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Quran and miracles

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Muslims consider the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, as the word of God and a miracle.[1]. 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] Muslims also believe that the Qur'an, as we know it today, is the same as was revealed 1400 years ago.

The Qur'an itself gives an open challenge for anyone who denies its claimed divine origin to produce a text like it. [Quran 17:88][Quran 2:23][Quran 10:38]. Some critics believe that Muhammad was influenced by older Jewish and Christian traditions, and therefore included many of the wonders known from the Bible in the Qur'an. [4]

The miracles in the Qur’an can be classified into four distinct categories: literary miracles, scientific miracles, statistical mracles and prophecies.

Literary miracle

The Qur'an states that Muhammad was ummi (interpreted as illiterate in Muslim tradition) 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 hidden facts that are mentioned in the Qur'an.([Quran 3:44], [Quran 11:49], [Quran 28:44])[5]. On the other side, some argue with that; according to Watt, the meaning of the qur'anic term ummi is unscriptured rather than illiterate as Muslim tradition has concluded. Watt argues that certain amount of writing was necessary for Muhammad to do his commercial purposes though it seems certain that he had not read any scriptures. [6]
Also, Islamic scholars claim that Qur'an is written in a perfect inimitable style (as far elegant writing is concerned), they believe that no human endeavour can match it, and that though several attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it, none has as yet succeeded. [7]

Scientific miracles

Some scholars relate some verses in the Qur'an to some modern scientific facts.[8] The miraculous nature of these claims lies in the fact that the Qur'an was developed years before advanced scientific knowledge was available in particular fields; as such, the relation of these verses to certain scientific theories would reinforce the belief of many in the Qur'an's divine origin. The scholars, like Zaghloul Elnaggar and Maurice Bucaille, give evidences that modern scientific discoveries and theories were already mentioned in the Qur'an; for example that the Big Bang theory was mentioned in Sura 21 [Quran 21:30] and that the Big Crunch theory was mentioned in the same Sura [Quran 21:104]. [9] [10]

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 ."[Quran 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.[11] [12]

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!." [Quran 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.[13] Scientists have discovered these functions of the prefrontal area in the last sixty years.[14][15]

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."[Quran 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.[16] 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.[17] 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."[Quran 25:53] [18]

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".[Quran 24:40] At depths below 1000 meters in deep seas there is no light at all.[19] 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.[20]

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. [21][22]

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 ."[Quran 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.[23][24][25]

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."[Quran 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.[26] Hail is thus argued as a major factor in lightening.[27]

Statistical Miracles

Word repetitions

  • "Day (yawm)" is repeated 365 times in singular form, while its plural and dual forms "days (ayyam and yawmayn)" together are repeated 30 times. The number of repetitions of the word "month" (shahar) is 12.[28]
  • The number of repetitions of the words "plant" and "tree" is the same: 26. [28]
  • The number of times the words, "world" (dunya) and "hereafter" (akhira) are repeated is also the same: 115.[28]
  • The word "satan" (shaitan) is used in the Qur'an 88 times, as is the word "angels" (malaika).[28]
  • The word faith (iman) (without genitive) is repeated 25 times throughout the Qur'an as is also the word infidelity (kufr).[28]
  • The word "salawat" appear five times in the Qur'an, and Allah has commanded man to perform the prayer (salat) five times a day.[28]
  • The words "paradise" and "hell" are each repeated 77 times.[28]
  • The words "man" and "woman" are also employed equally: 23 times. The number of times the words "man" and "woman" are repeated in the Qur'an, 23, is at the same time that of the chromosomes from the egg and sperm in the formation of the human embryo. The total number of human chromosomes is 46; 23 each from the mother and father.[28]
  • The word "land" appears 13 times in the Qur'an and the word "sea" 32 times, giving a total of 45 references. If we divide that number by that of the number of references to the land we arrive at the figure 28.888888888889%. The number of total references to land and sea, 45, divided by the number of references to the sea in the Qur'an, 32, is 71.111111111111%. These figures represent the exact proportions of land and sea on the Earth today. [28]

Prophecies

Islamic studies claim that the Qur'an mentions events which were yet to come (at the time of its creation). These studies argue that such prophecies show another proof of the divine origin of Qur'an. For example, some Islamic scholars claim that the Qur'an had predicted the eventual defeat of the Persians by the Romans.[29] However, the view of the outcome of this centuries-long conflict between the two nations varies- some do not perceive a Roman victory, and some do not see a clear victor within the conflict at all.[30][citation needed]

Responses

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.”[31][32][33]

Dr. William F. Campbell criticizes Bucaille and his conclusions extensively in his book The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of History & Science. Campbell argues that many of the supposed miracles in the Qur'an are simply forced interpretations; he asserts that Bucaille and others read their own desired conclusions into the text, and he accuses Bucaille specifically of being particularly inventive and disingenuous in his study of the Qur'an.[34] Campbell points out many of what he perceives as scientific inaccuracies in the Qur'an; additionally, he notes several pagan writings which offer information which he argues is more detailed and accurate than the presentation in the Qur'anic verses compiled centuries later, even though those writings claim no divine origin. Lastly, he argues that several of the allegedly miraculous verses described in the Qur'an are actually proceeded by Biblical verses from which he believes the Qur'anic verses are directly derived.[35]

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."[36] 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.[36]

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. ^ Wilson, p. 316
  5. ^ F. Tuncer, ibid
  6. ^ William Montgomery Watt, "Muhammad's Mecca", Chapter 3: "Religion In Pre-Islamic Arabia", p. 26-52
  7. ^ http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/perfection_01.html
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Islam Online - The Big Bang
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ El-Naggar, Z.R. 1991. The Geological Concept of Mountains in the Qur'an. 1st ed. Herndon: International Institute of Islamic Thought. p. 5
  12. ^ Ibrahim, I.A. *A brief guide to understanding Islam*. 2. Houston: Darussalam, 1997. p.12-13 ISBN 9960340112
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ Ibrahim, p.16
  16. ^ Davis, Richard A., Jr. 1972. Principles of Oceanography. Don Mills, Ontario: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. p. 93
  17. ^ Gross, M. Grant. 1993. Oceanography, a view of Earth. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc p. 300-301
  18. ^ Ibrahim, p.18-19
  19. ^ Elder, Danny; and John Pernetta. 1991. Oceans. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers p. 27
  20. ^ Ibrahim, p.20-21
  21. ^ Gross, M. Grant. 1993. Oceanography, a view of Earth. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc p. 205
  22. ^ Ibrahim, p.21-22
  23. ^ 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
  24. ^ Miller, Albert; and Jack C. Thompson. 1975. Elements of Meteorology. 2nd ed. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company. p.141-142
  25. ^ Ibrahim, p.22-25
  26. ^ Ahrens, C. Donald. 1998. Meteorology Today. 3rd ed. St. Paul: West Publishing Company. p. 437
  27. ^ Ibrahim, p.25-27
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i mathematical miracles of the qur'an [3]
  29. ^ [4]
  30. ^ [5]
  31. ^ The Quran and Modern Science
  32. ^ The Quran and Modern Science
  33. ^ [6]
  34. ^ Campbell, page 184.
  35. ^ Campbell, William F. The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of History & Science. Second Edition. Middle East Resources, 2002. ISBN 1-881085-03-01
  36. ^ a b Ahmad Dallal, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Quran and science

References

  • A Lion Handbook The World's Religion. Lion Publishing plc. 1993. ISBN 0-85648-187-4.
  • Ibrahim, I.A (1997). A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. Darussalam. ISBN 9960-34-011-2.

See also

External links

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