Islam & Science

Western thought today is in the midst of a raging battle between religion and science. It is almost impossible for a western thinker today to accept the fact that there may be a meeting ground between religion and science. The Bible, in which the Christians believe, states that the tree from which the Prophet Adam (May Allah please with him) was forbidden to eat was the tree of knowledge. Thus, after he ate from it, he gained certain knowledge that he had not had before. For this reason, Europe spent two centuries arguing whether or not to accept scientific knowledge coming from Muslims.

The Church ruled that the pursuit of such scientific knowledge was the cause for the original sin. The bishops drew their evidence from the Old Testament, where it is mentioned that when Adam ate of the tree and gained some knowledge, Allah

was displeased with him and denied him mercy. Scientific knowledge was therefore rejected entirely by the Church as a taboo.

Finally, when the free thinkers and scientists of the West were able to overcome the power of the Church, they took revenge by going in the opposite direction and suppressing any power of the religion. They went to all possible extremes in order to overcome the power of the Church and reduce its influence into a narrow and a confined corner.

Therefore, if you discuss the issue of religion and science with a westerner, he readily goes into sheer wonderment. They do not know Islam. They do not know that Islam accords a very high status to knowledge and men of knowledge, regarding them as witnesses, after the angels, to the fact that there is no god worthy of worship in truth but Allah

, as Allah Himself has told us in the Qur'aan:

It is known from the Qur'aan that Adam (‘alaihi salaam) was favored over the angels by virtue of the knowledge given to him by Allah

. The Qur'aanic story contradicts that of the Bible which Muslims hold to have been distorted. According to the Qur'aan, the fact that Adam was given knowledge is a mark of honor, and not the cause of his expulsion from Paradise. Hence, if one discusses Islam and science with Western thinkers, they tend to expect an argument similar to what they have in their own religious and cultural context. That is why they react with surprise when they are presented with the crystal clear facts of the Qur'aan and Sunnah.

After having realized through examples of scientific miracles in the Qur'aan as well as knowing the related comments of the objective scientists on them, let us ask ourselves these questions:

The only possible answer to that is that the Qur'aan must be the literal word of God (Allah

) revealed by Him. The Qur'aan is the literal word of Allah

which He revealed to His Prophet Muhammad

(sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) through the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel). It was memorized by Muhammad

(sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) who then dictated it to his companions. They in turn memorized it, wrote it down, and reviewed it with the Prophet Muhammad

(peace be upon him).

Moreover, the Prophet Muhammad

(peace be upon him) reviewed the Qur'aan with the Angel Jibreel once every Ramadhan (the month of fasting) and twice in the last year of his life in the same Islamic calendar. Since the Qur'aan was revealed, up until today, there has always been a huge number of Muslims who have memorized all of the Qur'aan, letter by letter. Some of them have been able to memorize all of the Qur'aan by the age of ten. Thus, it is not surprising to note that not one letter of the Qur'aan has been changed for centuries up to now.

The Qur'aan which was revealed 14 centuries ago mentioned facts that are only recently discovered by proven scientists. This proves without doubt that the Qur'aan must be the literal word of Allah

, revealed by Him to the Prophet Muhammad

(peace be upon him) and it also proves that Muhammad

(peace be upon him) is truly a Messenger and Prophet sent by Allah

. It is beyond reason that anyone fourteen hundred years ago would have known these facts discovered or proven very recently with advanced equipment and sophisticated methods.

Ever since the dawn of human life on this planet, Man has always sought to understand Nature, his own place in the scheme of Creation and the purpose of Life itself. In this quest for Truth, spanning many centuries and diverse civilizations, organized religion has shaped human life and determined to a large extent, the course of history. While some religions have been based on books, claimed by their adherents to be divinely inspired, others have relied solely on human experience.

Al-Qur'an, the main source of the Islamic faith, is a book believed by Muslims, to be of completely Divine origin. Muslims also believe that it contains guidance for all mankind. Since the message of the Qur'an is believed to be for all times, it should be relevant to every age. Does the Qur'an pass this test? Here, I intend to give an objective analysis of the Muslim belief regarding the Divine origin of the Qur'an, in the light of established scientific discoveries.

There was a time, in the history of world civilization, when ‘miracles’, or what was perceived to be a miracle, took precedence over human reason and logic. But how do we define the term ‘miracle’? A miracle is anything that takes place out of the normal course of life and for which humankind has no explanation. However, we must be careful before we accept something as a miracle. An article in ‘The Times of India’ Mumbai, in 1993 reported that ‘a saint’ by the name ‘Baba Pilot’ claimed to have stayed continuously submerged under water in a tank for three consecutive days and nights. However, when reporters wanted to examine the base of the tank of water where he claimed to have performed this ‘miraculous’ feat, he refused to let them do so. He argued by asking as to how one could examine the womb of a mother that gives birth to a child. The ‘Baba’ was hiding something. It was a gimmick simply to gain publicity. Surely, no modern man with even the slightest inkling towards rational thinking would accept such a ‘miracle’. If such false miracles are the tests of divinity, then we would have to accept Mr. P. C. Sorcar, the world famous magician known for his ingenious magical tricks and illusions, as the best God-man.

A book, claiming Divine origin, is in effect, claiming to be a miracle. Such a claim should be easily verifiable in any age, according to the standards of that age. Muslims believe, that the Qur’aan is the last and final revelation of God, the miracle of miracles revealed as a mercy to mankind. Let us therefore investigate the veracity of this belief.

Literature and poetry have been instruments of human _expression and creativity, in all cultures. The world also witnessed an age when literature and poetry occupied pride of position, similar to that now enjoyed by science and technology.

Muslims as well as non-Muslims agree that Al-Qur'an is Arabic literature par excellence - that it is the best Arabic literature on the face of the earth. The Qur'an, challenges mankind in the following verses:

(Al-Qur’an 2:23-24 indicates Soorah or Chapter No. 2 and Ayaat or Verses 23 and 24.)

The same notation is followed throughout the book. References and translation of the Qur'an are from the translation of the Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, new revised edition, 1989, published by Amana Corporation, Maryland, USA.

The challenge of the Qur'an, is to produce a single Soorah (chapter) like the Soorahs it contains. The same challenge is repeated in the Qur'an several times. The challenge to produce a Soorah, which, in beauty, eloquence, depth and meaning is at least somewhat similar to a Qur'anic Soorah remains unmet to this day. A modern rational man, however, would never accept a religious scripture, which says, in the best possible poetic language, that the world is flat. This is because we live in an age, where human reason, logic and science are given primacy. Not many would accept the Qur’an’s extraordinarily beautiful language, as proof of its Divine origin. Any scripture claiming to be a divine revelation must also be acceptable on the strength of its own reason and logic.

According to the famous physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” Let us therefore study the Qur'an, and analyze whether The Qur'an and Modern Science are compatible or incompatible?

The Qur’an is not a book of science but a book of ‘signs’, i.e. ayats. There are more than six thousand ‘signs’ in the Qur'an of which more than a thousand deal with science. We all know that many a times Science takes a ‘U-turn’. In this site we have considered only established scientific facts and not mere hypotheses and theories that are based on assumptions and are not backed by proof.