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Calling
the
Qur'an amazing is not something done only by Muslims,
who have an appreciation for the book and who are
pleased with it; it has been labeled amazing by
non-Muslims as well. In fact, even people who hate
Islam very much have still called it amazing.
One
thing which surprises non-muslims who are examining
the book very closely is that the Qur'an does not
appear to them to be what they expected. What they
assume is that they have an old book which came
fourteen centuries ago from the Arabian desert; and
they expect that the book should look something like
that - an old book from the desert. And then they find
out that it does not resemble what they expected at
all. Additionally, one of the first things that some
people assume is that because it is an old book which
comes from the desert, it should talk about the
desert. Well the Qur'an does talk about the desert -
some of its imagery describes the desert; but it also
talks about the sea - what it's like to be in a storm
on the sea.
Some
years ago, the story came to us in Toronto about a man
who was in the merchant marine and made his living on
the sea. A Muslim gave him a translation of the Qur'an
to read. The merchant marine knew nothing about the
history of Islam but was interested in reading the
Qur'an. When he finished reading it, he brought it
back to the Muslim and asked, "This Muhammed, was
he a sailor?" He was impressed at how accurately
the Qur'an describes a storm on a sea. When he was
told, "No as a matter of fact, Muhammed lived in
the desert," that was enough for him. He embraced
Islam on the spot. He was so impressed with the
Qur'an's description because he had been in a storm on
the sea, and he knew that whoever had written that
description had also been in a storm on the sea. The
description of "a wave, over it a wave, over it
clouds" was not what someone imagining a storm on
a sea to be like would have written; rather, it was
written by someone who knew what a storm on the sea
was like. This is one example of how the Qur'an is not
tied to a certain place and time. Certainly, the
scientific ideas expressed in it also do not seem to
originate from the desert fourteen centuries ago.
Many
centuries before the onset of Muhammed's Prophethood,
there was a well-known theory of atomism advanced by
the Greek philosopher, Democritus. He and the people
who came after him assumed that matter consists of
tiny, indestructible, indivisible particles called
atoms. The Arabs too, used to deal in the same
concept; in fact, the Arabic word dharrah commonly
referred to the smallest particle known to man. Now,
modern science has discovered that this smallest unit
of matter (i.e., the atom, which has all of the same
properties as its element) can be split into its
component parts. This is a new idea, a development of
the last century; yet, interestingly enough, this
information had already been documented in the Qur'an
which states:
"
He [i.e., Allah] is aware of an atom's weight in the
heavens and on the earth and even anything smaller
than that..."
Undoubtedly,
fourteen centuries ago that statement would have
looked unusual, even to an Arab. For him, the dharrah
was the smallest thing there was. Indeed, this is
proof, that the Qur'an is not outdated.
Another
example of what one might expect to find in
an"old book" that touches upon the subject
of health or medicine is outdated remedies or cures.
Various historical sources state that the Prophet gave
some advice about health and hygiene, yet most of
these pieces of advice are not contained in the Qur'an.
At first glance, to the non-Muslims this appears to be
a negligent omission. They cannot understand why Allah
would not "include" such helpful information
in the Qur'an. Some Muslims attempt to explain this
absence with the following argument: "Although
the Prophet's advice was sound and applicable to the
time in which he lived, Allah, in His infinite wisdom,
knew that there would come later medical and
scientific advances which would make the Prophet's
advice appear outdated. When later discoveries
occurred, people might say that such information
contradicted that which the Prophet had given. Thus,
since Allah would never allow any opportunity for the
non-Muslims to claim that the Qur'an contradicts
itself or the teachings of the Prophet, He only
included in the Qur'an information and examples which
could stand the test of time."
However,
when one examines the true realities of the Qur'an in
terms of its existence as a divine revelation, the
entire matter is quickly brought into its proper
perspective, and the error in such argumentation
becomes clear and understandable. It must be
understood that the Qur'an is a divine revelation, and
as such, all information in it is of divine origin.
Allah revealed the Qur'an from Himself. It is the
words of Allah, which existed before creation, and
thus nothing can be added, subtracted or altered. In
essence, the Qur'an existed and was complete before
the creation of Prophet Muhammed, so it could not
possibly contain any of the Prophet's own words or
advice. An inclusion of such information would clearly
contradict the purpose for which the Qur'an exists,
compromise its authority and render it inauthentic as
a divine revelation.
Consequently,
there was no "home remedies" in the Qur'an
which one could claim to be outdated; nor does it
contain any man's view about what is beneficial to
health, what food is best to eat, or what will cure
this or that disease. In fact, the Qur'an only
mentions one item dealing with medical treatment, and
it is not in dispute by anyone. It states that in
honey there is healing. And certainly, I do not think
that there is anyone who will argue with that!
If
one assumes that the Qur'an is the product of a man's
mind, then one would expect it to reflect some of what
was going on in the mind of the man who
"composed" it. In fact, certain
encyclopedias and various books clam that the Qur'an
was the product of hallucinations that Muhammed
underwent. If these claims are true - if it indeed
originated from some psychological problems in
Muhammed's mind - then evidence of this would be
apparent in the Qur'an. Is there such evidence? In
order to determine whether or not there is, one must
first identify what things would have been going on in
his mind at that time and then search for these
thoughts and reflections in the Qur'an.
It is
common knowledge that Muhammad had a very difficult
life. All of his daughters died before him except one,
and he had a wife of several years who was dear and
important to him, who not only proceeded him in death
at a very critical period of his life. As a matter of
fact, she must have been quite a woman because when
the first revelation came to him, he ran home to her
afraid. Certainly, even today one would have a hard
time trying to find an Arab who would tell you,
"I was so afraid that I ran home to my
wife." They just aren't that way. Yet Muhammed
felt comfortable enough with his wife to be able to do
that. That's how influential and strong woman she was.
Although these examples are only a few of the subjects
that would have been on Muhammed's mind, they are
sufficient in intensity to prove my point. The Qur'an
does not mention any of these things - not the death
of his children, not the death of his beloved
companion and wife, not his fear of the initial
revelations, which he so beautifully shared with his
wife - nothing; yet, these topics must have hurt him,
bothered him, and caused him pain and grief during
periods of his psychological reflections, then these
subjects, as well as others, would be prevalent or at
least mentioned throughout.
A
truly scientific approach to the Qur'an is possible
because the Qur'an offers something that is not
offered by other religious scriptures, in particular,
and other religions, in general. It is what scientists
demand. Today there are many people who have ideas and
theories about how the universe works. These people
are all over the place, but the scientific community
does not even bother to listen to them. This is
because within the last century the scientific
community has demanded a test of falsification. They
say, "If you have theory, do not bother us with
it unless you bring with that theory a way for us to
prove whether you are wrong or not."
Such
a test was exactly why the scientific community
listened to Einstein towards the beginning of the
century. He came with a new theory and said, "I
believe the universe works like this; and here are
three ways to prove whether I am wrong!". So the
scientific community subjected his theory to the
tests, and within six years it passed all three. Of
course, this does not prove that he was great, but it
proves that he deserved to be listened to because he
said, "This is my idea; and if you want to try to
prove me wrong, do this or try that." This is
exactly what the Qur'an has - falsification tests.
Some are old (in that they have already been proven
true), and some still exist today. Basically it
states, "If this book is not what it claims to
be, then all you have to do is this or this or this to
prove that it is false." Of course, in 1400 years
no one has been able to do "This or this or this,
" and thus it is still considered true and
authentic. I suggest to you that the next time you get
into dispute with someone about Islam and he claims
that he has the truth and that you are in darkness,
you leave all other arguments at first and make this
suggestion. Ask him, "Is there any falsification
test in your religion? Is there anything in your
religion that would prove you are wrong if I could
prove to you that it exists - anything?" Well, I
can promise right now that people will not have
anything - no test, no proof, nothing! This is because
they do not carry around the idea that they should not
only present what they believe but should also offer
others a chance to prove they're wrong. However, Islam
does that. A perfect example of how Islam provides man
with a chance to verify it authenticity and
"prove it wrong" occurs in the 4th chapter.
And quiet honestly, I was surprised when I first
discovered this challenge. It states:
"Do
they not consider the Qur'an? Had it been from any
other than Allah, they would surely have found therein
much discrepancy."
This
is a clear challenge to the non-Muslim.Basically, it
invites him to find a mistake. As a matter of fact,
the seriousness and difficulty of the challenge aside,
the actual presentation of such a challenge in the
first place is not even in human nature and is
inconsistent with man's personality. One doesn't take
an exam in school after finishing the exam, write a
note to the instructor at the end saying, "This
exam is perfect. There are no mistakes in it. Find one
if you can!". One just doesn't do that. The
teacher would not sleep until he found a mistake! And
yet this is the way the Qur'an approaches people.
Another interesting attitude that exists in the Qur'an
repeatedly deals with its advice to the reader. The
Qur'an informs that reader about different facts and
then gives the advice: "If you want to know more
about this or that, or if you doubt what is said, then
you should ask those who have knowledge." This
too is a surprising attitude. It is not usual to have
a book that comes from someone without training in
geography, botany, biology, etc., who discusses these
subjects and then advises the reader to ask men of
knowledge if he doubts anything.
Yet
in every age there have been Muslims who have followed
the advice of the Qur'an and made surprising
discoveries. If one looks to the works of Muslim
scientists if many centuries ago, one will find them
full of quotations from the Qur'an. These works state
that they did research in such a place, looking for
something. And they affirm that the reason they looked
in such and such a place was that the Qur'an pointed
them in that direction. For example, the Qur'an
mentions man's origin and then tells the reader,
"Research it!" It gives the reader a hint
where to look and then states that one should find out
more about it. This is the kind of thing that Muslims
today largely seem to overlook - but not always, as
illustrated in the following example. A few years ago,
a group of men in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia collected all
if the verses in the Qur'an which discuss embryology -
the growth of the human being in the womb. They said,
"Here is what the Qur'an says. Is it the
truth?" In essence, they took the advice of the
Qur'an: "Ask the men who know." They chose,
as it happened, a non-Muslim who is a professor of
embryology at the University of Toronto. His name is
Keith Moore, and he is the author of textbooks on
embryology - a world expert on the subject. They
invited him to Riyadh and said, "This is what the
Qur'an says about your subject. Is it true? What can
you tell us?" While he was in Riyadh, they gave
him all of the help that he needed in translation and
all of the cooperation for which he asked. And he was
so surprised at what he found that he changed his
textbooks. In fact, in the second edition of one of
his books, called Before we are born... in the second
edition about the history of embryology, he included
some material that was not in the first edition
because of what he found in the Qur'an. Truly this
illustrates that the Qur'an was ahead of its time and
that those who believe in the Qur'an know what other
people do not know.
I had
the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Keith Moore for a
television presentation, and we talked a great deal
about this - it was illustrated by slides and so on.
He mentioned that some of the things that the Qur'an
states about the growth of the human being were not
known until thirty years ago. In fact, he said that
one item in particular - the Qur'an's description of
the human being as a "leech-like clot" ('alaqah)
at one stage - was new to him; but when he checked on
it, he found that it was true, and so he added it to
his book. He said, "I never thought of that
before," and he went to the zoology department
and asked for a picture of a leech. When he found that
it looked just like the human embryo, he decided to
include both pictures in one of his textbooks. Dr.
Moore also wrote a book on clinical embryology, and
when he presented this information in Toronto, it
caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the
front pages of some of the newspapers across Canada,
and some of the headlines were quite funny. For
instance, one headline read: "SURPRISING THING
FOUND IN ANCIENT BOOK!"! It seems obvious from
this example that people do not clearly understand
what it is all about. As a matter of fact, one
newspaper reporter asked Professor Moore, "Don't
you think That maybe the Arabs might have known about
these things - the description of the embryo, its
appearance and how it changes and grows? Maybe there
were not scientists, but maybe they did something
crude dissections on their own - carved up people and
examined these things."
The
professor immediately pointed out to him that he
[i.e., the reporter] had missed a very important point
- all of the slides of the embryo that had been shown
and had been projected in the film had come from
pictures taken through a microscope. He said, "It
does not matter if someone had tried to discover
embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not have
seen it!". All of the descriptions in the Qur'an
of the appearance of the embryo are of the item when
it is still too small to see with the eye; therefore,
one needs a microscope to see it. Since such a device
had only been around for little more than two hundred
years, Dr. Moore taunted, "Maybe fourteen
centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and
did this research, making no mistakes anywhere. Then
he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put
this information in his book. Then he destroyed his
equipment and kept it a secret forever. Do you believe
that? You really should not unless you bring some
proof because it is such a ridiculous theory." In
fact, when he was asked "How do you explain this
information in the Qur'an?" Dr. Moore's reply
was, "It could only have been divinely
revealed."!
Although
the aforementioned example of man researching
information contained in the Qur'an deals with a
non-Muslim, it is still valid because he is one of
those who is knowledgeable in the subject being
researched. Had some layman claimed that what the
Qur'an says about embryology is true, then one would
not necessarily have to accept his word. However,
because of the high position, respect, and esteem man
gives scholars, one naturally assumes that if they
research a subject and arrive at a conclusion based on
that research, then the conclusion is valid. One of
Professor Moore's colleagues, Marshall Johnson, deals
extensively with geology at the University of Toronto.
He
became very interested in the fact that the Qur'an's
statements about embryology are accurate, and so he
asked Muslims to collect everything contained in the
Qur'an which deals with his specialty. Again people
were very surprised at the findings. Since there are a
vast number subjects discussed in the Qur'an, it would
certainly require a large amount of time to exhaust
each subject. It suffices for the purpose of this
discussion to state that the Qur'an makes very clear
and concise statements about various subjects while
simultaneously advising the reader to verify the
authenticity of these statements with research by
scholars in those subjects. And as illustrated by the
Qur'an has clearly emerged authentic. Undoubtedly,
there is an attitude in the Qur'an which is not found
anywhere else. It is interesting how when the Qur'an
provides information, it often tells the reader,
"You did not know this before." Indeed,
there is no scripture that exists which makes that
claim. All of the other ancient writings and
scriptures that people have, do give a lot of
information, but they always state where the
information came from.
For
example, when the Bible discusses ancient history, it
states that this king lived here, this one fought in a
certain battle, another one had so may sons, etc. Yet
it always stipulates that if you want more
information, then you should read the book of so and
so because that is where the information came from. In
contrast to this concept, the Qur'an provides the
reader with information and states that this
information is something new. Of course, there always
exists the advice to research the information provided
and verify its authenticity. It is interesting that
such a concept was never challenged by non-Muslims
fourteen centuries ago. Indeed, the Makkans who hated
the Muslims, and time and time again they heard such
revelations claiming to bring new information; yet,
they never spoke up and said, "This is not new.
We know where Muhammad got this information. We
learned this at school."
They
could never challenge its authenticity because it
really was new! In concurrence with the advice given
in the Qur'an to research information (even if it is
new), when 'Umar was caliph, he chose a group of men
and sent them to find the wall of Dhul-Qarnayn. Before
the Qur'anic revelation, the Arabs had never heard of
such a wall, but because the Qur'an described it, they
were able to discover it. As a matter of fact, it is
now located in what is called Durbend in the Soviet
Union. It must be stressed here that the Qur'an is
accurate about many, many things, but accuracy does
not necessarily mean that a book is a divine
revelation. In fact, accuracy is only one of the
criteria for divine revelations.
For
instance, the telephone book is accurate, but that
does not mean that it is divinely revealed. The real
problem lies in that one must establish some proof of
the source the Qur'an's information. The emphasis is
on the reader. One cannot simply deny the Qur'an's
authenticity without sufficient proof. If, indeed, one
finds a mistake, then he has the right to disqualify
it. This is exactly what the Qur'an encourages. Once a
man came up to me after a lecture I delivered in South
Africa. He was very angry about what I had said, and
so he claimed, "I am going to go home tonight and
find a mistake in the Qur'an." Of course, I said,
"Congratulations. That is the most intelligent
thing that you have said." Certainly, this is the
approach Muslims need to take with those who doubt the
Qur'an's authenticity, because the Qur'an itself
offers the same challenge. An inevitably, after
accepting it's challenge and discovering that it is
true, these people will come to believe it because
they could not disqualify it. In essence, the Qur'an
earns their respect because they themselves have had
to verify its authenticity. An essential fact that
cannot be reiterated enough concerning the
authenticity of the Qur'an is that one's inability to
explain a phenomenon himself does not require his
acceptance of the phenomenon's existence or another
person's explanation of it.
Specifically,
just because one cannot explain something does not
mean that one has to accept someone else's
explanation. However, the person's refusal of other
explanations reverts the burden of proof back on
himself to find a feasible answer. This general theory
applies to numerous concepts in life, but fits most
wonderfully with the Qur'anic challenge, for it
creates a difficulty for one who says, "I do not
believe it." At the onset of refusal one
immediately has an obligation to find an explanation
himself if he feels others' answers are inadequate. In
fact, in one particular Qur'anic verse which I have
always seen mistranslated into English, Allah mentions
a man who heard the truth explained to him. It states
that he was derelict in his duty because after he
heard the information, he left without checking the
verity of what he had heard. In other words, one is
guilty if he hears something and does not research it
and check to see whether it is true. One is supposed
to process all information and decide what is garbage
to be thrown out and what is worthwhile information to
be kept and benefited from at a later date. One cannot
just let it rattle around in his head. It must be put
in the proper categories and approached from that
point of view. For example, if the information is
still speculatory, then one must discern whether it's
closer to being true or false. But if all of the facts
have been presented, then one must decide absolutely
between these two options. And even if one is not
positive about the authenticity of the information, he
is still required to process all of the information
and make the admission that he just does not know for
sure. Although this last point appears to be futile,
in actuality, it is beneficial to the arrival at a
positive conclusion at a later time in that it forces
the person to at least recognize, research and review
the facts. This familiarity with the information will
give the person "the edge" when future
discoveries are made and additional information is
presented. The important thing is that one deals with
the facts and does not simply discard them out of
empathy and disinterest.
The
real certainty about the truthfulness of the Qur'an is
evident in the confidence which is prevalent
throughout it; and this confidence comes from a
different approach - "Exhausting the
Alternatives." In essence, the Qur'an states,
"This book is a divine revelation; if you do not
believe that, then what is it?" In other words,
the reader is challenged to come up with some other
explanation. Here is a book made of paper and ink.
Where did it come from? It says it is a divine
revelation; if it is not, then what is its source? The
interesting fact is that no one has with an
explanation that works. In fact, all alternatives have
bee exhausted. As has been well established by
non-Muslims, these alternatives basically are reduces
to two mutually exclusive schools of thought,
insisting on one or the other. On one hand, there
exists a large group of people who have researched the
Qur'an for hundreds of years and who claim, "One
thing we know for sure - that man, Muhammad, thought
he was a prophet. He was crazy!" They are
convinced that Muhammad (SAW) was fooled somehow. Then
on the other hand, there is another group which
alleges, "Because of this evidence, one thing we
know for sure is that that man, Muhammad, was a
liar!" Ironically, these two groups never seem to
get together without contradicting. In fact, many
references on Islam usually claim both theories. They
start out by saying that Muhammad (SAW) was crazy and
then end by saying that he was a liar. They never seem
to realize that he could not have been both!
For
example, if one is deluded and really thinks that he
is a prophet, then he does not sit up late at night
planning, "How will I fool the people tomorrow so
that they think I am a prophet?" He truly
believes that he is a prophet, and he trusts that the
answer will be given to him by revelation. As a matter
of fact, a great deal of the Qur'an came in answer to
questions. Someone would ask Muhammad (SAW) a
question, and the revelation would come with the
answer to it. Certainly, if one is crazy and believes
that an angel put words in his ear, then when someone
asks him a question, he thinks that the angel will
give him the answer. Because he is crazy, he really
thinks that. He does not tell someone to wait a short
while and then run to his friends and ask them,
"Does anyone know the answer?" This type of
behavior is characteristic of one who does not believe
that he is a prophet. What the non-Muslims refuse to
accept is that you cannot have it both ways. One can
be deluded, or he can be a liar. He can be either one
or neither, but he certainly cannot be both! The
emphasis is on the fact that they are unquestionably
mutually exclusive personal traits.
The
following scenario is a good example of the kind of
circle that non-Muslims go around in constantly. If
you ask one of them, "What is the origin of the
Qur'an?" He tells you that it originated from the
mind of a man who was crazy. Then you ask him,
"If it came from his head, then where did he get
the information contained in it? Certainly the Qur'an
mentions many things with which the Arabs were not
familiar." So in order to explain the fact which
you bring him, he changes his position and says,
"Well, maybe he was not crazy. Maybe some
foreigner brought him the information. So he lied and
told people that he was a prophet." At this point
then you have to ask him, "If Muhammad was a
liar, then where did he get his confidence? Why did he
behave as though he really thought he was a
prophet?" Finally backed into a corner, like a
cat he quickly lashes out with the first response that
comes to his mind. Forgetting that he has already
exhausted that possibility, he claims, "Well,
maybe he wasn't a liar. He was probably crazy and
really thought that he was a prophet." And thus
he begins the futile circle again.
As
has already been mentioned, there is much information
contained in the Qur'an whose source cannot be
attributed to anyone other than Allah. For example,
who told Muhammad about the wall of Dhul-Qarnayn - a
place hundreds of miles to the north? Who told him
about embryology? When people assemble facts such as
these, if they are not willing to attribute their
existence to a divine source, they automatically
resort to the assumption someone brought Muhammad the
information and that he used it to fool the people.
However, this theory can easily be disproved with one
simple question: "If Muhammad was a liar, where
did he get his confidence? Why did he tell some people
out right to their face what others could never
say?" Such confidence depends completely upon
being convinced that one has a true divine revelation.
For example, the Prophet (SAW) had an uncle by the
name of Abu Lahab. This man hated Islam to such an
extent that he used to follow the Prophet around in
order to discredit him. If Abu Lahab saw the Prophet
(SAW) speaking to a stranger, he would wait until they
parted and then would go to the stranger and ask him,
"What did he tell you? Did he say, 'Black.'?
Well, it's white. Did he say, 'Morning.'? Well, it's
night." He faithfully said the exact opposite of
whatever he heard Muhammad (SAW) and the Muslims say.
However, about ten years before Abu Lahab died, a
little chapter in the Qur'an was revealed to him. It
distinctly stated that he would go to the Fire (i.e.,
Hell). In other words, it affirmed that he would never
become a Muslim and would therefore be condemned
forever. For ten years all Abu Lahab had to do was
say, "I heard that it has been revealed to
Muhammad that I will never change - that I will never
become a Muslim and will enter the Hellfire. Well I
want to become a Muslim now. How do you like that?
What do you think of your divine revelation now?"
But he never did that. And yet, that is exactly the
kind of behavior one would have expected from him
since he always sought to contradict Islam. In
essence, Muhammad (SAW) said, "You hate me and
you want to finish me? Here, say these words, and I am
finished. Come on, say them!" But Abu Lahab never
said them. Ten years! And in all that time he never
accepted Islam or even became sympathetic to the
Islamic cause. How could Muhammad possibly have known
for sure that Abu Lahab would fulfill the Qur'anic
revelation if he (i.e., Muhammad) was not truly the
messenger of Allah? How could he possibly have been so
confident as to give someone 10 years to discredit his
claim of Prophethood? The only answer is that he was
Allah's messenger; for in order to put forth suck a
risky challenge, one has to be entirely convinced that
he has a divine revelation.
Another
example of the confidence which Muhammad (SAW) had in
his own Prophethood and consequently in the divine
protection of himself and his message is when he left
Makkah and hid in a cave with Abu Bakr during their
emigration to Madeenah. The two clearly saw people
coming to kill them, and Abu Bakr was afraid.
Certainly, if Muhammad (SAW) was a liar, a forger and
one who was trying to fool the people into believing
that he was a prophet, one would have expected him to
say in such a circumstance to his friend, "Hey,
Abu Bakr, see if you can find a back way out of this
cave." Or "Squat down in that corner over
there and keep quiet." Yet, in fact, what he said
to Abu Bakr clearly illustrated his confidence. He
told him, "Relax! Allah is with us, and Allah
will save us!"
Now,
if one knows that he is fooling the people, where does
one get this kind of attitude? In fact, such a frame
of mind is not characteristic of a liar or a forger at
all. So, as has been previously mentioned, the
non-Muslims go around and around in a circle,
searching for a way out - some way to explain the
findings in the Qur'an without attributing them to
their proper source. On one hand, they tell you on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, "The man was a
liar," and on the other hand, on Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday they tell you, "He was
crazy." What they refuse to accept is that one
cannot have it both ways; yet they refuse to accept is
that one cannot have it both ways; yet they need both
excuses to explain the information in the Qur'an.
About
seven years ago, I had a minister over to my home. In
the particular room which we were sitting there was a
Qur'an on the table, face down, and so the minister
was not aware of which book it was. In the midst of a
discussion, I pointed to the Qur'an and said, "I
have confidence in that book." Looking at the
Qur'an but not knowing which book it was , he replied,
"Well, I tell you, if that book is not the Bible,
it was written by a man!" In response to his
statement, I said, "Let me tell you something
about what is in that book." And in just three to
four minutes I related to him a few things contained
in the Qur'an. After just those three or four minutes,
he completely changed his position and declared,
"You are right. A man did not write that book.
The Devil wrote it!" Indeed, possessing such an
attitude is very unfortunate - for many reasons. For
one thing, it is a very quick and cheap excuse. It is
an instant exit out of an uncomfortable situation. As
a matter of fact, there is a famous story in the Bible
that mentions how one day some of the Jews were
witnesses when Jesus raised a man from the dead. The
man had been dead for four days, and when Jesus
arrived, he simply said, "Get up!" and the
man arose and walked away. At such a sight, some of
the Jews who were watching said disbelievingly,
"This is the Devil. The Devil helped him!"
Now this story is rehearsed often in churches all over
the world, and people cry big tears over it, saying,
"Oh, if I had been there, I would not have been
as stupid as the Jews!" Yet ironically, these
people do exactly what the Jews did when in just three
minutes you show them only a small part of the Qur'an
and all they can say is, "Oh, the Devil did it.
The devil wrote that book!". Because they are
truly backed into a corner and have no other viable
answer, they resort to the quickest and cheapest
excuse available. Another Example of people's use of
this weak stance can be found in the Makkans'
explanation of the source of Muhammed's message. They
used to say, "The devils bring Muhammad that
Qur'an!" But just as with every other suggestion
made, the Qur'an gives the answer. One verse in
particular states:
"And
they say, 'Surely he is possessed [by jinn], 'but it
[i.e., the Qur'an] is not except a reminder to the
worlds."
Thus
it gives an argument in reply to such a theory. In
fact, there are many arguments in the Qur'an in reply
to the suggestion that devils brought Muhammad (SAW)
his message. For example, in the 26th chapter Allah
clearly affirms:
"No
evil ones have brought it [i.e., this revelation]
down. It would neither be fitting for them, nor would
they be able. Indeed they have been removed far from
hearing."
And
in another place in the Qur'an, Allah instructs us:
"So
when you recite the Qur'an seek refuge in Allah from
Shaytaan, the rejected."
Now
is this how Satan writes a book? He tells one,
"Before you read my book, ask God to save you
from me."? This is very, very tricky. Indeed, a
man could write something like this, but would Satan
do this? Many people clearly illustrate that they
cannot come to one conclusion on this subject. On one
hand, they claim that Satan would not do such a thing
and that even if he could, God would not allow him to;
yet, on the other hand, they also believe that Satan
is only that much less than God. In essence they
allege that the Devil can probably do whatever God can
do. And as a result, when they look at the Qur'an,
even as surprised as they are as to how amazing it is,
they still insist, "The Devil did this!"
Thanks be to Allah, Muslims do not have that attitude.
Although Satan may have some abilities, they are a
long way separated from the abilities of Allah. And no
Muslim is a Muslim unless he believes that. It is
common knowledge even among non-Muslims that the Devil
can easily make mistakes, and it would be expected
that he would contradict himself if and when he wrote
a book. For indeed, the Qur'an states:
"Do
they not consider the Qur'an? Had it been from any
other than Allah, they would surely have found therein
much discrepancy."
In
conjunction with the excuses that non-Muslims advance
in futile attempts to justify unexplainable verses in
the Qur'an, there is another attack often rendered
which seems to be a combination of the theories that
Muhammad (SAW) was crazy and a liar. Basically, these
people propose that Muhammad was insane, and as a
result of his delusion, he lied to and misled people.
There is a name for this in psychology. It is referred
to as mythomania. It means simply that one tells lies
and then believes them. This is what the non-Muslims
say Muhammad (SAW) suffered from. But the only problem
with this proposal is that one suffering from
mythomania absolutely cannot deal with facts, and yet
the whole Qur'an is based entirely upon facts.
Everything contained in it can be researched and
established as true. Since facts are such a problem
for a mythomaniac, when a psychologist tries to treat
one suffering from that condition, he continually
confronts him with facts. For example, if one is
mentally ill and claims, "I am the king of
England," a psychologist does not say to him
"No you aren't. You are crazy!" He just does
not do that. Rather, he confronts him with facts and
says, "O.K., you say you are the king of England.
So tell me where the queen is today. And where is your
prime minister? And where are your guards?" Now,
when the man has trouble trying to deal with these
questions, he tries to make excuses, saying Uh... the
queen... she has gone to her mother's. Uh... the prime
minister... well he died." And eventually he is
cured because he cannot deal with the facts. If the
psychologist continues confronting him with enough
facts, finally he faces the reality and says, "I
guess I am not the king of England." The Qur'an
approaches everyone who reads it in very much the same
way a psychologist treats his mythomania patient.
There is a verse in the Qur'an which states:
"Oh
mankind, there has come to you an admonition [i.e.,
the Qur'an] from your Lord and a healing for what is
in the hearts - and guidance and mercy for the
believers."
At
first glance, this statement appears vague, but the
meaning of this verse is clear when one views it in
light of the aforementioned example. Basically, one is
healed of his delusions by reading the Qur'an. In
essence, it is therapy. It literally cures deluded
people by confronting them with facts. A prevalent
attitude throughout the Qur'an is one which says,
"Oh mankind, you say such and such about this;
but what about such and such? How can you say this
when you know that?" And so forth. It forces one
to consider what is relevant and what matters while
simultaneously healing one of the delusions that the
facts presented to mankind by Allah can easily be
explained away with flimsy theories and excuses. It is
this very sort of thing - confronting people with
facts - that had captured the attention of many
non-Muslims. In fact, there exists a very interesting
reference concerning this subject in the New Catholic
Encyclopedia.
In an
article under the subject of the Qur'an, the Catholic
Church states, "Over the centuries, many theories
have been offered as to the origin of the Qur'an...
Today no sensible man accepts any of these
theories."!! Now here is the age-old Catholic
Church, which has been around for so many centuries,
denying these futile attempts to explain away the
Qur'an. Indeed, the Qur'an is a problem for the
Catholic Church. It states that it is revelation, so
they study it. Certainly, they would love to find
proof that it is not, but they cannot. They cannot
find a viable explanation. But at least they are
honest in their research and do not accept the first
unsubstantiated interpretation which comes along. The
Church states that in fourteen centuries it has not
yet been presented a sensible explanation. At least it
admits that the Qur'an is not an easy subject to
dismiss. Certainly, other people are much less honest.
They quickly say, "Oh, the Qur'an came from here.
The Qur'an came from there." And they do not even
examine the credibility of what they are stating most
of the time. Of course, such a statement by the
Catholic Church leaves the everyday Christian in some
difficulty. It just may be that he has his own ideas
as to the origin of the Qur'an, but as a single member
of the Church, he cannot really act upon his own
theory. Such an action would be contrary to the
obedience, allegiance and loyalty which the Church
demands. By virtue of his membership, he must accept
what the Catholic Church declares without question and
establish its teachings as part of his everyday
routine. So, in essence, if the Catholic Church as a
whole is saying, "Do not listen to these
unconfirmed reports about the Qur'an," then what
can be said about the Islamic point of view? Even
non-Muslims are admitting that there is something to
the Qur'an - something that has to be acknowledged -
then why are people so stubborn and defensive and
hostile when Muslims advance the very same theory?
This is certainly something for those with mind a to
contemplate - something to ponder for those of
understanding!
Recently,
the leading intellectual in the Catholic Church - a
man by the name of Hans - studied the Qur'an and gave
his opinion of what he had read. This man has been
around for some time, and he is highly respected in
the Catholic Church, and after careful scrutiny, he
reported his findings, concluding, "God has
spoken to man through the man, Muhammad." Again
this is a conclusion arrived at by a non-Muslim source
- the very leading intellectual of the Catholic Church
himself! I do not think that the Pope agrees with him,
but nonetheless, the opinion of such a noted, repute
public figure must carry some weight in defense of the
Muslim position. He must be applauded for facing the
reality that the Qur'an is not something which can be
easily pushed aside and that, in fact God is the
source of these words. As is evident from the
aforementioned information, all of the possibilities
have been exhausted, so the chance of finding another
possibility of dismissing the Qur'an is nonexistent.
For if the book is not a revelation, then it is a
deception; and if it is a deception, one must ask,
"What is its origin" And where does it
deceive us?" Indeed, the true answers to these
questions shed light on the Qur'an's authenticity and
silence the bitter unsubstantiated claims of the
unbelievers. Certainly, if people are going to insist
that the Qur'an is a deception, then they must bring
forth evidence to support such a claim. The burden of
proof is on them, not us! One is never supposed to
advance a theory without sufficient corroborating
facts; so I say to them, "Show me one deception!
Show me where the Qur'an deceives me! Show me,
otherwise, don't say that it is a deception!" An
interesting characteristic of the Qur'an is how it
deals with surprising phenomena which relate not only
to the past but to modern times as well. In essence,
the Qur'an is not and old problem. It is still a
problem even today - a problem to the non-Muslims that
is. For everyday, every week, every year brings more
and more evidence that the Qur'an is a force to be
contended with - that its authenticity is no longer to
be challenged! For example, one verse in the Qur'an
reads;
"Do
not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth
were joined together, then We clove them asunder, and
made from water every living thing? Will they not then
believe?"
Ironically,
this very information is exactly what they awarded the
1973 Noble Prize for - to a couple of unbelievers. The
Qur'an reveals the origin of the universe - how it
began from one piece - and mankind continues to verify
this revelation, even up to now. Additionally, the
fact that all life originated from water would not
have been an easy thing to convince people of fourteen
centuries ago. Indeed, if 1400 years ago you had stood
in the desert and told someone, "All of this, you
see (pointing to yourself), is made up of mostly
water," no one would have believed you. Proof of
that was not available until the invention of the
microscope. They had to wait to find out that
cytoplasm, the basic substance of the cell, is made-up
of 80% water. Nonetheless, the evidence did come, and
once again the Qur'an stood the test of time. In
reference to the falsification tests mentioned
earlier, it is interesting to note that they, too,
relate to both the past and the present. Some of them
were used as illustrations of Allah's omnipotence and
knowledge, while others continue to stand as
challenges to the present day. An example of the
former is the statement made in the Qur'an about Abu
Lahab. It clearly illustrates that Allah, the Knower
of the Unseen, knew that Abu Lahab would never change
his ways and accept Islam. Thus Allah dictated that he
would be condemned to the Hellfire forever. Such a
chapter was both an illustration of Allah's divine
wisdom and a warning to those who were like Abu Lahab.
An
interesting example of the latter type of
falsification tests contained in the Qur'an is the
verse which mentions the relationship between the
Muslims and the Jews. The verse is careful not to
narrow its scope to the relationship between
individual members of each religion, but rather, it
summarizes the relationship between the two groups of
people as a whole. In essence, the Qur'an states that
the Christians will always treat the Muslims better
than the Jews will treat the Muslims. Indeed, the full
impact of such a statement can only be felt after
careful consideration of the real meaning of such a
verse. It is true that many Christians and many Jews
have become Muslims, but as a whole, the Jewish
community is to be viewed as an avid enemy of Islam.
Additionally, very few people realize what such an
open declaration in the Qur'an invites. In essence, it
is an easy chance for the Jews to prove that the
Qur'an is false - that it is not a divine revelation.
All they have to do is organize themselves, treat the
Muslims nicely for a few years and then say, "Now
what does your holy book say about who are your best
friends in the world - the Jews or the Christians?
Look what we Jews have done for you!" That is all
they have to do to disprove the Qur'an's authenticity,
yet they have not done it in 1400 years. But, as
always, the offer still stands open!
All
of the examples so far given concerning the I various
angles from which one can approach the | Qur'an have
undoubtedly been subjective in nature; I however there
does exist another angle, among others, which is
objective and whose basis is mathematical. It is
surprising how authentic the Qur'an becomes when one
assembles what might be referred to as a list of good
guesses. Mathematically, it can be explained using
guessing and prediction examples. For instance, if a
person has two choices (i.e., one is right, and one is
wrong), and he closes his eyes and makes a choice,
then half of the time (i.e., one time out of two) he
will be right. Basically, he has a one in two chance,
for he could pick the wrong choice, or he could pick
the right choice. Now if the same person has two
situations like that (i.e., he could be right or wrong
about situation number one, and he could be right or
wrong about situation number two), and he closes his
eyes and guesses, then he will only be right one
fourth of the time (i.e., one time out of four). He
now has a one in four chance because now there are
three ways for him to be wrong and only one way for
him to be right. In simple terms, he could make the
wrong choice in situation number one and then make the
wrong choice in situation number two; OR he could make
the wrong choice in situation number one and then make
the right choice in situation number two; OR he could
make the right choice in situation number one and then
make the wrong choice in situation number two; OR he
could make the right choice in situation number one
and then make the right choice in situation number
two. Of course, the(only instance in which he could be
totally right is the last scenario where he could
guess correctly in both situations. The odds of his
guessing completely correctly have become greater
because the number of situations for him to guess in
have increased; and the mathematical equation
representing such a scenario is 1/2 x 1/2 (i.e., one
time out of two for the first situation multiplied by
one time out of two for the second situation).
Continuing
on with the example, if the same person now has three
situations in which to make blind guesses, then he
will only be right one eighth of the time (i.e., one
time out of eight or 1/2 X 1/2 X 1/2). Again, the odds
of choosing the correct choice in all three situations
have decreased his chances of being completely correct
to only one time in eight. It must be understood that
as the number of situations increase, the chances of
being right decrease, for the two phenomena are
inversely proportional.
Now
applying this example to the situations in the Qur'an,
if one draws up a list of all of the subjects about
which the Qur'an has made correct statements, it
becomes very clear that it is highly unlikely that
they were all just correct blind guesses. Indeed, the
subjects discussed in the Qur'an are numerous, and
thus the odds of someone just making lucky guesses
about all of them become practically nil. If there are
a million ways for the Qur'an to be wrong, yet each
time it is right, then it is unlikely that someone was
guessing. The following three examples of subjects
about which the Qur'an has made correct statements
collectively illustrate how the Qur'an continues to
beat the odds.
In
the 16th chapter the Qur'an mentions that the female
bee leaves its home to gather food.l2 Now, a person
might guess on that, saying, "The bee that you
see flying around - it could be male, or it could be
female. I think I will guess female." Certainly,
he has a one in two chance of being right. So it
happens that the Qur'an is right. But it also happens
that was not what most people believed at the time
when the Qur'an was revealed. Can you tell the
difference between a male and a female bee? Well, it
takes a specialist to do that, but it has been
discovered that the male bee never leaves his home to
gather food. However, in Shakespeare's play, Henry the
Fourth, some of the characters discuss bees and
mention that the bees are soldiers and have a king.
That is what people thought in Shakespeare's time -
that the bees that one sees flying around are male
bees and that they go home and answer to a king.
However, that is not true at all. The fact is that
they are females, and they answer to a queen. Yet it
took modern scientific investigations in the last 300
years to discover that this is the case.
So,
back to the list of good guesses, concerning the topic
of bees, the Qur'an had a 50/50 chance of being right,
and the odds were one in two.
In
addition to the subject of bees, the Qur'an also
discusses the sun and the manner in which it travels
through space. Again, a person can guess on that
subject. When the sun moves through space, there are
two options: it can travel just as a stone would
travel if one threw it, or it can move of its own
accord. The Qur'an states the latter - that it moves
as a result of its own motion.'3 To do such, the
Qur'an uses a form of the word sabaha to describe the
sun's movement through space. In order to properly
provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding
of the implications of this Arabic verb, the following
example is given. If a man is in water and the verb
sabaha is applied in reference to his movement, it can
be understood that he is swimming, moving of his own
accord and not as a result of a direct force applied
to him. Thus when this verb is used in reference to
the sun's movement through space, it in no way implies
that the sun is flying uncontrollably through space as
a result of being hurled or the like. It simply means
that the sun is turning and rotating as it travels.
Now, this is what the Qur'an affirms, but was it an
easy thing to discover? Can any common man tell that
the sun is turning? Only in modern times was the
equipment made available to project the image of the
sun onto a tabletop so that one could look at it
without being blinded. And through this process it was
discovered that not only are there three spots on the
sun but that these spots move once every 25 days. This
movement is referred to as the rotation of the sun
around its axis and conclusively proves that, as the
Qur'an stated 1400 years ago, the sun does, indeed
turn as it travels through space.
And
returning once again to the subject of good guess, the
odds of guessing correctly about both subjects - the
sex of bees and the movement of the sun - are one in
four!
Seeing
as back fourteen centuries ago people probably did not
understand much about time zones, the Quran's
statements about this subject are considerably
surprising. The concept that one family is having
breakfast as the sun comes up while another family is
enjoying the brisk night air is truly something to be
marveled at, even in modern time. Indeed, fourteen
centuries ago, a man could not travel more than thirty
miles in one day, and thus it took him literally
months to travel from India to Morocco, for example.
And probably , when he was having supper in Morocco,
he thought to himself, "Back home in India they
are having supper right now." This is because he
did not realize that, in the process of traveling, he
moved across a time zone. Yet, because it is the words
of Allah, the All-Knowing, the Qur'an recognizes and
acknowledges such a phenomenon. In an interesting
verse it states that when history comes to an end and
the Day of Judgment arrives, it will all occurring an
instant; and this very instant will catch some people
in the daytime and some people at night. This clearly
illustrates Allah's divine wisdom and His previous
knowledge of the existence of time zones, even though
such a discovery was non-existent back fourteen
centuries ago. Certainly, this phenomenon is not
something which is obvious to one's eyes or a result
of one's experience, and this fact, in itself,
suffices as proof of the Qur'ans authenticity.
Returning
one final time to the subject of good guesses for the
purpose of the present example, the odds that someone
guessed correctly about all three of the
aforementioned subjects - the sex of bees, the
movement of the sun and the existence of time zones -
are one in eight!
Certainly,
one could continue on and on with this example,
drawing up longer and longer list of good guesses; and
of course, the odds would become higher and higher
with each increase of subjects about which one could
guess. But what no one can deny is the following; the
odds that Mohammed an illiterate, guessed correctly
about thousands and thousands of subjects, never once
making a mistake, are so high that any theory of his
authorship of the Qur'an must be completely dismissed
- even by the most hostile enemies of Islam!
Indeed,
the Qur'an expects this kind of challenge.
Undoubtedly, if one said to someone upon entering a
foreign land, "I know your father. I have met
him," probably the man from that land would doubt
the newcomer's word, saying, "You have just come
here. How could you know my father?" As a result,
he would question him, "Tell me, is my father
tall, short, dark, fair? What is he like?" Of
course, if the visitor continued answering all of the
questions correctly, the skeptic would have no choice
but to say, "I guess you do know my father. I
don't know how you know him, but I guess you do!"
The situation is the same with the Qur'an. It states
that it originates from the One who created
everything. So everyone has the right to say,
"Convince me! If the author of this book really
originated life and everything in the heavens and on
the earth, then He should know about this, about that,
and so on." And inevitably, after researching the
Qur'an, everyone will discover the same truths.
Additionally, we all know something for sure: we do
not all have to be experts to verify what the Qur'an
affirms. One's iman (faith) grows as one continues to
check and confirm the truths contained in the Qur'an.
And one is supposed to do so all of his life.
May
God (Allah) guide everyone close to the truth.
SUPPLEMENT
An
engineer at the University of Toronto who was
interested in psychology and who had read something on
it, conducted researched wrote a thesis on Efficiency
of Group Discussions. The purpose of his research was
to find out how much people accomplish when they get
together to talk in groups of two, three, ten, etc.
The graph of his findings: people accomplish most when
they talk in groups of two. Of course, this discovery
was entirely beyond his expectations, but it is very
old advice given in the Qur'an:
Additionally,
the 89th chapter of the Qur'an mentions a certain city
by the name of 'Iram (a city of pillars), which was
not known in ancient history and which was
non-existent as far as historians were concerned.
However, the December 1978 edition of National
Geographic introduced interesting information which
mentioned that in 1973, the city of Elba was excavated
in Syria. The city was discovered to be 43 centuries
old, but that is not the most amazing part.
Researchers found in the library of Elba a record of
all of the cities with which Elba had done business.
Believe or not, there on the list was the name of the
city of 'Iram. The people of Elba had done business
with the people of 'Iram!
"Say,
'I exhort you to one thing - that you stand for Allah,
[assessing the truth] by twos and singly, and then
reflect.....' In conclusion I ask you to consider with
care the following:
"And
they say, 'Why are not signs sent down to him from his
Lord?' Say, 'Indeed, the signs are with Allah, and I
am but a clear warner.' But is sufficient for them
that We have sent down to you the Book [i.e. Qur'an]
which is rehearsed to them? Verily, in that is mercy
and a reminder to people who believe."
This
booklet was first published by Muhammed Asadi
(transcribed from the video tape of Mr
Miller's lecture) . He compiled and published the
booklet on September 18,
1990 in Lahore, Pakistan. His current email address is
Silence004@aol.com
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