THE QUR'AN AND MODERN SCIENCE
Taken from "The Origin of Man", by Dr. Maurice
Bucaille.
Dr. Maurice Bucaille is an eminent French surgeon, scientist,
scholar and author of "THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN AND
SCIENCE" which contains the result of his research into the
Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Qur'an. It is a unique
contribution in the field of religion and science.
Being an outstanding Scientist, he was selected to treat the
mummy of Merneptah (Pharaoh) which he did. During his visit to
Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Holy Qur'an in which
Allah says that the dead body of the Pharaoh will be preserved
as a "Sign" for posterity. An impartial scientist like
Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a Christian) was conversant with
the Biblical version of Pharaoh's story as being drowned in
pursuit of Prophet Moses. He was pleasantly surprised to learn
that unknown to the world till only of late, the Holy Qur'an
made definite prediction about the preservation of the body of
that same Pharaoh of Moses' time. This led Dr. Bucaille to study
the Holy Qur'an thoroughly after learning the Arabic language.
The final conclusion of his comparative study of Qur'an and the
Bible is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the
Holy Qur'an are perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences
whereas the Biblical narration's on the same subjects are
scientifically entirely unacceptable.
FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN
As most people in the West have been brought up on
misconceptions concerning Islam and the Qur'an; for a large part
of my life, I myself was one such person. Let me cite one or two
specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate ideas
generally current.
MISCONCEPTIONS
As I grew up, I was always taught that 'Mahomet' was the author
of the Qur'an; I remember seeing French translations bearing
this information. I was invariably told that the 'author' of the
Qur'an simply compiled, in a slightly different form, stories of
sacred history taken from the Bible; the 'author' was said to
have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the
principles and rules of the religion he himself had founded.
There are moreover Islamic scholars today in France whose duties
include teaching and who express exactly these views, although
perhaps in a more subtle form.
This description of the origins of the Qur'anic text, which
is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to
assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there
must also be errors of this kind in the Qur'an! This is the
natural conclusion to be drawn in such circumstances, but it is
based on a misconception. We are well aware that at the time of
Muhammad - the Qur'anic Revelation took place between 610 and
632 A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient
as well as in the West.
In France, for example, this period corresponded roughly to
the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This
approach to what was supposedly the Qur'anic text may on first
sight seem logical, but when one examines the text with an
informed and impartial eye, it becomes clear that this approach
is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall see in a moment
the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.
Whenever there is textual proof of the existence in the
Qur'an of statements that are in agreement with modern
knowledge, but which in the Bible are related in a manner that
is scientifically unacceptable, the stock response is that,
during the period separating the two Scriptures, Arab scientists
made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to
arrive at these supposed adaptations. This approach takes no
account whatsoever of the history of the sciences. The latter
indicates that the great period of Islamic civilisations, during
which, as we know, science made considerable progress, came
several centuries after the communication of the Qur'an to the
communication of the Qur'an to man.
Furthermore, scientific history informs us that, as far as
the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned, no
discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible
from the Qur'an.
When this aspect of the Qur'an is mentioned in the West,
however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may
indeed be so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the
translations of the Qur'an which we possess today, or in the
prefaces and commentaries that accompany them.
This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and indeed
non-Muslim -
translators who have produced a French version of the Qur'an
are basically men of letters. More often than not, they
mistranslate a passage because they do not possess the
scientific knowledge required to understand its true meaning.
The fact is, however, that in order to translate correctly, one
must first understand what one is reading. A further point is
that translators - especially those mentioned above - - may have
been influenced by notes provided by ancient commentators often
came to be regarded as highly authoritative, even though they
had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had anybody else at
that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might
contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not
devote attention to a specific passage by comparing it to other
verses in the Qur'an dealing with the same subject - a process
that often provides the key to the meaning of a word or
expression. From this results the fact that any passage in the
Qur'an that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular
knowledge is likely to be unreliably translated.
Very often, the translations are peppered with inaccurate -
if not totally nonsensical - statements. The only way to avoid
such errors is to possess a scientific background and to study
the Qur'anic text in the original language.
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned
earlier, it is not possible to find any corresponding data in
the Bible. Furthermore the scientific errors contained in the
Bible - such as those describing man's first appearance on
earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the
Genealogies that figure in Genesis are not to be found in the
Qur'an. It is crucial to understand that such errors could not
have been 'edited out' of the Qur'an since the time they first
became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since
the most ancient manuscripts and today's texts of the Qur'an,
but these texts are still absolutely identical. Thus, if
Muhammad were the author of the Qur'an (a theory upheld by some
people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted the
scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety
of subjects and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of
them when he came to compose his own text on the same themes.
Let us state once again, that no new scientific facts had been
discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have
helped eliminate such errors.
In view of the above, it is imperative to know the history of
the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of
certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the
conditions in which it was written.
As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical exegesis
consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely
inspired works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of
Muslim exegetes, who present the Qur'an in quite a different
fashion.
When Muhammad was roughly forty years old, it was his custom
to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate.
It was here that he received a first message from God via the
Angel Gabriel, at a date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a
long period of silence, this first message was followed by
successive revelations spread over some twenty years. During the
Prophet's lifetime, they were both written down and recited by
heart among his first followers. Similarly, the revelations were
divided into suras(chapters) and collected together after the
Prophet' death (in 632 A.D.) in a book: the Qur'an. The Book
contains the Word of God, to the exclusion of any human
additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam
authenticate today's text, the other form of authentication
being the recitation by heart of the Qur'an, a practice that has
continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet down to the
present day.
UNCORRUPTED NATURE OF THE QUR'AN
In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a
text that is none other than the transcript of the Revelation
itself; the only way it can be received and interpreted is
literally. The purity of the revealed text has been greatly
emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur'an stems from
the following factors:
First, as stated above, fragments of the text were written
down during the Prophet's lifetime; inscribed on tablets,
parchments and other materials current at the time. The Qur'an
itself refers to the fact that the text was set down in writing.
We find this in several suras dating from before and after the
Hejira (Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.)
In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there was
also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the
Qur'an is much shorter than the Old Testament and slightly
longer than the New Testament. Since it took twenty years for
the Qur'an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the
Prophet's followers to recite it by heart, sura by sura. This
process of recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far
as an uncorrupted text was concerned, for it provided a system
of double-checking at the time the definitive text was written
down. This took place several years after the Prophet's death;
first under the caliphate of Abu Bakr, his first successor, and
later under the caliphate of Omar and in particular that of
Uthman (644 to 655 A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict
recension of the text, which involved checking it against the
recited versions.
TEXT OF QUR'AN UNCORRUPTED
After Muhammad's death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the
limits of the area in which it was born. Soon, it included many
peoples whose native language was not Arabic. Very strict steps
were taken to ensure that the text of the Qur'an did not suffer
from this expansion of Islam: Uthman sent copies of his entire
recension to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire.
Some copies still exist today, in more or less complete form, in
such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R) and Istanbul. Copies have also
been discovered that date from the very first centuries after
the Hejira; they are all identical, and all of them correspond
to the earliest manuscripts.
Today's editions of the Qur'an are all faithful reproductions
of the original copies. In the case of the Qur'an, there are no
instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course
of time.
If the origin of the Qur'an had been similar to those of the
Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects
it raised would be presented in the light of the ideas
influenced by certain
opinions of the time, often derived from myth and
superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there
were untold opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based on
such sources, to find their way into the many and varied
subjects briefly summarised above. In actual fact, however, we
find nothing of the kind in the Qur'an.
But having said this, we should note that the Qur'an is a
religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that
have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting
after any expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all
we should seek are reflections on natural phenomena, phrases
occasioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to
emphasise that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind throughout the
ages. The presence of such reflections in the Qur'an has become
particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is
clearly explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This
characteristic is specific to the Qur'an.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES
It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Qur'an in the
original that I realised the precise meaning of certain verses.
Only then did I make certain discoveries that were astounding.
With my basic ideas on the Qur'an - which to begin with were
inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I
certainly did not expect to find in the text the statements that
I in fact uncovered. With each new discovery, I was beset with
doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation or perhaps have
provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the
Arabic text.
Only after consultations with several specialists in
linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I
convinced that a new concept might be formed from such a study:
the compatibility between the statements in the Qur'an and
firmly established data of modern science with regard to
subjects on which nobody at the time of Muhammad - not even the
Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we
possess today. Since then, I have not found in the Qur'an any
support given to the myths or superstitions present at the time
the text was communicated to man. This is not the case for the
Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of
their period.
In 'La Bible le Coran et la Science' (The Bible, the Qur'an
and Science), which first appeared in the original French in
1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set
forth the main points of these findings. On November 9, 1976, I
gave a lecture to the Academia de Medecine (French academy of
Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of
man contained in the Qur'an; the title of the lecture was
'Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de
Coran'(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Qur'an). I
emphasised the fact that these data - which I shall summarise
below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are
some of the points which arise from a reading of the Qur'an:
* a concept of the creation of the world which, while
different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in
keeping with today's general theories on the formations of the
universe;
* statements that are in perfect agreement with today's ideas
concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies;
* a prediction of the conquest of space;
* notions concerning the water cycle in nature and the
earth's relief, which were not proven correct until many
centuries later.
All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who approaches
them in
an objective spirit. They add a much wider dimension to the
problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains the
same , however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which
place a heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining
everything in materialistic terms, for the existence in the
Qur'an of these scientific statements appears as a challenge to
human explanations.
That does not mean to say, however, that the statements in
the Qur'an - especially those concerning man - may all of them
be examined in the light of the findings of modern science. The
creation of man as described in both the Bible and the Qu'ran
totally eludes scientific investigation of the event per se.
Similarly, when the New Testament or the Qur'an informs us
that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of
the term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying
that there is no example in the human species of an individual
having been formed without receiving the paternal chromosomes
that make up one half of its genetic inheritance. Science does
not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are
inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Qur'an and the
Bible that man was moulded from the ground, we are in fact
learning a fundamental religious principle: Man returns from
where he came, for from the place he is buried, he will rise
again on the judgment.
Side by side with the main religious aspect of such
reflections on man, we find in the Qur'an statements on man that
refer to strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when
one approaches them for the first time. For example, the Qur'an
describes the origins of life in general and devotes a great
deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by
man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that God fashioned him as
He willed. We likewise discover statements on human reproduction
that are expressed in precise terms that lend themselves to
comparison with the secular knowledge we today possess on the
subject.
INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE
The many statements in the Qur'an that may thus be compared with
modern knowledge are by no means easy to find. In preparing the
study published in 1976, I was unable to draw on any previous
works known in the West, for there were none. All I could refer
to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes treated in the
Qur'an that were of interest to men of science - there was,
however, no overall study. Over and above this, research of this
kind requires scientific knowledge covering many different
disciplines. It is not easy, however, for Islamologists to
acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly literary
background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place
in their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the
West is concerned. Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with
Arabic literature, can draw comparisons between the Qur'anic
text - for which he must be able to read Arabic - and the data
supplied by modern knowledge.
There is another reason why such statements are not
immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are
scattered throughout the Qur'an. The book is indeed a
juxtaposition of reflections on a wide variety of subjects
referred to one after the other and taken up again later on,
often several times over. The data on a precise theme must
therefore be collected from all over the Book and brought
together under a single heading. This requires many hours' work
tracking down verses, in spite of the existence of thematic
indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may
perhaps be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.
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