THE
QURAN ON ASTRONOMY!
Science in the Quran
The Qur'an was revealed in the seventh century. Many
statements pertaining to physical phenomena are dispersed throughout the Qur'an.
These are there in the Qur'an to draw the attention of people to the wonders of
Allah's creation. Any other seventh century book making statements about
the physical universe would surely contain mistakes. Our knowledge of physical
sciences in the twentieth century is far advanced beyond the imagination of
people living in the seventh century. What will come as a surprise to many
people is that of all the numerous statements about scientific matters found in
the Qur'an, not one of those have proved contrary to the established facts of
science. On the other hand, many of those statements have already been verified
by modern scientific studies, and we confidently expect that as various fields
of knowledge advance, other Quranic statements will likewise prove true.
Let us look at some of the statements which science has
already verified.
THE
FUSING AND SEPARATING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
FROM
A GASEOUS MASS TO THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
AVOIDING
THE MISTAKES OF GENESIS
THE
EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE
HOW
OLD IS THE EARTH?
INTERSTELLAR
GALACTIC MATERIAL
FORMATION
OF IRON!
HOW
MANY EARTHS ARE THERE?
THE
CONQUEST OF SPACE
ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNIVERSE
WHAT
HOLDS UP THE SKY?
COMPARING
APPLES AND ORANGES
THE
SUN & MOON AND THEIR ORBITS
THE
SEQUENCE OF DAY AND NIGHT
THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE
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 relation 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 orbital 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 motion 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 area 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
reproducing 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 'Lord 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 the '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.