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The Unrivalled Wisdom of the Holy Qur'an
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
Today when apostates and enemies of humanity are trying in vain to tarnish the enlightened visage of the Almighty's Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), the message entrusted to him, that is, the most perfect heavenly scripture, the Holy Qur'an, has become all the more radiant as a guidance for human societies. This is indeed a miracle, as even the non-Muslim scholars of Arabic language admit. Let us explore some facts in this regard. Linguistically, a “miracle’ is the inability, incapability, or inimitability. One who is capable of affecting something which nobody else can affect is the doer of a miracle. None other than Allah Almighty is capable of doing so. He, and only He, is the One Who decrees, Who manifests His might over others, including, of course, the natural phenomena and the cosmos at large. A miracle, hence, is something which others deem as extra-ordinary and it challenges them to duplicate it, to imitate it. A miracle is something that challenges what is already established, proving what is out of the ordinary, violating the rules of normalcy.
Consider the miracles of the Isra’ or the journey from the earth to the highest point in the heaven and then back to earth in a fraction of the night. It is one of the most glorious of all miracles, one which only Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was bestowed by God, by becoming the only human being ever to be raised so high. Even Archangel Gabriel, upon reaching the Sidrat-al-Muntaha or the farthest lote-tree, could not advance when the Prophet asked him to, and replied. “If I advance, I will be burnt and if you advance, you will be able to penetrate where nobody else has ever gone." The light of the Almighty, Praised be His Name and Glorified, in that spot was so intense that even the greatest of His angels, namely Gabriel, could not withstand it. How could the Messenger of Allah travel, all alone and during part of the evening, the lengthy distance from the earth without any means of transportation? How could he, moreover, traverse the domain of the heavens and physically go through all these barriers and distances, leaving the earth without a plane, a spaceship, or a rocket? Rather, how can this Messenger describe in minute detail all what he saw in the seven heavens in one single night, his observations, and the places he reached? Is there any human being who can refute his description or contest his statements, or falsify what he brought? Actually, even spaceships launched nowadays to relatively limited distances, compared to the distance the Messenger of Allah had reached when he went through the seven heavenly strata, are liable to develop technical malfunctions which sometimes force them to postpone their launch.
The Holy Qur'an thus remains the eternal miracle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), one whereby he challenged the jinns and mankind to produce a book like it, or a chapter, or even ten fabricated “verses.’ This happened when just about everyone was a genius in mastering the language. Yet none was able to face this challenge; so, the pagan Arabs resorted to fighting the prophet, and when they could not overcome him they tried to offer him position and wealth, which he refused. So when the Arabs and Israelites of the past miserably failed to distort the mission and dynamic personality of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), how could today's retarded minds in the west succeed in their devilish plots? No, they cannot, and will miserably fail. The Holy Qur'an is a miracle in the full sense of the word. The Holy Qur'an was the evident miracle which sufficed all mankind as proof testifying to the truth of the message brought by Prophet Mohammad. Every syllable in it is a miracle by itself: Ayahs 88 and 89 of Surah al-Isra' say in this regard: “Say: If mankind and jinn should join (forces) together in order to bring the like of this Qur'an, they will never be able to bring the like thereof, even if some of them were to aid the others. And certainly We have explained for men in this Qur'an every kind of similitude, but most men do not consent to aught but denying."
In other words, no human being can ever be acquainted with all the knowledge embedded in the Holy Qur'an, for it is the speech of the Almighty, the Praised and the Glorified One, Who has said in ayah 109 of Surah al-Kahf: “Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely be consumed before the words of my Lord are exhausted even if We were to bring the like of it and add thereto".
There are miracles in the Holy Qur'an which are continuous, perpetual, eternal, ever present, impressing one generation after another: each generation will by itself discover the miracles of this Book and may come to know that the miracles of the Holy Qur'an never end, nor will its wonders. All the miracles which broke the laws of nature and through which Allah strengthened His messengers and prophets, including the Prophets Moses and Jesus, had taken place within the sphere of the earth, and they are now no more. But the Almighty revealed to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) the most enduring of all miracles, one that will always shine through each and every age and time, thus granting him the very uppermost kingdom of the heavens. Other heavenly books have been distorted, altered, tampered with, yet nobody can ever attribute the same to the Holy Qur'an. This by itself is indeed a miracle. Allah Almighty has said in the Holy Qur'an in 53 of Surah al-Fusselat: “We will soon show them Our Signs in the universe and in their own selves till it becomes quite clear to them that it is the truth" \
Also in ayah 24 of Surah Mohammad, God says: “Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur’an, or are their hearts locked up by them?â€
The holy Qur’an is a miracle given by God to the Last and Greatest Prophet of Islam. It is miracle, both of the style and of the deep knowledge and pure truth which is being unfolded every day. The difference between all other miracles and the Qur’an is that the former were only for those who witnessed them. For us, they are news which may be believed or suspected according to the trend of mind. But the Qur’an is in our hands, a book complete in itself. It is a revealed book, and brings the proof within itself. Also, in view of the ever expanding knowledge of mankind, we the miracles of the Qur'an are not exhausted, but many are yet to be discovered. For instance, there are many examples that a verse remained a puzzle for the commentators until the advert of scientific discoveries which made its meaning clear. To give a tangible example: In ayah 36 of Sura al-Ghafer’, we read: “And Pharaoh said, ‘O Hamaan! Build for me a tower that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heavens, and may mount to God Moses …….â€
As it is, there was no mention of Hamaan in the previous books. People used to wonder who Hamaan was! They may be forgiven, because nobody knew before recent discoveries that ‘Amon’ was the name of the great Egyptian deity, the ‘King of gods’, patron of the most powerful Pharaohs, and pre-eminently the national god. Its high-priest also was called ‘Amon’ and was responsible for all the religious buildings and temples. What could have been more natural for Pharaoh, when intending to build a tower to see God of Moses, than to ask the Amon’s priest, himself known as ‘Amon’, to arrange it? These scientific miracles of today are sufficient to make a man believe that this book is a book of God, containing the eternal truth.
Holy Qur’an, the last and final revelation of God to mankind
The last and final revelation of God to mankind, that is, the holy Qur’an remains to this day, almost a millennium-and-a-half after its revelation to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), as the timeless book of wisdom in the most flawless tone and language that continues to invite humanity to the path of truth and virtue. As the holy Quran says in ayah 29 of Surah Suad: “[It is] a blessed Book that We have sent down to you, so that they may contemplate its signs, and that those who possess intellect may take admonition.â€
Spotlight on natural phenomena and the secrets hidden in the world of creation is another of the miracles of the holy Qur’an. In several ayahs, the holy Qur’an has spoken precisely on the phenomena of creation, the world of nature and the planets. The holy Qur’an revealed these mysteries of the universe when human beings had no awareness of such scientific matters. Since the proper cognizance of God is often through observation and discovery of the facts of creation, the holy Qur’an has everywhere shed light in the most precise manner on these scientific miracles. Today most of the scholars who have studied the holy Qur’an acknowledge that the science to which the Qur’an has referred is nothing but undeniable facts. Here we will refer to some of these facts. Canadian scholar, Dr. Gary Miller, who once was an active Christian preacher, studied the holy Qur’an with the goal of finding faults and mistakes in its contents. But the more he studied the holy Qur’an, he was more amazed to the extent that he finally embraced the truth of Islam, and now says that it is the Book of God without the least blemish. For instance, he points to ayah 30 of Surah Anbiyya on the creation of the universe, which reads: “Have the faithless not regarded that the heavens and the earth were interwoven and We unravelled them, and We made every living thing out of water? Will they not then have faith?
Dr. Miller says by studying this ayah he could no more believe the false claims of the biased groups who allege the Qur’an to be the thoughts and words of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He says that these are nothing but the words of God the Almighty Creator, Who conveyed them over 1,400 years ago through His Chosen servant, who was unschooled, on matter and gas which make up the world. This is the same scientific fact whose theorist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973. Miller says that this particular ayah points to the big bang theory, which set in motion the created of the planets, and stars, while towards its end the ayah calls water as the source of life – facts that are not found in the Christian bible. Today modern science has proved that the living cells consist of cytoplasm and the main part of cytoplasm is water. Such ayahs confirm the righteousness and scientific miracle of the holy Qur’an.
If you might recall we had referred to some of these related facts in one of our previous programmes of this series by quoting France’s Dr. Maurice Bucaille, from his his book, The Qur’an, the Bible and Modern Science. The author says that the righteousness of the holy Qur’an is confirmed by its reference on two occasions on the creation of the world. The first is ayah 30 of Surah Anbiya, which we recited to you a few minutes earlier, and second is ayah 11 of Surah Ha Mim which says: “Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it is a vapour, so He said to it and to the earth: Come both, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willinglyâ€
Bucaille says that according to modern science the universe was formed of gas and its main element was hydrogen and the rest helium. In the words of scientists, following the big bang, galaxies, stars, sun, the earth and planets were formed in a wonderful order and balance, in such a way that according to the laws of physics, even if a particle of this precisely perfect system is disturbed there will be chaos and destruction everywhere. This is indeed one of finest proofs of the eternal miracles of the holy Qur’an.
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The Qur'anic information is compatible to the new scientific realities
The Human being has had two sources for gaining proper cognizance of God the Almighty Creator and the purpose of life. One is the divine revelation, conveyed to mankind by God through Prophets and the heavenly scriptures entrusted to them. The second source is intellect through which mankind acquires knowledge by proper contemplation on the natural phenomena and his own self. The link between these two which is referred to as the relationship between knowledge and religion has been one of the most important concerns of thinkers throughout history.
In this relation, a group of thinkers have embarked on studying the relationship between modern science and God's last and final revelation to mankind, the holy Qur'an. To their amazement they have realized that many of the new scientific facts are in remarkable harmony with the divine contents of the holy Qur'an, which is further testimony to this book being the Eternal Miracle. Indeed the world of creation is one of God’s masterpieces and science guides us to the mysteries of the universe. As we said last week there are many ayahs in the holy Qur'an which speak about the heavens, the earth, the sun, the stars and creation of the heavens in 6 periods.
According to many thinkers, the Qur'anic information is compatible to the new scientific realities. Over 750 ayahs in the Qur'an deal with the mysteries of creation. The ayahs that speak of the wonders of creation actually express the glory of the Creator of the world. For instance, there are many planets whose force of gravity keeps them perfectly in order in their orbits. For instance, the first European to discover the force of gravity, Isaac Newton, said that the force of gravity alone is not sufficient for expressing the wonderful order of the world of planets, which indicates the power of God Almighty for keeping all and everything in such perfect order without the fear of collision or destruction.
In Ayah 2 of Surah Ra’d, the holy Qur'an points to the force of gravity and draws our attention to the fact that the sky has been created without any visible columns. It says: “ Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you see, and He is firm in power and He made the sun and the moon subservient (to you), each one pursues its course to an appointed time; He regulates the affair, making clear the signs that you may be certain of meeting your Lord.â€
There are other ayahs which draw our attention to the embellishment of the sky with the stars, and call this the glory of God, so that we ponder on these facts to discover the truth. In several ayahs of the holy Qur'an God speaks of the sun and the moon and says their creation is per the divine plan. According to modern Astrophysics, the solar system is slowly moving towards the southeast galaxy of the Milky Way. Ayah 38 of Surah Ya Seen points to the sun’s movement and says: “And the sun runs on to a term appointed for it; that is the ordinance of the Mighty, the Knowing.â€
Ayahs 15 and 16 of Surah Nuh express the multiply of the heavens and very interestingly refer to the light of the sun and the moon, by saying: “Have you not seen how Allah has created seven heavens in layers?
“And has made therein the moon for a light, and the sun for a lamp?
The earth’s movement is mentioned in many ayahs, contrary to the belief of the ancient non-Muslim cultures that the earth is flat, fixed and motionless. God in ayah 88 of Surah Naml says: “And you see the mountains, which you suppose to be stationary, while they drift like passing clouds —the handiwork of Allah who has made everything faultless. He is indeed well aware of what you do."
This all indicative of the movement of the earth, as explained by exegetes of the holy Qur'an, for the mountains are based in the earth and the mountains’ movement is actually the symbol of the earth’s movement.
Other ayahs of the holy Quran refer to the earth’s movement. Ayah 53 of Surah Ta Ha says: “Who made the earth for you an expanseâ€
Expanse or cradle is usually used for infants. The earth is thus the cradle for human being. It brings tranquility while its slow movement is not tangible, similar to the state of the cradle for the infant. The oval shape of the earth is among the other mysteries which the holy Qur'an has revealed. In several ayahs, including ayah 40 of Surah Ma’arij, God says: “I swear by the Lord of the Easts and he Wests that We are certainly ableâ€
This ayah points to the multiple sites of sunrise and sunset which is further proof of the oval shape of the earth. If the earth was flat there would have been only one east and one west, but since the earth is a sphere, each point of it has an east and a west.
God reminds human being that he lives in a world which has been created on the basis of virtue and righteousness. The entire creation has thus been for mankind, especially the virtuous human beings. In other words, the human being who is superior to the world cannot be a vain creature. Ayah 16 of Surah Anbiya has stressed this point and said: “And We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them for sportâ€
The great exegete of the holy Qur'an Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaei writes: the holy Qur'an, in several ayahs, invites the human being to acquire knowledge of natural science, mathematics, philosophy, literature and finally all branches of learning, so as to ensure our own prosperity in life and salvation in afterlife, on condition that we use our intellect for proper cognizance of God, or else, science and knowledge without spiritual values and religion, are not just worthless but self-destructive.
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