Islam & Science
Western thought today is in the midst of a raging battle between
religion and science. It is almost impossible for a western thinker
today to accept the fact that there may be a meeting ground between
religion and science. The Bible, in which the Christians believe,
states that the tree from which the Prophet Adam (‘alaihi salaam) was
forbidden to eat was the tree of knowledge. Thus, after he ate from
it, he gained certain knowledge that he had not had before. For this
reason, Europe spent two centuries arguing whether or not to accept
scientific knowledge coming from Muslims.



The Church ruled that the pursuit of such scientific knowledge was the
cause for the original sin. The bishops drew their evidence from the
Old Testament, where it is mentioned that when Adam ate of the tree
and gained some knowledge, Allah was displeased with him and denied
him mercy. Scientific knowledge was therefore rejected entirely by the
Church as a taboo.Finally, when the free thinkers and scientists of
the West were able to overcome the power of the Church, they took
revenge by going in the opposite direction and suppressing any power
of the religion.

They went to all possible extremes in order to overcome the power of
the Church and reduce its influence into a narrow and a confined
corner.Therefore, if you discuss the issue of religion and science
with a westerner, he readily goes into sheer wonderment. They do not
know Islam. They do not know that Islam accords a very high status to
knowledge and men of knowledge, regarding them as witnesses, after the
angels, to the fact that there is no god worthy of worship in truth
but Allah, as Allah Himself has told us in the Qur’aan: There is no
Allah but He: That is the witness of Allah, His angels and those
endued with knowledge. (Qur’aan 3:18)

And Allah , may He be exalted and Glorified has also told us: Know,
therefore, that there is no true deity but Allah. (Qur’aan 47:19) It
is known from the Qur’aan that Adam (‘alaihi salaam) was favored over
the angels by virtue of the knowledge given to him by Allah. The
Qur’aanic story contradicts that of the Bible which Muslims hold to
have been distorted. According to the Qur’aan, the fact that Adam was
given knowledge is a mark of honor, and not the cause of his expulsion
from Paradise. Hence, if one discusses Islam and science with Western
thinkers, they tend to expect an argument similar to what they have in
their own religious and cultural context.

That is why they react with surprise when they are presented with the
crystal clear facts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah.Among those who were
taken by surprise is Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, Chairman of the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Molecular and Human
Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. When we first met
him, Professor Simpson insisted on verifying the Qur’aan and the
Sunnah. We were able, however, to remove his suspicion. We presented
to him the text outlining the development of the embryo.

We proved to him that the Qur’aan informs us that the hereditary and
the chromosomal make-up of the new being take place only after a
successful union between the sperm and the ovum. As we know, these
chromosomes contain all the characteristics which the new human being
will have such as the color of the eyes, skin, hair, etc.Hence, many
of the details in the human being’s make-up are determined in his
chromosomes. These chromosomes begin to form during the early nutfah
stage of embryonic development. In other words, the distinguishing
features of the new human being are determined from the very beginning
at the nutfah stage.

Allah, the Most Exalted, the Most Glorified, has stated this fact in
the Qur’aan: Woe to man! What has made him reject Allah? From what
stuff has He created him? From a sperm-drop: He has created him, and
then molded him in due proportion. (Qur’aan 80:17-19) During the first
40 days of gestation, all the body parts and organs are completely,
though consecutively formed. We can notice in Figure 2.1 that the
organs begin to be formed, assembled, and the fetus appears twisted.
The Prophet Muhammad, (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), has informed us
in a hadeeth that: In every one of you, all components of your
creation are gathered together in your mothers’ womb by 40 days.
(Narrated in Saheeh Muslim and Al-Bukhaari).

In another Hadeeth, Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)
said: When forty-two nights have passed over the drop (nutfah), Allah
sends an angel to it, who shapes it and makes its ears, eyes, skin,
flesh and bones. Then he says, “O Lord, is it male or female?” and
your Lord decides what he wishes. (Muslim).Professor Simpson studied
these two hadeeths extensively, noting that the first 40 days
constitute a clearly distinguishable stage of embryo genesis. He was
particularly impressed by the absolute precision and accuracy of those
hadeeths. Then during one of the conferences which he attended he gave
the following opinion: "So that the two hadeeths that have been noted
can provide us with a specific time table for the main embryological
development before 40 days. Again, the point had been made repeatedly
by other speakers this morning that these hadeeths could not have been
obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available
at the time of their recording."Professor Simpson says that religion
can successfully guide the pursuit of knowledge.

The West, as we said, has rejected this. Here is an American scientist
who says that religion, namely Islam, can achieve this with success.
By analogy, if you go to a factory and have with you the operation
manual of the factory, then you will be able to easily understand the
kind of operation that goes on in that factory, thanks to that manual
by the factory designer and builder. If you do not have this manual
with you, chances are much less that you will have good understanding
of the various processes there.Professor Simpson said: "It follows, I
think, that not only is there no conflict between genetics and
religion, but in fact religion can guide science by adding revelation
to some traditional scientific approaches.

That there exist statements in the Qur’aan shown by science to be
valid, which supports knowledge in the Qur’aan having been derived
from Allah."This is true. Certainly, the Muslims can lead the way in
the pursuit of knowledge and that they can accord knowledge in its
proper status. Moreover, Muslims know how to use knowledge as a proof
of the existence of Allah, May Allah be Exalted and Glorified, and to
affirm the Messenger ship of Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

Allah said in the Qur’aan: Soon will we show them our signs in the
(furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it
becomes manifest to them that this is the truth. Is it not enough that
thy Lord does witness all things? (Qur’aan 41:53). After having
realized through examples of scientific miracles in the Qur’aan as
well as knowing the related comments of the objective scientists on
them, let us ask ourselves these questions:

1. Could it be a coincidence that all this recently discovered
scientific information from different fields was mentioned in the
Qur’aan which was revealed 14 centuries ago?

2. Could this Qur’aan have been authored by Muhammad (sallAllahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) or by any other human being?The only possible
answer to that is that the Qur’aan must be the literal word of God
(Allah) revealed by Him. The Qur’aan is the literal word of Allah
which He revealed to His Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa
sallam) through the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel). It was memorized by
Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) who then dictated it to his
companions.

They in turn memorized it, wrote it down, and reviewed it with the
Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).Moreover, the Prophet
Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) reviewed the Qur’aan with the
Angel Jibreel once every Ramadhan (the month of fasting) and twice in
the last year of his life in the same Islamic calendar. Since the
Qur’aan was revealed, up until today, there has always been a huge
number of Muslims who have memorized all of the Qur’aan, letter by
letter. Some of them have been able to memorize all of the Qur’aan by
the age of ten. Thus, it is not surprising to note that not one letter
of the Qur’aan has been changed for centuries up to now.The Qur’aan
which was revealed 14 centuries ago mentioned facts that are only
recently discovered by proven scientists.

This proves without doubt that the Qur’aan must be the literal word
of Allah, revealed by Him to the Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi
wa sallam) and it also proves that Muhammad (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa
sallam) is truly a Messenger and Prophet sent by Allah. It is beyond
reason that anyone fourteen hundred years ago would have known these
facts discovered or proven very recently with advanced equipment and
sophisticated methods.


This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 1:28 pm and
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