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Quran and miracles

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This is a sub-article to Qur'an and Islamic view of miracles.

Muslims consider the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, as the word of God and a miracle.[1] There are many miracles claimed in connection with Qur'an, either recorded in the Qur'an itself or believed by some Muslims about the book.

Qur'an as a miracle

The Qur'an claims that it has been created in miraculous way as a revelation from Allah (God), as a perfect copy of what was written in heaven and existed there from all eternity.[2] Therefore the verses of the book are referred to as ayat, which also means "a miracle" in the Arabic language.[3]

The Quran claims that Muhammad was illiterate and neither read a book nor wrote a book ([Quran 7:157], [Quran 29:48]) and that he did not know about past events nor could he have possibly known the scientific facts that are mentioned in the Quran.([Quran 3:44], [Quran 11:49], [Quran 28:44]).[4] This is used as an argument in favor of the divine origin of the book. On the other side, some scholars have stated that the claim about Muhammad's illiteracy is based on weak traditions and that it is not convincing.[5][6]

Miracles in Qur'an

Qur'an records many miraculous events which happened or are about to happen, most notably the divine judgement of souls of dead people and their heavenly rewards or suffering in hell.[7] Muhammad, as believed by critics, was influenced by older Jewish and Christian traditions, and therefore included many of the wonders known from the Bible into the Quran.[8]

Ahmad Dallal, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, writes that many modern Muslims believe that the Qur'an does make scientific statements, however many classical Muslim commentators and scientists, notably al-Biruni, assigned to the Qur'an a separate and autonomous realm of its own and held that the Qur'an "does not interfere in the business of science nor does it infringe on the realm of science."[9] These medieval scholars argued for the possibility of multiple scientific explanation of the natural phenomena, and refused to subordinate the Qur'an to an ever-changing science.[9] The alleged miracles in the Qur’an are usually classified into areas such as scientific or literary.

Scientific Miracles

Mountains stabilize the ground

The Qur’an states, “And he has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake with you (16:15)”. The modern theory of plate tectonics does hold that mountains act as stabilizers for the earth. Furthermore, this knowledge has just begun to be understood in the framework of plate tectonics since the late 1960’s.[10]

Prefrontal area of cerebrum

The Qur’an describes the front of the head as being lying and sinful; “No! If he does not stop, We will take him by the front of the head, a lying and sinful front of the head! (96:15-16).” In the brain, the front of the head corresponds to the prefrontal area of the cerebrum, where the foresight to plan and initiate movements occur. It is also the functional center of aggression.[11] Scientists have discovered these functions of the prefrontal area in the last sixty years.[12]

Seas and Rivers

The Qur’an states, “He has set free the two seas meeting together. There is a barrier between them. They do not transgress (55:19-20).” When two different seas meet there is a barrier between them so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity and density. For example, when the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic they do not mix, although there may be large waves, strong currents, and tides in these seas.[13] When fresh water and salt water meet there is a partition, which has a marked discontinuity in salinity. This zone of separation has a different salinity from both the fresh and sea water.[14] The Qur’an speaks differently about the fresh and salt water; “He is the one who has set free the two kinds of water, one sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter. And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding partition (25:53).”

Deep seas and internal waves

The Qur’an states, “Or the unbeliever’s state is like the darkness in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds. Darknesses one above another. If a man stretches out his hand, he cannot see it (24:40)”. At depths below 1000 meters in deep seas there is no light at all.[15] Human beings are not able to dive more than forty meters without the aid of submarines or special equipment and cannot survive unaided in the deep dark part of the oceans, such as at a depth of 200 meters. Scientists have recently discovered this darkness by means of special equipment and submarines that have enabled them to dive into the depths of the oceans.

This verse also mentions “waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds”. Surface waves never arise above one another. Clearly, the latter waves mentioned are the visible surface waves since above these surface waves are clouds. However, the first set of waves are argued to describe internal waves, which occur on density interfaces between layers of different densities. These waves can break and act like surface waves, however, they cannot be seen by the human eye. [16]

Cloud formation

The Qur’an states, “Have you not seen how God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out of it (24:43).” A common type of rain cloud, the cumulonimbus cloud, follows this description. These clouds are formed when the wind pushes some small pieces of clouds, cumulus clouds, to an area where these clouds join together, forming a larger cloud. When the small clouds join together, updrafts within the larger cloud increase, causing the cloud body to grow vertically. This vertical growth, in turn, causes the cloud to stretch into cooler regions where water droplets and hail form, eventually becoming too heavy to be supported by the updraft and falls as precipitation.[17][18]

Lightening

The Qur’an speaks about “hail” and “its lightening”; “And He sends down hail from mountains (clouds) in the sky, and He strikes with it whomever He wills, and turns it from whomever He wills. The vivid flash of its lightening nearly blinds the sight (24:43).” In the formation of lightening, a cloud becomes electrified as hail collides with liquid droplets, which then freeze and release latent heat, keeping the surface of the hailstones warmer than the surrounding ice crystals. When the hailstone comes into contact with an ice crystal, electrons flow from the colder object toward the warmer object and the negative charge is then discharged as lightening.[19] Hail is thus argued as a major factor in lightening.

Responses

Criticism

Praises from scientists

Dr. T. V. N. Persaud, the former Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Manitoba, received the most distinguished award presented for anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B Grant Award in 1991. He stated, in reply to what he thought of scientific miracles in the Qur’an, “You have someone illiterate making profound pronouncements and statements and that are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. And I personally can’t see how this could be a mere chance. There are too many accuracies and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements.”[20]

Dr. E. Marshall Johnson Emeritus was a chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Thomas Jefferson University, director of the Daniel Baugh Institute and president of the Teratology Society. He said in presenting his research paper, “Summary: The Qur’an describes not only the development of external form, but emphasizes also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasizing major events recognized by contemporary science.” He also said, “As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I knew today and describing things, I could not describe the things which were described. I see no evidence for the fact to refute the concept that this individual, Muhammed, had to be developing this information from some place. So I see nothing here in conflict with concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write.”[20]

Dr. William W. Hay, a well-known marine scientist, was formally the Dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. On the issue of the Qur’an’s mentioned recently discovered facts on seas, he said, “I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Qur’an.” In response to where he thought the source of the Qur’an is he said, “Well, I would think that it must be the divine being.”[20]

Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer, who is the Course Director of Medical Ebryology at the Department of Cell Biology in Georgetown University, said, in presenting his research paper, “In a relatively few aayahs (Qur’anic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.”[20]

Dr. Yoshihide Kozai, who was a director of the National Astronomical Observatory in Japan, said, “I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in (the) Qur’an”. He also said that “by reading the Qur’an and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe”.[20]

Professor Tejatat Tejasen is the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and a former dean of faculty of medicine at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. After examining the Qur’an’s statements on embryology and the skin, he converted to Islam and said, “Since the Prophet Muhammed could neither read nor write, Muhammed must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible (as the) creator.”[20]

Dr. Maurice Bucaille, in regard to writing his book “The Bible, The Quran and Science”, said, “My reason for doing this was that our knowledge of these disciplines is such, that it is impossible to explain how a text produced at the time of the Qur'an could have contained ideas that have only been discovered in modern times” and “There is indeed no human work prior to modern times that contains statements which were equally in advance of the state of knowledge at the time of they appeared and which might be compared to the Qur'an.”[21]

Dr. Alfred Kroner, a world-renown geologist, is the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. He said, concerning the Quran’s alleged statements about the Big Bang, “I think it is impossible that he (Muhammed) could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists gave only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case. Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin.”[20]

Notes

  1. ^ F. Tuncer, "International Conferences on Islam in the Contemporary World", March 4-5, 2006, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., p. 95-96
  2. ^ Wilson, Christy: "The Qur'an" in A Lion Handbook The World's Religion, p. 315
  3. ^ Wilson, ibid.
  4. ^ F. Tuncer, ibid
  5. ^ William Montgomery Watt, "Muhammad's Mecca", Chapter 3: "Religion In Pre-Islamic Arabia", p. 26-52
  6. ^ Maxime Rodinson, "Mohammed", translated by Anne Carter, p. 38-49, 1971
  7. ^ Wilson, ibid.
  8. ^ Wilson, p. 316
  9. ^ a b Ahmad Dallal, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Quran and science
  10. ^ El-Naggar, Z.R. 1991. The Geological Concept of Mountains in the Qur’an. 1st ed. Herndon: International Institute of Islamic Thought. p. 5
  11. ^ Seeley, Rod R.; Trent D. Stephens; and Philip Tate. 1996. Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc. p. 211
  12. ^ Moore, Keith L.; A.A.Zindani; and others. 1987. Al-Ejaz al-Elmy fee al-Naseyah (The scientific Miracles in the Front of the Head). Makkah: Commission on Scientific Signs of the Qur’an and Sunnah p. 41
  13. ^ Davis, Richard A., Jr. 1972. Principles of Oceanography. Don Mills, Ontario: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. p. 93
  14. ^ Gross, M. Grant. 1993. Oceanography, a view of Earth. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc p. 300-301
  15. ^ Elder, Danny; and John Pernetta. 1991. Oceans. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers p. 27
  16. ^ Gross, M. Grant. 1993. Oceanography, a view of Earth. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc p. 205
  17. ^ Anthes, Richard A.; John J. Cahir; Alistair B. Fraser; and Hans A. Panofsky. 1981. The Atmosphere. 3rd ed. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company. p.269
  18. ^ Miller, Albert; and Jack C. Thompson. 1975. Elements of Meteorology. 2nd ed. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company. p.141-142
  19. ^ Ahrens, C. Donald. 1998. Meteorology Today. 3rd ed. St. Paul: West Publishing Company. p. 437
  20. ^ a b c d e f g Ibrahim, I.A. A brief guide to understanding Islam. 2. Houston: Darussalam, 1997.
  21. ^ The Quran and Modern Science

References

  • A Lion Handbook The World's Religion. Lion Publishing plc. 1993. ISBN 0-85648-187-4.

See also

External links

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