The Qur'an And Modern Science

The Qur'an, as the final word of God, anticipated many of the modern scientific discoveries which were beyond human imagination 14 centuries ago. The Muslim scientific revolution, which produced the renaissance that put Muslims at the top of the civilized world for 8 centuries, was a result of contemplating the clues in the Qur'an about the physical world.

This separates the Qur'an from other religious texts which were limited to the knowledge of the people at the time the text was completed.

Muslims always considered the Qur'an a miracle. The Qur'an is a living miracle that can be verified today by anyone and does not depend on accepting ancient accounts of miracles without question.

The following examples show modern discoveries that are consistent with the Qur'an:

The heavens and the earth were one before they were ripped apart. Life started in the water and living things are mostly water [21:30]. Today when scientists look for traces of life on Mars or Jupiter moons, they look for water!
Reptiles came out of the water and were followed by two legged then 4 legged creatures [24:45].
The heavens are expanding [51:47]. Modern science tells us that the universe was started from a singularity. The pictures taken by Edwin Hubbell in Mount Wilson observatory in 1929 showed that the universe was expanding which led to the Big Bang theory. The Qur'an anticipated this "discovery" by 14 centuries.
The heaven used to be smoke [41:11]. We know that smoke is a mixture of hot gases and suspended particles.
The atom is not the smallest unit of matter in the universe which indicates the presence of subatomic particles! [34:3]
The Universe was created over a very long period. For God, some days last 1000 lunar years [22:47, 32:5]. This was used by Professor Mansour Hassab-Elnaby, an Egyptian physicist, to calculate the speed of light C=299792.5 km/s !!!
The Qur'an predicts that the speed of light is not the fastest speed in the universe. Spirits and angels proceed to God at 50 times the speed of light [70:4]
The earth rotates around its axis [27:88], rotates around the sun [7:54], is not flat but is like a ball [39:5] or an egg [79:30].
The lowest point on earth is near the dead sea [30:3].
Iron was sent to earth by God [57:25]. Scientists now believe that iron was introduced to earth by meteors.
The oceans have layers of waves and layers of darkness in which some creatures have light [24:40]. Scientists discovered recently different currents at different depths.
When different seas ( i.e. different in salinity, temperature, oxygen content, etc. ) meet, there is a barrier between them that they do not violate [55:19-20]. This is not apparent by visual observation but temperature sensitive satellite pictures confirm this.
Mountains are pegs that have roots extending below the surface of the earth [78:7], mountains stabilize the earth's crust by minimizing earthquakes [16:15].
Earthquakes precede volcanic eruptions [99:1].
The earth's core is heavier than its crust [99:2].
Our sun is not the only sun in the universe [25:61]. Modern astronomy tells us that the sun is actually a star and therefore the universe is full of suns. Astronomers are looking for other planets like ours. The Qur'an predicts they will find other planets [65:12]
The Bible differentiates the sun and the moon by size only: "God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars" [Genesis 1:16]. The Qur'an tells us that: the sun is a shining glory while the moon is a light [10:5]; the sun is a lamp and the moon is a light [25:61,71:16]; the sun is a blazing lamp [78:13] .
The solar system is travelling through the universe to a final destination [36:38].
At the end of time, the sun will stop radiating energy and will be folded into a ball [ 81:1] (quasar? Black hole?)
Morning is associated with breathing [81:18]. Now we know that plants produce oxygen in presence of light and consume carbon dioxide.
Sperm attaches itself to the egg to form an attachment or a leach then a chewed-like lump which develops bones which are covered with flesh and then changed into a different form [ 23:14]. This refers to facts discovered only recently when scientists, using special scopes, followed the development of the fetus from a fertilized egg to a form resembling lower vertebrae before turning into the human form.
After contemplating the descriptions of embryonic stages as a leach then a chewed-like lump [23:14], Professor Keith Moore, a Canadian embryologist, compared pictures of different embryonic stages to pictures of leaches and chewed clay and confirmed the amazing accuracy of the Qur'anic verses.
Human pregnancy passes through 3 trimesters [39:6]
Different clouds (positively and negatively charged?) are harmonized to produce droplets of water and lightning [24:43].

This is not surprising since The Qur'an came to detail and explain everything and to settle differences of opinions [12:111, 16:64, 16:89].

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a.f.aly@worldnet.att.net

Revised on 10/3/99