The
Relationship of the Quran
to Modern Science: Part II
Three, the Quran describes as
follows the factor that keeps each of the heavenly bodies on its appointed course: "God
it is Who raised up the heavenly bodies to invisible pillars and then took repose on the
throne. He has subjected the sun and the moon to you, and each of them continues to rotate
for a fixed time. Thus God regulates all the affairs of the universe and He explains in
detail His signs, so that you may believe with certainty in the Day of Resurrection and
the meeting with your Lord." (13:2)
We know that before the time of
Newton, that great scientific personality, no one was aware of the force of gravity.
Although Newton made many discoveries in different branches of science, he is world-famous
above all for the discovery of gravity. His achievement has been described as follows:
"Newton proved that the falling of objects to earth, the rotation of the moon and
Venus, the motions of the planets, and other instances of attraction are all subject to a
single law, the law of universal gravity."[39]
One of the most difficult
problems Newton encountered was how to prove that the gravitational force exerted by a
globular body is the same as it would be if we were to regard the whole of the body as
concentrated in its center. As long as this remained unproven, the theory of universal
gravitation would represent a kind of inspiration, not based on precise calculations or
mathematical proofs.
In the verse quoted above, the
fixing of the heavenly bodies in space and their rotation in a fixed course are attributed
to a factor designated as "invisible pillars." Are these unseen pillars, which
prevent the planets from colliding with each other or falling, anything other than the
mysterious and invisible force of universal gravity, a law to which the Creator of the
universe has subjected all of the heavenly bodies?
Four, in conveying this
scientific truth, the Quran has used an expression that is comprehensible for the men of
all ages. The Eighth Imam, upon whom be peace, spoke as follows to one of his companions
concerning this Quranic expression: "Did God not say in the Quran, 'without a
pillar that you may see'?"
The companion answered,
'Yes," whereupon the Imam added, "In that case there is a pillar but it cannot
be seen."[40]
In the course of refuting the
materialist view that the human being is destined to utter annihilation, the Quran
describes the evolutionary movement of the universe saying, "Do the deniers not
look at the heavens above them and see how We have placed them on a firm foundation,
adorned them with the stars and made them immune to all flaws? Were We tired by their
first creation (so that We might experience difficulty in creating them anew)? They (the
unbelievers) are themselves clothed every instant in a new garment of creation."(50:6,
7, 15)
In other words, those who because
of their shortsightedness and narrowness of vision imagined the world to be stagnant and
stationary are in error, because they are themselves in a state of constant motion,
together with the entire universe. The motion of the human being is connected to the
general motion of the universe, and after death, too, his spiritual motion will continue,
through the appearance of the Promised Day and the fulfillment of the Divine promise; his
motion will never be cut short by death.
In expounding this precise
scientific truth, the Quran does not restrict itself to the dry philosophical aspects of
the matter. By entrusting the discussion of the matter to the Prophet, a person who had
never studied, who had grown up in a spiritually dark environment with no philosophical
tradition, the Quran simultaneously puts forward a truth that is of vital significance to
the human being. That truth is the immortality of the spirit, the existence of
resurrection and judgment, with all that that implies for the responsibilities of the
human being while still alive.
The Quran also refers to the
internal motion of the earth when it says: "You look at the mountains and imagine
them to be solid and stable. But they are engaged in inward motion and growth, just like
the clouds. This inward motion if of God's creation and making: He has fashioned all
things in a correct way, and He is well aware of your conduct and deeds."(16:90)
This verse calls attention to the
inward dynamic motion of mountains. It says, in effect: Although you imagine the mountains
to be solid and without inward movement and growth, this is not the case. The mountains
that seem stagnant and stationary to you are inwardly growing and changing, just like the
clouds the motion of which is visible to you. The firm structure and development of all
things are ensured by that same motion, the law of motion which is of God's creation and
making. It prevails over all the particles and phenomena of nature, and it ensures their
order and stability.
The choice of this particular
wording in the Quran goes back, no doubt, to the fact that mountains are a symbol of
bulkiness and stability, and it enables the verse to lay particular stress on the ability
of the Creator to do all things.
Five, not more than three
centuries have passed since Galileo presented to the world of science the theory of the
motion of the earth, in a clear fashion and accompanied by adequate proof. In an age not
too far removed from us, when geocentricity and the immobility of the earth were regarded
as indubitable scientific principles, his theory met with a wave of furious opposition. By
contrast, in the dark atmosphere of the Age of Ignorance, the Quran had already referred
to certain aspects of the earth's motion and the mysterious qualities of mountains. This
was an exposition of complex scientific truths, taking place already in that age. Thus the
Quran says: "Have We not made the earth as a cradle and the mountains like
pegs?"(78:6-7) "God has placed mountains on the earth to prevent its uneven
motion."(31:10)
The Quran compares the earth to a
cradle because a cradle is a place of rest that is engaged in motion. In another verse, a
different comparison is offered: "I have created the earth for you like a tamed
camel that with its gentle and smooth motion does not vex its rider."(67:15)
The Quran referred to the motion
of the earth at a time when the Ptolemaic theory of geocentricity and the immobility of
the earth had been ruling for centuries over the minds of the learned. It was the heavenly
book of Islam that refuted that fantastic view of the world, almost a thousand years
before Galileo.
In one of the verses just quoted,
the mountains have been subtly and delicately compared to pegs that hold the earth in
place and prevent it from becoming scattered. This is because the crust of the earth is
covered with a soft layer of soil and sand, and were the earth to be deprived of firm and
heavy mountains, it would undoubtedly lose its stability because of the pull exerted by
the moon. It would fall prey to convulsion and shaking, and destructive tides would
overwhelm the globe and destroy it.
The mountains serve as highly
resistant pegs that play an essential role in preserving the earth from dissolution and
destruction. The slight tremblings and convulsions that sometimes occur are not on a scale
to deprive human life of all tranquillity and stability.
Furthermore, the massive bulk of
great mountains is able to neutralize and control, to a considerable extent, the powerful
waves of molten materials and buried gases that emanate from within the earth. Were the
mountains not to rear up their heads over our globe, the surface of the earth would be in
constant ferment because of the pressure of molten substances, and its whole nature would
change.
Therefore, bearing in mind that
mountains are like pegs implanted in the earth, we realize that our tranquil and
undisturbed existence on the globe is ensured precisely by the mountains.
The Quran similarly alludes to
the earth being globular in shape, in the following verse: "I swear by the Lord of
the easts and the wests."(70:40) It is obvious that a multiplicity of easts and
wests- points at which the sun rises and sets. Every point of the globe is, at some
moment, the east for a certain group of people, and the west for another group of people.
Do truths such as these not serve
to make us better acquainted with the profound truths this heavenly book contains?
Six, the Quran describes the
factors which give rise to milk in animals in a way that is entirely compatible with the
data of modern science. This is what God's book has to say: "There is in truth for
you a lesson in your animals and flocks. We give you to drink a pure milk derived from
that which is contained in their bodies, from the merging of what is held in their
intestines with blood. The drinking of that is then made easy for those who drink
it."(16:16)
Dr. Bucaille writes in his book:
"From a scientific point of view, physiological notions must be called upon to grasp
the meaning of this verse. The substances that ensure the general nutrition of the body
come from chemical transformations which occur along the length of the digestive tract.
These substances come from the contents of the intestine. On arrival in the intestine at
the appropriate stage of chemical transformation, they pass through its wall and towards
the systemic circulation. This passage is effected in two ways: either directly, by what
are called the 'lymphatic vessels', or indirectly, by the portal circulation. This
conducts them first to the liver, where they undergo alterations, and from here they then
emerge to join the systemic circulation. In this way everything passes through the
bloodstream. The constituents of the milk are secreted by the mammary glands. These are
nourished, as it were, by the product of food digestion brought to them via the
bloodstream. Blood therefore plays the role of collector and conductor of what has been
extracted from food, and it brings nutrition to the mammary glands, the producers of milk,
as it does to any other organ.
"Here the initial process
which sets everything else in motion is the bringing together of the contents of the
intestine and blood at the level of the intestinal wall itself. This very precise concept
is the result of the discoveries made in the chemistry and physiology of the digestive
system. It was totally unknown at the time of the Prophet Muhammad and has been understood
only in recent times. The discovery of the circulation of the blood, was made by Harvey
roughly ten centuries after the Quranic Revelation.
"I consider that the
existence in the Quran of the verse referring to these concepts can have no human
explanation on account of the period in which they were formulated."[41]
Seven, it is only recently that
researchers have come aware of insemination in plants and learned that every living being
comes into existence as the result of the merging of a male and female cell.
Before the invention of the
microscope, which gave man access to the world of atoms and enabled him to study
microscopic beings, no one was aware of the action and reaction among male and female
cells, certainly not in the Age of Ignorance, and indeed not until the codification of
classical botany.
The numerous experiments and
investigations by scientists in this field have proven that reproduction is impossible
without insemination, except in certain plants where reproduction takes place by way of
the division of cells.
The first person to analyze this
scientific fact in a clear and straightforward fashion was the well-known Swedish
scientist, Charles Leine (1707-1787).
Scientific information shows that
reproduction among plants generally takes place through insemination with microscopic
particles, and the agents of insemination are insects, flies, bees and so forth, together
with the most effective and widespread agent of all - the wind, which lifts up nearly
weightless particles and scatters them in the air.
In verses that are totally free
of ambiguity, the Noble Quran sets forth clearly the principle of gender in the vegetable
world, together with the existence of male and female cells in plants, something which was
completely unknown until quite recently. It says, with the utmost eloquence: "Do
they not look at the earth, where We have created the plants in pairs ?"(42:7) "We
sent down water from the heavens, and made to grow thereby pairs of different species of
plants."(20:51) "Pure and transcendent is the God Who created all
contingent things in pairs - plants, human beings, and other forms of creation unknown to
you."(36:36)
After setting forth the principle
of two genders in the human being, the animals and the plant world, the Quran enlarges the
scope of the principle to the degree of embracing all parts of existence. It is a general
rule and law to which nothing that can be called existent forms an exception. The Quran
says: "We have created all things their pair, in order that you may remember
God."(51:49)
Given the profound knowledge at
the human being's disposal in the present age, he has come to realize that all substances
in the world can be reduced, in the final analysis, to their smallest structural unit, the
atom. This infinitely small unit itself comprises a duality: that of positive and negative
electricity.
Although these two forces are
identical with respect to their existential nature, one of them carries a positive
electrical load and the other, a negative one. It is this opposition, that attracts them
to each other.
Attraction toward the opposite
pole is inherent in both of them, and once the mutual attraction is exerted, a third
entity comes into being - a force which is neutral in its electrical load.
It is very remarkable that the
pairing of all things should have been mentioned in the Quran, which was, after all,
revealed in an environment dominated by ignorance. The attraction that exists between two
bodies each bearing a different kind of electric load makes entirely appropriate the use
of the word "pair." for it is entirely similar to the attraction between the two
opposite genders. "Pair" was an extremely effective way of describing this
scientific reality, given the limited thoughts of men at the time and even later, for it
is not until recently that clear and definite information about the physical nature of
this matter became available.
So if we generalize the
phenomenon of the pair to include the inner structure of atoms, we may conclude that the
material structure of the world is indeed based on pairing, and that nothing in the
material universe is exempt from the operation of this comprehensive principle.
Paul Ruybruck, an English
scholar, says: "Each particle of matter is confronted by an opposing particle, as was
proven in 1955. Using an atom breaker, physicists were able to discover counter-protons,
counter-neutrons and counter-matters. They became convinced that the structure of the
world of counter matter corresponds exactly to that of the world of matter, and that the
two always accompany each other."[42]
As Max Planck, another twentieth
century scientist, puts it: "Every material body is compounded of electrons and
protons."[43]
One of the findings of the
natural and chemical sciences, proved by laboratory experiments, is that the roots of
plants increase the volume of the earth. When water penetrates into bubbles inside the
earth, the air that has accumulated there is driven further inside the earth, so that the
depths of the earth begin to seethe in agitation.
When rainfall penetrates the
depths of the earth, the roots of plants begin to move and advance through the soil. It is
obvious that numerous smaller and more delicate roots branch forth from the original
roots, moving out in every direction. For example, the capillary roots of maize, each one
square centimeter thick, may reach a total of 4200.
Scientists are of the opinion
that roots derive 95% of their needs from the air and only 5% from the soil. Hence the
amount of space occupied in the earth by roots is considerably expanded in its volume, so
that the earth as a whole swells and becomes more capacious as a result of the growth of
roots within it.
Let us look now at verse 5 of
Surah Hajj in the Noble Quran: "Look at the earth: first it is dry and devoid of
vegetation, then We send rain down upon it, and it begins to stir and to swell and all
kinds of beautiful plants start growing in it."
This forms another example of the
agreement of the Quran with modern science.
Eight, the Quran also mentions
the role and operation of another factor in the bringing of things to fruition, the wind.
"We have sent the winds as a means of insemination and impregnation, and then sent
down rain from the heavens." (15:22)
In this verse, the Quran unveils
another great mystery of creation, the fundamental role played by the wind in the
fertilization of clouds. Using complex instruments and electrical means, civilized man has
made great progress in recent years resulting in the establishment of the discipline known
as meteorology. Specialists in this discipline point out the following: "It must be
recognized that the obtaining of two conditions - the existence of steam in the air and
its distillation to the point of saturating the air - is not enough to cause the formation
of clouds and the occurrence of rainfall. A third condition is also necessary, which we
may call fertilization."
Science confirms that winds is
also a contributory factor in the fertilization of plants.
In the appearance of natural
phenomena, a kind of friction and delay always exists. For example, if water is pure and
stationary, it is possible that its temperature be reduced to below zero without its
solidifying and that it not begin to boil until its temperature is much higher than 100
degrees. Also, steam may not begin to distill even though it has reached a point of
saturation, and once it has distilled, its globules may be so minute that they do not
fall, remaining instead suspended in the air so that no rainfall occurs. It is necessary
for the wind to provide invisible particles of salt, picked up from the surface of the
oceans, that then form nuclei of attraction and inflation. More importantly, the moisture
in the air has to accumulate around the crystallized snowflakes that have formed at higher
altitudes and are then scattered by the wind.
Finally, the minute initial drops
of rain merge with each other as a result of the collision and intermingling of the winds
until they gradually grow in size and fall through cloud masses as a result of their
relatively great weight.
As a result of their friction
with features of the earth and with bodies suspended in the air, cloud masses acquire
opposing electrical forces. The release of this electricity is accompanied by intense
friction of the particles in the air and the formation of nitrogen. This process
contributes considerably to the merging and growing of raindrops and the occurrence of
rainfall.
In short, the formation and
strengthening of clouds, and the occurrence of rainfall and snow, cannot take place
without a form of fertilization, accomplished through the intervention of an outside
factor.
Artificial rainfall likewise
depends on artificial fertilization, carried out in the following way: an airplane
scatters "water dust" (pulverized and crystallized ice) in air that has the
potentiality of cloud formation but is in a state of delayed equilibrium.
Discussing the rich treasury of
knowledge contained in the Quran, Dr. Bucaille writes: "Whereas monumental errors are
to be found in the Bible, I could not find a single error in the Quran. I had to stop and
ask myself: if a man was the author of the Quran, how could he have written facts in the
seventh century AD that today are shown to be in keeping with modern scientific knowledge?
There was absolutely no doubt about it: the text of the Quran we have today is most
definitely a text of the period, if I may be allowed to put it in these terms (in the next
chapter of the present section of the book I shall be dealing with this problem). What
human explanation can there be for this observation? In my opinion there is no
explanation; there is no special reason why an inhabitant of the Arabian Peninsula should,
at a time when King Dagobert was reigning in France (629-639 AD), have had scientific
knowledge on certain subjects that was ten centuries ahead of our own."[44]
References:
The Seal of the Prophets and His Message
By: Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari
Translated by: Hamid Algar |
