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 Muhammed 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 Muhammad'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 a~er
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
various angles from which one can approach
the Qur'an have undoubtedly been
subjective in nature; 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 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.
