Miracle of
Holy Quran
THE FUSING AND SEPARATING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH :
How do modern scientists explain the formation of the universe? Dr. Maurice
Bucaille explains it in his book, The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, as follows:
"The basic process in the formation of the universe . . . Lay in the condensing
of material in the primary nebula followed by its division into fragments
that originally constituted galactic masses. The latter in their turn split
up into stars that provided the subproduct of the process, i.e. the planets"
(p. 149). Does the Qur'an say anything about this condensing and separation
of the primary material to result in the formation of our universe? Let's
have a look. The creator, Allah, says in his final
book: "Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were fused
together, then we separated them . . ." (Qur'an 21:30).
Dr. Bucaille sees this as "the reference to a separation process of a primary
single mass whose elements were initially fused together" (p.143). Thus the
Qur'an gives an accurate account of the formation of the universe to call
upon humankind to recognize the power of their creator.
This raises an interesting question: How could a man living in the seventh
century invent these ideas which could not be confirmed until modern times?
And how could he in so doing avoid the mythical and fanciful ideas prevalent
in human history? Dr. Bucaille mentions some of these myths for contrast:
"When, as in Japan, the image of the egg plus an expression of chaos is attached
to the above with the idea of a seed inside an egg (as for all eggs), the
imaginative addition makes the concept lose all semblance of seriousness.
In other countries, the idea of a plant is associated with it; the plant
grows and in so doing raises up the sky and separates the heavens from the
earth. Here again, the imaginative quality of the added detail lends the
myth its very distinctive character" (p. 152).
In contrast to those myths, the Qur'anic statements are "free from any of
the whimsical details accompanying such beliefs; on the contrary, they are
distinguished by the sober quality of the words in which they are made, and
their agreement with scientific data" (p. 152).
It must be that the Qur'an is not the product of any human or humans, but
a revelation from Allah. The Qur'an says: "The revelation of the scripture
whereof there is no doubt is from the Lord of the Worlds" (Qur'an 32:2).
The Sun is a star that is roughly 4.5 billion years old, according to experts
in astrophysics. It is possible to (distinguish a stage in its evolution,
as one can for all the stars. At present, the Sun is at an early stage, characterized
by the transformation of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. Theoretically,
this present stage should last another 5.5 billion years according to calculations
that allow a total of 10 billion years for the duration of the primary stage
in a star of this kind. It has already been shown, in the case of these other
stars, that this stage gives way to a second period characterized by the
completion of the transformation of hydrogen into helium, with the resulting
expansion of its external layers and the cooling of the Sun. In the final
stage, its light is greatly diminished and density considerably increased;
this is to be observed in the type of star known as a 'white dwarf'.
The above dates are only of interest in as far as they give a rough estimate
of the time factor involved, what is worth remembering and is really the
main point of the above, is the notion of an evolution. Modern data allow
us to predict that, in a few billion years, the conditions prevailing in
the solar system will not be the same as they are today. Like other stars
whose transformations have been recorded until they reached their final stage,
it is possible to predict an end to the Sun. The second verse quoted above
(sura 36, verse 38) referred to the Sun running its course towards a place
of its own. Modern astronomy has been able to locate it exactly and has even
given it a name, the Solar Apex: the solar system is indeed evolving in space
towards a point situated in the Constellation of Hercules (alpha lyrae) whose
exact location is firmly established; it is moving at a speed already ascertained
at something in the region of 12 miles per second. All these astronomical
data deserve to be mentioned in rel
ation to the two verses from the Qur'an. Since it is possible to state that
they appear to agree perfectly with modern scientific data.
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FROM A GASEOUS MASS TO THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
Concerning the creation of the heavens and the earth, the Qur'an says that
prior to the creation, the Heaven was smoke. God then commanded it and the
earth to come into being and they came willingly (see surah 41:1 1). How
does that compare with modern scientific explanations? Let us hear a scientific
explanation and then judge for ourselves.
The French scientist Dr. Maurice Bucaille in his book called The Bible, the
Qur'an and Science explains: "At the earliest time it can provide us with,
modern science has every reason to maintain that the universe was formed
from a gaseous mass principally composed of hydrogen and a certain amount
of helium that was slowly rotating" (p.147). (Big Bang Theory)
Didn't the Qur'an say that the Heaven was smoke before its creation? Dr.
Bucaille explains the connection between his description and that of the
Qur'an as follows: "Smoke is generally made up of a gaseous substratum, plus,
in more or less stable suspension, fine particles that may belong to solid
and even liquid states of matter at high or low temperature" (p. 143).
He therefore sees no contradiction of the Quranic use of the Arabic word
dukhan (translated smoke) and a modern interpretation of that word as a gaseous
mass with fine particles when speaking of the formation of the universe.
We notice here two remarkable features of the Qur'an. The first feature is
that it expresses scientific truths that will be verified many centuries
later. The second feature is that the Qur'an expresses those truths using
terms and expressions that would avoid confusing its first readers in the
seventh century. The seventh century reader of the Qur'an can easily relate
to the image of smoke, and the twentieth century scientist can easily interpret
the word as a gaseous mass.
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AVOIDING THE MISTAKES OF GENESIS
As we saw in chapter 2, both the Quran and modern science confirm that the
heavens and the earth were created simultaneously, having been separated
from a primary nebula. It is important to understand that the Bible, the
most famous record of the creation prior to the Quran gives a sequence for
the creation of the heavens and the earth that is today found unacceptable
from a scientific standpoint. If the Quran was the work of human beings it
is difficult to imagine how they could have avoided the human errors so firmly
fixed in the minds of people from the previous records.
In the Bible, in Genesis, chapter 1, we read that God created light which
He called day, and separated it from the darkness which He called night (see
v. 3). Today we know that the alternation of day and night is caused by the
earth's movement in relation to the sun. But, according to Genesis, the sun
was not created until the fourth day (see v. 16). So how could day and night
alternate before that?
A related problem is that vegetation is created on the third day (see vv.
11-12) whereas the sun which is necessary for sustaining vegetation does
not appear until the fourth day.
"What is totally untenable" says Dr. Bucaille, "is that a highly organized
vegetable kingdom with reproduction by seed could have appeared before the
existence of the sun" (The Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 42).
We have already seen that the Quran states, and modern science confirms,
that the heavens and the earth were formed together. Dr. Bucaille explains
as follows: "Earth and moon emanated, as we know, from their original star,
the sun. To place the creation of the sun and moon after the creation of
the earth is contrary to the most firmly established ideas on the formation
of the elements of the solar system" (p. 42). By giving a sequence in which
the sun and moon are created after the creation of the earth, the Genesis
account proves erroneous. On the other hand, the Quran, by speaking of the
simultaneous creation of the heavens and the earth, has judiciously avoided
the errors of the Genesis account.
Could the Quran have been authored by a human? No! Dr. Bucaille asks: "How
could a man living fourteen hundred years ago have made corrections to the
existing description to such an extent that he eliminated scientifically
inaccurate material and, on his own initiative, made statements that science
has only in the present day been able to verify?" (p.151). (Dr. Bucaille
was not born a muslim, but after reading the Quran and seeing how the Quran
goes in such details into Science he converted to Islam.)
SIX DAYS OF CREATION OR SIX PERIODS?
Today we know that the creation process can be measured in billions of years.
The priestly editors or the Bible could not have known this. In their eagerness
to enjoin Sabbath observance on others they wrote that God rested on the
very first Sabbath day after finishing up his work of creating the heavens
and the earth.
The six days of creation in the book of Genesis, then, are clearly like six
days of any seven-day week. The Priestly editors have made it clear that
a day is meant a period from one sunset to another. Six days meant from Sunday
to Friday. They believed that the reason the Sabbath day became holy is that
God Himself had rested on that day. Thus the editors tell us: "By the seventh
day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he
rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Genesis
2:2).
If that is not far enough, the editors took the idea that God rested farther
still when they wrote as follows: "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (The Holy Bible, King
James Version, Exodus 31: 17).
The idea that God rests like humans and gets refreshed like humans had to
be corrected by Jesus, on whom be peace, when, according to John, he declared
that God never stops working, even on the Sabbath day (see John 5:16). God
clarified the matter in His own words when he declared: "And verily we created
the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, and naught
of weariness touched us" (Quran 50:38 see also v. 15).
The above quranic verses clearly refute the idea that God rested. God, according
to the Quran does not get tired. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes him
(Quran 2:255).
But how about the period of creation? Was that six days in the Quran too?
In the above quotation from the Quran the term translated 'days' could mean,
according to Dr. Maurice Bucaille, "not just 'days', but also 'long periods
of time', an indefinite period of time (but always long)" (The Bible, the
Quran and Science, p. 139).
Dr. Bucaille notes that the Quran also speaks of "a day whereof the measure
is a thousand years of your reckoning" (Quran 32:5). The Quran also speaks
of a day whereof the measure is 50,000 years" (Quran 70:4).
Dr. Bucaille also points out that long before our modern ideas of the length
of time involved in the creation, commentators of the Quran understood that
when the Quran speaks of six days of creation, it does not mean six days
like ours, but rather six periods. Abu al Su'ud, for example, writing in
the sixteenth century, understood it as six events (see The Bible, the Quran
and Science, p.l39).
Again, we see that the Quran has avoided repeating an error which was established
in a previous book an error that will not be discovered until modern times.
In view of this, can anyone insist that the Quran is the work of a man?
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HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
The Bible provides a chronology of history that extends back to the creation
of Adam and Eve and to the creation of the earth. From this chronology it
is possible to determine the date of the creation and hence the age of the
earth.
Archbishop Ussher of Armagh (1581-1657) had calculated the year of creation
to be 4004 BC If that was not precise enough, Dr. Lightfoot of Cambridge
worked out that the exact time when God completed His creation was 9 a.m.
on Friday, October 23, 4004 BC (see the book 7whinking about God by Sr. R.
W. Maqsood, p. 63).
Many religious groups and sects have used this date in predicting precise
dates for the end of the world, but all such predictions have so far proved
erroneous. The one fact against them is that the world is still intact and
we are very much alive.One reason al1 of those predictions failed is that
they are calculated from a false date of creation. If 4004 BC was the year
of creation, that would make the earth less than six thousand years old.
No scientist can accept this today.
Modern scientists estimate that the earth is 4.5 billion years old with a
maximum error of 2.2 % (see The Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 148). Knowing
this, many educated people lost faith in religion. (Judaism & Christianity)
They naturally felt that the Word of God should not contain errors of this
kind. Others maintain that the Word of God was meant to teach only that truth
which God wanted put into the scriptures for our salvation It if therefore
immaterial if the book contains historical or scientific errors. As the scientist
Galileo put it, the Bible is there to teach people how to go to heaven; it
is not there to teach people how the heavens go. Some maintain, therefore,
that it is understandable that the book will contain some historical and
scientific errors since it was written by human beings who lived a long time
ago and did not share our modern knowledge. (The Quran completely refutes
this idea. The Quran does not contain any Scientifical mistakes like the
Bible does. Did man write the Bible or
God. If not God than why do they say the Holy Bible is the Word of God) The
Quran, on the other hand, does not contain any historical or scientific or
any kind of error. God challenges us to test this claim by examining the
book for ourselves (see Quran 4:82).The Quran does not repeat the incorrect
biblical chronology we have seen above. The Quran does not give a chronology
since its purpose is not to provide us with the details of history, but only
to teach us the lessons arising from specific events in history.
The Quran does, however tell us that God measured the sustenance of the earth
in four periods (Quran 41 :10). As to what could be the significance of these
four periods, Dr. Bucaille comments as follows: "One could perhaps see in
them the four geological periods described by modern science, with man's
appearance, as we already know, taking place in the quaternary era. This
is purely a hypothesis since nobody has an answer to this question" (The
Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 150).
How did the author of the Quran avoid the mistake in chronology committed
by so many others, and believed in by so many others even up to our present
day? Could a man in the seventh century have known that the earth was much
more than six thousand years old? How could he come by this modern knowledge
unless God was revealing knowledge to him?
God tells us that the Quran is His book and not the work of any man (see
Quran 10:37).
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INTERSTELLAR GALACTIC MATERIAL
The Quran mentions a rather curious category of created things, namely things
between the heavens and the earth. Dr. Bucaille observes that this mention
in the Quran "may surprise the twentieth century reader of the Quran" (The
Bible, tl1e Quran and Science, p. 144). For example, one verse says as follows:
"To Him (God) belongs what is in the heavens, on earth, between them and
beneath the soil" (Quran 20:6; other verses include 25:59, 32:4 and 50:38).
What is that between the heavens and the earth? Dr. Bucaille explains as
follows: "The creation outside the heavens and outside the earth is a priori
difficult to imagine. To understand these verses, reference must be made
to the most recent observations on the existence of cosmic extragalactic
material, and one must indeed go back to ideas established by contemporary
science on the formation of the universe . . ." (p. 145).
Scientists tell us that a primary nebula condensed, then divided up into
fragments. These fragments, these galactic masses, further split up into
stars and their sub-products, the planets. Each time such a division or split
occurred, there remained extra material apart from the principal elements
newly formed. The scientific name for these extra materials is 'interstellar
galactic material'.
Is this extra material significant? Yes. Experts in astrophysics are quite
aware of such material which have "a tendency to interfere with photometric
measurements" (The Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 149). The extra material
is so rarefied that they may be referred to as dusts or smokes or gases.
Yet they altogether occupy so much total space that they may correspond to
"a mass possibly greater than the total mass of the galaxies" (p. 149).
Again, we must face up to the implication of all this. How could a man living
fourteen hundred years ago have known about interstellar galactic material?
Was Muhammad, on whom be peace, well versed in modern astrophysics? Or is
the Quran nothing but the Word of God? Allah, the only true God, declares
in His book: "The revelation of the scripture is from Allah, the Mighty,
the Wise. Surely We [Allah] have revealed the scripture unto you [Muhammad]
with truth; so worship Allah, making religion pure for Him (only)" (Quran
39:1-2).
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FORMATION OF IRON!
This is no less than a reminder to (all) the worlds. And you shall certainly
know the truth of it (all) after a while. (Qur?aan 38:87-88).
Thus, the Qur?aan is a reminder for all of mankind until the Last Hour. It
contains information that man discovers in due time. Because this Qur?aan
was revealed from Allah?s knowledge and every single verse in it was revealed
with Allah?s knowledge, as He Himself said:
Professor Armstrong works at NASA, otherwise known as the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, where he is a well-known scientist there. We met
with him and asked a number of questions about Qur?aanic verses dealing with
the expertise in Astronomy. We asked him about Iron and how it was formed.
He explained how all the elements in the earth were formed. He stated that
the scientists have come only recently to discover the relevant facts about
that formation process. He said that the energy of the early solar system
was not sufficient to produce elemental Iron.
In calculating the energy required to form one atom of iron, it was found
to be about four times as much as the energy of the entire solar system.
In other words, the entire energy of the earth or the moon or the planet
Mars or any other planet is not sufficient to form one new atom of iron,
even the energy of the entire solar system is not sufficient for that. That
is why Professor Armstrong said that the scientists believe that iron is
an extraterrestrial that was sent to earth and not formed therein.
We read to him the Qur?aanic verse saying: And we sent down Iron, in which
is Great might, as well as many benefits for mankind (Qur?aan 57-25).
Then we asked him about the sky and whether it had any gaps or rifts in it.
He disproved this and replied that what we are talking about is a branch
of Astronomy called the "Integrated Cosmos" which we scientists have only
come to know recently. For example, if you have a body in outer space which
travels a certain distance in any direction and then travel the same distance
in a different direction, you will find that the mass weight is the same
in all directions. Because this body has its own equilibrium, the pressures
from all directions are the same. Without this equilibrium, the whole universe
would collapse. I recalled Allah?s verse in the
Qur?aan: " Do they not look at the sky above them? How we have made it and
adorned it, and there are no flaws in it?" (Qur?aan 50:6).
Then we talked to Professor Armstrong about the attempts of scientists to
reach the edge of the universe, and we asked him whether they were successful
in this. He replied that they are fighting an uphill battle to the edge of
the universe, we construct more powerful equipment to observe the universe
only to discover that the new stars we see are still within our galaxy and
that we have not yet reached the edge of the universe. He is aware of the
Qur?aanic verse which says: And we adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and
we made such (lamps) missiles to drive away satans. (Qur?aan 67:5).
Indeed, all these stars are adornments for the lowest heaven. He says that
scientists have not reached the end of the universe. Professor Armstrong
added that because of this, they are thinking of stationing more telescopes
in outer space so that their observations will not be obstructed by dust
and other atmospheric impediments. Vision telescopes using light are unable
to travel long distances, so we replaced them with radio operated ones enabling
us to see further, but we nevertheless are still within the boundaries. I
mentioned to him this verse: So turn thy vision again: Do you see any flaw?
Again turn your vision a second time: (your) vision will come back to you
dull and discomfited, in a state worn out (Qur?aan 67:3-4).
Each time Professor Armstrong told us some scientific fact, we mentioned
to him the relevant verse which he agreed with. Then said to him: ?You have
seen and discovered for yourself the true nature of modern Astronomy by means
of modern equipment, rockets, and space ships, developed by man. You have
also seen how the same facts were mentioned by the Qur?aan 14 centuries ago,
so what is your opinion about these?
He replied: That is a difficult question which I have been thinking about
since our discussions here. I am impressed that how remarkably some of the
ancient writings seem to correspond to modern and recent Astronomy.
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HOW MANY EARTHS ARE THERE?
If you open the Quran to the first surah, you will notice it begins as follows:
"In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah,
Lord of the Worlds." Worlds? Not just one? Yes . . . worlds! There is the
physical world, the spiritual world, the world of bacteria, and so forth.
That, obviously, is one sense in which we can understand 'worlds'.
Another verse of the Quran, however, makes it clear that there are many earths
(see Quran 65:12). Is it possible that there may be other earths out there?
No one expects to find another earth within our solar system. But scientists
say it is likely that in our galaxy there are many earths outside the solar
system. They say that approximately 50 billion stars in the Milky Way rotate
slowly, as does the sun. This characteristic indicates that those stars are
surrounded by planets that are their satellites. The Bernard Star, for example,
is believed to have at least one planetary companion. (see The Bible, the
Quran and Science, p. 148). Dr. Bucaille quotes P. Guerin as follows: "All
the evidence points to the fact that planetary systems are scattered in profusion
all over the universe. The solar system and the earth are not unique" (p.
148-9).
In a recent article published in the Toronto Star, two scientists advanced
evidence that there may indeed be many earths waiting to be discovered. The
headline read: "Earths may be dime a dozen out there."
The Quran also uses the symbolic plural number 7 to indicate the existence
of a plurality of heavens (see Quran 2:29, for example). Dr. Bucaille comments
that this is "confirmed by modern science due to the observations experts
in astrophysics have made on galactic systems and their very large number"
(p. 150).
Once again we find that the Quran says something and scientists later discover
it to be true. Can we resist believing in this book of God? God says: "Those
who disbelieve in the Reminder when it comes unto them (are guilty), for
indeed it is an unassailable Scripture. Falsehood cannot come at it from
before it or behind it. (It is) a revelation from the Wise, the Owner of
Praise" (Quran 41 :41-42).
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ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSE
What the Quran mentions about the organization of the Universe is important
because "these references constitute a new fact of divine Revelation" (The
Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 153). The Quran deals with this matter in
depth although this is not dealt with in the previous scriptures.
Dr. Maurice Bucaille also points out the important fact that the Quran does
not contain "the theories prevalent at the time of the Revelation that deal
with the organization of the celestial world" (p. 153). If the Quran was
authored by any human being, he or she would have naturally included the
ideas prevalent at the time. But many of those ideas were later shown to
be inaccurate. How did the author of the Quran know enough to exclude those
ideas, unless the author is God himself.
Those who say that Muhammad authored the Quran think that the Arabs were
very knowledgeable in the field of Science, and Muhammad was or course one
of them. But this explanation is based on the incorrect assumption that the
Arabs knew Science before the Quran was revealed. As pointed out by Dr. Bucaille,
the fact is that Science in Islamic countries came after the Quran, not before.
"In any case", writes Dr. Bucaille, "the scientific knowledge of that great
period would not have been sufficient for a human being to write some of
the verses to be found in the Quran" (The Bible, the Quran and Science, p.
1 53-1 54)
Modern astronomers are aware that the stars and planets are kept within ranges
of precise distances from each other. Had it not been for this fact, collision
between them would be inevitable. The author of the Quran was also aware
of this. In the Quran we read "the sun and the moon (are subjected) to calculations
(Quran 55:5).
Again, we read: "For you (God) subjected the sun and the moon, both diligently
pursuing their courses" (Quran 14:33). The phrase 'diligently pursuing their
courses' is a translation of the Arabic term daa'ib which here means 'to
apply oneself to something with care in a perseverant, invariable manner,
in accordance with set habits' (The Bible, the Quran and Science, p.l55).
And that indeed is how the sun and moon behave.
Another verse in the Quran says, "the stars are in subjection to His command"
(Quran 16:12). Order in the universe is essential for its preservation. God,
who subjected them to that order knew about it before any scientist.
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WHAT HOLDS UP THE SKY?
Today scientists speak of gravitational forces that hold the heavenly bodies
apart from each other and prevent them from colliding with each other. How
was this to be conveyed to the first readers of the Quran? God tells us in
the Quran that He is the One Who raised the sky (Quran 55:7) and that he
holds it back from falling on the earth (Quran 22:65). But how exactly does
God do this?
If the author of the Quran was a human being, it would have been very easy
for the author to copy the answer to this question from the Bible. But today
no one will believe that answer.
In the New American Bible, a picture is drawn to show how the authors of
the Bible imagined the world to look like. In that picture, the sky "resembles
an overturned bowl and is supported by columns" (The New American Bible,
St. Joseph's Medium Size Edition, pp. 4-5). The earth in that picture is
flat, and is also supported by pillars. After describing the picture at length,
the editors of that Bible conclude by calling that idea of the world a "prescientific
concept of the universe."
At the time when the Quran was being revealed, anyone could have easily believed
this description which was already found in the Bible. It is only in modern
times that people would know better. How did the author of the Quran avoid
this mistake?
God says in the Quran that He created the heavens "without any pillars that
you can see" (Quran 31:10). Again, the Quran says: "God is the One Who raised
the heavens without any pillars that you can see" (Quran 13:2). Dr. Maurice
Bucaille comments: "These two verses refute the belief that the vault of
the heavens was held up by pillars, the only things preventing the former
from crushing the earth" (The Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 154).
To be able to avoid that prescientific error, the author of the Quran must
have been either a modern scientist, or God Himself.
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COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES
The sun and the moon are different from each other not only in terms of size,
but also in terms of function. The sun generates light, but the moon does
not. The moon merely reflects the light coming from the sun. Every high school
student today knows this.
A man or woman in the seventh century, however, would not have known about
this fine distinction between the sun and the moon. To such a person, the
two would appear as a greater light and a lesser light. Such a person would
observe that the greater light lights up the day and the lesser light lights
up the night. And this indeed is how the sun and the moon were described
in previous books.
The Bible, describing the creation, says: "God made two great lights the
greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night"
(Genesis 1: 16). The author of the Qur'an however, was aware that this comparison
between the sun and the moon is not adequate. Therefore the Qur'an does not
refer to them as being a greater and a lesser light.
The Qur'an says: "God is the One who made the sun a shine and the moon a
light" (Qur'an 10:5).
Commenting on this, Dr. Bucaille says: "Whereas the Bible calls the sun and
moon 'lights', and merely adds to one the adjective 'greater' and to the
other 'lesser', the Qur'an ascribes differences other than that of dimension
to each respectively" (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, p. 156).
Similarly, the Qur'an says: "Blessed is the One Who placed the constellations
in heaven and placed therein a lamp and a moon giving light" (Qur'an 25:61).
Here again, the difference between the sun and the moon is noted. The sun
is called a lamp, and the moon is called an object giving light.
Again in the Qur'an God says that He "made the moon a light" and "made the
sun a lamp" (Qur'an 71:15-16).
Furthermore, God calls the sun a "blazing lamp" (Qur'an 78:12-13). This term
which is used for the sun is never used for the moon in the Qur'an.
In all of these verses, God expresses the notion that the sun and the moon
are "not absolutely identical lights" (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science,
p. 156).
Dr. Bucaille draws his conclusions from what he found in the Qur'an about
the sun and the moon: "What is interesting to note here is the sober quality
of the comparisons, and the absence in the text of the Qur'an of any elements
of comparison that might have prevailed at the time and which in our day
would appear as phantasmagorial" (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, p 157).
In short, "There is nothing in the text of the Qur'an that contradicts what
we know today about these two celestial bodies." (The Bible, the Qur'an and
Science, p. 157).
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THE SUN & MOON AND THEIR ORBITS
Today we know that the Moon revolves around the earth in approximately 29.5
days. The sun also revolves in its own orbit. To understand the sun's orbit,
Dr. Bucaille says that the position of the sun in our galaxy must be considered,
and we must therefore call on modern scientific ideas (The Bible, the Qur'an
and Science, p. 162).
Our galaxy, the milky way galaxy, includes one hundred billion stars situated
in such a formation that the galaxy is shaped like a disc. This disc turns
around its center like a gramophone record. Now, it is obvious that when
a gramophone record turns, any point on the disc would move around and come
back to its original position. Similarly, every star in the galaxy moves
as the galaxy rotates on its axis. Therefore the stars that are away from
the center of the galaxy orbit around the axis. The sun is one of those stars.
Dr. Bucaille explains that modern science has worked out the details of the
sun's orbit as follows: "To complete one revolution on its own axis, the
galaxy and the sun take roughly 250 million years. The sun travels roughly
150 miles per second in the completion of this" (The Bible, the Qur'an and
Science, p. 162).
After describing this, Dr. Bucaille comments: "The above is the orbital movement
of the sun that was already referred to in the Qur'an fourteen centuries
ago." (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, p. 162)
And yet this is a new finding. As Dr. Bucaille says, the knowledge of the
sun's orbit is an acquisition of modern astronomy (The Bible, the Qur'an
and Science, p. 162).
Two verses in the Qur'an refer to the orbits of the sun and moon. After mentioning
the sun and the moon, God says: "Each one is travelling in an orbit with
its own motion" (Qur'an 21:33; 36:40). How did the author of the Qur'an know
of this? Even after the Qur'an was revealed, early commentators could not
conceive of the orbits of the sun and moon. The tenth century commentator
Tabari could not explain this so he said, "It is our duty to keep silent
when we do not know" (XVII, 15 quoted in The Bible, the Qur'an and Science,
p. 161).
Dr. Bucaille comments: "This shows just how incapable men were of understanding
this concept of the sun's and moon's orbit." (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science,
p. 161).
From this it is clear that if the Qur'an was here expressing an idea already
known to the people, the commentators would have easily understood it. But
this, as Dr. Bucaille explains was "a new concept that was not to be explained
until centuries later" (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, p. 161)
This confirms what God said to his prophet, on whom be peace: "This is of
the tidings of the Unseen which we inspire in you (Muhammad). Neither you
nor your people knew it before this" (Qur'an 11:49).
THE SUN & MOON MOVE WITH THEIR OWN MOTION
The Qur'an makes the following statement about the sun and the moon: "Each
one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion" (Qur'an 21:33; 36:40).
Why did the Qur'an say that the sun and moon move with their own motion?
And, if that is true, where did the author of the Qur'an get this information?
The fact is that the sun and moon rotate on their axes and are in part animated
by this rotating motion. The phrase "travelling with its own motion" in the
verses quoted above is a translation of the Arabic verb 'yasbahoon'. This
could also be translated 'they swim.' In that case, the verse would read
that the sun and the moon, "Each swim in its own orbit." Those who translate
the verse this way explain that the term swim refers to movement with one's
own internally generated force. Furthermore the movement of a swimmer is
graceful, measured, and smooth. This is a very fitting description for the
movement of the stars and planets including the sun and the moon.
After describing the scientific data concerning the rotation of the sun and
the moon, Dr. Bucaille says: "These motions of the two celestial bodies are
confirmed by the data of modern science, and it is inconceivable that a man
living in the seventh century A.D.... could have imagined them" (The Bible,
the Qur'an and Science, p. 163).
It is also amazing that the Qur'an uses a different term for the movement
of the clouds and the mountains (see Qur'an 27:88). Obviously, the clouds
and mountains are driven by external forces. The cloud is driven by the wind
and the mountains move with the rotation of the earth. The sun and moon,
however, move with their own motion, and therefore the Qur'an uses a peculiar
term "they swim" to refer to their smooth, graceful, self-propelled movement.
How did the author of the Qur'an know enough to make this choice of words
that will reflect a modern scientific truth? The Qur'an is no less than a
revelation from God.
sura 36, verse 40:
"The sun must not catch up the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day.
Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion."
Here an essential fact is clearly stated: the existence of the Sun's and
Moon's orbits, plus a reference is made to the traveling
of these bodies in space with their own motion. A negative fact also emerges
from a reading of these verses: it is shown that the Sun moves in an orbit,
but no indication is given as to what this orbit might be in relation to
the Earth. At the time of the Qur'anic Revelation, it was thought that the
Sun moved while the Earth stood still. This was the system of
geocentrism that had held away since the time of Ptolemy, Sec-ond century
B.C., and was to continue to do so until Copernicus in the Sixteenth century
A.D. Although people supported this concept at the time of Muhammad, it does
not appear anywhere
in the Qur'an, either here or elsewhere.
1. The Moon's Orbit.
Today, the concept is widely spread that the Moon is a satellite of the Earth
around which it revolves in periods of twenty-nine days. A correction must
however be made to the absolutely circular form of its orbit, since modern
astronomy ascribes a certain eccentricity to this, so that the distance between
the Earth and the Moon (240,000 miles) is only the average distance.
We have seen above how the Qur'an underlined the usefulness of observing
the Moon's movements in calculating time (sura 10, verse 5, quoted at the
beginning of this chapter.) This system has often been criticized for being
archaic, im- practical and unscientific in comparison to our system based
on the Earth's rotation around the Sun, expressed today in the Julian calendar.
This criticism calls for the following two remarks:
a) Nearly fourteen centuries ago, the Qur'an was directed at the inhabitants
of the Arabian Peninsula who were used to the lunar calculation of time.
It was advisable to address them in the only language they could understand
and not to upset the habits they had of locating spatial and temporal reference-marks
which were nevertheless quite efficient. It is known how well-versed men
living in the desert are in the observation of the sky; they navigated according
to the stars and told the time according to the phases of the Moon. Those
were the simplest and most reliable means available to them.
b) Apart from the specialists in this, most people are unaware of the perfect
correlation between the Julian and the lunar calendar: 235 lunar months correspond
exactly to 19 Julian years of 365.25 days. Then length of our year of 365
days is not perfect because it has to be rectified every four years (with
a leap year): With the lunar calendar, the same phenomena occur every 19
years (Julian). This is the Metonic cycle, named after the Greek astronomer
Meton, who discovered this exact correlation between solar and lunar time
in the Fifth century B.C.
2. The Sun.
It is more difficult to conceive of the Sun's orbit because we are so used
to seeing our solar system organized around it. To understand the verse from
the Qur'an, the position of the Sun in our galaxy must be considered. and
we must therefore call on modern scientific ideas. Our galaxy includes a
very large number of stars spaced so as to form a disc that is denser at
the centre than at the rim. The Sun occupies a position in it which is far
removed from the centre of the disc. The galaxy revolves on its own axis
which is its centre with the result that the Sun revolves around the same
centre in a circular orbit. Modern astronomy has worked out the details of
this. In 1917, Shapley estimated the distance between the Sun and the centre
of our galaxy at 10 kiloparsecs i.e., in miles, circa the figure 2 followed
by 17 zeros. To complete one revolution on its own axis, the galaxy and Sun
take roughly 250 million years. The Sun travels at roughly 150 miles per
second in the completion of this. The above is the o
rbital movement of the Sun that was already referred to by the Qur'an fourteen
centuries ago. The demonstration of the existence and details of this is
one of the achievements of modern astronomy.
--The Moon completes its rotating motionnn on its own axis at the same time
as it revolves around the Earth, i.e. 29.5 days (approx.), so that it always
has the same side facing us. --The Sun takes roughly 25 days to revolve on
its own axis.
There are certain differences in its rotation at its equator and poles, (we
shall not go into them here) but as a whole, the Sun is animated by a rotating
motion. It appears therefore that a verbal nuance in the Qur'an refers to
the Sun and Moon's own motion. These motions of the two celestial bodies
are confirmed by the data of modern science, and it is inconceivable that
a man living in the Seventh century A.D.--however knowledgeable he might
have been in his day (and this was certainly not true in Muhammad's case)--could
have imagined them. This view is sometimes contested by examples from great
thinkers of antiquity who indisputably predicted certain data that modern
science has verified. They could hardly have relied on scientific deduction
however; their method of procedure was more one of philosophical reasoning.
Thus the case of the Pythagoreans is often advanced. In the Sixth century
B.C., they defended the theory of the rotation of the Earth on its own axis
and the movement of the planets around
the Sun. This theory was to be confirmed by modern sciece. By comparing it
with the case of the Pythagoreans,it easy to put forward the hypothesis of
Muhammad as being a brilliant thinker, who was supposed to have imagined
all on his on his own what modern science was to discover centuries later.
In so doing however, people quite simply forget to mention the other aspect
of what these geniuses of philosophical reasoning produced, i.e. the colossal
blunders that litter their work. it must be remembered for example, that
the pythagoreans also defended the theory whereby the Sun was fixed in space;
they made it the centre of the world and only conceived of a celestial order
that was centered on it. It is quite common in the works of the great philosophers
of antiquity to find a mixture of valid and invalid ideas about the Universe.
The brilliance of these human works comes from the advanced ideas they contain,
but they should not make us over look the mistaken concepts which have also
been left to us. From a
strictly scientific point of view, this is what distinguished them from the
Qur'an. In the latter, many subjects are referred to that have a bearing
on modern knowledge without one of them containing a statement that contradicts
what has been established by present-day science.
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THE CONQUEST OF SPACE
From this point of view, three verses of the Qur'an should command our full
attention. One expresses, without any trace of ambiguity, what man should
and will achieve in this field. In the other two, God refers for the sake
of the unbelievers in Makka to the surprise they would have if they were
able to raise themselves up to the Heavens; He alludes to a hypothesis which
will not be realized for the latter.
1) The first of these verses is sura 55, verse 33: "O assembly of Jinns and
Men, if you can penetrate regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate
them! You will not penetrate them save with a Power."
The translation given here needs some explanatory comment:
a) The word 'if' expresses in English a condition that is dependent upon
a possibility and either an achievable or an unachievable hypothesis. Arabic
is a language which is able to introduce a nuance into the condition which
is much more explicit. There is one word to express the possibility (ida),
another for the achievable hypothesis (in) and a third for the unachievable
hypothesis expressed by the word (lau). The verse in question has it as an
achievable hypothesis expressed by the word (in). The Qur'an therefore suggests
the material possibility of a concrete realization. This subtle linguistic
distinction formally rules out the purely mystic interpretation that some
people have (quite wrongly) put on this verse.
b) God is addressing the spirits (jinn) and human beings (ins), and not essentially
allegorical figures.
c) 'To penetrate' is the translation of the verb nafada followed by the preposition
min. According to Kazimirski's dictionary, the phrase means 'to pass right
through and come out on the other side of a body' (e.g. an arrow that comes
out on the other side).
It therefore suggests a deep penetration and emergence at the other end into
the regions in question.
d) The Power (sultan) these men will have to achieve this enterprise would
seem to come from the All-Mighty. 'There can be no doubt that this verse
indicates the possibility men will one day achieve what we today call (perhaps
rather improperly) 'the conquest of space'. One must note that the text of
the Qur'an predicts not only penetration through the regions of the Heavens,
but also the Earth, i.e. the exploration of its depths.
2) The other two verses are taken from sura 15, (verses 14 and 15). God is
speaking of the unbelievers in Makka, as the context of this passage in the
sura shows: 'Even if We opened unto them a gate to Heaven and they were to
continue ascending therein, they would say: our sight is confused as in drunkenness.
Nay, we are people bewitched." The above expresses astonishment at a remarkable
spectacle, different from anything man could imagine.
The conditional sentence is introduced here by the word lau which expresses
a hypothesis that could never be realized as far as it concerned the people
mentioned in these verses.
When talking of the conquest of space therefore, we have two passages in
the text of the Qur'an: one of them refers to what will one day become a
reality thanks to the powers of intelligence and ingenuity God will give
to man, and the other describes an event that the unbelievers in Makka will
never witness, hence its character of a condition never to be realized. The
event will however be seen by others, as intimated in the first verse quoted
above. It describes the human reactions to the unexpected spectacle that
travelers in space will see: their confused sight, as in drunkenness, the
feeling of being bewitched... This is exactly how astronauts have experienced
this remarkable adventure since the first human space flight around the world
in 1961. It is known in actual fact how once one is above the Earth's atmosphere,
the Heavens no longer have the azure appearance we see from Earth, which
results from phenomena of absorption of the Sun's light into the layers of
the atmosphere.
The human observer in space above the Earth's atmosphere sees a black sky
and the Earth seems to be surrounded by a halo of bluish color due to the
same phenomena of absorption of light by the Earth's atmosphere. The Moon
has no atmosphere, however, and therefore appears in its true colors against
the black background of the sky. It is a completely new spectacle therefore
that presents itself to men in space, and the photographs of this spectacle
are well known to present-day man. Here again, it is difficult not to be
impressed, when comparing the text of the Qur'an to the data of modern science,
by statements that simply cannot be ascribed to the thought of a man who
lived more than fourteen centuries ago.
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THE SEQUENCE OF DAY AND NIGHT.
At a time when it was held that the Earth was the centre of the world and
that the Sun moved in relation to it, how could any one have failed to refer
to the Sun's movement when talking of the sequence of night and day? This
is not however referred to in the Qur'an and the subject is dealt with as
follows:
sura 7, verse 54: "(God) covers the day with the night which is in haste
to follow it..."
sura 36, verse 37: "And a sign for them (human beings) is the night. We strip
it of the day and they are in darkness."
sura 31, verse 29: "Hast thou not seen how God merges the night into the
day and merges the day into the night." sura 39, verse 5: "...He coils the
night upon the day and He coils the day upon the night."
The first verse cited requires no comment. The second simply provides an
image. It is mainly the third and fourth verses quoted above that provide
interesting material on the process of interpenetration and especially of
winding the night upon the day and the day upon the night. (sura 39, verse
5) 'To coil' or 'to wind' seems, as in the French translation by R. Blachere,
to be the best way of translating the Arabic verb kawwara. The original meaning
of the verb is to 'coil' a turban around the head; the notion of coiling
is preserved in all the other senses of the word. What actually happens however
in space? American astronauts have seen and photographed what happens from
their spaceships, especially at a great distance from Earth, e.g. from the
Moon. They saw how the Sun permanently lights up (except in the case of an
eclipse) the half of the Earth's surface that is facing it, while the other
half of the globe is in darkness. The Earth turns on its own axis and the
lighting remains the same, so that an are
a in the form of a half-sphere makes one revolution around the Earth in twenty-four
hours while the other half-sphere, that has remained in darkness, makes the
same revolution in the same time. This perpetual rotation of night and day
is quite clearly described in the Qur'an. It is easy for the human understanding
to grasp this notion nowadays because we have the idea of the Sun's (relative)
immobility and the Earth's rotation. This process of perpetual coiling, including
the interpenetration of one sector by another is expressed in the Qur'an
just as if the concept of the Earth's roundness had already been conceived
at the time-which was obviously not the case. Further to the above reflections
on the sequence of day and night, one must also mention, with a quotation
of some verses from the Qur'an, the idea that there is more than one Orient
and one Occident. This is of purely descriptive interest because these phenomena
rely on the most commonplace observations. The idea is mentioned here with
the aim of rep
roducing as faithfully as possible all that the Qur'an has to say on this
subject.
The following are examples:
--In sura 70 verse 40, the expression 'LLLord of Orients and Occidents'.
--In sura 55, verse 17, the expression '''Lord of the two Orients and the
two Occidents'.
--In sura 43, verse 38, a reference to ttthe 'distance between the two Orients',
an image intended to express the immense size of the distance separating
the two points.
Anyone who carefully watches the sunrise and sunset knows that the Sun rises
at different point of the Orient and sets at different points of the Occident,
according to season. Bearings taken on each of the horizons define the extreme
limits that mark the two Orients and Occidents, and between these there are
points marked off throughout the year. The phenomenon described here is rather
commonplace, but what mainly deserves attention in this chapter are the other
topics dealt with, where the description of astronomical phenomena referred
to in the Qur'an is in keeping with modern data.
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THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE
The expansion of the Universe is the most imposing discovery of modern science.
Today it is a firmly established concept and the only debate centres around
the way this is taking place.
It was first suggested by the general theory of relativity and is backed
up by physics in the examination of the galactic spectrum; the regular movement
towards the red section of their spectrum may be explained by the distancing
of one galaxy from another. Thus the size of the Universe is probably constantly
increasing and this increase will become bigger the further away the galaxies
are from us. The speeds at which these celestial bodies are moving may, in
the course of this perpetual expansion, go from fractions of the speed of
light to speeds faster than this.
The following verse of the Qur'an (sura 51, verse 47) where God is speaking,
may perhaps be compared with modern ideas: "The heaven, We have built it
with power. Verily. We are expanding it."
'Heaven' is the translation of the word sama' and this is exactly the extra-terrestrial
world that is meant.
'We are expanding it' is the translation of the plural present participle
musi'una of the verb ausa'a meaning 'to make wider,
more spacious, to extend, to expand'.
Ramidullah in his translation
of the Qur'an talks of the widening of the heavens and space, but he includes
a question mark. There are those who arm themselves with authorized scientific
opinion in their commentaries and give the meaning stated here. This is true
in the case of the Muntakab, a book of commentaries edited by the Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs, Cairo. It refers to the expansion of the Universe
in totally unambiguous terms.
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