Quran and Modern Science

Calling the Qur'an amazing is not something done only by Muslims, who have an appreciation for the book and who are very pleased with it; it has been labeled amazing by non-Muslims as well. In fact, even people who hate Islam very much have still called it amazing. One thing which surprises non-Muslims who are examining the book very closely is that the Qur'an does not appear to them to be what they expected. What they assume is that they have an old book which came fourteen centuries ago from the Arabian desert; and they expect that the book should look something like that - an old book from desert. And then they find out that it does not resemble what they expected at all. Additionally, one of the first things that some people assume is that because it is an old which comes from the desert, it should talk about the desert. Well, the Qur'an does talk about the desert - some of its imagery describes the desert; but it also talks about the sea - what it's like to be in a storm on the sea.

Some years ago, the story came to us in Toronto about a man who was in the merchant marine and made his living on the sea. A Muslim gave him a translation of the Qur'an to read. The merchant marine knew nothing about the history of Islam but was interested in reading the Qur'an. When he finished reading it, he brought it back to the Muslim and asked, "This Muhammad, was he a sailor?" He was impressed at how accurately the Qur'an describes a storm on the sea. When he was told, No, as a matter of fact, Muhammad lived in the desert," that was enough for him. He embraced Islam on the spot. He was so impressed with the Qur'an's description because he had been in a storm on the sea, and he knew that whoever had written that description had also been in a storm on the sea. The description of "a wave, over it a wave, over it clouds" was not what someone imagining a storm on the sea to be like would have written; rather, it was written by someone who knew what a storm on the sea was like. This is one example of how the Qur'an is not tied to a certain place and time. Certainly, the scientific ideas expressed in it also do not seem to originate from the desert fourteen centuries ago.

Many centuries before the onset of Muhammad's prophethood, there was a well-known theory of atomism advanced by the Greek philosopher, Democritus. He and the people who came after him assumed that matter consists of tiny, indestructible, indivisible particles called atoms. The Arabs, too, used to deal in the same concept; in fact, the Arabic word dharrah commonly referred to the smallest particle known to man. Now, modern science has discovered that this smallest unit of matter (i.e., the atom, which has all of the same properties as its element) can be split into its component parts. This is a new idea, a development of the last century; yet, interestingly enough, this information had already been documented in the Quran, which states:

"He [i.e., Allah] is aware of an atom's weight in the heavens and on the earth and even anything smaller than that .."
{Holy Quran Surah Saba 34:3}

Undoubtedly, fourteen centuries ago that statement would have looked unusual, even to an Arab. For him, the dharrah was the smallest thing there was. Indeed, this is proof that the Quran is not outdated.

Another example of what one might expect to find in an "old book" that touches upon the subject of health or medicine is outdated remedies or cures. Various historical sources state that the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave some advice about health and hygiene, yet most of these pieces of advice are not contained in Quran. At first glance, to the non-Muslims this appears to be a negligent omission. They cannot understand why Allah would not "include" such helpful information in the Quran. Some Muslims attempt to explain this absence with the following argument: "Although the Prophet's advice was sound and applicable to the time in which he lived, Allah, in His infinite wisdom, knew that there would come later medical and scientific advances which would make Prophet's advice appear outdated. When later discoveries occurred, people might say that such information contradicted that which the Prophet (peace be upon him) had given. Thus since Allah would never allow any opportunity for the non-Muslim to claim that the Quran contradict itself or the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him), He only included in the Quran information and examples which could stand the test of time." However, when one examines the true realities of the Quran in terms of its existence as a divine revelation, the entire matter is quickly brought into its proper perspective, and the error in such argumentation becomes clear and understandable. It must be understood that the Quran is a divine revelation, and as such, all information in it is of divine origin. Allah revealed the Quran from Himself. It is the words of Allah, which existed before creation, and thus nothing can be added, subtracted or altered, In essence, the Quran existed and was complete before the creation of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), so it could not possibly contain any of such information would clearly contradict the purpose for which the Quran exists, compromise its authority and render it inauthentic as a divine revelation.

Consequently there are no "home remedies" in the Quran which one could claim to be outdated; nor does it contain any man's view about what is beneficial to health, what food is best to eat