The Preservation of the Quran

 

Demystifying Islam

 by Dr. Ali Shehata

 

The Preservation of the Quran

 

This last point of our introduction to the Quran leads us to one of the most practically important characteristics of the Quran, and that is its preservation.  Logically, if God wished to send down a Message for all of humanity from the time of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh --till the Day of Judgment, it would reasonably have to be protected from any changes, be they additions or subtractions.  

 

Interestingly, one of the strongest arguments against Christianity being the final message for mankind is this very point.  As it is well documented, the language which Jesus used to preach during his lifetime was primarily Aramaic.* So naturally we would want to have in our possession one Aramaic copy of the Gospel, with no other variant copies being in existence.  But the problem is, there is no original Aramaic Gospel or Bible—only translations of the original Greek manuscripts into Aramaic.   * Tharoor, I. (2014, May 27).  What language did Jesus speak? The pope and Israel’s prime minister disagree. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/27/whatlanguage-did-jesus-speak-the-pope-and-israels-prime-minister-disagree

 

The oldest manuscripts of the New Testament of the Bible are either in Greek or Hebrew, but none in the original language of Jesus.  Furthermore, there is an extensive gap between the actual events and when they were written, a gap often over a generation! In fact, the earliest copy of New Testament text discovered to date is called Papyrus 52 (P52), which contains a small fragment of John’s gospel, (18.31-33, 37-38). It was discovered in 1934 by C. H. Roberts, and is believed to have been copied from its (now extant 96 CE) original no later than 150 CE, but no earlier than 100 CE.* So, current day Bibles rely on a translation (actually many different versions of the same story) to try to piece together what Jesus really said and did during his brief life.  Hence, any English Bible is actually a translation of a translation!  How then could this be the final message to mankind when the original wasn’t even preserved, and in fact not even written, in many cases, for decades after Jesus left the earth?  Surely God would preserve it if it were meant for the rest of time.

* “Recent research points to a date nearer to 200 AD, but there is as yet no convincing evidence that any earlier fragments from the New Testament survive. Carbon-dating is a destructive method and has not been used on the Fragment.” (Retrieved from: http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/special-collections/guide-to-special-collections/st-johnfragment/what-is-the-significance/)

 

But, this is in fact one of the characteristics of the Quran.  It has been preserved not only in writing from the time of the Prophet pbuh, but also in the hearts of thousands, even millions, of devoted worshippers ever since the time of its revelation.  Surely, this is something for rational people to reflect on. 

 

In fact, God has taken it upon Himself to protect this Quran from corruption and changes, or even loss, when He said:

  

We have without doubt sent down the Revelation and We will assuredly guard it. {15:9}

 

How the Quran Was Preserved:  Memorization and Print

 

The Quran as it was revealed by God has reached us today unchanged and pure through two ways that both provide a check and balance system to one another, and there is no other system of religion which has continued till this day that possesses such a secure form of transmission.

 

The Prophet Muhammad pbuh himself was the first to begin memorizing the revelation after the Angel Gabriel had brought it to him, as is evidenced by the following passage:

 

Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an. Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its recitation. So when We have recited it, then follow its recitation. Then upon Us is its clarification [to you]. {75:16-19}

 

And

A Messenger from Allah, reciting purified scriptures. {98: 2}

 

The Prophet pbuh also instructed his Companions to memorize it. One prominent example is that of the Companion of the Prophet, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, who was the first man to recite the Qur’an publicly in Mecca. This shows that even early on in the spread of Islam, the recitation of the Quran from memory was practiced by the Companions. The later Caliph (Term used for the leader of the Muslim Empire) Abu Bakr was also known to recite the Quran from memory in front of his house in Mecca.  In fact, the Islamic scholar Al-Suyuti records that over twenty of the famous Companions, in addition to the hundreds of less well known Companions, had committed the entire Quran to memory and had been approved to teach it to others due to their great proficiency in it.

 

It is thus well established in Islamic history that the Qur’an was memorized during the lifetime of the Prophet by his Companions, and furthermore that this tradition has continued among the subsequent Muslim generations till today.  Today, it is estimated that there are millions of Muslims who have memorized the entire Quran, with the vast majority of Muslims having memorized at least some parts of it.   

 

Commenting on the importance of the memorization of the Quran to the preservation of the Quran, author John Burton writes in his book An Introduction to the Hadith, “The method of transmitting the Quran from one generation to the next by having the young memorize the oral recitation of their elders had mitigated somewhat from the beginning the worst perils of relying solely on written records….” (Burton, John. (2001). An Introduction to the Ḥadi¯th. Edinburgh University Press)

 

Secondly, the Quran was also, of course, written down and compiled into a book, or mus-haf  as it is known in Arabic. This process though was done in two phases:

 1. Writing down of the Quranic revelation on different parchments, and other materials, as it descended upon the Prophet pbuh. 

2. The Gathering of all these parchments and segments into one book within two years of the death of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh.

 

We shall now take a more in-depth look at these stages to better understand the process of collecting the Quran.

 

The reports and evidences of the Quran having been written from the very beginning are numerous and I will only give one famous example here to substantiate this point.  When the Message first came down upon the Prophet pbuh, he was in Mecca, his birthplace.  After the people began to hear of the news of the revelation, they began to oppose him fiercely and the early converts to Islam were very few and very weak.  There was much fear and the majority didn’t declare their faith in public. One such person who initially opposed the Prophet greatly was Umar ibn Al-Khattab; a man who would later become a close and beloved Companion of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh and the second leader, or Caliph, of the Muslim empire.

 

One day, Umar awoke and decided that he had heard enough about this man Muhammad pbuh and decided that he would kill him and end the matter once and for all.  On his way to kill Muhammad pbuh, someone came and told him that Umar’s own sister had accepted Islam in secret.  Enraged he went off to his sister’s home to investigate the matter.

 

Upon arriving and finding his sister and her husband reading a portion of the Quran, he aggressively shoved his brother-in-law to the side and struck his sister causing her to bleed.  After they admitted their conversion, Umar, feeling remorse over hitting his sister so hard, requested to read the portion of the Quran in their possession and promised he wouldn’t damage the parchment on which it was written.  After ritually washing himself, as his sister requested him to do, he read the page in which a portion of sura 20 was written.  Upon reading just a few passages, his eyes became moist with tears, and he remarked, “How fine and noble is this speech....”   He then immediately went to the house of one of the Companions named al-Arqam, the place where the Prophet pbuh would meet in secret with the early converts, and declared the testimony of faith before the Prophet Muhammad pbuh.  Thus, this well known historical event illustrates how, even in the earliest days of the spread of Islam, large passages of the Quran had already been written down. Concerning the collection of the Quran into one volume, many people ask, “Why wasn’t the Quran collected into one written volume during the life of the Prophet?”  There are at least four clear reasons why this didn’t happen, as follows:

 

1. The Quran itself was not revealed in one time, but rather sequentially over 23 years.  In fact, scholars believe that the last verses to be revealed of the Quran came down just nine days before the death of the Prophet. Fatoohi, L. (2014). The First and Last Revelations of the Qur'an. Birmingham: Luna Plena Publishing.

 

2. Some verses were abrogated, or replaced by God, in the course of the revelation, and thus it was not always known when something was revealed whether another verse later would be revealed to replace a previous one.

 

3. The verses and suras (chapters) were not revealed in the order in which they would be later recorded, but were arranged at a later time, before the death of the Prophet, under the guidance of the Archangel Gabriel.  This means, that sometimes a segment of verses would be revealed and later another verse might come down and God would command for it to be inserted into the middle of the segment received previously.

 

4. The Prophet pbuh was severely ill before his death and during the descent of the last revelations.

 

Yet, nonetheless there are many evidences that support the presence of written volumes of the Quran in a gathered form during the life of the Prophet.  One such evidence is the early historical report that states, “When people came to Madinah to learn about Islam, they were provided with copies of some of the chapters of the Qur’an to read and memorize them.” (Hamidullah, M. (1955). As Sahifa tul Sahiha - Sahifa Hammam Ibn Munnabbih. Hyderabad)

 

Another powerful evidence comes from the Quran itself which states:

 

This is indeed a Qur’an most honourable, in a book well guarded, which none shall touch except those who are pure. A revelation from the Lord of the Universe. {56:77-80}

 

From the hadith, we also read the following from Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, who states: 

The Messenger of God said: “Do not take the Qur’an on a journey with you, for I am afraid that it might fall into the hands of the enemy.” [Bukhari]

The reason for this prohibition appears to be two-fold: 1) due to the risk, early on in Islam and prior to the standardization of the Quran, that enemies of the Muslims would seek to corrupt the text, and 2) due to the fear of the enemies of Islam belittling or abusing the words of God.

 

Another well known report gathered in the books of Seerah (biography and study of the life of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh) states that during the Final Pilgrimage of the Prophet that he gave a sermon to the large gathering of Muslims there, and that in it he said: “I have left with you something which if you will hold fast to it you will not go astray—the book of God (Quran) and the practice of his Prophet (Sunnah).” [Muwatta]

 

This advice from the Prophet also indicates that the Quran was available as a book, or in one volume, before his death, or otherwise he would have described it in other terms.  Concerning the positioning of verses in the suras, the Companion, and later caliph, Uthman states that in the latter days of the Prophet, whenever a verse was revealed, that he used to call someone from the scribes (who used to write for him) and tell them: “Place these verses in such and such sura.” This passage demonstrates clearly how the Prophet pbuh gave instructions for the arrangement of the material. 

 

Furthermore, there are three hadith in the famous collection of Bukhari (recognized as the most authentic book in Islam after the Quran), stating that the Archangel Gabriel used to recite the Qur’an with the Prophet ﷺ once a year in the fasting month of Ramadan, but that he recited it with him twice in the year which he died.* (“Gabriel used to repeat the recitation of the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once a year, but he repeated it twice with him in the year he died.” [Bukhari])

 

Lastly, the position and arrangement of the verses was obviously well known to the Companions, as they needed this knowledge in order to perform their daily prayers, which involves the recitation of parts of the Qur’an in the prayers.  

 

In summary then, the following factors provide for significant evidence to establish the collection of the Quran in writing during the lifetime of the Prophet pbuh:

1. Quranic revelation was written down very early in the days of the Prophet’s call.

2. The Prophet pbuh had many dedicated scribes, over twenty, who wrote down scripture when it was revealed.

3. The Prophet pbuh himself instructed his scribes as to where the verses should be placed upon their revelation, and thus established their position and arrangement.

4. This position and arrangement was well known to the Companions and strictly maintained by them in their daily prayers and other acts of worship.

5. The Archangel Gabriel reviewed the entire Quran with the Prophet ﷺ annually in Ramadan, and went through it twice in the year the Prophet died.

6. There are several established reports about the existence of the written Quran, in the form of a book, during the lifetime of the Prophet.

 

So, upon his death, the Messenger had left the Muslims of that era, and those to come, hundreds of Companions who had memorized the entire Quran, as well as written copies of the chapters with verses arranged and ordered, some in volumes and others loosely separated.

 

So, the writing and collection of the Quran, both being done in the lifetime of the Prophet, comes in sharp contrast to the collection of the religious scriptures of other faiths.  It is an undeniable fact that the Old and New Testament scriptures, were written, compiled and edited over much longer periods of time, sometimes centuries; and even today are subject to criticism and re-evaluation as was done with the King James Bible when it was revised into the English Revised Version of the Bible in the late nineteenth century.  This, of course, also is beside the fact that the entire Gospel of Jesus, as mentioned previously, has been either lost or destroyed.  (Revisers of the King James Bible were tasked with making changes only if they were deemed necessary to be more accurate and faithful to the Original Greek and Hebrew texts. In the New Testament alone more than 30,000 changes were made, over 5,000 on the basis of what were considered better Greek manuscripts.)

 

The Final Preparation of the Quran

The Quran that remains in the hands of billions of Muslims today was prepared in two main stages by the two Companions Abu Bakr and Uthman during their respective periods of leading the Muslim empire after the death of the Prophet.

 

In the year 633 CE (about six months after the death of the Prophet), the noble Companion Abu Bakr was the caliph of the Muslims and led them in the Battle of Yamama. It was in this crucial battle that a large number of Muslims who had memorised the Qur’an, approximately seventy, were killed.  Thus, some of the Companions feared that unless a standard written copy of the Qur’an were prepared that portions of the revelation might be lost. 

 

It was decided after some deliberation that the main scribe of the Prophet during his lifetime, Zaid ibn Thabit, would lead the task of gathering all the written portions of the Quran. Using the memory of multiple persons as a check and balance, he compiled one volume of the Quran.  His committee in this momentous task was composed of some of the most devout, God-fearing and trustworthy Companions of the Prophet, and also included those who had memorizered the entire Quran. Zaid himself was also one of the main Companions certified by the Prophet during his lifetime to teach the Quran.

 

The committee, in examining the written material submitted to them, insisted on very stringent criteria as a safeguard against any errors (Al-Asqalani, Ahmad ibn Hajar. (1997). Fath al-bari Sharh Sahih alBukhari. Riyadh: Dar al-Salam.)

1. The material must have been originally written down in the presence of the Prophet. Nothing written down later on the basis of memory alone was to be accepted.

2. The material must be confirmed by two witnesses, that is to say, by two trustworthy persons testifying that they themselves had heard the Prophet recite the passage in question.

 

Umar said, “Whoever received anything of the Quran from the Prophet, then let him bring it.” And they used to write it on the parchments and bones and date-palm leaves. He said that nothing would be accepted from anyone until two witnesses testify to it. And this demonstrates that Zayd was not satisfied solely with finding it written down, until someone testified that he heard it, even though Zayd himself had memorized it. Hence, they used to take this extra step in order to be more cautious. And Abu Dawud records a narration on the authority of Hisham ibn ‘Urwa that his father said that Abu Bakr said to Umar and Zayd, “Sit down at the door of the Mosque and whoever of two witnesses come to you regarding the Quran, then write it down.” The men of this narration are trustworthy despite the chain being broken, and the intended meaning regarding two witnesses was memorization and writing, or it meant that they both testify that what was written down was actually written down under the authority of the Messenger, or it meant that they both testify that it was sent down as Quranic revelation. And thus, it was their methodology that nothing was written down, until they receive what was written down during the time of the Prophet him, and not just from memorization. (Al-Asqalani, Ahmad ibn Hajar. Fath al-bari Sharh Sahih al- Bukhari. Kitab: Fadaa'il Al Qur'aan, Baab: Jami' Al Qur'aan, Commentary on Hadith no. 4603)

 

This official manuscript on which the Qur’an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till his death, and then with the next caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab till his death, and finally it remained with Hafsa, Umar’s daughter.  It should be further noted that other personal manuscripts of the Quran did exist with some of the well known Companions at this time as well.  Some modern day critics have tried to use the presence of these copies to indicate some sort of jealous quarreling between the Companions, whereas no such thing has ever been documented in any authentic sources.

                                                                                                        

Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari, who was one of those who used to write the Divine Revelation, narrates: “Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors of the battle of Yamama. Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, ‘Umar has come to me and said, ‘The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of the battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the those who have memorized the Qur'an on other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an.’ … Then Abu Bakr said to me, ‘You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you of telling lies or of forgetfulness, and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for God’s Messenger (ﷺ). Therefore, look for the  Qur'an and collect it in one manuscript.’ By God, if [Abu Bakr] had ordered me to move one of the mountains, it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur'an. … So I started locating the various passages of the Qur'anic and collecting it from parchments, bones, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Abi Khuzaymah two Verses of Surat-atTauba which I had not found with anybody else, ‘There has certainly come to  you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer,  [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful. But if they turn away, [O Muhammad], say, ‘Sufficient for me is Allah, there is no deity except Him. On Him I have relied, and He is the Lord of the Great Throne’.’ (9.128-129) The manuscript on which the Qur'an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till God took him, and then with Umar till God took him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, Umar's daughter.” [Bukhari]  Note: “And when Zayd found [these two verses] with Abi Khuzaymah, [the committee] remembered it just as how Zayd remembered it (and hence it was accepted).” (Al-Asqalani, Ahmad ibn Hajar. Fath al-bari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari. Kitab: Fadaa'il Al Qur'aan, Baab: Jami' Al Qur'aan, Commentary on Hadith no. 4603)

 

In fact, a careful study of these other manuscripts indicates that they differed from the official copy of Abu Bakr by sometimes no more than twelve or fifteen verses, and that none of these Companions with the deficient copies ever held their copy to be more correct or complete than the official manuscript collected by Zaid ibn Thabit and his team.

Some Companions used to write their own manuscripts and add comments or explanations to verses. At that time, writing did not include brackets or using a different color or font to distinguish the addition from the original text. Therefore, the comment/explanation was part of the original sentence, i.e. verse, leading some who examined them years and decades to think that it was part of the Quran, when in reality it was not. Needless to say the writer (Companion) knew the difference and could tell them apart. Thus, the Companions did not have a different Quran, they had the same one with their comments added.

 

Indeed, the copy of the Quran prepared by Zaid ibn Thabit’s team was unanimously approved by all of the Companions at that time, without exception.  Concerning the ijmaa’, or unanimous concensus of the Muslim community, the Prophet had said,

 My community will never agree upon error. [Ibn Majaah]

 

Had Zaid ibn Thabit even have made one mistake, even of a single letter in transcribing the Quran, the memorizers of the Quran, (which totalled in the tens of hundreds at that time) would have caught it right away and corrected it publically. This is exactly where the check and balance system of preservation of the Quran comes into play; a system which is not found for any other scripture besides the Quran.

 

The Mus-haf of Uthman

The Quran was originally revealed in the dialect of Arabic most common to the tribe of Quraish that inhabited Mecca. But to facilitate the understanding of the text for people who spoke other dialects, God revealed the Quran in seven dialects of Arabic. It is essential, though, to understand that though the dialect was different, the meaning was unchanged. To understand better, it would be like having a book written in both the dialect of the American South and in British English—both of these English dialects are notably different in pronounciation and even in vocabulary, though they can convey the same meaning in their own manner. Thus, were the varying Arabic dialects at the time.

 

During the period of the third Muslim Caliph, Uthman ibn ‘Affaan, as the Muslim Empire was growing rapidly, differences in the reading of the Quran among the various tribes became excessive. As each region had learned the Quran from a different Companion, according to the seven dialects in which the Quran was revealed, the various dialectical recitations began to clash. Disputes were happening, with each town calling its recitation the correct one. Hence, the Quran entered into its second, and final stage, of preparation and dissemination, known as the manuscript of Uthman. We read the following historical account in the hadith of Bukhari,

 

Anas bin Malik narrates, “Hudhaifa ibnul-Yamaan came to Uthman at the time when the people of Syria and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azerbijan.  Hudhaifa was afraid of the differences between the people of Syria and Iraq in their recitation of the Quran, so he said to Uthman, ‘O Chief of the Believers!  Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran), as the Jews and the Christians did before.’ So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, ‘Send us the manuscript of the Quran collected by Abu Bakr so that we may compile the Quranic verses in perfect copies and return the manuscript to you.’ Hafsa sent it to Uthman. Uthman then ordered Zaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah ibn AzZubair, Sa’eed ibn Al-‘Aas and Abdur Rahman ibn alHarith ibn Hisham to rewrite the manuscript in perfect copies.  Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, ‘In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, [concerning pronounciation or dialect only] then write it in the dialect of Quraish as the Quran was revealed in their tongue.’ They did so, and when they had written many copies, Uthman returned the original manuscript to Hafsa. Uthman then sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Quranic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.”   [Bukhari]

 

So, the Quran that Uthman had mass produced and sent off to the Muslim provinces to be the standard or official Quran contained no differences (deficiency or addition) from the manuscript (mus-haf) that Abu Bakr had collected only six months after the death of the Prophet.  This version of the text, also known as “Mus-haf Uthman,” constitutes the consensus of the Companions, whom all agreed that it contained what Muhammad ﷺ had brought as revelation from God, and it was in one uniform dialect to remove dispute.  Indeed, upon this collection, Naysaburi records that Zaid ibn Thabit said, "I saw the Companions of Muhammad going about saying, ‘By God, Uthman has done well! By God, Uthman has done well!’” Naysaburi, al-Nizam al-Din al-Hasan ibn Muhammad. (1962). Ghara’ib al-Quran wa-ragha’ib al-furqan. 4 vols. Cairo.

 

The last and most powerful statement that can henceforth be mentioned is that of the copies made by Uthman, two still exist till this very day. One is in the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the second one is in Istanbul, Turkey.  As a matter of fact, their text and the order of their verses and surahs can be compared with any other copy of the Quran from any place or period of time, and they will be found to be nothing less than identical.

 

It is this amazing feat of preservation that prompted British author Sir Williams Muir, author of Life of Mohammad, to write, “There is otherwise every security, internal and external, that we possess the text which Muhammad himself gave forth and used … There is probably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text.” (Muir, W. and Weir, T. (1975). The Life of Moḥammad. New York: AMS Press.)

 

Of course, since the time that these words were written, another two hundred years have also passed still without any change in the Quran, and why should there be any change when the Master of the Universe Himself has undertaken the protection of this book.

 

Concluding Remarks

The noted German Muslim writer Ahmad von Denfer has written an excellent book on the sciences of the Quran, called Ulum al-Quran(Von Denffer, A. (2015). Ulum al Qur'an. New York: Kube Publishing Ltd.).  I include here some of his well written comments on the Quran as a conclusion to this chapter. Those who embark upon a study of the Quran often proceed with the assumption that this Book is, as it is commonly believed to be, a detailed code of guidance.

 

However, when they actually read it, they fail to find detailed regulations regarding social, political and economic matters. In fact, they notice that the Quran has not laid down detailed regulations even in respect of such oft-repeated subjects as Prayers and [Charity]. The reader finds this somewhat disconcerting and wonders in what sense the Qur'an can be considered a code of guidance.  

 

The uneasiness some people feel about this arises because they forget that God did not merely reveal a Book, but that he also designated a Prophet. Suppose some laymen were to be provided with the bare outlines of a construction plan on the understanding that they would carry out the construction as they wished. In such a case, it would be reasonable to expect that they should have very elaborate directives as to how the construction should be carried out. Suppose, however, that along with the broad outline of the plan of construction, they were also provided with a competent engineer to supervise the task. In that case, it would be quite unjustifiable to disregard the work of the engineer, on the expectation that detailed directives would form an integral part of the construction plan, and then to complain of imperfection in the plan itself.  

 

The Quran, to put it succinctly, is a Book of broad general principles rather than of legal minutiae. The Book's main aim is to expound, clearly and adequately, the intellectual and moral foundations of the Islamic programme for life. It seeks to consolidate these by appealing to both the person's mind and to his/her heart. Its method of guidance for practical Islamic life does not consist of laying down minutely detailed laws and regulations. It prefers to outline the basic framework for each aspect of human activity, and to lay down certain guidelines within which man can order his life in keeping with the Will of God. The mission of the Prophet pbuh was to give practical shape to the Islamic vision of the good life, by offering the world a model of an individual character and of a human state and society, as living embodiments of the principles of the Qur'an.

 

With this being said, we shall now move on to the other source of Islamic revelation, the Hadith—or traditions—of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh, where will see more of the precise details that the author described above.

  Source 

Modern Science and the Quran

 

Demystifying Islam

 by Dr. Ali Shehata

 

Modern Science and the Quran

 

The faith of Islam continued to grow century after century, until it eventually reached the age of modern science, namely the 20^th century.  It was in this era that a new miracle of the Quran began to shine forth when scientific discoveries began to confirm many of the scientific passages of the Quran.  

 

Although the Quran has most recently distinguished itself in the arena of scientific knowledge, it must be still remembered that it is not a book of science—it is a book of guidance.  So the unique way in which God, through His revealed verses in the Quran, uses scientific facts and concepts to call the reader to the worship of the One and Only God is quite interesting.  For example, in illustrating the guarantee of the resurrection of humanity on the Day of Judgment, God states:

 

O people! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then surely We created you from dust, then from a small seed, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh, partly formed and partly unformed, that We may make it clear to you. 

 

And We cause what We please to stay in the wombs till an appointed time, then We bring you forth as babies, that you may then attain maturity and full strength. Then, some of you are called to die, and some are sent back to the feeblest old age, so that they know nothing after having known much. 

 

And you see the earth barren and lifeless, but when We send down rain to it, it is stirred to life, it swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful growth in pairs.  

 

This is so, because God is the Reality and it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things.  And verily the Hour will come—there can be no doubt about it, or about the fact that God will indeed raise up all who are in the graves. {22:5-7}

 

So in these verses, God uses the current scientific understanding of embryology (The study of the development of the human from embryo to fetus in the womb of the mother) in detailed and descriptive terms that were only discovered in the late twentieth century with the advent of electron and high amplification microscopy.  God relates these stages to us, not for us to build scientific knowledge, but to instead confirm for us that the promise of the Day of Judgment is indeed a reality.  

 

The only One who could say this with surety is none other than the Creator Himself.  He is the only One who could detail to us the stages of human development over one thousand years before we could even imagine these stages ourselves with modern scientific instrumentation.  God does indicate to us the spiritual value of these scientifically laden passages when He says:

 

We will show them Our signs in the horizons, and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient, concerning your Lord, that He is, over all things, a Witness?  {41:53}

 

Hence, it is clear how this Book repeatedly appeals to you to think, reason, and understand why we believe what we believe. Furthermore, it forbids you to believe blindly without reflection and reasoning.   

 

In fact, the word for faith in the Arabic language is emaan, which comes from the root amn, which means safety, security and trust—those very things that can only be established in a heart after something has proven itself worthy.  For example, if you met a stranger on the street and he asks you to get into his car, would you trust him?  Of course not, because he hasn’t proven himself trustworthy.  But if your best friend saw you and asked you if you wanted a ride, that would be a totally different story because you know that person and you trust them. Thus, God provides these and other examples in the Quran so that you can get a glimpse into His infinite knowledge and power, thereby giving you a good and solid reason to trust Him and to trust His Message to you.  And when you realize how all these things are true, then the unseen things, like: Heaven, Hell, the Day of Judgment, etc. must also be true.  Now, let us take a look at some more examples of the amazing science found in the Quran, and see how God uses these verses to call people to His worship.   

 

The Dynamic Expansion of the Universe

 Up until the early twentieth century, the field of astronomy held the belief that the universe was something static, or fixed in place.  Scientists theorized that when the universe came into existence that it didn’t significantly change its dimensions afterwards.  This theory though, was effectively proven false in the early 1900’s.

 

In 1925, Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space telescope is named) provided the first observational evidence for the expansion of the universe.  This means that since its coming into existence, the universe’s boundaries have been expanding.  The late Stephen Hawking (one of the top astrophysicists of recent times and author of the book, A Brief History of Time) states, “The universe is not static, as had previously been thought. It is expanding.” (Hawking, S.W. (1988). Origin of the Universe. Retrieved from: http://www.ralentz.com/old/astro/hawking-1.html )

 

So, what did God say in the Quran, almost 1300 years before this discovery and almost 1400 years before the Hubble telescope? 

 

And the heavens We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are expanding them.  {51:47}

 

Mountains are Like Stakes in the Earth

Geology is the study of the Earth—its properties, formation and behavior as seen through earthquakes, geysers, and tectonic plate movement, amongst other things.  Among the more recent discoveries of modern geology, there is a phenomenon called isostasy, which essentially states that mountains have deep roots under the earth’s crust into the mantle. 

 

Sir George Biddell Airy, the British Astronomer Royal, in 1855, was the first to propose the theory of isostasy, that mountain ranges must have root structures of lower density, proportional to their height, in order to maintain isostatic equilibrium. This existence of these root structures has since been confirmed by seismic and gravitational data. (Tarbuck, E.J. and Lutgens, F.K. (1982). Earth Science. 3rd ed. Columbus: Charles E. Merril Publishing Company)

 

The Quran contains exactly such a description in the following verses, as God reminds humanity of His great favors to them and how they should be thankful to Him and worship Him alone as opposed to the worship of the false gods they invent:

 

 Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, and the mountains as stakes?  {78:6-7}

 

Once again, the Qur'anic descriptions are in complete agreement with modern geological data and observation, with the exception that the Quran contained these statements over a millennium before today’s geologists were even able to theorize what they currently describe.  Will you then still disbelieve in this powerful and miraculous message?

 

Levels of Darkness in the Oceans

One of the truly fascinating verses in the Quran describes the layers of darkness in the oceans, comparing them to different levels of disbelief in God and Islam.

 

Or they are like layers of darkness within an unfathomable sea which is covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds—layer upon layer of darkness. When one puts out his hand therein, he can hardly see it. And he to whom God has not granted light, for him there is no light. {24:40}

 

The darkness in deep seas and oceans is now known to come in layers.  Between the water’s surface and a depth of about 100-200 meters (300-600 feet) gradual separation of the light spectrum occurs, one color at a time until near darkness is attained.( https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/oceandepths/light-ocean).

To explain further, at a certain depth, the red wavelength is completely blocked (absorbed)—below that depth, the color red can no longer be appreciated. At another depth, the green wavelength is completely blocked, and the same phenomenon happens to all the other seven color wavelengths in the visible light spectrum.

 

Furthermore, after 200 meters (600 ft), depending on the location of the body of water in question, there is almost no light because almost all the color wavelengths, with the exception of blue, have been fully blocked at this point. Complete and absolute darkness though, occurs only after exceeding a depth of 1000 meters (over half a mile down!), as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/light_travel.html). Though records continue to be broken, human beings are not thought to be able to dive more than about 250 meters (On June 6, 2012, Herbert Nitsch, a free diver, descended 253 meters in Greece.) (750 feet) without the aid of submarines or special SCUBA equipment due to the enormous incremental increases in pressure that work to compress the lungs and the available air supply. (In 2014, expert diver and scientist, Ahmed Gabr, set the deep dive record of 1082 feet (332 meters) At a depth of 330 meters, the pressure on the human body is estimated at 485 pounds/square inch (PSI)).

 

Yet, the development of special diving gear and submarines in the last century has finally allowed oceanologists and other scientists to be able to dive to depths never before experienced by man.  And only then, were they able to describe this light absorption and gradual darkness phenomenon after having experienced it firsthand!  Therefore, the Quranic description of "layer upon layer of darkness" is once again perfectly in tune with the above mentioned observable facts of gradual light separation to the point where almost no light exists (the 200m depth), where as God mentioned, “When one puts out his hand therein, he can hardly see it;” and then on to absolute darkness where God mentions, “And he to whom God has not granted light, for him there is no light”.  

 

Internal Waves in the Oceans 

Another recently discovered phenomenon in the study of oceans is that of internal ocean, or deep sea, waves.   In the middle portion of the above mentioned passage from the Quran, “Covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds,” the deep waters of seas and oceans possess waves, and above these waves are other waves.  It appears that the second set of waves mentioned are the surface waves that are commonly observed by the human eye, because the passage mentions that above the second waves, there are clouds.  So what then are the first set of waves?  

 

Interestingly, recent studies of oceans have shown the presence of internal waves which “occur on density interfaces between layers of different densities” (Massel, S.R. (2015). Internal Gravity Waves in the Shallow Seas. Retrieved from: https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783319189079-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1516574-p177380738). In English, this means that these internal waves can be found between different temperature and salt concentration zones of the ocean.  Most of us who have gone swimming in the ocean before have discovered certain areas where the water feels nice and warm, but surprisingly going just a little deeper the water suddenly becomes much colder.  This is one of the interfaces mentioned above which has its own set of scientifically observed waves.  Internal waves cannot be seen by the human eye, but they can be detected by studying temperature or salt concentration changes at different depths of water.

 

Of course, the above mentioned scientific principles are no doubt intriguing, but as was mentioned before, this Message to humanity isn’t meant to be a science lesson.  It is meant to be a means of guiding the souls of mankind to the worship of the One God alone.  And in these verses, the message can be no clearer.

 

The darkness of the ocean is likened to the condition of the souls of those who deny and reject this Quran.  Of course, some people are further astray than others and hence the different layers, or depths, of darkness.  It gets to the point where some souls are so deep into the darkness of denial, as if they are blind; not with their eyes, but with their souls.  They can no longer distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood.  And it concludes by making it clear that light, meaning guidance that clarifies the difference between right and wrong, is not only singular (as opposed to the levels of darkness which are many), but also, comes only from God.  You will never be guided aright if you don’t turn humbly to Him and seek that guidance.

 

As evidence, there are well known authors in science who have declared publicly that this Quran could have come only from God, but they have refused to submit to Him.  They know that anyone who thinks that Muhammad pbuh wrote the Quran is only proving his own ignorance and foolishness.  Such an idea means that Muhammad pbuh would have had to travel back in time to witness the Big Bang and describe it for us, then observe the expansion of the universe from his intergalactic vantage point and tell us about it and then travel deep into the earth’s molten core to describe the “roots” of the mountains.  

 

Not finished, this Super-Prophet would then be off to the deep oceans where he would dive where no human could survive unaided and observe the light and wave principles described above, and still have some time left over to describe for us in amazing detail the formative stages of human development in the womb with eyes more powerful than a modern day electron microscope.  Who would believe such tales and ignore the power and ability of the Creator who is able to tell us all this information, and more besides it?  As foolish as that may sound, there are many among mankind who have deceived their own souls in this manner. Thus, once again we are reminded, “And he to whom God has not granted light, for him there is no light.”  

 

Numerical Miracles in the Quran

 

Another fascinating miracle of the Quran involves its numerical code or structure.  This area of Quranic study is one of the most recent, as it depends greatly on computer analysis of the verses to detect patterns. Accordingly, there are many interesting findings, Glory be to God.

 

Similar to the scientific verses discussion above, there are far too many mathematical miracles to discuss in this short chapter, so I will be forced to limit the discussion to only one amazing point.  Before I begin detailing it, I want to caution the reader, because there are a number of people who have been led astray as a result of their belief that everything comes down to numbers or some code.  

 

One such group which has been led astray follow a man who popularized the idea of the number nineteen being the key to some patterns in the Quran.  Afterwards though, he unfortunately declared himself a prophet of God, and then began trying to change Islam and the Quran to match his ideas.  God being the ultimate Protector of His religion, this man and others like him in the past have failed, and indeed any others who attempt such foolhardy tactics in the future will no doubt meet the same result.  

 

Once again, the miracle of the Quran is not in scientific facts, numbers, eloquence or history—but the miracle of the Quran is how it raises up righteous people who worship God as He should be worshipped, standing strong for justice and morality.  The side points are beneficial to consider, but don’t make the mistake of taking them as the primary message or goal of the Quran.

 

With this in mind, the mathematical miracle of the Quran herein presented relates to Jesus.  As the scientific miracles were not revealed for science, but for the guidance of humanity, these mathematical findings in the Quran present the same goal—guidance.  God has stated:

 

 With Allah, the example of Jesus is like that of Adam. He created Him from dust, then He said to him, "Be," and he was.  {3:59}

 

So, looking at this interesting passage in mathematical terms, one could state that Jesus = Adam, as far as God is concerned, because both of them were the result of the Creative word of God. Adam was created from dust, without father or mother, when God said to him, “Be,” and similarly Jesus was immaculately conceived from a woman without any involvement of a man when God said “Be,” and Jesus came into existence.  

 

If some argue that Jesus is God, or the son of God, because of the Immaculate Conception, then God reminds them that Adam was also born miraculously. In fact, Adam was born without either a father or mother.  As far as our physical bodies are concerned, they are all merely dust.  In God's sight then, Jesus was dust, just as Adam was.  These are the main religious lessons that comes from this passage.  So where then is the miracle?

 

First Mathematical Point

 If one was to go through the whole Quran, he would discover that the name "Jesus" is found in twenty-five places.   Similarly, he would also find that the name "Adam" is also found in twenty-five places.   Hence, the similarity of Adam and Jesus is not only in their nature, but also mathematically in the number of their times each is mentioned.

 

Second Mathematical Point

Taking it a step further, the above mentioned passage (3:59) is the only place where the two names are mentioned together. Counting the number of times each Prophet’s name has been mentioned from the start of the Quran, amazingly we discover that this is the 7th time each one is mentioned, and counting from the back of the Quran, this verse also represents the 19 time each Prophet is mentioned.  Once again, they are equal in more ways than one.

 

Third Mathematical Point

The 19th time "Adam" is mentioned, and the 19th time that "Jesus" is mentioned, also both occur in the 19th Chapter (Surah Mariam). In comparison with the second mathematical point mentioned above, we can note that it is also the 7th occasion of their mention counting from the end of the Quran. 

 

Fourth Mathematical Point

 The 19th time that the name "Jesus" is mentioned is found in chapter 19, verse 34.  Whereas the 19th time that the name "Adam" is mentioned is found in chapter 19, verse 58.  And from verse 34 to verse 58, there are 25 verses (counting verse 34 as the 1^st verse of the 25), and as we know the number 25 is the number of times both are mentioned in the Quran.

 

This is just one example of the mind-boggling mathematics found in the Quran, and this is only concerning one passage! But again, God shows us through the Quran that not only are Jesus and Adam similar in their miraculous origins of creation by God’s creative word, but that this similarity also holds true throughout the Quran in mathematical terms.

  Source