons, the movement of the planets and other celestial phenomena, which are the problems of modern ASTRONOMY."

"It exhorts us to study the movements of winds, the formation and evolution of clouds and the production of rain, and other similar phenomena, which are the problems of modern METEOROLOGY."

For centuries, Muslims were world leaders in the field of scientific learning. Then slowly, the leadership began to slip away from their hands. Muslims had failed in their leadership role and materialistic Europe moved forward to fill the vacuum in leadership created by the Muslims.

"The intellectual upheaval created by Islam was a gigantic one. There is not a single department of learning which the Muslim scholars have left untouched and which they have not carved out a high position for themselves.”

"In truth, Islam intends the Muslim community to be a community of intellectuals, and the cultivation of science and all other forms of learning is one of the primary aims of Islam. Had it not been for the Muslims, Europe would never have seen its way to the Renaissance and the modern scientific era would never have dawned. Those nations who have received their knowledge of science from Europe are in fact indirectly the disciples of the Islamic community of the past. Humanity owes to Islam a debt which it can never repay and gratitude which it can never forget."

The silver-tongued orator (the Maulana) ended his masterful exposition of the topic – "CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE BY THE MUSLIMS," with the words:

"Before I conclude, let me affirm once more that the Muslim community is out and out a creation of Islam which in its turn is rooted in Divine revelation. Nothing but belief in and the practice of Islam can make an individual a Muslim. Islam has laid it down as a religious duty that a Muslim should enquire into the reality of objects around him, so that his scientific enquiry may lead him to the knowledge of his Creator. Scientific enquiry in Islam is not an end but a means to the attainment of a higher end. And this is really the true end of humanity. TO ALLAH WE BELONG AND TO ALLAH IS OUR RETURN.

I had the privilege of hearing the above speech in 1934 from the lips of the master himself. In the late thirties I had the speech in my hands as a booklet. I memorized it with some changes and modifications, whilst still working in a Muslim shop at Adams Mission Station. I was so enthused that I made arrangements with Adam's College to speak to the students and their lecturers on the same subject. At that time I might not have fully grasped the enormity of my task but I will never know for sure as my Muslim Boss came to my rescue? He threatened me with dismissal if I did not cancel my first public lecture. I backed out. My employer was no doubt ignorant of Allah's warning. I too, knew no better. I cannot say what stand I would have taken then if I was programmed with this admonition:

SAY: IF IT BE YOUR FATHERS, OR YOUR SONS, OR YOUR BROTHERS, OR YOUR MATES, OR YOUR RELATIONS; OR THE WEALTH THAT YE HAVE AMASSED; OR THE LOSSES YE FEAR IN YOUR BUSINESSES; OR THE DWELLINGS IN WHICH YOU TAKE DELIGHT – IF YOU LOVE (ANY OF THESE) MORE THAN YOU LOVE ALLAH, OR HIS MESSENGER, OR THE STRIVING IN HIS CAUSE; THEN WAIT UNTIL ALLAH BRINGS ABOUT HIS DECISION: AND ALLAH GUIDES NOT A REBELLIOUS PEOPLE.

   (a) A video tape on the topic “Da`wah or Destruction?” is available from the IPCI
   (b) Write for your FREE video catalogue.
   (c) Memorize the verse in Arabic together with its English meaning. If you are rightly programmed, you will have the right responses in every challenging situation. Insha-Allah!

Thanks (?) to our timid brother, my first ever lecture to Christian missionaries and trainee priests which I had so assiduously planned, memorized and rehearsed came to nothing. Perhaps I was set back ten years in my career in public speaking. There are millions like my Muslim boss who are just as terrified by material considerations enumerated in the above verse who not only will not deliver the Message of Islam themselves but obstruct those prepared to do the job. Yet they display in their bearing the utmost piety: to no avail – Allah describes such as "Perverted transgressors!"

In the foregoing speech the Maulana had drawn our attention to the Qur'anic exhortations for us to ponder on: Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Meteorology etc. Scholars like Maurice Bucaille, Keith Moore and Sheikh Zindani have written on different scientific aspects of the Holy Qur'an in recent times. But the scope is limitless. The noble Qur'an is an ocean of Knowledge. In this world of specialization, Muslim scientists must take up the challenges hinted at by the Maulana in the mid-thirties. They do not have to dabble in every field. To each his own particular specialty. The youth of Islam is hungry for information and articles and small tracts on different scientific subjects in order to whet their appetites. Encyclopaedias may follow. Insha-Allah!

I do not have to apologies for leaving the exposition of Qur'anic sciences to Muslims scientists. Even non-Muslims should be encouraged to explore the depths of Wisdom as enshrined in the book of God. For my part, as a layman, I will share with you the miraculous nature of the Holy Qur'an in what appears to me to be in simple, ordinary facts.

CHAPTER TWO